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Cleanse Days 2 & 3

2010-05-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

Shakeology Cleanse days 2 & 3 recap:

Day 2 was harder than day 1. I felt okay that morning – just hungry and a slight headache – but as the day wore on I became increasingly shaky, irritable and my headache got worse. I recalled that in the past, anytime I would try a 2-day juice fast or a cleanse, I would usually only get one full day in due to generally feeling like crap. Some folks just need to modify these things, everyone’s system is different. So I decided I would eat a healthy lunch and then dinner too, if needed. But by the time the end of the workday was near I had a full blown migraine with nausea and the works.

Luckily, John at Fit by Faith (www.fitbyfaith.net) was able to help me. He instructed me to take an Epsom salt soak which really helped relax me and knock the headache down. Then John gave me a wonderful reflexology session, and told me TONS of tips about detoxing and cleansing. John also gave me a cooler of “Living Water” to drink. This is water that has been treated to balance the pH levels. I am not sure how it works and you may be rolling your eyes – hey that is okay, I kinda did too – BUT here is the deal. When I first started back at FBF I didn’t really believe in reflexology either, but John totally took away my knee pain with it. There may be things out there we disbelieve and don’t fully understand, but it doesn’t mean they won’t work or aren’t beneficial. Keeping an open mind is a good thing!

Which brings us to day 3. Day 3…was… easy! I was hungry, but not to the point where I wanted to eat my own arm anymore. And I didn’t crave anything “bad” at all – the food thoughts that filled my mind were all about clean foods. I really had a hankering for fresh cucumber slices! I drank nearly the entire cooler of Living Water on day 3, plus I had 2 chocolate Shakeologies (love that chocolate, it is soooo good) and for lunch a big salad with some chicken breast. I felt refreshed and clear and CLEAN.

And now, results. I did not mark any numbers at the beginning of this cleanse, so these results are from the last 2 weeks, really. I need to qualify that and say that honestly the only GOOD thing I did for myself was the Shakeology cleanse. I was lax in the working out department (I know, I know.. hanging head in shame) and while I didn’t run out and eat Sonic every day, I definitely was not the healthiest eater, at least until I started doing the cleanse. So with that said, I…..

Lost 4 pounds.

Lost 7.5 inches.

Lost 2.5% body fat.

Rid myself of cravings for pretty much all salty, sugary, fatty foods. Right now I’d rather have a nice piece of grilled salmon than a cheeseburger, or even a steak!

Feel refreshed and “clean” and clear-minded.

Feel that I got a great jump-start for the coming 4 weeks of our “Beach Body Buddy” contest at FBF!!

The only thing I did NOT experience, that I read most people do, is a decrease in feeling hungry. I was HUNGRY doing this. But I am a gal who loves to eat, so maybe I was more missing the actual act of eating a meal, as opposed to drinking a shake (although the shakes are delicious).

At any rate, I will announce my Shakeology 3-day cleanse a SUCCESS!

And now for the weekend, I have plans to dig out a flower bed in the back yard. I am becoming some sort of a gardener…… and loving it! :)

Cleanse!! Am I crazy?

2010-05-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, even though we eat fairly healthy for the most part, I feel the need to sort of “detox” and get myself back on track. Sort of a ‘system reboot’ if you will.

I decided to do the “Shakeology Cleanse”.

For those of you who are wondering, Shakeology is a Beachbody product. www.shakeology.com/tamfish Beachbody is a home-fitness company that I endorse and represent as a coach and “distributor” of sorts (in that you can purchase products through me and in return, I will help coach you along the way with advice, tips, motivation… not as a personal trainer but more like a cheerleader). Shakeology is a nutrient-dense shake mix, like “a trip to the salad bar with 5 plates”. It is DELICIOUS and I like that it is full of healthy ingredients and helps me meet my daily healthy eats & vitamin requirements in an easy way.

The Cleanse is akin to a “Daniel fast” with the exception that we are allowed to eat lean white protein (chicken, turkey, fish). It works like this: for 3 days, you have Shakeology for breakfast (blended with fruit to up the caloric content), for lunch and one snack. For your other snack – and if you are overwhelmingly hungry at times – you can have fresh fruit and/or vegetables. For dinner you can have 4 to 6 oz of lean white protein and a large green salad with vegetables/fruit and dressing made from oil & vinegar.

While this is calorie restrictive, it is not nutrient lacking due to the Shakeology and the clean foods you are eating. It isn’t a fast – it is more a nutrient-dense cleanse designed to help detox the body and clean out the system.

Today was my day 1. Well it isn’t quite over yet but it is close enough for me to know how I’m feeling about it. I think today has been difficult but I also believe that this will be the toughest part. Have I been hungry? Yes. Has it been overwhelming? No, not really, but it helps to not sit around and think about things like bacon cheeseburgers and sirloin steak. For lunch I took a 30-minute power walk so I would not be sitting around tempted to break the cleanse – that helped. I’ve had some good eats today – strawberries, an orange, a banana, some broccoli. For dinner I’ll have a turkey breast burger patty with my “big ass salad” and trust me, I look forward to it. I have a slight headache – I am chalking that up to ‘toxins leaving the body’. I probably should have had more water today (the cleanse recommends lots and lots of water… I drank probably 3 liters so far but may need more).

Thus far I am realizing just how much of a carnivore I am. All day I have had the desire to chew … not just on anything but on something meaty like a steak or brisket.

I also realize just how dang GOOD clean foods taste when you are really wanting to eat. Those strawberries were so sweet, the orange so bright and citrusy. If this experience causes me to "taste" differently and appreciate foods more, then I am very happy about that.

So day 1 is nearly over, I am going to make it…. And move onto day 2. Which will be easier, I believe. Altho…. Boo is looking pretty plump & juicy lying at my feet…………

Happy Thoughts

2010-04-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me as I rode around on the mower yesterday evening that I’m in a particularly “happy phase” of life right about now.

Granted, this could be because the sun finally broke out and the rain let up, and that spring finally seems to be here, which leads to summer. But I think it is more than that.

I mulled it over, while riding in circles cutting the grass, that most of this “happy phase” is due to simply making a few changes in the past few months. I have written before about being a bit stuck in a rut. Well, the things I’ve done since the first of this year have surely broken the pattern.

Then I got to thinking: what is it, specifically, that makes me really happy? Sort of making a mental list, I was. Of course at the top are family and friends. Relationship. I have a fantastic husband whom I love and adore, great kids who crack me up and a little sweet pea to hug. I have awesome “old” friends who have known me, some for 30+ years, some for 5-10 years. Then there is a “new” group that pretty recently started and that is exciting. But I’m not talking necessarily about that type of “happy” causing things, because really unless you have no soul, people you love, and being loved, makes everyone happy.

What I’m talking about are little things that make ME happy that might or might not make someone else feel the joy.

So here are a few things that I thought up, in no particular order. I reserve the right to add or subtract to my list at any given time. LOL

PEDICURES (and other stuff like that). I guess some might consider them a luxury but when you aren’t eating out every day or drinking Big Gulps, you can put that money to something nice for yourself! I love the pampering feeling of soft feet, or seeing that my hands are pretty and groomed nicely. I must soon try a massage… I’ve never had one and I bet it is sheer heaven.

A GOOD BOOK. I love being drawn into a good story, whether it is a comedy, romance, non-fiction or suspenseful page-turner. Doesn’t matter as long as it holds my interest. It is like having a movie played in my head. I also love cookbooks and cooking magazines – I love to read the recipes and ideas (although I seldom follow one word by word).

MOVIE PREVIEWS. Yes I like the actual movie too, but I just love being in the dark theater and seeing that green “This preview has been rated….” Screen come on. It is like opening a present: what is it going to be? Scary? A love story? Action/adventure? I wonder sometimes if I’m the only person who cries at previews and not just at the movie?

THE PATIO (and related things). Years ago we had a swing hanging in the oak tree in our front yard. I loved that thing and would sit in it for hours. I painted a bunch of flower pots and planted them with all sorts of pretty things. Sort of made a little paradise in the front yard to hang out in – and we did and it was good. Somehow, for some reason, I just stopped doing that and I realize now that I miss it. This past fall, we built a rock patio in the backyard corner (OK Jimmy built it, I helped) and for a while I wondered if it was a mistake because it just sat there. Well duh, it was cold weather! Now it is warming up and the sun is shining (some days, at least) and YES it was a GREAT idea. I’m gearing up to plant some pots and really pretty it up. It will be a wonderful place for relaxing, visiting or just to read one of those good books or magazines I enjoy. ;)

A REALLY GOOD MEAL. I am a foodie, I admit it. I will never be one of those types who simply views food as “fuel for the body”. Nope. A really good quality meal involves all of the senses and should be enjoyed – savored, even. Now, my definition of “good quality” has changed over the years and that is a good thing for me, but I realize that too is an individual perception. For me, the best meals involve FRESH ingredients, lots of color, depth of tastes…. I am just as likely to go nuts over a big salad of organic baby greens with vinaigrette as I am an exquisitely created tiramisu. One thing is for sure: the $1 menu is NOT involved here. I dream of being a judge on Iron Chef America. *sigh*

A REALLY GREAT SONG. It might be a melody, or a harmony, but most times what makes me happiest are really well written lyrics. A great song should read like poetry. There are far too many to name them all. The one I have in heavy rotation for now is Eva Cassidy singing “Songbird”. Google it. You’ll love it.

MINI VACATIONS. Any vacation makes me happy but I love to spread my vacation days out across the calendar and take “mini-vacays” here and there. A sprinkling of 3 or 4 day weekends thru the course of the year is better than one week-long chunk spent in one place. At least that is what I think.

That’s enough of mine for now. My question is: what are YOURS? Leave a comment and tell me. Who knows, you may come up with something I want to add to MY list ;)

Just thinkin.

2010-04-08T18:58:00.001-07:00

The quest is over Saturday so I'll have to come up with some other subject(s) to write about. That'll be good.

Tonight in stretch class I was thinking I should have a piano. I love the piano, I play by ear -- or used to, haven't played in forever but it was something I always loved. At one time I had an electric piano which wasn't the best (I think you just can't recreate the sound of the real thing) but I just kind of quit playing and one day I sold it because it was taking up space. And that was years ago. I always loved playing, though. It was very calming and therapeutic.

So maybe... I'll work on getting a piano, somehow. But the real thing this time. A baby grand would be AWESOME. But expensive. But the sound.... oh man. The sound. I love the low notes. They resonate thru your chest. It's so good.

Saturday is the Quest final challenge, then Sat. evening is the closing ceremony where we will extinguish the flame and announce the next Quest will be held in Slovenia -- oh wait, no that's something else. LOL We will see all the befores/afters and find out who ended up as the "biggest loser" - so it will be very exciting!

Then right after that, J & I are headed to Dallas to spend the night. He competes in an archery tourney on Sunday, so we'll do that (I will just hang out while he completes the course, I will probably read a book -- just so you know Kurt, if you are reading this LOL) and then we will visit with friends, prob have a nice meal somewhere and hopefully look around for some chairs for our backyard patio!! Yeah it is getting to be patio weather!! :)

That is all I got for now.

Ta-Ta lovelies,
Tam

p.s. anybody got a piano to give away? LOL

The End is Near!

2010-04-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

Quest 12 is nearly over and I’m excited!!

Well – don’t take that the wrong way. ;)

We have one more week of Quest 12 and then the Grand Finale! That is going to be a really special event. I can’t wait to see the transformations and hear the testimonials. I have seen so much heart and spirit this past 11 weeks. I have been inspired by everyone and I hope that I was able to pass that inspiration on, as well. I am blessed to be a part of it!

No matter what my final numbers are, I have gotten what I truly wanted out of it:

1. Relationship. I wanted more than anything to make lasting friendships, to give of myself, to be an encourager. I have been rewarded GREATLY in the relationship department!

2. Develop spiritually. I wanted to reinforce my faith and be reminded that it isn’t all about “me” – it is about Him, first and foremost. I knew this was the place and these were the folks that would steer me that direction. I have been rewarded GREATLY in the faith department!

3. To feel capable. I wanted, by the end, to feel that I was strong enough and capable enough to TRY any task set before me. I have done 7 hours at a Tae Bo A Thon. I have marched up Thrill Hill (several times). I have “run” a 5k and finished. Those were the big tasks – every day in class I was faced with a smaller, yet just as important task. To push through when my body was saying “stop”. To hold that power drill just 10 more seconds. To kick harder. To punch with power. To squat deeper. Sure it is hard, and sure it hurts – but I AM ABLE.

4. To get me back in the swing of things. I used to be active all the time! "Used to be" - what happened? I don't really know.... just got out of the habit, I guess. It feels good to be back in it now!

Those are the main things I wanted and I have them in my possession now. I have also been reminded that 12 weeks goes by FAST! It seems like a long road ahead, but the time really flies. My mind used to think, “A 12 week program, oh man this is going to take forever….” And now my mind says, “12 weeks will go by FAST - why not make it productive?”

