Lazy Day

It's been another lazy day in our house... partially because of the Women's College World Series, but also because of our lack of rain. John was going to mow the yard today, but patches of our grass were looking really wilted - so he opted to water instead and mow tomorrow.

We haven't gotten to any of my movies yet, but our Women's team plays tomorrow at noon - so I'm hopeful that I can slip one in at some point tomorrow afternoon or evening. We'll see though... if not - I might have to watch one while he's working on Monday and just watch it again when he's here.

I did my hour on the Wii Fit this morning/afternoon and am debating on if I should give myself a day off tomorrow. The instructions on the screen tell you to do it everyday, but my body hurts so badly that I'm wondering if a day of recovery would be beneficial to my muscles. Seriously, I've NEVER hurt this badly... nor have I ever been able to push through it in the way that I have this week. I honestly can barely get myself up off the couch without my face scrunching in pain... the addition of the rhythmic boxing has done a number on my arms too - so now the pain is equal in my arms and legs... so I know that this workout is doing something! Tomorrow morning is the moment of truth to see if it's made any difference in my weight - I honestly hope so!

I think if my body wasn't sore - I would have been more interested in getting my husband moving today and out to do something... but with money being tight, and my body feeling like it has been drawn and quartered - I opted to be lazy this afternoon.

The one thing that I am struggling with lately is getting everything in that I want to do - maybe its those extra two hour nap that I've been taking when John leaves for work - or my unhealthy addiction to TNT in the daytime... did anyone else know that they play classic episodes of ER at 9 & 10?! (The ones with George Clooney - you know when it was really good!) Okay, my point in this is that I seem to not be able to keep all my plates spinning at one time - I get one going and do really well, but another one falls by the wayside in the process. My Bible reading is suffering - I wasn't able to keep it up while I was out of town and haven't been able to get it rolling again since. I've got to find a way to get both my reading and my workouts going at the same pace so that I can build healthy habits there before starting back to work. So, this is my struggle right now, and my focus is to get it back on track while not letting my workouts slow down or suffer in the process.

Greek Stuffed Chicken

I am sooo checking this recipe out in a week or so... I'm totally putting in on my menu!! I found this recipe in Scott's website. I haven't tried it yet, but we love Greek Salad, and all the items listed on the ingredients list... so why not? I love that he left the measurements open so that you can put in as much or as little as you like... I sometimes get caught up in trying to cut recipes back from time to time and this makes it a lot easier for me.

Ingredients
Boneless Chicken Breast
Salt
Pepper
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Poultry Seasoning
Oregano
Thyme
Frozen Spinach
Feta Cheese
Canned Artichoke Hearts

Directions
1) Pound chicken until thin enough to roll.
2) Thaw and drain frozen spinach.
3) Layer spinach, feta cheese, and artichoke hearts in center of chicken. Roll and secure with toothpicks.
4) Season both sides of chicken with seasoning to taste.
5) Saute chicken in garlic and olive oil until brown all the way around.
6) Bake in 350 degree oven until done.

I had a few extra breasts & ran out of feta so I used a little smoked provolone & added a few halved kalamata olives in addition to the spinach & artichokes. I haven't tried that one yet but it looked just as good!!

Enjoy!!

One More

I'm actually having a WOW moment tonight - I worked out before dinner yesterday for another 20 minutes making it a full hour of exercise yesterday, and then did a full hour this morning. Only one small interruption from my Dad - who actually said "get off your Wii" when he called this morning... wonder if he ever thought that he'd be telling me to stop working out?!

I'm actually excited to work out tomorrow, and even more so to see what happens on my morning weigh in on Sunday. My muscles are still really sore, but the interesting thing is that I do much better on my body test at the end of my workout... my flexibility is much better and my balance is better too.

This morning I did my body test before working out initially and my Wii Fit Age was 46 - clearly my body was more stiff... but at the end of the workout I was back at 30.

I feel like I'm boring my readers with all of this for the last three days, but I'm just really beyond excited that I've found something that I can hang in there with for an hour a day - and enjoy! I never thought I'd be that person... maybe doing all of this through the summer will lead to my being strong enough to take up jogging in the fall/winter. I can't see myself ever being an outdoor runner in the summer time here in Texas... it's just to darn HOT!

In other news - now that I'm semi-retired (temporarily) and our budget has been tightened as much as possible... I've gotten pretty good at hitting my weekly budget for groceries... which is exciting - I've never done that before. We've also started using Wal-Mart to help us with that though - now that we've learned that they match local competition prices... we've found a local blog that puts up all the sales in the area, and we look through those and make our menu accordingly.

I used some of my birthday money today to buy three new movies for us to watch - we'll see what we get through this weekend, but I've got The Waitress, The Departed, 27 Dresses, and Mad Money... I'll write reviews and things as we get through them. We would be watching one tonight, but the NCAA College World Series for Softball is on right now and our Texas A&M Aggies are doing really well. Gig 'Em Aggies!!

No major plans for the weekend, so we'll get some things done around the house - hopefully a couple more hours of workouts, some consistent weight loss, and some relaxation too. I guess that I'd better check out my interview outfit this weekend too and see if it still fits... that would be sad if it didn't - but sort of cool too!

Whew! Day 2

Some pictures of what you would see while doing your Wii Fit...

This is the step routine part of the game - and your job is to keep your feet in sync with the pictures as they scroll. I never thought I'd be able to do it, but I can!!

Here is what you see while Hula Hooping - you keep the hoops moving while bending to catch more hoops from the guys at the top of the screen. I think you end up with 5 or 6 hoops if you catch them all... and I can get my spin count to 400 in 90 seconds. I am now working on the advanced level in that as well, and you do two sets of 90 seconds - once spinning your hips to the right and the second spinning them to the left. I'm much better going right than left!

Despite my best attempt - I didn't quite make my goal today... I guess that's why it is a goal... right? When I woke up with John today - every one of my muscles was screaming! So I gave in and went back to sleep for a couple of hours after he left. I figured that rather than make it a chore to do the workout - I'd give in a little to my body, and push it a little later in the day.

I did my body test again before the workout, and it upped my Wii Fit age to 45... AS IF! After working out - I did it again, and it brought me back down to 31... the interesting thing is though that it said I'd gained weight before my workout, but then lost 6 by the time the workout was over. Needless to say - it won't be my guide for weight loss over all... I guess having it on carpet causes the results to vary, but my center of balance seems to be moving in the right direction... so that's good news.

I tried the yoga poses again, and a couple of new ones... I did better on the ones I'd done yesterday, and not so hot on the new ones. I'll have to get the names when I do them again tomorrow. I believe one of the new ones that I was actually good at was called Sun Salutation.

I did the hula hooping again, and the step routine - which unlocked an advanced version of the step routine, and I loved it! It's 5 minutes long - and a bit faster than the original... and I did it without any problems keeping up... or at least with the rhythm part - the feet I've got a little work to do. I'm actually working out and having fun - I didn't even know that was possible!

