Thursday Thirteen #4: 13 Inspirational Quotes

1. The significance of a man is not in what he attains but in what he longs to attain. - Kahil Gibran

2. If you don't know where you are going,you'll end up someplace else. - Yogi Berra

3. We can always redeem the man who aspires and strives. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

4. In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia. - Author Unknown

5. There are two things to aim at in life; first to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind has achieved the second. - Logan Pearsall Smith

6. Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives. - Viktor Frankl

7. The only journey is the journey within. - Rainer Maria Rilke

8. Insist on yourself. Never imitate. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

9. Everybody wants to be somebody;nobody wants to grow. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

10. If we all did the things we are capable of,we would astound ourselves. - Thomas Edison

11. Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake. - Henry David Thoreau

12. The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. - Paul Valery

13. They can because they think they can. - Virgil

Wordless Wednesday #3

Cherry on the Cake of My Day

I'm mad at Harley for not posting here. One more thing in a long list of things he committed to and said he would do that he hasn't followed through on.

And that's just one of the things on my peeved list. The kids didn't have school today. A snow day - or rather, an ice day. Threw off my whole schedule. And of course, it was rainy and wet, so the kids couldn't go outside, which meant they were inside all day driving me insane. Harley worked extra late today, and the Princess is getting over some sort of stomach flu that keeps coming and going. Can you get re-infected with stomach flu? I'm just waiting for it to hit the rest of us.

Oh joy.

I had an editing job, too, I didn't want to finish that's been hanging over my head for a month. Finally got it done, though, pushed through and now I have a headache and I'm tired. My neck is so stiff and sore you'd think I'd been sleeping on nails lately. Sure feels like it.

Oh great.

The Princess just puked all over her bed.

Perfect.

Cherry on the cake of my day.

The Sweet Witch

Whenever we go over to my inlaws, my mother-in-law makes enough food to feed an army. No, that's not a metaphor.

She's already cooked enough and packaged it up in Ziploc and Glad containers to feed an army for a week and put it into the fridge. That's for us to take home. That doesn't include the food she sets out on the table. It's always some sort of meat, usually red - prime rib, steak, ribs - plus at least one meat side dish, usually sausage. And there's always shrimp as an appetizer. Harley's a big meat eater, and it's clear she's cooking for him.

But there's plenty of carbs, too, don't get me wrong. Baked beans, cheesy potatoes, macaroni and cheese. Occasionally there's a vegetable - green bean casserole (the kind with fried onions on the top) or buttered carrots. Once in a while, a salad.


We went to my in-laws for my birthday yesterday. My mother-in-law likes to find reasons for us to come over at least once a month. My birthday is a good reason in January. We came home loaded down with food. Going there, for a food addict, is like asking an alcoholic to go to a New Year's Eve party at Cheers.


Of course, if you're going to meetings and doing what you need to do, it wouldn't matter if someone set a drink in front of you, right? You'd say no.

Me, I'm not so good at the "saying no" part. I clearly haven't gotten there yet. So my lunch today consisted of cheesy potatoes and baked beans. No protein in sight. And then there was leftover birthday cake. And she sent home two boxes of cookies. And a bag full of candy. And a gallon of ice cream, packed in ice. Of course she did.

Harley often likens her to the witch in the candy house in Hansel and Gretel. Sometimes I think he's right. And sometimes, when I'm lying in a stupid migraine-inducing sugar/carb coma after a trip to the in-laws, I wish we wouldn't keep leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that lead right back there again.

Say It Ain't So!

I adore Queen Latifah.



She is, after all, my namesake :)

I can't think of a more beautiful, stunning, strong, confident woman - of both color and size. She's always been someone I greatly admired, and I think she's an underrated actress, an amazing singer, and just an amazing human being.

Today, I saw her on television - a commercial.

For Jenny Craig.

*sigh*



So Queen Latifah is going to join the ranks of Sarah Ferguson



Kirstie Alley



and Valerie Bertinelli...





Once again making the implied if not direct statement: "I can't be beautiful or happy until I'm thin."


I'm just so sad. :(

Queen Bee - Weigh In

276

That was the number on the scale.

The last time we did low-carb the weight literally melted off without any effort. And I was eating cream cheese and salami and pork rinds and deviled eggs... and I still managed to lose forty-ish pounds.

We'll see what happens this time. I haven't been 100% on "plan" so to speak. There was that chocolate. And that box of macaroni and cheese. And birthday cake.

One day at a time, one bite at a time, I suppose. I haven't been perfect. Which usually means, it's time to give up and grab for the Doritos. But instead, I've just been picking myself up and trying again.

I suppose the scale is reflecting that. I'm a pound lighter than when I started out (and the scale started going in the wrong direction!)

Progress, not perfection. Isn't that what they say?

Magic Chocolate?

Harley couldn't decide which card to get me for my birthday...

So he got one for both of my "sides"... :)

The kids drew me pictures. And I got a bunch of Burt's Bee's honey lip balm (my favorite) and some sugar-free Russell Stover's and Whitman's chocolate.

As you can tell from the picture, I'm either 83... or 383... :D

They asked if they could have some of my chocolate.

"No, it's got fake sugar in it. It's candy that won't make mommy fat." -er... fatter... I'm thinking...

"Oh... so it will make you thin?"

Ha! I wish :)