Happy Tuesday!

I'm not from Louisiana, but I feel the need to wish everyone a Happy Fat Tuesday!

I've been to Mardi Gras once in my life (2010), and it was a lot of fun. There were lots of people in the street having a blast, and there was much alcoholic frivolity to be had. So, here's to you and yours, wherever you may be. Have fun and be frivolous. Eat King Cake if you can (I wish I could).

Here's a picture of the King Cake I enjoyed when I visited New Orleans.

It was so good. I wish I could just has a little nibble of it right now.

Today is also a special day for those in the UK. I just learned that today is called Shrove Tuesday over there.

You know how they celebrate Shrove Tuesday in the UK? With pancakes. Apparently, since it is the day before Lent, people will eat a rich dinner of pancakes as one last hurrah before beginning the fast or restriction of their choosing for Lent. I'm not the biggest pancake fan. But if I had one from the Netherlands right about now, I would eat it. Those pannekkokens are so good.

See that tasty creation? That's the pancake I got to eat in Amsterdam. It has cheese, mushrooms and bacon. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

But I digress. Here's a happy Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday to everyone who celebrates.

War Against Lemons

How often does this happen to you when you go out to a restaurant?

Let me elaborate. How many of you order a glass of water at restaurants only to have it come to your table with a piece of lemon stuck to the side of the glass? I'm sure this happens 3 out of 4 times when you order water. Yes, I could very well say "Water, no lemon" (and I do sometimes), but really, why should I have to specify "No Lemon"? If I order water, that is what I want...water. It's that simple. And if you want to put ice in it, that's fine because it's still just water.

Here are my top 3, very valid reasons for not wanting a server to just assume I want lemon and put it on my glass.

1. With lemons come the chance for seeds and with seeds come the chance for choking. More often than not, I'll take a sip of water that's had the yellow atrocity stuck to the side of the glass only to be coughing when one of its seeds invades my throat. I really don't want a glass of water with a side of Heimlich maneuver.

2. Lemon wedges are teeming with germs. I'm not making this up. A quick internet search gave me this quote:

Two-thirds of the lemon slices [tested] had bacteria on either the rind or the pulp (Journal of Environmental Health, Dec., 2007).

Think about it, lemons are sliced and then left in a container exposed to the open air and whatever pathogens may be floating around. I really don't need to have dinner with a side of E. coli.

3. I don't like someone making assumptions and adding something to my order. I mean, I've never ordered a steak and had the chef just include a slice of country ham with it. So, why would you assume that if I order water, I want fruit in it?

By the way, the same thing goes for beer. Although I can't really stand Blue Moon or Corona, if I ever order it, please don't assume I want fruit floating in it. I don't understand when this need to garnish with fruit started. You don't have to put a lime wedge on a margarita glass for me to know it's lime flavored.

Basically, if you feel the urge to put a piece of citrus in my water, just ask me. You know what they say about assumptions.

There's a nap for that

Having trouble getting going in the morning? Feeling sluggish despite the coffee? Wishing you could just close your eyes for 5 more minutes? There's a nap for that.

Staring at a computer monitor for most of the morning got you sleepy? Looking to lay your head on your desk for just a few winks? There's a nap for that.

Does the warm comfort of having food in your belly make you feel drowsy? Wishing your lunch break involved a bed on the side of your burger? There's a nap for that.

Got that 3:30 feeling with no "5 Hour Energy" to keep you going? Want to incorporate sleep into your multi-tasking routine? There's a nap for that.

In case you're wondering, I could really go for a nap about now.

My Favorite Facebook Picture

I don't usually like wading through the mess of pictures that people post on Facebook. I guess most of the time I don't appreciate the sentiment they convey. But there was one I saw a couple of months ago that makes me laugh every time I look at it.

I have no idea why I find this picture to be so funny. I think part of it is because now every time I hear "Africa" by Toto, I imagine a little cairn terrier is singing it. The other part is that I'm a sucker for animal related photographs. And I guess a small part of the pure comedic genius that is expressed with just a couple of words. I would really like to shake the hand of the person who created this image.

And now, it's time for you all to press play, close your eyes and imagine that cute little cairn terrier crooning away to this song. You know you're going to.

Click here to listen to this cool song (and imagine the pup singing it).

"When are we going to make babies?"

The title may leave you feeling a little...perplexed. However, I found it quite funny. Yesterday, out of the blue, Cliff said, "When are we going to make babies?" I just had to laugh because I knew to what he was referring, but it's a statement I never thought I would hear him utter.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Cliff and I recently adopted more sugar gliders to add to our little glider family. After losing Gadget and Mika, we really felt there was a hole in our lives that we wanted to fill with more suggies. But we both decided that we wanted it filled with the pitter patter of baby glider feet. So, we started looking for some unneutered boys for our family. At first, we were only going to get an intact male to mate with our Gizzy, but sometimes, things happen for a reason. We ended up adopting 2 intact males and 2 females. And they are really very sweet gliders. And we've since decided that Gizzy and Jack are too close a family to split them up, so we'll just mate one of the new males with one of the new females (most likely Ollie and Gabby). Here's a pic of the new boys. I wish I had one of the new girls to share, but they are quick (and apparently camera shy).

