my diet for the

majority of last week was water, a few crackers, more water and then a little 7up or ginger ale.  I pretty much had no appetite.  A big lunch for me was a half-eaten order of bean soup and a piece of dry toast.  I was full for the rest of the day.

photo-a-day, day 58

I'm slowly getting my appetite back, slowly.  My only problem right now is greasy food.  It doesn't sound the best and what little I've had has been just that... little.  Maybe I'll try to keep it up.

i was hit with another

bug last night but this time it was the "get online and make a family tree" bug.  So while the rest of the house slept, I sat here on Ancestry.com trying to dig up all things on my family.  The problem is I get really into stuff like that and can't stop... which explains why I finally went to bed at 3:00 this morning.  As I sat on the couch and searched and had periodic coughing frenzies, Strat decided he wanted to snuggle.  He was right up on my arm and when you have a "husky" cat, that doesn't make things easy.  The easiest way was to type with him ending up in a headlock.

photo-a-day, day 56

After I got his picture, I decided to get one of Lucille too.  I mean since I am a cat magnet and she was right there at my feet...

photo-a-day, day 57

No, I haven't forgotten that I have an actual camera.

once upon a time

I was posting a photo a day, then I got sick.  I'll try my best to catch up here.  I'll admit that most of the pictures I'm about to post are from one visit to Walgreens but hey, I haven't been out much.  Before it all started, I went grocery shopping.  I've been wanting a lot of fruit and I loaded up, hoping it might help keep the nasty flu bug out of this house.  

photo-a-day, day 50

Then Eric came home coughing.  Then Eric woke up with fever.  I took him to the doctor and he said it was a sinus infection and not contagious... yeah, right.  Anyway, while I was getting his prescriptions filled, I stood around looking at all the different things Walgreens has to offer.

Apparently somebody took the whole "who's your daddy" thing to an extreme.  In case you have doubts, Walgreens can help you out.

photo-a-day, day 51

You can also find out what drugs you've been taking or how drunk you are.

photo-a-day, day 52

I was already starting to feel something coming on at this point.  I was coughing and had chills.  I felt a little nauseated and seeing this stuff didn't help.

photo-a-day, day 53

Maybe if I'd forgotten about fruit and just took vitamins like these, I wouldn't have been such a wimp and gotten sick.

photo-a-day, day 54

 

One morning I woke up to find my own version of Chinese guardian lions (minus the powerful mythic protective powers) sitting on each side of our entryway.  By the time I got my phone, Strat started walking to me but you get the idea.

photo-a-day, day 55

I have one more to add to be totally caught up but it's time for a break now.  Besides, that's all I've got for now.

i'll be back

soon.  I'm pretty sure I've had the flu.

i'll try to catch up

today.  Eric's home sick and I've got to try to get him into the doctor's office first.

last night was game

night.  We played Apples to Apples and Cosme wasn't digging it.  For "ancient" he didn't understand why I picked Hillary Rodham Clinton over gravity.  He didn't understand why Eric chose my card (Keanu Reeves) for "sensitive".  He didn't understand why I chose Eric's card of Abraham Lincoln over his card of New York City for "corrupt".  It was a lot of fun.  I hope we play again tonight.

photo-a-day, day 49

By the way, Eric won and I came in second.

two cups of

browned butter

two cups of brown sugar

and a few other ingredients later, we have praline cookies... minus the nuts.

photo-a-day, day 48

Thank goodness we have milk on hand too.

i made milkshakes last

night and Strat almost couldn't stand it.  No milkshake was safe.  As we all sat with our shakes, Strat was trying to get something thrown his way.

He even had the nerve to try and stick his paw in mine.

photo-a-day, day 47

The phone's camera sure is a lot easier to carry around but it certainly isn't the best quality, but I guess it did okay considering the lights were out.

yesterday was a crazy

day.  I was running around with so much to do, I even managed to forget a couple of things.  Today is all about catching up around the house.  I had a good nights sleep but I feel worn out just knowing how much I have on my to do list.  With all I have to do, it's nice to know there are some with no worries.

photo-a-day, day 46

not only am i

ready to change gears and slow down, I'm ready to be locked inside the house with nowhere I need to be.

photo-a-day, day 45

I've been running around all day and I'm tired.  I was coming in the back of the neighborhood and saw this guy walking around.  I pulled over and grabbed my phone to get a shot of him.  It perfectly describes how I want to be, just not the stranded and scared to come out of the house part.  I'm ready for bedtime.

this first post of

the day is for yesterday's photo.  For a while I've been wanting us to get out and clean the garage.  It happened yesterday and I'm so glad.

photo-a-day, day 44

One of the reasons it's been difficult to keep up with the photo-a-day is partly because I don't carry my camera everywhere.  I know it seems like I do but honestly I don't.  I've finally decided that my phone's camera will help me out and make it easier.

