Finding a Weigh Out of Fat! Volume I

I've been trying to figure out where to start this post...should I begin with how I got fat, why I got fat or when, why and/or how I decided to get UN-fat? I've decided that the UN-fat part of the story is probably the best part to go into. After all, I can condense the "getting fat" into a few short sentences: I got fat because I ate a lot and didn't exercise. I ate a lot and didn't exercise because I got too caught up in the minutia of life and forgot to take the time to actually live it. As for when I got fat...that started the day I married Randey and started cooking good ol' Southern food for him (fried chicken, fried steak, fried potatoes, fried this and fried that. Not to mention the breads...rolls, biscuits, toast, etc., etc., etc.). Yep. Frying everything and eating bread can take you from a size 5 to a size 18 long before you can even get all your kids grown! Hence my issue with weight. As I mentioned before, I finally had to face the fact that I was fat. Just downright FAT. Not fluffy, not chubby, not plump. Just FAT. Then I had to make a decision. I'd been unhappy about my weight for a long, long time, but not enough to actually do something about it. I guess I thought that maybe all the tricks I'd used way back in the day, when dropping 5 pounds was just a matter of eating right for a day or two, would work if I tried them often enough. However...I eventually had to face the fact that once your body has given birth 4 times over and your muscle mass has faded into mush and gravity has taken its toll - not to mention the ravages of hormones on a no-longer-youthful body - little tricks don't and won't work like they used to. So I was left with this: either accept that I was going to be a fat granny for the rest of my life and be satisfied with that self-image, or I'd have to commit to something serious and give weight loss one more big effort. I chose to commit. And boy was it hard! I did a little research and decided that Weight Watchers was the way for me to go. (Having heard from Joan that it was a great program helped, too!) They have a good success rate and the cost is fairly reasonable (especially compared to other methods out there!). I got online and "found" a meeting in my area that fit with my schedule. Then I went to that meeting. That was probably the hardest part of this journey. The first real step. It was like what I imagine an AA type meeting for fat people to be like: "Hello, I'm fat and I want to change. Can you help me?". It all seemed a little hokey to me, but what the heck? I wanted to be able to tell myself that I had "tried everything" before I resigned myself to permanent residence in Fatland. Still, I honestly didn't think Weight Watchers would work for me, but I also didn't think I could look at myself in the mirror if I didn't at least try it. So I told myself I'd give it 4 months. Four full months. If my weight hadn't changed at the end of that time, I'd pat myself on the back for giving it a try and I'd drown my sorrows in a tub of Cold Stone Creamery yumminess. And I'd embrace the fat granny that was ME. But lo' and behold...it started working. I followed the plan, I didn't cheat on anything, I even started moving a little more (taking walks in the evenings, etc.) and the pounds starting coming off. Not too fast, mind you, but that's the way it's supposed to work. You might lose a little more in the first 2 weeks, but the goal is to lose only around 1 to 2 pounds a week. As of today, 12 weeks after I started the program, I have lost a total of 29.4 pounds. (Like I said, I lost a little more per week the first two weeks.) My goal is to lose another 25. Weight Watchers goal for me is to weigh 120, if you can believe that. Personally, I'm not aiming quite that low. No point getting crazy with this weight loss thing, eh? I mean geez, I haven't weighed 120 since 1978 and I'm afraid that if I weighed that now, I'd look like an anorexic old hag with a ginormous head. lol I'll be content if I can accomplish the goal I have set for myself. Now I'm not advocating that everyone out there join Weight Watchers. They don't pay me to recruit for them you know. LOL But it's a program that is working for me. Even the hokey meetings seem to do me good. I can surround myself with people who understand my struggles and vice versa. We support each other for that little 30 to 45 minutes a week and it's wonderful. It helps.

The moral of the story here? I guess I'm trying to say that you shouldn't settle for being fat if being fat is not what you want to be. Understand that there are no easy fixes out there, though. Regardless of what weight loss program you chose, you'll have to retrain yourself to think differently about food. It's not just about following a program, it's about making lifestyle changes. It's about making a decision to lose weight and then making a commitment to get the job done. I'd like this first post to be about the best tips out there to help each other to lose weight. My tip for you? Learn that food is not your friend. Food is not your friend, your pal, your comfort, your entertainment and/or your reward! Food is fuel for your body. Period. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy eating. It just means you need to understand the roll in your life that food should have and not give it an emotional importance it doesn't deserve. Start telling yourself (over and over and over again) that food is fuel, not love, and you'll start to think of it in a whole new light, I promise. Now what tips do you guys have? What has helped you the most? What's your biggest downfall that you think you need help with? How do you survive the munchies? What snacks work best to satisfy you without adding pounds? I'll compile all the tips I receive this week into next Wednesday's post so give us your best ones here, okay? Can't wait to hear what you have to say!!

P.S. Tomorrow I'll be posting about our Florida trip!

My Man Has Prevailed!

Randey has finally, at long last, beaten this computer into submission. Sure...it was only out of commission for about 36 hours in total, but it seemed like forever. I was threatening a walkout. Yep. I was going to walk out of this house and straight on over to Best Buy to get myself a new computer. (Patience has never been my strong suit!). Thankfully, that sort of drastic step won't be necessary. Yippee!! And not a moment too soon, either. After all, tomorrow is our very first "Finding a Weigh Out of Fat" discussion! I have my weekly weigh in at Weight Watchers tomorrow afternoon and I'll do a post about my adventures in weight loss once I get home from that. Brace yourselves. Tomorrow may be rough...I wasn't exactly a rock during my week in Florida and less than spectacular weigh-ins have a tendency to make me cranky. lol I'm excited to hear from you guys, though, about what works for you and what tips you can pass on. So everybody chime in on tomorrow's post and share your weight loss wisdom and/or your tales of woe (misery loves company, remember? LOL). The post probably won't be up until after 2:00, though, so be sure to look for it later in the day!