NOW I am excited that the end of Quest is near because…..I KNOW my plan for the next 12 weeks. After careful consideration, this is it:

** Immediately after Quest, take a recovery week. This will include walking a lot and attending Yoga/Stretch class. My body needs this, it is telling me so now. I will push thru this final week of Quest and then give it the rest/recovery it needs.

** After that recovery week, I will start a schedule that follows the rotation guidelines of the Chalean Extreme program. This is a strength training program (by Beachbody) designed to build lean muscle and slim & tone the body. Not necessarily weight loss – although I believe that will come simply because I have some more pounds to lose. I feel the craving for strength training. It is vital to women over 40! On this schedule, I will be doing strength workouts 3x a week, using the Chalean Extreme workout dvd’s at home. I will do 2, sometimes 3 (depending on what is going on that week) Tae Bo/Yoga/Stretch workouts at the gym – this will sub for the cardio/endurance/stretch workouts in the plan.

This plan will take me right up to about July 4^th and I’ll see where I am then.

I’m looking forward to the plan. It will keep me connected to my friends at FBF and involved there – which I love! – and at the same time allow me more “home time”.

So there you have it. In black and white, in print, in INK baby! Now I have to do it huh? ;)

Have a very happy Easter Weekend, friends! We have my mom visiting, we’ll have all the kids over for dinner and visiting and I believe we get to keep Audrey for the weekend which makes me very very happy……………… I could just gobble up that little funky monkey…… she’s sweeter than a marshmallow Peep!

All my love!

Tam

How I ran a 5K and managed to stay alive

2010-03-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that headline right. I ran a 5K.

Well - "ran" in quotation marks.... because my running is pretty much equal to someone else's walking (Jimmy LOL). My poor little fred flintstone feet are a bit achey today. But, I did it, it was another thing to conquer and I finished it.

What is weird about a 5K, I think, is that logically you know it is a short distance (3.1 miles, give or take a 10th). So in your head you think no big deal -- I walk that far just for fun and to get fresh air and it doesn't take long really.

But when you are actually DOING the 5K it is a totally different animal. It seems to be never ending and you feel like you've been running/walking forEVER and someone will say "Alright you've done 1 mile" and you are like "Whaaa?? SERIOUSLY?" LOL

This particular 5K was made even tougher due to the wind and the hills. I would not be lying if I told you that old Bob Seger song "Against the Wind" was running through my mind! And the 2nd mile of this one was pretty much all uphill.

All that aside -- I did what I intended to do -- I FINISHED. I did not give up and walk away (altho trust me part of my brain was telling me to do just that). I did not just give up and walk it because my knees were hurting or my calves were like rocks. I gave it my all - and then I gave it some more. Which surprised me, in a way. I know I have it in me to do that, it is just so not "me" most of the time.

Now... there is a big part of me saying, "Ok Tam... 5K, been there, done that, got the t-shirt. You never have to do that again." And I'm not really sure that I want to do it again -- but then again.... a part of me does. Not to try and compete or anything like that, but just to see if I can do it again.

I may never be a huge running fan, but this was a great experience and one that should, in the back of my mind, be repeated (but maybe without the hills) :)

Processing Quest 12

2010-03-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Be warned – this may be long and rambling. I don’t know where I am going with this just yet. Turn back now if you like – or take a risk and don’t. It’s all good.

When I signed up for Quest I did so knowing that I would be challenged to “get outside my comfort zone”. I did it because I felt called to do it and I believed that if God meant for Quest to be a part of my path, He would see that it happened. Well, He did and honestly I had no idea that it would be this hard, that it would ask so much of me. But not so much physically – more mentally and spiritually.

Let me go back a bit and see if I can explain what I mean by that.

I am a woman who seems to constantly fight my own ego. Years ago, I was in better shape, having done a weigh loss/fitness program before which was very successful and I learned a lot from that. But it didn’t last (again, that pesky ego gets in the way) and I found myself on a downward slide back into old habits. I heard that this new program was starting in town called Fit by Faith, so I went and checked it out. Krista seemed cool, and Tae Bo was something I could do and was somewhat familiar with, having done kickboxing workouts before.

I started attending Fit by Faith and it was fun for a while. But after some time went by… my ego began talking. “This is too hard” it would say….. “Krista is pushing you too much”……”You don’t need someone to tell you what to do, you already know all of this….”

Nasty, nasty ego.

So…. I quit.

Things were fine. I went on living my life, doing my thing. I’d exercise here and there when I felt like it. Eat what I felt like eating. Do what I felt like doing. That is what life is about right? Being happy? Yes, I told myself. That is what it’s about.

The weight kept creeping up, but I didn’t really notice. The strength and stamina I had gained slowly was lost, but again, I didn’t really notice.

It was probably enough that just unaware daily living was putting me right back where I started, but we all know sometimes life deals us a blow that really derails us. I got one of those when my best friend Lori died of cancer. I am only just now beginning to understand how that affected me, and I am only now beginning to really deal with it in my head (I think of Lori and cry all the time in stretch class…. Just lying there quietly listening to the music…. That was her music, those words were her strength… it is so hard but it is cathartic… I have to feel it in order to get through it, and I haven’t let myself feel it before)

When Lori died, my ego told me that this meant it was time to LIVE my life in any way that made me happy. Because life was short and unfair, and it could end cruelly at any moment. “Don’t deny yourself that Sonic coke float! It could all end tomorrow!” Of course it wasn’t all about food – this mindset involved other things like truly realizing how blessed I am to have my husband and family and friends, and really relishing my time with them in a deeper way than before. So it wasn’t ALL bad. Still….. the food thing, the choosing to be sedentary… it took a toll.

THEN a funny thing happened. I started seeing Krista everywhere. That was weird, I’d quit Fit by Faith what ….. 2 years before? 3? And didn’t see her anywhere around town (and it’s not that big a town!) and suddenly she was everywhere I turned. Driving her Mustang down Austin Avenue. Turning up as a friend of a friend on Facebook. I’m serious, it seems like I saw her every week for months!

And then one day I was shopping in Walmart – and there she was. Coming down the aisle toward me.

I turned and went the other way so she wouldn’t see me.

Why? Because I was embarrassed. Because if she asked me where I’d been, I wouldn’t have a good answer. Because I knew I had changed – and not in a good way – and I didn’t want to be judged.

I thought about that and I realized – it wasn’t Krista judging me. It was ME judging MYSELF.

I knew then that I was being called back to Fit by Faith. I knew that it was time to “leggo my ego” and step outside my comfort zone. It was time to reach out – I had spent so much time alone, trying to do what was right for my health and my body yet satisfies my ego. It just wasn’t working and it was time to face the fact that I needed HELP and I could not do this alone. I needed support, motivation and yes, instruction.

That first day I went back to FBF I was terrified – but when I walked in the door and was greeted so warmly, I knew I was doing the right thing.

Which brings me (finally!) back to Quest 12. I KNEW it would be physically tough – and believe me, it is. What I didn’t realize is that it would give me so much mentally and spiritually. Going into it, I made the commitment to trust my trainers, rely on my teammates and to just get OUTSIDE myself, leave my ego at the door and do anything that was asked of me. Anything. It is not easy! There are days when my ego is talking very loudly. I struggle. I rationalize. But I fight – I want to be a fighter! I want to overcome and be a strong, confident, capable woman. And I am getting there, I know I am.

If you had told me this time last year that I would have done something as crazy as a 7 hour Tae bo a thon I’d have laughed in your face and said “Yeah… whatever!” If you had told me I would stand at the bottom of Thrill Hill scared out of my gourd and then run/march/slog my way to the top TWICE I would have said, “Why on earth…. Nobody NEEDS to do that!”

I HAVE DONE THOSE THINGS!!

I am RE-learning that I don’t need to be afraid of anything! I am re-learning that I don’t have to listen to my ego – because my ego is afraid! My ego wants to keep me in a box, it wants me alone and scared and living with limits. I say – NO MORE.

If I had listened to my ego, I would be missing out on all of this! To see everyone facing the challenge of that hill….. WOW that was amazing. And it feeds me spiritually. To see my friend Dusty march back up that hill even tho the challenge was over….. just… Wow. Chills up my spine. THAT is inspiring. And to think I would have missed that.

I am more firmly convinced than EVER that my being a part of Quest 12 is Divine in nature. I know I was placed on the Green Team for a reason. What started out to be a way to lose some weight and inches has become bigger than I could ever have dreamed. I see now that I was meant to be changed from the inside out, that I was meant to forge relationships that feed my soul.

My favorite story about Lori is from our senior year in high school. We were going to go “riding around” in Llano – which meant driving from one end of town to the other -- a typical high school activity in a small town. Kim couldn’t go, she was grounded. For some reason Lori thought it was a good idea to go to Kim’s house and try to convince Kim’s dad that he was wrong, he should unground her and let her go with us. Well, she was not successful in doing this – in fact she made Kim’s father pretty irate! And as Lori was walking back to the car, angry and defeated, she whirled back around and yelled out:

“We just want to LIVE dammit!!”

A silly, emotional cry from a teenage girl takes on such profound meaning now. We all just want to LIVE --- in big bold capital letters.

All this time I thought I was doing just that – but I wasn’t. It was just a shadow of what a full life could be. My friend Kathy said it best. When I told her about the Thrill Hill challenge, she said, “Just in case you didn't know it, you are LIVING!!!!!!”

How right she is.

2010

2010-02-22T14:33:00.000-08:00

It occurs to me that I might should start writing here again, if for nothing else than just to blabber my thoughts for myself. So, I might just do that. So, if you read this, or look for updates.... stay tuned.

Trying this again....

2009-05-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

Again the subject of me writing comes up. "You should write" my friends say... but write about what? The laundry I did last night? (Sheets & blankets) That I made dinner? (ground turkey, some pasta, big whoop) I think the trouble with "writing" is that it comes to me in spurts of inspiration, and when there is nothing in my head to write about, I struggle to come up with a topic that I feel is worthy. Perhaps you are saying, "Oh but Tammy your laundry stories are down right riveting." But I doubt this.

So today I'm going to just copy & paste what I wrote about the recent Relay for Life that we did in honor of Lori. For those of you catching up, you'll see her name a lot if you read the past postings. She fought hard, but her poor body couldn't do it. She passed away on 11/24/08 and I miss her every damn day.

So here's what I wrote, this was spurred on by a request from the local newspaper, who then ended up printing most of it in their story:

Hi John,

Cindy forwarded me your email along with the pictures you took of us at the Relay. The Gulls have sort of nominated me as spokesperson for our group. (Thank you for those pictures by the way, we may need to hire you to follow us around and be our official camera man haha)

I say "The Gulls" because that is our group:

In the picture of us you have from left to right:
Kathy Colclasure Tribble
Kim Ricketson Wright
Cindy Ratliff Williams
Tammy Lewis Fisher
Heather Clement Tessmer

The person missing from the picture, sadly, is Lori Roberts Baker. She is the impetus behind Team LORI. Lori passed away on November 24, 2008, after a 4+year battle with thyroid cancer. She left behind her husband Ricky, twin sons Zach & Theron (age 15), son Mason (age 6) and daughter Sidney (age 4). And she left behind the Gulls. You see, the 6 of us managed to maintain a decades long friendship - more of a sisterhood, really - some of as far back as 1st grade at Llano Elementary, and we graduated together from Llano High in 1985.

We really cemented the group and began to call ourselves "The Gulls" in high school. We would draw cartoon notes to each other and then exchange them in the hallways between classes. Instead of writing everyone's name at the top, we would draw 6 flying seagulls, because we decided "girls" sounded a lot like "gulls". The symbolism stuck and continues to this day.

Lori was such an important piece of the puzzle. She was a wild child and a rebel, easy going and loyal, gentle at heart yet ready to battle on behalf of her loved ones. Lori was a protector and a trusted confidante. She was laughter and fun times. And Lori was someone who helped strengthen our faith in God, as her time to pass grew near.

Lori never made a big deal of her thyroid cancer. In fact, she tried to keep us in the dark as much as possible. I think this was so we would not focus on her illness and, instead, just be The Gulls she knew and loved. I believe that as she struggled with the cancer and the treatments, The Gulls became a sort of oasis to her. We were a place where cancer did not exist. We laughed until we cried, we shared secrets, and with us for a short while, life could just be normal.

Watching someone you love so much go thru such suffering is very difficult and it can drive even the closest people apart. But not The Gulls. Near the end, when Lori was in the hospital, we came together almost every weekend to sit around her bed and be together. Lori wanted so much to leave the hospital and go to Kathy's backyard patio. She couldn't -- so we just brought the patio to her room. We'd sit around the bed and tell about the latest happenings in our lives, with our spouses and kids. Lori couldn't speak, and at times drifted in and out of consciousness, but we knew she could hear and was responding by her facial expressions. Lori could roll her eyes or make a face like nobody else!

