I think Zoe is getting way too comfortable with this "helping Mommy with her sewing" thing.



Can I have my chair back now, please?

How's this for an action photo of Little Miss Trouble (aka Josie) jumping from the kitchen table onto the counter?

Captured on the Random MooCam back in December. I know it's Josie because Zoe doesn't bother with the table. She just jumps straight up from the floor. Such brats the two of them.

Zoe decided she wanted to help me sew tonight.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 120

Click here for the entry form.

One nice thing about having a cat who is almost completely deaf...

You can sneak up on her and take all the photos you want when she's sleeping and she never wakes up.

We just got home from seeing National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

It was super corny and silly, but that's what we were expecting so we weren't upset about it. If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one, too. They're very similar. If you haven't seen the first one, I'd probably still recommend this one as long as you don't go in expecting to see the best action movie EVAH. Because it isn't. It was still a fun ride though and we had a good time.

PS - Was I the only one completely distracted by Nicolas Cage's bad hair piece/dye job? What was up with that?

Help! I've fallen off the face of the Earth and I can't get up!

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 119

Click here for the entry form.

Happiness is...

Looking at the clock and thinking, "Crap! My client is going to be here in 10 minutes and I'm not ready yet!" then realizing that said clock was never turned back when Daylight Savings ended and you really have over an hour before your client arrives.

Tell me something funny that happened to you today.

Caption this.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 118

Click here for the entry form.

From last week...

Little kitty. BIG trouble.

Weighing Zoe once again.

She's right at, if not a little bit over, eight pounds. Much better than the six and a half she weighed several months ago.

Gives us a kiss, Momma!

Hey, Kelly...

...it's finished! We broke out this puzzle yesterday afternoon when everyone was here. A good portion of it was together last night and I finished up the rest of it this morning.

We had everyone over today as planned. And, as per usual, there was too much food and we ate too much. Ugh. It was wonderful to see everyone though. We got to meet our newest cousin, who was born only about five weeks ago, for the very first time, which was very exciting.

We're having Christmas with Portland family tomorrow afternoon. Everyone is coming here since we still have Christmas decorations up. To keep things simple, we're buying a couple party platter trays from the grocery store instead of making a full dinner ourselves. I don't think I could handle eating another huge holiday meal so soon anyway. My poor stomach can only take so much. I'll be spending the rest of today cleaning up, picking up some groceries and wrapping the last of the gifts. It doesn't sound like much, but I'm sure I'll be busy well into the night.

No, Mr Moo...

...there isn't supposed to be fuzzy black stuff growing on the butter.

Time to feed the kitty.

And she's just thrilled about it, too. ((eye roll))

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Cathe Friedrich's Basic Step

I'm not feeling nearly as sick or as full of yuck as I was a couple days ago, which is a good thing. I'm still exhausted though and looking forward to that part being over with sooner rather than later. Having zero energy is really not conducive to working out. Bleah.

From this year's Chick-fil-A calendar, One-Hit Wonder Cows:

Known more for their dance moves than their vocals, these high-pitched disco dynamos were all about stayin' alive. And though it didn't get much airplay, their dance ditty "Shake Your Chicken Thang" inspired a nationwide dance craze known as "The Not-So-Funky Chicken".

My sister and BIL gave me this for Christmas:

It's a jigsaw puzzle of a cow. The twist is that it's not just a normal photo of a cow. It's a mosaic photo - made up of approximately 8 poopillion tiny cow photos. I can't decide if they really think I'm capable of doing such a puzzle or if they're just trying to drive me insane. Hmmm...

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Cathe Friedrich's Basic Step & Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body - Arms, Program 1

I still felt like crap this afternoon, but since I hadn't worked out in three days I needed to just get it done. And, since I'm a total glutton for punishment, I added the extra set of risers to my step so I was at the maximum height of 8". It was tough, but I felt good for doing it. I shall shed these last few pounds yet!

I am infected with some sort of alien plague that my body has been battling for two days now. My tonsils are swollen, my throat hurts, my sinuses are filled with I-don't-even-want-to-tell-you-what and I am just completely and totally run down with it. Last night was the first night in a very long time that I slept for a solid 8 hours without getting up to pee even once. If you knew the sorry shape my bladder is in at the moment, you would understand the level of exhaustion I was at for that to happen. I still feel like crap, but better than I did yesterday at least. It's progress.