Computer Update

Cost to replace CPU fan: $12.97
Cost to replace CPU when husband decides to force it into place when reseating CPU onto fan: $85.00
Cost to replace teeth cracked from gritting them so hard: PRICELESS

Still have no computer of my own. Still using Randey's laptop. Still planning on blogging sometime this year.
I'll let you know how my computer saga turns out. Right after I finish gumming my breakfast to death.

I'm Back but my computer is gone...

Hi everyone! I'm back from Florida, but my CPU fan has gone out on my home computer (it probably missed me so much that it blew itself up in protest of my absence. lol). I'm starting to wonder just exactly what Sydney the Wonder Dog and Blu-Boy get up to while we're gone from home. Remember when we got back from vacation in June, one of our A/C units went out and my washing machine lost its mind? Now it's my computer. Sheesh. I think the dogs are trying to teach us a lesson for leaving them behind...Anywho, I'm still on Randey's laptop (which obviously doesn't like me or my typing habits) so I'm still not able to blog properly or even post pictures yet (can't find the adapter to download my photos on this thing). Randey's mission today is to find and install a new fan so I can tell you all about my adventures in the Sunshine state. My mission is to sit here and whine about it until he gets it done (I kid, I kid!!). Hope to be blogging by tonight!

Weight Stuff and I MET A BLOGGING FRIEND IN REAL LIFE!

I just want to post a note about the Weight Watchers information and experiences some of you have sent me via my previous post about my recent weight loss efforts. Thank you to everyone for your encouragement!! It really is helpful to get a few "atta boys" every now and again. I'd keep plowing ahead with my determination to lose weight regardless, but it sure eases the way a whole lot to hear someone say something positive about it, you know what I mean? Anywho, I would love to answer all of you personally who shared something about weight loss successes and woes, but if I don't get my bags packed soon, I won't have anything to wear next week while I'm in Florida. And while I'm in Florida, I probably won't get much opportunity for blogging. When I get back, however, we have got to get together - me, you and you and you and yes, even you, the one over in the corner, trying to look invisible! And anyone else who wants or needs some support with losing weight. How about we do something every Wednesday where we talk about what we did that week to make a change? Anybody else up for that? Say YES! It could be fun and it could even be helpful to share the struggle with someone else (well, hopefully, a bunch of someone elses! lol). I'll start it August 6th, the first Wednesday after I get back from this next little trip. Anyone wants to comment or share, feel free to jump right in, okay? And Lynne, did you get started on that walking, by the way? Come on - I know you did! If you didn't, brace yourself 'cause I'll be nagging you until you do. GET TO STEPPIN', WOMAN! LOL

One more thing before I go, I had a most pleasant lunch today with someone very, very special...Annie from My Life as Annie! I'll write more about that later when I get back from the trip (sooner if the hotel has a decent internet hook-up!) but let me just say this....it's a good thing that Annie is as nice and as sweet as she is because otherwise, I probably would never would have been able to survive lunch next to her. People, this woman is GORGEOUS. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous. It's bad enough she's tall and blond (I felt like one of those troll dolls standing next to her - no lie!! lol) but she looks like she's maybe 24 or 25. Sheesh! It was tough to realize she really isn't that much younger than me! Some things just aren't fair. I mean, she's got 4 kids, just like me. And she's from Oklahoma, just like me. And she has a wonderful husband and marriage, just like me. So why in the heck does all of life's hardships that one experiences throughout the course of time show on every square inch of my face while Annie glides through life looking like a flippin' fashion model? Lord knows Annie has had more than her share of tough times, but you'd never ever know it to look at her. Ever. (Sigh. Heavy, heavy sigh.) Luckily, however, Annie is nice and funny and lively and an all-around great person to meet. It seriously makes up for her being so dang youthful and pretty. LOL Lunch was awesome - pretty good food, but even better company. She got me the nicest ornament and Believe cross, too. Can't wait to post a picture of that. I'll treasure both of them always. Thanks, Annie.

Now I'm off to pack that bag...(geez, I hate packing). Ya'll be thinking about that "Weight Discussion Wednesday" idea and let me know if you're interested in doing something like that, okay?

Photo Challenge - NUMBERS!

Here are my contributions to the most recent Brenda Photo Challenge, hosted by Karen M. The theme is "numbers". For my first picture, I went with the obvious choice, a picture of my Numb3rs DVDs: I love this show! The guy that plays Charlie Eppes, the math professor, is the actor who played Bernard the Head Elf in the first two Santa Clause movies. He's why I first tuned into the show. And Rob Morrow, who plays Don Eppes, reminds me a little bit of my nephew, Joseph. I think it's the mouth - the way his lips are always pursed. Yoda (my nickname for my nephew) always does that with his mouth, too. lol My second picture is this:

Don't you just love that song "The Twelve Days of Christmas"? Probably THE best song that features numbers. Makes me get all warm and fuzzy just singing it in my head..."On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...". Yessiree Bob. I could hear that every single day of the year and would love it each and every time. My third picture is definitely personal (Not that kind of personal, you pervs! Sheesh!). It's a picture of my keychain and charm that I've recently received from Weight Watchers. (Yes, me, the Queen of Complaining About Weight, broke down and joined Weight Watchers 10 weeks ago this past Wednesday. Yay me! lol) I received the copper colored keychain a couple of weeks ago when I reached my first goal of 10% body weight loss (I circled the little number "10" that's stamped into the metal) and I received the silver charm that has the number "25" as well as the abbreviation "lbs" stamped into the metal, 3 days ago when I officially lost (what I hope to be) my first 25 pounds. I'm very proud of both of those numbers. I honestly don't know which is a harder struggle...quitting the cigarettes or losing weight. But boy howdy, I'm sure glad I developed all these bad habits in my misspent youth. Trying to rid myself of them now that I'm in my 40's has really given me reasons for getting out of bed every morning. (She said with teeth gritted and eyes crossed.) LOL

Now for those of you who are just here to check out the Numbers Photo Challenge pictures, you might want to stop here. The rest of this post is a little bit of bragging, a little bit of self-pity and a whole lot of talk about dropping pounds. In other words, it might just bore you to tears! lol Okay...don't say I didn't warn you!

