Friday, June 26, 2009

Resemblance

We took a trip up to Payson/Mogollon Rim/Woods Canyon Lake for my birthday. This post will probably resemble last year's birthday post, even with Caitie wearing the same dinosaur pajamas. You know me and tradition... every holiday and special day is celebrated pretty much the same each year. I'm so exciting... not.

See, I told ya... Caitie's in the dinosaur pj's. I took this the night we arrived in Payson, this is in our hotel room. Caitie has a thing for hotel phones.



She was talking to the cats at home, she was trying to persuade them to come up and join us. I expected to see the two cats at our hotel door, she's that convincing when on the phone.



What all is wrong with this picture... let's see... hmmm... first of all, it's crooked, secondly it's on the 'cold' side, too much blue, perhaps, and third and lastly, which has nothing to do with the quality of the pic, it has to do with my fashion sense, or lack of it, actually... is the way she's dressed. I'll explain this in a bit. Anyway, we usually go to Wal-Mart the night we arrive in Payson, but we got there pretty late this time so didn't go to Wal-Mart until the next morning. Caitie likes to measure her height whenever we go to a store that has a measurement chart. We like to measure her to see if she's reached the height it takes to go on some of the rides at Disneyland. It shows here that she's at an average height for a three year old; but she's not quite tall enough yet for some of the rides we hope to take her on during our next trip to Disneyland. More Pediasure shakes, I say!



I'm still on my diet, well sorta. Here is what I had for lunch, a quarter of a quarter of a sub, it had maybe four bites total.



Here we are at Woods Canyon Lake. Caitie is throwing rocks in the lake, she loves doing this. You can see a similar pic in last year's post. I wasn't kidding when I said this post will resemble last year's post at this time.



Again, this pic resembles one from last year. We like to browse the lake convenience store. We usually end up buying something for Caitie and a few snacks.



This is what Caitie picked out. She wanted to go 'fishing', and decided to do so with a net.



My little fishergal.



She decided to try and use the net to capture the paparazzi(that would be me) ... ummm... I don't think so, I haven't lost that much weight.



We like to hike in an area that, unfortunately, charges a fee, which Michael is not happy about. It's a $5 fee to enter the area with your vehicle. You can walk or boat there, but it's a bit of a walk and it costs to rent a boat. We go ahead and pay the fee each time since we like the area and like to hike there. When we arrived we noticed an orange mesh fence and a barricade with a sign that stated no hiking in that particular area, which is next to the lake, due to an eagle's nest that was found there; they don't want it disturbed. We weren't happy about this, especially after paying the $5. It should have been posted at the entrance to the area, but it wasn't. We were still able to hike, but had to go a different way and use a different trail than the one we're used to. Here is Michael and some other guys reading the sign, and Caitie, of course.



I got a few pics of some chipmunks. Yep, just like last year. This post is already quite lengthy, so I decided to do a scrapbook page of a few of the pics I took of 'em instead of showing each pic individually.



Here is a blue jay that hung around while we were snacking and feeding the chipmunks. We gave it some crackers.



Here is our snack area.



My forest ranger; ain't he cute?



It rained for a bit while we were there. We all love rain.



A 'framed' pic of Caitie on her daddy's shoulders.



It's tradition(you know me) to get a pic of Caitie sitting on a log in the woods during my birthday trip to the lake. Here is why I dressed her the way I did... She's wearing overalls in all the pics I've taken of her in this area each year; this started when she was a baby, not even a year old yet. I didn't want the clothing to change, but couldn't find the pair of overalls I had planned to use this time, so at the last minute I grabbed the ones that she wore for the second pic, which was just like the one she wore for the first pic, just a size bigger. As you can see, she's outgrown the overalls, but I think the shorts with the overalls as a top looks okay; it shows how much she's grown. I also changed her white tennis shoes to brown ones for these particular pics; she was wearing brown ones in the previous years pics. They're too small for her to wear to walk in, so I brought them along and put them on her right before taking these pics. Does that sound sane, or am I losin' it? Don't answer that.







Is it just me, or do we all look solemn in this pic? That's what happens when I get in the pic.



A hikin' we go.



Caitie using her net to try and catch some fish and crawdads.



Daddy joining in on the fun.



Caitie was coming up to where I was sitting to gather rocks to throw in the lake; she loves doing this.



This is a scenic spot on the road that leads to and from the lake off the main highway. The view over the edge is breathtaking. I took this pic on the way out.



