Well, it only took until Valentine’s Day, but we were finally blessed with some real snow in my neck of the woods. All 12 inches of it. However, along with it came a weeks worth of bitterly cold winds. Good fortune was on my side, though, as I started my vacation the day before the storm came passing through. Not only that, the hospital where I work was struck with a computer virus last week as well. Talk about good timing. *chuckle*

Unfortunately, the past few weeks have not been calm. Two of the Clan O’Kitties have had to make unplanned visits to the vet’s. Shorty had a hip episode, that may possibly be the first signs of hip dysplasia. She has seemed fine since, but I now pay much closer attention to her every movement.

Nixie was found to have urinary issues when I came home from work last Sunday night. She seemed to have trouble going, and was spotting urine around the house. The next morning, she seemed to be back to her normal, demanding of affection self, but an appointment was still made. After an examination on Tuesday, it was determined that she had a kidney infection. Since then, her and I get to wrestle with her taking her medication every 12 hours. *chuckle* She has seemed fine since, and even now, lays in my lap with her head on my forearm as I type this.

With Nixie being a month shy of 19, and Shorty at 15, I try to appreciate each and every day that I have with the both of them. Knowing that they are in their twilight years, I try to make each of their days as pleasant as they do mine.

On the weightlifting front, things have been going well. Muscle mass is slowly increasing, while fat cell volume has continued to decrease. Fat around the sides of the waist have become soft and squishy. The volume of fat cells over my abdominal area has shrunken, and feels like rubbing across tapioca under a sheet of plastic wrap. All the meanwhile, the total amount of weight lifted continues to increase. Most of the last month has been spent at 159 pounds, with a slight fluctuation here and there. But as long as muscle mass continues to increase, and fat volume continues to decrease, all is good. I’ll have to see if I can get some new measurements this week.

The other week, I also picked up a neat little rig called the Door Gym. It’s made by Creative Fitness, and hangs off the door frame of most interior doors. With it, you can do pullups, chinups, crunches, pushups, and other exercises with added accessories. I’ve tried to get into the habit of doing some each night, before my last meal of the day. It takes all of a second to mount and unmount from the door frame, as it uses the leverage of your own weight to secure it to the door frame while in use.

As good as I’ve been about my meal plan for the past two months, I took a cheat day on Saturday. And boy, did I cheat! My Better Half and I took a trip to a place called Chutter’s, in Littleton, New Hampshire. This place has the world’s longest candy counter, at 110+ feet, with three tiers of shelving. Oh yeah, talk about a sugar fix! They also make their own chocolates, and fudge. And while it may be an avoid for O’s, their peanut butter fudge was G-O-O-D! Smoothest fudge I’ve tasted in a long time. Then again, since being on ER4YT, it HAS been a long time since I had fudge. : )

In other news, my Better Half and I have started introducing her kids to some of the foods that I can/should eat. They don’t know all of why I eat what I do, they just know that I eat ‘differently’. How do you explain to a 9 year old about things such as lectins, and agglutination? The other week, we made a spelt crust pizza, using turkey pepperoni, peppers, onions, and mozzarella cheese. With the spelt flour, we also made breadsticks, and homemade dipping sauce for another night, served with brown rice pasta, and compliant spaghetti sauce.

Her and I have also both spent time combing the Recipe section, looking for recipes that we can make. Right now, we’re going to try and make something new every week. It gives us a chance to try something new, and for us to spend some quality time together, making a mess in the kitchen. : )

Well, it’s time for me to go round up my 4th meal of the day. May all that is yours by Divine Right now manifest quickly, completely, under grace, in a perfect way. Until next time.