I did find myself getting tired more quickly today - but it wasn't a problem with catching my breath - it was more with feeling the burn in my muscles sooner than before. I am proud of myself though, and can't wait to see how this positively affects the scale movement... I need for it to get a little more consistent if I'm going to make the goals my surgeon has for me... and honestly - I'd love to surpass them and meet my own goal, but we'll just have to see what happens. The last time I'll see him will be the day before Thanksgiving (unless I have to reschedule) so I have until then to make miracles happen. HA!

On the job front - I have an interview next Tuesday morning for a job within my old career path... I don't have any idea what to expect, but I'm keeping an open mind. It is possibly a longer commute than my old job, and I don't know if they can afford to pay as much as the old place did... but they'd have to in order for it to be economical for me... the other thing is that I don't know if they can wait until July for someone to start working. I'm considering myself on contract with the old place until then because I want to make sure to get all that I worked for and deserve from the old company. We'll see what happens... but at least it's good to hear back from someone!!

I'm still planning on going to the job fair and keeping up my search for a teaching position... so we'll see what happens. I know that God will provide the opportunity that he wants me to take - I just have to be patient and open to whatever that is.

In the meantime - I'm working on building a routine with my workouts and Bible reading that will be able to continue forward when I do start working again. Those areas were lacking in my old job and routine - and are not negotiable this time around. I've got to maintain a healthy mind, body and spirit so that I can be the best person I can be!

Bring it On

Let me start out with a review of last night... I had a great time seeing my old friends from our old church. We had a lovely dinner, and BJ's was actually really good. I had a mini pizza which had 4 tiny peices... I probably ate one whole peice and the toppings off the rest of it. The Chocolate Bar was fun as well... just a different little place to go for a treat, and I kept my treat to the smallest thing I could find which was 2 scoops of their ice cream. (Let me clarify since it sounds like a lot - thanks Meg! - they were tiny scoops that probably totaled the size of one regular scoop) So overall - I didn't make myself sick, and we gave Staci a good send off.

I had my 6 month follow up appointment with my surgeon today, and he seemed pleased with my progress. After waiting in the room for an hour... apparently he had to run over to the hospital for a minute before seeing me... it was another anti-climatic appointment. He did tell me though that when I come back for my one year appointment - he hopes that I've taken off another 50 - 60 pounds.

After that, I went and bought a cook book that I saw at my Mom's last week. It's a Rachel Ray book called 30 Minute Meals - The All-Occasion Cookbook. I found some good recipes to try in there, and since I have the time and desire right now to try new things (read: extra time at home)... I thought it would be a good time to make John be my guinea pig on a few things. I've watched Rachel's show for years now, off and on, and most of her recipes are fairly health conscious. Those that aren't - you can pretty much figure out on your own and avoid them.



I ran a few more errands on my way home from the doctor's office, and when I got home... my Wii Fit was here. So I spent some time getting it set up, and then doing a 30 minute workout... it is really fun, and VERY challenging! I did some yoga (breathing, half moon, warrior, and tree), and aerobics... and very little of the strength training and balance games. My favorite so far was the hula hooping - I'm actually pretty good at it too. I did 4 yoga poses, hula hooped, a step routine, and jogged for the bulk of my workout time... and man... I majorly broke a sweat too! I turned on the fan in our living room after my first yoga pose, but never did get cooled off. I'm going to continue on with this everyday this week, and see how I do - everyday you do a body test - so it'll be interesting to see how this goes.

My first body test told me all the things that I already know... I'm obese... but surprisingly my balance isn't to far out of whack... and my Wii Fit age is 30... so I'm fairly happy with my initial body test. More on this to come as things progress.

I'm going to try to keep myself awake in the mornings now instead of going back to sleep when John leaves for work... so my goal is to get my Bible reading done, my workout done, and get cleaned up before I turn on a tv or computer. Now, with the tv part - I'm going to have to use it for the Wii Fit, BUT I won't turn on any news or shows before all of this is complete. We'll see how that goes as well.

Applying for Normal

I'm getting back into the swing of things again... the constant on the go nature of my trip caused me to need a couple of days to get back to normal. I began today by sending out applications to several different companies, private schools, and the like. I guess I've got to start getting serious about finding something that will bring in a pay check once these from Memorial Hermann run out.

I've still got the job fair coming up for all the public school districts in the area on June 9th - so everyone start praying that I'll find an answer in the form of a teaching job in the next few weeks. It would add a lot of relief to this puzzle that I'm currently living in, and give me even more peace and joy in the time off. The earlier I can find a job, the more I will truly feel like I've been given the gift of a summer.

I feel more than ever like this has been such an opportunity - I know that ever since I graduated college... I've wished to have a summer to experience again, and I'm not wasting a minute of this year's opportunity! Having the benefit of my current knowledge instead of being a 21 year old kid... has really made me appreciate the time off even more than ever.

Tonight, I'm off with the girls from my old church to celebrate one of our friends moving to Canada with her family. We are certainly going to miss her, but wish her well. We're headed to dinner at BJ's and then a place called the Chocolate Bar, and I promise to only indulge in something small. Maybe the ice cream is the safest bet, but we'll see when I get there. I hope that Staci has a great time, and a safe move to Canada. We sure will miss her!

Memorial Day

I thought this was hysterical!! (Shout out to Mama Jean for sending it my way!) It is sort of a nod to how I'm feeling right now too - This has been one of those days where I am completely not able to eat much at all. I've been hungry, but just feel like I am unable to fit anything in my stomach at all.

I'm sort of following what my body wants today, and have backed off of eating all my meals - in hopes that this too shall pass... but we'll see. John is outside doing our grilling for tonight, and I've made the salad and potatoes... so we'll see how dinner goes for me.

We haven't done much today... slept in (a rare treat), made breakfast, watched National Treasure 2 (we didn't get to it last night... we watched several episodes of Deadliest Catch), and since then have just bummed around. John specifically asked for a weekend like this - as he spent the last month working around our house getting it ready for my birthday, and replacing septic system line at his parent's. (EWW!)

Does anyone else watch Deadliest Catch? It's a show about the fishing boats out in Alaska fishing for crab. It looks like the most intense job I've ever seen... I just can't imagine. We stumbled on this show one night while flipping channels, and just got a little interested in finding out what happens to the men. Well last night they had a marathon going of the show, and we finally got to see what boat won the race to catch the most crab. Apparently, it used to be a competitive fishing season, but it isn't that way anymore. Interesting show...but not something I'd get that involved in.

I hope that you've all had a great Memorial Day, and have remembered all of those that have given their lives for our freedom.

Pictures from Midland

Today has been a lovely relaxing day... but very productive!! John and I started out at church, with John leading worship for today... he did a great job, as I knew he would. We left church and went to the grocery store... with some special Memorial Day treats in mind.

When we got home - I made lunch, and relaxed for a little bit. Then spent the afternoon making all the goodies... I've made strawberry jam, strawberry ice cream, and a loaf of bread today... and helped with making dinner (pork chops, fresh corn, and green beans).

We've gotten everything cleaned up, and are about to watch National Treasure 2. I think John is enjoying his holiday weekend... I know I am!

Here are a couple of pictures from last week...

This is a passion flower - it's a climbing vine, and it's in my grandmother's courtyard... for Mother's Day my Mom and Aunt bought her a gazebo and she's gotten it all set like a tropical paradise. Very lovely, and it's where she enjoys her morning coffee everyday.

