Happy Birthday, Little Sister

TO MY BABY SISTER

ANGIE
I hope you have a great birthday and that you are waking up to the wonderful smell of hazelnut! May today be filled with music and laughter! I love you!

Well, I guess it's on to baseball for Matter ...

Well, I haven't heard from Matter yet, but according to the

Asheville Citizen-Times

West has lost 77-55. I hate that for them, but the other team had a 6'9" guy who made 5 dunks - and it looks like we were down from the start. The good news, Matthew is only a freshman and has 3 more seasons to make it again! The bad news, well that is pretty obvious. I am still glad he got to experience all of these and I hope he feels the same way. (aside to Matter: cheer up, kiddo, your baseball glove is waiting!)

And They're Off ...

Matter's bus on the way to Winston-Salem about 20 minutes ago!

1.6 More! Go Matter!

Yea! I lost again this week even with a NEW outfit on and after drinking 32 ounces of water an hour before weigh-in.

Tonight is Matter's big game. I am not going to be able to get down there, but his dad is off so he is going. I will post the score as soon as I get it - Keep your fingers crossed and also say a prayer for him, his stomach was hurting last night and I am praying it was soreness and not that nasty bug!

Falcon Playoff Details

Click each of these to get more details:

About the NCHSAA Tournament & Pairings
West plays Thursday at Joel Colesium in Winston-Salem at 7 pm

They will play against
Starmount High School from Boonville, NC in Yadkin County

A Race to Finish

Today, I have been trying to work on Joanna's wedding album. I was able to do 6 pages for her album and one for Lynelle's album. The one above is one of my favorites because I LOVE it when Frank laughs out loud - his laugh makes me laugh so I called the layout LOL!

I also did these that include Ethan's side of the family: His dad, Knox; mom, Sherri; brother, Seth; sister-in-law, Jenny; grandparents, David & Evangeline; and his Aunt Denise.

Special "Thanks" to Ethan's mom, Sherri, for these photos for me to scrap:

Harmony fulfilling her duties as flower girl ~

And here is another of my favorites - I love the look Joanna has on her face as she "eyes" Ethan standing in the foreground:

Game Summary

Here is the Game Summary from today's Times-News and from the Citizen-Times

Summary OWEN (64) -- Allen 10, Farrar 9, McGinnis 2, McVay 5, J. Halvorson 4, Reynolds 16, Wilson 1, T. Halvorson, Blankenship, Randolph, Owenby 17.

WEST HENDERSON (86) -- Smith 13, Corliss 26, Jones 13, Smithson 17, Ducote 10, Hyatt 1, Greer 4, Staggs 2, Collins, Hutchinson, Schlernitzauer, James, Johnson, Roberts, Thelan.

Halftime: West, 36-24.

Next stop, Wake Forest

West won again! Woohoo! They beat Owen High tonight at Erwin, the score was 85-64 and Matthew got to play! Sure, okay, it was the last 30 seconds and they were ahead by 21, but the coach got Matthew and Colby into the game - so cool! Matthew said all the guys on the team were hollering at him to, "SHOOT THE BALL!" So he shot a 3 pointer and it bounced of the goal! Hey that counts as an attempt ... in a varsity game ... a varsity Sectional Finals Game! Do I sound proud? Sorry, guess I am kind of proud, but in the way a Mom should be - just thrilled that Matthew is so happy and so dedicated. This week he has gone to basketball practice for 2 hours and then to baseball practice for another two hours. Tomorrow he will practice baseball at 10 am, then scrimmage with the JV baseball team sometime in the afternoon. Next week, Coach Bliss is going to try and get them some court practice time at Clemson or WCU so they can see what it's like to play on a college court since they will be playing in Winston-Salem at Wake Forest University on Thursday night! Woohoo! It is awesome that he is getting to experience this - just like when Amy and Zack got to go to State with the swim team. The boy's swim team brought back the state championship when Amy was a junior and she still remembers how cool it was to be a part of all that excitement! So keep your fingers crossed and maybe they will get to play a few more games!

