Just a couple of links today:

An excellent review of Gary Taubes's Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
by John Durant is here.

I haven't read this yet (or Tim Ferris's The 4-Hour Body) as I am awaiting my February cheque so I can buy both on the Kindle.  I'm already a Good Calories Bad Calories fan (Taubes's longer, more science-packed version) so I'm sure I will enjoy the book, but I also trust Durant's opinion.

I generally like most of the people in the Paleo community - although there are a few who lack any sort of social skills and can be pretty arrogant and rude (thinking of a few "my version of Paleo is the best" people on PaleoHacks and the AP mom who thinks she invented mothering *snort*).

But I really like John Durant. He's cheerful, smart, and doesn't get in anyone's face; I consider him an excellent spokesperson for Paleo.  It helps that he's gorgeous as well. Very easy on the eyes is John.*

Anyway, I can't wait to read Taubes's new book! I think it will be instrumental in getting some folks who have been blinded by mainstream crapola diet advice. You can get the book here , BTW.

Also, I wanted to post this link from over on gnolls.org and what I consider to be the best intro to Paleo that I've seen. As soon as I have two seconds to rub together, I'm going to make it a permanent link on this blog and on my Paleo pages.


*There are a good number of blokes in the Paleo communnity whom I consider very good looking (as well as some intimidatingly hawt chicks).  As a person who is interested in human genetics and evolution I think that my reaction is purely natural. We evolved to spot healthy potential mates and to consider them attractive. These Paleo guys are as healthy as a person can get - or are working on it.

Meat squee!

Great gifts for Paleo, Primal, or Low Carb folks!



see more My Food Looks Funny

How adorable are these?! I want the T-bone one!

Or, of course, you could get 'em a t-shirt (of course):

I am the Anti-Vegan Paleo gift, Primal t-shirt, Low carb tee. Perfect for anyone who thinks that the Vegan / Vegetarian lifestyles are ... questionable at best!

The most important element: Bacon!  Our periodic table Bacon t-shirt also makes a great gift for any bacon lover or meat eater.

For ALL of our coffee, dieting, diet, food, fitness, etc t-shirts go here.

Insomniac ramble

Ugh. 2 a.m.

The dog barking woke me up an hour ago and I can't fall back asleep.

Stupid insomnia.

So I guess I'll blog. Haven't done that in months and months.

Why's that, Blue, you ask?  Good question. Mostly it's my not finding the time to actually sit down and do it. Twitter and Facebook are largely to blame as well. Why write a lengthy blog post with photographs when I can just quickly Tweet it and or throw pics up on my Wall?

Meh.

Oh, and I have also been on a months-long rampage against my junky house.  I actually have a few rooms clean. Clean like 'humans outside this family can come in them' clean. Really!  I'm actually pretty proud of myself.*

So what have I been up to for, oh, four months now?  Well it's been hectic.

First there was NaNoWriMo, which consumes my Novembers (I've attempted and completed 50,000 words  for two years running!).  Then, in the second week of November, I was gobsmacked when *I* got ill.  I've not been sick since I went Paleo almost four years ago.

Well it was a doozie, too. Turns out it was the flu and it morphed into Bronchitis.  I have asthma (again, symptom-free since going Paleo) and so it was pretty miserable. I almost didn't finish NaNO because there were two days in there where I couldn't even get off the couch.  Yuck.

(As an aside here, I gotta tell you; to think that I used to get that sick three and four times a year?  Plus various colds and sniffles in between? Unbelievable!  I will NEVER eat grains (and soy and starches and processed chemical crap) again for the rest of my life to be as sickness free as I am now!  I'd be Paleo for that reason alone!  People who just can't give up their 'comfort foods' and 'can't live without' their sweets, bread, and pasta and who suffer from illnesses ranging from constant colds to autoimmune diseases might want to take a really really close look.

I plan on living a long and healthy, active, life to the very end.  They plan on not 'depriving themselves' of that cupcake right now.)

Anyway, back to the blog post. *puts away soapbox*

So then we sailed into the winter holidays (since Bodog is a teacher, he's off for two weeks, too) and the craptacularness ensued.

First Bodog's wallet was stolen, then all the kids got sick with some pukey virus.  I spent three nights half awake on the couch with vomiting children on pallets on the floor next to me. At the end of it, every sheet, pillowcase, and towel in the house was either dirty or hanging on the line, wet.

Then, in case we weren't paying attention, our furnace stopped working.

Again, I spent several nights on the couch with the wood stove going in the dining room/kitchen (at one end of the house) and a space heater going in the parlour (at the other end, where the bedrooms are). I slept very badly to say the least. I kept having to get up and feed the fire and paranoidly check the space heater.

Two of our cars broke down in this time, too. At one point two cars were not functional and the truck was sitting in the yard on a flat tyre.

THEN (Yes there's more. Toldja it was a suckeriffic holiday.), right before the 'vacay' ended, Fiver fell/jumped off his brother's top bunk and broke his arm.  Here he is that night. He and I spent five hours in the ER.

So, yeah.

Y'know, it just occurred to me that one good thing about having insomnia (*squints at clock* it's now just past 3a.m.) is that all that staying up I had to do, with the sick bubs, the freezing house, and the broken baby, was a cinch.

Of course good stuffs has happened since I last blogged as well.

I ate like a pig over Thanksgiving and Xmas and I lost 7lbs.  All those folks who shook their heads when I smilingly turned down the stuffing, mac and cheese, rolls, and sticky-sweet desserts are working out madly on their exercise machines right now and weeping over the scales.  Neener, neener. ;)

We got a new car (new to us) thanks to my Dad. (Thanks, Dad!)

We got a loan to replace our furnace thanks to Bodog's Dad. (Thank's Bodog's Dad!) [Although not without the passive-aggressive dance that accompanies such things in Bodog's family.]

The children had a ball over the Christian Consumer Holiday, loved their gifts, and we all had a relaxed and happy time with our two fave aunties and our cousins.

So, all in all, not so bad (now that it's all over *whew*)

We have two working cars and a truck, a new furnace, no one is sick, and it's just snowed this week (we never get snow in SC. When we do it's just, like, two inches. This time it snowed.)  Here's the new furnace with a mantle of snow. They installed it just two days before the storm!

Well, it's 3:30 now. Guess I'll wrap it up.  Hmm, they've called school today, I think we should go to the zoo after it warms up enough to go out. :)

*If you are one of those people who keeps her house relatively clean all the time then I know you don:t understand. But srsly. This is a big deal for me.