Potpourri

I'm posting kind of a potpourri again today. It seems I can't collect my thoughts long enough to post anything single-themed or comprehensive lately. I blame the midwinter bleakness. There is nothing to look forward to, now, until Man-Cub's birthday. In March. Aye me. We'd better have a few spiffing snowstorms before then or I will go stark, staring mad.

Right. First, because it must be said, I have lost 3.7 lbs. Oh yes I have. I owe it all to eating frequently but sensibly and streamlining my diet. I suddenly realized the other day that I haven't had fast food in months, haven't stopped for coffee in months, don't buy prepared foods, hardly go out or order take-out and am making the vast majority of the food that I eat. So go me. I am also trying to grit my teeth and do some form of exercise. I'm doing Wii Fit as long as I can before I hurl that smug Balance Board out into the street. I hate that thing. It has told lean, rangy Man-Cub that he is in danger of being overweight. And you can imagine what its opinion is of me. It actually gives out this slightly shocked, fairly disgusted, "Oh," whenever I step on it. And at the conclusion of the Body Test it always says with the same, "O.M.G. You are SUCH a loser," tone, "Uh, yeah, like that's obese. Gross." Okay, it doesn't say "Uh, yeah like," or "Gross," but I think you get the drift. It's like exercising with EGOD. But I've thought of a solution this morning. I'm turning the sound off from now on. I don't need an inanimate object to talk to me ever. Least of all when I'm exercising.

Actually, today, I did not use the Wii Fit torture device. Today, I got my cardio and muscle strength training changing the linens on our beds. I really do love flannel, but that much of it weighs a ton!

Friday night, Lobelia, Beelix and I took Daria out for her birthday.  We went here:

See?  There we are!  We basically had a killer time in case you wanted to know.  The food was excellent, the service was fabu and the company was nearly perfect (if only Dharma and SuzyQ and Lady Marmalade could have joined us).  We left the establishment having proven, yet again, that we don't need no stinking alcohol to have a rip-roaring good time!

I'm just enclosing this photo because I like it.  I'm so glad I have a fondue pot and I pledge to use it more often!

In other news, we are slowly picking away at the living room.  Maybe you're scratching your head in befuddlement.  Didn't we finish already you may ask?  Indeed, the stove is finished, but as often happens in home renovation projects, the sparkling, new element in the room only seems to throw into stark contrast the rest of the dull, old elements choking the life out of the room.  The Viking is already talking skim coats and paint colors and I just keep pointing to this:

This is the living room I want, more or less.  That there bass drum being used as a side table (look right there between the chairs, you'll see it)?  I could do without that and it would last, oh, maybe three nanoseconds in my house before it became an empty barrel, but the rest, YES PLEASE.

Here's another view (see the drum?):

I am especially staying awake at night coveting the ottoman.  We wants it, we needs it!  The Viking's eyes practically lit up with a crazed glow at the prospect of putting beams in on the ceiling, but I'm not so sure about that one.  That might look silly in a room with ceilings as high as ours.

Obviously, this is a cozy English cottage with a marvelous stone fireplace and I live in a much younger, medium-sized American cottage with a woodstove surrounded by faux stone, so the challenge is to try to capture the essence of the above photo and inject it into my living room.  I think I need to go to the library.

Well, I must go.  I have lots left to do and must eat some lunch before my blood sugar plummets and I am no use to anyone, least of all myself.