Recap

Oh look at that!  That date can't be right, can it?  It's been two months since my last post!  Someone has been busy!  Honestly, I can't remember what was keeping me so busy during the month of April, but May was chock-full of business trips, vacations and other social occasions...

So, now that I'm back here, I'll try to catch you up (you 4 people that read me, that is).  While I've been remiss in my blogging activities, I've mirrored that in my WW vigilance.  My tracking has been sporadic, starting in late April with my friend's daughter's birthday party.  It's hard to track during parties (it can be done, and I've done it, but I got lazy) - there's excuse number 1.  Past experience has taught me that I need to track my food or I slip quickly into old habits...which I did.  As a result, my weight loss has been pretty much flat-lined for the last 2 months.

I'm still down over 15 lbs, so I'm not using this plateau as excuse #2 to stop trying!  Nope, excuse #2 was the last minute whirlwind business trip to Long Island, NY.  Traveling on-plan is tough to start with, and I didn't plan ahead.

Excuse #3 was the bachelorette weekend in South Lake Tahoe that immediately followed the business trip.  After 2 weeks of not tracking, the old habits were just waiting in the wings to take over.  I discovered Ben & Jerry's Frozen Greek Yogurt and the fact that I have no control with anything that comes in a single pint container.  Still a better binge than their regular ice creams, but heavy on the points...

Enter Excuse #4 - vacation in Florida visiting my old college roommate, Moriah.  We hit the beach, the zoo, St. Augustine and had an all-around good time.  (I'm hoping she did too, as I can only speak for myself.)

After that, I did half-arsed tracking for about a week before slipping again.  I managed to maintain during the week that I tracked, though I did use all of my weeklies.  I blame cheesecake, which has a direct correlation to my lack of control.  That cheesecake was fully tracked and accounted for, though.  So, that's something.

Excuse #5 was all of the recent activity surrounding my step-brother Mark's wedding this past weekend.  I got permission to work remotely last Thursday and Friday so that I could attend the rehearsal (I did half of the prayers of the faithful during the ceremony) on Thursday evening and the luncheon on Friday afternoon.  Naturally, much food was involved...not to mention the wedding on Saturday and the brunch on Sunday - none of which was tracked.

So, my WW week has reset as of today, and I am done with the excuses!  (Please hold me to that statement.)

Hidden Talent

I have a hidden talent.  I think it's hereditary, because my brothers and my mother seem to have it to.  This talent will really never get me anywhere in life, but it comes in handy while watching Psych and during trivia games.

What's this talent I possess?  The uncanny ability to recall obscure and bizarre scenes from old television episodes and commercials.

I told you it wasn't going to get me anywhere.

What brought on this revelation?  This new Verizon commercial:

Clever?  Maybe.  Original?  Oh, I think not...

Here's where my talent comes in.  Immediately upon seeing this ad (hearing it really, I was in the other room listening to the tv while making dinner), I flashed back to an old Saturday Night Live commercial spoof for Bad Idea Jeans.  (I can't embed the link because it's not on YouTube, but go watch it, I'll wait.)

After finding the Verizon commercial and watching it in full (before I posted it here), I saw that the two were even more similar than I had originally thought.  I suppose that's one way to save money on marketing...I wonder if SNL or the original writer got any credit for this idea.

Of course, my real takeaway?  I miss Phil Hartman.

Birthdays, Ball Games and Bad Baking

What a busy, busy weekend!  And the week has continued in the same busy fashion...  I am going to need this weekend to recover.

Saturday was my nephew's 2nd birthday, and my step-sister threw him a party.  He is very much into tractors right now, so that was the party theme.  My mother and Caroline created this cute cake for him, and he was very happy to see the vehicles on it.  (Every time he see's a tractor, and some other assorted large vehicles, he yells out tractor and gets very excited.  It's incredibly adorable, but I will admit to a bit of a bias, as his doting aunt.)

He got these tractor cookies, too.  I'm told they were a lot of work...  I know from experience that they were quite tasty.

Sunday, of course, was the superbowl.  Given that I'm not a sports fan, you'd think that I wouldn't give a flying fig.  But, I did have a party to go to where I could tune out the game and tune back in for the commercials.  The hostess's birthday was on the 1st, so I wanted to bring her a cake as a surprise.  She consulted me about what to buy or make beforehand, and I had to spoil the surprise to stop her from making the cupcakes she had planned.

I had stumbled upon this photo and recipe for a zebra cake a few weeks ago and had been itching to try it out.  I thought the superbowl party was the perfect opportunity to use my friends as test subjects, um, I mean, beneficiaries of my baking talents... The original recipe I had found called for olive oil and Sprite, and I was not too sure about that combination in a cake, so kept looking.  I settled on this one instead, since the ingredients looked more normal to me.

