Back To School - Enjoy These One Liners

Birds of a feather flock together and leave gifts on your car.


When I'm feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor's dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself.


A penny saved is a government oversight.


The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.


He who hesitates is probably right.


Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are " XL."


If you think there is good in everybody, you haven't met everybody.


If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.


The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.


There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt .


Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words "The" and "IRS" together it spells " Theirs."

Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know "why" I look this way.
I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.

When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.

Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

First you forget names, then you forget faces. Then you forget to pull up your zipper. It's worse when you forget to pull it down.

Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf.

From The Lazy Bloggers Post Generator

The following was generated from the Lazy Bloggers Post Generator. Check out the fun.

Oh for crying out loud! I just got a bajillion whiny emails saying I have not updated this since the long board was invented... You would not believe the amount of people that are totally stalking me. Apologies to my regular readers! Even the little blue ones!.

I am lost in a sea of pseudo-olde-english with making meals, soaking in the tub, just generally being asleep, dreaming and chancing to the bodyguards of the blogger I am stalking, my day is full to overflowing from midday to I see my darling's 10000 text messages. I am avoiding recapture. life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.

I hope that one day I will update you with my nefarious activities as soon as I get a chance. Peace! Unless of course the pool with the cocktail bar is heated!

Four Things About Me - Consider Yourself Tagged Or Not

Eye candy for the ladies...


















I got this meme from Lady Rose at The Diet Pulpit and the 2 Witches Blog. She's not tagging anyone and I'm not either. If you want to do it great, but I agree it should be voluntary. If you do play along, feel free to comment here and leave a link to your meme or blog.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1) Newspaper reporter (I met Jerry and he found out owned the local paper and I wrote for it until it closed).
2) Cookbook writer and publisher (I still own the company although I'm on hiatus).
3) Used book seller.
4) Making ceramics, mosaics and custom (Jerry and I own a ceramics studio here on the ranch but since he started remodeling houses we're treating it more like a hobby and will go full swing when he retires).

Four movies I can watch over and over
1) Jeeves and Wooster (more of a tv mini series but have the complete set on DVD I'm addicted to them, and House M.D. all seasons).
2) Super Size Me.
3) Play Misty For Me.
4) The Presidio.

Four places I’ve lived
1) Venice, California (I was born in a hospital a stone's throw from muscle beach, yeah!)
2) San Francisco Bay Area where I grew up.
3) Olivehurst, CA on a small horse farm my Mom owned (my Daddy died a week after we moved there).
4) Stagecoach, NV on my present horse property with way more cats than horses!

Four Pet Peeves:
1) Spelling and typos over and over and over.
2) Colitis pain.
3) Arthritis pain.
4) I hate pain! (except DOMS, hey, hey).

Four TV shows I love
1) House M.D. (I said this already so my bonus answer is Clean House on Style Channel).
2) NCIS.
3) Numb3rs (the 3 is not a typo, that's how they spell it).
4) American Gladiators (we love Wolf).

Four places I’ve vacationed
1) Bodega Bay, CA.
2) San Francisco.
3) Los Angeles.
4) At home in my pool.

Four of my favorite dishes
1) Steak and salad with homemade blue cheese dressing.
2) Shrimp and homemade cocktail sauce.
3) Homemade pizza.
4) Cheese, particularly Cotswold.

Four sites I visit daily
1) Science Daily.
2) Bodybuilding.com.
3) T-Nation.
4) Fitday to log my nutrition and workouts.

Four places I would rather be right now
1) I'm home and I don't want to be anywhere else.
2) Okay, maybe Bodega Bay.
3) Or Cabo San Lucas.
4) Venice Beach anyone?

Feel free to consider yourself tagged or not.

Classic Weight Lifting Versus Power 90X Extreme Workouts & More On The Cheat To Lose Diet

I had a perfectly good post for today. Unfortunately I couldn't find it. Then I realized I was searching for it on the wrong laptop. I'll be back after I switch laptops...

Although I had issues with the very low carbohydrate phase of "The Cheat To Lose Diet" - namely a lack of endurance to finish aerobic circuit training strong - I had no issues completing a standard "classic" weight lifting workout on this low carb phase.

My latest weight lifting session on the “Bitch Sisters” went very well especially considering the weather was a bit nippy this time. (Remember, they’re outside). This supports anecdotal evidence from bodybuilders using low carbohydrate or very low carbohydrate diets that their strength rarely or infrequently suffered when used short term.