If I Only Knew Then What I Know Now

I am working on a scrapbook page with this theme. The biggest thing that rings in my memory is all my teachers telling me NOT to get married so young, that I would never finish school, etc. Well, that is probably one of the things I should have listened to, it's definitely one of those "if I knew then what I know now" things! Tell me a few things that you wish you had known (or at least listened to) when you were younger. I will be sharing my complete list on a scrapbook page in the very near future.

West Won Again!

Last night's game was a nail-biter again! Down to the last 1.7 seconds, West was at the free throw line and down by one when Vinnie Smith hit both shots to go up by one! Looks like Matthew will get to go to the sectional finals tomorrow night at Erwin High School where the Falcons will take on the Owen Warhorses. Not sure if we have played them before or what kind of record they have, but I imagine if they have made it this far, they are pretty good.

1.2! I DID IT! I MADE IT TO 50!

It was close ... right on the dot as a matter of fact, and that was only after a couple of trips to the bathroom, but I did it, I lost 50 pounds as of today's meeting.

So, it was suggested I should by myself something special to celebrate. I am accepting suggestions - so send me some comments and let me know what you think I should do for myself. I have $50 to spend!

Happy Birthday, Joanna

Happy Birthday, Joanna! She is celebrating #22!

Matt's Back on Varsity Bench

It's a good thing really, the varsity coach that had Matthew filling in at the beginning of the basketball season, has asked him to join the team for the playoffs. He doesn't expect to play, but the coach wanted him and Colby Thelan to experience the playoffs, the strategy, and learn the plays. There has been a lot of flu bugs going around and I guess it never hurts to have a couple extra guards hanging around. Last night's win over Pisgah was a nail-biter, but they pulled it out in the end. He'll be on the sidelines again tomorrow night when the Falcons take on Smoky Mountain in the second round!

1.8! Happy Valentine's Day

So, what do you get the girl whose lost 48.8 pounds for Valentine's Day? Well, according to Frank, fat or not, weight watchers or not, he will ALWAYS buy me a Whitman's Sampler (ain't he the greatest?) I will say he was nice enough to buy the 12 ounce box instead of the two pounder ... and of course, he expects me to share, so that's really only 6 ounces! Tonight I had the coconut, the toffee, and the caramel piece. Sounds like a lot, I know, but I actually had those without even going over on my daily points (I had a 2 point smart ones for lunch just in case tonight involved chocolate!)

Well, I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day! Send me some love and comments - what did you get? Was it tasty? Did it smell good? My chocolate came with a beautiful card that said exactly what I needed to hear ... ALWAYS!

Tonight, Matthew's JV Basketball team played in their last game this season. It was a tournament game at Brevard against Pisgah. Matter had 10 points, but they lost by 5. Tomorrow, he starts baseball tryouts at West.

For those of you that don't know it, last Tuesday (when Frank and I were home sick as dogs) Matthew chase a ball into the bleachers and came out with a bloody cut over his right eye. He ended up in the ER with 6 stitches and he missed their last regular season game. On Sunday, Amanda, Amy, & I took him back to Express Care and had the stitches removed and then we all went to Greenville, SC and ate lunch at Sticky Fingers. We also went to the movies and saw "Because I Said So ..." a definite chick movie that Matter was kind enough to suffer through. It was pretty good but the best part was that me and my kids were all together for the first time in years it seems! I mean just us, not a holiday, nobody working, no boyfriends. It was a great day! Here is a picture to prove it!

Working on Wedding Album

Pages for the Wedding Album I am trying to finish for Joanna's birthday on the 21st. Keep your fingers crossed - I have 10 days left!

My favorite so far? Little Things, the layout with Mimi and Joanna. It has the words to the song, Little Things Mean A Lot, and the hidden journaling underneath the picture on a pull out card reads, "When the Kay Starr song, “Little Things Mean A Lot,” began to play at Jo’s wedding you could see the tears fill Mimi’s eyes – Joanna had heard Mimi talk about how that was her and her husband’s first dance and Joanna wanted to surprise Mimi by playing it at her wedding. It was indeed a surprise and the result was precious. It is a beautiful song and Joanna proved what a very thoughtful and beautiful granddaughter she was by playing it for Mimi on her special day. I think this picture of Mimi and Joanna is lovely – the smiles – the tears – just beautiful. It proves the song – little things REALLY do mean a lot!"