Anywho...has anybody else heard the phrase "Livin' Large"? It (normally) means:

Living Large: "a. U.S. slang"; to live large: to live in an extravagant manner; (hence) to be very successful, popular, or wealthy, esp. ostentatiously so.

Well that's not the meaning I had in mind when I named my blog. No, no, no... I named my blog "Just Livin' Large" because of the size of my arse, not the size of my wallet or my house. See, my arse is large. And well, it is definitely livin' - (don't think I'm not grateful for that, eh?). But I wasn't too happy with thegeneral state of my arse or the rest of me, for that matter, when I first started blogging. My very first post went like this:

Monday, June 11, 2007
So I stopped smoking. Now what? Okay, well I stopped smoking 16 weeks and 6 days ago (but who's counting, right?). What happens now? Will this almost uncontrollable urge to eat everything in sight stop soon? Will I continue to grow larger and larger and larger until one day I find the only thing that will fit me is a queen size bedsheet? I went clothes shopping the other day, mainly because I was down to one pair of pants that I could zip. I was shocked to discover that my clothes weren't suffering from an unexplained laundry mishap. They hadn't shrunk. I had grown. A lot. A whole lot. In my mind, I'm not fat. In my mirror, well let's not go there. Not only are my clothes not mysteriously altered to a smaller size as per my previous stated belief, but apparently my mirror isn't reflecting an inaccurate vision due to some glazing error. I'm just fat. When did this happen? When did I go from "fluffy" to "fat"? And is this condition permanent? And have I reached the fat boiling point that makes me actually take action to change this? Tune in tomorrow...

You might say I've been "fixated" on the subject for a while although only recently have I decided to actually do anything about it. It happened after that little "Mini-Moon" Randey and I took to OKC back in May. Remember, I'd bought new clothes for the trip. Really BIG new clothes. Even when I was buying those clothes, I still refused to believe how large I'd gotten. Until I saw the pictures of me in those clothes, that is. YOW-ZA! I mean really...YOW-ZA! It was awful. I was disgusted with myself and decided that enough was enough. That Monday, I got online, found the nearest Weight Watchers meeting and that Wednesday, I attended it and joined. As of this past Wednesday (10 weeks after my first meeting), I've lost a total of 25.4 pounds. I feel better, I act better, I'm more outgoing...(this is the bragging part I mentioned earlier, in case you couldn't tell! lol). Now for the pity part...my dad, my step-mom, my step-sister and my nephew all came down from Oklahoma almost two weeks ago to drop said nephew off with us. I was all excited. After all, they hadn't seen me since the weekend before I'd joined Weight Watchers and here I'd lost 20, count 'em, 20 pounds! Oh I just knew I would be positively basking in the glory of that heady achievement, yessir. Only...nobody noticed. Not one person said anything. In fact, other than Randey, no one's said much of anything about my weight loss (although when I make a point of patting myself on the back after my meetings, the boys have been very nice about it and have at least acknowledged the effort. lol). Oh and Aunt Sandi said she thought I looked like I'd dropped a little weight when she saw the vacation pictures (thank you very much Aunt Sandi!) But for everyone else out there: Hello, people! I'm 25 pounds smaller than I was 2 1/2 months ago! Doesn't it show? Well.....apparently not. But that's okay for now. I'm still plugging along, watching what I eat, learning new things and ways to cook, moving my body more. And even if no one else ever, ever notices that I'm slowly shrinking right before their very eyes, I know it. I guess that'll have to do. Of course, I'm never one to suffer in silence (hence this post. lol) or to trudge along with no reward for myself, so to celebrate losing 20 pounds, which was the 10% of my body weight I mentioned earlier, I got this:Oooooh, aaaaahhhhh. A pretty new pink bike. Randey and I are going to start riding bikes in the evenings instead of just going for walks. Pretty cool looking, isn't it? I love it. Here's hoping I don't fall off and break something - it's been a while since I've tootled around on just 2 wheels! Hmmmm, now which handle did they say operates the brake???

Happy Birthday, Desiree'!

My only daughter, Desiree', turns 21 years old today. Happy Birthday, Des! Here she is when she was almost 3 years old. See those eyes? Deep, dark brown. Kinda sparkly. Great happy smile. Cute little button nose. Just such a sweet little face. Oh yeah. A sweet little face that was always, always, always full of mischief. (That's a mother's nice way of saying it has damn near killed me trying to get her raised! Whew!!) I'm telling you, this kid spent more minutes in timeout than the combined penalty time total of all the hockey players in the history of the National Hockey League. And that's saying something. But here we are, 2008, and she's now 21 years old. And I survived! Yippee! Happy Birthday, Des - I hope we have a great year together!

