Nothing Tastes As Good...

Remember when the collective media jumped all over Kate Moss for saying "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"? I think she eventually explained that she was paraphrasing someone else, but that's probably easier advice to follow when you enjoy as many...uppers as she has.

I could at least adopt "nothing tastes as good as just fitting into my own pants feels," but I only get so far before someone challenges me to bake these cookies with unsweetened coconut and see how they turn out:

Incidentally,they are delicious with unsweetened coconut. And egg free. Except that's not a thing since eggs are good for you. It just means you can eat the dough with a spoon. You can find the recipe at Averie Cooks.

On the balance of fitting into my own pants, I just bought a workout video from the Hilliard Studio Method in hopes of being magically transformed:

(they even say it's transformative, via The SoGood)

This may be a Mindy Lahiri delusion of grandeur, but it can't hurt. Actually, it can. It will probably make every muscle in my body hurt, but pants people! Keep your eye on the pants.

Ford and Eleanor getting in on the exercise mat action yesterday:

Breech of Contract

Here's something not to do. Google pictures of frank breech babies at birth. It's like a bad yoga joke.

 

Her expression says it all. Also, baby chiropractic care is in her future. 

Mountain Munchkin Two, aka Baby Girl C has been frank breech for the last two and a half weeks. I'm 35 weeks along, so there is still time for her to get herself into the head-down position to be born, but the days are ticking by and the bigger she gets, the less room to do a somersault.  Turn, baby, turn.

The interwebs have turned up all kinds of interesting ideas to turn a breech baby. A selection:

 1. Talk to her: "Babies are smart! They know what they need to do, but sometimes they need a little encouragement. Have a conversation with her about why this is important."

2. Self-hypnosis: "Baby or I may be holding on to something deep in our sub-conscious that's holding us back. Time to relax and let go."

 3. Go upside down: Spinning Babies.com, y'all. Because who wouldn't want to lie on an inclined ironing board and give themselves a headache to back that baby up? Alternately:

 4. Excite some molecules with burning mugwort: aka moxibustion. It's an acupuncture/Chinese medicine practice.  I have no idea how this works, but it seems pretty harmless, so why not?

5. Frozen peas: If someone plopped a bag of frozen vegetables on your head, you'd run away, right? The idea here is that cold on baby's head and a heating pad at her feet can encourage her to move towards the heat.

6. Music: Same idea. Babies like music, so play music where you want her head to be.

If Ford has not already taught us that children will do what they want to do, irrespective of their parents' wishes (i.e. my wish to avoid another c-section), then this little hurdle is certainly a good reminder.  Let it go, let it flow. Ommmm.......

Dueling Banjos

Steve Martin and Kermit the Frog in "Dueling Banjos" from Steve Martin      

This just made my day!

Of Ungulates and Men

First it was The Purl Bee's "meta-project" a sheep pillow knitted from merino sheep yarn:

I have a friend who would swoon over this squishy sheep and I would make it for her if it didn't require $88.00-worth of special yarn (I've mourned a Purl Bee knitting project over the staggering cost of their fancy yarn before).

Squishy, expensive sheep aside, this video has been blazing across the internet today. Clearly I needed the stress relief at work because I had tears and mascara streaming down my cheeks afterwards:

Some Laughs

From my Pinterest Randoms Board.

 

 

Ford discovers the oh-so-catchy Gotye.

Not Impressed

Grounded

Well, we were supposed to be getting up at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning to catch a flight to Chicago for a work event and weekend of fun with old friends....but Ford has a respiratory virus, so we are grounded in Missoula and have to keep him home from daycare because he's so contagious.  Serious reversal of fortune, at least in the short run! Time to focus on getting the munchkin healthy again.

For lack of much else going on, here's what has me tickled pink on the internets of late:
Text from Hillary:

Golf Boys.

Not exactly Jack and Arnie, but I like this new brand of PGA tour member with a sense of humor, unlike say....

The Marshmallow Test

I dunno, this may have made it's way around the blogosphere ages ago, but I just found it and it cracked me up.  Would I have been able to wait for that second marshmallow? I've been known to lack willpower when it comes to sugary goodies, but also have a pretty stubborn, determined streak...

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

Bon Weekend: Pee Your Pants Edition

I almost woke up Ford in the next room with the white noise AND the dishwasher running I was laughing so hard:

Rants From Mommyland.  Funniest. Blog. Ever.

Nightlife = Watching Masterpiece Theater

So we have not gotten around to hiring a sitter so that we can go out to supper once Ford goes to sleep. Given his current habit of conking out between 6:30 and 7:00 PM we should seriously get on it.