I ended up having to borrow a round cake pan.  I don't know how I can have at more than 4 different bundt pans and not have a single normal round pan...

I don't know that I've ever actually baked a cake from scratch before, being such a fan of the modified cake mix methods of The Cake Mix Doctor.  I was tempted to just use a white cake mix and a chocolate cake mix*, and pour the batter in the pan per the zebra cake instructions, but that would have resulted in way too much cake.  (Yes, I also realize that I could have used a single box of white cake mix, and added cocoa powder to part of that mix...hindsight and all that...)  I also thought that baking the cake from scratch went hand in hand with my resolve to eat fewer processed foods.

Anyway, after getting home from my nephew's birthday party on Saturday night, I made a quick trip to the grocery store and got to baking.  

Per the recipe, I started out by mixing the eggs and the sugar together until most of the sugar was dissolved.  Then the oil, milk and flavor extracts were stirred in, followed with the dry ingredients (except for the cocoa powder).   Very soon I had 2 bowls of batter ready for pouring.

In order to achieve the stripes on the inside of the cake, you need to pour alternate between pouring small amounts of each batter into the center of the pan.  This will create concentric circles of batter.  It looks pretty snazzy in the pan, if I do say so myself, even though I think I should have poured a bit more batter per circle.


My circles were decidedly off-center, but there wasn't really anything I could do about it.  It still looked sort of impressive, though not quite like the photos in the links to the recipe.  This cake rose a crazy amount over the top of the pan, mounding in the center, and it developed a gaping crack at the top.  I will admit that I improvised with the borrowed pan - it was only an 8" and not a 9" as called for.  I am blaming that for the huge crack and the fact that I had to bake it an additional 20 minutes before it was done.  (I may have also mixed too much air into it trying to get rid of the flour lumps.)

After baking, my apartment smelled wonderful, and I was full of pride about my scratch-baked cake...until we cut into it at the party.  Luckily, we didn't make it a giant deal with candles or singing.  Lucky for me, if not the birthday girl, at least.  This cake tasted terrible.  The texture was fine and it was moist enough, but it had no flavor.  None.  Okay, maybe a little bit, since it actually tasted like cornbread to me.  I might have enjoyed it with a generous smear of butter and a bowl of chili, but cake this was not!  I knew it wasn't going to be an overly sweet cake, based on the description on the recipe site, but that site also stated that it had a good mix of vanilla and chocolate flavor.  People had commented on that site saying how perfect the recipe was and that they even used the plain batter for cupcakes.  Liars!  I don't believe it!

So much for my lofty baking ambitions...  What a let-down.  Next time, I will have to enlist the help of my good friend Betty Crocker.

Back So Soon?

I have yet again re-dedicated myself to my weight-loss... I know, I know... You hear that a lot from me, don't you? Well, this time I mean it. Okay, fine. So I say that a lot, too. Too bad. This broken record is going to keep on playing until at least 20 pounds have spun off. (That metaphor may have spun away from me.)

In all seriousness, I had originally re-dedicated myself to the Weight Watchers program months ago, with exercise and everything. Then I'm not sure what happened. I got really busy at work with a special project, working late and on some weekends. I believe I used that as an excuse to slack on tracking my food and I stopped my mid-day walks when I was working through lunch. It's amazing how quickly good habits go by the wayside. Especially when I know that in the back of my mind I resent having to actually work to lose or maintain weight. Too bad I love food so much!

Reality hit at Thanksgiving, when there were photos taken. Standing next to my tiny mother (who recently had some very successful weight-loss herself), I looked positively stout. Mom looked great though! But, naturally, all I could focus on was how much bigger I looked than I had in any photos taken earlier in the year. Reality struck again when I visited the doctor about the recurrence of my tendinitis and saw the scale.

The Thanksgiving Pie Bar did not help matters.

I decided to hold off on going gung ho into Weight Watchers until after the Christmas festivities were over. Anyone that knows my family will understand the food-fest that any holiday entails. Plus, my father just moved down the Central Coast, and so close to Solvang, I knew I'd be powerless when faced with those excellent bakeries...and I was right.

Heaven on a plate! Cinnamon in the pastry dough!

After all of the festivities, my two Christmas celebrations (Dad's on Christmas, Mom's on New Year's Day) and New Year's Eve, it was time. Again. Which brings me back to the point of this rambling post. I'm back on the "journey" (as so many WW members call it) as of about 3 weeks ago. Tracking, healthier choices, cooking for myself instead of picking up fast food or take out, and relying on fewer convenience foods. Of course, I'll admit that I have not really incorporated exercise into my plan yet, but it will happen. I'm down 2 pounds already, and hope to see continued success.