In other "children news"...I finally got to speak with my son, Nick! Yay!!! I haven't spoken to him since he deployed. He'd tried to call once before, but we weren't home and I didn't hear my cell phone ring either. Talk about crushed! I was sick about that. But he called last night and we got to speak for a pretty good bit of time. He was able to give me an address that I can send a care package for him to. And you know what he asked for? Canned boiled peanuts. How funny is that? I'm hoping to get some when I'm in Florida next week. I can't seem to find any around here in Texas. And if my beautiful son wants boiled peanuts, that my beautiful son shall have them. (I had to say it like that because Nick has requested that I not call him "beautiful" anymore. So, naturally, I feel compelled to call him "beautiful" every chance I get. lol)

Here's a picture of Nick from his survival school days. Nick, honey. Let's face it. You are a beautiful man. I know it, you know it, Jodie knows it, heck everybody knows it. Don't fight it, baby. Just go with it. :) And one more thing, son. I am so very proud of you. I know you don't like me saying that on my blog - you're not into the bragging aspect of your job, but I am. I know what you're sacrificing by serving in our armed forces and by being deployed. I know what you're missing out on in your children's lives. And I also know that you volunteered for this deployment and I know why. I am very, very sad to know how much your service costs you and your family, but I am so grateful that you and others like you are willing to make those sacrifices so that the rest of us can sit back and revel in our freedoms. (So yes, Nick, I'm grateful and I'm proud and no, son, I will not stop talking about it, even though you've asked me to. I love you. Stay safe. ~Mom)

Childhood Reminders, More Art Attack (I'm so ashamed) and the REAL fine art in our home...

From the time I was 3 years old until I was 6, we lived in Japan. My dad was in the Air Force and that's where we were stationed at that time. I don't remember much really, except the earthquakes, my first boyfriend (slobber faced Mark, whom I loved with all my kindergartner's heart) and my dad making me ride my bike without my trusty training wheels (really think he could have been a little more sympathetic to my fear on this subject and a little less snarky). I wish I had retained more of the memories from our time overseas. Even some of the things I think I remember, I'm not sure are accurate. Frustrating. But anyway, last Friday Randey and I went "antiquing". That's what we call it when we go junk shopping. lol We were at a place in Ft. Worth and had just about finished walking through there when Randey spotted this: A Pachinko machine! Talk about sweet childhood memories! We played one of these all the time - my parents even brought one home from Japan when we moved stateside (sure wish I knew what had happened to that one!). I had seen one in another antique place in Benbrook, Texas a couple of months ago and showed it to Randey. But that one was $100, had pieces missing and was no where near in working order. This one, however, was marked $40 and seems to be missing just the "leg" braces and the actual Pachinko steel balls, which you can order on e-bay. I was so excited! We snapped it up, of course. Well, "snap" might not be the perfect word to describe what we did with it because the darn thing weighs a ton! Randey hefted it up and lugged it to the front desk. There. That's more accurate. This machine even came with original paperwork that shows it to be "reconditioned from Pachinko parlor use to home use". The date says it was reconditioned in 1973 and states that the machine was no more than 2 years old at the time of reconditioning. I have no idea what on earth I'm going to do with this beast or where I'm going to put it, but I do know that seeing it has allowed me to recapture a small and fun part of my childhood memories. (*big smile*)

Oh and one other thing we found is this (spotting that Pachinko machine must have brought us good luck!):

Another piece of "art". LOL This one is tiny - probably only about 5 x 7 inches, although the frame, of course, gives it a little more bulk. Kat says I'm not supposed to say how much I pay for art, so I won't tell you what it cost. Well, except to say Randey thinks it was the best $5 he's ever spent on a painting. HA! (Sorry, Kat I couldn't help myself. Buying cheap is just such a thrill for me. lol) So I guess we're still suffering from our art attacks after all. And while we have a lot of fun finding these landscape paintings together, our real art collection comes from our children. Let me show you what I mean...

See this? Jake did this one in 2nd grade and won first place in the Okaloosa County Elementary School Art Competition. I adore this masterpiece.
Jake also writes poetry and won a contest with this poem (you can click on it to enlarge it enough to read what it says). This poem was written when Jake was 13 and was published in a book of poems.
Kaleb's done a little artwork himself. Now I'm not normally a fan of Picasso and his ilk, but I like this one. Kaleb did it I think it 5th or 6th grade. Very cool. Kaleb also did this picture - I believe when he was in 9th grade. I love the intense colors.
Des did this metal rendition of a butterfly in one of her school classes years ago. Des was never one for enjoying crafting or anything so this object is particularly special. It's probably just about the only thing of its kind that she's ever done.
Now we come to Nick's artwork. You have to understand that Nick is my oldest (he's almost 7 years older than Desiree', my second child). When Nick was very young, we moved a lot. It was just him and me and we didn't really have any roots anywhere. Seeing as how we moved so often, I (sadly) don't have a lot of his "art projects" from school. In fact, the only reason I have this piece of art is because my Aunt Ginger saved it (she adored Nick - spoiled him rotten every chance she got and treasured everything about this kid). I'm so grateful that she saved this, Nick's "turkey hands".
Nick, however, is not so grateful. He says it makes him look like he's a tad bit goofy. Here Kaleb and Jacob have their Van Goghs and Picassos and even Des has a metal work that has a certain complexity to it and then there's Nick, with his turkey hands. Listening to him gripe about how I put all their work up together and his ends up looking somewhat "lacking" is actually half the fun, to tell you the truth. Naturally, I think his turkey hands are beautiful! And so will his children some day, when they see his artwork. I display our finest art on this wall, mainly:
My children...artists, every one. That landscape picture fetish Randey and I have is just for funnies. We know the value of real art. How could we not, with examples like this in our home?