Here I am with Meme... I think this picture turned out really well.

My Mom playing with her new ice cream maker... anyone catch a theme for the last few days? I've spent a lot of time making ice cream, but not a lot of eating it - so it's been fun... I have a tiny bit to satisfy my cravings... but not enough to throw off my program.

My Mom and her little angel... it's the cutest poodle... and she weighs all of like 4 pounds. She thinks she's a killer watch dog though!

Another one of the little girl... I just think she's adorable.

Notice the Change?

Wow!! I lost 5 pounds on vacation!! What a different and FUN way to travel!! That puts me at 72 pounds down, with a little over 100 to go... I've got some work left to do, but I've never lost 70 pounds before - so I'm celebrating a little today!! I will probably take some birthday money and do something fun after the holiday. Speaking of that... I need to look up my reward system and make sure that I haven't been cheated out of a reward. HA!

I will hold on to whatever it is for now though in light of me not working, and our tighter budget... but I will find something else that is cheap to do for myself.

Got to run get ready for church... more later!

Bleary Eyed

Nothing like traveling to truly take the energy out of a person... on a good note though - I fit in the seats on my American Airlines flight, AND the seatbelt fit me too!! What a cool moment!

John picked me up tonight with both of our dogs in the car... it was really cute!! My little one rode the whole way home in my lap, and just looked to relieved and at peace to finally see me again...

That being said - I had a great time with my family in Midland, but am exhausted once again... so I'm going head off to sleep in my own bed, and I'll catch everyone up tomorrow...

Last Day of Vacay

Tonight is my last night on this vacation... and it's been another great day. Mom worked again today, so I drove her there and took the car again. I went to have coffee (or watch them have it) with Meme and Tere.

Tere invited me to run some errands with her for the morning, which was fun... she did some normal errands and then I went with her to get a pedicure. I watched, but enjoyed the conversation.

From there, I headed to the grocery store for Mom to pick up things for tonight's dinner. We planned to make dinner for the family and homeade ice cream... so I had to get the ice cream mix cooked and chilling before picking Mom up from work. So I spent the afternoon doing that, and getting things ready for everyone to come over.

I picked up Mom from work, and then we shipped a big package of stuff to my house - it's all sorts of fun stuff: my Wii Fit, a new camera, my figurine of the Boston Terrier, a couple of scrapbooking finds, and some clothes that I decided to ship back to make my suitcase a little lighter for me to carry. All should arrive at home by Wednesday - so it will be a fun surprise when I get home.

Tonight - we made the ice cream and cooked a feast: grilled chicken, salad, green bean casserole, and wild rice. Everyone loved it, and it was a nice treat to be able to make a meal for my Grandmother and her husband...my Aunt, and a long time family friend too. Since John and I live so far - it will probably be just about my only shot at being able to make something like that for Meme and Bill... so it was a nice treat.

Mom and I are just relaxing now, and getting ready for bed in a little bit. See ya'll tomorrow back in Cypress!!

Full to the Top

Tonight, I'm writing having just had a "big" dinner. My Mom and I went to a local favorite Italian restaurant that I haven't been to since I was in high school... it was fun. It's a really cute place with that old time Italian restaurant feel - you know the drippy candles and red checkered table cloths... very cute!

My day was a little slower with my Mom being back at work - I had coffee (okay really I sat and talked while others had coffee) and visited with Meme and my Aunt, Tere, this morning after dropping my Mom off at the office. From there I did some minor shopping around town - I think I spent all of $13 today - so I can't say that I did a whole lot of shopping.

I went back and picked Mom up for lunch, went with her to a doctor's appointment... took her back to work... came to her house to check emails, went back for another visit with Meme... and then dinner... so slower pace for today, but fun to explore a "new" town. I say new - only because I'm not used to it on a daily basis... I only come out here about once a year or less... but I did live here for a year when I was younger, and have been coming here all my life... so some of it does come from memory. The difference is that the town is growing so it's fun to drive around and see what parts of my world are making out to the small town on the opposite side of Texas.

I think I'm going to keep this short for now because I'm a little sleepy, and my Mom's little 5 pound poodle is nudging me and wants to play... so with only one more full day here - I'll give her some attention now that she's decided that I'm a pretty cool person.

Another Busy One

Today was more of the same... running and running. We started our day a tad earlier since it was my Mom's birthday. We went over to say good morning to Meme, and to pick up my Wii Fit - my Aunt got two of them this morning at Target, and I'll be shipping mine home with some other things. Then we went out for breakfast. We went to IHOP and it was the second time I've eaten some eggs without getting sick... so maybe I'm past that craziness.

For Mom's birthday she got an old fashioned ice cream maker from my Aunt, so we headed over to Barnes & Noble to look for a good recipe for ice cream we can make in the next couple of days. No luck - so we decided to stick with the recipe that came with the ice cream maker. I'm hoping that we can make strawberry - because I'd love a little taste of some fresh strawberry ice cream over Memorial Day... (hint - John... if it doesn't work out - we're making it at home!!)

From there we headed to Best Buy to do some shopping... where I left my Mom talking to a salesman about a camcorder... but walked back over 10 minutes later to find her buying me a second digital camera. I now have a small one for trips and to keep in my purse - which will be nice when I want to take a picture, but don't have my big camera with me.

We headed over to Sears from there to look at wall mounted ovens because Mom's needs to be replaced. It looks like they are having a 15% off in store promotion over the weekend - so she'll go back on Saturday to make her purchase there.

She then had a bright idea to get pedicures, and even though I just had one last week - I went ahead and indulged with her... and we ended up with flowers on our big toes - which is a fun treat for the holiday weekend.

We relaxed a little for the rest of the afternoon... we ran over to show Meme our toes, and then came back to Mom's to relax before dinner. We watched a movie called Music of the Heart... or Music from the Heart. It has Meryl Streep in it, and is really a good movie. So really, I watched it and Mom took a little nap.

We had reservations for 5:30, so we changed and went to dinner. It was really good, and I shared a meal with my Mom... so I was pleasantly full and happy. I'm sure that I'll eat again before the night is over, but I was just happy that I didn't make myself sick. I've been really afraid of places like Benihana's because they are really my favorite treat, and with me enjoying it so much - I was afraid of the tendency to over eat... I guess that with the right head - I can handle it. (Of course I can always bring it home too - so no more fear of that!)

Mom is now watching American Idol. I'm in the office blogging - but I guess I'll go finish the show with her. To clarify my comments about American Idol... I'm not a fan, but it's not really because I think it's a bad show or any real objections like that - I just am not really into pop music. My deal is old country from the 80's... for the most part - so this just isn't something I listen to regularly. The singers did alright last night, and I'm happy for them... I just don't buy music or really listen to anything current - so I just don't get that interested in watching. I know that others love it - in fact my Mom and Aunt were voting the entire time that they were allowed to... so believe me - there are big fans in my family!!

For some reason - I just don't get into reality television - I never have. I'm much more interested in being entertained by something that someone has created and scripted... bring me a drama or comedy show any day over something in the reality genre. I do appreciate though that American Idol is a family friendly show - unlike some of the other reality shows out there. That is the one thing that I do give the producers credit for on AI and Dancing with the Stars - they are shows that you can watch with kids and not have to worry a bit about the content being objectionable.

