you looking good, Miss Cass! That’s right, ya’ll. I just walked by, and I swear I heard a whistle, and when I turned to look, there they were: boobs of spectacularness, waist of actually really thereness, and hips of wonderful womanliness. The calorie counting and healthier eating is paying off in all the right places. Oh, I feel better, too, which is also rewarding, but not as rewarding as not looking like a big jelly dough nut anymore. Speaking of dough nuts……….. nah, never mind. I’d hate to have to come back in three days and say that mirror was a magnifier!

You know how Richard’s uncle, the Earl of Warwick was called the Kingmaker? Well, yesterday, I became the WordMaker. I coined two new terms that have taken hold among my little group of internet cronies.

1) ludicrosity
and
2) banning bandit

I’ll add these to my word belt, right there beside rankspank which I coined back in November.

That is all, you may now return to your machines.

I know you have days like this, you just move from one thing to another, and get things done. Today was such a day for me. Click, click, click. Check, check, check, and now I am ready for some down time, which I will enjoy in just a bit with some coffee and JPG magazine. But first I wanted to stop in and chat with you all.

I’ve been continuing to clean in the boys room this week, and only the closet is left. There’s not much to that, really, so I foresee moving on to the girls room this coming week. That will leave the living room and work area. Maybe by the time my birthday rolls around, this project will be complete, and I can order birthday invitations featuring Mr. Clean or something. Or maybe Goofy is more my style.

Ok. Magazine. Bed. I have another click check day ahead of me tomorrow, I hope!

I told my bff tonight that I really liked fruitcake, and it was clear from her reaction that she thought I was as nutty as one. She doesn’t like it at all. I tried explaining that she was wrong, that she clearly had never had my Grandmother’s fruitcake. Law, law, that fruitcake was so good! It was moist and full of nuts and so much candied fruit that it plainly qualified as an antioxidant, no pills needed. Words just fail to describe this delightful culinary goodness, but perhaps it will help explain it when I tell you that one year, that’s what I asked for for Christmas. She made it, too, and I kept it in the freezer, and surreptitiously served myself slices now and again while the kids were in bed. It lasted a couple of years that way. I even tried telling her that surely in heaven, her dad (who loved fruitcake) and I would get all the fruitcake, and she would be mad there becasue she would finaly know how good it was, but wouldn’t get to have any, for her fruitcake dissing down here below. She remained unimpressed, though.

So, what brought all this on? During the family gatherings after Grandmother passed, I mentioned that when Mama found her recipe books, I wanted the fruitcake recipe, and I talked (perhaps enthusiastically) about how much I enjoyed Grandmother’s fruitcake. My aunt said there was a little store she knew of that sold fruitcake around the holidays, and she would see if they had some. Then when we had our family Christmas on January 12th, she brought me a small cake of it. I finally cut it tonight, after one of the kids tried to throw it out. Ya’ll, it is good. It is not Grandmother’s fruitcake, as it doesn’t have quite as much fruit, but it is very, very close. And very, very good. So, umm, guess what I want for Christmas next year?

Hmm, here’s a question for me. If I look at the Bible to see how I am stacking up, is that considered self assessment or something else? Here’s the passage that came to mind this evening, as I was considering my lack of Bible reading.

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Oh man, let my day get busy and the Bible reading is the first thing to slip. And yet, it is absolutely the most important thing I can do all day for myself. Did you hear that? I said for myself. Reading my Bible isn’t just something I do because it makes God happy, it’s something I need to do to feed my own soul. It’s how I nourish myself, how I let God fill me so I can our back out to others. And the days that I have the most to do are the days I am most likely to starve my spiritual self. Not very smart, huh?

I do ok for a while and then, I get busier and busier and now I am off track, and it’s hit or miss, and I know that if this continues, I will run dry. I’ll be snappish, easily irritated, not grounded. I find that if I don’t read my Bible first thing, then it just doesn’t happen, so I’m purposing to have coffee with Jesus tomorrow. And ever day after that. Again. And I if I plan to meet with Jesus first thing, that means I am going to have to get up pretty early. Again.

