Shades of Green

Every once and awhile I will take a picture of some strange or obscure object and it will turn out to be one of my favorites. I took this one in my yard the other day when I was out cavorting with the wildlife. I don't even know what it is. Is it grass? Is it a weed? All I know is that I like it. It's such a simple picture and kind of weird, but I like the different shades of green and texture.

Blue is my favorite color, but green is pretty close. Right now our yard is really green. It reminds me of the summers my mom used to take me to Vermont. I couldn't believe how green it was there. But even so, it's like that at my house right now and there's such a variety of shades of green, especially in the back where our yard goes up a hill into the forest. There are so many different colors of green. Click here to see what I mean.

What a zoo!

Today is National Jones Wildlife Day. What? You've never heard of this holiday? Okay, I made it up, but it's true. I've been looking forward to today for awhile because it was supposed to get up to 86 degrees. I planned to spend all day sitting out on the deck enjoying the sun, which is something we haven't seen much of lately. I didn't however, realize it would be so utterly crazy out there today. It started off as usual with me putting out the birdfeeder. A few minutes later I saw a doe and a brand new fawn walking up the hill. Awww, how cute, I thought and figured I would try to take a picture next time I saw them. Yeahrightsure.

Around 10:30am I make it outside and it's practically deafening with ravens just a little ways from our house. There has to be a kill somewhere. They did this last September and you might remember me going over there to see what was going on. I found a carcass that had probably been killed by a mountain lion or bear. So, something is out there again because the ravens are going nuts. The more they scream, the more ravens hear and come over. It will get louder and louder until they eat whatever it is. Yum yum.

Then there's my little squirrely friend. He keeps running up to the feeder, crams a few seeds in his mouth, and then bounces back to wherever he's stashing them. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Every now and then he stops to look at me, or scold me for moving too fast. He even jumped off the deck railing (it's high!) and chased a poor chipmunk away. I know some people hate squirrels, but they make me laugh. If you've ever seen a squirrel hop along a deck railing, then you know what I'm talking about. Check my Facebook page later because I'm going to put a video up of the little guy bouncing back and forth.

The birdfeeder is always the happening place and the birds don't seem to mind me being there. The red breasted nuthatches crack me up. These birds get one seed and fly away. Then they jam the seed into the bark of a tree to crack it open. But for some reason, they insist on their flight pattern going directly over me. They get so close I can feel the wind when they go by. The black capped chickadees and mountain chickadees do the same thing and take one seed and fly away with it. Then there's the pine siskens, who are somehow able to make this incredibly loud SCREECH for such tiny birds.

Around noon it starts calming down, so I switch from my chair to a rickety, old lounge chair so I can lie on my stomach. That's when I realize there's a bunch of wildflowers blooming and how it would be nice to take some pictures. I start to get up, only to see another deer wandering through the yard. And wouldn't you know it -- she plops herself down right where the flowers are. Typical. So, I go inside to make lunch and bring it out to eat on the deck. Mrs. Bambi is still there and doesn't look like she's going to budge. I don't want to scare her because now is the time they start giving birth. I can't see if that's what she's doing or just resting. So, I'm eating lunch when a robin decides to land on a tree stump just a few feet away. Nothing says yummy yums like seeing a robin with 8-10 grubs sticking out of its beak while you try to eat your turkey roll -- ack! There's also a pilated woodpecker flying around the area. When I don't hear her kuk, kuk, kuk noise, I can tell where she is by the drumming on the trees. I get a few pictures of her and know she's a she because she doesn't have the red moustache like the males. After I eat, I get up and take some flower pictures on the other side of the house. When I come back, the deer is still there.

In addition, there's a female red crossbill in the feeder and I have to walk by that. She doesn't want to move and I don't want to scare her. So, I snapped some pictures of her and then slowly creep by. She doesn't seem to care. I sit back down and she stays there awhile longer, allowing me to take a few more pictures. These birds are cool because their beaks actually cross. She finally flies away, so I go back to lie on the lounge chair. I'm waiting for the deer to get up, but she's resting all comfy. So, I'm lying there on my stomach with my arms at my side. They start to fall asleep so I have to move them, only to find that some stupid spider had managed to spin its web all over me. So, there I am, fighting with spiderwebs and shooing away a million flies -- or 3 very persistent ones.