Tomorrow Mom goes back to work - so who knows how I'll entertain myself... maybe some shopping on my own? Maybe lunch with my cousin? Who knows... I'll figure it out though... I do have thank you cards to write from my birthday - so maybe I'll work on those!

Busy Busy

I always forget how much running around we do when I'm out here... even though we didn't get started until later in the morning/afternoon... we managed to do some shopping - we went to this GREAT little store called the Ivy Cottage. It's one of my favorites because they just have some really great things. While we were there - my Mom got me this figurine (it's a Boston Terrier - which is what Missy is) - it's a part of the Jim Shore Heartwood Creek collection... and I have lots of their pieces around my house.

From there we went by a bakery for my Meme and picked up some sandwiches for lunch. We popped by Meme's for lunch, and then went back out for more shopping. We then went to the mall where she took me through 3 different jewlery stores looking for a ring or something to buy for me. I just didn't see much that I was excited about - so we moved on. We looked at shoes in Dillards for my Mom because she needed some stuff for work... and then headed to the grocery store.

We dropped the groceries off at home, and then went back over to Meme's to show her the shoes we bought at the mall. As you can tell - Midland is not a big city at all... I'm used to it taking about 30-45 minutes to get anywhere... or at least anywhere outside of my direct neighborhood... and here you can pretty much cover the entire city in 10! It's a good size city, but just very different than what I'm used to on a daily basis. (or was used to when I was working 30 miles away from home)

Tonight she's making me one of my childhood favorites (Swiss Steak) with mashed potatoes and a salad... of course - I'll get about a spoon-full of each, but just the taste of it is enough for me. After dinner, the plan is for my Mom and Aunt, Tere, to watch American Idol... I am not a fan, but I guess I'm watching for the next two nights... oh well - at least there are lots of catalogs and magazines around here for me to entertain myself with.

I don't know what tomorrow's adventures will bring, but I'm sure it will be action packed. I do know that we're going out to dinner tomorrow night with the family - we're going to a place called Shogun's - which is pretty much a Benihana's, only not quite as good. So I'll get some pictures tomorrow night with everyone.

Arrival in Midland

Well, the flight was an adventure to say the least... we boarded on time, but of course I sat next to a major jerk - I've lost almost 70 pounds, but apparently it's still a big ordeal to sit next to me on a plane. Whatever!

The guy next to me spent a lot of time sighing... and coughing on me... GROSS! But after sitting for a little over an hour longer than we should have... we made it. We sat on the runway in Houston for a while, and had to return to our gate because the plane was having mechanical problems... so that was a pain, but all ended just fine.

My Mom took me by my Meme's house for a little while, but she wasn't feeling very well - so we cut tonight's visit short so that she could get some rest for quality time tomorrow. We picked up some dinner on the way home, and watched Ratatouille. That's a pretty cute movie - and we've relaxed for the better part of the evening.

I wonder if I'll sleep very well in a new place without John here, but I guess we'll find out here in a little bit. I already miss home, but sometimes that's good - right? Absence makes the heart grow fonder... right?

It'll be okay - I'm just tired after running around all morning and rushing to the airport... so a little sleep will do wonders for making me feel human again.

Party Recap

I've picked a few of my favorite pictures (there are 188 total) to show you how my lovely birthday celebration was....

This first picture shows my Dad working hard to use streamers to liven up the tent on the driveway. He was so cute - my sisters and step-mother had to run an errand at the last minute and left him to do the final decorations... I thought he did a great job, but he knew that he'd get some heckling when they returned from Target!

Some of my guests enjoying the food and fun. Our garage was transformed into seating and a buffet - John did an amazing job, and as I said yesterday - he got up at 4:30 in the morning on Saturday to get everything ready... I am so lucky to have so much love in my life!

Here are the kids playing with the slip 'n slide in the backyard. They were hysterical... the bigger girls almost slid all the way to the end of the slide and off the back! They had a great time, and it gave the adults a little time to talk without distraction.

My sisters, Cindy (in the front) and Cathi (in the back) relaxing on the patio... and laughing at the kids!

Posing with my cake - the kids LOVED the icing balloons on the top - and hopefully all got to eat at least one balloon. I only ate two bites (it was half white and half chocolate cake) out of the middle so that I wouldn't have a lot of icing. Amazingly enough - no dumping syndrome, and I was completely satisfied with just a small taste.

My little brother, Josh, enjoying an orange icing baloon!

Me posing with my little siblings, Gabby and Josh. I made a slide show of pictures of me that played on our television all afternoon, and when I created it - I realized that I didn't have many pictures at all with them... so we remedied that yesterday!

I got the most amazing gifts: scrapbooking supplies, candles, lotions, a Southern Living Magazine subscription, pajamas, and many more... I have the most amazing people in my life!

This picture was posed because I knew about my Wii - and actually wrapped it myself... so I just thought it would be a fun way to just do something silly. John and I hooked it up today, and played tennis & baseball together - it really amazingly is very active... and will be a great addition to our fun. We're going in the morning to reserve my Wii Fit - and it'll be here when I get home from visiting my Mom & Grandmother in Midland for the week.

This picture might just be my favorite, and I'll tell you why. Josh and Gabby made me cards and lots of pictures for my birthday, but this one is the most special to me. Josh made me this card, and wanted to give me something... so he took a nickle out of his piggy bank and taped it to the card. He has such an amazing heart, and is just the sweetest boy that I've ever known. I hope that he'll always have that much love in his heart for his family... it's a special gift.

Now that the weekend is coming to a close - it has been an amazing time spent with family and close friends... (I would have invited so many more people, but we just didn't have the space.) John and I have spent the day recovering... the kitchen still needs to be cleaned, but it will happen before I leave town tomorrow. We've napped this afternoon, and played the Wii... uploaded 188 pictures, and enjoyed reliving yesterday.

I hope that I can only have that much love surrounding me in another 30 years!!

Utter Exhaustion

The last of the guests just left a few minutes ago... actually some of them were even asleep before they got to the car, but John and I feel the same way. John got up this morning at 4:30 to start cooking... but it was lovely, and everyone had a good time. I'll dig through the pictures tomorrow and post a few. I hope that everyone had a great day - and I'm now off to put my head on a pillow!!

Oh No... 3-0

Today, I turn 30 and I thought I'd share a little of my life in pictures... I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did looking through years of old memories.

End of an Era

The last day of my 20's has been a crazy whirl wind... I've cleaned, shopped, repaired... and I'm beat! So having just spend $350 on food for a small family get together... I'm going to go to bed and get high on paint fumes...

Until tomorrow...

Fire Bites

This piece was written for my class as well, and is the last one until I get the most recent edited and finished. It is a non-fiction piece for kids ages 6-9, and my instructor thought that this one was so good that I could get it published. We'll see when we get to that part of the class.

FIRE BITES


Have you ever been outside playing, and gotten fire ant bites? Did you know that the fire ant doesn’t actually bite? They sting like bees. Then sting again. And sting again. Unlike bees, fire ants can sting over and over again.


