My Day So Far...

First of all...for whatever reason, every time I go to make a comment, either here or on anyone else's blog...it logs me out!  I can't even post "anonymously", not even on my own blog!  All I get is tossed back and forth from "post as Anonymous" and the log in screen!  So....in response to yesterday's post...

Tikktok -

Wowza, that's hot!  We've been hoping and wishing for days anywhere close to 80 here, been in the mid-60's to 70's here!

As for the basket, that's one I made in March in my basket weaving class.  The baskets I have tried at home since have not come out very nice at all!  I do keep trying though, lol.
I also wanted to thank my "followers", you 7 rock!  And so do the ones that I know read me but don't follow me, lol...like my other half, my Mother, Sister, the rest of you...  I get a kick from looking at my "stats page" and seeing how many countries I've been viewed in!  But, I really hope I'm not making a "bad American" presentation for the rest of us...

And on to what I really wanted to post today...

I took this video on June 8th...I know I'm a little behind on getting it posted, but I was trying to get some regular old photos to go with it!  The girls have all started getting their "big girl" voices!  Now, when I get chewed out for whatever chickeny insult I've made, I get "buck, buck, buck" instead of a twittery little song!  The insult here was that I don't let all three of them pile on me at once anymore...they weigh a lot when they are all trying to cram in somewhere (namely on my shoulder)!  As is usual in my house, Henrietta was perched in my left hand, Gerty was trying to figure out the best "attack" for making me let her up there too, and Clyde was "buck, buck, buck"ing me because she was not up on me too.  I cannot hold Gerty or Clyde without Henri demanding I hold her too...I have learned to just let her stay on my shoulder if I need to hold the others for some reason, it saves me getting a flying chicken in the face (as she aims to land on top of my head)!  The scratch mark running down my face (from forehead to chin, narrowly missing my eye) looked interesting for a day or so, but luckily it was a very light scratch (thanks to my lightening reaction of flinching) and was barely visible to anyone but me.  But, it was enough to make me stop for a minute and reevaluate how I go about holding them!

So, the squatting thing Gerty (my Barred Rock) was doing was her way of warning me she's about to jump on me...and almost as soon as I hit "stop" she did just that!  She landed on top of my head...yeah, that stuff about me learning my lesson....not so much!  But I did duck so she landed not in my face!  This was also taken when they were just starting to "buck" at me...Clyde was the only one doing it and not very often!

Yesterday I mentioned that I needed to move my Avocado downstairs...I actually did it last night!  I went down to add Netflix to the Wii (which for whatever reason refuses to accept that I already put in the activation code...) and took the tree down with me.  Don't mind the poor picture quality, the missing lamp shade (I need a whole new lamp), or, well, anything else, lol.  What matters here is the little tree between our hand-me-down couches!  If you noticed the large amount of dog hair on the little brown couch...that's the dog's couch.  We rarely sit on it, but we do try to remember to vacuum it when company comes over!  It generally keeps her off the larger couch if we let her sleep on the little one.  What I'd really like to put in this corner is a giant bean bag type chair thing....8 feet round and 3 feet tall!  I have seen patterns for homemade giant bean bag chairs, they look more like giant beach balls or Water weenies though.  Our cats have shredded both of these couches...pets are why we don't have nice things, lol!  Maybe if I can find some canvas on sale (for, like under $1 a yard) I can attempt to sew a giant chair/couch thing for us...but I'd kinda rather just spend the $400-ish and buy one that looks nice, lol.  I need to get the rolled up blankets put away for Summer...during the winter it's 10 degrees cooler downstairs, so I end up wrapping up in 2 or 3 while watching television down there!  We do have a gas fireplace on a thermostat (that I installed...okay, I took down an old one and put up a "new fangled" digital one...they are so not hard to do!), but we leave it off unless we're down there.

Also yesterday...we went to the Mall because I was in desperate need of new shoes (the soles are falling off my Air Walks)!  I came home with a pair of Champion "Active lite" "walk and tones"!  Okay, so this type of shoe was my next mini goal reward...and I'm only down around 30 pounds...but, they were $10 cheaper than my "normal" Air Walk "skater type shoes"!  So, I will just have to come up with a different "reward"...we have also been talking about getting a gym membership (and actually using it), but we shall see...we need something with a structured time schedule, but one that is "business friendly"....like a swim class in the evenings or something!  But, that isn't a reward, more like a means to the end.

