Happy Thanksgiving

I'll bet my husband is having a splendid Thanksgiving feast at his parents house with the family. Turkey, potatos, corn, and momma Cheryl's homemade rolls...none of which I get to partake in because I'm too sick to fake a smile and enjoy a tasteless meal. However, I thought I'd make a list of what I can be thankful for, even as I sit on my couch in seclusion.

*I get to wear pajama's on Thanksgiving Day and no one can judge me for that.
*I won't gain 10 pounds by gorging myself
*The only clean-up I have is a pile of tissues...so easy!
*There are fabulous movies on television today

That's all I got and I really want some rolls. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

The Side Effects From Being a Chick

So I put together this "plan" for a co-worker and I to lose some of our squidgey edges (I mean fat). She just had a baby and wanted to lose weight, and I wanted to support her. Neither of us wanted to do any extreme dieting and then fall flat on our face 2 weeks later. Hence my "plan." It went as follows.

Week 1: Stop drinking the diet soda
Week 2: At LEAST 3 servings of fruits and veggies a day
Week 3: Limit ourselves to 2 treats a week
Week 4: Everything in portion size

I did it all so well. I was on a roll with no diet coke (the elixar of life) and I stayed true to this "plan". I told myself I wouldn't weigh in until the end of week 4 but I felt like I was doing so well that maybe I could weigh in at the end of week 3. And that's what I did. I was only expecting to maybe lose one pound or even 2 if I was lucky. When I got on the scale, I couldn't believe my eyes. I double checked - NAY - TRIPLE CHECKED and turns out I had gained 3 pounds. I was so ticked off I went downstairs to the pharmacy/gift shop at my work and bought the coldest diet coke they had and a some Rolos. And I think my pants fit a little looser today.

Movies!

It's been a weekend at the theater! Friday night we went with Neil and Felicia to see the Michael Jackson movie, "This Is It." Talk about an incredible display of mind bottling talent. Michael Jackson was most certainly a genius in his field. He wasn't just a singer or a dancer. He was an artist and I was blown away at how he was involved with each second of each little detail to this tour he was preparing for. The lighting, the sound effects, the background videos...it was inspiring to see someone have that much passion. The back up dancers and musicains were another story. It was all the best of the best and there wasn't one person in that whole film who didn't have outrageous talent. I left the movie debating if I was truly inspired or completely discouraged that I will never be that passionate about anything in this world other than Diet Coke.

Saturday night, it was Gary and I and Neil. Do you see a pattern here? Most everything we do involve the Larson's to some degree. We're just one big happy Foxboro Family. Moving on, our initial plan was to see "Paranormal Activity" but it was sold out by the time we got there. It's fine though because I didn't want to spend the evening wear wet pants. Plan B was "2012". Ah! Woah! Holy &@#*! and "Run you idiot!" Talk about a suspense! The personal stories in the movie were sweet and heart breaking, and there is always that one selfish idiot that you want to reach through the screen and strangle. I love natural disaster movies like "Twister" and "Day After Tomorrow" and "Deep Impact", but this one out did all of them. When we got in the car to go home we all kept talking and thinking about what we would do when the end of the world comes. It's a thinker!

And can I just take this last paragraph to complain about the nasty guy that sat in the seat next to me??? (Not Gary, the other guy). First of all, there was a couple sitting in his seat and his girl friends assigned seat, which seemed like an honest mistake, but don't think that this large smelling ash tray was forgiving or understanding to them. He practically sat on their laps before they could double check their tickets and move. I was afraid the verbal altercation was going to turn physical but luckily it didn't. Had that yucky man been pushed he would of landed on me and then I would of had to regurgitate all over him. Like I said he was a large man, smelled like stale cigarettes, and his pants were falling off a little. Not the preview I wanted to see before the movie. He relaxed his left leg over into my leg area, so I had to lift up the arm bar between me and Gary and share his seat practically. It didn't end there though. Every time he shifted in his seat, a nasty ash draft came our way and it reminded me that he was there. And then, when he realized that Danny Glover played the President of the U.S. in the movie, he had the most racial, derogatory comments to mumble about it. Then if there was a woman in the movie who was acting panicked or shocked and needed to run, he would yell out "run you #@&*! whore!" Ugh. I hope I never see this miserable human being again.

Let Me Explain - No...There Is Too Much

Alfredo - a cat Gary and I acquired whilst living in the Memory Lane Apartments. We saw other tenants with a cat or two so why couldn't we? Well, then the landlord told us to get rid of him 2 weeks later or else we'd be evicted. And to be honest I didn't care because I hated him.

