Black Belt Living

Happy Monday!

And yes, I'm very glad to be turning a rotten Friday (see my last post!) into a happy Monday!  I'm going in to the office early again this morning, so this is going to be short. 

Roxanna tagged me a week or so ago and I never got around to responding, so today is the day!  I've been tagged so many times, that I won't tag anybody in return today, but if you feel motivated to do so, please do!

• Since I was a little kid, I have scary dreams about tornados. Maybe that's part of the reason that I'm always interested in and fascinated by the weather. 
• I love rollercoasters, even though I'm afraid of heights.  It must be genetic too, because my daughter loves them, my mom loves them, and my grandma loved them.  The wilder, the better.
• I am an Olympics junkie...I can't wait for August 8th, when the opening ceremonies start again. When I was a teenager, I had photos of gold medalists hanging in my locker.  I really liked Eric Heiden, the speed skater. When I was sixteen, he was da shizzle for me!  I think this is one of the photos that hung in my locker:

• I love Motown music and it's not unusual to find me singing along to the Jackson Five at the top of my lungs when I'm home alone. 
• I can remember a lot about my school days, with the exception of the seventh grade. I truly remember NOTHING about the seventh grade, and that's surprising because where I grew up, all district seventh graders were at their own junior high school.  It's a total blank for me.
• I love to cook, but I'm not into baking at all.  If I have to choose between making an appetizer or a dessert, I'll choose the appetizer every time.

So there you go.  More worthless trivia about me.  What a way to start your week, right.  NOT!  Time to go get a start on "Childless Week #2".  It's strange, and mighty quiet around here!  

Oh, if you're so inclined...tell me whose photos hung in your locker in high school!  I'd love to hear about it!

I Thought Fridays Were Supposed to be Fun!

Well not today!  

The day NEVER starts out well when you can't sleep all night, you're up for real at 5am, and there's not a lick of coffee in the house.  NOT GOOD, not good at all.

Remember yesterday when I mentioned the ordeal that it's been to get my spa cover delivered?  Well it finally came, late of course, and of course, it was damaged. You'd have thought that they dropped the box off of a cliff, it was so beaten up.  WHY does this shit have to happen to me?  Okay, there's that real four letter word ~ I had warned you yesterday.

So I've spent most of my day today (after work, of course) on hold with different companies, millions of voice mail menus, and filling out paperwork like you wouldn't believe. I'm about furious right now. It's totally ridiculous. The freight company mangles my delivery, and I end up spending literally HOURS trying to resolve the problem. Bottom line, I'm most likely going to get screwed to the tune of $400, as if any of this is MY fault. If I don't get some kind of satisfactory resolution ASAP next week, I'll be taking it up with the credit card company. I've not done that often, but in the few times I have, I always seem to get a quick resolution.  Imagine that. But at least I'm done with it for today, it's only been three hours of my life that I can never get back. 

Oh, and the final kicker on the hot tub....I filled it up (we've had it shut down for a month or so), put the chemicals in it, fired it up, and it's not working right.  Service call, here we come. Cha ching!  Why, why, why?

Ginger told me that there is a marketing company that's doing some market research in our local area for people who color their hair.  It's a quick $100, which I can use to pay for my next trip to the salon, right? Well wrong. Evidently, I am TOO OLD, and not only too old, WAAAAAY TOO OLD.  She made it very clear that the survey was only for people age 18-40 and I WAS WAAAAAAY TOO OLD to be useful.  Then she asked me if I happen to have any friends who are UNDER 40.  It was the way she asked it too, like given my obviously advanced age, I couldn't possibly know anybody ~ never mind be friends with ~ anybody under 40. No lady, I don't have any friends under 40.  We senior citizens just hang out together at the Village Kitchen eating our bran cereal, drinking our prune juice, and talking about our bathroom habits.

What else?  According to Jan's blog, they had a good experience at the parish directory photo shoot. I'm happy for them, I really am. But why do I always get the losers when it's my night to be photographed?

Anyhow, I'm just kind of feeling shit upon today. Gas is going up, the stock market is crashing, and I can't even sit in my hot tub to make my aching back feel better. I guess I should just go down the the Village Kitchen for a big glass of refreshing prune juice. 

On a positive note, I finally caught up with my photo blog. Please take pity on me and check it out HERE. Here is my favorite shot from the last two weeks! I don't in any way advocate taking photos while driving, however.

Four Letter Words

No, not those words!

