Fun Weekend!

Yesterday was a great day! We got to ride down to Angie's for a fish fry with Mom & Dad. We had the fish Daddy had caught in Florida, french fries, hush puppies, corn salad, slaw, and delicious banana pudding. After we ate, we got to watch a really fun video that her family did to "encourage" parents to sign up for bible study classes instead of taking off every time they drop the kids off at Awana. It was hilarious ... and very direct! When we were ready to leave, Luke took a shine to the motorcycle and Frank was a good enough sport to take all of the kids on a short ride in the neighborhood. I think they all had fun, including Frank!

After we got home, we went to the home of Zack, one of Frank's friends from work. It was his 21st Birthday Party. They had a really big bonfire and we had a great time there, too!

So our really big great news this weekend? The BULLS won! And they not only won, they swept the Miami Heat, the defending champs! High fives all around!

My new word ... Maintain!

Today, I weighed in and I had a "0" which the leader told me to call "maintaining" not zero - because to maintain takes effort and sometimes "zero" sounds deflating. I think she is right. We always say, "Well, at least you didn't gain!" Truth is, right now it makes me very happy knowing that I can eat for a week and maintain! I believe I am going to have to add a bit more to my exercising to get the weight to drop faster at this point. Everything feels good, though, I actually fit into a pair of pants and two dresses that have been hanging in my closet staring at me for about 5 years now! And this morning I had my cholesterol and glucose levels checked. My total cholesterol was down 13 points from 2003 (the last records Dr. McGee has on file), my triglycerides were down 126 (from 287 to 161, which is still high, but good to be down)! My goods and bads were about the same - so not sure what that means, except that my diet and exercise are obviously working in more places than just those covered by clothes!

The layout above is more from the photo shoot I did with my friend Angela's little cuties. I love this one of Anna with the wind just barely blowing her hair and her dress in the same direction. Aren't the mountains in the background pretty? TFL.

Happy Birthday, Amanda

Whew - it's 12:22 a.m. I'm pretty sure that at about this time 19 years ago, I was pleading with Dr. Gebb to let me rest for a while and just start all over in the morning. However, he persisted that he could see that pretty head full of hair and it wouldn't be much longer ..................... TWO hours later ...... Happy Birthday, Amanda! I love you!

That Man of Mine!

This is Frank ... This is Frank, mad.

Gone Mad? He decided to sit out in front of the house with a "HELP" sign and wave it at Duke Energy and Pike trucks until one stopped. Guess what? It worked. He just called to say that one of the guys stopped and promised to go across the street and talk to the Duke Engineers about getting our transformer fixed. It seems we are on an end line and the box blew, but they all thought our problem was fixed when 6 poles were replaced and trees were removed across the street at Grimesdale. WRONG! Last night they had again reported us as "power restored." We spent 45 minutes on the phone with a supervisor last night at midnight trying to convince them that we were, in fact, still in the dark. Looks like all that talking did nothing ... as silly as I thought the sign was ... it did work. Sometimes people just need pictures!

2.0! MINUS AGAIN!

Today was weigh in day and I was down 2 pounds from last week. Thank goodness! I still need .6 to get to that elusive 55 pound mark, but hopefully that will come off next week. Right now I am updating from TC Library, one of the few places in town with Free Wi-Fi still working. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who had this idea, as they are 6 laptops in use right now. Our power is STILL off and we have now been told 11 PM TOMORROW NIGHT. Last night all the apartments and the houses within a mile of us came back on ... not us, we seem to be the only ones attached to a blown transfer at the end of the line and I guess they forgot to check that one. When I called the lady said, "Oh you guys are back on already." I said, "Where are you?" "Charlotte," she answered, to which I replied, "Let me see, you are in Charlotte on the phone and you are trying to tell me, the one in my house in the DARK, that my power has been restored?" It took her a minute but I think I finally made her realize that I probably knew a bit more than the computer did at least this time. Then they told us we would have power by 5 am this morning, then 5 pm on Wednesday, then 5 am on Wednesday again, then 5 am on Thursday, then 5 pm on Thursday. As of 3:00 today, we are being told 11 PM Thursday. Who knows. I think they are just trying to cover all the bases.

Well, I must leave now and return to work. Have a nice evening.

This Explains A Lot!

I have been unable to blog, surf or read emails except while here at work since the power went out an eternity ago! The pictures above are from Grimesdale, the neighborhood across the street, where trees are down in just about every yard. These aren't little trees either. They are old and big and when they tumble they take power lines, phone lines, light poles, other tress and even houses with them on the way down. The neighborhood is a sea of orange trucks and yellow hard hats. I talked to one guy who was taking a lunch break about 30 minutes ago .... he started around 6 am this morning. He said a guy had fallen from a pole on Sunday night breaking both legs, it really makes you appreciate all those out there helping to keep us spoiled folk from going crazy in an internet-television-telepone-less house.

