What a way to kill a Sunday

So, instead of working on the actual pants pattern I'd downloaded from the Internet and traced, I spent several hours doing a new croquis. I didn't remember how long it had been since I did my last one, or what I weighed at the time.

Here's the overall plan:

Take pictures of myself in dark, tight fitting clothes, front and side, and reduce the photos to outlines. Then, in theory, I can draw the outlines of sewing patterns on top of "me" and see how I really look in them. That is often enough to cure me of wanting that pattern altogether.

Oh, and since I couldn't find my old croquis, I hooked up my old computer and spent a great deal of time copying selected directories to the external hard drive, then comparing directories to the new computer. Mission accomplished, day/time killed without actually working on my pants pattern. More measurements were taken.

The last croquis was 13 months ago and 13 pounds heavier. I am smoother in this one, but it may be due to the choice of dark and tight this time around. Is it obsessive that I am considering buying a leotard and tights specifically for future croquis?

This croquis came out much better since I used Nina's old room for a background (less cluttered, better background angle to the wall, and better contrast), and fully extended my little tripod. Also I was standing more straight to the camera. Not perfectly straight, but better.

My conclusion after studying the two croquis side by side? I used to describe my body as a tube atop a beach ball, but that comparison only works from the front view. The side view shows a belly that denies the tube and extends the beach ball idea. With tiny bumps for boobs. Really now, was that necessary?

Sigh. Time to start doing some of those "core" exercises I have been avoiding at the gym. Damn I hate getting on the floor at the gym. I'm not too keen on doing it on the floor at home either. The treadmill is so much more sanitary.

No, I'm not going to post MY croquis here. The sample above is a professional model croquis. Mine would be TMI.

It's grilling time again!

Ok, so it's not like it's never grilling time here in south Florida, but when the popular media starts getting into it, so do I. I'm shallow that way.

So the above bunch of food is good for about 4 meals for me. Well, 4 meals of meat and 2 of veggies, but it's a start!

The above ribeye steak was brushed with a mustard/olive oil/red wine vinegar marinade and the veggies were brushed with Italian dressing. Pretty simple and OH SO Good. The most exciting part was when the wire grill brush fell apart in action. Yowza! The second most exciting part was not realizing I'd run out of fuel and wondering why it wasn't cooking faster. I really should be more observant. Ya think?

Walking around the neighborhood

So, walking around my neighborhood, I counted, well I tried to count the squirrels but there are so many of them! And they are loud and fuss at me when I walk under "their" trees. It was a good year for acorns last fall and now the critters are big and numerous. I suspect some of the neighbors are feeding them.
My next door neighbor puts out veggies for the bunnies, but I've never seen the squirrels stealing from that supply like they go after seeds in the bird feeders.

One thing that really surprised me was the big mango tree overhanging the fence on Gateway Blvd. I must not have ever walked there when there was fruit on the tree. It sticks way out, making that fruit available for anyone who can pick it. Too bad I don't care for mangos, with as many as grow around here. Here's a picture of the tree, which is near Gateway and Lawrence, if anyone wants to come a-pickin!

I can't tell you if they are ripe or not, though.

Bland chips, but chips nonetheless.

They are toasted tortilla wedges with a hint of cheese. Just a hint now, because "we" are watching how much cheese and other delicious stuff "we" eat. I love chips, I could make a whole meal out of them and dips/spreads most nights. Love love love the crunch.

But chips and crackers come with a high calorie price. I'm trying to come up with a suitable substitute that doesn't have me pretending crisp vegetables are really chips. Come on people, veggies are good but they are not crackers.

These chips are bland. Really bland, but they are crunchy so I'll make them again. Plus I still have a lot of tortillas left.

Wildlife in the 'hood.

It's a good year for wildlife in my neighborhood. And domestic animals gone wild, too.

We have a bunch of these bunnies out chomping on the grass, at dawn and dusk. And lately they have been joined by domestic rabbits that have either been released or escaped. Last week in a small rainstorm I saw one of each near each other looking all cute and everything.

I'll save my comments on the squirrels for later, but rest assured, they are out there in full force too. Can the foxes be far behind?

*I am not able to get a photo of the bunnies, so I'll give credit to the poster at Wikipedia who shared the one above: I_Am_Ninjor.

I just love my new carpet cleaner!

It's a Bissell lightweight that I got at the big box discount store. You know, the one with the funny looking customers. Except for me of course.

I did my daughter's former bedroom with it and boy did the room need it. First of all, I gotta say, that detergent for carpet cleaners is expensive! But the good news is it only took a couple of tablespoons for the whole little tank, and that tank did the whole little bedroom.

It didn't take out the dents however. And no matter how much I clean it, there is that tramped down area around the edge of the former bed. The photo makes it look even worse!

Now let me tell you the sad tale of the little Hoover that didn't suck. I bought a rug cleaner at the other big box discount store, you know, the one that is much more pleasant to shop in. I had that cleaner in my garage in the box for a couple of months before I opened it up and assembled it. Then I discovered it wasn't sucking up the dirty water. In fact on the tiles it just blew it around. It too was very inexpensive, but I hadn't saved the reciept, so now I can't return it to the store.

I'm offering it up on the local Freecycle to see if anyone wants to try to fix it or if anyone can convince a store to take it back. Good luck to them.

In the meantime I may have to go in there and do the walls with a magic eraser. All the walls up to 3 feet off the floor are covered with marks and stuff. My gawd those two "kids" were hard on the house.

If this is all I have to be bugged about...

Don't you just hate it when that woven strip in the towel shrinks up the 2nd time it's washed? It makes it harder to fold them, and it just looks bad. The towels in this group all did this except the one that was being used that day. This happened 5 years ago and I'm still pissed about it. Damn dryer in my rental apartment, anyway.

If this is the biggest complaint I can come up with then I'll take it.