My friend Kelly did this the other day and I thought it was a lot of fun.  Here are the four-letter-words that I'll be getting familiar with today. What are your four letter words of the day?

• SLOW ~ I'm still sore today and moving slowly!
• SHOP ~ Need to pick a few things up at Target today
• CLIP ~ Olive really needs a "pet-icure" so we're off to the groomer today
• FOOD ~ As in nothing to eat in the house, gotta get groceries
• EDIT ~ I have pics to go through and fix today
• WIPE ~ My bathrooms need cleaning
• FOLD ~ And my laundry needs folding
• WAIT ~ I'm still waiting for them to deliver our new hot tub cover, I waited all day yesterday. GRRR
• FILL ~ If the tub cover comes, I have to get the tub filled and ready to go
• WEED ~ Gotta pull weeds today.  Yuck.  I hope to stay out of the poison ivy
• MOVE ~ Going to physical therapy today for my back and probably going for a bike ride
• SWIM ~ I might meet Andy at the pool after he gets done playing golf later today
• PLAY ~ I've been practicing piano again and I had kind of forgotten how much I loved it
• SNAP ~ I'm behind on pictures...hope to take more today! Oh snap!
• CALL ~ Going to call my mom
• WORK ~ I have a few work tasks to do today
• READ ~ Read email, blogs, boards, and my book
• VIEW ~ Gotta see who stays and who goes on So You Think You Can Dance
• MAIL ~ Send a care package to my Happy Camper
• PLAN ~ Plan meals for the week
• CHUG ~ Chug water, it's always a challenge for me
• and finally....
• BREW ~ I need to make another pot of coffee!

I'm sure I can come up with more, but I'll stop now. I hope your day is full of four letter words that are all positive!  

I admit that I had a few not-so-nice ones kicking around yesterday after waiting for my tub cover to be delivered for SEVEN HOURS and never being called by the freight company. That was the second time I had done that this week.  So after hours and hours of waiting, several calls to the freight shipper, and being on hold for a long time, I think we have it figured out.  Hopefully they'll show up today.  If not, you can add a few more words to the list above and I'm sure you can figure out what those might be!

CIAO!

Old Girls Can't Jump

With Shannon's broken arm and inability to participate in sports, I admit that I've been slacking off on going to taekwondo practice.  

I don't see it as a bad thing either, for the past nearly five years I had been religious about going to class at least four days/week.  The only time I didn't go this often was when I tore a tendon in the bottom of my foot, but through all my other assorted injuries, including a really dorked up lower back, I continued to train. I never missed a testing, ever.  I just kept trucking along.  

When I was in jury duty this past winter, I had to miss a few weeks and it was actually kind of nice.  I had a bit more time for my family.  Who knew?!  Anyhow, I slowly came to the reality that it was okay to slow it down a bit. I'm a second degree black belt, which is something that I would have never dreamed of achieving in the past.  I'd love to test for fourth degree one day, but I'm in no hurry to get there.  In class we talk about balance, physical, mental, and emotional, and I came to see that my life was a bit out of balance. So I cut back.  Given the price of gas, ten 12-mile round trips also starts adding up money-wise, so I vowed to be better about not doing so much driving back and forth.  

So for about three months now, I've been pretty out of it and I've missed it. As you know, I've put back on a few pounds too, and I need that exercise and stretching on a regular basis.  My back has started acting up on me, and I know it's based in a lack of core strength, so I'm working on that too.  

So this week I'm back in class, and last night I really felt like an old woman. I had bags of frozen peas on my ankle and my knee.  I am black and blue all over again, and I had kind of forgotten about that part. We sparred the entire class yesterday and within about ten seconds, I could see how out of shape I have gotten. UGH!  I hate that!  I felt big and still and slow, like a meatball with feet.  I can NOT jump anymore.  Seriously. I have always been vertically challenged when it comes to getting both feet off of the ground at the same time, but this was ridiculous! 

We had a little "mini tournament" in class because there's a regional tournament in Lexington this weekend (no, I won't be competing!), so we were practicing.  I won the class tourney, but man. I need to get it back together! 

My days of going five days a week are over, but I have to be more consistent. I know it'll probably take a good few months to get my groove back and I want to, because I hate feeling like I'm an old lady, even if I am the third oldest student in the school (our oldest student is 75, by the way, and he's awesome!). Being an aging jock is NO fun!  

Recipe Tuesday ~ Lean Bean Dip

I love pretty much any and all kinds of Mexican food, so of course I love bean dip!  Here's one made with healthy ingredients (I stole the photo off the internet!).  Feel free to change up the spices, or add garlic, roasted red peppers, black olives, or whatever you like.

