Chocolate: Oreos

The first ingredient is sugar.
One serving contains 7 grams of fat...
and 160 calories.
A serving size is three.

Are you kidding me? Who eats just three?
The Oreo, my absolute favorite cookie to eat with milk (especially since I can't drink milk on its own.) Sometimes I'm a twist-n-lick. I twist the top off, take a few licks, and then stick them back together. Other times I twist and eat the one that didn't get the frosting first. Most of the time though, I just take a bite and take a good swig of milk. It's like a mouthful of Oreo shake.

When I was younger (after the whole Hydrox issue), I used to twist off several, eat all the non-frosted ones, and make my own double stufs. On rare occasions, I still do. Anybody analyzing the creme like I do would know that the "stuf" formula or consistency is NOT the same. I can't enjoy a double stuf. I've tried the "Uh-oh Oreo" better known as the Golden Chocolate Creme Oreo, the Golden Oreo, the Cakesters, Mini-Oreos, Milk Chocolate Oreo, 100 Calorie Pack, and Double Delights (all three). Nothing has stuck with me like the original. The Oreo cereal came close.

Yes, I do have a package right next to the computer. No, I didn't eat them all in one sitting...this time. I'm not that fond of the Snack 'n Seal packaging, but it's what's inside that counts, eh? How do you eat your Oreo?

Books: World of Language

If I were a teacher, artist, and writer, I would someday hope to create books such as those made by Ruth Heller. She has written more than 25 coloring books filled with designs from abstract to tropical fish to ancient Egypt. She's also written a few series children's books - one about nature, another about animal camouflage, and another about the parts of speech. That's right, the parts of speech.

Don't you remember diagraming sentences? If you don't then you're either too old or too young, either way there was some teacher trying to teach you about nouns, adverbs, or prepositions. If you didn't learn them or if you have children of your own, then buy her books. Each one focuses on a part of speech in a colorful, fun, and informative way.


I have all but one, shown above, and love reading her rhymes and looking at her artwork just as much as A & M.

Book Update...Starting June 12th, 14 books read = 4,641 pages & one in progress. I'm behind!

TV: Design Star

Okay, I must not be a really good designer. HGTV is one of my favorite places to direct the remote. Besides a bunch of other shows, I enjoy Design Star. This is the third year that HGTV has selected a group of people who want do be designers and make them jump through hoops to get their own show.

Those hoops include designing their living space, designing a fake space with supplies from places like the Dollar Store, and designing actual homes of people in need of a spruced up place. When all is said and done, I always have my favorites.

In Season One I liked Temple, Vanessa, and David (who churned out awesome rooms and was ultimately the winner.) In Season Two I favored Will, Robb, and Todd. Later Kim really grew on me and she won. Todd's designs all seemed to have a surfer theme and, sorry, Robb was beyond arrogant. (BTW, the links lead to video and before/after pics.)

So this season, I can't wait until the individual room episode. That's usually when I see the style of each designer. But the episode in which they design their space just aired and I really liked the colors of Jerome's room. Guess who got the boot? Again, I say I must not be a good designer. I had to agree, though, that the room appeared rather sparse and not well laid out. I still think someone else should have gone first.

HGTV fan? Check out Design Star.

Miscellaneous: Heat Happy

B's sister-in-law is crafty too, and has sent away all of her children after high school graduation with quilts. She dutifully sends the squares out and has friends and family decorate them. As crafty as I am, I was on overload with an empty square. Where would I start?

B's mom supplied the solution in iron-on transfer sheets. Yes, I'm aware iron-on has been available for quite some time now. However, I try to limit how many crafts I get involved in. We don't have enough room as it is for my collection of stuff. So anyway the squares turned out pretty good. Now I'm an iron-on hottie.

I made a t-shirt last week and fixed a pair of M's jeans. They turned out cute! What should I iron-on next?

Weight Update...Minus 2 pounds

Men: Drew Fuller

Drew
Fuller
Note photo credit

Name: Drew Fuller (Andrew Alan Fuller)
Best Known For: TV Show Charmed
Year of Birth: 1980
Status: Single
Height: 6’1”
Fun Fact: Does not consider himself a hottie

I first saw Drew on Charmed, and I was charmed (heh), but not until later. I thought the show was so packed with fun and enjoyment. I liked watching the sisters overcome the strangest and seemingly impossible feats no matter how ridiculous, and I loved them for it. When Drew’s character Chris came on the scene I believed he was a bad guy. I really didn’t look at him as anything but the enemy until later in the show.

That said, he is a hottie. He plays piano (sweet) and likes sushi (blech). Still a hottie.

Photo: Bryan Scott Brunick, image cropped

Chocolate: Silk

Both of my parents are lactose intolerant. I have been unable to drink a glass of milk since second grade. I never thought that I was intolerant because my only symptom was tossing my cookies, and it only happened when I drank plain milk. I seem to be able to handle chocolate milk better and have never had much problem with other milk products such as yogurt, cheese and ice cream.

Lately cheese has become a problem. I have this dreaded feeling that at some point I will be as intolerant as my parents. I hope A & M have a better chance than I when they get older. B LOVES milk and has never had a problem with it.

I've been longing to try soymilk, but have been afraid that I wouldn't like the taste. It costs the same amount as a gallon of gas, so I didn't want to waste it. In the end I went for it and bought Silk Chocolate Soymilk, and I kinda like it. I have no problem with drinking it. I just have a slight problem with the chocolate taste. It is a little watery with an "empty" taste that is hard to describe. It isn't quite that sweet either. I'm not left with the feeling like I really just had chocolate milk.

