Portrait of laziness

Lying on top of my bed so I can't make it after washing my linens is Anna's favorite pasttime, I'm convinced.

She may look sweet and innocent, but those claws mean business. And when she's really grouchy, you better hope you're faster than her teeth. They hurt.

Hope everyone had a hunky-dorey weekend. Mine included five loads of laundry and lots of cake (Mmmm...).

Fancy-schmancy Ramon noodles

Impulse purchases aren't typically an issue with me. I can stand in line all day at the checkout and not be tempted by Scotch tape, Bubble Yum or even travel-size boxes of Kleenex tissue. I know ... amazing, eh?!?

My super powers were again tested yesterday at Fresh Market, and unfortunately the allure of hot and sour soup packaged neatly in its own bowl at the checkout was just too much for my sensibilities to deny. And at two for $3, I mean, come on! How could you not buy the bowl?

I chucked the hot and sour soup along with a garlic chicken-flavored soup into my basket and handed my items to the checkout girl, confident in my purchases.

Fast-forward to this afternoon ... When I reached into the pantry and pulled out the package of hot and sour, I was looking forward to a tasty, hot lunch. I mean, who could screw up hot and sour, right? Ha!

I opened up the bowl to find noodles and three small packets ... seasoning, something that looked like seaweed and a mystery packet of oil combined with a brown substance. Hmmm ... interesting, but confident the mixture would produce something yummy, I dutifully combined all ingredients, popped it into the microwave for a couple of minutes and waited.

The smell was the first clue that this stuff was less than desireable. What's that odor? Sewer water? Oh, no, just my hot and sour soup. No worries.

Upon taking the soup bowl out of the microwave, I still had hope. Stirring everything one last time, I sat down to eat.

* Bite one: Not too bad ... just a little bland
* Bite two: These noodles taste like paper
* Bite three: The smell is killing me
* Bite four: Never happened

I plopped the stuff into the trash and grabbed some grapes from the fridge. No way was I going to finish those stinky, glorified Ramon noodles.

I guess that's what I get for succumbing to the marketing gurus who place items at the checkout.

Lesson learned.

There's a moral here somewhere

My downstairs neighbor was blaring her music again this morning. My floor was vibrating beneath me. I was angry. Very angry. I stomped heavily on the floor three times. And then a fourth time for effect. Now my heel hurts. A lot. And her music is still blaring.

Falling off the horse

I was so good for several months.

Counting calories is less than fun, but when results become visible, it's not so bad. Exercising is, to me, unpleasant work. But when all that sweat makes way for slimmer legs and a firm belly, it's bearable.

But I fell off the eating-right and exercising horse some time ago. A week or so of a nasty cold back in November did me in.

Then came the holidays. I don't even want to think about all the yummy foods I consumed in December.

No exercise and a distinct unwillingness to take the time to prepare healthy meals has truly taken its toll. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm back to my old weight ... all 14 lbs. that I lost have been found - and they all ended up on my legs and belly.

Pretty unattractive. Pretty lame. Pretty depressing.

But alas, I'm climbing back on the healthy horse bandwagon. Monday I'm starting over again ... this time I have to keep going. And I've got definite motivation ... I refuse to be the flabby-arm girl as a bridesmaid in Cady's September wedding. Hopefully by then the sleaveless dress will show off arms that are not only smaller, but defined.

Things have got to change ... and it's all up to me. I'm not so confident, but something must be done before I turn into the Sta-Puff Marshmallow woman. Ew.

Dear Starbucks,

How could it possibly be that one of your stores could run out of both vanilla and cinnamon syrup on the same day, so as to deny one of your loyal customers the joys of her usual grande vanilla latte, and then the excitement of trying your new *for a limited time only* cinnamon dolce latte?!?

Sincerely,
Stacey

Put your camera away

I truly feel bad for stars who are constantly hounded by the paparazzi. I really do. Granted, they are famous, and with that one should expect a certain level of privacy to be diminished. But still... I can't imagine being followed by cameramen on a daily basis.

But I can relate to having pictures taken of you when you're merely getting into your car to drive to the local coffee shop. In a very odd experience yesterday afternoon, I caught out of the corner of my eye a man in his 20s raising his camera as a friend and I were stepping into my car. I thought to myself how odd that appeared, but brushed him off as a tourist taking photos of downtown Chattanooga.

Then I looked in my rear-view mirror and noticed that he was not, in fact, snapping pictures of the scenery. He had his viewfinder trained directly on the back of my car. I sped off - a little creeped out - but ready to grab a something warm to drink after being so cold, I could only think about the hot vanilla latte I was about to imbibe.

It wasn't until later in the evening that the strange camera guy popped back into my mind, and I really started to wonder why in the world he was taking pictures of my car as I drove away.

Pretty odd, isn't it? Or am I creeped out for nothing?

Samoas, Thin Mints and Tagalongs ... OH MY!

The evildoers are at it again. And I'm not referring to the world's terrorists.

I speak, instead, of the snarky cookie-laden little girls who force me to buy their products every year. At nearly 100 fat grams per bite, and God knows how many calories per box, I may as well throw any plans of becoming thin and trim out the window.

Yes folks, it's Girl Scout cookie time!

Hide behind your desks, don't answer your doors and for goodness sake, stay away from relatives and friends who have little girls. They'll be hitting the streets on Friday and, with their cute little faces that mask the fatty evil that is the Girl Scout cookie, they'll be forcing us to shovel out $3 per box of sugary goodness.

It won't be pretty. And I know I'll fall victim once again to their pleas. ... 'Skinny' is not in my future.

Helloooo!

Yippee - a post from Stacey, the girl who is notorious for neglecting her blog!

... As you can tell, I'm having a hard time getting back into the daily blogging routine.

It's been a year now since "I need a [permanent] vacation" debuted on Blogger. And in that year a lot has changed. A lot has stayed the same, too. (i.e. I still need a permanent vacation).

I've watched favorite blogs come and go, and I've complained when people have dropped out of the blogisphere without warning. I promise not to do that, but updating is sort of taking a back seat to several other things at the moment.

I know, that's evil. But, alas, it's the truth, and I'm all about the truth.

So, happy Monday!!

I'll be back soon.

I think.

Now accepting donations

If I don't go blind before I finish this post, I know God must really love me.

You see, my beloved computer monitor finally bit the dust yesterday afternoon right in the middle of something rather important (of course).

Now I'm using an ancient monitor from the early 1990s that is incredibly blurry and extremely tiny.

So I'm in the market for a new monitor ... used monitors will be accepted, too.

Off to a bad start

Although I still believe 2006 will be a good year, it's started off not so hot.

I'm congested.
I'm hot.
I'm achy.

Hopefully this won't turn into a full-blown, snot-filled sickness, but I'm pretty much counting on it.

New Year's Eve, however, was a blast. I'll write more when I'm human again.