Finally, Mrs. Bambi decides to get up and leave. I didn't see any fawns, so she must have just been resting. She starts going up the hill, so I figured I could get a picture of the flowers. So, I'm over in the dirt in my bathing suit and bare feet taking pictures of an orange flower that I know is really just a weed. I look up and Mrs. Bambi is back! She's munching on plants and doesn't seem to mind me, which is odd because they usually snuff, stomp, and take off when they see people. I get a few good shots of her, but she's in no hurry to go, so I plop down in the weeds and dirt to wait. I wait ... and wait ... and wait. Finally, I have to go to the bathroom so bad that I have to get up and go to the front door, which I knew was locked. I would have had to walk right by her if I went back the way I came. Fortunately, the boys were in the living room and let me back inside.

Cripes! So much for a relaxing day on the deck!

Got Smaps?

Those of you who have known me for awhile know I'm a huge cereal lover. I grew up in the 70s and cereal was a big deal. We didn't have the internet or iPods or even remote controls for our TVs way back then. We had cereal -- and most came with a cool prize. We had to dig for that prize the second we got home and, GOD FORBID if your brother or sister got to it first! The prize pretty much dictated what cereal we'd buy.

As I got older, I never grew out of my love for cereal. You can imagine my frustration going on a low-carb eating plan and realizing cereal was out of the question. They might make low-sugar cereals, but all of them are loaded with carbs, which is basically sugar from other ingredients. So, I stopped eating cereal for a long time. Finally, I came across this brand above. It's called Smaps and is by a company called Dixie Diner, which specializes in low-carb foods. A one pound bag costs me about $10 minus shipping. It's an awful lot for a bag of cereal, I know, but I'm the only one that eats it. One bag can last me a long time. If I were to describe it to you, I'd say it has the texture of Rice Krispies, but is more hard and crunchy like Grape Nuts. It has a light maple flavor and the best part for me is that it is only 2 net carbs per serving. So, I'm a happy camper being able to have a bowl of cereal every now and then.

I was thinking about cereal this morning and it came to mind that there are certain cereals I just have to add specific things to besides milk. Some of those are ...

Cheerios with bananas

Rice Krispies with strawberries

Grape Nuts with blueberries or huckleberries

Oatmeal with raisins

Chocolate Malt-O-Meal with mini chocolate chips

Regular Malt-O-Meal with butter and sugar

This was before I started eating low-carb, obviously. I'm looking forward to huckleberry season because I think a couple of those would be awesome in Smaps. I no longer drink regular cow's milk either. I had no idea how much hidden sugar (carbs) was in milk. Now I drink unsweetened almond milk, which I like just as much, if not more. It's way lower calories and has more calcium than plain milk. The brand I buy (Silk) is 0 carbs, too.

So ... what's your favorite cereal and do you add something to it?

Pony Strings & Critter Things

I'm happy to share the new cover for the third book in my Critter Series -- Pony Strings & Critter Things. The book will be illustrated by Ginger Nielson and published by 4RV Publishing, LLC. I'm not sure of a release date just yet. The first two books in the series were illustrated by Nikki Shoemaker-Boetger, but she was unable to continue, so Ginger stepped in. I've always loved Ginger's work, but I was a little worried how the books would look with the change. I was thrilled when I saw Ginger kept the cover design the same, while still allowing her own illustration style to come through. I'm really happy with it. I've seen a couple of the inside illustrations, too, and it looks like it's going to be a GREAT book. And what's even more exciting is that there's a possibility of a fourth Critters book coming out. I haven't signed a contract yet, but my publisher has expressed an interest in the manuscript I've submitted already. So, this is really exciting on the Critters front!

Two more things ...

First, I'm hoping the second Dilly book will be released soon. In A New Friend for Dilly, our little pickle-loving rat goes searching from A to Z to find the perfect friend. This book covers a variety of animals using every letter of the alphabet. And second, The Marshmallow Man has his own page on Facebook now. He was feeling a little left out, being Dilly and the Critter books had their own pages. So, if you wouldn't mind, please go over there and 'like' his page so he feels like he has a few friends. I know he's a snot -- always laughing at people and running away -- but even snots need friends. Maybe he and Dilly should get together and discuss this sometime.

