Fargo Water

My friend told me not to drink the water today. I am really thirsty so I am sipping away when she sends me this. I think I may puke.

Water is safe… but I have issues with the decaying vegetation in it.

City officials also dispelled rumors that drinking water in Fargo and Moorhead is unsafe to consume because of an earthy taste and odor.

Fargo water treatment plant operator Mark Peterson said the smell and taste is caused by geosmin, a byproduct of decaying vegetation that’s detectable in parts per trillion. The cities deal with it every spring, but it’s worse this year. Still, all other tests are normal and the water is safe to drink, he said.

“It’s just such a strong taste and odor, it’s going to be tough to get rid of, I think, until the rivers go back to normal,” he said.

The Things I Do For a Burrito

Thursday I had a day to myself in Fargo. The main reason being my six-week checkout with my OBGyn. Guess what? He was a little concerned about my delivery. In fact, he had a FULL PAGE of notes regarding my whole ordeal. He told me that next time I need to be sure to tell him to look at his notes on the first one because apparently, he normally only administers one of many different types of medications to stop bleeding during labor. He then continued to tell me how he used every medication on me to stop my bleeding. So although it's unlikely a "hemorrhaging" trend with me and childbirth, next time he'll want to be better prepared with all the medications in the room with us. He also mentioned that he'd want to induce me earlier next time. Oh, and I'm supposed to make a smaller baby next time too. Yeah, isn't that an easy request? I found out a bunch of other interesting yet freaky information while I was at the office. All leading me to believe that childbirth really isn't worth all the trouble. Seriously. I'm also starting to think my mom wasn't really being as melodramatic as I thought she was being.

After I went running around doing a bunch of errands, all with the intent to eat lunch at Qdoba. I hadn't eaten breakfast because I wanted to be sure to enjoy every morsel of my burrito. I didn't make it to the big Q until 6:00. I was about to pass out. When I pulled into the parking lot, it was raining cats and dogs. But I wasn't about to miss out on my burrito now! Not after starving to death all day long. So I got drenched running in and out of Qdoba. But the burrito was totally worth it.

MMMMM Good

I just inhaled a 3 Musketeers bar. I picked that one because it's 97% fat free or whatever. What I really wanted was the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. So I went back and got them. Mmmmm.

McDonalds

Has anyone been to Mickey D's lately?  (Besides Sarah, I already know you go about twice a week.)  Anyway.  I have not been to MD's lately.  It's been over a year and a half since I was there last, and I'm pretty sure I only ever ate there for breakfast before that. --Maybe I was there once with Sarah, I don't remember. Back to my story. I went to Kohl's to see what they had for cheap black attire (Macy's only allows black as their dress code, and surprisingly, I have very little black in my wardrobe.)  After that, I headed to Wendy's for a spicy chicken sandwich (Haven't had that in a while and that sounded REALLY good.)  I pull into the drive thru, and guess what?  They can't take credit cards today because of some problem with their internet.  Ummm... Ever hear of the good old fashioned hand swipe machine?  So, irritated and disappointed, I pull out of the line, and decide to head across the street to MDs.  First of all, they are A MACHINE.  There are two lines to take orders, and I'm about 5th car back.  I think I sat in that line for ohhh... a minute before I got to the order spot.  I wish Wendy's had a double order process.  It's sooo much faster, and the only Wendy's in town is so slow.  When I got back to the office and opened up my Chicken Club sandwich, I was surprised to see a very nice looking bun.  And it wasn't even squished!  The sandwich was really good too.  I am surprised and impressed.  Maybe I will start eating there more often.  OK.  No I won't, but next time I decide to treat myself and break away from eating healthy, I might actually consider stopping in there.

MMMM Berries

Sunday I picked some raspberries out of my back yard. I forgot all about them until I went to the fridge to find something to eat. YUM! I decided to walk to the store and buy some low-fat ice cream to make a raspberry shake.

Sidebar: I really wanted Cheesecake flavored icecream. I don't think they make it. I did find a blueberry cheesecake, and a strawberry cheesecake, but no plain. I wonder how a girl could make her own? Got any recipes?

I had an off site class all day today, and something tells me I'm in for quite a treat tomorrow when I get into the office tomorrow. Life is crazy lately there.

MM Good!

I'm eating a big ole donut and caribou coffee. I don't care about all the calories I'm consuming either!

