divaquest

Pump Talk

I filled up my ginormous SUV yesterday, which I love because it is big and I can fit a lot of shit in it. Yes, I'm "one of those people" driving a huge gas guzzler who is willing to give up eating out as much to afford driving a bus because of my kids - well, ok, I haven't yet trimmed down my eating out, but maybe I will - one day. Anyhoo, it taxed me $96.96.. I remember when I could fill up for $10... but that was when I was 16 and drove a tiny Ford EXP.

I moaned and groaned out loud, said "My Gawd, Jesus." I guess I call out to God thinking that He'll help.

The man next to me said "what are they doing to ya?"

I think he thought I was talking about the kids, because as I fuel up, I generally play with them and make silly little mommy noises. Yes, "I'm one of those people." I said "It just cost me $100 to fill up. I am going to have to sell one of my kids."

He said "We ain't in Kansas anymore."

Ah... Austin.

Hola

I'm back. Busy. Cancun was nice. Hotel was gigantic - too big almost, but the food was great. The pool was fantastic - went from one end of the hotel to the other in a lagoon style. The ocean is beautiful. The hotel did well at keeping the party idiots away from us, the old folks. At one point my friend had me laughing so hard, I said "stop, I am going to pee in my pants." She said "Incontinence is a sign that you need to be in the old folks zone." We did venture over into the party idiot section for our amusement. This little girl, college kid I assume, was wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots with short shorts - which I think is ridiculous, but my friend thought it was cute. The little chica broke out into "This land is your land, this land is my land" in the middle of the bar. Also, apparently drinking can cause deafness because communication amongst these drunkards came in the form of YELLING at one another even though they were almost nose to nose - because I guess you cannot see well either. I should remember, I was one of them once - but memory fails me in my old age. One of the boy kids decided he'd start kissing all the girl kids - and so he did. We watched in amusement as they exchanged the sucking of the tongues, from one to the next... We skipped out on the "foam" party at the hotel club. We had forgotten about it until we saw a girl stumbling around - wet, with suds on her pants. We looked at each other in confusion and then realized "FOAM PARTY." I've discovered dresses. Me, in a dress? Weird, I know. But they are perfect for summer and I didn't even know that jersey dresses were available in this world. But now I do - and it's on! Just wanted to write a quick blurb so that no one sent the Mexican police out looking for me.

Giddy

I'm so excited.

Not only did I find the PERFECT jeans for my ass and waist and short stature (a complex combination) at Charlotte Russe for only $19.99, in a single size digit, I LOVE Taco Bell's Fresco menu! Items with under 8 grams of fat with fresh chopped tomato, onion and cilantro! Carbs... yeh, well, I could scoop out the guts of the burrito. The crunchy taco was better than the burrito.

Who needs to pay $100 when you are lucky enough to find cheap jeans that fit and look good. We'll see how long they last in the washing machine.

And I'm going to Cancun in a couple of days. Oh, and Amber slept well last night. 3 toofies have popped through. That little girl got both mine and my husbands temper. Yikes for us.

I have the Eat This, Not That book, and I love it. It is very interesting. You'd never guess that some of the things are terrible. I would have thought Chili's fire grilled shrimp would be a good choice, but it has a ton of fat because it's grilled in grease or butter, I think it was 107 grams of fat. Outback slathers everything with butter, even the steaks. You can't really eat anything at P.F. Chang's because of the sauce. Salads are generally TERRIBLE if you get them with the normal, high fat dressings. Most people don't understand that at all.

Basically, butter, grease, cheese, creamy dressings or sauces, mayo, bacon, sausage, white carbs are things to avoid. You knew that right? But just because it's a turkey burger or a sandwhich on wheat doesn't make it healthy. What's on it, what's it cooked in?

The DQ ice cream cone WITHOUT the chocolate dip is not a terrible thing. The McDonalds quarter pounder without cheese and without the dressing is not a terrible thing. Most grilled chicken sandwiches come with mayo or some type of dressing that makes it out of the healthy range. The pizza dipping sauces, other than the red one, can add up to 12 grams of fat to your meal - do you REALLY need to dip that pizza in the ranch or butter???? I don't! Never EVER eat fries, opt for a side salad with low-fat dressing, you can even add a Jack In the Box small taco to your mustard cheeseless burger for less fat than eating the fries with the meal.

My lessons were: read the menu carefully, ask what the meal is cooked in - ask for no butter or grease, eat 2 slices of ham thin crust pizza WITHOUT the sauce, stay tha hell away from carbs pretty much all the time. Basically, THINK before you choose... and with a little thinking & small changes, you can REALLY save yourself LOTS of fat that will end up making a difference on the scale, and in your arteries. I highly recommend the book.

Another kidless day...

I did better alone last night. I'm a little under the weather, which is contributing to my mood funk. Also contributing is the fact that I had plans with a friend, but it is noon, I've called her twice, she has not returned my call. That's disappointing but not surprising, which again, is disappointing. I was seeing lunch on a patio with margaritas, instead, I'm not sure what it will be. Maybe I'll go to the pool alone, with a book this time. Maybe I'll go shop. Maybe I'll do my toes. Maybe I'll take a nap. Maybe I'll continue watching Lifetime movies. Maybe I'll finish laundry, or maybe I'll continue to marvel at how some people have the time and propensity to come up with and actually "type" 100 things about themselves.

Sunday, Sunday

The party went well, other than I am so smart that I reached for a falling (and broken) wine glass - I don't know why because I buy cheap, cheap crystal ones from the Dollar Store in case me or someone else breaks one and I don't get pissed - but nonetheless, instinct kicked in, I reach for it, sliced my thumb to high bloody hell.  Gaping wound actually RIGHT BEFORE guests arrived.  I got it to stop bleeding, someone told me I should get a couple of stitches.  Nah.

The white pizza was great with the Famega Vinho Verde, and the Stilton Lemon cheese was excellent with the wine as well.  I highly recommend both.

The baked ziti was really good as well, but I didn't find a red that I liked too much.  I used sweet Italian sausage, red & yellow pepper, onions, garlic - and a tomato sauce recipe that I have from my favorite Italian cookbook, baked it with fresh motzerella.  Yummo.

Speaking of Yummo, have you seen Racheal Ray's latest cover on her magazine.  1)  I didn't know she even had her on magazine, 2) her face looks fab, but they've photoshopped the hell out of her arm.  I started looking closely at the photo thinking "something is off" - it was her arm. Go look for yourself, and tell me that they didn't slice her arm too thin.  It's like a straight line from underneath.  Just weird.

I digressed, anyway - people left by 11:00 p.m.  I attempted to sleep, didn't go well.  I had a dream that 3 people broke in, my throat is sore, I just cannot relax.  I took sleep aide at 4:00 a.m., got up at 9:00 - feel groggy. 

Amber is doing great, did well for them last night.  Savanna was doing well also last night, having lots of fun with her grandmother, but I haven't talked to them this morning... she's at church for the very first time this morning.  I have nothing against church, I'd like to go - but I'm afraid she'll be "holy hell", so I haven't braved the religious forum.

Ah, today... I was going to shop, but I'm feeling groggish.  So I may go lay out by the pool.  The house is very clean & straight, and it's amazing the blog entries I can write when no one else is home.

Ok, so what tha hell is going on with Typepad spell check just highlighting in yellow the words that are incorrect instead of offering suggestions? What have I done wrong? I think the whole thing just kinda flipped out on me, it got all funky, luckily I was able to save all this hard work. Please forgive the spelling.