Disney's PhotoPass

We got our Disney PhotoPass CD the other day. When we went to Disney World we had signed up for the PhotoPass feature. They give you a card to hand to photographers throughout the parks, usually at the prime photo locations. My ILs paid for this and they're getting a really cool memory book. I'm having it shipped to me so I can see it first before sending it to them. I spent several days designing it, so I'd at least like to see it. We're keeping the CD that has a lot of the pictures.

This picture is one of those, taken at the Animal Kingdom with the Tree of Life in the background. Personally, I don't know if I'd pay for this service every time I went, but it was nice to do it once. I'm hoping the memory book for my ILs turns out well, especially since they don't take a lot of pictures. What was nice was that I could upload my pictures to add to the book along with the ones the Disney photographers took, so that was cool. My ILs are already talking about going back. I told you they loved it there.

So ... how are you?

I need to catch up on everyone's blogs. As you know, I've been having a heck of a time with Blogger lately. My friend Deb told me she was having problems and they started when she switched from Internet Explorer 8 to version 9. That's about the time I started having problems, so I had Rick switch my laptop back to IE8. So far, I've noticed a little change, like being able to highlight words and add spaces between paragraphs. It's still not back 100% and it won't keep me logged in. If I try to justify my paragraphs, everything gets messed up. I've tried deleting my cookies, but that hasn't helped. Some blogs I can't reply to at all. It's frustrating. Blogger says they're aware of the problems, so I hope they can figure it out soon.

In other news -- I had an idea for a picture book the other day, so I've been working on that. Thanks to all my friends who answered my question on Facebook about whether their kids prefer dinosaurs or crocodiles more. I got a lot of helpful replies. I went with crocodiles, but it's the type of book that I could easily do a dinosaur one as well. It's not so much a story, but more about different types of crocodiles. I'm revising it now, so if it ever becomes worth submitting, I might consider doing another one about dinosaurs. Both would work, as would other animals. I'm also plotting a middle grade story, but I haven't started writing anything down yet. When I do, I will be researching things like harmonicas, shotguns, wilderness survival, and mental illness. How's that for wild and crazy research!

My weight-loss is still coming along, although I haven't lost anything these past 2 days. That's okay because I was really on a roll there last week. I figured it would slow down for a bit. I have 7 more pounds to reach my goal now. I'm pretty confident I can get there if I keep doing what I've been doing. I've gotten some cool comments from my family lately ...

Rick said, "Hey there, skinny!"

Nathan said, "Mommy, you lost your fatness!"

Rick said, "You're half the size you used to be."

Nicole said, "You're so friggin' tan!"

Funny comments, but I love them. In all honesty, it's really hard to see myself as thin because I've been overweight for so long. I guess I'm getting there. I went to buy a bra the other day and made the discovery I'd gone down 3 sizes and 1 full cup. Maybe that's TMI, but it's pretty drastic. Did I lose 67 pounds in my chest? Sheesh. This diet has been very easy for me, so that's made it worthwhile. It's a lot harder for Rick because he hasn't been able to find as many substitute foods that he likes. For me though, it's been relatively easy. I don't see it as a diet persay, but more as a new way of eating, so I'll continue it as I maintain my goal weight. I'm also really enjoying exercising for the first time in my life. My arms are taking on some shape, other than flabby, and I can actually see my biceps. It might sound silly, but little things like being able to feel your hip bones or see your collar bones is a big deal.

So ... what's new in your neck of the woods?

Stylish Blogger Award

Way back in May, Deb awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award on her blog, The Bumpy Road. I'm not surprised I missed this, especially with being at Disney World as well as all the trouble Blogger has been giving me lately. It still won't let me post on some people's blogs. Some I can leave replies anonymously, but others won't let me do that even. Anyway, in order to receive the Stylish Blogger Award, I am to share 7 little known things about myself and then pass the award onto other bloggers. This will be tricky because Blogger will not let me highlight anything, post links, or even edit what I've written. So, if you see your name, please let everyone know where they can find you. I apologize in advance. So, 7 little known things about me ...