During the times we could not be with her, Kathy was our advocate. Kathy became Lori's prayer partner, and went to her bedside morning and evening to pray with her and Ricky (Lori's husband). We are so grateful to Ricky & Lori's family for giving us so much access to Lori during these times.

So there is just a small taste of who Lori was to us. Her passing really made us Gulls stop and think: What did we learn from this? What lessons did Lori leave us with? One of the most important lessons is that we are responsible for taking charge of our own health. When the opportunity to do the Relay for Life came along, it was a no-brainer. We could honor Lori in a public way and get some exercise by walking.

We knew Lori had touched the Llano community in so many ways, but we never dreamed that Team LORI would grow so quickly. Within just the first few days, the original Team LORI was full (they allow 15 per team) so a Team #2 was started. In the end, we had nearly 30 people signed up to walk in Lori's name. Friends, family, co-workers from the Hoerster Clinic, church members from Pittsburgh Avenue..... we all came together to wear our hot pink tees with pride, in honor of a dear, lovely woman who was taken from us much too soon.

One thing that struck me, in particular, during the Relay was this: during one of the quiet, more emotional moments (I think someone was singing) I looked out across the field to see Mason & Sidney tearing across the grass, running as fast as their little legs could churn..... Sidney's curls flying wildly in the wind..... and then they FLUNG themselves onto the high jump pads at the edge of the track, amidst peals of laughter and giggles from all the children playing. And it dawned on me then: Life goes on. This is what Lori wanted more than anything: for her children to be happy and carefree after she was gone. And there they were, just kids being kids, the way it is meant to be. And although Lori is gone from all of us physically, she's never gone in spirit, because she lives on in those children, and everytime we see their faces we see a glimpse of Lori and her impish grin.

I realize this has been rather long. I apologize -- it is hard to summarize a person's life in just a couple of paragraphs, especially a person like Lori. There are hundreds of stories to tell about her, and just as many lessons to be learned from her. I think we'll be learning them into our old age.

Once again.....

2008-10-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

Here I am. It is really funny to me to go back and read my blog after a long time and realize that my life is very much the same. Funny and yet, kind of sad in a way. Because the word "stagnant" comes to mind. Yes, my life is like scum on a pond. I live day to day, I plod forward, I go to work, I pay the bills, I meet up with my friends, I do this and that but I never really..... do much of anything. I don't really move forward.

I suppose if I'm going to move forward I have to figure out where I'm moving forward TO. Right? Hmmmmm.

So that 20 pounds is now more like 30. The career change still hasn't happened, altho now I don't really think I want it to because that would require change and change means I can't be stagnant and that means I'd have to make an effort and possibly have a bit of ambition................

And I'm not sure I want to.

Altho, that beach house still sounds really good.

Wow. It's been a while.

2008-04-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

Is anyone even still reading? ha.

There isn't much new to say. I still wish it was 5pm (everyday, all day) I still wish I was 20 pounds skinnier (I'm actively working on that!) I still wish I was a multi-millionaire (working to perfect that whole stay at home, make gazillions of dollars thing - it's tough) and I still wish I had a house on the beach (who doesn't?)

In other news -- we didn't make it to North Carolina. BUT we did go on the cruise and it was FANTABULOUS, except for the fact that we missed Lori a lot (had a few tequila shots in her honor.... I learned my limit is 4.... good to know for future reference....)

Since then, we sent LJ off to college at UNT Denton. He's making his own way, stumbling at times, but isn't that how it goes? You live, you learn.

Jacob is getting his driver's license this summer, and I HOPE that his dad will do the majority of teaching him to drive because............. I don't have the heart or stomach for it. It stresses me out way too much. Besides, his dad is an excellent driver. An excellent driver. Yeeeaaah. 30 minutes to Wapner.

I'm not sure what I meant by "career change" in 2007 -- oh wait! Yes I am!! I remember now! Well... it hasn't happened yet, but I think that's because A. I'm not sure I want it to (I'm comfortable where I am) and B. it isn't time yet (All things in God's time - not mine...) I'm just easygoing, I like things the way they are now. Except for that whole millionaire/house on the beach thing.

:o)

I might be back. Maybe.

2007-09-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well - it's been a while, hasn't it? Kathy tells me I should write. So here I am.....writing. Not sure what I'll write about..... you may have to suggest subjects. (No politics please! I'm not that smart!)

I have gone back and read my entire blog. I found it rather entertaining for the most part. Perhaps, you will too.

For now, I will just say:
I wish it was 5pm already.
I wish I was 20 pounds skinnier.
I wish I was a multi-millionaire.
I wish I lived in a house on the beach.

BUT ..... for all that..... I still have a pretty sweet life and I enjoy being me..... so I can't really complain.

Okay - maybe more tomorrow. We'll see!

Wow it's been a looooooong time

2007-01-31T14:17:00.000-08:00

I'm still out here. Its funny reading back over this blog -- I was bitching cuz of the heat and now it's COLD and I'm so tired of it I could SCREAM! I am ready for summer!! C'mon summer!!

Kids are good. Hubby is good. I am good.

I'm going to North Carolina in April with Heather & Kathy. Then, I'm going on a cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman in June with Heather, Kathy, Kim & Cindy -- thanks to Heather who is our fairy god-mother. :o) Yay Heather!

Lori is not going with us which is a complete and total disappointment -- but for good reason. She is still fighting with issues stemming from the thyroid cancer treatment. That girl is a fighter! She's got the Eye of the Tiger! Mention her to the man upstairs, will ya? :o)

Work is good -- it's not a big deal, just a job and work. But its fun and I'm surrounded by fun people. Can't complain about that.......... but...........

There are career changes in the works for me in '07.........................

Yeah yeah yeah.

That's all for now.

Update Shmupdate

2006-09-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

I was told to "update my blog". But I don't wanna. There is nothing going on with me that you need to know about.

So ya'll just make up stuff. Go ahead. It will be quite entertaining.

You wanna update?

2006-08-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Alright. This past weekend I sat on my butt. I did laundry and made hamburgers on my George Foreman grill. I took my boys to lunch at Chili's.

This coming weekend, J & I are going to Fredericksburg to the horse races, to hang out with a couple of Gulls and their hubbies and have a few margaritas. At least I hope there are margaritas.

In other news, it's hot as hell.

:o)

It's the Gulls!

2006-07-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Top row: Lori, Me, Heather (hothat)
bottom row: Cindy, Kim, Kathy

Meet my gulls! :o)

Monday monday.... lah lah... lah lah lah lah...

2006-07-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

Not much going on.

Thanks for the compliments on my blog background. I like it, too.

Lots of talk of budgeting betwixt my friends and me lately. I highly recommend Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace book. I read it 3x and learned a lot. It's working. It is working slower than I like -- you can't have everything, right? But it's working and I can see that in 6 months we will be SO much better off. And in 12 months? Even better. And in 24 months? Maybe debt free or very near to it.

I envision Jimmy & me actually having a life after the kids are gone. Instead of continuing to work our butts off and pay bills. I can see us traveling the country - maybe the world! - and it can be a reality, not just a pipe dream.

I see it!

How was your weekend? Gimme the details....

Friday stuff

2006-07-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Okay well I changed my background yet again. I have a gazillion beach pictures and I intend to use EVERY DAMN ONE OF 'EM. I realize this might make my blog hard to read at times but so what. If you are interested, you'll squint and read. The beach pics make me happy.

Exciting weekend plans, anyone? Jimmy is playing in a golf tournament (win BIG, honey!). I think I will do laundry, read a book and enjoy watching home improvement shows. Maybe I'll watch a movie. I will bake the Tres Leches cake that I intended to make last weekend. I may get a wild hair and clean something. There's no stoppin' me! I'm a rebel! You can't hold me back!

My friend Heather in AZ tells me it is 115 degrees there. This almost makes me feel bad for griping about our 102 degrees. There's nothin' like Texas in July. Unless its Arizona in July.

My mom tells me there is a Ladies Retreat coming up the weekend of August 5th and she wants me to go. I went last year and it was nice and interesting. I am pretty sure I was the youngest woman there. I am hoping Kathy will come with me. I sure do enjoy spending time with her. :o)

As far as the Gulls go -- the weekend at Lori's was fun and entertaining. We got good news on Lori -- turns out the mass they removed from her neck was mostly infection and NOT cancer. She's doing the radiation treatments; those should have started this week. I haven't heard anything in the past couple of days so I assume things are going smoothly thus far.

Kim has invited us Gulls to her house for a hot tub party. She has a mister! Woohoo! (That's a mister that sprays water on ya, not a male companion. I made that mistake.)

Jacob got his braces put on and already one of the brackets has come loose. Apparently this isn't a big deal, since the orthodontist office is only open Mon-Tues-Wed and nobody is returning my call (I left a message on the machine).

LJ is working at Starbucks now and he's a "certified barista". I think he finally got a job he enjoys. At least he doesn't complain about going to work and when he comes home, he smells delicious.

Ok that's all I got! What you got? Talk to me......

Let's face it...

2006-07-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

I'm not the butterflies and bluebonnets type. Honestly, can you see me frolicking thru a meadow? I didn't think so.

Yes, this is much, much better.

I spent the weekend in Llano with the Gulls. We went to visit Lori Arlene, who got to come home from the hospital Friday night. She looked better than I expected. Her spirits are up, it seems. If they weren't, they have to be now. We laughed and laughed, then cried as Kathy said a prayer over her. It's going to be a hard road to recovery. And she will recover. She will.

Hopefully I'll have a picture to show you later.

Now, speaking of frolicking in a meadow....... that reminds me of Kathy's analogy of her recent family issues. They've been thru some really rocky stuff lately and she told me Friday night, "That was ugly. I did not go thru that pretty. It was like falling down a mountain with a dress on!" Haaaaaaaaaaaa! Yeah, sometimes we go thru stuff that shows the entire world our bloomers and there is nothing we can do about it. It sucks -- but it's real.

At least we can look back and share a giggle or two.

I love you Gulls!!!!!!!!!

Special Request

2006-07-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

I would like to ask you all to send healing prayers and vibes for my Gull friend, Lori.

Lori has been fighting thyroid cancer for several years now and it has been in remission. However, I received word today that her most recent scan revealed tumors on her vocal cords. She is having surgery today to remove the masses. There is a possibility that she will not be able to speak again. It is a very serious situation.

She's only 38 years old and has a loving husband and 4 beautiful kids. She's a strong Christian woman and once told me, "God put me here to raise my children -- I intend to do just that."

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, `Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y... Nite!

2006-07-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well, afternoon.

So I changed my blogger template and now I can't figure out where my "World of Dr Pepper and Brownies" went. Oh well. I was thinking of changing it to "Tam's World of Butterflies and Bluebonnets" anyways.

Today Jimmy & I played golf. It pretty much sucked. It was very hot and humid and these jokers in front of us were playing extremely slow and that screwed up the game for us, having to wait at the tee boxes constantly. By hole #15, we were both out of gas, literally. I could not hit the ball straight anymore to save my life. I needed a sandwich or something. So we quit and came on home.

I need a pedicure.

Tonight we are going to watch the pay-per-view UFC "Bitter Rivals" fights on the big screen and order in pizza!! Wooooooohoo!!!

Ok that's my day thus far...........

edited to add: I did it!! I figured it out!!

For KellyC

2006-07-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

Yeah I hear ya. It's just....... I got nuthin.

Nuthin.

:o/

Baby baby..... where did my oomph go?

2006-06-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

So I had in mind that I would be a size smaller by July 4th, especially since we are having a "Quallity Body Works Boat Party" the day before (we are closing the shop early and all going out in Rick's boat to swim and wakeboard and have fun). Well here it is less than a week away and have I done much of anything to reach that goal? Hell no. And I'm not making excuses, I know it's my own fault for being uninspired and reaching for the brownies way too often...

My question is..... why? Where did my mojo go?

I used to be really excited about working out and taking care of myself. What happened? Did I get to comfortable in my own skin? Am I happy where I am now? Well..... no, not really. But I'm not totally unhappy, either. Is that the problem?

I read somewhere about how it is easy to commit to the "end goal" --- less easy to commit to the process that gets you there. Maybe that's it. I'm all about committing to being a size smaller, having my bra fit better, wearing my cute summer clothes again, having a waist........ I just want it to be easy to get there. Like -- snap my fingers and voila! Instant size 6.

But, reality is a cold hard bitch.

I'll keep workin' on it.

This weekend we are having a garage sale. It's a lot of work - more than I like to do -- but we need to get rid of stuff and we need the extra dough. Also this weekend is the Fisher Fourth of July Family Fiesta Fandago and Fiasco -- we just don't know if its going to be in the traditional Allen & Judy location or if we are traveling to Burnet to Steven and Katy's new place. Waiting on word for that. At any rate, that will be Saturday afternoon/evening and I am sure a good time will be had by all. If for some reason I get a camera before then, maybe there will be pix!!

:o)

Dad

2006-06-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is my brother Billy, my dad, and me.

