Sunday Check in

Hi friends. It's been a nice weekend, and a good break from school. Now I, one who is worse than the kids on this, am counting the days until holiday break.

Got up this a.m. and walked the K-9 units. We went extra today for 50 minutes. We altered the route so there were lots of new things for the kids to smell. They tried to take me out when a squirrel-unit crossed into the K-9 zone. They took off hard, and I had no choice but run. It felt good, but I was sure I was going to wipe out. No harm done.

We've been doing laundry and cleaning around here. We also are putting up our Christmas stuff. Naturally the downside to that is the taking it down. ~~~sigh~~~ We adopted a kitten Halloween night. Someone dumped him off. He's a cute little guy, so we called him Guy. He love climbing trees. We were afraid of this. He winds himself around the stem of our faux tree *(yes, in spite of our semi-northwoods locale, we go faux - no fuss, no muss.) See Guy below:

Hugh and I finished decorating the tree, rearranging the furniture a bit, cleaning all over, and doing laundry. He needed fresh air, and so did I. He went out to play football by himself while I took the K-9s for another walk - shorter and quick because it is now snowing here again. It will be pretty in the morning, I'm sure. And it could get me a delay!

I've been cogitating on Lean Cuisine's spa menu butternut squash ravioli. I LOVE it. It's really high in fat, but I believe I can do it only healthier than them. I don't have the patience or space to make pasta by hand so I've decided to make mastaciolli noodle that will be able to hold some of the squash "sauce".

I pureed squash, then put it in a pan with sauteed garlic and minced onion. After it heated I added 1/3 cup of shredded mixed cheese, 2 hunks of Laffing Cow lite Swiss,and some FF sour cream. I also added a bit of skim milk. It's awfully thick, but I think once it hits the pasta it will loosen up. I also carmelized some baby onions and am in the process of making some frozen Italian vegetables. To those I've added pecans, a tiny bit of brown sugar, cayenne, and hold on - bacon. LOL 1 piece of turkey bacon, 1 piece of the real deal all chopped up - hey, everything's better with bacon, right? *that's what they say on Food Network and Top Chef, anyway. I'll file a report tomorrow on how good/bad it was. So far, I think I'm digging it.

I wish I had more time to write, but Ruby is about to come on, and I want to see what happens there. I hope your Monday is wondermous! Let's dig into December and get in better shape and eat healthy all month long, eh?

Linda

PS: Kitty likes tree w/decorations, too.