Fire ants attack anything that threatens their nests, and they attack in large numbers. It is common for hundreds of ants to attack at the same time. Large numbers of the ants can crawl onto their prey, and it can be up to 10 seconds before they begin stinging. During that 10 seconds, hundreds of ants can crawl up your leg without you even knowing that they’re there! It is normal for people to receive several stings because of the large numbers of ants involved in an attack.


Fire ants use their mandibles or jaws to hold on to your skin, and then sting from their abdomen. They sting several times in a circular pattern around the point that their mandibles attached to your skin. With each sting the ant is injecting a toxic venom into your skin. Within 6-24 hours the sting will develop into a halo of deep red surrounding a blister. The area will itch while it is healing, but if the blister is broken it can develop into an infection. Typically the blister and red mark will heal in about a week, but a small scar might remain for about a month after the sting.
Fire ants live in large colonies in open areas often near moist areas. River banks, pond edges, watered lawns, and highway edges are ideal spots for fire ants to live. They typically feed on young plants, seeds, and sometimes crickets. These ants attack small animals often and can kill them. Fire ant nests are usually less than a square yard in size, and may have several openings that are used to find food or to attach potential enemies. Colonies can be founded by groups of queens or a single queen, but only one queen will survive. Within a year, the colony expands into thousands of ants.


It is recommended that you sweep the ants off of your skin the second that you feel the first pinch of your skin. The sweeping motion will help you remove as many ants as possible before they are able to actually sting you.


If you are unlucky enough to experience a sting from fire ants, apply a cold compress to help with the swelling and pain. Wash the area with soap and water, but leave the blister as it is so that you can prevent getting a further infection. One final thing you can try is putting Listerine mouthwash on the sting. Field & Stream magazine reported in 2003 that the mouthwash might stop the pain from the sting and prevent the blisters from forming.


It is painful to get stung by any insects while playing outside. So during the spring and summer this year, be careful to watch where you are playing!

Nothing Changes

I saw this, and after having lunch with my former co-workers... I felt that this summed up their mood today...

The official repair of the leak damaged areas began this morning. After having the VP of construction come through yesterday - they've replaced all of the sheet rock in the bathroom from the floor up about a foot, they sprayed bleach in the walls to make sure that there isn't any mold growing, and finally sprayed under the tub for ants... as the little devils have made an appearance in our bathroom since the water has stopped being abundant. All of that completed before I needed to leave for lunch with my friends.

I was supposed to have my six month follow up with my surgeon today, but he had to go out of town - so they rescheduled me for May 28th. So I skipped over that and met the girls for lunch. One of the other ladies that was laid off met us as well, and everyone commented about how rested and relaxed we looked compaired to them. I guess in a way it was true... and we didn't have to rush back to that craziness either. We actually hung around another 20 minutes or so and chatted...

From there - I picked up John. His carpool partner's father was put in the hospital, and she needed to leave... which left him stranded there without a car. Since I was already out and about... I picked him up early, and we ran a couple of errands. We made 3 stops to get a few things we needed for my birthday get together on Saturday.

When we got home, I spent an hour or two up in my craft room working on my scrapbooking... I got three pages done in that time... am I slow? It sure doesn't feel like I get much done with my time, but everything looks good!!

With leftovers served for dinner - we're now catching up on a couple of shows that were recorded previously... and then off to bed to wake up to my last day in my 20's...

Building Drama

Who knew that not showing up yesterday was actually one of the small mistakes that the builder has made during this process. The guy I've been working with decided that instead of replacing the moldy water damaged sheet rock in the closet - he'd just put some plaster over it and tell me that it would be fine. Well, John wasn't having any of that - so he got on the phone, and next thing you know the guy in charge of all the construction projects was here checking out the house.

About an hour later - a different guy was calling to let me know the schedule of how things will be fixed between now and Friday. So we'll log this as another knight in shining armour moment for my dear husband.

In the middle of all of this - I did get to have lunch with an old friend from high school that now lives in Norway. She comes in a couple of times a year, and it's always fun to catch up over lunch and talk... it's really fun to hear stories about what life is like in a foreign country from the perspective of a childhood friend. This time - I got a special surprise... I got to meet her husband. He seems really great, and it was fun to hear his stories about Nicole - and to share some of ours with him.

Tomorrow brings more workmen to the house, my six month post surgical checkup with my doctor, and lunch with some old friends from the office. I talked with my friend Hope today, and apparently they were singing her praises on Friday - but turned around and wrote her up on Monday... I SO don't miss that mess!! I feel bad for her... but seriously - my life is much simpler now.

No Show

Today was supposed to be the day when all the items were supposed to be finished on our leak and repair, but no one showed up at all to work on it. I even tried calling the builder, but couldn't get him on the phone... nice... another day wasted waiting on people.

I did get some significant time logged reading my book... so I guess it wasn't completely wasted, but not exactly what I planned on doing today. I guess I'm just weird, but when I know people are supposed to be coming by - I can't go upstairs and do other things - because then I'm really far away from being able to lock the dogs up, and let them in. (yeah - I'm weird)

So I didn't get anything done up in the craft room - which I would like to get some things completed before this weekend when our family is here... and I also didn't get any writing done today - but I guess tomorrow I will bring that stuff downstairs while I wait for all of these workmen to finally get their job completed and get out of my hair.

I emailed with one of the other ladies that was laid off with me today, and she seems to be doing really well too. She has started her own website, which is a summer program for children - and asked me to look at the site and give my opinions. I am excited for her, and can't wait to hear more about how she's involved with it and all the details. It's always so interesting to finally be able to hear all the real things that are going on behind the scenes of an office - you know when people let down their guard and tell you all the fun things they are involved in outside of their main source of income.

Not much else to tell about today - I'm in the process of making John's dinner right now, soaking the front flowerbed, and blogging... I'm multi-tallented!! Tonight we will pack up the television that we're returning as they are delivering the replacement tomorrow sometime... and taking this broken peice of junk back. I am honestly looking forward to Wednesday right now as it gives me an excuse to get out of the house for a little while... I'm starting to run out of things to entertain myself with... or that might be just because I don't feel like I'm free to get deep into any projects right now because of waiting for the workmen and I'm not one that enjoys interuptions when the creative juices are flowing.

Summer Changes

This is another of my writing assignments for my program. It was inspired by John's weight loss journey between his junior and senior years in high school. He lost more than what is represented in the story and took a little longer than a summer, but he lost an incredible amount of weight between those two years - and I thought it would make a good story - so I took a lot of artistic licence with the rest of the story. It was written for kids between age 9 and 12.

SUMMER CHANGES


Braden stood there at his gym locker trying to get on his XL gym shorts, praying that the final week of 6th grade would end quickly and without much pain. His shorts didn’t fit anymore, but there weren’t any bigger sizes to purchase and it’s the last week of school anyway. While he was huffing and working to pull the shorts up, the boy 3 lockers down from him began making comments. “Hey fatty, those shorts are going to split if you bend over,” Mike said.

“Thank you, Mike for your brilliant observation.” Braden replied, wishing that Mike would trip in front of a large group of girls. Braden knew that Hope was in his gym class, but desperately wished that she wouldn’t be there that day. This was the day that they had to take their final exam, and run for 18 minutes around the gym. Braden was terrified that he was going to make a fool of himself in front of Hope – but he had no choice if he was going to pass 6th grade.

