We Are The Littles

So, Friday I had a hankerin’ for some pancakes. I asked the cook to go to the store and buy some pancake mix and make’em on Saturday with some bacon and eggs. The store was out on Friday and Saturday was sanitation day which means nobody can be on the streets until 10:30am. So, he went back Saturday morning and got the stuff but by the time he returned the moment was gone. It was too late. No pancakes for me on Saturday.

I woke up this morning at my usual time, 5:30am, talked to MBM for a while and then decided to attempt my own pancakes (the cook has Sundays off). The result is below. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. The pancakes are just regular old pancakes. For the eggs I chopped up a FRESH clove of garlic, threw in some salt & pepper, and a little bit of cheese. Cheesy garleggs and pancakes.

Since it’s Sunday, the day of rest, I plan on doing as little as possible. I’m still on my push up quest and still trying to run as often as possible. I did a measly 2mi run yesterday, but I did a whopping 72 push ups on Friday! This Tuesday is my two week test to see how many I can do consecutively. Should be interesting.

That’s all I have for today. If you haven’t seen the Halloween pics MBM put up make sure to scroll down and check them out.

From POTD's

I don’t think the tiny scorpions we used to find in Oklahoma would stand much of a chance next to this bad boy. Some of the guys found it on one of the trucks that came down from Northern Nigeria to deliver some stuff. No Q.o.U., they didn’t kill it. It was dead when they found it. I’m glad they don’t have critters like this where I’m at. Can you imagine stepping on one of these on your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night!!!??? Talk about a rude awakening.

In other news… There are some great new pictures over on Gabby’s Virtual Baby Book. MBM took the best one yet and it’s up for all to see. Go have a gander.

Good night.

From POTD's

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I had one that was typical of being in Wichita Falls, uneventful! I did however have some really good photo ops. Here are two that I would like to share with you all. Of course, there will be many more to come.

Something to make you giggle: On the way back to Houston (boys will be boys!)

From Labordayweekend

Something to make you hungry: My uncle and aunt made me lunch (Brisket Bolio and fixin’s)

From Labordayweekend

So, today was just another typical day at work. Nothing very exciting happened. Nothing to tell. It’s the first day out of the last 5 that it wasn’t pouring down rain when I got home. The sun wasn’t out (it hardly ever is) but I didn’t do my daily run. After 4 days of complaining you’d think I would have been out there as soon as I got home… But I was tired and really not in the mood. Tomorrow will be better. T.G.I.F.

But, the big news of my day was my dinner. After almost 35 weeks of eating trash here I had a talk with my cook (see yesterday’s entry), gave them some money, and POTD #9 is what they came up with. If you look at the picture you’ll see grilled shrimp stuffed with mushrooms on skewers with onions, tomatoes, and peppers. On the side, broccoli, mushrooms, lemons, and that big white thing they call a radish. I’ve never seen such a radish, actually thought it was fish at first glance. Anyone know it by another name? Anyway, I ate the skewers complete with all the attached onions, peppers, & SHROOMS (but I didn’t eat all of the loose shrooms. I ate a few though). I ate the broccoli. Don’t tell MBM but it wasn’t half bad. They seasoned it with something and it didn’t really taste like broccoli. And finally, I ate the radish-thingy. It didn’t have much plant flavor either but had some kind of seasoning. It was OK, I’ll eat it again. So, the majority of my meal was ruffage and it was good. And I ate it. POTD #9.1 is your proof.

I told the guys only to cook from my menu, but the store didn’t have any boneless chicken breasts so they bought whole-small chickens and said they are going to skin them and debone them themselves. Did I mention I was impressed? Why didn’t I tell them to do this long ago? Actually, I told my old cook to do it but he didn’t know how.

So, there you have it. Hopefully they can keep this up and I might just have a fighting chance while I’m here.

Finally, MBM made it home from her journey North. She’s at the doctor’s office right now getting a check-up on the wee-est one. Savannah is on her way to Florida, James is still in WF, and Justin is wreaking havoc in OKC. And I’m still here.

Later.

From POTD's

So, I signed up for the one week trial on Weight Watchers.com. Things here are bad enough and the patented Gabe Little Diet doesn’t seem to be an option. Not only did I sign up, but I had a talk with my cook about how I wanted him to cook and I gave him 7 recipes (one for each day of the week) and told him he was not to deviate from the plan one bit. No extra butter, mayo, oil, etc… If it ain’t on the list it ain’t in this house. I was told yesterday where I could find decent boneless chicken breasts here so all of my recipes are of course chicken-based. They also had to be Port Harcourt ingredient friendly (which means stuff available here and that’s not much) but I think I found 7 that will do. Wanna see’em? Of course I put them on line for your perusal.

As for the family, MBM is on her way back home from Oklahoma City, Savannah is getting ready (I assume) to leave for Florida tomorrow, James is living it up in Wichita Falls, and poor Justin was left behind in OKC to spend some quality time with Weezer & Poppa before hammin’ it up with the Manthei’s in Texarkana. O’yea, I’m still stuck here in Port Harcourt. All alone. With nobody to keep me company. All alone. Woe is me. Woe is me.

One more thing… The POTD! I thought this would be a nice touch on the outside of Brenda’s Bar. Kind of matches the joint and gives it a little character. Who knows, might actually keep some of the drunks from peeing on her asthetically pleasing welcome mat.

Oh, and another one more thing… It rained pretty much all day yet again. The jump rope is looking better all the time. If it rains again tomorrow I guess I’ll have to give it a shot.

From Picture of th…

O.k. this is not my first time trying to make this Wilton Cupcake Cake. It was a DISASTER the first time I made it for Savannah’s Sweet 16. However, thanks to the lessons learned and advice from the internet and my MIL, I was able to make my friend’s daughter a cute cake, a milestone cake to boot! Here it is!

O.k., so here is the link to yet more pictures of Justin and his summertime antics. He has been my shadow since school has been out. We will soon be dumping Savannah off next weekend to go cavorting the country with her other momma, Angie, and meeting up with the ever elusive James (who started his vacation asap). Justin and I have Scout Camp next week and are Houston bound for a while. That is just more pool time for us!

So, today is Poppa’s birthday and Poppa & Weezer’s Anniversary. So, happy anniversary to both of you and happy birthday to Diddy. Why you decided to get hitched on your birthday I’ll never know.

I searched through the pictures I had on hand looking for that one special one that would really embarrass the two of you and I just couldn’t come up with anything good. So, I decided to go with one that portrays a typical day in the life of Arnie and Brenda. Hope you like it!

I’m off to bed. Sweeney Todd is putting me to sleep.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY & ANNIVERSARY!!!

So I got an email from my Seesta yesterday telling me she had new pics up. That makes my job easier because I don’t have to hunt down a fresh POTD. But, when there are multiple pictures with POTD potential it makes it difficult again. Who could possibly choose between a picture of Maddox in mid-air in a burlap sack and a picture of Mills being… Mills? Check out her Flickr page to see more goofy pics of the youngn’s and some pics of her new casa.

Weezer made it to Houston safe and sound even though she had to wait for us to pick her up at the airport for about 25min. One of the drawbacks of only having one vehicle. It’s not a large enough drawback to persuade us to buy a second car though.

And last but not least, we had another ultrasound appointment today. Gabriela is weighing in at 4.32lbs and has lots of hair and her daddy’s nose. You can see the latest Princess Gabriela ultrasound pictures here. The lady administering the ultrasound estimated her weight to be about 8lbs at birth. Being the experienced father that I am I’m disagreeing and going with 7lbs. Anyone else care to give it a guess? The winner will get bragging rights for 15min.