The weekend was good. We left Saturday evening and drove to Burnet to see my brother-in-law Steven's new place. He and his family moved there from San Angelo due to a job transfer. They got a sweet place -- a 3200 sq ft home on about 10 acres of land out in the country. Very nice and very spacious. I think they will settle in and be quite happy there -- but they end up being happy just about everywhere they go. Some folks are just wired that way, and it seems they are the type. It was good to see them.

We got up early Sunday and went into Kingsland to my dad's house. It was not a big celebration or anything like that -- just us visiting. My brother came over with his family around lunch time and he fired up the grill and made burgers and hot dogs for everyone. The kids ran around and played outside and inside while the rest of us sat around the kitchen table and discussed world peace, the current state of our nation, what's wrong with kids these days and listened to my dad tell the same stories he always tells --- the same ones that always make us laugh no matter how many times we hear them.

There's the badger catching story..... the Billy falling in the tank stories..... the time Dad tried to buff a car with an orbital sander story......the donkey in the dark story.......the golf cart story......the Grandpa and Uncle David stories....... the Dad and Uncle Ricky stories....... the list goes on and on. To try and tell them here would be a disservice -- you have to hear him tell them to get the full effect.

I guess the other thing you should know about my Dad is that he is a disabled Vietnam Veteran. He is classified as "terminally ill" -- but he's been told that for over 10 years now. He says we are all "terminally ill" in some way or another. I suppose he's right. Anyway, he has numerous health problems. He shakes uncontrollably and blinks his eyes a lot when he's talking. He has trouble with short term memory. His digestive system is completely screwed up, he has high blood pressure and Lord knows what else. He hides a lot of it from us kids because he doesn't think it is our place to worry over him.

He did eat an entire hamburger and a bunch of nacho cheese doritos while we were there, so I took that as a sign he was having a good day.

Oh and he is the Commander of the local VFW post -- which he gripes about but you know he just loves it. :o)

That's my dad.

The Fam.

2006-06-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

Here's me and my brother's kiddoes (remember I told ya they visited a couple of weeks ago). From left to right: Hannah, Karen, Erin, Isaac and Rachel. All characters - every one of 'em!! Great kids :o)

This is me, my mom and my brother, Billy. It's kind of hard to tell here, I suppose, but I favor Mom in the looks department. Billy is the spittin' image of Dad.

Speaking of Dad -- we are going to see him this weekend for Father's Day. Hopefully I will get a few more good pictures to post up here. It should be a fun weekend. My Dad is like a cross between Red Green and George Carlin.......

More about my Dad later. What is your favorite memory of your Dad?

Blockhead.

2006-06-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

Ever stick your foot in your mouth and say something that hurts someone's feelings because you are a stupid dolt? Yeah. It sucks.

The weekend.

2006-06-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Well, as you know, this past weekend was my Mom's family reunion and my brother came with his wife and 5 kids. I would have posted about this sooner, but it took until now to chew through the duct tape that the kids used to tie me to the chair....

I kid! I kid!

We had a great weekend and enjoyed the visiting very, very much. And I have to say -- Kudos to Billy & Elda (my bro and sis-in-law) on their parenting skills. You know, with any number of kids, there is an opportunity for complete and utter chaos. The more kids you have, the more the opportunity grows exponentially. So with FIVE... well, I don't have to say more. What I do want to say is that these five kids are extremely well behaved, well mannered and........ just so deliciously adorable! :o)

If they email me pictures, I will show you. You'll see.

In other news.......

I spent Monday doing laundry and reading a trashy true crime novel. I never take the time to read anymore, so it was really nice.

Jimmy & LJ spent yesterday morning blowing cellulose insulation into our attic. Hopefully, we will reap loads of benefits on our electric bill, since summer is apparently here and the A/C is set on "perpetual". It was quite a job, but nothing two of my men couldn't handle :o) The yard looked like a volcano had erupted, though. Nothing a little weather won't clean up.

I've been getting up at 6am and doing exercise for 2 days straight. I'd say I'm on a roll but someone would roll their eyes at me and go, "2 days? psshhht." And they'd be right. I'll let you know when I've got 2 weeks under my belt. By then something should FIT under my belt because I'd better start losing inches off the flab or else........

And that's it for now.....

Nice to meet ya!

2006-05-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

If you read my blog -- I want to know who you are! And I want you to get to know my other friends and family who read, as well.

So -- introduce yourself. Tell us:

Who are ya?
Where are ya?
How do you know me?
Whats your favorite dessert?
Whats your favorite color?

Don't be shy! Even if you have never commented before -- please do it NOW!

Happy memorial day weekend! :o)

:o)

2006-05-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

My brother's comin'! My brother's comin'!!

I'm excited, can you tell? :o)

Here's a question for all you faithful readers:

Tell me your fondest family memory. What happened? Who were you with? What did you do? How did you feel? Is that family member still with us and, if so, are you still close? Are you carrying traditions you learned forward with your own spouse and/or children?

Random thinkings...

2006-05-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

This coming weekend is Memorial Day weekend and it's my Mom's family reunion. My brother is coming!! I am really excited because, for some reason, we don't get together hardly ever and I wish we did. He has 5 kids (yes 5 - that isn't a typo) so he's always busy and then I've got 2 teenagers and we are doing our thing... that's just life. But this coming weekend we get to visit and have fun! I need to get a new digital camera before then so I can have pictures to post.

This summer I want to do some home decorating projects. I want to start with Jacob's bedroom. It's the smallest bedroom in the house, so it should be a manageable project to kick start the summer. I want to paint the walls, maybe paint his furniture and I want to rip the carpet up to expose the parquet wood floors.

We need a chest of drawers for our room badly. We have clothes everywhere!

It's hotter than hell today. It makes ya want to just lay around and not move.

We need ice cream.

And I think to myself....... what a wonderful world....

2006-05-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

I was thinking I was going to blog about food and our relationship with food – but over the course of the evening, my thinking changed and I want to talk about something else.

I went to the Beachbody chat last night to see what Tony Horton (fitness guru, creator of P90 and P90X) had to say. It was mostly the usual stuff – eat healthy, exercise blah blah blah – but then he addressed something that really fires me up. That is: the reason for exercising and eating healthy.

Tony called it “Substance and Purpose”. Eat healthy, live an active life…. Why? For mental, spiritual and physical health. Do it so you can be a better person. Do it so you are happier on the inside and therefore can contribute more to your family, friends and to the world that surrounds you. Forget the numbers game – forget the scale, the measuring tape and the clothing size tags.

What a perfect world it would be – in my own opinion – if people would do just that!

I’ve been of the mind that taking care of myself was all about looking good. And maybe until you’ve been there and been through that, you don’t understand when I say meeting those goals are hollow victories. So what if you are a size 4? So what if you have a hot body and look good in a bikini?

Hot bodies are a dime a dozen, baby. They’re everywhere. If that is what you are wrapped up in, then you need to just get over yourself. There is always going to be someone better looking than you, smaller than you and richer than you.

Somehow, I’ve come through the other side of that mentality and my thinking now is……… I am okay just being me. I don’t feel guilty over what I eat anymore. Sometimes I enjoy a big salad. Sometimes I enjoy Sonic onion rings. So what? Sometimes I enjoy running. Sometimes I enjoy sitting on my ass watching The Amazing Race. So what? I’ve gained about 10 pounds since last summer and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. So what? Does it mean my friends and family love me less? No. Does it mean that I love me any less?

No. I love my family and friends for who they are – not what they weigh. It took me a long time to figure out that I needed to feel that way toward myself.

In my perfect world, people would be happy to just.... be. There would be no “OH I can’t eat that!” or “I MUST do this workout or else!” In my perfect world, sometimes we’d run and sometimes we’d sit around watching a good movie and eating pizza. And nobody would feel guilt. Nobody would have that stupid, niggling voice in their heads telling them how “bad” they were.

Come live in my world. You know you wanna. C’mon……

:o)

Byron Nelson Review

2006-05-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

We're back!

The Byron Nelson tourney was cool. We got there Wednesday morning when they were having the Pro-Am. This is where big-wig corporate execs pay to play a round with the pros. We found our fave pro, Fred Couples, and his group and followed them for a while. Jimmy got him to autograph our program for the day - that was a highlight. Then we found Vijay Singh and followed him for a few holes. I got him to sign my visor. Then we just walked around and explored for a while. We found Chris DiMarco on the practice putting green and he signed Jimmy's "PING" hat.

Thursday was Round One play of the tourney, so it was down to business for the pros. We arrived and caught up with Couples and his group on about the 5th hole and walked along with them the rest of their round. He was playing with Kenny Perry and a guy from New Zealand named Phil Tataurangi that we had never heard of. We kept calling him "Chatarunga" hahaha He was awesome and on the last 4 or 5 holes he had a birdie streak. Fred wasn't doing so well, unfortunately. :o(

Friday was Round Two of play. Again, we found Fred - this time he was playing on course #2 so it was nice to have a change of scenery. This course was all UPhill though! Man, the walking was tough. Our legs and feet were already sore from all the fast walking and jogging we'd been doing the previous days. Still -- it was nice to be outside, the weather was so pretty, we couldn't have asked for a better day. Freddie still wasn't doing too well. Chatarunga could do no wrong, though. We watched their group for a while, then headed back over to course #1 to check out a few more players. We ended up sitting at the 18th green, watching the rest of the groups come in and finish their rounds.

Saturday began Day Three. Fred did not make the cut, so he was out of the tournament. We had staked out a good watching place the day before --- we knew if we sat at the base of the press booth on the 17th green, we would be in the shade all afternoon. We got there at about 11:30am and no one was sitting there yet, so we unfolded our chairs (we brought them this time! we were tired of walking!) and set up camp. The first 2 hours were sheer HELL. The sun was beating on us relentlessly. There is not enough sunscreen on earth for that type of heat! Jimmy kept saying, "Just a little while longer and we'll be the envy of the 17th green!" And sure enough -- the sun went behind the trees a little and we were in the shade all afternoon. It was a good 10 degrees cooler then. We got to sit and watch the entire day's play from our spot.

One of the highlights from that day was a little short dude from Sweden or Finland --- his name is Richard Johnson. He looks to be maybe 5' tall and the day before we had seen him practicing and he was wearing the most outrageous colored outfit. It was like neon yellow and lime green. Anyway -- he hit his tee shot off 17 and ended up 63 feet from the hole, all the way over on the right side of the green as far as you could be! He lined up his putt, hit it smooth and the ball started to travel...... it looked good..... it got closer to the hole and a buzz went thru the crowd..... closer...... closer..... and IN IT WENT! The crowd cheered so loud!!! It was so neat to see -- Richard took off his hat and covered his face in disbelief -- then took a bow. :o)

We watched the rest of the groups come thru, then we took off for a shower, some dinner and decided to go ahead and get home. We were tired and we'd had enough sun and walking. Besides, Couples was out of the tourney and he was the main reason we went to begin with.

All in all -- I would do it again. It was great fun seeing the "stars" from TV live and in person. The people watching was good, too. And any time spent with Jimmy is a good thing in my book ;o)

Another week - another trip!

2006-05-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning, Jimmy & I are headed to Dallas to spend the remainder of the week at the PGA Byron Nelson tournament event. How exciting! We will get to see golf greats like Fred Couples, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, etc LIVE and in person. (Live and in person -- as opposed to dead and in person. Ew. )

We've never been to anything like this before. I am anxious to get there and start seeing sports celebrities. I hope we get the chance to get an autograph or two, and maybe a picture.

Golf is Jimmy's passion (well, besides me of course!) and this was my gift to him for Christmas. I hope he is excited, too! I'm sure he is, he just doesn't get all giddy like I do. :o)

In other news:

Hello to my brother Billy if you are reading this. Ellie and I are cookin' up something for Father's Day. I guess I'll email you about it, that'd be good huh? Duh. Your sis is blonde. Truly.

Hello to my Mom if you are reading this. I need to call you! I have a shortage of time. I promise I will very soon. Love you! :o)

Hello to any Gulls reading this. We seriously need a gathering. Seriously!

Hello to any BB pals reading this. Why can't it be easier to stay slim and healthy? Whhhhyyyyy? (nancy kerrigan whine) Oh well - as long as we are livin' and laughin', it's all good!

Does anyone watch Deal or No Deal? It's addictive in our house.

Does anyone watch The Ultimate Fighter on SpikeTV? It's addictive too, in a completely different way. On Friday nights we get the UFC fights on high definition - now that's gross. But you can't look away!

Ok I better do some work........ :o)

Talk to me!

Manhattan, part deux

2006-05-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

Day 2 begins. We decided to go ahead and sleep in and enjoy the hotel room while we had it -- for a reason. This was where the adventure really started. Since our flight home left at 6:00am Sunday morning, we had decided to check out of the hotel on Saturday, carry our backpacks with us while we explored downtown Manhattan, and just stay out until it was time to take a cab to the airport. Brave? Yes. Exhausting? Yes, x10. Worth it? Absolutely.

