Today's blog, in list format:

1. Sally often lurks around the back door, peering inside like a nosy neighbor who wants to be invited in for the latest gossip and a cup of tea. Sometimes we let her come in the kitchen for a visit. The cats are fascinated and terrified at the same time. Here they are investigating a little goose poop.
2. Soup season is here to stay, it seems, and I have three recipes in regular rotation right now: Kale and Sausage Soup (I doubled the amount of stock and added a little cream at the end, delicious!); Albondigas (I will have to share my recipe for this one, we've already made this four times in the last month); Italian Sausage, pasta, bean and vegetables (I don't have a proper name for this one, but I've been making it a long time). What are your favorite soups?
3. I've been holding steady with my 25 lbs. lost this year, but haven't lost any more over the last couple months. Starting this past Monday I joined a weight loss pool with 15 or so (mostly male) co-workers. Everyone put in $20, and the one with the highest percentage of weight loss gets the whole pot. So I'm back on the losing-weight track, and I'm competitive, so I'm working hard to win. I need some new pants, most of mine are on the large side, and any loss will mean that I need to go down a size. So I need to win so I can buy some new pants. Extra motivation! 
4. Here is my weight loss tip of the day: I try to designate one day a week as a Free Day, and I don't worry too much about what I eat that day. I don't track the calories, I don't measure portions, I just eat what I want. Sometimes it ends up being just one meal, sometimes it's all three meals on the chosen day. I don't see it as a binging, free-for-all kind of thing, just a, 'I've been craving a cheeseburger and fries all week, so I'm going to Wendy's and having one' sort of day.
5. I've made a lot of progress cleaning out my studio. I hope to be able to paint it later this month, which will make a huge difference. I consolidated various boxes of photos and letters and cards into one bin, so if we have to evacuate due to a fire, they will all be in one place, and I can grab it quickly. I bought a nice Martha Stewart photo album at Michael's, so I'll gradually put all my pictures in there, but I'm at a loss what to do with all the letters and cards. What do you do? I have a couple friends that have been wonderful letter writers, so I know I want to keep a lot of them. I also found all the letters I wrote home when I was in college. I haven't read any of them, and I'm pretty sure they are mostly requests for more money and complaints about roommate, but at least some of them might be worth saving. 
6. Also, as part of my cleaning, I've listed some rubber stamps on ebay. So if you need to  add to your rubber stamp collection, there are a few good deals to be had.

I had some of these, and so I made this:


And it was just as good as you might imagine a ginger pear upside-down cake would be.

I used the recipe I found at this link, and I will be making it again, for sure.

This cake is the sum total of my accomplishments for this week, including the weekend. Actually, I made a very delicious dinner on Saturday night. I took pictures and everything. Sadly, I will never be able to make that meal again, nor will I be able to share those pictures, because just an hour or two after eating my dinner, I became suddenly, horrendously nauseous and then I threw it all  up. And then I threw up every hour for the next seven hours. And spent the entire next day laying pitifully on the couch, with painfully aching joints. I managed to sit up now and then and sip some Pedialyte and gnaw on some toast, and then lay down again to shiver uncontrollably under my blanket.

That sure was a fun weekend. It wasn't until Wednesday that I managed to feel somewhat normal again. I don't know if it was food poisoning or the flu. Either way, Mr. Heylucy got very lucky, because he works some odd hours and was sleeping when I made my dinner, so I had planned to make his when he woke up. Once I realized how sick I was I made him throw the rest out, and he was fine.

So sorry my blog has been so boring this week, I had to take a few sick days. But that cake sure was good.

I was goofing around this morning and tried to take some self-portraits. Apparently the sight of myself in the mirror results in uncontrollable trembling.

I curled my hair for fun and wanted there to be a record of this rare occurrence.

The laundry is still not put away. Most is draped all over the couch. One load is still in the dryer.

Martha has a whole bunch of freezer recipes. The spinach pie and Mediterranean tuna casserole are two that I might try, though they all look quite good.

More movies to add to the do not watch while hungry (in case you missed the comments on that post):
Moonstruck (I love that movie!)
Babette’s Feast (How could I forget this one! It’s so lovely)
What’s Cooking (I just added it to my Netflix queue)
Like Water for Chocolate (of course!)
The Wedding Banquet (I don’t remember the food, I’ll have to re-watch that one)

I have knit a few little chicken hats:

Wouldn’t it be fun to get a picture of an actual chicken wearing one? I don’t think they would go for it, though, no matter how many grapes I gave them.

Very little reading has occurred this week. I finished Brideshead Revisited last week. I know it’s a classic, and therefore a Very Important Book, but geez, all the characters were completely unlikeable and selfish. And Evelyn Waugh apparently hates Catholics. Still, I will see any movie starring Emma Thompson. I think I’ve missed it in the theater, so I’ll be renting it.

I haven’t watched Project Runway yet. Am I going to be mad?

And finally, this is pretty darn cool.

I made it even easier! You can listen and download right here :o)


 

This just a quick post to tell you to please go here and download a whole lot of very good songs by my brother for FREE! Support a musician! He’s talented and so very hardworking, and I think you will like him. I know I do, and I have very good taste in music.