Yesterday also affirmed that our dog (she'll be 10 on September 12th this year) has indeed learned a new trick!  I posted last week that she set the alarm to the house off...well, she's done it again!  Not setting off the alarm...no, dummies that we are left for 2 hours without arming that...  Nope, she has figured out how to let herself into the house when she is done outside!  After the Mall yesterday, we drove downtown and had dinner, got home and the dog happily greeted us at the front door, as always, but then raised upstairs and ran straight for the backdoor.  We thought she had to go out until she zipped through the curtain that covers the slider and out she went!  She got out, turned around, and zipped right back in too!  Baby, our white ball of fluff, was sitting in the Dining room watching the dog (and drinking the water in the tray for the Avocado) and Frappy, our chocolate ball of fluff, was sound asleep in our bedroom.  So, the dog again was able to keep both cats in the house while we were away.  Or maybe, they really don't care for that big room with no ceiling...either way everyone was safe and sound!  We really need to remember to let the dog in before we leave though and remember to lock her out there so she can't push the slider open anymore!

Another "new discovery" in the world of my morning black gold (coffee)...I tried sugar free Mango in it and it is yummy!  I don't generally like Peach, but have been craving a Peach-Mango coffee for some reason lately.  I don't have Peach flavoring in the house (see; I don't like Peach), so I tried just Mango today and to my surprise, it was really good!  Dutch Bros used to (and may still do) make a frozen drink thing that I used to get when it was hot out that was Peach-Mango flavored...I loved it, and this reminded me of it!  It tasted exactly like I remembered it, but that could just be wishful thinking...since we've been low carbing life, coffee shops have been off my list of places to go.  I do however, have a $5 gift card to Starbucks that I will be using next Monday...I have to leave the house at 4am to get to my 6am flight!  I'll be good though and get a (most likely) plain coffee, maybe with a little sugar free Hazelnut or Vanilla (coffee shops are so uninventive in which flavors they offer in sugar free) flavor in it...and half and half, it's better than going whole hog - off diet and getting milk! 

If I had the culinary know-how and money to burn I would so open up a low-carb/sugar free restaurant!  I have wanted to since I was 10 years old...when I was diagnosed Diabetic!  In my dream restaurant, diet sodas fill the dispensers....with a single tap for regular "Coke".  I hated Diet Coke when I was a kid, having been banned from all things Root Beer, Sprite, Orange flavored...I drank cups and cups of water at McD's when I was a kid...now I prefer Diet Coke over Diet Pepsi, ah how strange our taste buds are...  In this mystical place, meals would have "carb options" and you would have to do a "special request" for things like toast, pancakes, waffles, buns!  Everything on the menu would have the carb count listed right next to it, no guessing!  I could go equally wild in the land of Sugar Free Coffee stands...just go into a Cash & Carry and gaze upon the many, many, many flavor options in Sugar free land!  Nearly every "sugared" flavor has a sugar free counterpart!  Yes, I know it isn't cost effective to have both...but come on!  A little variety, please!  There is/was a little drive-up coffee hut in Sunriver, Oregon, actually it is/was in the Business park.  But, many years ago (like 5 years ago), they used to stock sugar free flavors...not all the flavors, but a good assortment!  I used to get a "Sunrise" Cremosa there that was to die for!  Orange, Banana, and Coconut flavors, all in sugar free!  I actually stopped there at least once a day every day during the summer for one of those!  Not only that, but I told everyone I knew (and some I didn't) that they had all these amazing flavors in sugar free!  And now I've told all of you, lol.  However, I don't believe they actually carry them in sugar free anymore...it took them "too long" to go through the bottles...I say advertise better!  I only knew they had them because one day I was so sick of plain old Vanilla or Hazelnut (Raspberry if you're super lucky), that I asked if they had any other flavors in sugar free!  They little price/drink chart had all their named drinks (like the Buckaroo; a coconut, chocolate, some other flavor) marked if they could make them in sugar free too!  It was awesome...