Karma Laundrette

Get it? Because someone has a case of the Mondays. Hurr. I sent Miss Emily off to Science Camp for the week, and it was so cute to see all of the little kids at the school excited and nervous to go on an away trip during the school week. It's also funny to see some of the more spoiled kids who have never "roughed it" in a cabin before, and having matching luggage. LOL. They'll make excellent speed bumps for my family when the zombies rise, thank you for your brave sacrifice, people.

I cranked my workout to 11 today because I noticed that my jeans are fitting loosely, and that's a good feeling. Time to celebrate with a bottle of wine! What do you mean that's counterintuitive? Next week I'm going to do doubles (P90X in the morning and Turbo Fires in the afternoon, just the HIIT workouts every other day) because I want to reach my goal by New Years. Also, the BFF is doing ultra-marathons and I can't say that I'm not curious to give it a try. I mean, I walked 60 miles in 18 hours, I should be able to run 35. *laughs for ever* Well, maybe after I reach my fitness goals. [I can't deny that there hasn't always been a part of me that wants to see how far I can push myself, so. *shrug* ]

Awesome things that happened this weekend:

• Was told that I was someone's favorite trailer slut. \o/ (and someone mentioned me specifically in a review on imdb, and I got a little choked up, ngl.)
• Another movie I was in won AFI's audience pick and has this great article in VARIETY, so that's pretty boss
• the Mr. cured and smoked a ham (that he got with his own hands) and we ate it last night and I almost made love to that joint of meat, oh my goodness.
• I realized that - not counting recaps for HDJM or edits to Oh My Heck, I've written 62,000 words this November. That's right, in two weeks. Tack on the recaps and we're looking at 75K+. My hands are so buff, you guys.

THE WALKING DEAD. Guys? Guys. Guyth. Theriouth. I'm theriouth. I love that show. Kristi got her recap up after midnight last night, and you should read it, talk about the show (the discussions go on all week, it's really great) and yeah. I LOVE DARYL DIXON.

(Lastly, we'll have Simon Cowell-esque [zomg don't sue us] merch up at our store, and one of our writer's daughters did it, and it's SO DAMN CUTE. Baby artist support FTW!) I need to figure out how to do html on that site so I can organize products. =/

and still look good in a bikini? Boo, universe. Poor design, says I. Cottage cheese thighs need to come back into vogue, is all I'm saying.

So yeah. I'm still doing this TurboFire workout, and holy sheep sheers, it is crazy intense. Day 2 was a 15 minute workout. Oh, that's nothing, you might be thinking. Um, it's 15 minutes of straight up Fire Drills (think every football training montage you've ever seen.) I almost threw up. But then I felt awesome. And then I was hungry. (You do a fire drill, cool for 30 seconds, do it again, cool, do it a 3rd time, then you do a whole new sequence. and repeat it all over again, then one whole NEW sequence, etc.)

And we come back to cheese. Lol. I'm not very good with the whole choreography-style workouts (and I grew up in the age of Jazzercize! Now, I can grapevine right like a mofo) but I'm sure my confusion is helping me burn a few more calories. Or something.

IT'S JERSDAY! (Need to catch up on last week's ep? Here's the recap.) Also on deck is Community and 30 Rock and that makes for a happy Thursday for me. Here, have a picture that will hopefully inspire Jeff/Troy fanfic that you want me to read. :)

I'm not a purse girl. Oh, I love me some fancy shoes, but I'm not a "gotta have the latest bag!" kind of girl. But I want this with the force of a thousand supernovas. (I'm very preppy - I don't like things that sparkle. Lol. I mean, come on. You should have known that by now.) I would also like a weekender bag that looks exactly like it, but the size of luggage. Leather luggage isn't as easy to find as you'd think. Well, if you're willing to spend several thou, then yeah, it's easy. =P

OK, I gotta go eat all the things.

Ahahaha. I realized that there are way too many words in the title, but dammit, it's Carrot soup with ginger and curry and coconut. And skrimps. Most cream of carrot soup recipes have OJ in them (whyyyyy?) or way too much onion, or some other thing that I can taste over the deliciousness that I WANT to taste. So I made this up last night. It turned out so good! Recipe and a PICTURE (I'm fancy) under the cut.

( It's beginning to smell a lot like autumn... )

In other news, a friend posted this clip on his FB yesterday and I forgot how much I loved Strangers With Candy. I'm ashamed of myself, too. How could I forget the awesome? So if I may borrow from him these words... "In these times of political rancor, let's have a frank discussion about racism." Thank you, Principal Blackman and Percy Kittens. Lol.