Weeeeeeeeeeee

Breaking Friendships

Well... Sadly, I have to announce that I am breaking ties with my oldest known friend. She screwed up, and she screwed up bad. She failed to notify me that Girl Scout cookies were on sale. Not only did she fail to tell me this, her kids orders are already in! I can't believe it. She's trying to keep me from my Thin Mints! What a bitch!

I guess I'll be ordering from a couple women in my building. Since I'm supposed to not eat bad things, I'm not sure if I'll get my normal 19 boxes. But it'll have to be enough to get me through the year. Maybe I'll order 12. One per month. That sounds reasonable doesn't it?

Meatloaf

The man wanted meatloaf last night, so I made my very first ever meatloaf.  I didn't realize that meatloaf had ketchup in/on it.  (Well, at least the Betty Crocker version did.)  Yulk.  I do however, think that it might be edible with a different type of sauce.  If I have to make another one, I'll be experimenting with all that.  DJ totally loved it though.  Go figure.

Oh My God!

OMG!  I just looked at a package of Oreo cookies and thought to myself, "Yulk, that's disgusting."  What's wrong with me?!!! Oreos are packed full of yummy satisfactory goodness!

YULK!

I bought something new at the store.  Yoplait Whips! Creamy Latte.  I have been looking forward to my mid day snack for most of the day.  So I go get it, and all excited.  It smells really good.  Doesn't look very good, but smells fabulous!  So I take a big ole bite.  Eek.  It's tart at first.  But I think to myself, "That's ok.  It'll get better once I get used to it."  So I took a few more bites, and I thought it really was getting better.  Then I just took another bite, and nope.  I don't think it's getting better.  I'm very sad. I wanted a good snack and I waisted 3 whole points on this thing!

 

I do think it'd taste really good blended with ice.

I Wish

I wish that this is how WW worked.  You pay them your money, you go to bed, and the next day you weight 30 pounds lighter and have no desire to eat anything ever again.

 

I'm so tired this morning.  DJ had an appreciation dinner through his marketing firm last night in the Big W.  So we drove an hour and a half to attend that, get our free food, and some interesting information.  (It was interesting to me because talking to a farmer about his business is pretty painful, so talking to actual business people about the buisness was so much nicer.)  I am not schooled on how to read his reports, as well as how they are predicting the crop is going to be next year.

 

We ran into my cousin and my SIL while we were there.  The dinner was held in the local Legion, and they were in the bar that is attached to the party room.  They were having drink before they went over to the bowling alley for league night.  So we went over there before heading out to the farm (Where all time stands still).  I think when we go to the farm, time stands still just on that little plot of land, and then speeds up anywhere past the dirt road.  We waste so much time there, and get nothing done.  We never get out of there either.  I'm going to start bring a stop watch.

First Meeting

Well, I just got done with my first WW meeting.  This was just the informative meeting, next week starts the real deal.  Basically, I think I just gave away $100. The lady hosting the meeting says she lost 30 pounds in over 4 weeks.  So maybe I'll do the same.  Ideally, I'd like to weigh 145.  That's what I weighed in college (and was still considered fat by comparison to all the other students).  But I'd definitely love to be that fat again.  Then I figure, but the time I lose all this weight, I'll probably be forced to get knocked up and my current wardrobe can double for my pregnancy cloths.  So I guess not all bad things can come from being knocked up if I look at it that way. As you can see, I'm still lacking enthusiasm for this making making scheme. For some reason I thought I'd eventually start having that yearning for them.  I am now thinking that feeling won't be happening.  Which is fine by me.  "Not all women were meant to procreate, nor are all couples meant have to a bunch of parasitic kids running along side them at all waking moments.

Another Holiday Post

Holiday Eating Tips: I particularly like #6!

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on aholiday buffettable knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like finesingle-maltscotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-maltscotch. Youcan't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out ofyour mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother?It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and NewYear's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table,like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention.They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice ofeach. Or,if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? LaborDay?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with themandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, haveSOME standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Memories

My SIL and I went to Schlotzky's yesterday while we were out shopping. She ate, I didn't. So today when I went out to do some returning at Michaels, I stopped and got a Smoked Turkey Sandwich. Mm mmm Good.

I've got some fond memories of being mistreated as a high schooler at the Schlotzky's located right next to the HS. My friend Blac and I would go in there, the workers would be rude to us because they didn't like annoying HSers in there. I think that was the last time I've ever been in one too. They now have different size breads, and different types rather than just Sourdough. I stuck with tradition. As I bite into this warm goodness I am thinking of all the fun things Blac and I used to do. We were so cool!