Ollie and Monty 

So, back to the matter at hand "When are we going to make babies?" I know it should be as easy as lighting some candles, putting on some Barry White and offering a romantic dinner of mealworms and BML, but I want to be prepared for this. After all, I need to know what to expect. We've sort of been through it before since Mika had joeys in her pouch when we got her, but she was almost at the end of her mommy-rearing stage, that we really didn't have to do too much to prepare for welcoming Gadget and Gizzy into the colony. So, I'm doing a little more research.

I'm really looking forward to having more baby gliders. It's really funny when the joeys start getting too big to fit in the mommy's pouch. When Mika was bursting at the seams with Gadget and Gizzy, she would start shoving their body parts back in her pouch. It really is strange (and awesome) to see legs and tails protruding from a mommy's belly.

This image from Suzsugargliders.com shows a couple of body parts sticking out of the pouch.

 

 

But once the babies start coming out into the cage, it is quite the spectacle. They don't normally venture far from their sleeping bag, but when they do, they ride on Mom's or Dad's back. It is so adorable. And I love the fact that daddy glider is so involved with rearing the offspring.

How sweet is this?

So, yes, I'm definitely ready to make babies...just not the human kind.

Take Comfort

It's a happy morning. I'm sitting in the glow of my lamps at my desk, sipping on a cup of decaf coffee, looking at the sunlight streaming in through the window of the office next to me, and I just feel really, really content. It's a morning like this where I really appreciate all the wonderful things in my life. And so, dear reader, you get to read about all the comforts I'm so grateful for in my life:

• Memory foam to top my bed
• A soft pillow to rest my head
• The arms of my man, so sweet and true
• A kiss from my dogs when I am blue
• The awe I feel when the suggies glide
• When Bingles lies down at my side
• Cooking a meal to rave reviews
• Playing a game I know I can't lose
• Socks to keep my tootsies warm
• Falling asleep to the sound of a storm
• The warmth on my face from the sun above
• Waking every day beside the man I love

Ok, looks like this was just a cheesy way to write a poem. But since it has been a while since I've been motivated to write poetry, I'll be grateful for the inspiration as well.

Confessions

Hello dear (non-existent) readers. It's the new year and that's normally a time of resolutions. This year, I am not resolving to do anything. You know why? It just sets me up for failure. So instead of sharing some resolutions, I thought I would share some confessions.

Confession 1:
If people came into my house, they would immediately call the Hoarders TV show.

Ha ha...that's not my house. Although, this is the cleanest hoarding situation I've ever seen. Have you ever watched that show? It's so dirty that I immediately want to start tidying up my own house. So, no, I'm not really a hoarder. I'm just extremely lazy. I have the tendency to let things pile up (like the laundry, the Christmas presents, the pets). I really need some motivation to at least make my home a little less cluttery and more comfortable.


Confession 2:
I have an eating disorder.

Nope, it's not that one...

It's definitely not this one...

Yep, that looks like me (although, I don't have a beard and mustache, I'm not animated and I'm a woman).

I am an overeater. Don't roll your eyes, it really is a horrible thing. But the good news is that most days, I'm able to beat it. I did have a mental breakdown about it on New Years Eve, which I detailed on my fitness blog (read post here). Since I made the commitment to be healthier a year ago, I have done well in getting my overeating tendencies under control. But honestly, it's always so hard. I hope that someday I won't be constantly timing when the next snack can be consumed or constantly calculating how much of a particular food I can have and still maintain. That day will come, but until then, I will continue to fight.


Confession 3:
I feel completely lost without my Cliff.

I don't know how the artist got such an amazing likeness of us on this picture. I mean seriously...how could he tell that my head is twice the size of my body.

Ok, let the "Awwwwws" begin. This is less a confession as a statement of fact. But I am hopelessly, head-over-heels, completely smitten with this man. He is the only person I've ever known who can reel me in when my emotions come stampeding to the forefront. He is the only person who to this day can state my exact thoughts a half second before I voice them.

Ok, you got me. This is just a way for me to tell the world (again) how much I adore this man and how utterly lucky I am to have him in my life.


Confession 4:
I am addicted to blogging.

I have four blogs that I update on a fairly regular basis...moving along.


Confession 5:
I'm not currently pursuing my dream.

This is probably true of most people out there. While I do like my job and I especially love the people who work in my company, it is not my dream. Sometimes I wonder what my dream is. There are a few things I love.

Everyone knows I love animals, and I had often thought that someday I would do something to help in their rescue. The closest I've come is being a foster mommy for ferrets.

 

 I obviously love to cook as evidenced by the myriad of mundane recipes that I post on my Amateur Domestic blog. My dream isn't being a school cafeteria worker like our pal Chef there, but rather, to be a regular chef and have people love my food. Unfortunately, I don't think I would take too kindly to criticism, so being Cliff's personal chef is about as close as I've come to fulfilling this dream. I know that professional chefs don't make much money, but I guess it's the closest I've come to finding something artistic that I enjoy.

This is kind of a combination of the two dreams above. I think it would be fun to run a pet retail shop, especially if I had a nice section for exotic animals. I love learning about new pets, and I love sharing my knowledge of pets with other people. Currently, I make a food mixture for my sugar gliders. I also have a recipe I created for peanut butter bites that my puppies love. I would love to be able to sell the food I make for my pets for other pet owners who either don't have the time or inclination to make food for their animals. I know my pets don't appreciate the food I make like a human would, but the fact that they gobble up their food and treats is appreciation enough for me.

So, there's my confessions for 2013. Nothing mind boggling, nothing that most people who know me don't already know. But it helps to start the slate fresh in the new year. Peace be to you and yours.