In other other news, I've started P90X over again to motivate my friend, Brainpool. It feels pretty bad ass to be able to keep up with the folks on the video and remember how I couldn't do hardly half of the workout. *flexes* And THAT is why I have no qualms about eating soup with coconut milk in it. :D (Well, and I use the healthy milk, but still. Heh.)

Damn. I'm so tired. But it's a good hurt, Clem. ( Brief talk of the downhill stretch + progress chart )

In other news, for anyone that's in Austin, Texas this Thursday night, the Alamo Drafthouse is hosting a special screening of my movie Blood on the Highway, with also features a relative unknown actor named Nicholas Brendon and another called Tom Towles. :D Should be loads of fun, the majority of the cast will be there for a Q&A afterward, and watching movies at the Alamo Drafthouses is the bomb. Come check it out! Tickets are four bucks, too. NICE. Go to Blood on the Highway's website for more info. (And check out all of the awards we've won! We'll be coming to DVD this fall, courtesy of Time Warner, I'm being told. AWESOME.)

And I'm really looking forward to looking healthy and fit for the Q&A afterward. (New folks: I was 35 lbs heavier for the role.) It's pretty sweet when people don't recognize you because you don't look, and I quote from a prior screening, "like a skeevy trailer whore in real life." Aww, so sweet! LOL.

I ask because I would just rather have someone carry me around for today. I'm zonked.

Because of the back injury a few weeks ago, my P90X routine was derailed. ( exercise talk under the cut including Weeks 5-7 & 8 Schedule )

In other news, we spent the holiday with our new friends, the ones with the pool. NICE. It's been so long since I've been around fellow suburbanites that didn't surprise you with some weird racist comment, or something randomly ultra-right wing, and then I have to drop them. Sorry, can't abide that stuff. I'm decidedly close-minded when it comes to stupidity, can't help it. :) They READ! They BLOG! The like wine! best of all: THEY SKYDIVE. And I think I know what I'm doing for my upcoming birthday: flinging myself out of a perfectly good airplane with new friends. DUDE. That's been on my list of things I must do since I was a kid. WOOT.

I've been re-watching Arrested Development and marveling all over again at how freaking CLEVER that show is. Man, what an amazing piece of TV that show was.

Random: I feel like making pizza dough today. Oooh, maybe some 7 layer bar cookies for the kids. (I'll have to have a sliver, let's face it. Little sweets = happy me.)

[ETA] OH MY GOD. My son (13.5) just asked if he could go to the pool with his girlfriend, and then! THEN! was it okay for him to have a girlfriend? I'm too young for this. Wait, no, that's him. Well, me, too, let's just keep that one in there, too. !!!! I predict an interesting summer to come... o_0

P90X - Recovery Week (4) Day 4
Yoga! Mmmm, I'm happy with this routine, it's a butt kicker, but I feel a thousand times more strong and flexible now. An hour and a half routine that leaves you loosey goosey at the end. I tried to get cute last night and do an extra workout of the Core Synergystics (day 3) and oh my god. Some of those are just absolutely brutal when you don't take time off in between. ( for example.... )

I had an audition this morning for a print ad, and met another mom about my age, with kids about my kids' ages, too. She was sassy and funny, and I can't stress how HARD it is to talk to other actors when you're auditioning. They're competition, so you ignore them. (I mean, I don't, because I have no ego about this, but they do.) We swapped numbers and FB handles and that felt great to meet someone FUN.

I simply CANNOT find Clayhouse's Petite Syrah anywhere. I think - because it was such a small bottling - they only sent it out to restaurants to build up a clientèle. I'll be buying several bottles of the next vintage, that's for sure. It was outstanding. And because of your recommendations, I picked up their Adobe Red (2 bottles, actually) and look forward to a glass or two tonight. I'm about to finish off a glass of from a bottle that's been opened a leeetle too long [eta] nope, still good! Peter Lehman of the Barossa - Clancy's 2005 Shiraz, btw - and sit on my patio with books. YAY books! I ordered some hard copies (I'm sorry, Kindle!) because I promised to share with others, and no one is getting their mitts on my Kindle. :)

Books: A People's History of the United States, vols. 1 & 2 (thank you for the rec, liz_marcs!) and some to remind me of stuff, The Mormon Conspiracy, The Mormon Murders (I know, it's a theme, sorry I know some of these people!) and God's Brothel, which is about Christian-based faith (and LDS) polygamy that goes undercover in the US. I have my SPF 50, tank and shorts, and a book. It's 76 degrees with a gentle breeze and blue blue blue skies. BLISS.

[ETA] I forgot to mention that I have two Dreamwidth invite codes (I feel so cool!) and the first two people to ask for them get them! Gone!! Also, is everyone posting over there, now? I need to get my site up, huh? I'm trying to figure out what I would do there and what would stay here...

Brief talk, because I've discussed the workouts before.