Michael didn't give me my birthday present on the trip, he said it was too big, but he did give me my birthday card. There are so many different kinds of birthday cards these days... some play music, some let you add a message of your own, this one is a 'crank' music card; you turn the little handle at the bottom right of the card to hear the music, which was the Peanuts theme song; I like that music. Caitie enjoyed 'cranking it up' for me.



When we got home that night, Michael brought in my birthday present. I got on to him for not having wrapped it(kidding). I've been wanting a swing/glider for the patio for a while now, but haven't been able to find a 'three-seater', which I think is strange, so Michael got me a nice two-seater that we saw a while back at Home Depot. I love it. He said I can leave it in the box for now and see if we can find a three-seater somewhere, but since we haven't been successful so far, I'll probably keep this one. In case you're wondering... the black plastic on the floor is a makeshift door from the kitchen to the living(movie) room. The room has to remain dark until the 'big bug' projector has been calibrated, which is taking longer than we expected.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

I've heard it happens in three's

First there was Ed McMahon, he died on Tuesday. Then this morning we heard that Farrah Fawcett died, and the most shocking is hearing that Michael Jackson is dead; he died from cardiac arrest today. This is very sad.

I remember back when I was a Junior in High School, for dance class we sold Christmas ornaments and chocolates to make money for the dance group, and I sold enough to win a gift certificate to Tower Records, yes it was 'records' back then, I'm that old, and the album I wanted to buy was Thriller by Michael Jackson, it had just come out. And today it's still the #1 selling album of all time. What a talent. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding him, but no one can deny his true talent as a singer/performer.

Farrah Fawcett takes me back to my pre-adolescent years, when I was around ten or so, I wouldn't miss an episode of Charlie's Angels, and she was my favorite; she was most young girls favorite 'Angel'. The pic on the left is one of the most sold posters of all time.





Ed McMahon reminds me of the times I stayed at my grandmother's(affectionately known as Nannie) when I was a child. We would sometimes watch Johnny Carson before going to bed. Who doesn't associate "Heeeeere's Johnny" with that show?

They'll all be missed.

The Weighting Game

I've been on a diet since April 23rd. In two months time I've lost up to 15 pounds. I probably could have lost more if I starved myself, but I wanted to lose weight in a healthy way. Here's a bullet-point list of how I did it, in no particular order:

1. I cut portions, which is called 'portion control' in the diet world.

2. I cut out sweets; no more cookies, ice cream, candy, sweetened tea, etc. I admit that I did give in a time or two... or three. When we went to Disneyland I gave in and had some cotton candy and a churro, but I did a lot of walking so felt it was ok to splurge a bit due to that.

3. I tried to eat light meals every day, with the exception of breakfast, I like a hearty bowl of oatmeal with all the fixin's(check out my 'flax is where it's at' post to find out more) most of the time. Oatmeal is good for you and it gives you energy to start the day, so it's a good thing. But there were occasions when I would eat high-calorie, fattening meals; I would make up for this by eating light beforehand and/or after.

4. I drank mostly water; I had lemonade on occasion, the kind with real sugar, no artificial sweetener like aspartame, etc., that's just not healthy. I would only drink a small amount each time.

5. I tried my best to stay away from salty foods. No chips, no salted nuts, and stayed away from other salty foods. I would limit the salt I put on food, usually replacing it with garlic and onion powder or Mrs. Dash No Salt Seasoning Blend.

6. I limited starchy foods(aka: carbohydrates). I love pasta so I didn't give it up all together, but put a limit on how much I could have, and I didn't have it too often; it was an occasional treat. I gave up potatoes. You can still eat potatoes, just do so in moderation. I just chose to give them up all together while dieting; but I did eat rice.

7. I would try and eat healthy snacks. I made up my own trail mix: no-salt nuts, plain Cheerios, little bits of organic granola bar(not much, just a few bites), dried cranberries and blueberries; you can also add raisins and plain Chex cereal. I would eat this or just plain nuts in between meals. Some say having six small meals a day is best, while others say eating three main meals a day with small snacks in between is the way to go. I think either is okay; I did both.

8. And last but not least, I did moderate exercise six days a week, if possible. Nothing major, just some calisthenics, lifting small weights, riding my stationary bike, and sometimes walking in the evenings or going for a hike. I tried to do them once a day Monday through Saturday, then rest on Sunday. I sometimes skipped exercising, and this is okay as long as you don't give up doing them all together.

Some healthy and tasty snack foods I enjoy: yogurt; no-salt nuts; fruit - blueberries, grapes, apples, and sometimes peaches and plums; plain Cheerios; hard-boiled eggs; multigrain flax crackers dipped in hummus(not much, just enough to taste, this can be fattening).

