Us Skinny Bitches Need to Stick Together

It's almost time to say Happy New Year...almost, but not quite.  2012 has only 4 hours left, and I for one am happy to see it go.  So happy, I am seeing it out with a drink (a Skinny Bitch).  To make:

• One part Vanilla or Cherry Vodka, very cold
• 3 parts diet cola of your choice (I like Coke Zero)
• Ice

Mix and drink.  

I didn't do much today, a bit of shopping and movie watching (Winter's Bone, with Jennifer Lawrence).  A  good film, realistic.  While I didn't grow up exactly like that, there were parts of the movie that felt familiar.  It was filmed near Branson, Missouri and some of you may know that I live in Southeastern Missouri.  The geography of the movie felt like home.

There is something about the landscape of Missouri that feels iconic.  Sides of the highway are covered in brush and trees.  There are rocky outcroppings or places where the original roads were carved through the rock (granite, quartz, galena, limestone, etc).  This time of year, where we've had hard freezes and even snow, the landscape looks bleak and barren, just like in the movie.  The trees that crowd the side of the road are primarily cedars, oaks, pines if you drive south.  Lots of redbud and dogwood.  Various maples and poplars.  This time of year, the trees are either gray with furrowed barks or patches of white on the birches and sycamores.  Green-gray patches of lichen cover the trees and provide muted color against a gray white sky.

If you went into the woods (and you might), you would see places where the moss was cushiony and had little red hairs on it.  Places near water where there were leathery ferns growing.  You would smell the leaves of years rotting beneath you and it would be a good smell.  There are other places that are more beautiful than this place, but I find the rolling hills, woods, and streams infinitely interesting.  And near the side of every major highway, if you looked up, you would see a red-tailed hawk perched up in the highest branches of the trees.

MacRae, Ted C. “Mini-review of the Cicindelidia abdominalis species-group,” Beetles in the Bush. Published September 14, 2011, accessed August 10, 2012. http://beetlesinthebush.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/mini-review-of-the-cicindelidia-abdominalis-species-group/. [Chicago Style]

The problem with Missouri, as Jennifer Lawrence's character tried to tell us, is all the meth labs.

What I've been up to...

So it's been more than a year since I've written in here, but I'm thinking it's time to get back at it. What has the last year been about for me?  Well, for starters:

• I've lost nearly 60 pounds on Medifast.  I'm not being paid by them, and it is not the cheapest diet, but it is so worth it.  Never been a size six before.
• Work, work, and more work.
• Travel.  Plan to do more of that.
• Gardening (of course).  Since I am prepping myself to make a move, I am focusing my gardening efforts on houseplants for now.  Having fun with African violets (Saintpaulia ionantha) among others.
• Pinterest.  If you haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend you do so.
• I did LOTS of canning, freezing, and preserving this past summer, and was pleased with the result.  I even tried my hand at this.  
• Stumbleupon.  Perhaps you have been under a rock, or dead, or have been in a vampiric sleep.  Otherwise, you've probably heard of this one already, but it is a ton of fun.  
• A semi-serious project that I hope to share with you soon regarding Healthcare Reform.  I am trying to break down the act into manageable  bite-sized pieces for the end consumer.  Lots of work left to do on that one yet.

Regardless, it's time for me to spend a little more effort on this blog, even though probably no one reads it.  I'd like to start writing in it daily, if at all possible.  Remember LiveJournal?  It's probably still around, but I'd like to use this blog just like that, a place to empty out my head every day.  We will see what 2013 bring us, then, as we document.