A Short Valentine's Day Story

My father was a not a big gift giver and forgot my birthday more than once even though it was a mere six days after his birthday. He would also occasionally say that my mother was just being ornery when she wouldn't deliver on his birthday so you would think that he would have no problems remembering when I was brought into the world.

My father often remembered me on Valentine's Day though.

If you were a card, you would be queen of hearts -

If you were in movies, you'd be a great star -

This is my 2011 puppy courtesy of my mother; she said that she couldn't resist.



Hope that you have plenty of sweet Valentine's Day memories or sweet memories from some other day...

Update: As soon as I hit the publish button, my Aunt Girt was at the door. She dropped off this V Day bag below. I've been feeling like I'm coming down with something and thought about going out to get ginger tea and there's a baggie within the bigger bag that has about 15 bags of tea -- two of them green ginger. Are you kidding me?

Around The World And Some Planks

No wonder I felt like I was about to keel over yesterday. I woke up and....mucus which is not unusual after swimming but this mucus had, um, color character.

I took some Emergen-C, drank the last of my ginger tea and hoped for the best.

I sometimes take for granted how nice it is to be well and to move around unfettered. I was dragging today and wondered if I should just go home, get under the covers and skip Step and Muscle class but I pressed on.

Step and Muscle is the one class that I have consistently gone to. I like the instructor who is energetic but not too perky and her off and on popping of faux ocean blue colored gum doesn't even bother me. Her routine is challenging but not difficult to follow.

I learn something new in every class that I take and I want to tell you that a plank by any other name is still a plank.

We did planks on the step and we did plank jacks. We also went around the world on the step -- stepping back and hopping over it as we literally faced every part of the room.

I noticed that it's getting easier to watch myself exercise in the mirror and I thought that I looked strong while lifting weights. I've always wanted more upper body strength and, now, it's becoming a reality.

I think that I missed my calling as the next Laila Ali because I loved the kickboxing moves that she threw in today: uppercut, jab etc.

It seemed kind of perverse to be doing a jumping jack/hopscotch move to a remix of Celebration but it kept me moving. In fact, I was so hyper after class that I hit the treadmill for 15 minutes. I had to dispense with some energy by doing my little jogging thing -- for a few minutes anyway.

Old Jones, #1

I was immediately hooked the first time that I tasted chai.

I studied several recipes before I made it. I had quite the production line going and even bought fennel and black peppercorns to add to the mix. It was all worth it though. My friend even pointed me in the right direction as far as tea. In fact, I still have some Red Label tea which I'm told lasts forever. Hope so.

Masala Chai Tea

Makes 2 small cups

1 1/2 cups water
1 stick of cinnamon
8 cardamom pods
8 whole cloves
2/3 c milk (or half and half)
6 tsps sugar (or to taste)
3 tsps unperfumed loose black tea
1/4 ginger root, thinly slice

Put 1 1/2 cups water in saucepan. Add the cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and ginger and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a boil then simmer. Throw in the tea leaves, cover and turn off the heat. After two minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately.

From Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking

Weigh-In

The scale has not moved in a month but that's par for the course since it usually takes me about a month to move the scale. Plus, I see the telltale signs of weight loss. There's a looseness in my pants and my new glasses no longer hug my face.

I was relieved to find my beloved MP3 player under a mountain of clothes. I have yet to deal with old clothing. I really shouldn't keep my larger clothes around but I've toyed with the idea of having some items altered. My taste in clothing has changed though. I find myself drawn to flower, leopard, paisley and zebra patterns and, sometimes, a combination of two patterns. My swimming cohort refused to go with me yesterday once she heard me coughing. That unidentified doctor is right about the inability to shorten a cold. Mine is waning but still hanging in there and it's almost been a week and I've been downing all manner of Emergen-C, ginger tea and, still, my body produces impressive amounts of mucous.

Instead of my usual Friday night swimming, I watched the French flick The Grocer's Son while nursing a hot cup of Holiday Plum Spice tea. The movie was pretty good if you like laid-back foreign flicks that emphasize relationships.