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| Clockwise from upper left: (1) Trying to get back to learning Spanish; (2) Valentine's Day candy; (3) When your computer breaks, it's time to do sewing projects; (4) Some of the sailing books I read; (5) Taking apart my laptop; and (6) Shopping for canned meat. |
It's time for our usual monthly recap by the numbers. February was a month of moderation and frustration. After many parties and overindulging over the past several months, I decided to declare last month to be >>Febfast<<. No, I didn't fast. Don't be silly. I can't go more than four hours without something to eat. But what I did do was try to cut out red meat, booze, junk food, and sugary treats.
I succeeded on all fronts except the sugary treats. But, on the plus side, I only ate sugary treats that other people gave me - like cookies from my friend Jane and candy from my mom. Although, now that I think about it, I guess I ate red meat (in the form of corned beef) at our canned meat cook-off. But I didn't buy any or cook any myself. I also ate Spam, but who knows what's in that. Is it red meat or something else? Maybe it's best not to ask.
The frustration part came in, not because I was watching my diet, but because my computer died on me. I've learned that I can't live without my computer. Sad, but true.
So, enough with all of those words, here's the usual random nonsense recap by the numbers:
- 9 - Number of days I was without a working computer. First President's Day interfered with delivery of the replacement part. Then it turns out that Dell goofed up with the service code on my laptop and the part I ordered wasn't compatible. Add in ordering another part and time for delivery and it was a long nine days.
- $39.95 - How much a replacement heatsink/fan cost (including postage).
- 2 - How many screws I had leftover after reassembling my laptop. I'm gonna assume they aren't important.
- 14 - How many books I read as part of my Goodreads challenge. 4 sci-fi/fantasy, 3 mysteries, 2 thrillers, 1 general fiction, 3 sailing-related books, and 1 non-fiction.
- 85F/30C - What the real feel temp has been like lately in Indiantown. Had to plug the A/C back in. Occasionally I text my sister and tell her I'm wearing shorts and flip-flops. For some reason, she doesn't find it amusing.
- $4.59 - How much a 6" veggie delight costs at Subway. I haven't had Subway in years. Not too bad calorie-wise and totally fit into Febfast. I met up with some cruising friends (MJ Sailing) for lunch when they came back to Florida to pick up a new headsail. So nice to see them, especially as I wasn't sure if our paths would ever cross again. Such is the way of the nomadic life.
- 4 - How many posts I've written in advance for this year's Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Is anyone else taking part?
- 5 - How many new characters I've created for the next installment of the Mollie McGhie sailing mystery series. At least one of them is going to die. I feel rather evil deciding who isn't going to make it to the end of the book.
- 1 - How many parts I've had to replace on my Sailrite sewing machine - the retaining ring cap spring. It's a sacrificial part, so no biggie to replace and luckily I had a spare already. {Duwan - this is why you were having trouble using my machine. We should have replaced it when you were here.}
- 3 - How many nectarines I threw away. I felt so bad about wasting food, but they were really gross. So disappointing to buy fruit that looks wonderful, but tastes awful.
- 2 - How many eggs I used in my salmon cakes for the Spamageddon canned meat cook-off.
In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite blog posts from last month:
Spamageddon | Canned Meat Cook-Off at Indiantown Marina
Saturday Spotlight | Sailing Book Reviews
Cooking without a Fridge: A Week on Our Boat in New Zealand
How did last month go for you? What are you looking forward to this month?
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You were so busy in February! I'm not sure about this "fast" business, although did you cut out chocolate and coffee or are those in the "essential" category? I can barely manage 4 blogs a month, there's no way I could handle 26! You are dedicated.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how this makes it sound like I was busy. I can assure you it was far from busy :-) Blogging is a great form of procrastination. Who really needs a bimini the keeps out rain?
DeleteI'm sure those screws weren't important.
ReplyDeleteBest not to ask what's really in spam.
I think you're right - it's best not to ask.
DeleteIt's always best to assume any leftover parts were non-essential. :)
ReplyDeleteARRRGH! I feel your pain over throwing away those nectarines. With me, it's peaches. They look sooooo good in the store, and they even have a nice peach-like scent, but when I cut into them, their consistency is decidedly NOT peach-like. They're gritty and gross. Come ON "real" peaches! (And nectarines...)
Nope. Not gonna play in the A-Z. The past few years, I've taken an April blogging break so I can devote more time to writing, and that's worked so well, I'm gonna do it again this year.
It was so disappointing to throw them out. I felt awful about the food wastage, but couldn't bring myself to eat them.