1. I sleep on the left of the bed at home, but on the right in our trailer.

2. I don't like manicures, pedicures, massages, etc.

3. I will lie in the same spot for hours so my cat can sleep undisturbed.

4. I love the shows Married With Children and Everybody Loves Raymond.

5. I watch cartoons without my kids being in the room.

6. I just recently learned that I like pecans -- who knew?

7. I don't have one bra that fits me right now -- they're all too big.

So, there you have it -- 7 little known, obscure things about me. This was tricky because I've done these before and am pretty much an open book most of the time. I guess that comes from my love of writing because it's just easy to blurt things out at times. Now, I'd like to pass the award onto the following people, but please remember that Blogger hates me and won't let me edit or add links.

1. Kim @ Kim Kasch Blogsite

2. Bish @ Random Thoughts

3. Daphne @ Miss Daphne

4. Nora @ Lemons for Lemonade

5. Kelly @ Kelly Polark

Squirrely Squirrel!

This is one of the pictures I took for Nature Photography Day yesterday. If you want to see the one I added to the link, check my Facebook page. It rained a little yesterday and I didn't spend much time outside, so I only got a handful of pictures to consider. Most were of the squirrel, but I also got ones of a red-breasted nuthatch and evening grosbeak. Right now this little squirrel is running back and forth. He runs up to the feeder, chases all the birds away, eats a few seeds, and then runs back with a few to bury up on the hill. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. He's been driving Denny nuts. One thing that's interesting about red squirrels is that the females are only in heat for one day, but can mate with up to 4-16 males. Sheesh -- that's a lot of little squirrely cigarettes to light! The female gestation period is only about a month long and they can have 1-5 each litter. Most litters have 3-4 offspring, which is what I've seen at my house. There was a squirrel I named Nips because she was nursing and well ... you know. I don't think she's around anymore, but her 3 babies are and they're crazy things. I'm pretty sure the squirrel in this picture is one of her babies. Here he comes again -- back and forth, back and forth ...

Nature Photography Day

Today is Nature Photography Day. If you go to www.nanpa.org you'll see they have a page on Facebook where you can add your pictures. It's not a contest and there's no fee. The only condition is that you must take the picture TODAY. I'm still in my PJs, so obviously I haven't been outside yet, but I hope to get something taken today and submit it just for fun. How about you? This picture, by the way, was taken on our recent camping trip. I didn't notice it until I got home, but there's a white spider and two fly-like insects on the upper right petal. If you click on the image, it should get bigger. It always amazes me to see things in my pictures that I didn't even know were there when I took them. So anyway, good luck if you decide to take part in Nature Photography Day!

Itsty, bitsy, teeny, weeny ...

I'm not sure what these little flowers are, but I'm pretty sure they're weeds. They might be Western Stickseeds, but I don't know for sure. They're growing in our flowerbed by our walkway and I know we didn't plant them. The thing is -- they're TINY! The flowers are smaller than the head of a thumbtack, maybe 2 to 3 times smaller. Let me put it this way -- I could probably fit EIGHT of them on the nail of my pinkie, if that gives you a better idea. This isn't the best picture of them, but it started raining and I had to come in before I could get more. For weeds, they're pretty amazing, especially when you look at all the detail on these tiny flowers. If you think about it, there are some really pretty weeds like dandelions, thistles, goldenrod, clovers, kudzu, burdock, and a slew of others. It's funny how some weeds are so hated, some can be deadly, and yet, many can be so amazingly beautiful, if only you stop to take the time to look at them.

Itchy Fingers

The other day I spent a few hours reading the last middle grade story I wrote awhile back. It's called Encroached and is about two young girls who sneak away to go on an unsupervised camping trip in the Montana wilderness. I want to start submitting it again, so I figured I better read it over and see if there was anything I'd like to change. I found a few things, but not too much. I was surprised I enjoyed reading it again. That's not always the case with me. Sometimes I cringe at things I've written in the past, including on this blog. I've also been itching to start working on something new -- hence the title of this post. I had a general idea, but it wasn't enough to start with. Then today I was folding clothes and the rest of the story just sort of materialized. I love it when that happens. Some writers get their best ideas in the showers. Usually they come to me in the wee hours of the night and I'm always too tired to write them down. By morning, I've usually forgotten half of what I wanted to write about. Hopefully, that won't happen this time and I can start working on it soon. I just recently joined Goodreads, so if any of you want to add me as a friend there, I'd appreciate it. I've been sending out requests, but I guess there's a limit how many I can do each day. I'm still trying to figure out how it works and all. I did manage to get an author profile up, which is nice because it shows all of my books. I also got my book trailers up, except for Stork Musters & Critter Clusters. For some reason, it's not accepting that one. I'll try it again later. I hope you all had a great day. I woke up thinking it was Wednesday, so imagine my surprise when I found out it was Thursday. I'm all messed up when we're not doing school regularly. And finally, Blogger has really been messing with me lately. I'm sorry this post is all lumped into one paragraph. When I add an image, it removes all my lines in between paragraphs. Is this happening to anyone else? Heck, I feel lucky if I can even get a blog to post at this point. Sometimes it won't even let me log in. It's getting really old ...