Expect more frequent blog posts from now on, since I'm afraid my Facebook friends will get tired of me posting all of my food photos there and hearing about my weight loss issues repeatedly. Besides, if I keep my hands busy, I can't use them to stuff food into my face. Alas, this blasted tendinitis has severely curtailed my crafting, which was previously a satisfying non-food activity!

Back on Track...Again!

I knew I had a busy weekend chock-full of celebrations and temptations coming up for Father's Day weekend. Aside from Father's Day, Sunday is also my mother's birthday, and I had been invited to a graduation party at a swanky steakhouse. Since I just re-dedicated myself to following the Weight Watcher's plan and have been doing so well on it, I decided that I was not going to make excuses and allow this weekend to derail me. I was going to plan ahead, track my meals and snacks and be in control! Yeah! No one can stop me but me!

Stop...back to reality... Nothing ever really goes exactly as planned, right? My plan was to spend Saturday afternoon with my Mother celebrating her birthday. Since she's also on a diet (lifestyle, I know), we were going to simply meet at her house and have a healthy lunch there. I was also going to go through the WW materials and make a list of point-friendly steakhouse foods, so I'd have an idea of what I could order at the party without going overboard. I wasn't too worried about the food at my father's house on Sunday, since he typically cooks pretty healthy meals and the key for me would be to avoid foraging through his pantry.

Here's what actually happened...Mom and I were both running late (this must be a genetic trait), and I had to stop at my step-sister's house to drop off some stuff for her community band's fundraising garage sale, I got to my mother's much later than anticipated and was faced with a freshly baked peach pie and a cherry pie (my absolute favorite) in the making. She asked me to help assemble the cherry pie while she did some other stuff, and I managed not to sneak any tastes. So far, so good.

We prepared ourselves some healthy sandwiches, and out of the blue, the phone started ringing and my stepfather came inside to say he just got a call and his sister suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. Shock and chaos ensued. I did not know my step-aunt well, as my mother got remarried after I was grown and out of the house, and I only met her a few times, so while still shocked and upset, I was able to support Mom and step-dad while the phone kept ringing and they tried to contact my step-siblings to tell them the news. They were both very much in shock, understandably. I wasn't sure if I should still go the graduation party that night, and wanted to be there for Mom if she needed the support. My mom and step-father were originally also attending, as the graduate is my youngest step-brother's girlfriend. I talked to my mother and asked her if she would prefer that I stay home with them, but she said she wanted me to go and sent me with the gifts and cards.

Since I got lost on foot between parking in downtown Sacramento and getting to the restaurant, I very likely got in maybe 1 activity point. I wandered around downtown in my ill-fitting (but very cute!) chic silver retro-looking high-heeled sandals for at least 20 minutes before I found the restaurant. I was getting close to panicking when I found a city map on a corner across from the capital building. (Good thing that's the area I was in or I would have really been in trouble.) It confirmed that I had wandered in the complete opposite direction from where I should have. I already knew this, since I didn't park that far from the restaurant, and should have only had to walk about 2 blocks. Too bad I didn't take the Garmin from my car and use it while walking.

I am glad that I went because my step-brother was there and in shock and able to talk to me a bit about stuff without ruining the celebration for his girlfriend. He wasn't sure he should have gone to the party either, but then he and his girlfriend also reminded themselves that it's what his aunt would have wanted (they were telling me that she was quite a spitfire and was pretty no-nonsense). With all that had happened that afternoon, I didn't end up prepared for the meal as planned, as I didn't have a chance to look up the points for common steakhouse items. I did try to be moderate with sauces and dressings (though I do think I could live off of Bearnaise now) and didn't finish my dessert.

After the party, which was fun and lively, I drove the hour to my father's house. I didn't have a chance to track my points that day, since I've become dependent on my computer for tracking and it was so late. I didn't end up tracking on Sunday either, since I was spending time with my family and honestly just not thinking about it. I did cave to a craving yesterday though, and stopped at McDonald's on the way home. Instead of the usual extra value meal that I would normally have ordered, I got a cheeseburger Happy Meal. Bonus - toy!

This morning, I tracked everything from the weekend, and managed to somehow still have weekly points left (a whopping 16). Considering the Chocolate Mousse I had for dessert at Morton's, which per the online points finder is 25PPV (and absolutely worth every single point), I am kind of amazed that I have a any weekly points left at all. Granted, I did not get all of my healthy oils or fruits/veggies in yesterday, but I still think I did pretty well with the hectic and emotional weekend.

Nobody's perfect, after all.