DeleteSo now you have two screws loose? :)
ReplyDeleteYou read a lot of books this month! Not sure how many I read, but I'm ahead of my Goodreads goal. I try to front load the challenge in the beginning if I can. :)
LOL :-)
DeleteI have no idea what SPAM is either. Spectacular ham... like stuff? You did great in February with no eating stuff. I told myself in January that I'd go a month without eating sugar. Now it's March. =P Have a terrific weekend. :)
ReplyDeleteSpectacular ham - I like it! Unfortunately, March has gotten off to a bad start in terms of my diet and wiped away any benefits of Febfast
DeleteHubby eats spam all the time. He loves the stuff. It's mostly salt, but he loves it so he has sandwiches or breakfast with spam and often.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Spam’s website, the canned meat contains only 6 ingredients: already-cooked pork (two different cuts: pork shoulder and ham), salt, water, potato starch (to keep the meat moist), sugar and sodium nitrite (a common preservative).
Have a fabulous day and weekend. ♥
Well that doesn't sound too bad in terms of the ingredients.
DeleteAccording to Spam’s website, the canned meat contains only 6 ingredients: already-cooked pork (two different cuts: pork shoulder and ham), salt, water, potato starch (to keep the meat moist), sugar and sodium nitrite (a common preservative).
ReplyDeleteCopied from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/11/why-you-should-eat-spam_n_4923479.html
Serious, it's great fried up by itself or with some eggs. Put a little bacon grease in there first and if you want to get fancy add some onions, potato and peppers. It's also got an awesome shelf life, we buy it for hurricane food when we can get coupons for it.
There is this canned ham that we get which I like. Probably similar to Spam. It's great to have on board as it never goes bad.
DeleteMy dad loves spam, and I stopped eating it when I moved out, but every once in a while, I think ... maybe?
ReplyDeleteTwo screws leftover? Hmm. As long as the computer keeps working, ignore them.
Loved to read your recaps with your lovely sense of humor.
Thanks for your sweet words, Tyrean :-)
DeleteIt's cold and blustery here today. I wouldn't find it amusing either.
ReplyDeleteMy timing was awful. I wrote this post before the big storms hit the East Coast. I don't think many people would be amused by my thoughts on how warm it is here.
DeleteWe added a new weather condition to our list last week -- snow. We were crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and I swear the flakes were an inch wide. Visibility was poor and it was cold, but we made it. I can't say that I'd be a big fan of your 85 degree weather normally, but it sounds pretty good right now!
ReplyDeleteI've had to throw away great-looking nectarines too because when I bit into them they tasted awful. Hate that! They should have warning signs -- "Don't judge a book by its cover"
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think that the nicer fruit looks the worse it's going to taste :-(
DeleteLove your numbers post, but I feel bad about your computer. If you can live without it, how do you blog? Or does living without it mean you don't blog?
ReplyDeleteI have written exactly 2 posts for April A-Z. But I've edited/culled like 3,000 photos, so that's something? FYI: It's really hard to plan a trip and do April A-Z at the same time.
I had had some blog posts already written and I wrote one on an iPad, but it was a pain as I really need a proper keyboard.
DeleteSorting out photos for blog posts takes a long time. Looking forward to reading your A to Z posts.
Wow, you are busy!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds far busier than it was :-)
DeleteLooking out at our snowdrifts, I am not amused by your shorts and flip flops either. Ok, I rarely wear either due to easily burnt skin and dodgy feet but that’s not the point. It’s the principle!
ReplyDeleteThe weather in Scotland has been awful and it looks like there isn't any end in sight :-(
DeleteSo glad the sewing machine was a part problem and not my poor sewing skills. I need to do a little "fasting" of my own to she'd all those Indiantown calories I believe I'M still toting around as well as the two huge slices of cake I ate in Mexico.
ReplyDeleteSo many Indiantown calories that just don't seem to want to dissipate :-( Mexican cake sounds good.
DeleteNice to see you have the ultimate bible!! Annie Hill's Voyaging on a Small Income.
ReplyDeleteI think I've read it 5 times!
It's a really interesting book. When we cruised in New Zealand, we saw her boat and waved at her once. We had a sister-ship to hers, although she had changed hers out to a junk rig.
DeleteCongrats on fixing your computer. I think most people I know (especially bloggers and writers) couldn’t live without their computer anymore. Such is life these days. And, congrats on cutting out (most of) the bad foods. If you keep it up, you will actually feel better. It is pretty amazing. Still jealous of the amount of books you manage to read every month! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was a long, long spell without my computer. :-(
Delete