Now to get busy.  On Saturday I realized that both of our cars had expired inspection stickers.  Eric and I drove them down to Kwik Kar and NEITHER passed.  Their computer wouldn't even read my car and Cosme's car has a bad tire.  Saturday, in a complete panic, we drove to League City or Webster or someplace over there to Alex Rodriguez Mercedes to get my car inspected.  Just wanting an inspection and halfway expecting an extra fee for a computer-related problem, I was thrilled to hear that the car was finished and was just being finished up in the car wash area.  This morning I dropped Cosme off at work so I could get his car taken care of today.  I'm exhausted from waking up at 3:00, driving to Houston and back and even making a quick stop at Walmart.  I was home by 6:00.  Now I'm just waiting on a call from Firestone to see if they can have my tire soon or if I need to call around.  I have too much to do and can't sit by the phone and wait all day so I'm off to take care of business.

my latest

thing is playing with pictures on my phone.  I'll spare everyone and not post any from my Old Booth app but here's one from the Retro Camera app.  I have way too much fun with this thing.

photo-a-day, day 41

Yesterday I was talking to Mom and Cindy on the phone and the conversation turned into one about eating out.  Fogo de Chao came up and then it was stuck in my head so last night Cosme and Eric and I went for dinner.  It was good and I finished it off with creme brulee.  It was also good.  I've always hated creme brulee but acquired a taste for it a year or so ago.

photo-a-day, day 42

I had to buy the cats food today.  I came in and sat the bag on a chair.  Looking at this picture removes any wonder as to why Strat is over 20 pounds.  Even though the bag is sealed he can't stay away.

photo-a-day, day 43

this is my

yard.

This is my lawnmower.

photo-a-day, day 40

I'm starting to wonder if the two will ever come in contact with each other again.  It rains then it clears up but not enough to dry out the yard and then it rains again... then that cycle happens all over again, and again.

the ring is

here.  Now let's hope he doesn't lose it.

photo-a-day, day 39

i tried a new recipe

but one of the ingredients looks like it came from the pet or feed store.  Wow, that really doesn't look appetizing.  Actually, it turned out okay and I'll probably end up making it again and possibly even with other variations of spices.  Do you know what it is?

photo-a-day, day 37

I seriously need to keep another pair of shoes near the laundry room door.  These shoes are almost always there so I'm almost always slipping them on with socks.  Today it was black socks but it's usually white.  Not only does it look bad, but it looks really bad.  I swear it's not intentional.  My feet stay cold so I like to keep my socks on if it's just to run outside and when there's a pair that's so easy to slip on... There I am with my socks and Mary Janes.  I'm working on it.

photo-a-day, day 38

By the end of the day, I'll be caught up to day 39.  Oh, and the feed/pet store ingredient is cereal.  It's Fiber One.

and then came

Friday.  I was so happy to see the sun come out and hear water dripping off the house.  It wasn't what everyone predicted but it was cold and wet.  Yuck.

photo-a-day, day 35

To stay warm, Strat and Lucille cozied up and slept most of the time.  In other words, it was a regular day for them.  I think we should refer to them as Lazy 1 and Lazy 2.  Lazy and Lazier?  A Tale of Two Lazies?  I'll stop there.  You're welcome.

photo-a-day, day 36

I know I'm still behind.  Maybe I'll be caught up to day 38 by the end of the day.  Maybe.

because i'm almost

certain I will lose power at 6:00, I'm taking care of my post now.  When threat of all the cold weather came, I figured my water pipe outside was covered.  Well, late Tuesday evening I saw that it wasn't.  Not only did I dread getting out to go to the store, I really didn't think they'd have any supplies left.  I thought of different things I could use to wrap the pipe but nothing seemed good enough.  If I only had some insulated padding...  Then it hit.  I remembered an insulated shipping bag from my Scentsy bars.  Perfect.  It doesn't look like the little black foam things everybody else uses but it works.

photo-a-day, day 34

As soon as warm weather hits, I need to address those discolored bricks.

today can be

summed up with one picture.

photo-a-day, day 33

At 6:00 this morning our power went out.  It was off and on inconsistently until almost 1:00 this afternoon.  I even tried to track the off/on times to try and find a pattern thinking maybe there was a way I could know how much time I had to accomplish things once the power was on.  That was a waste of time.  There was no pattern.  This whole rollover blackout across the state really messed up the day.  Eric stayed home and we sat most of the day without power.  We caught a time close to lunch with the power on and worked like mad in the kitchen to reheat leftovers before we lost electricity again.  The good news is the power has been running steady for a while now.  The bad news is tomorrow and Friday will probably be the same but with sleet and snow.  I'll just go ahead and start crying now.

for lunch, there

was a fail.  I wasn't thinking about my beans in the refrigerator and just grabbed a meal out of the freezer.  I didn't think about it until the meal was half done.  I did the next best thing and put a spoonful of beans on the plate and added them to my lunch.  Sure, it wasn't a bowl of beans and rice but at least I got my bean fix.

Let's hope I don't have a dessert fail.  I'm making a blueberry crumb cake.

photo-a-day, day 32

Just so I wouldn't have a plain picture of blueberries, I decided to mess with the filters in Photoshop.  You know, the "artistic" filters that in no way look like a photograph or in this case, a dry brush.

once again,

I'm falling behind.  I do have a good excuse.  The first excuse being the main reason and the first photo.  We spent the weekend lounging.

photo-a-day, day 29

Once the weekend was winding down, it was time to switch to another gear.  By a "Cinderella story", I don't think anyone meant being down on hands and knees scrubbing grout with a nail brush.  I might give it one more try when that can be my sole chore of the day.  That's tough work but I think it's meant for someone with a heavy duty machine.

photo-a-day, day 30

I really don't know what the deal was with yesterday and my hands.  I could not quit slamming them into things.  It was bad.  After "EFF!!!" a few times (if you know me, you know the word that came out of my mouth actually was "eff" and not another word), the last time was actually an "O-M-G, REALLY???"... It hurt.

photo-a-day, day 31

Just a warning that as hard as these last three photos were hard to come by, number 32 might be harder.  The weather turns wet, windy and cold today.  I'm not leaving the house until Thursday, seriously.