Mmmmwaahhh!

Just wishing everyone a Big Happy Pride Week! It's the end (sorry I didn't do this sooner) and, I believe, the parade is tomorrow.

HAPPY PRIDE WEEK!!!

From Neats, Welt and Mace!

I Must've Made a Wrong Turn at Bora Bora...

I have a thing about Pirate Stories.

I like'em.

I like to read'em. Just for myself but also to M at bedtime.

The book on the right is one of my favourites right now. I highly recommend it (obviously). Great read for kids AND for parents who happen to like Pirate Stories!

So, M has a subscription to Chickadee (a kid's magazine) and every summer they put out this little Summer Adventures Edition that has all sorts of word games and crosswords and jokes.
This year, they've included a 'Find Your Pirate Name' and I had to share.

You see, apparently, my full name is Jack Fearful Horrible Swashbuckler. Arrrrr.

My sweet M's full name is Dirty Scurvy Smelly Swashbuckler Cannon. (This I find very apropos. You'll know what I mean if you've ever washed a kid after a day at the playground)

And, my lovely J is Bad Captain Cannon. Arrr!

Oh, and my Grandfather is Tinkerbell Treasure. I'm not so sure he'd be good with that one... so, SHHHHHH! Don't tell him.

Gotta love it.

So I thought I'd share. I apologize to Chickadee for spreading the joy without official permission but this was to cute to ignore. Remember, it's meant for 4-6 yr olds....

Go ahead, guys.

Find your inner Pirate:

Use the first letter of your first name to find your pirate first name. Then use the first letter of your last name to find your pirate last name.

FIRST NAMES

A - STINKY
B - SMELLY
C - HORRIBLE
D - YO-HO-HO
E - CAPTAIN
F - JOLLY
G - PATCHES
H - TINKERBELL
I - AWFUL
J - BAD
K - MEAN
L - NO GOOD
M - DIRTY
N - JACK
O - AHOY
P - AYE AYE!
Q - PIRATE
R - DREADFUL
S - FEARFUL
T - BLIMEY
U - MATEY
V - DAGGER
W - SCURVY
X - SHIPWRECK
Y - SILLY
Z - CRABBY

LAST NAMES

A - SHIPSHAPE
B - PLANK
C - TREASURE
D - PARROT
E - SHIP
F - BEARD
G - LOOKOUT
H - MAROON
I - SAIL
J - SWAB
K - ANCHOR
L - GRUB
M - SWASHBUCKLER
N - SHIVER ME TIMBERS!
O - LANDLUBBER
P - SCALLYWAG
Q - SWAB
R - ISLAND
S - BATTLE
T - CANNON
U - COMPASS
V - MONEY
W - GOLD
X - SWORD
Y - STINKY
Z - SURLY

With love, you scurvy landlubbers!

Jack Swashbuckler.

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

Mom Never Told Me There'd Be Days Like This....

Yesterday, whilst M, J and I were having a lovely breakfast together, M asked how flowers reproduce.

Well....

We've already explained procreation to the little guy. I still have my copy of 'Where Did I Come From' by Peter Mayle. Still a classic, if you ask me, even though a few of the facts about pregnancy are a little out of date eg. You can hear the fetal heartbeat well before the second trimester using one of those special stethosocopes. We read it to M as a bedtime story often enough. He loves the line " It's a big day for bald headed babies!" Cracks up every time he hears it. Alliteration, ya know. So, basically, what I'm saying here is M understands the basics of sex.

Back to the flower thing... We used human sex as the example to explain the Birds and the Bees.

Yup. You read me right.

Gotta laugh.

Photo courtesy of PD Photo.

Yip Yip Yip Uhuh Uhuh

Everybody remember these guys? Click here, remember and have a laugh!

The Cherry Beach Diet or Wide-eyed at the World of Weight Loss

So, we're into week two of the South Beach Diet and although we're feeling no pain, we're not exactly following the rules either.

Have I mentioned that I'm a cynical person?

I did my research. I always do.

South Beach has some drawbacks. ( Nothing we weren't expecting.) You can't remove an entire Food Group (Breads and Cereals) and increase another (Meat and Dairy) from you're diet and not have some consequences. And although Dr. A tells you that you're going to re-introduce, ahem, 'good' carbs into the diet after two weeks, one wonders why they have to be removed in the first place. Removing all forms of grain means the weight loss during those first two weeks is water, not fat. So we haven't taken our whole grain bread and cereal out of our diet.
BUT. That being said, J and I have learnt some good things from Dr. A. Namely portion control, the reduction of sugar and a 20 min workout whenever possible. Mostly common sense, that, but when you have a blue print of sorts it makes it easier to put into practice.

Dr A. also advocates removing all fruit from your diet for two weeks.

Well. Hello. My name is Neatfreak and I am a fruit junkie. I think fruit is important in a diet. Lots of vitamins and minerals in them. And they're yummy too!!! BUT they also contain quite a bit of fructose. Sugar is sugar and I think, perhaps, we were consuming too much. So we've reduced (not eliminated) our fruit, increased our green and leafy veg lots and increased our protein just a bit. ( I'd rather stay off of Statin drugs if I can, thank you Dr. A!)

So, it's not the 'South Beach' Diet per se but rather, Toronto's own version. Let's call it 'The Cherry Beach' Diet.

Oh. And it's working wonderfully. J and I have already lost a few lbs and we don't feel hungry or deprived.