Frank and I have actually faired pretty well. Our hot water is run by gas, so we can at least shower. We've lit all the candles and oil lamps and found batteries for the radio. Last night we listened to WSM (the Nashville Station that hosts the Grand Ole Opry) and it was really kind of neat. Frank threw his t-fal pans on the grill and sauteed us up some shrimp scampi with a side of navy beans-n-onions (yummy). Then we read a bit by the light of the oil lamp and fell asleep listening to WTZQ. I do miss electricity (and give kudos to Ben for being bright enough to figure out how to harness it) but it's also kind of nice to be forced to slow down a bit and just relax without all the phones ringing, television blaring and internet pop-ups we're used to dealing with each evening.

Guess What I'm Doing

At 2 AM on this very rainy Sunday? Four layouts so far!

Fabulous Moments

So, I gained last week, right? Maybe so, but today I am wearing a pair of jeans from way in the back of my closet that I tried on BEFORE we went to Atlanta and they didn't fit then! So woohoo, Fabulous!

Do your tastes change as you get older .... or just as you get lighter? I find myself actually enjoying some things I used to find yucky. Light granola and fiber ... I can't believe I can even admit it. This morning I ate Fiber One Honey Clusters for breakfast and LIKED it. Fabulous! A whole cup with 1/2 cup fat free skim milk ... a 2 pt breakfast that I hope will stay with me. I have also bought yogurt, another one of those yucky foods. The WW brand have only 1 point and so far my favorites include Amaretto Cheesecake and White Chocolate Raspberry. I finally found the Key Lime at Harris Teeter yesterday, so I will be trying it today.

It's Saturday ... hope you all enjoy it before the rain comes. We are headed to Penney's to get Frank some new work pants. Have a great weekend!

Signs of Spring?

Seeing beautiful tulips in bloom on Main Street is supposed to mean Spring was here. Someone forgot to tell Mother Nature. It was about 20 degrees outside and the people driving down Main must have thought I had lost my mind standing in the freezing cold and wind taking pictures of tulips covered in snow. I've always wanted to take a picture of the courthouse from this angle, the dome is blurry, but the sky is perfect. It's hard to believe these photos were taken on the same morning, the day before Easter.

Check this out!

FROM MY SISTER!

Hey,
I PASSED my boards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thought you'd want to know!
Thanks for ALL of your help!
Angie

Happy Birthday, Amy

Happy 18th Birthday, My Sweet Amy! I hope you know just how much I love you, (Frank says Happy Day, too!) I hope you have a wonderful day, a wonderful cookout, and that the rest of this year you will know each and every day how special you are to all of us. Take care of yourself and always be the good girl I know you are. SMILE, Sweety, I love you!

1.4 (PLUS) (OUCH)

So today was weigh in day - and it wasn't a good one! Looks like I let Atlanta and Easter weekends get the best of me! Of course, I expected it and now I just hope it will be the catalyst to jump start me back to seriousness! With the gain, I now need 2.6 pounds to reach my next mini-goal! So today, I am going to eat every point, and try to eat it wisely. Wish me luck!

Happy BIrthday, Hannah

HANNAH! It's Your Birthday! Hope it's a good one!

Easter Cuties

Last week I had the pleasure of chasing these two adorable girls, E & A, around their yard, trying to capture a little bit of their personality for Easter pictures for their mom, Angela. I took 5 rolls of film. These are just a few of our favorites, so far. Hope you like them, I can't wait to scrapbook them!

Happy Easter

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

Click HERE to Learn more about Jesus and what Easter is really about.

A White Easter?

So, you asked for a white Christmas and it was as sunny as spring and on this Easter weekend you get your snow! No, it's still not the "big one" we were all wishing for, but it is pretty. Snow on pretty pale yellow daffodils and purple flowers is actually quite beautiful as well as a bit amusing! Frank is fussing at me for getting up so early to take pictures, he says I am silly. NOT!

Snow in April is not a first, but I do wonder just how low the temperatures have been before. It is really cold out there right now. According to AccuWeather.com ~ our coldest recorded April temp is 22 and they are predicting tonight's low to be 16. We may be setting records soon!

Happy Easter Weekend

I think I have posted this before, but since it's Easter weekend, I thought I would share again this photo of my Mom with her sister, Sandra, her mother, Pauline, and her daddy, Scott. Aren't they pretty!