Well, it joined about 4 scoops of ice cream, 1/4 cup peanut butter, a banana, a tablespoon of Ghirardelli chocolate powder, and a dash of vanilla for a really good smoothie. I was sort of copying a chocolate moo'd from one of my favorite places, Jamba Juice. Of course, mine was nothing like theirs but it was good. I'll probably buy Silk again to make more shakes.

Books: Iris Johansen

Iris Johansen is another author who has roots in romance, but branched out to thrillers. I'm not sure which of these two books, The Search or Final Target, I read first, but both were very entertaining during my summer of 102 books. I went on to read No One to Trust later that same summer. But the series didn't stop there, just my access to her books.

She's written twelve total under the title character's name, Eve Duncan. I scrounged up a bag of books from B's mother's garage with the first in the series, The Face of Deception, and was reminded that I had not read a Johansen book in a long time. I very much enjoy her books although many who criticize them complain of the blatant "suspension of disbelief" necessary to read them. A coworker and I were discussing our favorite genres, and she said she couldn't read thrillers because they would scare her too much. I read some of them because they are so unbelievable.

Not that I want to scare you away from them. I really like her books and plan to add the ones I haven't yet read to my summer reading list. Unlike Hooper, Johansen doesn't have to have her main characters fall in love - just sometimes.

Her latest book is Quicksand, which I've read has a little supernatural in it because of a character carry over from another book, Pandora's Daughter. I can't wait to stick my nose in that one!

Her Duncan books:

The Face of Deception (1998) *
The Killing Game (1999)
The Search (2000) *
Final Target (2001)*
Body of Lies (2002)
No One To Trust (2002)*
Dead Aim (2003)
Fatal Tide (2003)
Blind Alley (2004)*
Countdown (2005)
Stalemate (2006)
Quicksand (April 22, 2008)
*Ones I've read

TV: Lost

Let's start with, What is Lost? It is an award winning drama aired on ABC. The series centers around a group of survivors from a commercial airline flight that crashes on an tropical island. The characters' histories and futures are reviewed through flashbacks and flashforwards while the present is viewed with bated breath. And things just aren't as simple as that. The island itself has its own mysteries. There are enough twists and turns, ups and downs to make riding on a roller coaster seem tame. But, man, what a rush!

A rundown on the concept of the show can be found at Wikipedia. It is a good read, turning up interesting info such as the show's originator getting fired by Disney (ABC's parent company) for approving the show given its expense (between $10 -14 million.) There is also such a large cult following that there is a Lostpedia. However, just reading the character bios in Wiki was eye opening.

One of the coolest (and apparently most expensive) parts of the show is the huge and varying cast. There is a lot more interaction and action with all the people and you never know who might die. The show will often start a season with a recap episode that is a must see for anyone who is thinking of watching the show for the first time. Buying the first season on DVD is also an option. I also frequent a spoiler site when I can't stand the wait.

All this build up has lead me to the season ender. Um, woah. We have been seeing flashes to the future and it all came to a head. I've always thought that when the two caught up with each other that the future would change. Something would be different that would make everything we had seen flashes of become moot. But it really happened. So now what? Will they even start the new season where they left off?

I've also heard that we don't find out about the real mysteries of the island until the end of the show. There is so much speculation, some of which has been denied by the show's big wigs. If the island has some more elements of the supernatural, what does it have to tell us?

I want summer to last a long time. As much as I'd hate for September to come soon, I really wish it would come sooner.

Miscellaneous: Pixeloo

Pixeloo is a blog I found through Blogspot's "Blogs of Note." The Blogger Team looks for "Interesting and noteworthy Blogger-powered blogs" though some of the blogs they feature are not hosted by Blogger. Anyway, I went to the Pixeloo blog and was happily entertained by watching Jax (I derived this name from the email he posted because I like it better than Pixeloo) make a cartoon Jessica Rabbit into realistic textured Jessica Rabbit. It was too cool.

He's also done a Mario, Homer Simpson, and a Stewie. They are a little creepier in my opinion, but still cool.

Jax links to another site with pictures of more 'untooning,' but not all of their stuff is as good as Jax's. Have fun!

Men: Dan Wells

Dan
Wells

Name: Dan Wells (Daniel Dwayne Wells)
Best Known For: TV Show Days of Our Lives
Year of Birth: 1973
Status: Married (Rachelle Pettinato)
Height: 5’10”
Fun Fact: Hyper!

I really don’t have a fun fact for this one. There just isn’t a whole lot of information out there. I did go to his website and found clips of him – my heavens, the energy! I think he would wear me out! Hey, I don’t mean there!

I found out about this one through Squarehippies. Nice site! I don’t watch soaps anymore, but I’m thinking I need to look there for some more cuties ;o) He has since moved on from Days to other projects. One could get lost in those eyes, and I’m a sucker for dimples.

Goal!

I dare you. Look at your driver's license and swear that your weight listed is your current weight. It is? I don't believe you for a second! Obviously mine does not match, and it isn't because I've lost a lot of weight. I've known for the last few years that I'm 30 pounds over where I want to be, but not until I went to a family gathering yesterday did I acknowledge that my driver's license was out of date weight wise.

For me, June is January, a time of making resolutions. For me, June is March, a time for new beginnings. So June of this year becomes the time of losing that 30 pounds. New studies involving fat cells have given me more confidence that I could reach that goal. Here is one article and here is another explaining that the number of fat cells in our bodies is determined when we hit 20 years of age (approximately). I was a bean pole then, so I could become a redistributed bean pole now. (Because obviously, there's no way to get that body back.)

So there's the goal. I won't be alone. Those other family members were just as disheartened by their imaginary drivers license weights. I'll update the weight loss each 'Me' post. Wish us luck!

PS I'm tickled my quote is so apropos for June! And Happy Dad's Day!