Crampy cranky chunky

Ugh. I hate this time of the month when good old Auntie Flo comes for her visit. The title of the post sort of says it all. I'm feeling very chunky, very crampy and pretty cranky. Yesterday was worse, so that's why I didn't post anything. Not good to post when all one is downright surly. The weather wasn't helping at ALL yesterday, either. It was gray gray gray and cold and gloomy and cold. Did I mention it was cold? It was. REALLY cold. March can be so terrible that way. We got the big tease last week with the weather in the 60s and 70s, and then WHAMO. It was 37 during the day yesterday and fell to FOURTEEN last night. That's a one and a four next to each other. I say, PICK A FINGER, fourteen degrees.

See? Still pretty cranky. Better today though as the sun is shining and that always lifts my spirits.

My exciting day has consisted of doing the dishes, cleaning the floors (AGAIN! The house is always a mess thanks to my hairy, sheddy dogs), doing laundry, grocery shopping and going tanning. I know, I know. Tanning is not good for you in the scheme of things. However, I have psoriasis which, in another lovely turn of events, seems to be aggravated right BEFORE Aunt Flo's visit, so not only am I all bloaty and sad, I get the psoriasis acting up. Very pretty, I am.

ANNNNYway, I went to a dermatologist a few years back and he actually recommended tanning to help keep the psoriasis at bay! Yipppppeeeeee! A health professional actually telling me I can go tanning with his blessing? JACKPOT!! See, I've always liked being tan - even as a kid, we'd slather on the baby oil with iodine in it (I have no idea why) and then we'd roast ourselves in the sun all summer long. Even my poor, very fair friend, Natalie would do this and turn herself into a crispy red mess!

Why on EARTH our parents let us do this (Hi, Mom!) is beyond me! I guess that was back in the day when kids were actually kids and didn't spend all their dang time on computers FaceSpacing each other and texting and being all, you know, virtual, instead of actually playing outside in the dirt and lighting fires and fun things like that. OH, MAN, was I a pyromaniac when I was a youngster. One of the few times I got into real trouble was when I lied about stealing matches. Bad, bad girl.

OK, I digress. Back to the tanning thing. I grew up in Michigan. Northern Michigan, lower peninsula. I ain't no Yooper! If you have spent any time in Michigan you will know of the coldness and cloudiness. The winters and looooonnnnng, my friends. I would get terrible, terrible depression in the winters and finally learned that it's an actual disorder called SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. I discovered that the Vitamin D and light from the tanning beds made a significant difference in my SADness. Really a big difference. So, each winter since I was about 20, I've been a faithful tanning person. Not a ton, once a week. And the other benefit? I look so much better than all the pasty white people running around here! HA!!

In other news, my onions are sprouting. No, that's not a euphemism for anything else! They're sprouting pretty green shoots that are now aobut 7 or 8 inches high! I've had them sprout the tiniest little green bit in the past but nothing like this! I have never seen an onion bloom, but apparently they do!

I know it's logical since alliums and those cute little grape hyacinth plants that I have are all onions, for realsies:


OK. Off to walk the dogs. Later, alligator.

Lobster rolls, chowdah and cupcakes

Oh my GOODness! When you've been eating really well; low carb, no white foods, no sugar, you know, really diety-like and then when some random occasion arises and you break all the rules and eat anything? Did you notice how amazingly AWESOME those bad things taste?

Yesterday was one of those occasions, as it was my crabby husband's birthday. Not that I'm married to a crab, just that he's been grumpy on his birthday for two years in a row. Whatever with him.

ANNYway, on the upside, for his birthday dinner he wanted lobster rolls, fries and clam chowder from this very-famous-in-Massachusetts place called Kelly's Roast Beef. MAN, was it all delicous! If you have not ever experienced a good lobster roll, you have not lived, my friends! Toasted hot dog bun, mounded with lobster meat mixed with a bit of mayo and chopped celery. Simple and FAAAANtastic! No calories there, I'm sure.

Here's a photo:
Why is it food doesn't look good in photos? That looks obscene! Yuck!

Anyway, it was good. Tasty as all get-out!

Then, for dessert, I bought evil cupcakes from another well-known establishment here in Salem called Coffeetime Bake Shop. Delicious doesn't cover it. I got yellow cake cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Ridiculous.

Back to the land of no sugar today for me!

In current flower news, my first little tete-a-tete narcissus blooms are here! I love love love these little guys! You know them, they're the cute yellow fleurs that look like baby daffodils:
So adorable.

Tomorrow it's supposed to get back up to 60 degrees, so hopefully more flowers will be making their appearances soon!

Happy hump day!

Back to reality

Well, the stretch of gorgeous May-like weather is gone. Back to winter! Man, I sure hope not! It's seasonably cool out there again. March weather. Ugh. I just looked at the forecast and the high on Friday is supposed to be only 38 degrees. SO cruel! It was just 70 on Saturday, for pete's sake. Looks like my little pots of violas will have to spend some time in the back hallway by the end of the week with lows in the 20s on their way. Oh, I just can't think about how cold that's going to feel. Yuck.

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday. For most people this would be somewhat of a fun occasion, but he is not fond of birthdays or celebrating them AT ALL. Last year he was downright surly on his birthday, so I have learned not to make a big deal of it. I used to decorate the house with balloons and signs and streamers, but he just sort of tolerated it more than really liking it.

See, I am an only child and TO THIS DAY I always feel like something extra special is going to happen on my birthday! I'm 44 going on about 10 when it comes to my birthday! My husband tries to make and effort to make it special (it's on May 30th for anyone who'd like to send flowers or buy me diamonds or something along those lines!! ha haa!), but he just really doesn't care about the whole rigamarole of the birthday thing.

It's really not my fault. I was given amazing presents, had fabulous parties - once even with a magician, annnnd it took me a long time to realize that my birthday was not the reason everyone had a vacation day! My birthday is generally right around Memorial Day, so I thought "Gee! How nice that everyone takes this Monday off to celebrate my birthday!" I was a little self-centered. That's how it is when you're an only! NOT MY FAULT!!!

So, I have no pretty flowers to show you today since it's dreary and chilly out. All the crocuses are folded up tight today.

I will leave you, instead, with a picture of our goofy dog. Aside from the scary looking eyes, how adorable is he with his upsidedownness? (Click on the photo to enlarge it...It's worth it!)