Thanks for looking at my blog. Will try to update a bit more tomorrow!

No Weigh In Today

Well today is only a continuation of yesterday which was an awful day - either we have a stomach bug or we have food poisoning. Frank is convinced it was food poisoning from some coldcuts or fresh bread we bought at Sam's while I am more inclined to think it's just a bug. Either way, we both feel lousy. Hey, it's almost 5:30 and it's the first time all day I have felt like looking at a computer screen - yea, I know, "she must be sick," right? As you guessed it, my sickness kept me from weighing in today, but if I feel better by 10 am tomorrow morning, I will weigh in then and get it posted. My scales say I have lost a little bit - but who knows. I used 16 of the extra 35 last week over two days and I haven't done that very often so I was a bit worried. Of course, chicken soup and gatorade is all I have today so maybe that will make up for it. Hope everyone else is healthy and well. Have a great Thursday and wrap up - it is seriously cold out there this week.

Colts Win!Ownbey Named MVP - oops, I mean Manning!

Way to go, Colts! What a great game - I have no fingernails left - bit them all off watching all the fumbling in the first quarter! But I am so glad the Colts won, what I can't figure out is how did the Bears make it that far in the first place? Guess next year, I will have to watch all season.

Super Sunday

Is it just me, or does anyone else out there think Peyton Manning and Luke Ownbey are twins?

So, yesterday, Frank and I were at Sam's and this family with four boys came in. The boys were playing with the Super Bowl display at the front of the store when the biggest one said to the littlest one, "Who do you think is going to win the Super Bowl?" Without hesitation, the little boy replied, "Budweiser!" Funny! :)

Yes, I did win a spelling bee once or twice

Just wanted to let you know that I know that Cotton is misspelled on Harmony's "Cotten Candy" layout. I kept looking at it thinking it was wrong and then when I went to fix it, I was out of "o"s in those letters. Hoping Sandy has an extra "o" in her stash when I see her on Monday. Until then, please forgive me. (My sister was in shock when she saw this - she knows what a stickler I am for spelling!)

Family Circus

We did it! 17 of us actually made it to our house on time for glorified hamburgers, chips, and little debbies before loading up in three cars to carpool to the circus in Greenville. Frank made us all pose for a family portrait first which once I am done scrapping those photos, you will see was a photographer's nightmare! We all had a great time. I snapped so many pictures and a few of them came out pretty well, even of the circus itself. I really enjoyed the tigers and the trained puppies (they were sooo cute!) I hope that everyone who reads this that went with us will comment on your favorite parts, too (I need journaling for my pages afterall). The pages above are the ones I have done so far. I intend on making an album just about the circus - most are 20 layouts so I guess I have 14 to go (definitely going to need some more journaling!) Enjoy. TFL!

Told You!

Well, I just knew they were going to jinx it, add in the fact that the school system didn't hesitate to cancel school and it was pretty obvious that we were NOT going to get the big storm predicted. By 8:30 a.m. there wasn't anything going on around here, so I took off to work. I had to deliver some flyers to Brevard and the closer I got, the more snow started to fall. It was so beautiful! I delivered the flyers, drove down Main Street to find almost everything closed, stopped by to see Sandy at the scrapbook store and decided, "Hey, I'm out, why not see if I could get some pictures in the forest." So I did and those are three of them. I set the timer and the camera on the fence and ran out to get proof that I got to "play" a bit in the snow.

I would like to have seen more. but I am happy that I got to get out, get pictures, and stayed safe! Hopefully, Angie got some pictures of all the snow she got in SC.

SNOW DAY!

I have the news tuned to channel 4 and 7 and Angie is definitely seeing some beautiful snow right now! The flakes look huge. Guess Brett will get to experience his first real snow day! Right now, it is just flurrying here, although the guy on WHKP says the flakes are falling big time on Four Seasons, looks like I may have to go to work to see the snow!

