I'm Thinking He's Not Dead

In my attempt to lead a healthier lifestyle

I've been loading up on more veggies

and lean meats.

I bought some catfish fillets

and seasoned them with Cajun spices.

I've had fried catfish

Deep Fried Catfish.

Pretty good.

But I decided to go with a healthier version.

Yesterday I blackened the fillets in my cast iron skillet.

And then I tasted it.

Or shall I say, that I brought it up to my mouth

and the smell hit me before I could taste it.

You know how smells can trigger a memory?

Like a new box of crayons bringing you back to kindergarten?

Or the smell of fall leaves?

Or the smell of fresh cut grass?

The smell of the catfish brought a memory too.

See, we used to have turtles when we were young.

Myrtle, Tim and Pigpen.

But the names aren't important.

We didn't clean out their habitat often enough.

We would wait until the smell permeated the family room

and then begrudgingly wash out the cloudy poo filled water.

That was the smell.

I didn't eat the catfish.

Brian did and he was up all night with an upset stomach.


I felt bad for him
even though I had told him not to eat the turtle poo dinner.
I tried to get him to let me make him
hotdogs.

Because, hotdogs are the go to meal around here
when ever I burn/ruin/drop dinner.

But he ate the smelly meal
and wasn't feeling well.
I don't think I poisoned him
but I can't be sure since he's at work now.

With Diarrhea.
Did I tell you he's a truck driver?
Nice.

So today I mowed the lawn for him.
So we're kinda even.

Holly

A Must Read - 5 Very Important Topics

This morning I while eating my breakfast I turned on the TV

and started watching the episode of

I Dream Of Jeannie

where Jeannie catches the Alibaba Flu

and kisses Major Nelson

just before he gets in his spaceship and heads to the moon.

She kept blinking him back and forth from spaceship to home

 to try to nurse him back to health.

I was so afraid that the other astronaut

was going to realize what was happening.

It stressed me out some.

After I bought my new towels at Target yesterday,
I threw them in the washer and dryer and this huge wad of lint
was in my filter.

I think it's pretty.
I took a picture of it.
Actually, I took 6 pictures of it.
And I edited this one.

I edited a picture of dryer lint.

After writing my post yesterday about
how I don't like Yoga,
I thought about that.
I decided it was probably because I don't know
how to still my mind.
My wheels are always spinning.

So I decided to set my stop watch
to 5 minutes and just sit with my eyes closed
and try to still my mind
and find my inner being
and possibly solve the problem of world hunger.

While I was lying there
taking deep cleansing breaths,
my dog came up and licked me inside my mouth.
Meditation and enlightenment are not for the faint of heart.

World hunger remains a problem.

I do spend a lot of time thinking about ways to
save the world though.
If our overflowing landfills are such a problem
why can't we just drill a hole to the core of the Earth
where it's really hot and burny
and just throw our trash in there?

My friend Connie thinks that's a stupid idea
as it would allow all the toxic gases to escape from
the Earth's core.
I think Connie thinks too much.
We should just do it and see what happens.

I think we should stop housing and feeding all death row inmates.
We should save them all up until we have a
spaceship full of them
(to save on gas, of course)
and drop them off on the moon
with enough oxygen and to last a month
and let them figure it all out.

We fly in that general vicinity anyway
so why not pull a trailer full of them
behind the spaceship
and unload it on the moon?

I'm chock full of great ideas.

Laraine:
If your brother the congressman would like to
have a little sit down to discuss any of my ideas,
I think I could fit him in next Tuesday.

Holly

This is Still Not a Cooking Blog

Or a Diet Blog

Or a Decorating Blog

Or a Crafting Blog

Or a Sewing Blog

Or a Family Blog

I'm not sure what it is.

But thanks for checking in

 to see what absurd things I'm up to today.

I made this:

And know what?

I liked it a really really lot.

Cauliflower crust.

Genn said it was good and she doesn't lie.

I don't think.

I'm not sure.

I only met her once

 but her pants weren't on fire or anything.

(No mas pantelones)

That commercial is funny, I don't care who you are.

The recipe for the crust can be found here.

The only things I did differently were:

I only used half of the cheese called for.

And I only cooked the cauliflower for 6 minutes.

My first batch of cauliflower was cooked for 8 minutes

and it turned to brown cripsies in the microwave.

So I started over and did 6 minutes.

Also, she made it sound like you could

put it on the cookie sheet with your hands.

Mine was more like a batter and poured out.

Either way, it was very good.

I put basil, a little homemade marinara,

mushrooms and tomatoes on mine.

Let's move on to something else.

In my last post I spoke about the

 Yoga lesson my sister gave me and how I enjoyed it.

Yes, that's me, why do you ask?

Now I have changed my mind as I am wont to do.

Yoga is a dumb ass exercise for people

that like to move really slow and be relaxed

and get all bendy.

I like to move around like a flea on crack.

Hopping from task to task.

Yoga is boring.

And the name Yoga is stupid.

I shall not speak of it again on this blog.

Today I went to Target to buy some washcloths,

towels and new Tupperware-like food holder thingies.

34 pieces for $15

I used my Target credit card to get the 5% off,

then after I paid I walked over to customer service and

paid off that amount in cash.

Do you think that's unethical?

Never mind, don't answer that.

I'm not going to stop doing it.

And since I believe that every post

should have a minimum of four pictures,

I leave you with this one

since my children refuse to give me grand kids.

She misses her Aunt Kelly

who rubbed her head,

spoke soft words to her,

and fed her from the table.

Holly

She Might Be the Smart, Pretty, and More Successful One, But I Never Had a Bunion.

Want to know how much time was spent

taking pictures while my sister was here?