Milton - I really wanted a dog when I got a house, but then it became clear that there was now way to give him a good life. Smaller house, no fenced/finished back yard, and he would of been alone a lot. So I had my bother sell him to someone else. Sad. Miss him.

Chips - This kitten was pretty gosh darn cute and we got him from a lady in Sugar House. Ew. Devil cat. Hated him. He peed in one of my shoes multiple times, he tore my left ankle to ribbons, and he thought one of our plants was an outhouse. Ugh! So we gave him away, but not quickly enough.

Bruce - I LOVED BRUCE!! He was a stray cat that hung out in our back yard and in the empty lot next door. He was such an adorable, mellow, fat cat that never bothered us to come inside and ruin our house. We kept feeding him just becasue we didn't know if he belonged to anyone and I wanted to make sure he had food. I would also brush him everyday because his fur was pretty long and fluffy. Then one day Bruce went MIA and we haven't seen him for months. Not sure what happened to him =(

Ashes - A lady from my work moved from her house to an apartment where she couldn't take the cat. Because I still had mountains of food and litter left over, I said I would take him and keep him fed. We kept him out in our garage for a while until it was obvious that he didn't like us at all and he was more than likely freaked out that he was taken from his home. Um...so...the neighbors have him now.

Stewie - Now this is a cat I can get on board with. I was at the Nursery Leaders house a few nights ago for a meeting, and when I came out, the cutest cat ever sprinted up to me and looked at me like "well? won't you pet me?" So I did. He followed me to my car, and when I opened the door he hopped inside and just layed down in the passenger seat and pretty much said "k, I'm ready let's go home." So I took him. I don't care if it was right or wrong to take this cat because I LOVE HIM! Anyone who really knows me, knows that I had a cat named Scotty a few years back, who was my little buddy until he had to be put down. I loved Scotty so much and I miss him. It's been almost 2 years since he's been gone. This cat is SO CLOSE to what Scotty was. Such a sweet little guy, so curious, so lovable, so funny, and he adores me and Gary. He lives in our garage and we let him in every day for a while to hang out with us. He loves to touch noses with us and pat his paw on our face. He loves watching the water run out of the faucet, and he loves to hidd under the couch covers. No accidents for him and he's let us know when he needs to go back outside to do his business. I hope this little guy works out.

With all the pets we've had, it's been interesting to see how different their personalities are and what works and what doesn't. Stewie is a cat that makes me love him. I have learned to really dislike cats this year and thought that I would never meet another cat that I loved as much as Scotty, but Stewie fits us like a glove.

And last but not least, I need to give a shout out to our baby Jewish Hampster, Pips who has seen us through a lot of animals, and has been the only one to stick around. She is such a trooper, such a stinker, and she's the cutest little bug of a hampster ever! We love this little thing!

Be Nice

I read this and loved it, so I had to share it. Kind of "soap box-ish" but I'm allowed once in a while!

When you approach a business to ask about something that you've asked about before, do you say "I spoke with that elderly lady over there."?

Can she hear you? If so, why not make her day? Why not say "I spoke with that nice lady over there."?

When you need to describe someone, do you go for the obvious? That fat man that sits up there. That skinny broad that answers the phone. That toothpick who sits in the first row.

Why? It's not fun to be pointed out like that.

Why not start making other people feel good. If you always look at a person, whether he or she is a stranger to you or not, as though they were a friend, you will have a friend. You know why? Because *What goes around, comes around.*

Let's look at it a different way. What if you went to a place of business and there was a lady there *pushing forty* -- and all the others working with her are all under thirty. Way under thirty. She's recovering from cancer. It was a beautiful day, she is wearing her favorite red silk blouse everyone says she looks terrific in, and she's feeling better than she has in a month! Then, you come in and single her out as that *older* lady? Now, she has something negative to focus on.

How about if someone weighs 200 pounds, he or she just had a successful week after losing ten pounds, and you come in and point him or her out as the fat person sitting over there?

What about the guy who has recovered from polio and walks with crutches. He's had a long hard grind, but he did it, he pulled through. Then, you come in the cafeteria and see *That gimpy guy with the crutches.* Wouldn't it be nice to go out of your way to find something great about him?

Get past the obvious immediately. Think of all the positive things you can. Literally take all the bad, awkward, or negative things, and in your mind, write them on a banner, then visualize that banner going into a garbage disposal. Now, take all the good things and write them on a banner. Make that list bigger and brighter. From now on when you think of that person, you'll see in your mind's eye the big, bright list.
Pass this on. Help others who's first tendency it is to label, which in turn promotes criticizing. Lots of people don't think about the injustice of labeling. Lots of people don't even realize they are labeling. Is that you? If so, you've just learned how to stop it.