I am so tired, ya’ll. I just want to curl up here on my desk and take a nap! I moved on into the boys room today, and sorted one boy’s clothes. One bag to trash, one bag to goodwill, a bunch returned to the rightful owners, and that kid has drawers that open and close freely. And for those of you who have waited all weekend to hear, yes, I DID do dh’s dresser and side of the closet, at his request. That accounted for 1.5 bags of trash, and half a bag to goodwill.

Tomorrow promises more of the same, and I can’t wait. I think I am the only one in this house who understands that things do reach the end of their useful lives, and that throwing out a promo t-shirt with a ripped neckline is not going to alter the trajectory of the earth and result in mass annihilation. For example.

Today, I also put together some dresser drawers that had fallen apart. Please don’t tell anyone, but I get a real kick out of being able to use tools. I don’t go much beyond a hammer and screwdriver, but I find it….fun…in a weird sort of way to make simple repairs with simple tools. It’s…satisfying. It makes me happy. Not in the same way that shoes make me happy, of course, but happy nonetheless.

Umm, ya’ll. Valentine’s Day is coming. You know, the ritual day of cut flowers and chocolate. This year, we have a dilemma. The house is in a complete uproar from my “clean sweep” cleaning spree, so there is no real place to put flowers. And I am still counting calories and so PLEASE don’t gift me with chocolate. In fact, if you give me chocolate, I will totally put you in the category of people who do not really love me. Because if you really loved me, you would know how important it is to me to lose this weight, and it would be important to you, too. And, btw, I am 1/4 to my goal, ya’ll! Woohoo, for me, that’s 5 pounds since January 12. (Excuse me a moment, I have to get up and shake my booty. And it may be for the last time, because that will totally disappear in another 5 pounds. Trust me on this.)

Ok, I’m back. And I realized I fibbed. The kitchen is done, and I just showed you my dresser. I could totally put flowers up there! I found this bouquet at 1800flowers.com. The thing that makes this bouquet so special is that it’s fair trade certified. What does that mean? Well, it means

Fair Trade Certified™ products directly support a better life for farmers and farm workers in the developing world through fair prices, community development and environmental stewardship. Through Fair Trade, small farmer organizations market their own harvests through direct, long-term contracts with international buyers, learn how to manage their businesses and compete in the global marketplace.

And yet, the price is in line with other bouquets! So often, I’ve found companies that use that fair trade designation to jack up the price of the merchandise. (Umm, ya’ll people that do that?? We can tell. And it makes us mad. We don’t stop supporting fair trade merchandise, we just quit buying it from you. Mmmkay? K.)

Hehe, counting calories has not changed the fact that I enjoy eating and drinking a bit, so of course I had to poke around the organic gifts to see what they had to tempt my tongue. By-passing the cheese (Omagosh, cheese!!) and chocolate (see above and don’t even think about it!), I found this tea assortment. In case you have forgotten, tea is calorie free! And I do love me some tea. Oh, yes I do. Green tea, fruit tea, good old black pekoe, if it’s tea, it’s for me. And some teas have some pretty awesome health benefits, too, in addition to the great taste.

So, that’s my wish list from 1800flowers. ‘Cause we all know that it’s all about me. You do have my mailing address, right?

Here I am. I’m fine. I’ve just been doing other stuff. Like, umm, excavating my room. My side of the bed now looks like this:

And I did my side of the closet yesterday. I’ll have to go through the clothes at least once more, I think, and pare a bit more. And this morning I hauled an eyesore bookcase out of my room. Can I just say I am tired of living like I’m in a third world country? And will you understand that when I say that I mean I have so much stuff that it weighs me down and every task I undertake requires moving and organizing because there is just. too. much!

And good grief, when I die! My Grandmother had so little stuff, and it will still take us at least a solid week’s work to clear out her house. Scary to think how long it would take my kids to deal with my crap, yk?

I guess the big question for the day is this: will I or will I not do dh’s dresser and side of the closet?