But why go out when it's fun to cook and more importantly, there's the soapy, posh goodness of Downton Abbey in which to indulge? Seriously, y'all, we are on that Downton bandwagon with lots of other Brits and Americans. It's like Dallas or Dynasty with better accents and less crazy hair. And Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess.

And then there's the Downton Abbeyoncé Tumblr.  Makes me a little less cranky about the shenanigans that Ms. Knowles and Jay-Z pulled shutting down the whole damn maternity ward in NYC last week. Anyway.

Healthy Food and a Healthy Dose of Humor

Don't you love it when you make something healthy for dinner and it turns out to be incredibly good? I found this Quinoa Vegetable Pilaf recipe on Epicurious and went for it because we had some quinoa in the cupboard and asparagus are just coming into season (somewhere sort of near here, I guess), but I thought it would be one of those meals I feel good about eating as opposed to really enjoying.  Anyway, it was seriously delicious.  Score another one for quinoa! And peas, mint, shallots and asparagus.  Yum.

This came by email yesterday with the caption "Well, the Church ladies threw my cookies out of the bake sale again."

 Now you know what to do with the dog bone cookie cutter in your collection.

The Dog House

Not really about dogs.  But really funny.  No hankie required like the last one.

The Not So Winning Face of Temperance

"I mean seriously, wouldn't you just keep drinking?"

Related, sad story: In 8th grade, we did a unit called "HerStory" and were each assigned a woman of note from American history.  Our history teacher gave me Frances Willard, one of the leaders of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.  

After I quite literally cried over the sheer boredom of it all, good old Mrs. McCallum explained that she gave me this joyless, probably miserably closeted lesbian because she knew I was the only one who would actually stick with it and finish the project.  That said a lot about the girl who got Janis Joplin, yes, but did not really make me feel any better!

Captain Kirk is Climbing The Mountain

Shatner on the Mount:

Bike Humor and Other Things

So very true.

I've gotten into a habit of making tomato soup on Sunday nights--it just feels easy and comforting at the end of the weekend.  The last version I tried came from Williams Sonoma and included fennel.  It was interesting, but I'm sort of lukewarm on fennel.  Alice Waters' version from The Art of Simple Food used 1 leek and an onion instead.  It was homey and perfect.  And I forgot to take pictures, but it basically went like this:
Warm 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter in a dutch oven. Add:
1 yellow onion,  thinly sliced
1 small leek, white and pale green parts thinly sliced
1 pinch of salt
Cover and stir occaisionally until the onions and leeks soften, but do not brown.  Then add:
1 garlic clove, sliced
A little water if needed
Cook for about 2 minutes more, then add:
2 lbs of fresh tomatoes, cored and sliced
3-4 fresh basil leaves (I sprinkled on some Penzey's Tuscan Sunset too)
1 scant tsp of salt
Cook over med-low heat until the tomatoes begin to fall apart.  Then add:
1 cup of water or chicken broth
3 tsp of white rice (leave this out if you want a thinner soup)
Cook for 10 minutes more, then remove from heat and puree in batches or in the pot with an immersion blender.  Season to taste with salt and pepper (it'll need it).

Ms. Waters says to then pour the soup through a mesh strainer to get rid of skins and seeds, but we just went for it a little chunky and it was fine. 

Photo courtesy of Vegan Yum Yum

Other food adventures:  Vegan Yum Yum's Avocado Wasabi Salad with Chickpeas, Broccoli and Carrots.  I've made this twice now it two weeks.  It was so filling, even the Mountain Man didn't want seconds.  [Full disclosure: I also made him a piece of cheesy toast, so it wasn't so vegan in the end].  Healthy and satisfying.  Seriously.

A Word to the Wise

Amen.

Apropos of Nothing: Census Edition

I'm battling a rotten head cold and spent so much time painting over the weekend that I forgot to take photos.  I think I'll wait until they finish the floors this week to post an update.  That's when things will really start to look amazing!

Meanwhile, as part of my day job as a planner, I (and all my planner colleagues) get very, very excited about new census data.  So in honor of the short forms appearing in your mailbox and you doing your civic (and, ahem, legal duty) to fill them out and return them, here's a little old school SNL to remind you of what not to do:

Start Acting Crazy

Al Gore has had quite the week of good, green fun. 

Here We Go Again

Tater the Cat and I feel similarly about Monday mornings.

That's Some Crazy Sheep, Man

I'm pretty sure we met with very ram in Sinks Canyon, WY outside Lander last month. He was
bold. But he didn't do this!