Sunday Night Chit Chat: Sunnybrook Farm Fun

Howdy Humble Readers...

I do hope that some of you are still out there.  I've been such a terrible bloggy friend for the last month (ok, the last year really).  I apologize for my absence.  I will attempt to do better.  I will. 

This week was pretty mellow at the hobbit hole.  Weather has been typical summer for us... moderate warm weather, lots of thunderstorms, and a few stretches of intense heat.  The thing that makes the heat so hard for me (and this is not original) living here is the humidity.  I grew up in very arid areas, but as soon as it gets over 25C here in the Shire, I'm a puddle.  Seriously, it gets at least 10 degrees hotter on a daily basis in K-town in the summer, but it doesn't bother me anywhere near as bad. 

This was another milestone week in the weight loss department.  I passed (just barely) the 60 pound mark on Friday.  I'm losing at a rate of about 10 pounds per month, which is a nice steady pace, but not too fast.  Now my workouts consist of my walk (6.8km), 75 squats, and a fifteen minute arms and abs workout (with small weights).  With stretching, it usually takes me about an hour and a half or so, start to finish.  Blood sugars are good, and staying fairly steady, thankfully. 

Today was we had a fun little outing with the wee-lings.  We took them to a little farming museum/petting zoo.  It was just a short little fun-time, but both Ginny and Pip enjoyed it. 

All smiles!

Checkin' out the ponies and donkeys

On the move

Mooooo!

Ride 'em cowgirl!

Sitting in the clover

On to tonight's chit chat.  Here's what I'm...

Reading...  I FINALLY finished Paris.  It was so good!  I learned so much about the city, about the history of France.  Now I'm on to Revenge Wears Prada (the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada).  I'm enjoying it, and I'm flying through it.  That's always the way it goes after I read something like Paris, the next book goes by in a flash.  I'm also doing some research reading for a possible project that has been percolating. 

Watching...  I'm going to watch a couple episodes of Rome tonight. 

Listening to...  Pippin, yawning and babbling to himself a bit.  He's still not talking (14 months... I'm trying not to get too concerned) but he makes tons of little boy noises.  Grunts, growls, and blowing raspberries. 

Cooking/baking... Tonight's dinner was fantastic.  Braised beef short ribs, with mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.  I made a sauce from the braising liquids (sherry, onion, garlic, beef stock, and a bit of bbq sauce) that was killer. 

Happy I accomplished this week... we finally broke down and got Pippin's big boy car seat.  They changed the laws in the last year about when  child can move to a forward facing car seat (they have to be able to walk on their own to the car, and Pip wasn't too steady on his feet until recently).  We finally got rid of the baby bucket (caused my heart to twinge just a bit.  We'd had that car seat since my first pregnancy five years ago). 

Looking forward to next week...  We are taking the wee-lings to their first parade on Wednesday.  The local annual festival/fair (called Westerner Days) begins that day, and we are also going to take them to the midway to do a few rides, and then through the 4H exhibits. 

Thankful for...  The way my Beloved plays with our wee-lings.  He gets them laughing so hard that they can't breathe, and makes them squeal and shriek.  Even after a long day with them, I look forward to watching him interact with them. 

***Bonus Question***  What's the last movie you saw in the theater?  My Beloved and I were blessed with free babysitting on Friday night (MIL wanted to see the wee-lings, so we got an impromptu date night).  We went out for dinner (the chicken I had was amazing... going to have to try to copy it) and to see The Heat (Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy).  H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!!!!!!  Seriously, I was crying I was laughing so hard.  I don't normally buy comedies for my movie collection, but this one might be an exception. 

*****
Technically, there is not Sunday Night Chit Chat link up tonight, but I wanted to post anyway.  Remember that you can always join in, and chat about what's going on in your world.  :)