This does not translate to programs like Power 90X which is my drug of choice. Um, I mean my workout system of choice (it has 12 workouts in all). Extreme workouts that incorporate aerobic intensity with intense resistance training or weight lifting in the same workout demand more carbohydrates (75-150 grams a day) and adequate calories (no less than 200 below total daily burn).

While my classic weight lifting routine yesterday was hard and took me to failure on several sets, I was sitting down, took 2 minute breaks between sets, and it was anaerobic. No aerobic demand was involved beyond carrying my gear up and down the back stairs. Okay, no aerobic demand was involved.

The benefits of an intense anaerobic workout like yesterday’s with weight machines and free weights, although demanding and intense, are a different intensity than Power 90X and thus have no correlation to a Power 90X style workout. Classic weight workouts don't require the level of muscle glycogen as a combined aerobic and anaerobic workout. There is no comparison, son.

If you can't get your hands on a Power 90X workout DVD (not to be confused with Power 90 which is an intermediate level program) then try this to get a comparable workout: 1. Run in place or run on a treadmill 10 minutes, then do a calisthenic exercise like push ups, pull ups, lunges, chair dips, wall squats, etc to failure (Muscle failure means that you cannot do any more repetitions with good form). or near failure. 2. Do jumping jacks for 5 minutes, then do a free weight exercise like bicep curls, shoulder presses, back rows, tricep overhead presses, etc. Repeat both steps, changing exercises each time, for one hour. When you're done you'll be ready to crawl to the shower. (Check out my sidebar for Power 90X workout reviews describing in detail what the workouts are like. Here's a detailed example if you dare to try).

The low carbohydrate phase (Priming Phase) of Cheat To Lose is seven days of low carbohydrate. Foods allowed include lean protein (eggs, chicken, turkey, non fat cottage cheese, protein powder). Most green vegetables and other low carbohydrate vegetables (I’ve become unnaturally attracted to spinach), and moderate amounts of fats (a teaspoon of olive, flax, canola, and fish oils). And no carbs as in whole grains, beans, brown rice, etc.

After seven days of that I would have just about killed somebody for a piece of whole wheat bread. (I did have an epiphany as to why THIS low carbohydrate diet was so much harder for me than an Atkins induction or other vlc diet - NO CHEESE! I miss my cheese! Joel Marion stole my cheese! And I mean great, delectable, satisfying cheeses like the ones I buy at iGourmet).

Thank God the Low GI/GL seven day phase I'm on now allows foods like whole wheat bread and other whole grains, or somebody would have had to die! (They still might have to die if I don't get some cheese - preferably Cotswold). My endurance is back and I can do 60 minutes of mixed aerobic exercises again without flagging.

But my point is this, if you're going to do low carbohydrate or very low carbohydrate for weight loss don't expect to be able to sustain a regular exercise program if it demands intensity like Power 90X. Although straight forward anaerobic and aerobic workouts of lesser intensity should be sustainable. (Especially with some cheese!)

As for "The Cheat To Lose Diet" when you’re used to a (cheesy good) pizza night every Saturday like I am waiting three weeks for a cheat day seems a very long, long way off. This diet better damn well work. If I don't lose weight by day 25 I'll put a hit out on the author. (Just kidding, if I did that every time I tried a crappy diet there would be dead diet book authors all over the place). I will be updating on my Cheat To Lose adventures again soon.

Hey, I'll gladly pay you on cheat day for some cheese today.

Related Links

Balancing The Use of Carbohydrates & Fats

How carbohydrate can help to protect against muscle damage.

From Nutrition Performance by Anssi Manninen

The Bottom Line

So, what is the bottom line? Well, this study confirmed that a very-low-carb/high-protein diet certainly does not lead to progressive loss of muscle mass.

However, this study also suggests that a very-low-carb diet is not ideal if your primary goal is to increase muscle mass, as the increase in muscle anabolism was accompanied by an increase in whole-body protein breakdown.

Furthermore, low carb intake can decrease exercise performance. There is strong evidence that resistance training, especially using free-weight exercises with high training volumes and moderate loads, is partially dependent upon glycogen (carb) stores.

Thus, carb ingestion prior to, during and after resistance exercise may improve performance and speed recovery, which could ultimately magnify the muscle-building response to exercise.
________________________________

No Horse Heads In My Bed Please!