After the coaches took attendance for the class, they began to stretch in order to prepare for the run. Hope was on the other side of the gym with her friends, and didn’t seem to notice Braden at all. The run began, and of course Braden could only concentrate on breathing and keeping himself moving… but at the same time his shorts were riding up, and he had to keep pulling at them to try to keep them in place.

Braden somehow did manage to run the entire 18 minutes, and was thrilled that he didn’t have to change anymore for that year. As he was changing out of those pesky shorts for the last time, Braden decided that by next fall – he’d be able to buy a smaller size shorts, and never have to worry about completing his final exam again.

He managed to work his way through the week without anymore major embarrassments. Mom always made a special dinner to celebrate the completion of another school year, and this year wasn’t any different. As the family sat down to dinner, they saw the table completely filled with salad, spaghetti & meatballs, garlic bread. “Eat up everyone, there are brownie sundaes for dessert,” Mom said with a mischievous smile.

Braden was the middle child, so he waited for his older sister, Misty, to tell the family about her plans for the summer. Misty could drive, so Braden listened to all her plans for summer road trips with her friends. When the conversation rounded to his summer plans, he decided to lay everything on the line this year and make some serious changes.

“I want to lose 50 pounds this summer, and go back to school in the fall without having to listen to all the jerks tease me about being fat.” Braden declared.

“Braden, you’re a very handsome young man, and in time your weight will balance out with your height.” Mom said lovingly trying to console him.

“Yeah, fatso someday you’ll grow into your weight… or we’ll have to get a bigger house.” Misty taunted.

“At least I don’t have a pizza face” Braden responded wanting to hurt her feelings as much as she did his.

“That’s enough – you two. We need to support each other.” Mom scolded them.

“This is what I want to do. Mom, no more dinners like this,” he pleaded with her for help, “please make healthy dinners for me from now on and keep some healthy snacks around for me too.”

“Ok, honey – maybe we can get a family membership to a gym too. Then we can all work out in the evenings.” Mom said.

“Thanks, Mom! That will really help!” Braden said feeling better about having brought up the subject. As they finished their meal, Braden shot Misty a dirty look at helped clear the table.

The next morning, he got up and carefully measured one serving of Cheerios and 1% milk. This isn’t so bad he thought, and happily ate his breakfast. He decided to go for a swim to try to get in a little workout during the day – so he went out in the backyard and swam laps for an hour or so.

For lunch, he had a sandwich with some celery & carrot sticks. During the afternoon, he played video games to try to keep his mind off of food. It worked fairly well, and when Mom got home she made them grilled chicken, salad, green beans, and jello for dessert. Finally, the family piled into the car, and went to the gym.

During the first session, everyone got to work out with a trainer to get acquainted with the gym, and learn about the machines. The trainer suggested that he use the treadmill or stationary bike for 30 minutes a day. Braden brought his IPod, and was thankful that he had it when he needed to entertain himself on the treadmill.

He felt good about himself at the end of the first day, and was excited about the changes that he was making for himself. At the end of the first week, Braden weighed himself and had lost 3 pounds! He was very excited about his progress, and was dedicated to sticking with his program.
At the end of the third week, his focus was becoming harder to maintain. He missed all the sweets, and his favorite meals that Mom would normally cook. Braden would try everything he could to keep his mind off of food – ride his bike, swim, go to a friend’s house, play video games… but his mind kept playing tricks on him. He even found himself dreaming of bakeries, and pizza parlors! How in the world was he going to keep up with his weight loss? He was worried.

Mom made a big deal about the end of the first month, she made a banner to put up congratulating Braden on his determination. She also bought him a new video game because he had managed to lose 20 pounds during that month! Braden was proud of his weight loss too, but he desperately wanted a treat too.

He continued on with the program. One afternoon though, he was over at a friend’s house trying to keep his mind off of things… when his friend offered him some cookies. Braden knew that he shouldn’t take them, but before he knew it… he said, “Yeah man, lets have a few.” The cookies tasted great to him, but they soon were gone. At the end of the feast, Braden felt disgusted.
Braden was really was down with himself about eating the cookies – so he went for a bike ride. He mainly went to clear his head, but it was also exercise so it worked out in both ways. He decided to forgive himself for his small relapse, and get right back to business with his program.

The second month he lost another 20 pounds, and Mom had to take him shopping for some new clothes. He felt great being able to try on smaller sizes than ever before. The new clothes motivated him to keep going for the last month of the summer. He only had 10 more pounds to lose before he reached his goal.

The new school year was approaching quickly, and Braden decided not to weigh himself again until he absolutely had to. His Mom took him shopping again for school clothes and he noticed that he could even get into smaller sizes than the month before. He couldn’t wait to see what everyone at school would think about the new Braden.

Braden weighed in the night before school started, and realized to his surprise that he lost another 15 pounds that month! He had actually lost 55 pounds! He would never admit it to anyone, but he had actually cried a little over his achievement.

During the first day of school, Braden felt like no one noticed him… he felt very sad that no one commented about how good he looked or anything. While he was in the restroom, he overheard some of the guys asking each other where he was… and he realized – NO ONE RECOGNIZED HIM!! He walked out to the sink, and said something to the boys that were talking, “Hey guys, how was your summer?”

“Braden?” the said in unison.

“Yeah, it’s me…” he said with a smile.

“Wow!! You look completely different” they said.

Word spread around school very quickly about what Braden accomplished over the summer. He actually bought a medium gym suit that day, and was even looking forward to getting to wear it during class.

The last class of the day was math, and by some strange coincidence Braden was seated next to Hope. She obviously had heard about the weight loss, and immediately began talking to him, “You look really good, Braden.”

“Thank you,” he said blushing.

“I was thinking about going to see the new movie coming out on Friday, do you think you might like to come with me?” Hope asked him.

Braden’s heart fluttered at the invitation. “Sure, I can ask my Mom to drive us there.” Braden offered, knowing that this year was going to be very different from 6th grade.

Sunday in Pictures

I'm pretty tired this evening, so I'm pretty much going to cop out and do my blog for today mostly through pictures.

This is what I woke up to find... John on the patio with the dogs... watering the tree.

Lunch at John's grandmother's house... she's the one in the blue stripes...

The men of the family playing football of some sorts.

Our youngest niece, Brooklyn... what a cutie!

Everyone enjoying the lovely meal provided for us.

Our older niece (on John's side) , Taylor, enjoying a snack with her cousin - Kacey.

Some of the cousins and me... solving the problems of the day.

That pretty much wraps up our day - we're making John's tuna salad for his lunches this week, having some left overs for dinner... and then relaxing for the rest of the evening... or the last couple of hours of it anyway.

I hope all you Moms out there have had a wonderful day today, and know that you are VERY appreciated!!

Off Day

Lets see... weekends are always tough for me, but we made it to the party last night and had a GREAT time! We played a version of the newlywed game... and John & I were winning for a good while, but the last few questions did us in. It was cute though because they did a backwards prize deal where the couple that got the least points got a prize for a date night to "get to know each other"... very cute!