Happy snacking!

Lean Bean Dip

 

• 1 15-ounce can cannellini (white kidney beans), drained
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Assorted chopped veggies for dipping
• Whole Wheat Pita, cut into wedges

Combine beans, olive oil, vinegar and any other add-ins that you might like into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.  Serve with veggies and pita wedges. 

That's it for me today.  Have a super Tuesday!

Happy Camper 2008

As of 3:30pm EDT yesterday, we because officially child free for two weeks!  I'm telling you, it's just weird. It's good too, but it's kind of weird. 

We got Shannon off to camp yesterday.  This is her third year at this awesome YMCA sponsored camp and she just LOVES it!  Last year she wanted to go for two weeks and while I was a bit skeptical about that long time frame, she really enjoyed her stay so she's off for two more weeks again this year.  

They do all sorts of great things ~ ride horses, navigate rope courses, go to the "beach" with a huge slide, banana boat rides, catching critters in the creek, fly down the zip line, and the usual camp things like campfires, sing alongs, swim time, and nature hikes.  They even do what I hated about summer camp ~ archery.  What can I say, I was NOT very good with a bow and arrow! 

She likes camp a lot more than I ever did.  I just remember the bugs in the "biffy" (which was just a cutesey name for a not-so-cute outdoor bathroom).  It was so gross.  The food was pretty gross when I went to camp too.  Things have certainly changed.  I guarantee you that S will be eating better at camp than she would if she were at home.  I tried to look up the camp that I went to as a kid ~ Camp Tawanka, in the Irish Hills of Michigan.  Evidently it doesn't exist anymore.  I'm kind of bummed because I would have liked to have seen how it's evolved over the years.  I guess I've evolved more.  Now there's Cabela's, but no camp. 

 

We were joking around in the car on the way yesterday saying that every time we have a camp drop off, there's some kind of crazy thunderstorm that pops up.  Well as we get closer, it's looking awfully black over to the southwest, just where we're headed.  Sure enough, we hardly got out of the car and this crazy storm let loose with big wind and some good sized hail!  It only lasted about ten minutes, but it was long enough to soak everything.  Can you see how the background looks white here?  That's hail!  Hopefully that'll be the end of the bad weather for her time at camp.

Did you go to camp as a kid?  Did you like it?  Tell me about what you remember, I'd love to hear about it!

That's it for me this morning!  Here are a few more pics.  I have to leave for the office.  Regular hours again this week, thank goodness! 

Bad Photo Shoot

I've seen emails going around in the past few months with silly photos of pathetic victims of "Bad Olan Mills Photography".  Sadly, I'm one of those victims (and no, I'm not sharing the photos).  Here's some victims for you. 

Five years ago the erstwhile company visited our church to take photos for a parish directory.  Could the photographer have made the experience any more awkward?  No, I don't think so.  Bad jokes, awkward angles, bad lighting, bad poses...the whole nine yards. I think the family in the photo right must have been having their parish directory photo taken too.  Look how happy they are to be there! Anyhow, the kicker was not getting our photos taken, however, but the session with the "Friendly Sales Guy" (FSG).

After waiting a while to look at our high tech online proofs, the FSG unveiled the carnage. Gross. WHY do places like this hire people who haven't a clue how to photograph women?  Ugh.  I'm self concious enough about my hereditary double chin (enhanced by my love of tortilla chips and margaritas) without having the photographer take some shots that make it look ten times worse than it is.  Anyhow, the charming fellow proceeded to tell us about "photo enhancement".  He looked me straight in the eye and said (I swear to you this is NOT an exaggeration), "For 50 dollars, we can erase those fifty extra pounds off of your face!", as if that was supposed to get me all excited and happy!  I could have smacked him.  I bet this lady would have smacked him too.  Poor gal. And who ever sees clouds like that?

We left.  Dollars spent ~ zero.  We weren't the only ones that guy was rude to either.  I was telling my friend Jan about what the guy said to me and as it turns out, he made a different, but equally rude comment about their oldest son. I guess they not only hire bad photographers, but really poor sales staff as well.  I mean, come ON!  You just can't make insulting comments to people about their looks and then expect them to open their wallet for you.  Dude.....

So we fast forward to this past week when once again we had to endure the torture of another parish directory photo shoot.  This time, instead of FSG and the Comedy Central Wannabe photographer, we had a team of women. Meet Prozak Patty the Photographer and Sourpuss Sally the Sales Professional (SSSP).  Ugh AGAIN.