To sum it up... The main thing to remember is to eat in moderation; cut out sweets unless an occasion calls for it; eat light meals, unless there's an occasion for you to do otherwise, if this happens, make sure and limit your calorie intake beforehand and/or after; limit salt intake; drink mostly water, and limit or stop any intake of soda and sweetened coffee and tea; exercise - try to make it fun so you won't tire of it and stop exercising all together. And remember why you're doing it, for me it's to be healthy and feel great; that's all the incentive I needed. I would still like to lose five pounds; I should reach that goal by the end of July.

Don't ask me what kind of exercise this is(or the one at the top of this post), whatever they are, they seem to be workin' for her.




She's Miss Slim & Trim.



Don't make diet and exercise a chore, make it enjoyable, and include a friend if you want. Caitie knows how to make things fun; she's talking Molly-Mae into getting in shape too.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Daddy's Day

WARNING: This is a wordy paragraph, it goes on and on; just take a deep breath and bare with me... Here goes...

We had planned to go to our property up north near Seligman over the weekend, but changed our minds at the last minute; we decided to make it a relaxing weekend. We started celebrating Father's Day on Saturday night. It was a choice of dinner out, just ice cream, or a movie, and Michael, of course, chose the latter; our life for the past six months has been about movies(movie room), so why not? We saw 'Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonion'. We give it 4 out of 5 stars; it's about equal in entertainment as the first 'Museum' movie. We gave a new theater a try, the Harkins off of I-17 and Happy Valley Road. It's across the street from our favorite Barnes & Noble bookstore. We love that area, and would actually like to find a house there, but it's too close to a dump. Yep, a great smellin' place when the monsoon season hits and it gets humid and it's hot, and the smell lingers... oh yeah. Anyway, we're usually AMC people, we like AMC 30, it's located on the southwest corner of I-17 and Loop 101. Enough about movie stuff, you'll be hearing a lot about that in the coming months, I'm sure; our movie room will be a work in progress for the next few months. Back to Father's Day... I decided to start Sunday off with blueberry pancakes; what a fiasco. I burned the first few pancakes, so switched skillets, and the next couple of pancakes were pale, they didn't brown at all. I was about out of batter, but ended up getting a few decent pancakes out of it, and went ahead and added a couple of the not-so-appealing ones to the plate as well; I can't stand to waste food, and I wasn't eating them, so no biggie(i'm not as nice as i seem). I made eggs as well. They ended up having some weird greenish-blue spots on them, but they passed inspection(again, i'm not as nice as i seem). As soon as Michael got up, he headed for his quarter-of-the-way-done movie room; he watched some of his favorite programs. The walls next to the kitchen shook as I was making breakfast; gotta love the sound system. We then got cleaned up and I took some pics of Caitie and her Daddy together with the caricature t-shirts I have made every year; it's tradition. I planned it so that once I was done taking the pics, Caitie would give him his Father's Day gifts. It didn't go quite as planned, but he did get his gifts and I was still able to get pics of this in decent lighting; this is why he's in the bedroom opening his gifts, I like the lighting in that area. I didn't spend as much on gifts this year, per his request, he said the money being spent on the movie room was part of his Father's Day gift, but I did get him a few things... DVD's(movies), of course, a Disney Encyclopedia(we're disney buffs), a cute card, and a Father of the Year magazine cover plaque. Did you know that he won the 'Father of the Year' award? Well, he did!(at our house anyway). I told him that we could still shop for something a bit more exciting, so we headed to one of his favorite places... Fry's Electronics. The first thing we did was hit the snack shop; we love their food. Upon leaving the snack shop we headed to our favorite departments and looked around. We didn't end up with anything exciting to add to Michael's gifts, but I ended up with three new DVD's; it's nice how that worked out. Caitie ended up with a mini model car; she loves to put things together. We picked up a Glenn Beck book as well; if you haven't heard of him, give him a look-see on Google; he's funny and keen. After leaving Fry's Electronics we headed to the gas station near home; what would Father's Day be without a 64 ounce soda? Michael has to have one of these almost daily; it's his one addiction. I allow it, I can be nice at times. It was a nice, relaxing Father's Day. I must admit... I missed seeing the cows this year. If you keep up with my blog, you know what I'm talkin' about. Hey, guess what, you made it through this very lengthy paragraph, it's now time for pics...


Here we are at Harkins, Theater #4; we saw the 9:15pm showing.