Dressed, hair done, packed and ready to go, we decided to be courageous (and cheap!) and try the bus/subway into Manhattan instead of taking another cab. It was not as confusing as it first sounded. The bus stop was about a block from the hotel. We waited about 15 minutes for the bus. The bus ride to the subway station lasted about 15 minutes, during which we got to see more of Queens and how people live there. The neighborhoods are quaint, some kept up better than others. Neighborhood delis, markets and boutiques dot the streets. We got to the subway and got on the train. In Queens, the train runs above ground. We rode past Asian and Latino neighborhoods and saw lots of colorful graffiti.

We rode to Times Square station, then changed trains to the #1 (red) to head downtown to the Staten Island Ferry. We rode and rode, then stopped and they announced it was the last stop and the train was headed back to Queens. A nice lady advised that we should get off now and switch to a different train -- EVEN THOUGH THE MAP DIDN'T SAY SO. Thank God for helpful New Yorkers (they are NOT rude -- that is a stereotype! They are just impatient and in a hurry! haha) We rode the #2 train further down, then got off and rode a shuttle to the ferry. (Apparently, they do maintenance to the subways on the weekends so the train schedules can be completely different from what you expect by reading the map).

Waiting for the ferry, we ate a hot dog from a street cart. It was.... a hot dog. Nothing special. $1.50 gets you a weenie on a bun, with your choice of onions in a weird sweet red sauce or sauerkraut (or both, if you swing that way). Kathy also bought a pretzel -- I was not impressed. It's just a big piece of bread with salt on it.

The ferry ride was a highlight, for sure. We rode just in front of the Statue of Liberty -- beautiful. The day was clear and sunny and warm. On the other side of the ferry, we could see the Manhattan skyline from the water -- amazing, just like in the pictures you've all seen. We saw the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. From the back of the boat, we could see the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge. It was a great way to start off our site seeing on Day 2.

As we got back and prepared to disembark, a man caught my attention. He was standing next to the exit, preaching loudly. He was just talking and talking. "Do you believe in God? Jesus is the reason the boat floats. Jesus floats the boat. Jesus floats MY boat. Does Jesus float your boat?" Speaking quickly in rhymes and riddles about God and Jesus. It was very cool. Lots of people were giving him the "yeah whatever" look but I was giving him the "Preach on brutha!" look. We wondered later if he felt it was his "calling" to ride the boat and preach, or was he just a little touched in the head? Either way, the word of the Lord is being broadcast and some will hear it.

From the ferry, we took off walking uptown. We walked thru the Financial District, seeing many impressive old buildings (the Customs House is beautiful!). We made our way to the "Wall Street Bull" sculpture and the Trinity Church. We saw the World Trade Center site and across from it, the beautiful, historic St. Paul's chapel. From there, we walked to City Hall park and saw the Brooklyn Bridge, but it wasn't a great view because there were trees in the way. Our feet needed a bit of a rest from here, so we took the subway to Chinatown/Little Italy.

We were hungry at this point, so we got out our guide book and chose a restaurant in Little Italy to start walking toward. It wasn't that far from the subway station. We sat at a table outside on the sidewalk for maximum people watching while we ate. We started with garlic bread and stuffed mushrooms (divine!). I ordered the "prixe meal" -- you got a pasta course and a main course for $19. I had the rigatoni in vodka sauce and the veal marsala. The rigatoni was good -- the sauce was mellow and you could taste the cream and parmesan cheese. Then came the veal. Oh. My. Lord. They must serve this dish in Heaven because it is truly worthy of it, let me tell ya. I think I had an out of body experience at the first bite. So rich...... the veal was cooked to perfection, the sauce bold with great body, buttery and robust with garlic and meaty slices of mushroom. It came served with sliced, roasted red potatoes and sauteed spinach with garlic. We each ate until we were ready to burst. I left a few bites on my plate, sadly. I may have shed a tear or two as we walked away.

We were not quite ready to walk around again just yet, so we went across the street to the Cafe Roma, an Italian pastry shop. This particular place was written up in our guide book so we figured it had to be worth it. Well? Think again. While it was not BAD, it just wasn't good. But then again -- not much could be deemed "good" compared to the manna from heaven I had just experienced. I ordered a hazelnut hot chocolate and a piece of tiramisu. The chocolate was great.... the tiramisu was average. It was a bit dry on top, better on the bottom where you could taste the liqueur. The WORST thing about this particular place was......... the bathroom. There was one tiny bathroom for all guests and, apparently, someone either (A) puked their guts out or (B) shit their guts out or (C) opened a can of chili and threw it all over the toilet and the back wall. And it didn't smell like chili........

It was entertaining to watch people enter the bathroom, then come out a few minutes later with a look of wonder and disgust on their face.

I had not seen the bathroom yet, nor had Heather. Kathy had been inside and dutifully reported the situation to us as she came back to the table. We were discussing what we wanted to do next -- which was walk back toward Chinatown and check out souvenier shopping -- when the subject of our safety came up again. Heather said to me, "Remember, we don't have to run fast. We just have to run faster than Kathy." This made Kathy snort and spew her hot chocolate ALL OVER the table, which made us laugh hilariously, tears and all, while the wait staff gave us wary glances. At this point, I could hold it no longer so I went into the bathroom of disgust, wiped off the toilet seat with a huge wad of toilet paper and gingerly perched on the edge and did my business. When I came out, one of the wait staff was standing by the door and he said, "We are going to clean that up." I replied, "You might want to get a hose."

We then headed down the street toward Chinatown. Little Italy is a neat area, but I wondered, how do all of these restaurants stay in business? They are all one after another, right up next to each other. They all serve the same food, basically. There are so many of them! I guess there are enough customers to go around. That is amazing to me. The hosts stand outside and "hawk" to try and get you to come to their eatery. We kept saying, "We just ate!" One grabbed my backpack as I walked by. I made Heather stop and look inside it to make sure my cell phone was still in there (I was carrying my money and credit cards in my front pocket -- if anyone was going to pick THAT off me, they'd have to feel me up first) The guy saw us stop and saw Heather checking my backpack and he gave me a dirty look. I shot him one back. Weirdo.

Chinatown. Crazy. People everywhere -- a lot of tourists. This is the place to buy your souveniers and stuff like that. Everything is CHEAP and they expect you to haggle them down from there. We bought t-shirts and looked at some great costume jewelry (I didn't buy, but seriously considered it). We found a place selling purses and wallets and I bought a cute pink bag for $20. This place had Dooney & Burke and Brighton knock-offs. We looked around in there for a while. Then we bought refrigerator magnets of the Statue of Liberty from a guy on the sidewalk. He was giving us the hard sell. "Three dollah each! I sell you four for ten dollah! Good bargahn!"

We got down to an area teeming with tourists and checked out a sidewalk produce market (everything looked fantastic). We saw a place with Peking duck and a weird looking squid hanging in the window. We went inside a bakery, to see what the Chinese do. They had lovely, delicate pastries, beautifully decorated with fresh fruits. We saw a seafood shop where the workers were closing up and taking all the fish off the ice and throwing it into big tubs.

Everywhere you walk there are Asians hawking stuff at you. "DVD? DVD?" as they hold out pirated copies of the latest movies (Flight 93 was one I noticed) "You want Rolex watch?" The one that got Heather was the girl who said, "Coach purse? You want?"

Heather said she would like to see the Coach purses. The girl motioned for us to follow her. We marched behind her, back up the street the way we had come. At the corner, a bunch of other young girls caught us, saying "Coach? Coach purse you want?" and our girl turned around and said something to them in Chinese. They understood then that we were following her, and they all gave each other knowing glances and giggled. Kathy and I looked at each other with the one-eyebrow raise, both of us thinking back to the Seinfeld episode involving Elaine and the Korean nail salon.

We kept following the girl, only by now we had turned a corner and were heading up a darker, less busy street. She was talking in Chinese to someone on her cell phone. No doubt calling ahead to say, "I have white women and I am bringing them to you!" She arrived at a metal door in the side of a building, opened the door to a darkened, narrow flight of stairs and motioned for us to go up. Kathy and I said, "Heather you are on your own." because we were going nowhere near those stairs and Heather looked up them and said to the girl, "On second thought..... no thank you." And we started walking away, back in the direction we had come. Well, this made the Chinese chick mad and she started cursing at us (in Chinese -- no I don't speak it but you know when you are being cursed at) and from out of nowhere some dude appeared and caught up with Heather, trying to convince her that it was safe to go upstairs and see the "purses".....

All we wanted to do then was get away. Visions of going upstairs to buy a purse and being told to take off all our clothes and hand over our money were dancing in our heads. Maybe that's being dramatic, but...... you just don't know. Later I thought it over and I wondered: Maybe that girl had been smuggled into the country illegally and she had to sell fake Coach bags to work off her debt? Maybe she got all excited when she thought she had hooked us in -- then was mad when we cut the deal because she was going to get beat up by the boss man..... ??? All those people -- obviously poor, hawking everything from t-shirts to fake Rolex watches.... they are all just trying to make a living in a big, cold, daunting city.

Still -- we had to be safe and weren't none of us heading up them stairs!

Next, we saw a man doing this neat artwork on the sidewalk. He was doing people's names, painting the letters colorfully as dragons or butterflies or flowers. We stopped and Heather bought one each for her kids.

Then we went back to the subway and rode to the Empire State Building. I had the tickets this time! It was dark by now --- we walked up the street and suddenly we saw the building looming above us. It is impressive and beautiful! Since we had pre-paid tickets, we skipped thru the longest of the lines and got to go straight to the elevators. We were packed into the elevator like a can of sardines. Literally, you can't move your arms. That's how many people they pack in there at one time. I said to the man in front of me, "Dude, I am not trying to feel your butt......... however it is quite nice and firm." Everyone laughed. We got to the 86th floor and went out to the observatory. The first thing that hits you is the COLD WIND. It was bitter cold up there! The second thing that hits you is.... the city lights are just breathtaking. You forget the cold for a moment while you run to all sides of the building to look out and see what you can identify from such an altitude. Heather brought up the point that, if someone were to drop a penny from the top (the area is fenced but you could easily drop things thru the grate) it would kill someone on the street if it hit them. I wonder if anything like that has ever happened?

The cold got to us so we decided to head back down. In the "down" elevator, we were packed in reverse, so the man I said I butt grabbed was now behind me. As we entered the elevator, he said, "Hey its MY turn now!" and we all giggled. I love it when people have a sense o'humor.

It was about 10:00pm and we had about 5 hours to kill before we wanted to taxi out to the airport. Kathy suggested we find a club or somewhere to hang out -- she looked in our trusty guide book and found the Gotham Comedy Club, which turned out to be a taxi ride to the address to find they had moved and a short walk back up to the new location. We went in and were told the show didn't start until 11:30pm, but we could sit in the lounge and wait, which we gladly did. We got called up at 11:30 to our reserved table, were we each ordered a drink and got ready to laugh our guts out. We saw Jim Medrinos, Jessica Kirson and Orny Adams ( www.gothamcomedyclub.com) and it was wonderful. Sometimes smart, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes outright silly -- it was all good and we laughed 'til our ribs were sore.

After the show, we exited the club, went to the corner and headed for what should have been Times Square. Only, it wasn't lit up like before when we found the club. I said the first thing I thought, "Oh no, they turned it off! It's closed!" hahahahaaa we were facing the wrong direction! We turned around and went the other way, toward Times Square. We found a little pizza place and ate a slice, drank a Coke and just chilled for a while. They say NYC is "the city that never sleeps" but that is not really true. At about 3:00am, walking through Times Square, there is hardly anyone out except cops. Out of things to do and see, feeling like zombies from lack of sleep and dead on our feet, we hailed a cab and headed for the airport.

Our flight left at 6:00am and we slept nearly all the way home. Home sweet home!!!

Ladies, it was a pleasure. You both make wonderful travel companions -- this trip was priceless. I am looking forward to the Gull's Mexican Cruise 2007!!! :o)

Gulls take Manhattan!

2006-05-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

Our flight was called. We boarded, buckled in, anxiously giggling that our trip was finally about to take place.

The doors were closed and the flight attendant began her safety lecture. "Please take the safety card out of the pouch of the seat in front of you and read along." Heather and I look over at Kathy across the aisle and she is actually doing this. She gives us that teacher look that says, "Children.... follow instructions!" But we just laugh and watch her as she studies where the exits are located and what to do in case of an emergency water landing. If the plane goes down, at least one of us will live.
We begin taxiing to the runway. Kathy reaches up and starts playing with the knobs and buttons overhead of her seat. She pushes the "flight attendant call button" and it lights up and goes "DING!" and startles her. The look on her face was hilarious! She asks, "What was that?!" and Heather tells her and she goes, "Oh thank God, I thought I pushed the "STOP" button!" and for some reason this makes us laugh hysterically, tears and all.