Man, it is slow going these days on the weightloss, but I am happy that it's going down instead of up! This week was only .2 again. It may take longer to reach the ultimate goal, but I am in this for the long haul, so I will take every ounce I can.

Did you see the story about the Cruise Ship that is on the bottom of the ocean now? Or the one about the boat tilting? All of these cruise ship accidents have me freaking out about Amanda's cruise in July. Have there always been this many or I am I just more aware of them because my daughter is going to be "out to sea" for 7 days and completely out of my control? Yikes, she will be 19 in 3 weeks ~ I should probably get used to her doing "grown up" things like this!

Hannah and Amy are having birthdays this month, too. Hannah will be 10 and Amy, 18. Wow! I am going to have two ADULT children in less than a week. Where did that time go? Angie, enjoy those "little girls," they'll be grown before you know it. I can't believe Amy will be graduating in less than 2 months. Thank goodness, Matthew is still a baby! LOL, I know he's hardly a baby.

Well, enjoy the cold weekend and have a nice Easter and if you're planning on an outdoor Easter Sunrise service, be sure to dress warmly!

Pollen, Yuzu & Goldfish in Atlanta

Yesterday we had a great day getting to Atlanta. The weather was a bit chillier than expected and I had to change from shorts to jeans to stay warm, but the traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I expected for a city hosting the NCAA Final Four. The traffic we have seen is all green! Almost every car native to Atlanta is covered in green pollen! It's amazing how much is on them, they look like they are covered in dirt!

We're staying at the Hilton Garden Inn ~ it's a really nice 7 floor hotel off 285. We got it through priceline.com for only $42! It's really nice and has an indoor pool and jacuzzi, which we just got back from. Frank can't believe I got up at 7 am on a Saturday (I really can't either)! But I was in the mood for a swim. It was nice. Now were back in the room and he's eating cold pizza left over from a late night dinner in the room. I am, of course, updating my blog using the hotel's free wireless internet. Isn't technology great?

Something else that is great is SUSHI, or SASHIMI to be exact. Yesterday we ate breakfast before leaving the house and were pretty hungry when we made it to Atlanta. We checked in (changed clothes) and headed over the the seafood restaurant Goldfish. It was so good! We sat at the sushi bar, where Chef Alex started us off with Ahi Tuna with seaweed, cucumbers, bean sprouts and his own special sauce. It was complimentary! Frank told him he wanted to try different things that aren't usually offered around home and just to surprise us. Well, he did such a wonderful job. We sampled white tuna, yellowtail tuna, fatty tuna, giant clam, and bonito. A couple of the dishes were prepared with Yuzu and Nashi Pears and it was so good, I wanted a straw just to drink the sauce! The citrus from the fruits added to the soy sauce kind of cook the fish so it doesn't taste so "raw" and it was all so delicious! I highly recommend this restaurant if you like sushi and are going to be in Atlanta. They had a great looking regular seafood menu, too, but we only had the sashimi.

Afterwards, we walked around the Perimeter Mall to the 100 Anniversary Celebration for Blue Bell Ice Cream. Frank and I shared on of their little cups of vanilla ice cream (4 points for one, only 2 when shared) it was pretty good, tasted like homemade.

We also went window shopping in the Perimeter Mall for about 3 hours. Nice way to walk off that fish!

Well, I guess I should get going, today we are going to the DeKalb Farmer's Market. TTFN!

Yummy!

Have you tried these? Tonight I had my very first one and they are absolutely delicious. I am not usually the ice cream or popsicle eater in the family but I really like these Cookies and Cream Popsicles and they are only 2 points! Yummy. Even Frank likes them!

.2 A little bit is better than none, right?

Well, I didn't make it to my mini goal of 55 pounds this week, but I'm not down about it. I just have to try harder this week! I was just looking at my weight tracker on the WW web site, and it is very encouraging. Do you know that on October 18, I had lost 26 pounds? Since then, I've doubled that! See, it's all a matter of perspective. Right this moment I am focusing on the positive and that is ... I HAVE LOST 53.6 POUNDS ... and I am wearing clothes I haven't worn in 5 years and hadn't worn in about 15 years before that! So there!

I have also added walking to my daily routine so I am also benefitting from not having to carry an extra 6 gallons of milk* around with me everytime I go for a walk! WOW, where did I put those when I had them? Can you imagine just trying to carry six gallons of milk in from the car to the kitchen, much less, everywhere ... everyday?!

* Weight Watchers Site Information: Beyond the Scales
Disappointed with losing one pound? 25lbs = 3 Gallons of Milk