Curioser and Curiouser

I attended my cousin's wedding a few weeks ago in Fredericksburg, VA. It was a beautiful and touching Jewish ceremony (the rabbi was a really good speaker) and a lovely reception, and my cousin and his bride seem very happy. I wish them continued happiness together and hope to see them more often!

(The toasts went on for a while, and were all very sweet, but I did catch the bride eyeing the champagne.)

As a personal touch, the bride chose to give everyone two bags of M&M's as their favor. The two bags were tied together with a ribbon and a note telling the story of how when the bride's grandfather would take her to the movies, they'd both get a bag of M&M's. The bride (Jess) would finish all of her candy during the previews, and her grandfather would notice and share his candy with her. So, the first bag of M&M's was for us, and we were all to share the second bag. I thought that was a neat idea for wedding favors, and one I hadn't seen before.

So, diet be damned! I cracked open my candy and chowed down the whole first bag on my plane flight home. I ate the second bag at home a few days later. I would have shared it with my cat, but chocolate doesn't mix well with the kitties, so I had to act as proxy. As I was eating the candy slowly, I ran across this oddity:

(Yes, I did eat it. No, it did not taste like banana.)

How did this make it past quality control? Do they have quality control? I don't know why I felt the need to take photos, but my camera was right there, so why not?

Vacation Time!

Yep, as of this evening, I'm officially on vacation. I took three days off of work to hit Disneyland with my family (luckily, my company gives the day after Thanksgiving off as a paid holiday anyway).

It's going to be a busy week, too, starting tomorrow. Due to my usual severe procrastination, I haven't yet packed a thing...so, tomorrow will start off with a frenzy of packing, then a drive up to Sacramento to attend the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert with my Mom's side of the family. Rather than driving home afterward, I'll be spending the night at my step-sister's house and rolling out of bed (or couch, as the case may be) way too early to get on the road to Anaheim. Since I'm driving down there with my brother, I expect to be dragged out of the house while still technically asleep. That's okay, though, since I have no problem sleeping in the car.

We have arranged to meet up with my Dad (and step-mother, brother and step-grandmother, who are all driving down together from San Andreas) at a Krispie Kreme along the way, so that we'll all arrive at the park at the same time. You know, I don't think I've ever actually been inside a Krispy Kreme before. They'll have coffee though, and I will need it!

Sunday afternoon, after checking in to the hotel (we're staying on-site at the Grand Californian), we're heading into the park and not leaving until they close on Wednesday night (except of course to go back to the room and sleep). We check out on the morning of Thanksgiving, when the family (and my friend Kerri, who is meeting us down there for the week) hops back into our cars and cruises over to my cousin's house in Newport Beach for Thanksgiving dinner. I don't get to see that side of the family very often, so I'm pretty psyched that this worked out this way.

Friday morning is the long drive back home. I also think this will be the first Black Friday in years that I haven't gone Christmas shopping with my mother at the Folsom Outlet Mall. I'll deal (though I will miss my mother).

As much fun as I am expecting to have on this trip, I do think that I'll need the weekend after to recover. And to upload photos, of course.

I am consciously not dieting on this trip. As I told my co-worker today, this is my last hurrah before re-starting my diet. I've decided that since Weight Watcher's is unveiling their new (re-vamped) program during the week after Thanksgiving, that's when I am going to start all over again as if I were a new member. (I need a kick in the pants on that front anyway, and am hoping that the new plan will motivate me to actually follow it.)

Cry for Help

Pick a winner!

Okay, it's a bit less of a cry, and really just more of a polite request. I have made 3 practice swatches of different mitred squares (see above). Which one do you like best? I'm personally leaning towards the stockinette stitch, because I think it looks the best. But, the garter stitch square is the easiest, and results in the squishiest and softest texture.

I have decided to make a blanket for my 6 year old little brother, as a Christmas gift. I usually take some project or other with me when I go visit my Dad, and Gino always asks who it's for. The last few times I had been working on different baby blankets (for different babies), and now he just asks me if what I'm making is for "the baby." Not too long ago, he asked me why I didn't make one for him. I asked him if he'd like me to make him a blanket and he got kind of excited looking and said yes. So, I decided to do it. It's hard to resist those big brown eyes looking up at you!

I did ask him what colors he liked, and while I honestly can't remember the exact color combo he gave me, I do remember that it was a bright and garish selection. He's only 6 - what can I say? I have settled on a palette of greens, cream/brown, and grayish. The yarn will be Loops & Threads (Michael's brand) Charisma, which is a chunky acrylic. I wanted something that would be easy to care for (you're welcome Dad) and quick to work up. After buying a sample skein to test with, I was happy with the feeling of the swatches.

But really, which stitch do you like best? (Keep in mind that the garter stitch square is only that small because I was running out of the sample yarn.)