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Proving You Can Find Almost Anything At YouTube

Blasts From The Past








We started down this blast from the past fest because Wolf Blitzer mentioned union members usually voted for Hillary Clinton and my brain flashed back to the 1970’s and this song from a commercial:

“Look for the union label
when you are buying that coat, dress or blouse.
Remember somewhere our union's sewing,
our wages going to feed the kids, and run the house.
We work hard, but who's complaining?
Thanks to the I.L.G. we're paying our way!
So always look for the union label,
it says we're able to make it in the U.S.A.!”

“Look For The Union Label” Song From a 1975 Commercial

Embedding was disabled at YouTube so just Click Here to view the video.

Joe Namath’s Panty Hose Ad



All In The Family Original Theme Song



The Jeffersons Theme



Mickey Mantle Karo Syrup Ad



The Flintstones Ad For Winston Cigarettes

Unknown Facts About The Flu # One

You can write a blog post, reread it, and realize you repeated yourself in three different ways in three different paragraphs. Hit delete.

You can blow your nose, reblow it, and realize you repeatedly blew your nose three different times in the same damned Kleenex. Throw it away.

You accidentally TIVO'd "Pregnancy For Dummies" because your finger triple clicked the wrong button on your remote. Delete. No really, Delete, No, not TIVO every damned episode forever! Delete!

DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're going to celebrate with an evening in with champagne and chocolate. We'll have our Valentine's outing on Saturday. I hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day and enjoy the love in your lives no matter who the source is because you are loved.

Here's a very funny video a friend sent me. Enjoy!

TEQUILA



Here's One of My Favorite Funny Hugh Laurie Songs



And I Will Always Love You...

First Snow Day of 2008

My Voodoo Doctor on my front porch. Click on any photo to enlarge.




















My Snow Man Jerry
















We received 5 inches of snow last night and more is expected tonight. Here's a photo journal of our snowy Saturday.

Unfortunately two towns away - about thirty miles from us - Fernley, Nevada is experiencing serious flooding because a levee along a canal fed by the Truckee river broke. This was after an all day rain then snow and freezing temperatures, rumor had it there was a 4.0 earthquake a half hour before the levee gave way, then that was refuted by the USGS. Now they say there really was a 4.0 earthquake just before the levee gave way. Gopher or rat holes that were burrowed into the earthen levee has also been indicted! They apparently undermine the levee and this was also a cause of a 1996 break.

I've crossed that canal dozens of times since moving here in 1989. It's right on highway 95A which is our main route to Interstate 80, a main US artery. Which by the way was closed last night from Stateline to Auburn, CA, a huge chunk of highway, because of a record snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains and here in Northern Nevada. The flooding brings back bad memories for me as I was in the 1986 flood in Olivehurst / Linda California. It's kind of an emotional time for us. Our neighbors in Fernley are in our prayers.

By the way, I've turned Comments back on since the busy holidays are over.

I caught Fury in this pic just as she had rolled in the snow. Crazy horse.


















Here she is after she got up, all snowy and happy to be in a nice warm blanket I'm sure. With snow on her face she looked like a raccoon. I brushed it off for her.

Christmas Videos & Links

Wow. I got an early Christmas gift. The scale was back down to 113 this morning WITH my oversize sleep shirt still on. Body fat percent stayed roughly the same, still in the 17 percent range. I probably dropped some water weight. Still, it’s a nice number to see.

I’m done Christmas shopping but still have a lot on my to do list. My cousin Debby said to me yesterday, “I'll bet you're all ready for Christmas, aren't you? Darned little overachiever!!!” Ha, ha, I told her I was done, put a fork in me. You have to shop ahead when you have a seven year old with precise demands like a 661 piece lego set like this one.

And my best news is my husband is taking the whole Christmas week off! Yeah! Nine straight days of Jerry! Ho, ho, ho! Tis the season to be jolly, after all.

Here’s a variety of Christmas and Holiday videos and links you might enjoy.

Psycho Cat Christmas



Tacky Christmas Yards

The North Pole

The History of Christmas




Christmas on the Net


Hanukkah / Chanukkah The Festival of Lights


The Official Kwanzaa Website

Do They Know It’s Christmas?



Jesus 2020


Santa Claus.com

Christian.com

Charlie Brown Christmas - Performed by the Cast of Scrubs




Worthy Ministries Their Daily Worthy Brief is Great!


Santas.net

Jesus Freak Network – Proud and Happy To Be One!