Handsome fella ...

Well, at least I thought he was handsome, especially the way he posed so elegantly for me. I saw this duck at Epcot last month. He walked right up to me and by the look in his eyes, it almost looks like he was smiling. I started walking away after I took some pictures and he followed me for a bit, squawking and carrying on. I think he was hoping I'd give him a French fry in return for his modeling efforts. My mother used to tell me she had a male Mallard duck as a pet when she was younger. I never saw any pictures of it, so I don't know if that was true or not. It's so hard to tell with her. I always thought it would be fun to have a duck, but we never had any when I was a kid. We had some chickens, but only for a short time. Mallards are one of the most common of all the ducks and are found all over North America and throughout Eurasia. They live about 5 to 10 years in the wild and weigh around 2 to 3 pounds. They are believed to be the most abundant duck on Earth. A group of mallards flying is called a sord. Males are called drakes. I'm pretty sure the baby duckling we found this weekend was a mallard, as well.

Weekend Camping Trip

We went to Lake Mary Ronan State Park this weekend and camped for 2 nights. I've been wanting to do some do-nothing camping trips, as it seems we usually visit national parks and spend all day sightseeing. It was nice to just sit around and not rush back and forth. I sat in the sun a lot and read Michelle Moran's book, Cleopatra's Daughter. Rick and the boys did a lot of fishing and actually caught a few. We went kayaking and even had some friends come down to join us, which was a lot of fun. The duckling you see here was found wandering around the parking lot by the boat dock. It had gotten separated from its family and huddled under a mini van. We didn't want it to get run over, so Rick picked it up. After contacting the park host, he told us that the ducklings had left the nest already, but hopefully the mother would show up. Within a few minutes, he heard what he thought was the mother quacking down shore. Rick and our friend's daughter took the duckling in one of the kayaks and paddled down a ways to get it closer to its family. The duckling took off towards the other ducks, so hopefully it was a happy ending.

Homemade PB Cups

Someone commented on yesterday's blog (anonymously) asking me to post the recipe or a link for the low-carb Peanut Butter Cups I mentioned. I thought I'd put up the recipe today. These are sugar-free and really, really good. I'm planning on making more soon because everyone in my family loves them. The actual recipe can be found @ www.fattoskinny.net under the dessert section. These are also in the Fat To Skinny Sugar-Free Bakery book by Doug & Sherri Varrieur, which has some amazing recipes. This particular one calls for "Beanit Butter" which is a soynut butter from Dixie Dinner. However, you can use any type of peanut butter. It also calls for Xylitol, which is a sweetener and can be found in many grocery and health food stores. These are super easy to make and super yummy!

Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

4 squares unsweetened baker's chocolate

3/4 cup Xylitol

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup Beanit Butter (or PB of your choice)

1/4 cup roasted peanuts (chopped if you like)

Line mini muffin pan with muffin liners. Melt chocolate in a double broiler. Add Xylitol and mix well. Add cream and mix well. Remove from heat. Fill each liner one-third of the way with chocolate. Next, fill each liner one-third of the way with Beanit Butter or peanut butter. Add remaining chocolate and top with chopped nuts. Refrigerate for 2 hours. TIP: Leave in the fridge for best results. The original recipe says this makes 20 candies and the entire recipe is 11 net carbs. However, each time I've made them I've gotten 24 candies out of the batch. They're really good, so give them a try!