Thanks for your help!

*Lesson learned while swatching: Always make sure to read (and more importantly to understand) any special stitches to be used in your pattern before getting to the end of your project and wondering why your square is curvy...oops!

Chop Chop and Other Random Thoughts

After all of my recent baking and the non-stop eating, I decided I need to hop back on the Weight Watcher's wagon. Yes, it's true, I do come to this realization at least once a week, if not more often. Regardless, this time the realization caused me to cook, or at least prepare to cook. One of my co-workers re-dedicated herself to WW last week (she calls it food rehab) and had printed out the recipe for the zero point soup, which I found on the printer. This inspired me, and today I chopped up a ton of veggies and threw them in the crockpot, which I'll leave on low all day tomorrow so I can come home to a nice hot dinner. I did change up the recipe a bit, since I used chicken broth instead of veggie broth, left out the sweet red bell pepper (there is no way I am paying $2.50 for a single pepper - what are these things grown in? Pure gold soil? Crazy.) and the swiss chard. I also finally found a use for that sugar pumpkin I bought weeks ago. I peeled, seeded and chopped that puppy up and threw half of it in the crockpot, too. (I roasted the other half and ate with some butter and brown sugar for dinner.) I hope it turns out okay, but am a little worried that I overfilled the crock... I guess I will find out when I get home, based on how much soup ended up on my counter...

During the chopping session, and pumpkin peeling (what a pain!), I discovered that I must not do enough cooking anymore. Why? Because I ended up with a blister on my pointer finger, right where I was holding the knife. Of course, I just might need better knives. Any suggestions?

Now to randomly change the subject...

I believe that the horde of 2-3 year olds at my friends' party yesterday must have worn me out. I believe there were around 17 little munchkins running around during the party. I don't know where they get their energy, but I swear I got tired just watching them go! And to prove it, when I set my alarm last night I accidently set it for PM. I haven't done that in years! I knew there was a problem when I woke up this morning feeling awake. Luckily, my new boss was really cool about it and didn't give me any grief (I gave myself enough). I also found that I had left a candle burning all night. I haven't done that in ages, either.

As I mentioned, I went to Kristin's party yesterday. I helped her out with some of the planning and stayed afterwards to help out a bit with the cleanup. After the party, I reached up to scratch my head and noticed that I had 3 brightly colored spider rings in my hair (probably what caused the itch in the first place). The spider rings brought back fond memories of my maternal grandmother (which is why they ended up in my hair after I picked them up off of the rug in the first place). Grandma used to cover the screen door on her porch with those artificial spiderwebs and place a bunch of the plastic spiders throughout her blonde hair. The neighbor kids called her the spider lady (only at Halloween, mind you. She didn't do this daily.) My family always had a great time when we visited my grandparents on the night before Halloween, which is when their town trick-or-treated. They called it beggars night, I think. Then we'd go out again in our own neighborhood on the day of Halloween. All of us, except probably my grandfather (usually in the living room watching baseball) got pretty deeply into the spirit of Halloween, and I wonder sometimes if that's why I still enjoy the holiday so much. And the reason why the spider rings always make me smile. I miss you Grandma! (And Grandpa, too, but I can't imagine him with a spider ring in his hair.)

My favorite photo of the spider lady and her husband - 1945

Practice Makes Perfect...

Or in this case, practice makes slightly better than barely trying...

As you may know, I have a slight yarn addiction. This has led to an accumulation of yarn-related items, including fun little magazines with ideas for projects (and actual projects, too). While flipping through the latest issue of Knit Simple (it sounded like it might fit my very limited knitting skill level), I found the section of nature inspired afghans. There are 3 afghans shown, all of which are pieced motifs. I thought I'd try out two of these motifs to practice increasing and decreasing, which I've been kind of afraid of, since I am not great at fixing my mistakes unless it's a straight knit or purl row.

I used some spare cheap-o cotton yarn I had laying around (Sugar 'n Cream, I think - the label is long gone) to whip up the 2 motifs over the weekend. The originals look like this and this. Here are my 2 attempts:

I had to rip out both of them at least once after the first few rows... I was convinced that the falling leaves one (the more diamond shaped one) was misshapen and supposed to be square, but then looked at the original photo more clearly. Looks like I didn't screw it up after all!

I was actually pretty proud of my results, even though the gauge on the square one is totally and noticeably uneven.

I gave these to my little brother Gino, who kept asking me if knitting was hard (only, he kept pronouncing it "nipping," and I kept correcting him). At one point, he said he wished he knew how to knit. Maybe I'll try to teach him next time I'm there. I didn't have a spare set of needles on me this time, or I would have given it a shot.

