Double Yuck

The two youngest girls both have ear infections. Poor dearies. Of course they didn't contract their symptoms at the same time, thus ensuing two separate doctor visits - lucky me.

They haven't been sleeping well at night due to the painful yuckiness, so they've found spots around the house to sleep during the day. It's the ONLY time they willfully take naps in unusual places.

Megan

Natalie

Now to find a comfy spot for John and I to recoup our sleep. I have to do a shout-out to John for volunteering to take Megan down to the recliner to sleep in the middle of the night so I could sleep after working with her for awhile. I am one lucky wife.

It's especially cute to see their older sisters cuddle with them. Priceless.

On a completely unrelated note, I attempted mock-fried rice the other night. Remember I'm on a low-carb, high protein kick for a few weeks. In case you were wondering if you wanted to try it, trust me when I say, you do NOT want to try fried cauliflower with soy sauce and fried rice seasoning. The real stuff is much better, I assure you.

P.S. If you weren't sure, the one on the left is the fake version with the real stuff on the right.

However, don't let this deter you from a low-carb, high protein diet - I'm a big believer in it as I'm seeing my body change shape, specifically my gut.

I like the fact that the diet incorporates a lot of extra vegetables in place of fat-inducers like rice, bread, potatoes, and pasta. I've been eating a fabulous zucchini soup for lunch that has tons of yummies in it like zucchini (obviously), tomatoes, peppers, chicken and black beans for protein, vegetable broth, and corn. Topped with a dollop of sour cream and cheddar cheese, it is delightfully delicious and very filling without extra carbs.

I also eat a lot of omelets, zucchini chunks in place of pasta (or peeled with a peeler and fried, though I haven't tried that yet), green salads and cottage cheese. I might very well get hooked, though I did indulge in my grandma's potatoes yesterday and a Large (yes, Large) chocolate shake with M&Ms from the Burger Stop on Saturday. Oh, and I discovered a most scrumptious pancake recipe that we indulged in not just Saturday morning, but Sunday morning and for me, even Sunday lunch because they were so yum. Yah, I didn't do so well with the carbs over the weekend, but today, so far-so good.

Viva Las Vegas - Oh The Possibilities!

We had a chance to escape to Las Vegas for a kid-less weekend, thanks to one big Great Dane. If you remember back to when we watched my brother-in-law and wife's Great Dane, the agreement was they'd watch our kids for a weekend in exchange. Sweetness!

I've never been to Las Vegas. I've always wanted to go and check it out - at least once for the experience. I can't say I fell in love with the place, but John and I did have a great time together and experienced quite a few Vegas possibilities that I will share for your enjoyment...

It is very possible to stay in a hotel the shape of a pyramid, which is where we stayed (the Luxor).

It is not possible to get bored in Vegas.

It is very possible to get hit with sensory overload in the place. As we were walking the strip the first night, I turned to John and said, 'It is like a bombardment on all of your senses here, isn't it?' To which he replied, 'No, it's a full-blown assault!'

I enjoyed going back to our hotel room just to escape the never-ending lights, smells, and noise. I was prepared for the lights, but had no idea every store front blasted music out onto the street, and every shop, restaurant, and casino was trying to blare their music louder than the next guy. While we're on the topic, does McDonalds and Motel 6 really need honkin' neon signs to flash out their presence? Apparently so in Vegas.

It is possible to get lost in a casino. Very lost. Just ask John - and he's the one with the good sense of direction.


Oh, the possibilities for rides of all shapes, sizes, and exorbitant amounts of mulah.
We did indulge in one of them- the New York New York roller coaster. It was thrilling. Not worth the $28 bucks though in my book. John begs to differ.

There are a few possibilities in Vegas that do not cost money, such as the Belagio Fountains. A definite must-see for all.

Here we are waiting for the fountains to begin.

And Wa-La! One of the few forms of free entertainment on the strip!

There are the possibilities of very expensive things to do in Vegas, such as the fabulous shows. We decided to see Phantom at the Venetian, which was relatively descent priced, and when we found out this is it's last run in the theater designed specifically for the musical, it became a must-see for us.

It was fabulous.

One other interesting thing I noticed about Vegas is their complete lack of places to sit around the city. They want us to walk along the strip and see all of the neat casinos, but you wanna guess where all the seats are at? Yup. In the casinos. Nary a seat in between those massive casinos.

For instance, we had been walking all morning long checking out the strip and our legs and feet began complaining, so we started looking for a place to sit down. It took us a good 15 minutes until we finally relented and took over some space in lobby of the Belagio.

Whilst resting, we noticed these babies above.

So I guess we weren't just taking up space. We were enjoying the artwork, right?

I have to admit, there were a lot of cool things to see and do in Vegas, like the Eiffel tower. We enjoyed the free-viewing section from below.

It is possible to visit Vegas without doing one iota of gambling. We're proof.

It is also possible to learn some new things in Vegas.
Yes, I learned for the first time what an oxygen bar was and that some people need straps on their drinking glasses to hold their large glasses full of alcohol - but aside from that, we walked into one shop that sold art pieces, including a bunch of Dr. Suess's sketch-ups, paintings, and sculptures. Bet ya' didn't know he did sculptures and paintings, huh? You see, he never sold any because he never needed to.

We sat and visited with the owner of the shop for a good 20 minutes - and we could do that, because it was one of the few places that wasn't blaring music. We learned that Dr. Suess did all of the drawings for his books. He even did all of the publishing work too. He would buy two plane tickets to New York - one seat for himself, and one for his box with his book in it. He would then proceed to the publisher and was the only author allowed into the different departments to publish his book.