If you're interested in losing weight or just eating healthier, check out Doug's book, Fat To Skinny. This is the program I've been following for the last 8 months that's helped me lose 63 pounds so far. And, don't forget to check out the Fat To Skinny message board because there are a lot of other great recipes just like this one. One last thing -- I apologize for the formatting of this post. Blogger is acting so screwy with me and won't let me edit and add spaces between paragraphs. Stuff like this makes me bonkers, so I hope it doesn't bother you nearly as much as it does me!

What do low-carbers eat?

When people find out I follow a low-carb eating plan, the first thing they say is, "Oh, I could never do that. I love bread, fruit, and ice cream too much." After that they usually ask what foods I do eat just out of curiosity. So, in all my weirdness, I took pictures of some of my meals. Of course, Rick thought I was nuts and said, "Why are you taking pictures of your dinner?" I said it was for my blog and he goes, "You're going to blog about your dinner?" Well ... DUH! So, if pictures of food bothers you, don't scroll down any further. But, if you're interested ...

The picture above is, or shall I say, was my breakfast this morning. It's pretty simple. I scrambled three egg whites with a slice of lean ham and some jalapenos. I toss the egg yolks to cut down on the carbs; they're 1 carb each. I usually drink 3 cups of coffee each morning, sometimes with heavy cream and sometimes with a sweetener. The sugar alcohols in the sweeteners have been playing havoc with my stomach lately, so I'm trying to cut back. I've found I prefer my coffee lightened over being sweetened anyway. Some mornings I'll have a bowl of low-carb cereal. Other days I'll cut this meal down to two egg whites and add a muffin made with flaxmeal. If I'm feeling ambitious enough, I might even make some pancakes out of flaxmeal. They taste just like buckwheat pancakes.

The next picture was my lunch, which I ate a few minutes ago. Here I used the same flaxmeal recipe to make a thin slice of 'bread' for my turkey sandwich. Add some habanero mustard and a little lettuce and I was good to go. If I had a tomato, a thin slice of that would make this sandwich perfect. Since I don't eat bread on this program (unless it's low-carb) I get my fiber from flaxmeal. I also had a half cup of sauerkraut, which has a little fiber as well. And lunch wouldn't be complete without two habanero stuffed olives. After the mustard and the olives, I like the sugar-free Jello to cool my mouth down. ;)

The next picture was last night's dinner. I had some meatballs (can't remember the brand name, but we got them at Costco), some spinach lightly pan-fried, and a serving of mashed cauliflower. I also had a container of Carbmaster yogurt, which you can find at Smith's/Krogers. It's only 4 carbs per container. That's a high number for me, considering I eat less than 20 carbs a day, but I'm such a yogurt lover that it's worth it. Most days I stay around 10-11 carbs. I also added a couple of Beanit Butter cookies. No, that's not a typo. They're made with soynut butter instead of peanut butter. And for my FTS friends reading -- yes, I know there are TWO desserts here. Snort! I don't always have the cookies on hand, but I did last night, so there. And considering I've lost 7 pounds in the past week, I guess it's working okay. I suppose once I get to my goal weight I'll be making more of the dessert goodies listed in the Fat To Skinny Bakery book. Some of those are really good. The peanut butter cups are AMAZING!

This last picture is what I had for a snack yesterday. It's simply a piece of low-carb Scandinavian crispbread with a slice of cheddar cheese (cut in half) on top. I also added a cup of unsweetened almond milk to go with it. I've stopped drinking regular milk since going low-carb and found I really LOVE unsweetened almond milk. It's 0 carbs and only 35 calories per cup. Compare that to regular milk, be it whole, 2% or 1%. It has more calcium, too. So, there you have it -- just a small sample of what I've been eating these past 8 months. It might not look like much to you, but it's helped me shed 63 pounds, so I'm happy. But yeah, blogging about my food ... major weirdness.

ACK!

Here's a more recent before & after shot of me. I still have some more weight I'd like to lose to be at my goal, but I'm getting there. I did put on a few pounds during our trip to Disney World. I even brought my scale with me, which drove Rick crazy. At one point it said I had gained 14 pounds. I about freaked! However, by the time I got home the actual number was only 7 pounds over. I've been home a week and am happy to say I'm only 1-2 pounds over where I was. Hopefully, a few more days and I'll be moving forward again. But even so, my first reaction when I see these pictures is -- ACK! In all honesty, I don't recognize either of those people. Who is that weirdo?