Hi all.

OK, y'all, just had to put my lonely vote in on the steaks. I LOVE NY strips, don't like rib-eyes at all. Way too rich, way too fatty for me. I also like a good T-bone now and then. But imo, the absolute BEST is a grilled beef tenderloin, possible the most expensive meat out there. We only do it for holidays now and then, but holy cow , We have a red wine/mushroom sauce we pour over it. Oh my…lost for a sec in a yum dream.

Trig---HI-larious with the "better a gun than a cell phone." But I get what you're saying. Using a gun on a shooting range is safe and about honing a talent for aim, etc. I guess, although I wouldn't know. Getting kids separated from their devices, and actually DOING something is a victory. Plus it's something she enjoys doing with her dad---SO important, imo. Girls really need strong and loving relationships w/their dads. I sure had one w/mine, and it made my life better in so many ways.

Jaz---Poopy snot, which is my best juvenile response to all things disappointing. Sorry Mr. Big missed the boat, and sorry the details of such you tried to share evaporated. It's all in the details, so can't say I'd lower the guillotine over him yet.

Hubby stood me up on our 4th or 5th date, and I was old enough and wise enough by then to think "Oh no you don't, this ain't a gonna work!" But he chased me right back with apology and explanation. I gave him a pass. To this day, 30 years later, he has never done it again. I don't believe in "zero tolerance" rules. Let's see where this goes.

Meme---Your post reminded me that I need to be better about counting onions in to my daily carb count. Which I realize I often forget, they just seem so harmless. I don't worry so much about them in a big dish of which you are having but a helping of, i.e., crack slaw. And even on a burger, you can have a nice slice (raw) or two (sautéed) for between 2 and 4 net carbs. Still, it all adds up. I know. Gotta be better about adding them in my count. But, never giving them up.

Nic---You sound SO good to me, like you're really leveling out after that nasty attack of whatever you had to suffer through.

On your hubs---yeah, NO, you don't get to eat high fat AND big carbs. This is pretty much a train wreck of a woe, the worst of everything from both. It's what I'd call the "donut woe" as the donut combines the worst aspects of fat and carbs.

No wife wants to be a nag, but I do think you have the right to say "You have to stay healthy for me, how you do it is your choice. So pick a way and do it." See how tough I am when I don't have to do that?

--- Just finished Anne Patchett's new one "Commonwealth." It was, good enough. I haven't read one of hers in a long time, but have read many of them. This wasn't my fave, but it was fine.

Now into another psychological thriller, a genre I can aways escape into, which is weird. Yeah. It's an almost 5 star on Amazon, and it's pretty good so far, can't say yet whether I'd recommend. Do you like Psych thinners?

DO have my next book picked out. "Empress." Showed up on a recent list of fave Historical Fiction books. It's the story of the only woman to lead China, like ever, and for a long time, a long time ago.

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I am feeling MUCH better and had a very productive day. Spent a couple of hours doing work I thought for sure I'd leave till tomorrow. But I was just uneasy about my to do list, and it was gray and gloomy out today---hey I can really dig that, very cozy---so I decided to dig in just a bit and gave myself a very low bar for accomplishing anything today.

As I always say, "the motivation is in the process." Holy cats meow, I got SO much done, which is going to make my Monday so much more bearable.

THEN, well gals, I had ordered a new coffee table for our living room a week ago, and it got here this last Friday. So today was the day we carted the old one out to the alley---a REALLY OLD one, a big old cedar chest "coffee table" of my grandmother's I've been carrying around for freaking ever---and it was scooped up by the alley crawlers in less than an hour. Happy voyage old chest, you served me well, but all good things come to an end.

LOVE my new coffee table, and spent a lovely time making it fit in. For me, every new thing engenders a chain reaction of other changes, which I had fun making.

Now, I must sign off, because I'm off to my treat night. Mac and cheese. Will NOT express my joy, as that would just be indecent on a LC site.