We've Had an Art Attack

I've got to tell you guys about this affliction that has struck both Randey and I. It's actually kind of sad and more than just a little embarrassing, but I know I'm going to find some understanding amongst at least one or two other people out there. Maybe. Hopefully. I don't know how it's happened and I don't know why it's happened, I just know it has happened. Somewhere along life's path, Randey and I became strangely enamored with.....landscape art. And not just any landscape art. It has to be cheap or we just don't seem to get the same thrill out of it otherwise. In fact, it's almost like the "cheapness" matters more to us than the beauty of the piece. (And when I say "we" and "us", I mean mainly me. I'll admit it here. Randey has better taste than I do in certain areas and is more willing to shell out a dollar or two for his "finds" than I am). I think the strangest part of the whole thing is that this bizarre longing for cheap, tacky, er...I mean...inexpensive, interesting landscape art struck us both at the same time. Now we're like fiends whenever we're out shopping in junk stores. No landscape art is safe from us. Unless it cost too much, that is. Then it's pretty darn safe from us. We got this painting in South Dakota on our recent vacation. (Yeah. We bought a painting that we then had to manage to get home in one piece without anyone shoving a suitcase through it or something. I told you. We're afflicted.) We paid $15.00 for it and you'd of thought it was a Rembrandt, the way we fawned all over it. lol We got this next one at the Antique Mall in Benbrook, Texas. It was marked $75.00 originally, but was on sale for 75% off, which made it $18.75. Randey just had to have it, even if I thought the price was a little high. (I know, I know. There's cheap and then there's really cheap. I'm really cheap when it comes to stuff like this.) When we took it to the register, though, the lady gave us another 75% off, so we only paid $4.69 for it. I've liked it much better ever since then.
This next one is...well, not so great. It's pretty bad, really. But it was only $2.00 and the frame was another $2.00 - four dollars total, baby. Makes it look better and better (she said with her head dipping in shame at her own cheapness).

This next one rates pretty low on my "Happy I Bought It" scale. Sure, I do kind of like the thing, but Randey paid almost $28.00 for it. I had to remind Randey of the joy that comes with cheap-o shopping after this. Geez. He almost ruined our new hobby for me.
I got this next one in Purcell, Oklahoma. I stopped to shop their Main Street antique stores on my way back from my dad's house a few months ago after he'd been in the hospital. I think it cost about $20, which was waaaaaay too much, but I was feeling weak. I've regretted this purchase ever since I made it.
But not nearly as much as I've regretted this one. Talk about a bad painting. Sure. The stupid thing was another $2 find, but even I have to say that, for once, I should have been a little more concerned with quality. What can I say? I got caught up in the moment. It could happen to anybody. Right? Okay - so maybe not.
Luckily, we're running out of room to display our not-so-fine art. As you can see, I've never met a blank piece of wall that I haven't felt the need to cover.
I'm really sort of hoping we've both played out this painting collecting fetish and won't feel the need to further add to our sad little art collection. Even I'm starting to question our sanity (not to mention our taste!)....

twilight, new moon and eclipse: my reviews...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently finished reading the Stephanie Meyer books, twilight, new moon and eclipse. I was compelled to read them because so many of you recommended them. And when I say "so many of you", I mean a lot of you guys recommended them. I was somewhat taken aback that so many of my blogging buds had read and loved these books. So what could I do? I had to have them. Now, after I tell you what I thought of them, we'll see how many of my blogging buds still like me. lol Warning: If you haven't read the books yet but intend to, you might want to stop reading. Spoilers ahead!!

To begin with, I loved twilight. It was interesting, it was fun and it was even a little bit, well... hot (much to my surprise!), but without any sex, explicit or otherwise. The love story between Edward and Bella was just plain good. I'm not usually big on romance books. In fact, I usually steer pretty clear of them. I like murder and mayhem, thankyouverymuch. But twilight was an exception to that rule. I could hardly put it down after I started it. Luckily, I had new moon waiting in the wings for when I'd finished twilight. Or maybe not so luckily, because new moon didn't really do the same thing for me that twilight did. It was okay...not great, but certainly okay. I guess it was worth reading, but after the delight of twilight, new moon was actually kind of disappointing. I mean Edward took forever and a day to stop with the whole martyrdom thing and Bella very conveniently having a passport (as well as the journey that followed) seemed a bit contrived and it took entirely too long to have them back together again. But, even though I thought most of the book was wasted on Bella and her questionable mental state, it was still a good enough read to have been worth my time. Then came eclipse. Geez. I gotta tell you people, and at the risk of ticking everybody and their sister off, that book almost drove me over the edge. If Bella had fainted one more lousy time or if she'd felt the need to "curl up" in a lap and "be held", either by Edward or Alice or Jacob or anybody else because of the stress of being hunted (while at the same time being oh-so courageous and noble, blah, blah, blah) I thought I'd bite my own neck and drain my own blood just so I wouldn't have to read about her poor, quivering yet brave self for one more minute. But the absolute worst part of it was her "torn between two lovers" dilemma. Hello, Stephanie!!! You were writing a series of books about one of the greatest loves in the whole entire history of love! How can it be considered a "greatest love" if one of the parties of the greatest love duo is also in love with someone else at the same time??? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I mean come on. I had at least bought into believing that Edward and Bella were soulmates, even if I did want to smack Bella around for being a goober so much of the time, and then Meyer up and announces that Bella is in love with Jacob, too. What the hey? You know, if I'm going to be drawn into a romance series, I'd just as soon be rewarded with a romance worth sighing over. Sure, I was doing some sighing here, but it wasn't the "aaahhhh" kind of sighing, it was more the "oh no she did not go there" kind of sighing. Big. Honkin'. Difference.

Of course, having enjoyed about 1/2 of this series thus far (and even taking into account that I suffered through the other half), I'll still be checking out the final book (breaking dawn) when it's released on August 2nd. Why? Because hope springs eternal that Ms. Meyer will redeem herself and bring Bella back from the brink of utter stupidity and into the arms of that cold, marble skinned, hunk of frozen vampire love, Edward. (Hey, who says I'm not a romantic at heart, eh?)

Well, gee, I heard it on the news so it must be true, right?