Tinkering Around

I decided to spend my long weekend at my father's house, and was lucky enough to have my boss come through on Friday around noon to tell us all to leave early. A good start to the weekend! For once, I was able to make it to Dad's in time for dinner.

On Saturday morning, the local fire station was having a fundraiser and yard sale at the station. My father took my little brother over there early in the morning and came home with this:

The find of the Century!

Dad was very excited that he found this full set of Tinkertoys in the original packaging, plus a giant old mayonnaise jar (I'm talking Costco sized!) of more old Tinkertoy parts. The fun is his childhood, for only $1!! The original directions were in the canister, with another set in the jar. It looks like they've been in someone's attic or garage for a few good storms...The instructions are dated 1942.

Gino builds his own house.

Gino couldn't wait to play with these (who needs computers?) and is lucky that Dad actually let him, since Dad is afraid that Gino will destroy them. Yes, they've survived 70 years of use, but can they survive Gino? It's doubtful, since just now, as I was writing this blog entry, he came running over to show me a piece that broke...

Disaster Strikes in Tinker Town!

I keep trying to explain to Gino that these are Daddy's toys, and he needs to be very careful with them. Somehow, I don't think it's sinking into his 6 year old mind. Silly kid seems to think they're his! He has made quite a few interesting items, including a feeding bin like the ones at the barn, an "electricity building" with a windmill, and lots of attached squares... He has also already managed to whack himself in the face with a stick that he was spinning in front of himself. I tried to warn him, but to no avail...

Needless to say, that $1 has been well spent. And as you can see, Gino is not the only one enjoying them.

Move it kid, Daddy's playing!

In addition to his childhood memories, Dad also picked up an old crochet book for me (the books were all free), some little puzzles for Gino, and a dinner bell that I believe he will soon live to regret. I did drag Gino back later in the day to get a peek at the free books, but didn't find any other craft books worth the price tag (pretty bad, when the price is $0). I did grab a Debbie Macomber book (The Shop on Blossom Street) that I hadn't read and a book of crossword puzzles, but didn't find any items to rival the Tinkertoys...

PSA - Please Read

Some of you may know that diabetes runs in my family. I always figured that if I ended up with any kind of serious diagnosis, that’s what it would be. My grandfather had it, my brother now has it, and I believe that a few members of my more extended family also had the diagnosis. I also know quite a few friends and co-workers that have been affected personally by this disease.

Did you know that 23.6 million children and adults in the U.S. suffer from diabetes? Currently, about 1 in 10 American adults has the disease. Nearly ¼ of adults and children in the U.S. living with diabetes are unaware that they have it.

Diabetes also can lead to other health issues, including cardiovascular problems (which affected my own grandfather later in his life after living with diabetes), kidney failure, blindness, and more.

So, in honor and support of my affected friends and family, I have decided to participate in the Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes campaign. I have joined Kristin's team and have committed to walking 10k in San Jose this October.

This is a fundraiser, so you know I’m going to have to ask for your financial support. J Please consider giving to the cause. Proceeds will be used to fund diabetes research, education and advocacy. I have set my personal fundraising goal at $500, but am hoping to exceed it. Every little bit helps, so please think about it.

Please click here to check out my Step Out web page. From here you can choose to sponsor me or join my team and walk with us!

(Or, you can go to the Step Out homepage and find a walk near you. There are also volunteer opportunities for those unable to participate in the walk itself, but still want to help out.)

If you’re still reading, thank you for getting this far!! And thank you in advance for supporting me in this important cause!

Busy Weeks

Hello all. Here's a bit of a madcap Monday post to catch everyone up on what little has been going on with me.

I flew back to NY earlier this month for my annual family picnic, and got to spend some good times with my extended maternal family. I found out some interesting family history, like how my great-aunt was a model in Hollywood for a while before returning to NY and reconciling with her husband, or how my great grandfather originally wanted to settle in CA, but my great-grandmother's sister got them to settle in Canastota, NY instead. Of course, the family had fun with these two tidbits, spinning out tales of how we could have been the Gallo family or Hollywood celebutantes... I'm not complaining though, I think we all turned out pretty well.

Two weekends ago I went to the annual Day in the Zone concert in Sacramento with my friend Kerri. Lifehouse and Daughtry were the big headliners. Kerri and her friend Kathy are devoted Daughtry fans, so we'd had our tickets for months ahead of time. Unfortunately, Kathy had to leave before Daughtry went on. So, I played with my digital camera and snagged a bit of video for her. See below...I tried to upload the final 2 songs that I had captured, but the clip was too large and crashed my computer.

Let me know if the video works (it's my first time uploading one). Forgive me if the picture is a bit shaky.