While I was stranded in Detroit on my way to MA for Christmas, I bought and read this book:

I haven't read a Stephen King novel in a long time and had forgotten how much I really do enjoy reading them. I've printed out a list of his most recent works so I can work on reading the ones I've missed. On the way home from MA, I popped into a book store at PVD to see if I could pick up another one, but they only had The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which I own and read already. Instead, I bought this:

I'm about halfway through it. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time for reading since we got back so it will probably take me an age to finish it. I just hope I don't forget too much of the plot by the time I get a chance to read the rest of it.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 117

Click here for the entry form.

I spilled a bottle of water all over my keyboard last night. Not surprisingly, it wasn't working this morning. The B, N and space bar wouldn't work. I could work around the letters, but no space bar? Not happening. Fortunately, I live with a computer enginerd and there are plenty of PC body parts around the house, including extra keyboards. Presto! Chango! We're back in business.

We're out running errands and getting into trouble.

(phone post)

I found out today that someone I used to work with was killed in a car accident in November. I knew him from the job I had right out of college. He was always very kind to me and knew just what to say to make me smile when things weren't going well. He was only 44 years old and left behind a wife and two children. I'm still having trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that he's gone. We hadn't been in touch lately, but he will always be a special friend of mine. Rest in peace, Scott. You will be missed.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Cathe Friedrich's Basic Step & Stability Ball Abdominal Workout

Since it's been several weeks since I've done a serious workout, I decided to ease back into things with a couple "easy" ones. I'll probably stick with this step workout for a several days until I feel comfortable being back on the step again. Since it wasn't too much of a challenge for me, I'll probably add another set of risers next time just to make sure I'm getting a decent calorie burn.

Today was also weigh-in day. Oh joy. Since my happy post about only gaining two pounds while I was away, I've managed to gain two more. All told, my overall weight change since my last official weigh-in on December 9: +4 lbs. Yuck.

Height: 5' 2"

Current Weight: 118
Current BMI: 21.6 (normal)

Highest Weight: 167 (January 14, 2006)
Highest BMI: 30.5 (obese)

Goal Weight: 110
Goal BMI: 20.1

Pounds Lost: 49
Pounds To Go: 8

Finally a night with no headaches. I took some non-prescription meds and drank an ocean of water before I went to bed last night and it seems to have worked. I still woke up a million times for no apparent reason, but at least my head wasn't killing me. Small steps.

If it were up to Josie, I would carry her around like this every minute of every day.

Little turd.

Last night was the third night in a row that I woke up with a screaming headache. I'm at the end of my period, which is prime migraine time, and I'm chalking it up to that. If it continues through this weekend though, I will definitely be calling the doctor first thing on Monday morning. I need some peaceful sleep!

Found this hiding on the mobile phone. My aunt's Christmas tree on Christmas Day.

(phone post)

Now that I've been home to weigh myself for two days, I can officially report that I only gained two pounds while I was on vacation. I strictly stayed on my meal plan for the entire first week I was away. Once Christmas Eve hit, I lost my mind a little and got a wee bit out of control. I was meeting up with friends, eating out a lot and not always making the best food choices. However, since I knew I would be eating out, I tried to be very careful about what and how much I ate during the remainder of those days. I also went to the gym several times with my mom, which helped. It's now time to get back on track and see if I can, once and for all, lose these last few pounds and hit goal finally.

Went to bed with a mild headache. Woke up with a raging one. Ugh. Took one of my migraine tablets just to be safe and slept another three hours. I feel like I've been hibernating. I'm hoping taking a hot shower and getting dressed will help wake me up a little. It better because I have a client coming over at noon. Don't think she'd appreciate if I were to sleep through our appointment.

After going through all of our mail from the two weeks I was gone, we've discovered that we never received our kicker check (a refund of surplus revenue in the state's general fund) from the state of Oregon. They were mailed on December 15 and it should have been here by now. Mr Moo made a phone call this morning to find out what happened. Turns out the reason we never received a kicker check is because the state never received our return last year. Yikes! Fortunately, the state owed us money so we won't be penalized for interest. Amazing coincidence for the day: my client this afternoon is our tax preparer. She'll bring us another copy of the form and we'll get it in the mail by the end of the day. If only all of life's problems were solved this easily.

We're home. Very tired, but we're home. We walked in the door at about 11:15pm last night, watched the ball drop in Times Square on TV and went straight to bed. We let the kitties sleep with us, so I got virtually no sleep because they were climbing all over me and sniffing my head all night, but I was so happy to see them I didn't care. I can nap later today in between loads of laundry and other cleaning.