Look for snow pictures - as I am sure you'd expect!

WooHoo! 2.4

That's right, today was WW and I lost 2.4 bringing my total to 47! Yeah! So glad I was able to make my mini goal of 45 by January's end. So I guess now it is time to set a February goal - think I will go with another 5 pound goal. That seems to be realistic, although I would love to lose 7 again!So, do you think it is going to snow tomorrow? The weathermen are so sure about it - I'm hoping they don't jinx it. And I am hoping it will be cleared up so we can go to the circus - there are 16 of us planning to go see "Bellobration" on Friday.

I did the page above over the weekend, one of 23 that I did for an online crop. I like doing them because it forces me to go back through my pictures and scrap layouts that I might have forgotten I need to do. This is a great example, the pictures were taken at Zack's 16th birthday party ... in July!

Chef Hannah

I saw this picture on my sister's website and I couldn't resist scrapbooking it! Isn't she adorable? She made this herself for Angie on Christmas!

The journaling reads, " Isn't it cool to think Hannah, at age 9, already knows what she wants to be when she grows up ... a chef ... at Disney!"

I took the picture into photoshop and took out all the color except for Hannah's beautiful face and the delicious red strawberries on the yummy looking cheesecake!

At a Crossroads

Well, it seems that I have come to a crossroads ... in my closet. There are now (and I say this with a cheer) more clothes in the closet that are too big than there are that are too little! Yes, I am smiling! :)

1.4!

I'm getting closer! Today at weigh-in I had lost 1.4 more over the last week. That puts me at 44.6 - keep those fingers crossed for next week. If I lose that .4 more I will be at 45 pounds lost, I will have lost 10% of my weight for the second time since August and I will enter that long forgotten place - ONEDERLAND! That's a place I haven't seen since 2002. I still have further to go than I have come but I realize that I have three things in my favor: 1) WW - great plan, fairly easy to follow, doesn't make me hungry all the time 2) Determination - I really am determined to do this and some days I even surprise myself by I much resolve I have 3) Pride - not the bad kind, but the self-esteem good kind - the kind that actually allows me to say to myself, "You are doing great. Be proud of yourself!" Not something I have always been able to acknowledge, but this thing I am doing, it is a good thing and I think recognizing it is a major step.

The layout above is kind of wild and carefree - just like my little 5 year old Amy was! Hope you enjoy this little turn back of the clock - 1994. Isn't the cake gorgeous? My sister made it

Happy Birthday, Matter

So today you are 15! Happy Birthday, I love you!

Happy Birthday, Tiffany

Happy Birthday, Tiffany (January 21)! 23?
Soon You will be as old as I was when I met you!
Scary, isn't it!?

Check This Out!

http://pepsigallery.com/

Some of My Favorites from the Last Few Days

Snap, Snap!

Isn't this pretty? I took it the other day on my way home from Brevard. I only had the digital camera from work so I couldn't zoom in and you probably can't see it very well. But I was driving down 280 right before the county line and this red barn with a beautiful reddish brown horse standing to the side caught my eye and I actually went and turned around to come back and look at it again and try to get a good picture of it. The horse did not move its body the whole time, but its head followed me all along the fence as I scurried about trying to get a good shot. I so wish I had my zoom lens. Any way, in person it was a beautiful, peaceful sight. The sun was glowing, the red barn was bright, the horse was posed perfectly with its body casting a perfect shadow against the barn. This was one of my "stop and smell the roses" moments. I wish I had more but I am ever so thankful when they come and I don't miss them.

1.6!

Yep, today is Wednesday which means Weight Watchers and I lost 1.6 lbs. today to bring me to a total of 43.2 pounds! Looks like my goal of getting to 50 pounds by January's end is going to fall short - but no biggy, I've adjusted and reset that goal to 45! No need to get discouraged, I realize that I have just slowed down a bit. I did walk the track over at the hospital twice this week and have hopes of adding that to my daily routine as weather permits. Amanda and Atley went with me on Sunday and we had a nice walk around the first time and then they actually jogged the second lap while I walked.