24 hour news shows may very well have spelled the end to honest and factual news reporting. I'm not the first one to say or think that. Far from it. The 24 hour news channels have to keep the news "fresh" and they have to "beat" their competition to the "big stories". That often means that they forget to check the facts before they air those stories. And that often results in erroneous "reporting" of items that are presented to us, the public, as actual and factual "news". This concerns me for many reasons, not the least being that so much of America relies on these "news" shows for our information about things that actually matter to us as a nation. Things like: which candidate is the best qualified to be our next president? It used to be that you could look to the news to get an understanding of what a candidate stood for, what their goals were, what vision they hoped to implement if elected. You could do that because news anchors and reporters used to be "neutral". They reported the news, period. They didn't try to influence us one way or the another. And they sure didn't tell us their opinions about what a great guy this candidate is or that candidate is. They left the opinion-giving to the editorial folks. When you saw or read an editorial, you knew it was an opinion and not a fact. Nowadays, you can't tell the difference. It's all presented as "news". For instance, during recent election coverage, MSNBC's Chris Matthews all but salivated when he talked about Obama and I damn near wanted to offer him a cigarette when he was done talking about him. When Matthews told viewers how he got "chills up his legs" when he heard Obama speak...well, let's just say I thought that fell into the category of T.M.I. (Too Much Information) and was, in no way, appropriate for a so-called "news" person to say. Meanwhile, he eviscerated Hillary Clinton every chance he got and he spoke as if the Republican front runner, John McCain, would merely be a name on the ballot come November, not a serious candidate to win. Granted, Matthews is more a pundit and a talk-show host than an actual "news" person, but he has (according to him) made "a commitment to cover politics", a commitment he wants to "honor" and that prevents him from "getting involved in actual politics himself". Newsflash for you Chris: You're not covering politics if you're doing more editorializing than reporting. You are, in fact, campaigning under the guise of covering. Big difference.
I generally get my morning news fix from a variety of sources; CBS, ABC, CNN Headline News and FOX. I used to watch NBC in the a.m., but just can't do it anymore. The show grates on my nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard and I'm not even sure why. I also used to watch MSNBC's Morning Joe, but had to stop because they weren't imparting any news anymore. They had become yet another part of the Obama for President Campaign. I can't watch FOX exclusively because they are more the "give me a Republican for President - I don't even care which one" school of thought and I can't watch the main CNN channel because they are of the "the whole world is going to hell, it's all the fault of Republicans but Democrats are too flaky to fix the mess we're in so let's just sit here and shake our heads at how much the world hates us" school of thought. I only watch CBS and ABC because, well, heck...at least the faces change even if the stories don't. But overall, I come away from my morning news show viewing wondering if what I've heard is really true or if it's unsubstantiated bull hockey. It's gotten to the point where I take all that I've heard, combine it with all that I have read regarding a certain situation and try to figure out what really rings true. What a way to get a view of the world, eh? Oh, and do I have proof that the news really isn't the news anymore? Well, yeah, I think I do. Does anybody remember the recent story (carried by all the networks and cable news) about the kid who supposedly baked LSD and/or pot into some cookies and then delivered them to Ft. Worth area police stations as part of his community service commitment to MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)? This story was everywhere - on every channel, on the internet, just everywhere. Well golly gee, a day or so after the story ran, they got the test results on those cookies back. No drugs. What was reported as fact was a mistake. An error. Someone jumped to a wrong conclusion and the media ran with it. Good job, guys. Another story had to do with sightings of great white sharks off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, which just happens to be where they filmed "Jaws". Yeah, the sharks were spotted, beaches were closed, people were all a dither. Quite a coincidence, it being the filming location of one of the scariest shark movies in history. I mean wow! How strange is that? And what potential for a great story, right?!! What if someone was actually attacked there? Boy...you could just see the news people's eyes glowing at the thought. But wait a tick. The next day came the news that the story was a hoax. Not that I saw anybody reporting that on the morning news, mind you. I read it online. But yeah, it was a falsehood, a fake, an untruth. It was reported as fact, but....as it turns out, it was just some dipstick making stuff up and, again, the media ran with it. (Gosh, they do great work.)
If they don't even bother to get the little stuff correct, how can we trust that they're actually getting the big stuff right, either? But hey listen, don't worry about it too much. I mean, at least the news channels are still reporting on the really important stuff. Stuff like Christie Brinkley's divorce and Angelina Jolie's womb happenings. You know, the stuff of legends. The stuff that makes the world go 'round. And it's brought to you by the people who are determining what information and which stories matter to America today (and shame on us for going along with this drivel!!). Now let me ask you something...are these really the people you're going to rely on to help you determine who you'll vote for to be the leader of the Free World????
Think about it....And before you get all upset with me for talking politics...know this; I don't care who you vote for. Rather, I care that you vote from an informed position, that you believe in your chosen candidate and that you make up your mind based on your research, not some talking head's. Don't just vote for a buzzword. Buzzwords won't change the world, they merely look good on a t-shirt. Don't just vote along political party lines, either. Not all party candidates are worthy of that sort of blind devotion. Scratch that. None of them are. Know the candidate, not just his/her affiliation. And don't just vote for someone because you think it's the right thing to to. Know that it is. Your vote counts, it matters, it's important and voting is a privilege, not a bother.
And that's our story here in beautiful downtown Bugtussle, Texas. Reporting to you live, this is
Kari.
Now back to you in the newsroom, Jim.