This past weekend, I went out to see an old local band (that has broken up, since they're not all locals anymore). Saturday I ended up as my friend Jodie's emergency date for a mutual friend's wedding. I ended up missing the ceremony (I was called an hour and a half before the wedding was to start, and it's almost an hour away...so I scrambled together an outfit, slapped on some makeup, and ran out the door), but the reception was really nice. It wasn't awkward either, since I do know the groom and a few other guests (like my friend Kristin and her husband, who suggested to Jodie that she call me when she found out Jodie's husband stayed home sick). I got some cute video of Kristin's husband dancing with their 4 month old, and Kristin making her laugh. I may post it here, but I'll warn you all that it's sideways. I don't know how to turn it, if there's a way at all.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Welcome to Nicholas

It's baby-time around here, I think... I just got word that my cousin and his wife had a healthy baby boy yesterday afternoon. So, congratulations Chris & Jen! And welcome to the world Nicholas!

Bake-a-Thon 2007!

I spent the weekend at my father's house, for a little (okay, a lot!) Christmas baking. My brother Joe came up to partake this year, so it was actually a lot easier, and we were able to get a whole lot done in 2 days. We made at least 9 different things (I lost count...and my leg fell asleep, so I'm not getting up to walk into the kitchen and check).

Here are a few cute (if I do say so myself) pictures of Gino in cookie baking bliss.

Peanut butter batter from our batch of buckeye balls

Chocolate chip cookie dough

Is this bliss or what?

I will only take responsibility for giving him the first beater. The last 2 were supplied by Dad, and the sugar apparently hit about an hour after Dad left for work, and I was watching Gino before my stepmother got home. That kid was just bouncing off of the walls. Literally bouncing!! (Off the furniture though, not the walls.)

Here's a shot of most of our finished product - this was taken Saturday, but we made more on Sunday:

Clockwise, left to right: Peanut Butter Blossoms, Hello Dolly Bars, Awesome Cookies, Molasses Drops, Butter Rich Spritz, Lemon Cookies (middle)

Now I am off to arrange a tray of cookies to take into work tomorrow, watch While You Were Sleeping and work on the hat/scarf set that my friend ordered today (more $$ for Disneyland!).

Weekend Photos

I visited my father this weekend, in the incredible scorching heat...aren't I a good kid? Dad and I baked a luscious lemon cake with cream cheese frosting (yum!), while my 3-year old brother watched. We let him lick the frosting bowl, and he was plenty happy with that arrangement...

Woo hoo! Sugar!! I'm not sleeping tonight!

Later that night, my stepmother and I took Gino to the little beach at the local river. He loves it and we almost couldn't get him to leave. Okay, he didn't really have a choice in the matter, but we were about the haul him off kicking and screaming. Luckily, it didn't come to that.

Gearing up for a big splash

So, that was basically my weekend. Not too exciting by many people's standards, but I enjoyed it. Oh, and I got my dad's old vacuum cleaner, which I was sorely in need of, since mine started emitting smoke and died the last time I used it (which was long enough ago that I'm embarrassed to say). So, now I can suck up some of that cat hair that has been taking over my carpet. It really does make a difference. (And sadly, as soon as I got home last night, I started vacuuming! Oh come on now...don't be jealous!)

Back from The Empire State

Well, I left for my annual trip to Buffalo last Wednesday evening (not yesterday), and returned this past Tuesday. All in all, the trip itself was great. I always have fun with my extended family. And, oddly enough, I ran into a co-worker (different department) in the airport on my way there. She didn't recognize me (we don't actually know each other, but I see her around the office all the time). Anyway, she was on the same flight on her way to NYC with her son.



I stayed with my aunt while in Buffalo, and attended her Stamp Camp on Thursday night (she sells for Stampin' Up and held a Christmas in August card making workshop). She and I share a love of handcrafts. And now I have 4 cool Christmas cards, that I'm hoping I can locate when it's time to send them out.



Friday was my brother's 26th birthday. (He and my other brother had flown in late the night before and had a hotel room in town. My mother and stepfather had driven - yes, they're quite insane - and arrived late the night before as well.) We headed to the home of the original buffalo wings for a birthday lunch. My aunt didn't come with us, as she was busy with the marathon of baking in preparation for Saturday's family picnic.

The birthday boy presenting the spoils of his lunch

We stopped for some delicious soft-serve ice cream (the real thing - not frozen yogurt) on the way back to my aunt's house. I helped her a bit with the baking for a while, and then went with her to the local WW meeting, led by her favorite leader. I gained quite a bit, but was happy I went (reality check). And then more baking after that before my mother and stepfather picked me up to head to Santora's for pizza. No, it was not a low-fat trip. When we still lived in the Buffalo area, my family used to go to Santora's all the time. It's great, but they've remodeled the place since we moved, so it's not quite the same.