The photographer was exceedingly annoying to me this time.  Maybe it's because I'm now use to doing photo shoots of my own and needless to say, my style is a bit more easy going and relaxed.  She was super high strung, super giggly, and trying way to hard to make us laugh.  She was like a ping pong ball with a shutter remote. Yuck.  And again, the we had to endure the bad poses, bad angles, and bad lighting. Then again, I wasn't really expecting anything different. I guess I was just hopeful.  As the optimist in the family, sombody's got to be.

So we move on to the sales presentation portion of the evening with SSSP.  Folks, I am not kidding you, when our first photo came up on the screen, I literally gasped out loud.  I couldn't help it.  It was THAT bad. Unfortunately, it was the BEST one of the bunch, and was the one that I ended up selecting for the directory. The evil chin was as bad as ever.  My husband, who is a very good looking guy if I say so myself, looked like he was getting his picture taken while undergoing a colonoscopy at the same time (like the poor guy above).  And my very photogenic kid had a "deer in the headlights" look on her face with EVERY shot.  Oy, it was pure carnage, a quick lesson in "how to turn three decent looking people into clowns and freaks in ten short minutes and a dozen frames of digital film." And I'm sorry, there's no software program in the world that can fix that, not even for fifty bucks.  SSSD must have known this, she barely glossed over the "photo enhancement" option.

The funny part was when she started showing me all of the "lovely montages" that they could create for us using multiple poses.  Now I really don't want to be a snob about this, but going into detail about how creative and attractive something like 

<------------------THIS is nearly cracked me up.  At least that kid is cute, which is more than I can say for our photos.  After all these years, they still can't grasp any simple design principles.

Then we were told about their canvas print options, which frankly sucked. They were truly the worst canvas prints I'd ever seen. Keep in mind that during the whole sales presentation, this lady sounded like a robot with a fake-peppy recording for a voice. She was obviously just going through the motions, and I can't blame her. I would be wanting to kill myself every day if I had to do her job.  

Anyhow, she started scribbling down what she thought would be the perfect photo package for our lovely little family of three.  Get this....

• 1 16X20 canvas print
• 3 10X13 montages (one for us, two for the grandparents)
• 3 8X10 prints
• a bazzillion 5X7s
• ten bazillion wallets

All in one package? Did I hear that right?  Yes, I did.  I couldn't believe it!  I should have asked how much this colossal package cost, but I didn't....photo packages sponsored by Countrywide Mortgage.  Instead, I just kindly told her that we weren't interested in buying any prints, at which time her head snapped around like a big twisted up rubber band.  She said "Excuse me?".  I repeated myself, at which time her fakey nice robot voice turned into pure ice.  I had a nice black sweater on (yeah, in the summer) and I felt the chill to the bone. All she said was "your free 8X10 will be mailed" and dismissed us without a second glance, like she was Liz Taylor and we were husband number 48.  

The only comment my husband had was "You should have told her to keep the freebie".  Bah ha ha!

At least we're off the hook for five more years.

Thanks to List of the Day for the photos and the laughs.  Especially this one from our beloved P-Dub.  At least she isn't sporting fifty pounds of chin.  But if she was, and she had fifty bucks, I would know just who to tell her to call.

Want a Summer "Job"?

My friend Lauren Reid is having a Guest call for her creative team.  For those of you who aren't scrapbookers, CT is short for Creative Team.  CT members take the designer's products and make great things with them.  It's a great way to try new products and to get to know other scrapbookers in the digital scrapbooking world. 

Anyhow, Lauren's taking on a few houseguests for the summer, so if you're interested, send her an email by emailing her at [email protected]

The deadline is this Saturday, June 21, at midnight, central time.

Be sure to include the following:

• Your name
• A Link to your most complete digital gallery
• A list of your other creative teams, if any
• Why you'd like to be a part of the team

If you'd like a different time period, other than the summer, please include that too.  

We're a small and tight knit team, and we really have a good time.  Lauren is a fine person who just happens to also make great things.  You can find her products at Little Dreamer Designs.  Check these out, aren't they cool?  A little birdie told me that there might be even more on the way.....

I really hope that you'll apply. We sure have fun.  

Hey, here's an idea.  If you put in your email that you read this here at my blog, I'll make sure that you get something special just from me.  I don't know what it is yet, but I'll figure it out.  

Here are some layouts that I have created with Lauren's products:

  

A Literature Tag

Since I have to be at the office today very early ~ as in 6:00am early ~ this is going to be quick!

