All right, how in the heck did my dogs, Duke and Spencer, manage to open the refrigerator door? Please tell me that it wasn’t closed all the way. The thought that they are learning to open it scares me. This happened once before. I’m just hoping it’s due to the door not being securely closed.

Oh, and they enjoyed the meat selection, all stored on the bottom shelf. This included my planned dinner, a salmon fillet. Hmph. Bottom shelf goodies galore. Dang dogs.

There are elections going on today, so that means I’m surfing the web to see how things are going in certain state elections. The main one I’m paying attention to is the Maine one  — main , Maine – aren’t I clever? < birds chirping >

Okay, in Maine it’s the Vote No on prop 1 that has my attention. I’m hoping that gay marriage is not overturned in Maine, so the No votes have to win.

New York 23 has an interesting election where the Republican quit the race as the third-party candidate looked like he was going to win. It’s a real mish-mash of weird politics going on.

I’m also wondering if NJ Governor, John Corzine will keep his governor position. Christie was leading in the polls, but New Jersey is a weird state that can surprise everyone.

So, fingers are crossed that Maine goes the way that I want it to. I just wonder how long it will take before we learn the results?

I actually baked up some goodies this morning. I discovered this recipe on This Primal Life and had to give it a try: Primal Almond Butter Pumpkin Brownies.

I normally eschew baked goods due to the flours and sugars in them. I’m not perfect, and will break down and eat goodies once in a while, but I prefer something more healthy. These brownies fit the bill. There are only FIVE ingredients.

The amazing thing is that there are no flours used in the recipe. It’s just almond butter, canned pumpkin, an egg, honey, and baking soda. Mighty good. I think I’ll try another batch and add some spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. Maybe some raisins. I could even cut the honey back if I do so.

So here I sit, eating my primal brownie while drinking some decaf coffee with cream. It’s a good Saturday morning.

I’ve worked out, eaten, and now I’m watching Psych episodes. Yep, I know how to live the exciting life.

Spent the weekend in the Phoenix area. It was the first trip down there for my new dog, Duke. He traveled well, but, boy oh boy, he didn’t make friends and influence people when he found a mud puddle and then spent time on the couch. He also wasn’t too excited by my nephew’s attempt to keep petting him. Ah well.

The family birthday party was fun, as was our planned activity: making tamales. My sister-in-law, Mona, brought all the makings. She had cooked up the red chili with pork, plain masa, and the green corn masa for making the two types of tamales. We just had to clean the corn husks, spread the masa, add meat if making that type, then wrapping in paper. They were steamed for an hour, and they were so delicious. Great idea for a party.

Richard brought agility equipment to work with Sophie, his dog. I didn’t get a chance to try it all out with my dogs — hey, I was wrapping tamales! It looked fun.

I’m glad to be back home. It’s much more relaxing than being a guest at my sister’s. Sure, I’m comfortable at her place, but there’s something about the ability to walk around in nudie-bears without offending brothers-in-laws or nieces and nephews.

Matt Damon made a wonderful mixed-up man in The Informant! (I love that exclamation point). It’s an interesting film with some fun scenes. After seeing this movie and listening to the voice overs of Damon’s character, which were his banal thoughts, I hope no one ever can hear the constant drivel running through my brain.

Here’s my review.

Finally made it to CrossFit tonight. I’d had a cold last week, so it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve been. What a workout, one that I would not have suggested for someone who had been phlegm and mucus-filled all last week.

The workout was “Angie” — a named workout of the day.

• 100 pull-ups
• 100 push-ups
• 100 sit-ups
• 100 squats

Oh god. I did it, but it wasn’t easy. My pull-ups were jumping pull-ups, my push-ups started as full-body push-ups, but that didn’t last long. I switched to knee push-ups after nine full ones. Getting to a 100 of these was the hardest.

100 sit-ups? Easy-peasy. If you told me two years ago that I would look at “100 sit-ups” on the board and think to myself, “That’ll be easy, I can really plow through those,” I would have thought you insane. Yet, that’s how I now feel about sit-ups.

The squats weren’t pleasant. I was really concentrating on form, so my knees wouldn’t be in pain later. It meant doing sets of five, and then 3, and then 2. After 60 at full depth, discretion over valor won out, and I switched to a box to squat down to for the last 40. Not at full depth, but I could ensure that my butt was back and my chest was up.

It took me 28:06 to get through it all. I’m feeling good now, but we’ll see how those muscles complain tomorrow and the next day. Right now? I’m just going to sit here.

There have been some real stinkers in the romantic-comedy genre lately. You can imagine my delight when (500) Days of Summer restored my faith in the genre. I loved this movie. Here’s my review.

I’m still slowly plowing through my backlog of movie and dvd reviews. Here’s one I wrote back at the end of August. Taking Woodstock is a nice little movie — not great, but not deadly. Here’s my review.

This movie came and went super fast. We were lucky to even get it here in Flagstaff. If you can still see it at your local theaters, you should check it out. Some marvelous performances and an intense story made it a good film. Here’s my review.