P.S. There, did you see how easy it was for me to fake being a reporter?? LOL

Patriotism...

that's the theme for this edition of Brenda Photo Challenge (hosted this time by Karen). I had some really good ideas about what to do, but then my camera and I had some issues (i.e., operator errors) that prevented me from taking some wonderful 4th of July photos that would have been perfect for this particular challenge. So I've decided to veer a little bit off the traditional Red, White & Blue color route I had intended to take. Instead, I will post these 3 photos. They truly do speak to what "patriotism" means to me, personally.
First off, here's a picture of the inside of a cabinet door from our house in Florida: This door represented a lifeline for me right after 9/11. (Ignore the icky looking stuff around the edges of the door. That's just glaze from where I had faux finished the outside of the cabinets - and was too lazy to finish the inside of them, too). On October 10, 2001, my husband Randey and my son Nicholas, both deployed together to the middle east. Randey was an Air Force Reservist serving as crew chief on C-130's at the time. He and his unit were activated immediately following 9/11. Nicholas was (and is) an active duty member of the Air Force and a loadmaster on the C-130's. Randey worked on the aircraft that Nicholas flew on. Both of their units were in Special Ops, operating from the same home base and both units sent forces overseas in response to the attacks against us here on American soil. They left on that day, October 10, 2001, after being told in an outbriefing that perhaps as many as 60% of them would not be returning. They were going to the frontlines in this war to an undisclosed location and would be in a communication blackout for an undetermined amount of time. I've never been more scared in my entire life. My husband and my oldest son...both headed to war. I thanked God everyday that at least they were together. I knew that Randey would do everything in his power to make sure that the aircraft carrying my son in and out of battle would be in as good a shape as possible. I knew that Randey would take care of Nick and I knew that Nick would take care of Randey. Knowing those two could support each other and hold each other up was the only thing that got me thru that dark and scary time. Every day, I would get up and make another mark on that cabinet door so that I could keep track of the days without them. And then something wonderful happened. On the 27th day of their deployment, Nick was allowed to call home. I cried like a baby after I talked to him. It was the first word I'd heard from either of them in almost 4 weeks. So I put a star above that day's mark to commemorate the occasion of his phone call. I did the same thing every day that he was allowed to call. Nick got to make morale calls, but Randey didn't. Not yet, anyway. But that was okay because Nick told me how Randey was doing and could pass messages to Randey for me. Finally, on the 42nd day, the phone rang, I answered and it was Randey. I cried and cried and cried. He couldn't hardly talk to me because I couldn't stop blubbering long enough to hear what he was saying. That first "hello" from him was pure heaven to me. It had been so long. It felt like it had been forever - who knew 6 weeks could feel like a lifetime? On that day, and every day thereafter that Randey was allowed to call, I circled that day's mark in red. I lived for those phone calls. I was a maniac whenever the phone would ring - scared to death I would miss one of their calls. It was a tense time in our lives (how's that for a bit of an understatement)! At long last, 64 whole days after they'd left, on December 12, 2001, they both returned home. My heroes. They had gone off to defend our country, to keep us safe and to do what needed to be done. They were part of the first wave. And they had finally come home. Sixty-four days doesn't seem that long, really. But it is when your country is suddenly thrust into war and your family members are shipped off to the frontlines of that war. Under those circumstances, 64 days can feel like an eternity. Trust me. I couldn't bring myself to paint over the inside of that cabinet door when we moved. I know the new owners of the house have probably done so, but I just could not do it. Looking at it reminded me of too much.
So... what does it look like when your heroes return home on a C-130? Just like this: The crew raises an American flag out of the aircraft as they taxi in...all the family and friends stand back behind a line, waiting for that aircraft to stop and release those that you hold so dear. It seemed like it took forever on that day in December of '01 for them to deplane and get over to us. At long last, I saw 2 of the most precious faces on the planet to me, Randey and Nicholas, safe again. I don't have a picture of that, though. I was too busy running across that line to hug them.
For my 3rd "Patriotism" picture, I kind of cheated a bit. I took a picture of a part of a scrapbook page I had done. It's regarding the movie "World Trade Center".

I think you may be able to click on the picture to enlarge. but if not, here's what it says:

On September 9, 2006, we went to see the movie "World Trade Center". It was the most profound experience I've ever had in a movie theater. This movie reminded me why our country is at war and why this war on terror is the right thing to do. I had already forgotten some of the emotion I had experienced on 9/11. The sadness, the ache, the fear, the pride, the bewilderment, the resolve - all those feelings had sort of been pushed to the back of my mind. This movie brought them all rushing back for me. I was a little ashamed that I had already forgotten so much. I was glad to be reminded. Watching this movie was a wonderful experience. It was good to feel the sadness and the resolve and all those things in between again. I'm proud to be an American. It's a blessing that I don't ever want to take for granted. I hope everyone sees this movie and I hope it touches them as it did me.

The feelings I felt on 9/11 and the days following were the purest form of patriotism I've ever experienced. The way our country pulled together - it was awe-inspiring to live it, to breathe it, to be a part of it. It pains me now to watch politicians tear America apart with their decisive rhetoric. It's one thing to question the war, to question our leaders, to question our mission...it's something else entirely to do it strictly in the interest of gaining power. When America goes to the polls this November, I hope we don't just vote. I hope we think first. And then vote.

From Beast (aka: the Truck) to Beauty (aka: the Car)

I mentioned in my last post that Randey had gotten a wild hair and decided that we needed a new car. I didn't post a picture of it, though, because geez, people...it's just a car. Who cares what it looks like, right? Well, apparently, Nicholas cares what it looks like and since he's deployed to parts unknown but will hopefully have occasional access to the blog world, I'm going to post 2 pictures of our new car just for him. First, though, I have to show Randey and his truck...ah, parting is such sweet sorrow, eh? Randey actually kind of wanted to trade in our other car, the Vibe, for a new one. But the Vibe gets great gas mileage so that just wasn't going to work for me. So the deal was, if he really, really, really felt like a new car was in order, then his truck was going to be the vehicle that had to go. As it turns out, I guess he really did want a new car because he agreed. Go figure. Anyway, I darn near had to wipe his tears away after he cleaned the Dodge out at the dealership. Me? I was kind of glad to see it go. Randey had that stupid, loud, immature and annoying Flowmaster muffler system on the beast so everytime you started it up, it sounded like you were at the drag races. Hated it. But, bless his little heart, he loved it and bid it farewell with only a hint of the heartache I'm sure he was suffering (blah, blah, blah, blah). And here's what he traded it for. It's a Honda Accord. It's okay - nothing fancy, pretty good gas mileage, though, and I can plug my IPod into it and hear it thru the car speakers. What more could you ask for in a car? lol

So there, Nick - how do you like the car? Can't wait for you to come home at Christmas and drive it. By the way, it comes with some little adapter thingy in the backseat for installing children's carseats. (That's so Kara can go shopping with Granny when she visits! I can put her carseat in securely without resorting to a tech manual - like the kind I needed with Maddy's car seat! Cool, huh?lol)

Not enough hours in the day....