Lastly, we learned that it is possible to escape the noisy strip for something a little quieter -

Red Rock Canyon.

It was so beautiful and serene you almost forgot you were in Vegas.

A fun time indeed - and a definite must-do for everyone. At least once anyway.

Purely Sinful

Sinfully Delightful, that is.

Yup, these babies are in THAT category.

John loves Oreos, so I thought this would be the perfect Valentine's treat for him - Oreo Truffles. They were fairly simple to make - Oreos in food processor, then mixed with cream cheese, rolled into balls, chilled, dipped in melted chocolate, and divine richness is made.

Rice...or is it?

Question of the Day: Rice in Bowl #1. Rice in Bowl #2, or is it?

I am trying something new with my food choices. I have been counting my points on and off again for the past 11 years - ever since Kimberly was born and the dreaded body changes of having babies set in.

I still remember after having Kimberly and wondering what that extra blubber was on my guttal region. In fact, I seriously thought it was somehow related to the c-section, so it would magically disappear on it's own.

No siree. It did not disappear on it's own. I even had the gall to ask my male doctor at my 6-week follow-up if it was just a side-affect from the surgery, or if it was indeed, F-A-T. He nonchalantly informed me that yes, it was indeed, Fat. I would like to think a female doctor would have been a little more kind about the bad news.

I attribute it to all those chocolates they delivered to my office the December I was in my last trimester of her pregnancy, oh, and of course, February too. Sadly, the extra 40 pounds gained from that pregnancy, only 10 decided to remove themselves from my frame. The other 30 or so I had to fight off by counting my food points. Every, single, ugly, point. Even apples were a point at the time! And I only had a few points a day to spare. Remember, I had to save points for my bowl of Cheerios before bed - that and my buttery bowl of popcorn after dinner.

Fast forward 11 years, and I am still counting points and fighting every pound that tries to demand it's way into my life. I dream of the pre-pregnancy days when food was all a luxury, with nary a worry about how many points, calories, or fat content landed their way onto my mouth-watering taste buds.

Alas, counting points did their job. I have to thank weight watchers for helping me out with all 4-post pregnancy fattage moments. I have hit a point though where counting points has not helped the 'muffin-top' that is the bain of many a women's guttals, including mine.

I am determined to get my pre-pregnancy tummy back. You know I'm determined when I considered looking into cutting back on my carbs, something I have never - Never - NeVeR even considered because I love me some potatoes, pasta, rice, and bread - the very essentials of every single dinner meal in our home. Mashed potatoes are my absolute favorite side dish - I'll even eat them for lunch.

When I moved out of my folks house way back when, they couldn't figure out why there were always so many mashed potatoes left over after dinner, and the fact that no one ate the leftovers from the fridge either. It was then they realized I was the sole eater of leftover potatoes, and I really did have several helpings of the stuff at dinner. I even beat my brother-in-law Justin in a mashed potato-eating contest - and he Loves the stuff too!

Okay, so this has turned into a reeaaallly long epistle about carbs - I really, and I mean really, had no intention of going on and on about this, but then again, you guys do remember I am a writer, right?

So, back to the rice and rice-look-alike picture. I decided last week after doing quite a bit of research about carbs, that I would cut back on the stuff. All of the bad ones anyway, and eat the foods that will actually work for me, not against me, which is what a lot of the bad carbs do - yup, they sit on our thighs, guts, and bums, just jamming away storing the fat your bod thinks it so badly needs. Well, okay, it needs fat, just not the pooch on my belly that rolls out over my jeans.

So, enter cali-rice!! While the rest of my clan enjoyed their hawaiian haystacks with rice, I enjoyed it with the most delicious cauliflower rice - it was actually quite tasty, something I didn't expect. I liked it so much, I had the leftovers for lunch the next day, and I'm looking forward to my next cali-rice dish!

Okay, it's not always as exciting as it's cracked up to be. Tonight, we had roast, carrots, potatoes, and my mother-in-law's famous muffins (which by the way mom, we make every Sunday with our dinners because they're so good), and I had to bypass the oh-so-yummy muffins and potatoes in favor of....cottage cheese. I know, not the most yummy replacement, but it is what it is.

We'll see how it goes, but so far, I'm seeing improvement. My goal is to stick with it for 6 weeks and see if I can tell a difference. Who knows, I might just get addicted to the cauliflower rice. Oh, and I did give up my Cheerios for breakfast in favor of a special low-carb, high protein Special K cereal. It's not too bad, but I very much miss my Cheerios. I think I'm looking forward to having those back even more than potatoes.

In the words of Tony from Power 90, Bring it on!

What I've Been Up To

I've been writing a lot of stories of late - thank you to my editor for sending them my way.

I've also been practicing the piano every spare minute I have preparing for some trumpeters I'm accompanying at solo & ensemble in a few weeks. I can't decide if I like the challenge or detest the difficult pieces. I started out in the detesting mode, but John called it and I am now starting to enjoy the challenge, especially now that the pieces are coming together.

Kimberly and I made it up skiing to Brighton resort last Saturday - fun times, especially now that there is snow in Utahland. I remember how much I love skiing every time I get onto the slopes, and Kimberly seems to love it just as much as I do, if not more.

The girls have been busy with craft projects, as usual. This time, they decided to paint on the pieces of ice they found in the yard. So clever!

That's it for now. Hope ya'll are doing well!