People up north make fun of us southerners with our "milk/bread casseroles" when it snows... you know, the rush to stock up on milk and bread when we're expecting an inch of snow. Laugh all you want, yanks... least our people aren't stuck in subway trains. We know that you stay home when the weather outside is frightful... that way, our sad little story isn't plastered all over CNN.

I'm jes' sayin'....

My belly has been aching for the past two days... think it might be the return to fiber. It's pressing on my (still) tender lung and yesterday I was purty uncomfortable. My weight was waaaay up again, just like it was during the worst of the pleurisy. There's some kind of pain/excess weight connection. Maybe in 2011 I'll figure it out.

Meanwhile... I'm just gonna keep eating healthy. I'm in no way deprived... this morning for breakfast I had a hot steamy bowl of warm barley with organic pumpkin and smashed banana. I think warm bananas are about the yummiest thing in the world! I added a little brown sugar... cinnamon... nutmeg... mmmmm!

Lunch is going to be lentils with ham, I suppose. Although, I blame the increase of salty pork in my diet to part of the weight increase.

I've got that yummy veggie rice that I can have for dinner... or... I bought some really pretty yellow squash that is just begging to be steamed... haven't tried the steam feature on the rice cooker.

Someone asked me to describe the cooking function of a rice cooker... I'm not sure I'm qualified as I'm just figuring it out myself... here's what wikipedia had to say...

Basic principle of operation
The bowl in the rice cooker is usually removable, and beneath it lies a heater and a thermostat. These form the main components of the rice cooker. A spring pushes the thermostat against the bottom of the bowl for good thermal contact to ensure accurate temperature measurement. During cooking the rice/water mixture is heated at full power. The temperature cannot go above 100°C (212°F) — as any heat put into the rice/water mixture at that point will only cause the water to boil. At the end of cooking, some of the water will have been absorbed by the rice and the rest is boiled off. Once the heating continues past that point, the temperature exceeds the boiling point. The thermostat then trips, switching the rice cooker to low power "warming" mode, keeping the rice no cooler than approximately 65°C (150°F). Simple rice cookers, like the one below, may simply turn off at that point.


So there you go. I think it's that it's controlled heat or something like that.

I think we're going through the media stages of a weather disaster with the blizzard in the north...
Prediction - "the sky is falling" warnings
The event - complete with reporters out risking life and limb to explain why people shouldn't go out
The horror - stories of the absolute worst scenarios
The blame - government officials who failed to "rise up" to the challenges of nature
More "sky is falling" warnings - impending financial doom due to the ravages of mother nature, proof either for/against the global warming philosophy

We're definitely off on Friday and I'm definitely heading south to pick up Austin and see Purple Michael at Stone Mountain before he heads back to Chicago.

Still trying to accomplish our year end goals at the office - but its hard because people are NOT in the mood to do business. I can't believe the year is almost over.

I got snail mail from my friend Melissa in Minnesota yesterday with a little sumpin' sumpin in it. I LOVE snail mail! I giggled all the way back from the mailbox. She's about to start blogging again... a fitness blog... I'll link you up when she gets it going. She's a way better writer than me... she's even PUBLISHED... so you'll enjoy it.

Crunch-n-munch is thinking of blogging as well and I've encouraged him to do it. He's very witty and tells a good story. That makes for an interesting blog. I'll link you to him as well...

No news on the romance front... not a peep out of Next Guy over the holidays even though *I thought* we had plans to go to the movies on Christmas day. Obviously... we were snowed out but... a text saying, "we're not going, right?" would have been mannerly. He's done for sure. The Bear Hunter is in the same category. Done. Basic communication is paramount.

Wow. Time is slipping away. Time to slip into something more appropriate for the office than my pjs. Have a great Tuesday, y'all!