We Are Family!

This past weekend, I traveled to Birmingham, Alabama for what I'm calling the "First Annual Cousins Get-Together". Actually, it was more like a Mini-Get-Together than a full-blown one. And calling it an "annual" event might be jumping the gun a bit, but I'm sure hoping we manage to turn it into such a thing. Anywho, Randey, the boys and I drove to Florida Friday (we had to bring our granddaughter back to her mom) and then my sister Sherri and her daughter Megen and I drove from Florida to Birmingham early Saturday morning and met our cousins, Kristie and Sunshine, for some cousin "bonding" time. lol We started out with some shopping which naturally gave us all an appetite for lunch. Here we are at P.F. Changs: From left to right: Sunshine, Sherri, me, Megen and Kristie. I had never eaten there before and was excited to get to try it. I gotta tell you, their Mongolian Beef and Pork Fried Rice were fabulous (so much for that Weight Watchers will power I've been so proud of lately!).

Here's a picture of Sunshine, all laid up in a chair at Pottery Barn.

And here's a picture of Megen, Kristie and Sherri telling Sunshine to get her butt up out of the $1600.00 Pottery Barn chair. lol
Once we fed our faces, we headed to the hotel for check in. Then we went to Sunshine's house and visited for a bit and then headed back out for more shopping. Kristie and Sunshine's brother, Trey, wanted to join us for dinner. And even though this was a chick weekend, we let him. (ha!) Here he is with Kristie.
Who could resist that face? And here we all are together:
That's Sunshine, Megen, Trey, Kristie, Sherri and me. We ate at a place call Firebirds and it was delicious! I had a pepper crusted steak that was so tender, it was all I could do not to inhale the whole thing. (Yeah. Weight Watchers did indeed take a beating this weekend.)

Here's a picture of the place we stayed at, the Ross Bridge Golf and Spa Resort (we didn't do any golfing or spa-ing, though):
Check out the pool area. Sweet, eh?

Check out the waterfall going into the pool. Luckily, I didn't bring a swimsuit and even luckier, it was sort of overcast Sunday morning or I might have been tempted to swim (and nobody really wants to see that, trust me. I swim like a rock).
Sunshine went home Sunday morning to tend to her youngest son while Sherri, Megen, Kristie and I partook in the breakfast buffet at the resort. Had we known how much the breakfast buffet cost, we might have partook in an Egg McMuffin instead. Yowza! Check out the bill:
Yessir. Sixty nine dollars and 76 cents. For four people. And not one glass of champagne in sight!

Here's Megen, Kristie and Sherri looking down onto the pool after breakfast. (They were still in sticker shock over the cost of breakfast, hence the leaning on the banister. lol)

Another guest at the hotel offered to take our picture together. We kind of scratched our heads over this "sculpture" when we first saw it. Then we figured out that it represented the University of Alabama Roll Tide (from l to r: me, Sherri, Megen and Kristie).
There was also an Auburn War Eagle "sculpture" hanging from the ceiling. I forced Kristie to stand in front of it so I could take her picture:
Speaking of Kristie, I have to tell you guys something awful that Kristie accused me of (I'm still shattered by it). She and I were bedmates Saturday night and, first of all, she told some wild and crazy tale about me snoring. Oh please. Like such a delicate flower like myself could possibly snore, right? Then she said some garbage about the noises I make when I sleep. Some nonsense about me moaning ever so slightly as I snoozed...well, let's just say she accused me of dreaming impure thoughts, okay? Now I ask you...what kind of cousin says things like that? Anybody who knows me would naturally assume I sleep like an angel, a quiet and sweet tender angel. Kristie was obviously tipping back a few brewskis when the rest of us weren't looking because I mean really! Me, snore? Never. And me make strange and obnoxious noises in addition to snoring?? P-u-l-e-a-s-e. But, thanks to her spreading these vile tales about me (and by spreading, I mean she told me, Sherri and Megen!), I'll probably have to bunk alone on the next Cousin Adventure. I don't know that I'll ever get over her scandalous accusations. (heavy, heavy, painfully sad, sigh).
Oh okay. So maybe I do snore. A little. Maybe. So what? But I'm not owning up to the other stuff. Uh-huh. No way. And now that I've cleared that up, let's move on, shall we?
Sunshine and her youngest met us back up at the hotel later on and we headed back towards Kristie's home to do a little more shopping before the weekend ended. Randey and the boys drove up from Florida and picked me up around noon and we four headed straight home to Texas. Approximately 10 hours later, we pulled up in our driveway.

It was a wonderful weekend with the cousins and I really hope we can make this a regular thing. Special note to Michael and Wallace: We've now proven that this generation can get together and have fun without any conflicts whatsoever! (As long as you don't count Kristie's bizarre-o talk about my sleeping habits, that is! ha!) That means you guys need to start getting serious about whether or not you want to join in on the next one. We're thinking of meeting in Vicksburg, Mississippi next time. No dates yet (although Trey has expressed a preference for Spring or Fall). Don't worry - we'll "talk" plenty before any plans are set in concrete!

Now that all the excitement of this last trip is over, though, I have to say I'm pretty much maxed out on my traveling this summer. Between the trip up north to Montana, South Dakota and Minnesota, the trip to Oklahoma, the first trip to Florida, the second trip to Florida with an add on to Birmingham, Alabama - we've traveled more than 7,500 miles (all by car!) since school let out in May. It's all been great fun and I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I'm ready to chill out here at the house for awhile now. I need my rest, you know. After all, Christmas is right around the corner! LOL

Brenda Photo Challenge!