Saturday morning my aunt and I drove down to the site of our annual family picnic (it's in the town of Lenox, outside of Syracuse), with her SUV loaded down with cooler's of food and extra blankets and pillows. The picnic itself was fun - less like a picnic than a huge family potluck. We have it at a cabin on a small lake that is co-owned by one of my mother's cousins and a number of his cousins from his other side of the family. It's a beautiful site, and I took quite a few photos on my Sunday morning nature walk. But I'm jumping ahead.

After the major food-fest, when the relatives who live locally to the cabin had gone home, the rest of us (Mom, stepfather, 2 cousins, 2 aunts, 1 uncle, 2 brothers and my cousin's wife) sat down for a Trivial Pursuit tournament. I was on a team with Aunt Fran and my cousin Doug's wife (Doug couldn't come this year, as he was called in for his 2 week training for the National Guard. They are sending him to Egypt for a year shortly). The goal of the tournament was to knock my cousin Greg and my Uncle Tom out of the winning spot, since they won last year (I wasn't there) and never let anyone forget it. My team was ahead for most of the game, which was driving the incumbents crazy. And, like most of the board games played throughout my childhood, and adulthood, for that matter, the game was almost immediately under protest. Anyway, my Aunt Sharon (Tom's wife) and cousin Chris ended up pulling ahead and winning. In the meantime, the team consisting of my two brothers had quit, with Tony hurling thier pie-less game piece into one of the card boxes in disgust. My mother and stepfather left in the middle of the game to start the first leg of their drive back to CA (with a stop in IA to exchange cars).

My cousins (and cousin-in-law) all left early Sunday morning to head back to VA. My brother Joe was antsy to leave, but couldn't get Tony to get up. I'm not sure why he was in such a rush to head back to Buffalo, as the rest of us weren't leaving yet. But it was so like my grandfather that it was almost scary. Aunt Fran headed off to church and I went for an extended nature walk with my camera.

Dewy spiderweb in the grass

After getting back to the cabin, I started tidying up for our departure. Tony was still sleeping, and Joe was fuming, but had given up. Later, after we had all left, Uncle Tom, Aunt Sharon, Aunt Fran and I all went to Sylvan Beach for lunch. Mom's family used to head out there in the summers when they were growing up (I only learned this a few years ago), as two other family members had cottages on the lake (I don't know which relatives now - there are so many to keep straight!)

Thistle with honey bee heavy with pollen

On Monday, Aunt Fran and I met up with my brothers for lunch before they had to head back to the aiport. Then she and I wandered around a few craft stores, where I obtained materials for a crocheted necklace. No photos of that project yet, since it's not finished.

Early Monday morning (very early - 5am) I arrived at the airport for my flight back home. I had to check in at the counter, as my connection was inexplicably unavailable for online check-in (I had tried a few times the night before and that morning). For the first time ever in my memory, the boarding pass printer at the counter ran out of paper. Good thing I checked the envelope before leaving, and noticed that there was only one boarding pass in there. The woman behind the counter couldn't find the key to open the door that would allow her to refill the paper. Come to find out, it's a master key that only a manager had, who was nowhere to be found. Anyway, this caused an uneccesary and annoying delay in the check-in process, which put me back at least 15 minutes. (Those are important minutes.) Then I waited in the security screening line for a full 40 minutes (in the tiny Buffalo airport at 5am!), and still had to find my departure gate. By the time I was through the line, there were only 10 minutes until my flight was scheduled to leave, so I figured I was screwed. What do you know? I was right! The plane wasn't even at the jetway by the time I got to the gate.

So, I was shuffled over to the next gate to wait for the next flight into Chicago, where I could connect to SFO. After the end of the boarding calls, there was one couple who hadn't decided whether or not they were going to get on the flight. The woman was either afraid to fly or sick, as she apparently kept stating that she was going to get sick. One other standby and I had been called to get on board and were already on the jetway when the couple came rushing on, having decided at the last minute to get on the plane. So the other guy (also had missed the same flight I had) and I were called back to the gate to wait for the next flight. Fun.

But, I did get on the next flight and the connection and made it home safely, which is what matters. And it's hard to believe, but I really don't get that worried about flying or making connections, because I figure it's all out of my hands. Don't analyze that logic, since I tend to worry about everything else, whether it's in my control or not.

Anyway, now I'm back, and have contracted some cold or flu or something. Complete congestion, coughing, sneezing, headache and body aches. I'm just happy it hit after the trip and not during. Though I was feeling it a teeny bit before I left. However, this weekend will be all about relaxing and recovering. I am vowing to not make any plans at all. (I haven't had a free weekend to myself in quite some time.)