12 Days of Christmas Parody

Holiday Fun

From: Barbie
c/o Mattel, Inc.
El Segundo, CA 90245

To: Santa Claus
North Pole, North Pole
December 23, 1996

Dear Santa:

Listen you ugly little troll, I've been helping you out every year, playing at being the perfect Christmas Present, wearing skimpy bathing suits in frigid weather, and drowning in fake tea from one too many tea parties, and I hate to break it to ya Santa, but IT'S DEFINITELY PAYBACK TIME!

There had better be some changes around here this Christmas, or I'm gonna call for a nationwide meltdown (and trust me, you won't wanna be around to smell it). So, here's my holiday wish list for this year:

1. A nice, comfy pair of sweat pants and a frumpy, oversized sweatshirt. I'm sick of looking like a hooker.
How much smaller are these bathing suits gonna get? Do you have any idea what it feels
like to have nylon and velcro crawling up your butt?

2. Real underwear that can be pulled on and off. Preferably white. What bonehead at Mattel decided to
cheap out and MOLD imitation underwear to my skin?!? It looks like cellulite!

3. A REAL man...maybe GI Joe. Hell, I'd take Tickle-Me Elmo over that wimped-out excuse for a boytoy Ken. And what's with that earring anyway? If I'm gonna have to suffer with him, at least make him (and me) anatomically correct.

4. Arms that actually bend so I can push the aforementioned Ken-wimp away once he is anatomically correct.

5. Breast reduction surgery. I don't care whose arm you have to twist, get it done.

6. A jogbra. To wear until I get the surgery.

7. A new career. Pet doctor and school teacher just don't cut it. How about a systems analyst? Or better yet,
a public relations senior account exec!

8. A new, more 90s persona. Maybe "PMS Barbie", complete with a miniature container of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and a bag of chips; "Animal Rights Barbie", with my very own paint gun,
outfitted with a fake fur coat, bottle of spray on blood and handcuffs; or "Stop Smoking Barbie," sporting a removable Nicotrol patch and equipped with several packs of gum.

9. No more McDonald's endorsements. The grease is wrecking my vinyl.

10. Mattel stock options. It's been 37 years--I think I deserve it.
Ok, Santa, that's it. Considering my valuable contribution to society, I don't think these requests are out of line.

If you disagree, then you can find yourself a new bitch for next Christmas.
It's that simple.

Yours truly,
Barbie

Bardelli Family Christmas Video 2007

We decided to make a Christmas video this year instead of writing a Christmas letter. And as always with the Bardelli Family things got out of hand at the end. We pretty much kept it PG but some kissing happened between consenting married adults. And this was after we lectured Bruno that there would be no cussing or potty mouth talk allowed. Oh well.

Happy Holidays!

Scary! Bardelli Family Halloween Photos

It doesn't get much spookier than this...Happy Halloween, ha, ha, ha, ha ha, ha!

Cool Links of the Week

Coolest Websites of the Week

Does the title mean I’m going to do this once a week? Maybe, maybe not. Loosen up folks, there’s more to life than rules, causes, routines, structure, and flog blogging the supposed bad guys.

Here are some really cool sites you might want to check out:


Worldometers – real time world statistics. Check out the food section and “millions of calories consumed this year”.

Cooking By Numbers – Tell them what’s in you refrigerator and cupboards and get recipes.

Theoi Greek Mythology Site - a site exploring Greek mythology and the gods in classical literature and art. The aim of the project is to provide a comprehensive, free reference guide to the gods (theoi), spirits (daimones), fabulous creatures (theres) and heroes (heroi) of ancient Greek mythology and religion.


The World's Healthiest Foods

130 foods that can serve as the basis of your Healthiest Way of Eating. Links to the articles about these foods can be found on the site.

Bible Map.org – See where biblical events took place.

Mr. Picasso Head – Create your own Picasso style works of art.


UWL Exercise Video Index – see exercises properly demonstrated.

Created and modified by Dennis Kline, Travis Erickson, John Blaak, Sophia Nimphius, Adam Schneider, Jen Steckart, Tim White, Beth Byron, Jason Whitmire, Jim White, Yaw Baidoo and the list is getting longer...

For all bloggers and writers, here is a website to sharpen your skills, Writerisms and other Sins.

Librarian Chick’s Wiki – Loads of Great Links.

And last but not least, for the rest of my fellow sane, thinking, anti-war peace-niks it’s the Ribbon Based Economy Page.