This morning I made it to my support group meeting at the hospital, and it was a good meeting - we didn't have one last month so it was good to get reconnected with everyone, but we didn't have much notice about the meeting so the turnout was fairly low. Good information none the less, and I'll get it posted here tomorrow.

We were planning on going to another crawfish boil this evening, but didn't make it. I was pretty bummed out that we couldn't make it, but I wasn't feeling well. I came home from the support group meeting, and fell asleep for a couple of hours - but when I woke up, I had an incredibly bad headache. So we just hung out at home and relaxed until dinner... and since I had planned for us to be out at our friends' - I hadn't planned a meal for us on our menu for the week. So we did go out for some dinner in the end, but it was quick, dark and quiet -because the headache is still hanging in there.

Hopefully all will be back to normal in the morning because we've got church which includes helping with the set up team (as we go to a portable church) and then the service. Then we'll be headed over to John's Grandmother's house after that for a family luncheon. I'll take my camera and try to get some good shots of the day to share.

Even Better

A little more of the same... and I feel like my life is getting boring, but I'm having a good time - so I'm going to continue sharing.

Started off again with reading my Bible, and sending my reading & study notes to Hope at the office. It was really good stuff today - James 3:13-18. We both enjoyed the message and got a lot out of the reading.

After I completed that - I went to the new outlet mall to return some things for John. When he left this morning - he asked me to pick up some shorts for him in exchange for the items I was returning... originally I was going to get him another short sleeved shirt... well when I got to the outlet mall, I was able to get him shorts, a shirt, and still get $6.50 put back on my card from the exchange!! How cool is that?!

I went ahead and checked out the Lane Bryant outlet while I was there - it was only a little ways down from John's store... and I bought 3 shirts and a pair of shorts for $70! WOO HOO! I've put pictures up of the shirts for your viewing pleasure.

This is a cute purple top - I really love shirts that look like they're layered, but aren't. This had a really interesting piece added to the collar.

This top is going to be really cute over jeans or khaki pants... it ties in the back, and is a really great shade of maroon.

This is a nice teal stripped shirt - it's really basic, but very cute when it's on.

When I got home, I needed to make a snack to take to an event tonight. We chose to bring a snack instead of dessert, and go the more healthy route - even though I can't eat any of this stuff. My veggie tray turned out so perfectly... I had to take a picture and share it with you!

This weekend is full of events - one tonight, one tomorrow morning, one tomorrow evening, and finally a family get together on Sunday with the in-laws... it's a good thing I don't have to go to work on Monday, because I'm going to need to rest after this weekend!! Just another way God is providing for me!

FACING HER FEARS

This is the second installment of my writing assignments... again for a 6-9 year old, but is written about a 9 & 11 year old. The class teaches us that children like to read about older children for the most part... so I wrote this about my two older neices. It is only partially true and partially fiction. When I wrote it - we did take the family out on our boat and there was tubing, but that's where the truth stops and artistic license begins. Enjoy!

FACING HER FEARS


Brittany hopped out of the truck at the marina; she couldn’t wait to get out on the lake with her Dad and older sister, Megan. Dad’s rule forced Brittany to wait for her 11th birthday in order to finally be able to go tubing.

Brittany could feel the warmth of the sun and the whisper of the wind on her skin. She glanced at the water; it looked like glass at that time of the morning. Dad helped the girls on the boat once he launched it into the water, while they were fighting about who would get to ride the tube first.

“Okay, who’s going first?” Dad asked while driving to a suitable spot for tubing.


“Um, I think Megan can go first…” Brittany said, as the knots in her stomach began to tighten. Suddenly, all Brittany could hear was the pounding of her heart, and she thought it best to watch her sister first.

“Chicken…” Megan taunted, as she climbed down the ladder into the chilly water. Brittany watched her sister swim out to the purple tube floating on the water, wondering if her nerves would settle in time for her turn.

Megan pulled herself on the tube, and gave the thumbs up – signaling that she was ready. Brittany watched as her sister bounced all over the lake behind the boat. Megan was laughing the entire time, and seemed to be having so much fun! While watching Megan, Brittany began to feel less nervous, and the pounding of her heart faded into the sound of her sister’s giggling. After about ten minutes, which seemed like hours to Brittany, Megan signaled that she wanted to get off.

Dad stopped, and helped Megan back aboard. “Are you ready, kiddo?” Dad asked Brittany with a wink.

“I think so.” Brittany said with a gulp and started down the ladder into the water.

“Make sure to pull yourself up from the back of the tube – or you’ll never get up there...” Megan instructed her sister. “And HOLD ON!”

Brittany pulled herself on top of the tube, which was a lot harder than it looked. She grabbed hold of the handles, took a deep breath, and signaled for Dad to go. With a jerk, the rope pulled tight against the tube and it began to move. Brittany could feel water splashing on her skin, and the wind blowing in her face as she held on for dear life.


Dad began to turn the boat to the left, and the tube started moving to the right over the side of a large wave. Once the tube made it over the wave, the ride got much bumpier and Brittany
started to lose her grip. The boat began to straighten out as it came out of the turn, but on the way back over the wave – Brittany fell.

She hit the water with a lot of force, and the shock of it knocked the wind out of her for a moment. Her life jacket propelled her quickly back above the water, and she caught her breath. As the boat made the circle back to retrieve her from the water, she began to cry. She couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone hit the water that hard, or noticed anyone looking as alone out there as she felt.

“Are you alright?” Dad asked looking at her as if he could tell she was terrified.

“What did you do? Forget to hold on?” Megan teased.

“Leave me alone – I hate that stupid tube.” Brittany said and threw herself onto a seat. “I held on just fine thank you very much!”

“Megan, leave her alone,” Dad said, “Brittany, everything will be fine, and you can try again later if you want to.”

In the meantime, Megan went out again laughing and having a great time while hopping over waves and bouncing out of control. Brittany watched from the boat, and wanted very desperately to get back out on the water and have fun. She knew that having fun meant that she had to take the risk of being scared and miserable again too.

This time Megan held on for fifteen minutes, and Brittany talked herself into facing her fears to give it one more shot. She didn’t want to spend the summer watching as her sister had fun, and wondering if she was missing out on something great.

Brittany backed down the ladder into the water, and swam out to the tube. She hoisted herself on top of the floating doughnut, took another deep breath, and signaled that she was ready to go.

She felt the jerk of the rope again as the tube began to move, and reminded herself to relax. She felt a few small bumps, but was able to stay on the tube – so she began to giggle. The boat made a turn, and she tightened her grip as the tube went over the wave as before. As the tube started back to the other side of the wave her fears returned, but this time she made it without falling off! She was so excited – she began to really enjoy riding on the tube. She laughed and enjoyed feeling the water below the tube and the wind in her hair. She even managed to stay on the tube for ten minutes before getting tired.

She signaled to her Dad that she was ready to come in. “SEE! I can hold on,” she informed her sister as she climbed up the ladder, “that was really fun. Are you going again?”

Both sisters took two more turns on the tube, and had a wonderful time. They even took one ride on the tube together! Brittany couldn’t remember a day where she had as much fun as her first tubing experience. Even though it started out rough – she will always be thankful that she talked herself into facing her fears.