The theme of this photo challenge is PLAY and is hosted by Sharon @ Funky Fairy Frolics.
For my first photo, I took a picture of a scrapbook page I did of Kaleb and Jacob playing baseball. The second picture is a compilation of two pictures. On the left is Jacob, on the right is Kaleb. They both play tennis for their high school. Jacob is a lot of fun to watch. He really goes for it and seems to have the best time playing. Kaleb, while a joy to watch, gets too serious about it. He seems to forget that it's only a game sometimes. He's always been a little competitive, though. (Anybody who knows Kaleb knows that's a bit of an understatement!!)
And my third picture is of Maddy Moose. We did ceramics while she was visiting. She had a good time playing with all the different paint colors and such. She and our neighbor's little girl (who is almost the same age) really let loose with their "creative" selves while doing this. They were funny to watch.
I'm actually out of town and probably won't have access to a computer when this posts, but I hope to visit all the other participants as soon as I return. For a complete list of people who will be posting pictures, click here.

Blogger Meetings and the Florida Trip

Here's some overdue business that I've been wanting to take care of...first of all, I'd like to show the sweet gifts Annie from My Life as Annie gave me when we met almost 2 weeks go in OKC. See the little red purse Christmas ornament? How cute is that? And the BELIEVE cross! I love it. Thank you so much, Annie. These are wonderful gifts (and so nicely packaged, too!!). I'll always think of you when I see them (which will be often as I'm hanging the cross in the living room and I generally put up my Christmas tree no later than November 1st. LOL). Remember I told you that I'd gotten to meet Kat from Just a Beach Kat when I went to Florida? Here's a picture of us together down at Dewey Destin's Seafood.

I've got to tell you guys, Kat is every bit as nice in person as she is on her blog. I can't say enough good things about her! She's beautiful, she's sweet natured, she's kind-hearted, she's funny...I felt like a country rube next to her. lol (I even stepped on her toe when we first met - how's that for giving a good first impression??). After having met both Annie and Kat in person, I'm kind of torn about meeting any other bloggers in real life. Don't get me wrong, it was fun and interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. But I'm going to have to require just a little bit more imperfection in my blogging buddies from here on out, okay? These two are just such all around good people - it was hard not to feel every single one of my social shortcomings after meeting them. (Note to self: You may want to sign up for that refresher course down at the local Charm School if you intend to keep meeting new people. LOL) Anyway, to Annie and Kat - thank you both for taking the time to meet with me. I certainly appreciate that! Oh, and check out the shell that Kat gave me:
It has The Lord's Prayer printed on it. I adore this. I've put it on the shelf in our living room next to the angel Randey brought me back from Italy years ago.

After my lunch with Kat, I visited mine and Randey's grandson's grave site. It's such a peaceful place. This was my first time going alone, though. I was kind of surprised at how poorly I handled this particular visit. I guess it's just easier when I'm with other people. I cleaned the grass off that was growing over the edges of his marker and straightened up the toys we've all left him over these past 2 and 3/4 years. I wish I'd thought to bring some new flowers for the flower pot his mommy had made him. I left him a picture of his sisters, though. They're wearing their super hero costumes - Maddy was dressed as Bat Girl and Kara was dressed as Spidergirl. I barely made it back out on the road when I had to call Randey for a little moral support. I think I'll be sure to have someone with me the next time I go there. I need someone to talk to during the visit. Otherwise, it's just too sad.
Here's a picture of a car we saw on our way to Florida. Randey thought it was cool so he had me take a couple of pictures. (I almost didn't want to do it. Didn't want to give Nick, Kaleb and/or Jacob any ideas!).

And here's a sign from a pest control company down in Florida. I had forgotten about this company, although I did use them once or twice when we lived there. Their slogan always makes me pause. I can't decide if it's creepy or just funny:

Here's a picture of Maddy Moose with Grandpa in front of Cracker Barrel. They love to play checkers together. I swear, Maddy loves Randey best because he truly is a great grandpa to her. I love watching them together.
Here's me holding Randey's brother's newest granddaughter. Little Brooklynn was born the week we were there. She's such a tiny little thing. Weighed in at 6 pounds 4 ounces. I love little newborns. Holding Brooklynn made me crazy thinking about holding Kara. I've missed so much of Kara's life already.
(Hey, but check out my gray hair in the picture. I'm about halfway there to having all my old colored hair grow out. Woo-hoo!)

And here' a picture of THE finest steak in the world. The peppercorn New York Strip steak from McGuire's Irish Pub. My gosh, how I love these steaks. I had two of them. One in Pensacola with my sister, her husband, my niece, her boyfriend and Randey. And then another one in Destin with Susan (my BFF) and her husbandTerry, and Randey. I did so good with them, too. I only ate about a quarter of each one, which was plenty. No morning-after guilt over failed Weight Watchers moments for me! lol Well...I did partake in 2 Raspberry Wheat beers on both nights, which wasn't too smart. But what can I say. I love McGuire's Raspberry Wheat beer. They were worth the guilt!
And finally, here's a picture of my niece, Megen and her boyfriend, Taron. They were sharing a "Wake" from McGuire's. I'm not sure what it has in it, but suffice it to say, it's potent. They both look like they're totally toasted. Which they were. I'm sure they'll thank me for posting this. LOL
Don't forget, the Brenda Photo Challenge, hosted by Sharon @ Funky Fairy Frolics is August 9th. The theme is PLAY! So get your playing photos up and going! I'll be out of town again, but I hope to come check out everyone's pictures Monday, when I return!

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?