So the system works like this: 3 weeks of a series, focusing on form and reps each new time you do the day's routine. After that, you have a "Recovery" week, which doesn't mean sitting around. Day 1 of recovery week was the hour and a half yoga routine. I did something to my back by my shoulder blade yesterday (evidently getting out of the car? What?) so I wasn't sure if I would be able to do the whole routine. Not only did I do it, but I felt stronger and looser as a result. I'm glad I didn't bail on the plan. :)

The first week of yoga I couldn't do al of the poses. Not even close on some of them. Week two had me barely able to do some of the difficult ones, but I needed a yoga block to help me get there. Week 3 I could get my fingertips down and almost get the other hand on up the weird reverse stretches. (Like reverse half-moon, standing split, reverse triangle pose.) Recovery week had me with my hand flat on the ground on those. AWESOME. Crane still eludes me, but I know that one is very advanced. I can get all the way to my big toes resting on the floor, but that's it for me. My goal is to be able to do it by the end. I've discovered that the balance poses are my favorites.

I'm being good about what I eat (I don't normally eat junk) and I've almost completely cut out any alcohol, more's the pity. :) It's not like I was a lush, but a glass of wine with dinner wasn't unheard of. Now I save it for night 6 of the week's workout so I don't kill my metabolism. I'm feeling so much stronger than I did when I started this, and I bought a pair of shorts with a two inch inseam and don't feel embarrassed. Aw, yeah. (The hideous shorts I wore in Blood on the Highway had a one inch inseam, and I felt hideous. But then, that was 6 dress sizes ago. \o/ I love feeling strong again. I can crush walnuts with my thighs. Ahahaha. No, I can't.

I'm so chilled out and relaxed that I could take a nap. But... I have to go grocery shopping. And stare longingly at the samples of cinnamon buns.

( P90X Day 7 & 8: Recovery Stretch and Starting back at Square 1 )

I didn't start my baking bonaza today like I'd planned because I couldn't find the bran and rye flour that I wanted. I'll hit the Whole Foods and get the high protein stuff that makes for chewier bread. I'm making this pumpernickel bread. That might be one of my all-time faves. This recipe has a crazy number of ingredients, but it's authentic Russian Black bread! Mmmmm. While I'm using all of that stuff, I'm going to try and bust out some proper NYC bagels, too. Those won't get baked off until tomorrow and I'm going to make mini-bagels so there's not so many calories in each one. Portion control from the get go, woot.

My sister and I are going out tonight for drinks and hilarity and I'm super excited. I've not had any fun since I got back from SXSW and I'm due, methinks. Okay, spamming over! :)

( Day 5 - Legs and Back + Ab RipperX )

Recipes! Theirs and mine under the cut. (And I'm cheating and eating four, count 'em, FOUR caramel filled Hershey Kisses for my snack. I will also have my cottage cheese, because I happen to like it, but neener neener. Chocolate.

( Some steak/salad recipes from them, some naughty things from me. )

Okay, I'm ready for my snack now. Burning calories like a mother trucker, yo. *flexes* Whoops, forgot! I'm making THESE BAGELS tomorrow. I meant to post a hazelnut crisp recipe (to go with wine) but I can't find the bookmark, woe! If I do, I'll add it in.

For those that didn't see my Sat. post, I started up a new workout program called P90X. I'll keep all that stuff under a cut so you don't have spam on your flists. ( I've never sweated like that EVER. And I live in TEXAS. )

There are some awesome recipes in the program, and everything is reasonable, minus the one million egg whites every morning. I need to look into buying just egg whites (the things n a carton?) because I can't stomach the waste of all of those yolks. Can you freeze yolks? GOT IT, thanks! I have custards and things I could make with them at a later date, I suppose, but I have no idea. Recipes under the cut!

( Good morning type foods - delicious and nutritious )

It's not all regimented crap in Case de Stoney, however. Yesterday I drove out to meet crazydiamondsue and hold her leetle baby boy for a few hours while they were in my neck of the woods. Now, I'm the first person that will tell you that I don't like everyone's kids. I'm not that mom. Just because it's a baby doesn't mean I have to like it. :D

I kinda had a hard time letting anyone else hold Jonah. Um, he's totally cute and nommable and he let me zrbit his neck. We also discovered that my package of pink-skull adorned tissue pack was the perfect toy for a teething vunderkind. Who knew? It's always the weirdest things that keep kids entertained. Two hours of adults in a restaurant and he was pleased as punch the whole time. You couldn't ask for a better baby, you know? <3 <3

It is stormy stormy story here today. If I didn't have to leave the house, I would be pleased to sit inside and let it howl, but I have to get out in it, bah. No, no stinking thinking! YAY RAIN. Or something. ;)