Sunday morning breakfast. Lovely, isn't it? It's a mixture of over-done, pale, smeared in butter(to help hide the imperfections; there were plenty of them) pancakes with moldy looking eggs. Yum! The 'mold' is actually from the blueberries; I made the eggs in the same skillet the pancakes were done in. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.



A pic of Caitie with her Daddy in their matching t-shirts I have done every Father's Day; it's tradition.



Michael opening his Father's Day gifts. Caitie is trying to get Molly-Mae to move so I can get a pic; she's tired of me taking pics and just wants it over with. See the frustration on her face? Poor thing.



Here is a pic of the gifts and card. Most of the DVD's are manly ones, the top one, 'Guarding Tess', was more for me; I was hoping it having one of his favorite actors in it would make it acceptable; he said he liked that movie, so it was a win-win situation.



It's hard to see in this pic, but take notice of the card envelope... Caitie wrote "Daddy" on it. I only helped her with the "y". Good job, I say!



Here we are at Fry's Electronics... where else but the 'movie room' area. We would love to have some movie room chairs like the ones you see here; hopefully someday soon.



I forgot to get a pic of Michael's 64 ounce soda, that would have completed our Father's Day activities in pics. Dratz! (yes, i'm obsessed)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

It's here...

Happy Father's Day x 3

Happy Father's Day to three great dads! Enjoy your special day. :)

(Click on 'play' buttons to view e-cards)

Caitie's Daddy

Click to play this Smilebox greeting: Happy Father's Day

My Dad
Click to play this Smilebox greeting: For Dad 'C'

Michael's Dad
Click to play this Smilebox greeting: For Dad 'H'

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Incredible Edible Egg

How to tell if eggs that have been sitting in the fridge for quite some time are still good or not.

I was wanting to make egg salad sandwiches for lunch yesterday, but didn't know if the eggs in the fridge were still good or not. I did a Google search to find out and came across the following information:

"Here is how to tell if they are still fresh after the expiration date: Fill a deep bowl or pan with enough cold tap water to cover an egg. Place the egg in the water. If the egg lies on its side on the bottom, the air cell within is small and it's very fresh. If the egg stands up and bobs on the bottom, the air cell is larger and it isn't quite as fresh. If the egg floats on the surface, it should be discarded. A very fresh egg out of the shell will have an overall thick white which doesn't spread much and the yolk will stand up."


I did this and found the eggs in my fridge with the sell-by date of May 3 were still good; the egg I placed in the bowl of water was standing and bobbed on the bottom, so they're not the freshest eggs, but still edible. I also read that when doing hard-boiled eggs, using 'older' eggs is better; this means eggs left in the fridge for at least a week or so. They peel much easier than new(just bought) eggs.



Here is how I make hard-boiled eggs, which I use to make egg salad:

I put six eggs in a pot, cover them with cool tap water. I bring the water to a boil then turn it down to low, I wait a minute or so for the boiling water to calm, then place the lid on top and cook the eggs on low for twenty minutes. I then drain the pot and let the pot sit for a couple of minutes, then cover the eggs with cool water and let them sit for a few minutes, maybe ten or so, then I peel them.

This is what I did yesterday when I planned to make egg salad sandwiches, but when I went to take out the ingredients I needed to make the egg salad, I noticed we didn't have enough Mayonnaise, so I put the eggs in a bowl and put them in the fridge until today. After getting more mayo, I was able to proceed with making the egg salad. This wasn't so bad since the colder hard-boiled eggs are, the easier they are to peel.

These are the two things I find that make hard-boiled egg peeling easier: 1. Using 'older' eggs 2. Using refrigerated hard-boiled eggs

Here is the quick and easy egg salad recipe I use:

Ingredients:

Six hard-boiled eggs
Approximately three tablespoons Mayo
One or two celery stalks
Half of a white onion
Salt
Pepper

The amount of Mayo, celery, onion, salt and pepper, is to your liking; the above is what I like to use.




Boil the eggs, peel, then chop.



Chop up the celery and onion.



Put into a small to medium sized bowl, mix, then add some Mayo, enough so all ingredients adhere to one another, then add salt and pepper to taste.



You can put Mayo on some bread, or not, then add some egg salad and a leaf of lettuce to the bread and cut in half, or not, you can eat it whole as well, I just happen to think that cutting it straight, diagonally, in fourths, or even in the shape of a heart makes it interesting. But that's just me.



I included some chips and a pickle as well. A quick, easy, and light lunch.



Yum!