The rest of the flight was fairly boring. Our seats were at the very rear of the plane, right next to the lavatory. In hindsight, we are thankful it was a boring flight. Sitting that close to the only bathroom in a flying aluminum tube could have been disastrous and nauseating!

We landed at Chicago for a small layover and change of planes. We each had the $8 breakfast plate there. What is with the prices on airport food? It's because they have you captive! You can't go anywhere to eat, you don't have the time, so they gouge ya!!! It's a travesty, I say! But.... we were starving so it was a good $8 breakfast. Another potty break and it was time to get back on a plane and head for LaGuardia.

We landed at LaGuardia just after 2pm. We hurried outside and found our hotel shuttle easily. Rode over to the hotel and checked in, took another potty break and readied ourselves to hit the town!

We inquired at the front desk as to the simplest way to get into Manhattan (our hotel was near the airport -- it's much cheaper that way). The desk clerk started rattling off how to take the bus to the subway then the subway to downtown and it sounded complicated so we agreed to just let him call us a taxi. I was expecting a traditional New York yellow cab but instead a Lincon town car drove up. We got in and there was no meter. That bothered me, as I had read in various internet travel guides that you can get scammed by not taking a yellow cab. The town car guys are kind of like poachers -- they don't have to use set rates like the yellow cabs do, etc. But we were already in the car speeding away so it was too late. Heather asked our driver about his rates and he told us it was a $35 flat rate into Mahattan, plus tolls for the tunnel. We shrugged and said "okay" -- pretty much our only choice, other than hurling ourselves out of the car while it traveled 70mph thru the midtown tunnel.

We sat back to enjoy the ride and look at the things we were passing as we left Queens. Houses, apartment buildings, things like that. It's a world totally different to what we are accustomed to. People don't own cars -- there's no need for them and no place to park anyway. The houses are all close together, usually mulit-family affairs (one building actually has 2 or 3 "houses" inside it). Kathy asked our driver about the cost of living and he told us a lot about what it costs to live in Queens and Manhattan and how the "working class man" really struggles because things there are so expensive.

We were headed to the Empire State Building, however some doofus retard left the tickets back at the hotel (that would be..... me!) so instead we had him drop us at Grand Central Station. We gave the guy $50 for the ride, tolls and a tip, not realizing we had really just been screwed, but you'll see that later in the story. I mean, you'll see how we were screwed, not that you will see us being screwed. Because that? Would not be attractive. Unless you are into that sort of thing. But I digress.

Grand Central. Beautiful. Busy. Bustling. Confusing. After a few minutes, we realized that this wasn't just a subway station -- it is also the TRAIN station, meaning the Amtrak or whatever they call it there. I'm so glad we didn't hop a train and end up in White Plains or Rochester. That would have been bad. Instead, we went downstairs, found the Metro card vending machines, purchased a card to ride the subway and figured out how to ride to Times Square. (Not hard -- you take the 7 train, it's the purple line, only 2 stops away).

We got to Times Square and from there we wanted to go north (or Uptown, as the New Yorkers would say) toward Central Park and walk around that area. Walking thru Times Square station, we started to discover that some of the best shows in New York take place in the tunnels! Forget Broadway! We heard lots of music in the subway. Some dude was playing a flute. There were a pair of guys, one on a clarinet type instrument, the other on one of those pan-flutes, playing Beatles songs. There was a man playing something that looked like a sitar, only it was skinnier. And the best. show. ever...?? The breakdancers! There were a group of 3 or 4, who had taken over a large empy area in the middle of the subway station. They had the boom box blaring loudly and a circle of people for an audience. One by one they would dance into the middle of the area and begin doing the most amazing things. Twisting, turning, up on their hands, down on the floor, moving quickly and smoothly, without effort. It was simply amazing. The strength and balance required to do that stuff ....... incredible. The best show, really!

From there we went down a level to find the right train to ride to Central Park. When you get 3 people together looking at the same map, well..... let's just say that you get 3 different opinions of which train to ride. The platform was fairly crowded, it was close to "rush hour". Kathy asked the lady standing in front of us if she could help -- and that is how we met Peggy. Peggy was the quintessential New Yorker -- coming home from work, dressed to the nines, hair in place, perfect makeup and understated jewelry. She told us we should go to Columbus Circle and then walk up Central Park to see Lincoln Center, etc. She said she was going that way -- we could just ride with her! So we did. She told us all about what we should see and do. "Then you need to turn right on 66th street and walk by the building that looks like a castle -- they film One Life to Live in there!" She told us when to NOT ride the Subway, but that for the most part it was not dangerous. Kathy said, "We'll be fine. Heather takes her kids to karate, I've seen parts of a Tae Bo video and Tam's done Pilates!" hahaha

It was a swirl of directions and travel tips, none of which made a whole lot of sense, but we were having a marvelous time just visiting with her. She and her husband actually live in Jersey. They drive in together to her husband's office, where she hops the Subway down to Wall Street to her office. Her husband is Irish and when they first moved to the city, he would spit on the doorway of their apartment building because he hated it so much!

We got off the subway at Columbus Circle and headed up to street level. As we walked toward Uptown, Peggy told us more places to be sure and see, and we traded stories about ourselves and where we were from. We got to a particular corner and Peggy let us know this was as far as she could go -- her husband's office was right there. She told us her husband works for ABC Television. "Oh really?" we asked, "Is he someone we would know?" She said he was a director at ABC News, his name is Patrick Moynihan. We got excited because the name is familiar -- turns out to be because of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Not the same person. I googled and found that this Patrick Moynihan is Director of Fire and Safety for ABC News Television. But that's still cool because Peggy proceeded to tell us a little dirt on some ABC celebs, like:

Meredith Viera from The View is a slob and kept her dressing room like a pig sty, with moldy food and dirty clothes lying everywhere.
Star Jones' husband is gay.
Regis is kind of a dick. He goes into restaurants and says loudly, "Do you have a table for REGIS??" knowing that he'll be recognized and given a free meal.
Mel Gibson is very short.
Most stars are not recognizable in real life. When Peggy was going to meet Tom Hanks at ABC studios, she was riding the elevator with her friend on the way up to meet him. She said, "I'm going to meet Tom Hanks but seriously I have to pee really, REALLY BAD." And the man standing behind her said, "Nice to meet you -- my wife pees a lot, too." It WAS Tom Hanks! Hee!

Relucantly, we parted ways with Peggy and walked north, seeing the Metropolitan Opera House, Juliard, the Museum of Natural History. We crossed over to the park and saw the Imagine memorial for John Lennon, which is just across the street from the Dakota, which is where he was killed. Central Park is just gorgeous -- honestly, if I lived in NYC, I would want to live near the park. We walked through the park, saw the meadow where people play football and frisbee and have picnics. Saw the Lake with the rowboaters out en force. Walked thru the Zoo area (the zoo was closed already) and ended up at Tavern on the Green, where we had dinner.

There were not many tourists in there. I felt somewhat out of place in my track suit and tennis shoes amidst the cocktail dresses and suits -- but whatever, it's part of the adventure. We were seated and "Captain Ron" came to introduce himself as our host/waiter/steward for the meal. He was quite rude. It was obvious that he felt he was better suited to wait on the chi-chi clientele, rather than us plain ol' hick tourists. I ordered the crab cake appetizer, and the roast chicken in tarragon wine sauce (with mashed potatoes and steamed whole green beans) as an entree. The bread basket came -- the bread was good but it was cold. The food came -- it was overpriced and overrated. The best thing on my plate was the green beans. I guess that about says it all. It was my turn to pay the check, so when it came, Heather & Kathy ran for another potty break while I took care of the cost. I didn't leave a tip for Captain Ron, he was a dick.

While I was leaving, the hostess seated Lindsay Lohan at the table across from us. If it wasn't her, it was her twin sister. I bet she got better service than we did. *hmph*

Back to the subway we went -- rode back to Times Square, where we got off and went up to the street. We walked up Times Square, marveling at the lights and all the people. This is obviously a big tourist area. There were chain restaurants all up and down the street -- Red Lobster, Hard Rock Cafe, Champs, etc. Who comes to NYC and eats at the same places they can eat at home? I think that's retarded. Smushed in between the chain restaurants are little delis and markets and pizza places -- those are the places where you go and grab a bite!

We walked along, saw the ABC Primetime live studio. Apparently they were having a show (I guess they were) because a bunch of folks were gathered outside shouting and cheering up toward the windows. We saw MTV Studios and some of the theaters that were off on the side streets. Wicked, The Lion King, The Color Purple. We walked up to the Ed Sullivan Theater, where David Letterman tapes. Of course by this time it was 10:00pm and nobody was there. The Hello Deli was closed. It's very, very small.

From there we walked a block over and took a seat at Lindy's for a cup of coffee and cheesecake. I had the Irish coffee (It was mondo strong) and rice pudding (mmmmmm wonderful). We were beat, our feet hurt and we were lagging from no sleep the night before, so from there we hailed a cab and headed back for the hotel.

THIS time -- we got a yellow cab. The ride was like a roller coaster -- 70-80mph (at least!) weaving and bobbing in and out of traffic, honking the horn, barely missing tourists trying to cross streets against the light. The cab rides in NYC are an event in and of themselves! The ride back to the hotel was about 25 minutes and it cost $23.50 plus tip. Now -- do you see the scam between that and the town car? Tip: If you ever go to NYC make SURE you request a yellow cab if you have the hotel offer to call you a taxi!

We showered and fell into bed exhausted. I stuffed my ears with cotton (thought it might help, judging from the night before) but seriously, I was out and comatose nearly all night. I never heard Heather snore at all. Kathy snored lightly but it was so quiet, it didn't bother me at all. We each got some much needed rest and slept in the next morning until about 8:00am when we rose and got ready for Day 2.......

'Twas a night of noise and excitement....

2006-05-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

Thursday dragged by like the day before your birthday, or the day before Christmas. I was all packed and ready to leave by noon, I just had the afternoon to get thru. Soon enough, 5:00pm came and I shot out the door like a bullet! I hit the road and headed straight for Llano to get Kathy. Got there, Kathy was ready so we went to the potty and hit the road again. The ride to Austin from her house is only like 1.5 hours but the time just flew because we were talking and laughing the entire time. We got out to the airport and chose a Super 8 motel to stay the night in (our flight left the next morning at 6:50am). We checked in, waited for Heather to find us, then the three of us went in search of dinner.

We meant to go to Olive Garden but they had a line of people waiting for tables that stretched out the door. We drove around a little more in the shopping center and came across Pei Wei. I'd never heard of it, I thought Heather was suggesting we eat at "PayWay" which sounded like a dollar store to me. But no -- it's an Asian diner. Heather raved about it, so we said "sure" and went in. The menu had things on it that I recognized and things I didn't. We decided to let Heather order for us, since she had been before. We had:
Spring rolls with this spicy/sweet dipping sauce (awesome!)
chicken lettuce wraps (nice and fresh, with crisp lettuce -- not as good as the spring rolls tho)
Kung pao with beef (OMG....... OMG OMG SO GOOD)
Pad thai with tofu (um...... yuck)

We ate and talked some more, the conversation flowing lively and easy, as it would with three gals who have known each other 20+ years. No topic is off limits. Literally. Even when you are hearing things about your friends that you wish could be off limits. hahahaha I won't divulge any information, I'll just say one of the topics was: what kind of sex do you prefer: (A) Vanilla, (B) Vanilla with an occasional swirl of chocolate and sprinkles or (c) Chunky Monkey with coconut, M&M's, gummy worms, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry on top?

We each got a fortune cookie. Mine said "You will have an enjoyable adventure" or something very similar. We took it as a great sign of things to come.

Back to the hotel. Kathy & I washed our hair and generally did everything we could to speed up the morning process, since we were leaving out early. We needed to go to sleep, but we were like that Disney commercial where the kids are giggling and the mom tells them to go to sleep and the little boy says, "We're too excited to sleep!" I did manage to fall asleep finally. However, it wasn't long before I was awoken by "Night of the Nostrils" also known as "Symphony of Snores". Heather started, then Kathy joined in. At one point, Heather's just got louder and louder, as if someone was turning up the volume knob on her sinuses. I started to wonder just HOW LOUD could she get when -- suddenly! -- she stopped completely. I thought, "Heather died. Great now I can sleep!" haha I'm just kidding - I never sleep well when I'm away from home anyway. Add the excitement of the trip to that and it's a wonder I slept the few hours that I did. Kathy had it worse than me. She says she sat up most of the night wondering if she could turn on the TV without bothering anyone. I'm not sure she's telling the truth because I heard her sounding like a goose with bronchitis, but.... whatever. :o)

Our wake-up call came at 4:45am, but we were really already awake. We got ready, made sure we had everything we needed and headed for the airport to check in and wait for our flight. The adventure was about to begin!!! .........................................

Back!!!

2006-05-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

I am back from the Big Apple!! It was great!! I have a lot to tell -- I plan to tell it all in order, but it's going to take me some time to sit down and type it all out. Plus, I want to do the story with pictures and I need to give Hothat some time to get those ready. So be patient!