8 Degrees

Do you know what's great about 8 degree temperatures? I know, not much that's for sure. But one positive thing about this chilly weather is that I can buy frozen stuff on my lunch hour and leave it in my trunk until I get home at 5:00. I just stocked up on frozen meals for the next week at 1.50 a piece. Go me!

Anyone Hungry?

My Department is doing a scavenger hunt that leads up to our Christmas Party this Friday. I am in charge of "finding" a cookie recipe on a card, and making them for the "judges". So I decided to try a new recipe. Mint Chocolate Truffle Cookies. That little snowman is a salt and pepper shaker. The hat is the pepper and the face is the salt. And the red plate is a spoon holder. Cute eh?
PS. If anyone is caring anymore. My thumb is doing something funky. I slammed it into my washing machine pretty good yesterday and I think that was a bad thing to do. It's all swollen up again, and I think I've got some skin that is fixin' to fall off.

Dead Bodies, and the City of 10,000 Flatulents

My body is so sore today! Pretty much every muscle I looked at in the Body Worlds Exhibit hurts on me today. This is likely to be a long post. So I'm warning you in advance. The exhibit, I thought was very interesting. We were not able to take photos. We spent three hours examining the Plastinates in the exhibit. I was both intrigued and disappointed. I was disappointed that they didn't have more women. It would have been very interesting to me to see how a female body's parts fit into the body, and a comparison of man and woman side by side. I realize there are not many differences, but there definitely are some all the same. They did have uterus' under glass cases with different ailments, but that also is not the same as seeing what my body looks like all put together. I would have liked to see how everything goes together down there, and how it changes once a women gets pregnant and other things related to the life of a female. It was definitely Male dominant, something my husband didn't notice until I pointed it out. There are a lot of things I think they could do for improvement on that front. They did have a woman who died during childbirth, and embryo's in different weekly stages. The woman was very interesting. They posed her in a laying down position with an arm up so you could see how the baby pushes your organs upward to make room for itself. The baby also died, so the baby was still in place. After looking at that. I am definitely in favor of the traditional side of childbirth. The layer of flesh, and muscle a doctor has to cut too, is way to much to do to a body unnecessarily. The embryo's were also very interesting to me, it was definitely interesting to see the stages in a much more personal way than images from a book, or ultra sounds. Hands, faces, fingers, etc are so detailed so early on.

The most interesting to me, other than the embryo's, was the artery system. They had a family of 3 showing only the their arteries and blood vessels. NO bones, no organs, just bodies of arteries. It was crazy to see, and interesting to read about the process they used to accomplish this sort of preservation. They also had an arm that you could look at close up. I now know why my thumb has been throbbing constantly since I loped off the tip. There are a lot more vessels in that tiny little tip that a person would think. The most artistic Plastinate to me was a man and woman Ice Skater that was meant to show how the muscles act when the body is in balance, and how the weight shifts from point to point.

It was also interesting to note that most of the plastinates had black lungs. I'm curious to know if they were all indeed smokers, or if some of those black lungs were products of second hand smoke and/or the environments nasty chemicals. Maybe that would be another thing they could tackle next time around! I think I could discuss what I saw and didn't see for quite some time, so I better stop before this gets too long. If it comes to your city, it's definitely something worth seeing.

Dinner with Good Friends

After the museum, we met up with friends downtown for dinner. We usually do a girls night out, but since I had DJ, we invited our significant others. It was a good time. (I think anyway, maybe the men think differently.) I didn't get to talk to them much because the restaurant was loud, and there were nine of us, so we were all having different conversations that I was in and out of most of the time. The good thing is, I think we can involve our men more if we wanted to. They seem to be able to carry conversations with eachother. With acception to our single friend Jordan, who didn't have a man, but she is lucky, she gets to accessorize her man to her event. The rest of us on the other hand, have to bring the same accessory to every event. Plus, we can aways hook her up with our waiter. She likes a man in uniform... he he he. Just kidding.