I know.

And I'm ashamed of myself.

We just never got around to it.

Lame.

Having my big sister spend three blissful days with me

was a true gift.

One I will always remember and

hold close to my heart.

Being my only sibling,

she is the only person, other than my father, 

that knows the me that I was,

that I am.

We spent hours just talking about everything.

Ailments.

Since we're both on the fast track to 50,

we had a few of those to discuss.

My failing eyesight

and her bunions.

And we talked about memories.

And the conversations went something like this.

Holly:  "Remember when I got that fish hook caught in my ear?"

Kelly:  "No, that was me."

Holly:  "I'm pretty sure that was me."

We'll never know.

Holly:  "See that Geode?  It came from Mimi's place in Arkansas."

Kelly:  "Mine came over on a covered wagon to Indiana."

We got the Geodes from the same place

but neither one of us knows which story is true.

And it turns out that my sister is brilliant.

Who knew?

She taught me many things while she was here.

My sister and I have both suffered from

some strange low blood sugar thing.

Every single morning,

after eating cereal or oatmeal,

we would get light headed and almost pass out.

It was Kelly that figured out what was going on.

Refined sugars and grains.

We can't do them.

No wheat products.

She's been doing Paleo for a while now

and feels so much better.

I figured I'd give it a shot while she was here.

And after one day,

ONE DAY,

of doing this, I felt really good.

I had no dizzy spells.

No drop in my blood sugar.

That was the first time in years that I hadn't had that

feeling that my body was shutting down.

So while I continue to believe that

Weight Watcher's is an amazing program,

and I've lost 20 lbs doing it,

I can no longer follow it.

My body just needs what it needs.

And it doesn't need processed foods.

I'm eating like a caveman.

Meat, fish, fruits, veggies, and nuts.

And I dropped another 4 lbs this week.

And I don't feel lightheaded.

And I don't have to carry crackers in my purse anymore.

My sister also taught me some Yoga.

She and I both have bulging lumbar discs

which causes left butt cheek pain.

The Yoga really helped me with that.

Probably the best thing she taught me

was how to keep my dog off my new couches.

Foil.

I took a long piece of foil out,

shook it at the dog which scared her

and then I placed it on the couch at night

before I went to bed and she stayed off it.

That is so much easier than

waking yourself up in the middle of the night

to sneak out into the living room

and catch your dog in the act

and shame her into getting back into her doggie bed.

We had some great down time.

Just relaxing.

While she drank wine out of a coffee cup

since I have no wine glasses.

She's proven herself to be adaptable.

We did some shopping with Sally,

my Daddy's wife.

That was a great day.

Sally showed me the most amazing

consignment clothing shop.

I can't wait to take Jo there.

The place was huge.

It had adorable clothes and the prices were very good.

I can't believe I didn't get pictures.

And she's on an airplane

heading east as I write this.

And I'm sad.

And I miss her.

Holly

Congrats!!

After Kelly and I donned our evening gowns,

the winning name was drawn.

Our Dear Sweet Hilda will be on her way to her new home soon.

The lucky winner was:

Deborah in Altanta!!

You can see her blog here.

Deborah has just started the Weight Watcher's journey with me

and I think she'll get a lot of use out of our Hilda.

Deborah, send me your address

and I'll get her out to you on Monday Morning.

Thanks to everyone who entered.

I'd love to post more

but at this time I'm just relaxing

 and enjoying some sissy time.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Holly

A Good Day

My sister's coming today!

I can hardly stand it.

My clock won't move fast enough.

If you haven't joined in the giveaway,

please go here and leave a comment.

We will be drawing the winner's name sometime tomorrow.

Holly

Two Years? No Way! We Should Have A GiveAway!

Shout it out with me!

Two Years??

No Way!!

We Should Have a GiveAway!!

Wasn't that fun?

You can keep doing it if you want to.

Hard to believe that I've been blogging for two years.

And in these past two years, I've opened a whole new world for myself.

I have friends, really good friends, that I never would have met otherwise.

Every single person I've gotten to know here is so special to me.

My sweet painting friend in Canada
who struggles daily with her eyesight.

My loving, creative, hiking,
 red-headed artist in Colorado.

The most amazing, sweet,
cheeseball making girlfriend in California.

The snarky, petite whirlwind
 that I know I can call at the last minute
and she'll meet me at a thrift store.

Just too many people to mention. 

We have made a connection.

Something clicked between us.

We found common ground.

And we call one another friend.

And for that I am so grateful,

and truly blessed.

That said,

let's have a Craptastic Giveaway!!!!

The last time I had a giveaway
I was offering the stuff I found behind my refrigerator.
That didn't go so well.

Wanna see what I got for you?
Can you guess?
Try.

Nope.

It's this!!

details

Isn't she beautiful?

She's just like mine.

If you get it we could be twins.

And then we could dress alike

 and wear our hair the same way.

And since I'm the only person I know

who doesn't have an accent, I can learn yours.

How fun would that be?

If you want Hilda,

(that's her name, I asked her)

just leave a comment and I'll add your name

to the hat.

If you already have one of these

it would be perfect to re-gift.

Regifting is my middle name.

Actually it's Anne but I like the sound of

Holly Regifting Blevins

much bettter.

Leave me a comment

and I'll have my sister draw a name

when she's here on March 9th.

Because she's much more honest that I am.

And prettier.

And her tummy is flatter.

And everyone knows that those things are

the best criteria for gift picker outters.

If you don't have a blog,

be sure that I have some way to get a hold of you.

Feel free to invite your fellow bloggers

to join in this giveaway!

Unless you don't want the competition,

then just shut up about it.

Holly