If you ever have the chance to just throw some clothes into a backpack and get on a plane to somewhere, I highly recommend you DO IT. It is so worth the adventure. Oh the places you can go, the things you can see, the people you can meet!!

Until I can get started on the story of my adventure --- tell me about what yours would be. Where do you want to go? What do you want to see and do? What do you want to experience?

Random Blabbering....

2006-04-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

The salary dance is over -- the crowd applauded, it ended in a pretty pose. I'm happy -- I think they're happy -- I know they will be happy later. I can do this job. I can DO THIS. It's gonna be alright.

I'm leaving this afternoon after work to head for Llano. I'm picking up Kathy and we are driving to Austin, where we will meet up with Heather (hothat). We are flying out of Austin tomorrow morning at 7am and headed to NEW YORK CITY!! Oh man oh man, I may jump out of my shoes with excitement!

It just occurred to me that you should know that "Hothat" should be pronounced as "Hot Hat" -- not "Hoe-That".

Hopefully when I get back to the blog, there will be NYC pics. This will be if Hothat takes them -- because my digi camera went BUST. Grrrr! It keeps burning up the batteries and it smells like burning electrical wires. I don't want to pack it. I'm afraid it will overheat in my backpack and the overhead bin on the plane will begin to smoke and we'll catch fire and crash in a giant explosion somewhere over Indiana? Ohio? And it will be all my fault for packing that damn camera......

I'm going to miss my guys this weekend. I hope they miss me.

:o)

Change is ugh.

2006-04-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in the post before last that my job is changing. Well, I'm not happy about it. I hate change. It makes me all wigged out. I like my world nice and calm and PREDICTABLE. When I can't see what's coming, I get all stressed out. Only it doesn't really show much -- I internalize it. I'm an "internal cycler", or at least I think that is what Dr. Nina said.

Britt is apparently telling people that I have "decided to leave" the adjuster's office, which is a straight up lie. This is HIS choice. If it were up to me, I'd continue to work for him in the morning and the body-shop in the afternoon and everything would move along swimmingly and my life would be just peachy. But it isn't and I guess maybe that's his way of coping -- to tell people it's my decision instead of saying, "The company isn't making enough money to afford to pay her anymore....." But... still. Ugh.

Then I'm doing the "salary dance" with Rick at the body shop and yesterday did not go the way I expected or wanted it to go. So, again, Ugh. Negotiating a salary is so uncomfortable. I see now how Donald Trump appears so detached and cold -- you have to be that way when negotiating about money. You can't make it personal. Altho, in this case it IS personal because, to me, we are talking about MY WORTH. Which is apparently more to me than it is to an employer.... but hey! Ain't that the way it goes? So we'll dance a little more today, maybe he'll step on my toes and maybe I'll twirl around and maybe then he'll dip me and we'll end in a beautiful pointy pose under the disco ball while the ending strains of "She Works Hard for the Money" by Donna Summer plays in the background.....

See? I'm wigged out. Now I'm hallucinating.

5 Que?

2006-04-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

So... the 5K run. Well, I didn't run it. Nor did I walk it. I skipped it entirely.

I felt a little bit bad about it at first. A little bit -- but not enough to make me go and do it. I knew I was losing my excitement and mojo for it several weeks ago when I tried and realized that I could run the 5K distance. Once I knew that, it didn't matter anymore if I raced it or not. I was more about Can I do it? than I was about competing with anyone for it.

Then about a week or so before the event, Kathy issued the invitation to come to her house and sit on the patio and drink margaritas while planning our trip to NYC.

So my decision was made. heh.

The day turned out beautiful. Perfect weather, perfect company, perfect food and drink. What could be better?

We got to Llano about 11:30-ish, visited with Kathy while waiting for Heather and her fam to arrive. They got in about 12:30pm. Funniest part of the day: Kevin (Heather's hubby) telling Jimmy about the pies Heather made and brought. "Coconut cream pie. How gay is that?" Heather & I about died laughing because we both know Jimmy's favorite pie in the world is coconut cream -- but he wasn't going to say anything. We told Kevin, who's response was, "Oh..... well he's secure in his masculinity then." That was quite the ice-breaker!

Then the guys headed for the golf course for the afternoon. Us womenfolk went to town and had a bite of lunch at a local tea room/shop, joined by Heather's adorably precocious daughter, Abby. What a trip that girl is --- only in 1st grade, yet so sure of herself and what she wants. I hope she keeps that attitude thru her teen years! Nobody will mess with her, for sure. :o)

After lunch, we made the rounds thru town, stopping for fresh cut steaks and fixins' -- and of course, to the liquor store for margarita stuff.......

Then it was back to the house and out to the patio with mango margaritas and Kaluha mudslides (what a combo!). We poured over Fromme's guide to NYC and made a few site seeing plans for this upcoming weekend. We drank our sweet margaritas and wondered what the smell was wafting over the fence from the pasture (some sort of carcass, apparently). Luckily once the grill was fired up, the smell was less prevalent. We enjoyed beautiful rib-eye steaks with salad and garlic bread, cheesecake and brokeback..... er I mean coconut cream pie, along with good company, lots of laughter and good times.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The perfect Saturday. :o)

So I leave Thursday after work and won't be back until Sunday night from NYC -- hopefully I'll have pictures and lots to tell!!!

Talk back at me.....

Hey, long time no see.

2006-04-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

I know. I just don't have much to say and I figure if you wanted to know, you'd ask. ha!

The 5K is this coming Saturday. I will be glad to be over with it. Frankly, I may not even go. How do you like them apples? I know I can run it. I guess since I *said* I would do it and I paid $20 for an entry fee, I should do it. I just really don't care anymore. But that's how it works with me. I get excited, then I stop caring.

I'm sitting here waiting for it to start pouring down rain, which it is going to do any minute now. This means I can't get out and run this evening. Boohoo. I'm so sad. *snork*

I didn't eat breakfast this morning, which gave me a huge honkin' headache from hunger pains, so Jimmy & I went to Chili's and I had a huge honkin' hamburger and fries and 2 -- yes, 2! -- Dr. Peppers. My headache is nearly gone now. Never underestimate the power of a good burger.

I'm changing jobs. I'm going to begin working for the body shop full-time and maybe help Britt out a few hours a week from my house. I have not talked salary with Rick yet -- I hope we can come to an agreement that we are both happy with. I can't work for peanuts. I have bills to pay and commitments to keep. But surely we can arrive and something mutually satisfactory. I'm praying on it.

I am ready to go to NEW YORK CITY. Oops. I wasn't supposed to let that cat out of the bag yet. My bad.

There may be a GULL CRUISE 2007 summer vacation in the works. I hope so!!!!

bye for now!

Friday Blog-Trippin'

2006-04-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am bored at work, waiting for 5pm (why did I take an afternoon job? Money? oh yea..... money. ) So to kill time I started reading random blogs. You click on the "next blog" icon at the upper right of your screen and just see where it takes you.

Fascinating.

Of course there is the occaisonal blog in some foreign language that I can't tell up or down from. But in between those are the gems:

Amom from Tennessee who writes about daily life with her adorable twin baby girls (ahhh babies! sweet memories.... *sigh*).....

Photos of yeast bread in the shape of bunnies and chicks.....

Instructions on how to make a perfect omellette.....

Photos from a road trip to Philly by a bunch of apparent Frat boys.... hilarious.....

Some dude's porn paintings..... (whoa!)

Various flower gardens.......

Numerous thoughts on religion, spirituality and Jesus.......(say what you will, I've talked to the dude, he's real).......

All in all, it was a neat trip.

Social Butterfly

2006-04-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

Suddenly I am feeling that my social calendar is filling up.

April 22nd - 5K run in Goldthwaite. I am no longer skeered of it-- I know I can do it. It's only a matter of how fast, now. I'm still working on that. After the run, we are going to Llano and I'm going to see a Gull or two, have a margarita or two and a whole bunch o' laughs with a lot of food. Can't wait!

April 28th - Trip to NYC! I still almost can't believe its going to happen. We got the plans made, the tickets are bought. Now we wait.......

May 10-14 - Jimmy & I are going to the PGA tour's Byron Nelson event in Dallas, Texas. We are going to follow the pros around - hopefully Fred Couples will be there! He is Jimmy's favorite golfer and he is a joy to watch. He's sooooo smooth. It will be very cool to see all of them. I hope we get some photo opportunities before the actual tournament starts (they don't let you carry in a camera once play begins on Thursday!)

I am really looking forward to that week and spending some time with Jimmy doing something we both enjoy. He is so passionate about golf -- it pleases me to see him light up about the subject! :o) And it is fun to just hang out with him. He always makes me laugh. This trip is going to be awesome......

Gotta run - dinner's cookin!

It's crazy! It's adventurous!!!

2006-04-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

I am going to New York City!!!

Kathy has always wanted to take a last minute spur of the moment trip to NYC..... she said how bout April 28th? And Heather & said "Ummmmmm OKAY! Let's do it!!"

So I'm going to NYC!!!!!

oh my gosh it's crazy!!!!

:o)

Tuesday update...

2006-04-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

Not much going on around here.

Did I tell ya I started working part-time in the afternoons for our friends Rick & Tish at their auto body shop? Well if not, I just did. It's only 1 to 5 for now, clerical type work. I think if anything happens with my 1st job at the insurance adjuster's office, I will be able to make the body shop job full-time. We'll see how things go. For now, I kinda like the 2 part-time jobs. I get a lot of variety, see different people and it keeps me busy.

I am still in training for the 5K races. The first one is coming up quick -- April 22nd. I will be sending in my registration form tomorrow. I am still a little skeered about it. I hope everything goes well. Yesterday, I went ahead and ran the entire distance (3.1 miles) just to see how long it would take me. I did it in about 43 minutes and that was with slowing down to a brisk walking pace in a few places (for a block or two) so that my calves could ease up.

It takes me a long time to get warmed up properly, no matter how much I stretch and move around before starting. By the time I got to the last mile, I was warm and loose and it was fairly easy to keep a steady pace. The first mile is always the hardest for me.

But -- 43 minutes isn't bad at this point in the process. Maybe over the course of the next couple of weeks I can shave a few minutes off that and manage the 5K in 40 minutes or less. That would be awesome. The registration form says it is a 5K Run/Walk -- so I imagine there will be people there of all sizes, shapes and speeds. I am not worried that I'll be the last one to finish.

And if I am --- so what? Right?

:o)

When Worlds Collide

2006-03-30T07:38:00.000-08:00

You know how you have different sets of friends? Like you might have "work friends" and then you have "church friends" and then "all-my-life friends"? And normally you don't blend the groups together because they don't have anything in common and generally they won't mix well so you just don't bother.........?

Well. I have sort of blended my Gulls in with my Turbocation chicks -- or vice versa -- on my voluminous email chain that runs day in day out. Normally I would have several chains going. Two or three with the Turbochix (hey a new name for ya'll!) and then at least one with the Gulls and sometimes one with just Kathy or with Kathy & Heather (hothat) and sometimes Lori if she's around.

But yesterday I sent out one of those cute little internet surveys (What Movie Star Are You?) and I blended the groups together and now we are all chatting and emailing up a storm.

For me, it is highly entertaining. The best of both worlds. I wonder how the others are enjoying it though. For them, it is like being at a party and not knowing everyone there.

I can see the entire group together in my mind. They'd get along soooooo great, I think.

I can see everyone enjoying Heather (Turbochick) because, well, everyone does. I can see her and Kathy in deep discussion about religion and Jesus. (Kathy -- she's one of those "we can't wear green ever again!" people)

I can see Nina and Heather sitting together, discussing really deep subjects and being all "thinky" and occasionally belly laughing because both of 'em are quite funny.

I can see Lori and Dawn lounging side by side, each with a cold beer in hand, eating some chips and dip, talking about their kids and stuff.

I think the two groups would really like each other. They would have me in common....... that's worth hours of conversation right there. Haha!

Yes, I think it could work. After all, I don't hang out with losers.......

Just for fun!

2006-03-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html

Random Blog Surprise!

2006-03-27T15:01:00.000-08:00

My friend Kathy (Gull!) tells me that she has my blog set as her homepage? And sometimes when she fires it up ---- instead of THIS page she gets a random blog from cyber space. I don't understand why this happens or what is going on. We have verified numerous times to make sure she has the URL correct -- and she does.

Sometimes she gets me. Sometimes she gets something completely different.

Now -- no one is complaining. In fact, Kathy enjoys the randomness of it. It's always a surprise. It's like Christmas with a blog!

Well, this is what she thinks thus far. The day she opens up the page to find a hairy fat dude wearing only a bonnet and high heels.................................. well, her opinion might change.

Does the random blog thing happen to anyone else?

Friday miscellaneous....

2006-03-24T08:52:00.000-08:00

Donde es su llaves?