Here's the part my girls asked me to report on in detail. Afterwards we went to the Lodge. It was a lot of fun. Started out slow because it was still early, but picked up soon enough. The band (If you want to call them that. Were two guys with guitars) was pretty good, and a lot of fun. They were giving out free shots, and had us sing along while the singer took drinks of his "vodka". I'm sure it was water. I noticed the other one, the one I thought was totally hot btw, wasn't drinking anything. Maybe he's the sensitive, responsible type. That's what I'm going to believe is true in my head anyway. He was hot. Anyway. This is where the story ends. Other than a lot of dancing, drinking and fun, that's all you get to hear. If you want to know details of our outings, then you should come with us. Nany nany boo boo to you.

insert smilie sticking tougue out here)

Shopping
Saturday we spent at least four hours at the museum on our feet. Sunday, we spend about seven hours walking around the Mall of America. This is why my body aches so much today. The mall wasn't as crazed as I was expecting it to be. Some stores were very hard to get in and around due to the combination of small spaces and overstock of inventory. (ie. The Discovery Store, and any electronic/gadget store.) Don't worry, I'm not going to give you a play by play of our seven hour journey. But I am going to tell you about the Worlds Largest Gingerbread House! It was totally awesome! Because of the mass of people, I wasn't able to get a full picture of the whole house, but I'll post my pictures anyway to try to give you an idea of the scale. Inside they have elves making giant ginger bread man cookies. It was great! I was happy. We started shopping on the 3rd floor, and went round and round until we hit the bottom floor where the ginger bread house was. When we passed it for the second time (we were on the second floor) I really just wanted to go down and tour it. But DJ was not planning on deviating from the original plan. So I decided to periodically whine that I wanted to see the gingerbread house for the remainder of our 2nd floor shopping. :o) Whenever I was ready to get out of a store, I'd whine about the GBH. he he he. Since we don't have kids, I thought it was only fitting. tee hee.

Click here to see my pictures

Now, I suppose you are wondering, "Why is the latter part of her Blog title City of 10,000 Flatulents?" Those of you that are educated on state history, or maybe you are just a license plate buff. Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Well, after this weekend I think it should also be known for 10,000 flatulents. All was well at the MOA until around 3:00. Then it seemed no matter where DJ and I went someone would bust ass, and all around would have to suffer. In a store, on the escalator, in the hallway, in another store, sitting in the food court. It was disgusting. So bad, that at one point, I looked at DJ and said, "I'm starting to wonder if you're really doing this to us." But I know he wasn't. Sadly. I know him so well, that I know what his farts smell like. This WAS not it. I would have WELCOMED his nasty ass farts after about the third tortured blow I had the misfortune to whiff. We were so high on gas, that DJ had some pretty witty jokes and incites about the subject while we sat on a bench eating our Peppermint Blizzards. After we got yet another whiff, he made this observation, "There are what? Thousands of people in this mall right now? And right now there are about 100 people farting at this very moment." I'm surprised the place didn't explode with the amount of gas it was emitting.

I'm making myself giggle hysterically in my office right now.

Ok, you might say, "Yeah, but that doesn't make the it Land of 10,000 Farts". That's just the mall. Well, I would like to also mention, that some hot chicks are very nasty while out on the town. After dinner with my friends, Jordan, DJ, and I all went out for a nightcap downtown. Once the dance floor was packed, someone or someones let loose a few doozies. It was terrible. DJ and I decided it was some of the hot chicks because by the third nasty stink he looked around and he was surrounded by drunken women. Now, I don't know what he's talking about because I have never busted ass, and if I were to bust ass, I'm sure that it would not smell. (Insert innocent smilie face here). So for these reasons, I have now dubbed Minneapolis/St Paul the Land of 10,0000 Flatulents.

Weight Watchers?

My office is sponsoring a Weight Watchers program.  The total cost for the 13-week program is $156.00 per person. My office is going topay for $65.00 of the total fee. This breaks down to only $7.00 per week for 13 weeks. I'm thinking about doing it.  What do you think?  Anyone done WW with the group and all?  What can I expect?

 

Here's reasons why I'm sceptical

1. It's with co-workers

2. Do I really want co-workers knowing how much I've lost or not lost?

3. Everyone will know I think I'm fat, (Even though it's pretty obvious I am fat.)

4. What if I lose nothing? Then I'm out money, and still fat, and my coworkers will know I'm still fat.

5. What if the program is stupid?  I don't want to sit around and talk about my inner demons or anything like that.

 

So I guess really, I want some insight.  Anyone got any?

Traveling with Fifteen Turkeys

I made these cuties to take with me to my in-law thanksgiving feast.

I thought they were too cute.