Today was the first day of exams for the kids at West. and as far as I can tell they faired pretty well. Nothing blockbuster but no great let-downs either. I know both Amy and Matthew are looking forward to next week when they get to start their "one core course" semesters. Matthew had been carrying a bookbag that weighs close to 35 pounds every day for five months now and soon he will have only a science book and notebook - I am glad his back survived. Amy has only her English class and Senior Project to fret over because her other three classes include two periods of teaching off campus at Mills River Elementary and one period of Teacher Assisting. Of course, she will be graduating in June! I know, I know, it will be here before we know it.

Just an update on Matthew's basketball team. They haven't done so well this year, I think they are 3-9, having lost most of their games by a couple of baskets or less. I asked him why they were doing so poorly with such talent on the team and he seems as stumped as I am. I know this, the coach isn't playing him as much as I think he should ... something I have never had to say before. Here I will go being the proud mama ... when coach put him in the other night they were tied and Matt immediately got two assists and they went up by 4 points. He had great court vision (he can see when the guys are open) so he is able to get off some great passes usually resulting in a score. He even fakes me out with his no-look passes!

Amanda is looking for a job with a few more hours (preferrably NOT waitresses) so you can earn enough money this summer to fill her bank account back up and hopefully go on a cruise. It's the cruise that Dee, Rebecca and Atley go on with Pat's School of Dance and there is a chaperone going who still doesn't have a roommate so Amanda is hoping to help her fill that void. Her dad has said yes as long as she can show that she can earn enough to pay for it. So if you see any openings anywhere, let us know!

Well, it's time for me to close and watch the Bulls finish the second half against the Bucks. We're down by 3 right now. Good news for Carolina though, they beat Clemson by a pretty big amount, 22 points last time I looked! Go Tarheels!

What You Can't See

Amy Luvs Christmas

Yummy, Yummy

Today, Amanda made cupcakes and boy, are they yummy, but even better, they are only 3 points (with icing!) Here is what she did:

"Made the Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake into Cupcakes Moist Deluxe (Duncan Hines) The Cupcakes are 90 calories each and come up to 2 points each. We used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Icing - 1 tbsp adds one point (if you use more add 1 pt per tbsp) These cupcakes are delicious and moist. We substituted 12 ounces of Diet Pepsi for the eggs, water and oil in the recipe on the box which saved us 55 calories and 4 grams of fat per cupcake - and a whole point (which is enough for more icing if you want! Haha!)"

Just 2 Pages I Scrapped

One is a review of some of my more favorite pictures of me and the other is of Nick. I loved the contrast of using the baby jars on the page with such a big boy!

.4! AGAIN

So, I weighed on Wednesday and I had lost another .4! Not a whole lot, but still better than nothing! It was a really good meeting today - talking about ways to go out to eat and enjoy it. Helen was there, too, and she had a good idea I hadn't thought of: since the portions are so large at most restaurants these days - get a "to go" box first! Just go ahead and divide the meal in half and eat part there and take home the other half! Great idea. I always feel guilty leaving it on the plate or I pick at it even after I am full until all of a sudden I look down and I have picked at it until it's gone!

Julia told the funniest story - I wish I had her picture with it. Seems she and her family ordered chinese takeout the other night and they all got their normal orders, but she ordered hers with no oils and they steamed it for her. Well, when they went to pick up their food all the styrofoam boxes were labeled with what was in them and guess what her's said? GOOD! Can you believe it? It was hilarious. She was so proud of what they had written that she washed out the container and brought it to show to us today. I so should have pictured phoned her!

Well, it's late or early one, not sure, just couldn't sleep, so here I am scrapping and blogging and wondering how bad I will feel when it is actually time to get up. Well, guess I'll try to get a bit of shut eye before the alarm goes off. Nighty nite.

BIG FLAKES, TOO!

 

CAN YOU TELL I'M EXCITED! Please let it last!

Look again!

 


and that's my bicycle ... GETTING SNOWED ON!

LOOKY LOOKY

 

That's me WITH SNOW IN MY HAIR !!!!!