I was tagged by the lovely Alice, all the way across the pond in France, to do a tag related to literature. I always think these are fun, so I hope you do too.  If not, well.....

A. How many books do you read in one year ?

Probably about two dozen, but it can really vary.  I read a lot on vacation.

B. Where do you find them ?

Library, bookstore, grocery store, borrowed

C. Where do you read ?

On vacation, on the deck, in my favorite chair, in bed

D. Anything else but books ?

Newspapers, magazines, blogs, the internet.

E. Your favorite book of the year ?

The Kite Runner by Khalil Gibrahn

F. Grab the closest book. Go to page 123. Find the 5th phrase. Copy the next 3.

When the man and the woman first brought her down here, she'd welcomed the quiet and the cool, damp air She had no memory of the cave where she'd been born, yet she found a natural comfort in places like it. But as confinement stretched on and on, so did her loneliness.  (from The Last Dog on Earth by Daniel Ehrenhaft)

Finally tag 5 other people so they can share on their blogs!

April,
Ashley,
Angela 
Amanda
Armina

Have a great day everybody!  

Recipe Tuesday ~ Zesty Crab Cakes

Sorry I didn't get my blog updated yesterday.  I'm doing vacation fill-in at work this week, so that means that every day except today I have to be in the office around 6am (today I go in at noon).  That doesn't give me as much "morning time" as I'd normally like.  Getting up at 5am to get cleaned up, coffee and breakfast made, and out the door is about all I can do.  Needless to say I might not be updating every day this week, but I'll do my best so keep checking back.  Dont' leave me!  

Susan asked me last week if I eat the pasta when I make pasta salad, given my low-carb way of life.  Well, there's not a short yes or no answer to this one.  NORMALLY, I'd eat just a bit of the pasta, because pasta isn't pasta if you don't eat the pasta, but I don't eat much.  Now that being said, we've all been eating pretty poorly around here due to time and budget constraints.  I love eating healthy, but I'd be a liar if I said that it doesn't take some time and planning.  It also isn't cheap, and while I'm not normally a penny pincher at the grocery store, I'm sure everybody has noticed how food has gone through the ceiling.  

I've gained some of my weight back and I feel pretty disgusted and ashamed about it to be honest.  I've also been noticing that I'm starting to get some of those familiar pains in my back, hips and legs again, and it was pretty bad a few days last week after painting those kitchen cabinets. So yesterday I started treatment again with my boss, because I don't want to keep ignoring my back pain like I did in 2006 and end up like an old woman again.  And yes, he got on my case for not taking better care of my back and my weight, and I deserved it.  It was the kick that I needed.  

SO....we're back on the Beach, big time.  We leave for the real beach in a little over a month, so my goal is to lose 10-15 lbs before we leave. That's an aggressive goal, indeed.  I probably won't make it, but I'm sure going to try.  The whole family is involved as well, so it'll be good for all of us.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.

And with that being said, today I'm posting my revision of a recipe that I haven't tried yet.  I think I'll do this Thursday night for dinner.  I love crab cakes.  Even despite high food prices, you have to keep the family happy while eating healthy, and crab cakes are one of my favorite things ever!

Crab Cakes

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 rib celery, finely chopped

1 egg white

2 Tablespoons of ground walnuts

2 Tablespoons light mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp celery seeds

1/2 tsp dry mustard 

1/2 tsp paprika

1 pound lump crabmeat, flaked and drained

1/2 tsp hot pepper or tabasco sauce

1 C fresh whole grain bread crumbs

fresh parsley

Heat oil in a non stick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for 5 mins or until soft. Remove to a large bowl. Stir in egg white, walnuts, parsley, mayonnaise, lemon juice, Old Bay seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder, celery seed and paprika. Blend with a fork. Stir in the crabmeat and the hot pepper sauce. Mix well.  Form into 8 patties.  Place the bread crumbs in a shallow bowl.  Roll patties in bread crumbs to coat completely. 

Heat large non stick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Working in batches if necessary, add the crab cakes and cook for 2 mins. Cover and cook 1 minute longer, or until brown on the bottom. Coat the tops with cooking spray and flip over. Cook for two more minutes uncovered until golden brown.  Serve with pepper sauce, below.

Creamy Pepper Sauce

Blend the following in a food processor and then serve on hot crab cakes:

2 jars roasted red peppers, drained

1/2 C light mayonnaise

salt to taste

squeeze of fresh lemon juice

ground black pepper