Domestic Goodness

I thought this picture was funny for a couple of reasons:

1) My blood pressure problems... which are going away rapidly the longer I'm away from that office environment.
2) The fact that I can't afford little indulgences like that at the moment anyway.

S0 for my little piece of domestic bliss for today... I shared more of the Bible with Hope this morning, and even woke up to find that she'd emailed me asking for it... so this will be our fun new morning tradition.

I found that I'm not annoyed at my builder for just sending people over to start working on the leak whenever he feels like it. I think I'm less irritated because I'm here all day anyway - so it's not like I'm having to schedule my vacation time around them and their lack of scheduling in advance.

I also believe that going to the grocery store right at the time when all the area schools are letting out is the PERFECT time to go. All the mothers are either at home waiting for their kid to get off the bus or they are in their car picking them up... so you see the bliss?! I was about one of 10 people in the entire grocery store today, and it was fabulous! I got finished with my shopping within like 40 minutes... it was beautiful!

Nothing much else happened today, other than me catching up on some shows that we'd recorded over the course of the last few weeks... and organizing some files that I got off my work computer...

TORNADO RUN

This was my first submission to my writing class - keep in mind it is meant for readers that are around age 6-9.

Tornado Run

Carter slammed the front door closed, and looked to his little sister, Taylor in resentment. His Mom said that he had to take her with him if he wanted to go play baseball. Taylor is 8, and the annoyance of a sister two years younger was more than he could handle. The sun was hot on Carter’s skin, and he began to sweat as they ran along the sidewalk. He turned the last corner, Carter saw the other kids waiting by the diamond to pick teams. Carter watched as Taylor was picked to be on his team, and they began playing. A few kids were watching the game, and chanting, “Swing batter-batter swing!”

During the first two innings, Carter showed off his skills as a pitcher and tried to forget that his sister was stumbling around in right field. Mid-way through the third inning, Carter began to feel the wind pick up. It was hot and stagnate before, but now if felt chilly on his skin. The clouds were moving and changing slightly, but he didn’t think much about it.

While sitting in the dugout waiting to bat during the fourth inning, Carter noticed Taylor looking troubled. “Carter, doesn’t the sky look a funny color?” she asked.

“Be quiet, Taylor,” Carter replied, “If it starts raining, then we’ll go home.” The game continued, but the wind was getting stronger and the clouds continued to shift rapidly. Carter was ready to return to the mound as the other team got the third out – it was Taylor. “Of course it’s MY sister,” Carter said under his breath and rolled his eyes.

In the fifth inning, the sky began looking green, and the wind got stronger. It hadn’t started raining though, so the game continued. After a few pitches, it began sprinkling. “If it starts to rain harder or there is any thunder or lightening, we’ll call the game,” Carter instructed the other players. He didn’t want anything like a little rain to get in the way of his pitching.

At last the rain picked up, and Carter saw a large lightening bolt in the distance. The thunder followed very quickly. “I’m scared and we should be at home,” Taylor whined.

“Ok, everyone, it is probably time for us to head home,” Carter said. He tried not to seem worried, but he did think that the clouds looked a lot like tornado clouds.

Just at that moment, the clouds started to spin, and the sky looked very green. Carter heard Taylor scream, and he realized that he was responsible for his sister’s safety. “Hurry Taylor, get your things,” Carter barked. “We’ve got to hurry before the wind gets stronger.” It was only two blocks to their house, but Carter knew that tornadoes were very unpredictable.

Carter pulled Taylor along as they dashed toward their house. Carter looked up at the sky and saw the funnel starting to form. Anxiously he knew he had to get Taylor moving faster without scaring her. He turned to ask her if she wanted to race home, and saw tears streaming down her dirty face. He stopped for a moment guessing she saw the funnel too. “Taylor, it’s going to be alright, we only have a little farther to go. We will go straight to the storm cellar, and we’ll be fine.” He reassured her.

“Ok, but let’s run the rest of the way,” she urged hesitantly.

“Yes, HURRY!” he shouted.

They ran as fast as they could the rest of the way home, and Carter could hear their Dad calling for them before he had even reached that last turn. As he turned the last corner Carter saw their Dad waiting in the doorway of the storm cellar. As they ran into the cellar, Carter heard a loud crack…the tornado had touched down somewhere close by.

As he made his way into the cellar, he saw their Mom sitting on the floor with a worried look on her face. Instantly, she got up and ran to sweep the two of them into a big hug. The look on their Dad’s face was one of relief but disappointment too. “Carter, did you not see the weather changing while you were out there?” his Dad asked.

Carter knew he should have taken the weather more seriously earlier in the game. He had studied tornadoes in school and knew the warning signs with the sky color and cloud movement. “Next time, you head home at the first sign of a storm. Understood?” his Dad instructed.

“Yes, sir, I promise never to get caught in weather like this again.” Carter said as tears started pouring out of his eyes. His Dad gave him a hug, as they heard the tornado plowing through their house. Carter was relieved that he was home, even though the family was frightened by the noises they were hearing outside.

Just Another Day

Today has been such a weird day - I had no need to get dressed really, so I stayed in my pj's until about 4 when the people were coming to look at the shower. It looks like a much larger problem that originally anticipated by the plumber. The builder showed me some more things that are happening... so it's really two problems.

1) The door isn't sealed properly... so water is coming out the front.
2) Someone accidentally drilled through the drip pan under the shower - so water is coming out there and doing directly out the siding and foundation... as well as into our closet.

So they are going to have to do a number of things to fix it, so yet another example of good timing on the lay off front... I'm here so that they can get everyone in to fix this properly.

I read this as part of my study this morning, and emailed it to my friend Hope that is still working in my old office... it made so much sense to me both on things that happened there to us, but also in how to handle it... she was really appreciative to read it first thing this morning:

James 3:6-8 (NLT) And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself. (7) People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish, (8) but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison.

This is what the study section of my Bible says about that...

The uncontrolled tongue can do terrible damage. Satan uses the tongue to divide people and pit them against one another. Idle and hateful words are damaging because they spread destruction quickly, and no one can stop the results once they are spoken. We dare not be careless with what we say, thinking we can apologize later, because even if we do, the scars remain. A few words spoken in anger can destroy a relationship that took years to build. Before you speak, remember that words are like fire - you can neither control or reverse the damage they can do.

Other than that - I nested a bit more today by getting all my things from the office set up in my craft room. It looks really nice now, and a room that I really enjoy being in for most of the day.

I don't know how many of you will remember this, but I've been taking a correspondence course to learn how to become a published writer of children's/adolescent literature... so I spent some time today reading and preparing an assignment to turn in for that. I was doing it via mail which meant it took about a month to get the assignments back, but I just switched to the email version where it takes only 7-10 days to turn around an assignment... so my plan is to push getting these done in a quicker time frame so that I can get as much done as possible while I'm off.

I'm going to put my assignments up on here in the next few days - there are 5 of them that will be completed by the end of the day tomorrow - so look forward to that!

This whole domestic goddess thing is working out fairly well - I've basically made dinner when John gets home for the last two nights - which means that dinner is cooked, eaten, and cleaned up by about 6 PM. Then we have the rest of the evening to hang out together and relax... which is a very nice thing!