Hey everyone! Thought I'd better make the time to do a post before you thought I'd forsaken blogging (again). lol Things around here have been crazy - I got a wild hair and decided to redo our bedroom and Randey got a wild hair and decided that we needed a new car. (My wild hair set us back considerably less than his did!) I've been painting our bedroom for what seems like forever, although I guess the actual painting only took 2 days. I've been adjusting bedding and swapping out blankets and lamps and everything else for about 3 days. And curtains! I can't even begin to discuss curtains right now. Just you wait until I do a post about them, though! Curtain manufacturers are NOT nice and/or smart people. Nor can they measure worth a flip. But we'll talk more on that at a later time. For now, I'll show you what I've been doing. Our room went from this color scheme: to this one:

I'm pretty sure I like it, but it'll take some time to get used to. It feels lighter and cooler than the old look did - and I'm all about feeling cooler. (Have I mentioned my aversion to hot weather???). You can see the new nightstands in this picture, too. See? Not one single ass in sight!

Now on to some serious bragging...I recently won 2, count 'em 2, giveaways. I'm feeling pretty lucky about that - I may just head to Vegas this month (HA!). First, I won Mary's giveaway for naming her "new cat" (I picked the name "Basil", which just struck me as funny for some reason). This is what I got:

I love, love, love the "sailing" bag - I know I'll get some good use out of that and the broaches are just lovely (made my Sarah, Mary's daughter). The white Battenburg lace style cloth in the bottom right corner has actually come in handy already. I managed to buy the world's brightest alarm clock for my side of the bed (hey - it was blue and it matched. Who knew you could land an aircraft with the stupid thing?!). Anyway, at night I drape that cloth over the front of my alarm clock to "mute" the brightness. And (and this is a big one!) it's pretty enough that I can leave it out on my nightstand during the day. Thank you, Mary, for doing this wonderful giveaway and thank you, Sarah, for making the broaches AND for mailing the package!!

Then just last week, I won Lynne's giveaway, which was a copy of this book:

I cannot wait to get busy reading it. I just finished the 3 Stephanie Meyer books (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) and I'm starting The Notebook (N. Sparks) that my daughter-in-law gave me for Christmas (I'm lagging behind, I know) and then I will be reading The Book of Bright Ideas. I think I've got lots of good reading ahead of me.
I wanted to share this little item with you guys, too. When we went to Montana last month, Randey's niece (and my friend!) Dawn gave me one of these:

It's a wickless candle burning system called Scentsy. It contains a little light bulb that melts bars of wax as it heats up - the wax, of course, is scented and as it melts, it releases the most wonderful aromas into the air. I've had things like this before, but the wax bars from this company are really quite aromatic and give off a great scent that lasts a good long while. If you're reading this Dawn, I just want to thank you again and tell you I have truly enjoyed my Scentsy!

I also want to thank Jayme for the beautiful 4th of July greeting card she made (shown on the left side of the picture below). I love Jayme's cards. They make me smile everytime I get one and I love keeping them out for company to look at. I also got a sweet card from Lynne when she sent The Book of Bright Ideas to me (pictured center). I love getting cards - nothing says "Hey - I thought about you today" like getting a nice card in the mail. I also got THE cutest card from Joan today (thanks, Joan!) which isn't pictured here because I took this picture last night before I got it (which just goes to show that trying to be efficient doesn't always pay off. I should have waited a day!) lol). I really wish I'd waited now because the card is so funny. I hope to use the picture on a future post soon, though. The third card pictured below is from an anonymous neighbor. This neighbor, whomever she may be, left us this sweet card in our mailbox because she wanted to tell us that she liked the "flag lights" Randey hung on the fence for the 4th of July. She said she thought they looked awesome and she appreciated the effort. How nice is that? It really made our week to read this. Randey was especially pumped up about it - he's the one who put the lights up so he was pleased to know that his efforts had been recognized (by someone outside the house, that is). Sweet neighbor, huh?
Now - I guess I should mention who won my giveaway, shouldn't I? I drew the name on Saturday, the 5th, I just didn't get a chance to post it! I'm so sorry about that. (Note to Self: Never start painting a bedroom until you have everything else caught up and finished.) Anywho - the winner is VEE! Yay, Vee! I'll get your package off in the mail right away! Thank you all for entering and, more importantly, thank you for sharing your lives with me. Blogging has opened up a whole new world - a world that I have enjoyed more than I can possibly say. Which brings me to a point I should have made when I posted about my "Blog-iversary" a week or so ago; thank you, Aunt Sandi for getting me started with blogging. I never, ever would have done it, but for you. I thought it was kind of silly for me to even start a blog, although I sure did enjoy reading yours. And then I did start one and one thing led to another and now look where I am...sticking my nose into dozens of other people's lives on a daily basis and enjoying the fool out of myself while doing it. lol Thanks for getting me started - it's been a blast!

P.S. Thanks to everyone for their kind words about my beautiful son, Nicholas, deploying again. I'm not too good at talking about it while he's gone, though. I do better if I pretend it's just not happening. (Picture me sitting in a corner somewhere with my fingers in my ears, singing "la,la,la,la,la,la" at the top of my lungs - that's what I will be "mentally" doing until he gets back.) But thank you, all the same, for writing of your appreciation of his service. It means the world to us.