So far the answers have been (a) in the bathtub (b) in my purse (c) on the ends of my arms...

feel free to give your own answer.

If a movie was made about your life, who would star as you?

A friend said Reese Witherspoon would play me -- which makes me smile because I think she's really pretty and sweet in a totally Southern way.

Name your celebrity!

The Secret Weekend Revealed!

2006-03-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

( left to right: Heather (aztlgrl), me, Dawn (dusk)
and Nina (neeeena) )

Finally I have time to tell about what I've been saying I can't tell about:

On the weekend of March 10th, 3 of my friends from the Beachbody community flew to Dallas on the first leg of their "Turbocation". This was a week long Spring Break vacation where they would go semi-cross county to meet up and workout to Turbo Jam ( www.turbojam.com ) with stars from the TJ workouts. Dallas was the first stop, to workout with Mindy Robison ( www.mindyrobison.blogspot.com ) , then it was on to Los Angeles to meet with not only ALL the stars of the workouts, but the Queen herself: Turbo Jam Creator Chalene Johnson! (www.turbokick.com)

Unfortunately, I could not go on the LA leg of the trip. I had to be content with a weekend in Dallas - which I was! It was great!

Part of the appeal to this, for me, was meeting these 3 great women I have *known* for a couple of years through emails, text messages, the Beachbody community and occasional phone calls. I know some of you are thinking, "OMG she met people from the internet!" and yes..... it some ways it is a weird experience. I've done it before and it can entail good and bad --- bad when someone has misrepresented who they are and you don't figure it out until you are face to face.

But not these gals. They are who they are -- and they are my friends. :o)

So it started Friday when I picked up Heather at the airport in the late morning. We drove around the parking lot for a while until we figured out how to exit. Okay -- until I figured out how to exit. Then we had lunch, checked into our hotel and chilled out until the other 2 came flying in. We picked them up at the airport, had squeals and hugs, then it was off to a late dinner (late cuz the restaurant forgot we were waiting on a table..... but it's all good, we got free desserts!)

The thing that amazes me every time I have met someone from Beachbody is that pictures don't really do a person justice. People always look better in person -- and that couldn't be more true than in this case. These girls just....... glow with friendship and positive attitude. They beam!

Friday night was spent "slumber party style" -- teaching Nina to do makeup and giving her a complete "Texas style" makeover. Then it was to bed. We arose early Saturday and drove into Arlington to Turbo Jam with Mindy. What a workout!!! The class was jumpin' when we arrived (late due to traffic) I totally meant to stay in the back and just move around and "not get sweaty" --- but you just can't help yourself! The music is thumpin', Mindy is everywhere and the energy is so contagious..... so I was a sweaty mess (even if it didn't look like it, girls! I don't sweat on the face -- my back and ass were soaked though. Nice image, eh?)

Then it was lunch and chilling out at the hotel for a bit. Then Saturday we had dinner with Mindy in Fort Worth's Sundance Square. Great mexican food and great company! Mindy is a real sweetie.

On the way back to the hotel from dinner, Heather nearly got us all killed by a serial murderer. We had to stop on the freeway due to an accident up ahead. While we sat stopped in traffic, some dude came walking down the road from up ahead. Heather non-chalantly began to roll her window down to talk to him. I guess I was a little....... boisterous..... in my telling her DO NOT ROLL DOWN YOUR WINDOW HE IS NOT IN A POLICE OR FIREMAN UNIFORM HE COULD BE ANYBODY HE COULD BE A KILLER HE COULD SHOOT YOU IN THE FACE!!! Which the gals thought was just HEE-larious but I stand by my actions. Texas is friendly, yes --- but not on the freeway at midnight in the middle of DFW....

Sunday we went to Dealey Plaza and took in the conspiracy theorists setups on the Kennedy assasination. Interesting stuff -- go if you get the chance. It is just spooky to physically be in the place we've all seen on tv countless times. Then we walked to the West End where the girls did some souvenier shopping and we had a great lunch at the Cadillac Bar.....

Then we stopped at Mecca for Heather.... I mean, Texas Stadium.... so she could take a few pictures. :o)

Then back to the hotel and alas! It was time for me to head out and get home.

I'll never forget the image of Nina standing in the hallway pouting as I walked away......

:o(

I miss you ladies! We should definitely do it again next year -- only next time, I AM COMING TO LA, DAMMIT! Ya'll had way too much fun without me.....

I'm baaaaccckkkkk!

2006-03-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

But I'm not gonna tell ya where I went just yet. Heh.

Today I'm going to say hi to my brother, who just may stumble his way over to my blog.

HI BILLY!!!!! *waving madly*

See, my brother is cool (don't tell him I said that) and now that we are grown-ups, kind of bizarre because he is like, a clone of our Dad. They talk the same, they have the same mannerisms. It is really..... weird. Kinda. But cool, too, because our Dad is cool. So that makes Billy cool, too. "Cooler than the other side o' the pillow" as Jimmy would say.

Growing up, it was just Billy & me. No other siblings. He is 2 years younger than me and we grew up really close. We played games together, and "Little People" (still my fave toy EVER!! Billy, what were their names? We had Richard and Julia and I can't remember the others.......)

We lived out in the country and during the summer, we would pack some food and go traipsing off through the pasture to have a picnic (remember???) OH! There was this big pond on the back of our land and in the summer it would be all stagnant and grown over with moss. Billy would stand on one side -- I on the other --- and we would use long yucca sticks to FLING moss at each other!! (Remember??!!) And we'd end up stinky and covered in yuck water and moss.....

Good times. *sigh*

So many memories...... The time Billy tied himself into a wagon and crashed down the hill in front of the house........ the time he rode his bike thru a pack of fighting dogs.........the time he landed flat on his back when we were playing "Olympics" on the swing set and the air rushed out of him and he ran around the yard making this "Sqqqqquuueeeeeee!" noise............... OH! We had this old row boat called "The African Queen" on our big pond out back and we would get in it with Dad and just row around for no reason. Billy would want to get out, so Dad would pull up to the side, and when Billy had one leg on the ground and one still in the boat, Dad would shove off and Billy would fall in the water! bwwwahahahahaaaa And he fell for it EVERY TIME......... The funniest was when he decided he needed to be more comfortable in the boat so he brought his pillows with him from his bed. Yeah, he was holding them in his arms when Dad shoved off that time. I can still see him falling backwards into the water, pillows and all....... bwwwahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa

Ahhhhhhhhh the memories. Good times. *sigh*

Alright Billy -- leave me a comment. Feel free to tell the world embarassing stories about me if you like. But remember -- I have more to tell if I choose. ;o) Muuuaaaaahhhhaahaha *evil laugh*

I'm a crappy blogger.

2006-03-09T07:39:00.000-08:00

Anonymous -- is that you, Buckets? :o) If it is, you just giggled. If not, you are wondering why in the world someone would be called "Buckets". It's a long story. One I won't tell right now. :o)

I've been remiss in my blogging! Let's face it, I'm just not bloggerific like some (www.neeeenaz.blogspot.com) but -- today I'm here. What's been happenin' in the world o' Tam?

I got an afternoon part-time job. That has been keeping me busy, with less time to blog, as well as less important things like laundry and vacuuming. But that's why I have kids. (To clean -- not to compose my blog.) So my new job is working as a secretary for our friends auto-body shop. It isn't hard work. I think I am learning the system pretty quick and in a week or so I should be confident that I'm doing everything the way they want it done.

It fills my afternoon from 1pm to 5pm so I am not bored. And it is extra income, which is much needed. Jacob needs braces!! (picture me shaking the dice and shouting that instead of "baby needs new shoes") The property taxes need payin'! It just goes on and on.

The weather here has been quite nice lately. Looks like I'll be golfing again soon with the hubby :o) Good times. Good times.

I have committed to run in TWO 5K races this season. Yes, TWO. I'll wait for a sec while you get up off the floor from your cold faint. Ready? Okay. Yes, I will run on April 22nd in Goldthwaite, Texas for the Cabrito 5K Run (I think that means goat. Nina? translation?) Then I will head to Marble Falls, Texas on May 20th for the CASA charity 5K run. (Gulls -- got that? May 20th. Are you training yet? Don't leave me hangin'. Mark it in ink!)

It's all part of the "Get Outside Your Box" Challenge (or GOYB if you will) taking place at "Neeeena's Respectin' the X!" forum on the boards at Beachbody.com. Now and then we think up ways to keep the mojo goin' and this is one of 'em. I have to say for a non-runner, I am certainly excited by the prospect of running across the finish line and realizing that I DID IT. :o)

So I'm training here and there, with my OFFICIAL training starting Monday, March 13th.

Wish me luck. And strength.

I'm going out of town for the weekend, leaving bright and early tomorrow a.m. so I won't be around for the weekend. However, I may have some interesting stuff to blog about come Monday or Tuesday. What could it be? I wonder?

Stay tuned................

Is this working?

2006-03-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Is my blog broke?

What keeps me runnin'

2006-03-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

If I start my run at the right time of the afternoon, I hear this song on the radio about 1/2 way through. It makes it really easy to keep going, especially hearing the chorus:

I catch the sound of my name
And I start to wonderJust how long I’ve been asleep
You say it’s time, time to rise
Wake from all this slumber
Suddenly my deepest winter’s turning into spring
Turning into spring

(chorus) I’m alive, I’m alive again
I can feel my heartbeat
Breathing out and I’m breathing in
You have come and rescued me
And I’m alive again

I feel the sun on my face
Seems I had forgotten
What it means to really live
Filled with hope filled with love
And anticipation
Standing with my arms wide open free as I have been
Free as I have ever been

(chorus) I’m alive, I’m alive again
I can feel my heartbeat
Breathing out and I’m breathing in
You have come and rescued me
And I’m alive again

--- Alive Again by Scott Krippayne

Some things you didn't know you didn't know.

2006-03-01T07:44:00.000-08:00

The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.

A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.

The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. It was the fashion in Renaissance Florence to shave them off.

The average chocolate bar has 8 insect legs in it.

Every drop of seawater contains approximately 1 billion gold atoms
.
Just about 3 people are born every second, and about 1.3333 people die every second. The result is about a 2 and 2/3 net increase of people every second. Almost 10 people more live on this Earth now, than before you finished reading this.

There is a rare condition called Exploding Head Syndrome which you have probably never heard of.

Pinocchio was made of pine.

The oldest known vegetable is the pea.

If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.

Nondairy creamer is flammable.

A newborn expels its own body weight in waste every 60 hours.

It is estimated that at any one time, 0.7% of the world's population are drunk.

I love internet surveys.

2006-02-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

I saw this one on 2 friends' blogs and I had to steal it for mine :o) Feel free to copy & paste it into the "comments" section and give me your answers. I love this stuff! Hokey, I know, but that's me.

FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE (not in order):
1. Waitress
2. Dairy Queen drive-in window person
3. Bank Teller
4. Office Manager

FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1. Braveheart
2. Pulp Fiction (say WHAT again!)
3. Titanic
4. Sister Act 2 (I love the singing)

FOUR CITIES YOU'VE LIVED IN:
1. Odessa, TX
2. Kingsland, TX (technically not a city)
3. Marina, CA
4. Brownwood, TX

FOUR SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH:
1. Cold Case
2. American Idol
3. Medium
4. Iron Chef America

FOUR FAVORITE PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION:
1. Lake Buchanan, TX
2. Hawaii
3. Playa del Carmen, Mexico (great pico de gallo)
4. Galveston, TX

FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY:
1. Gmail.com
2. Beachbody.com forums
3. Foxnews.com
4. Various friends' blogs

FOUR OF YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE RESTAURANTS:
1. Mi Familia (local tex-mex place)
2. Prima Pasta (local italian place)
3. Red Lobster
4. Any steakhouse

FOUR SCHOOLS YOU'VE ATTENDED:
1. Llano Elementary
2. Llano Jr. High
3. Llano High School
4. Mansfield Business College

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Chicken fajitas
2. Chile rellenos
3. Brownies
4. Dr. Pepper :o)

FOUR THINGS YOU WANT RIGHT NOW:
1. A gazillion dollars
2. A baby grand piano
3. A home on the beach
4. World peace :o)

FOUR NICKNAMES YOU'VE HAD:
1. Heifer
2. Sister
3. Tutu
4. Tam

Putting stuff behind you

2006-02-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

Ever had a time when stupid, bad thoughts just bubble up and you can't seem to get them to go away?

Like, stuff that has come and gone and been resolved, but every now and then for whatever reason your mind just sort of drifts back and it's all right there in front of your face again?

I don't know why that happens..... maybe for us women it is partly hormonal because this past few days I have certainly been hormonally challenged. It is just so annoying, though. It's like everything is fine and then all of a sudden, the devil is whispering in your ear, "What if it isn't fine? What if........"

My solution to those times is to just give it away in prayer, which is what I have been doing for the past few days. Whenever the whispering starts, I just think, "Father -- take this from me. I don't want to go there, I don't want to feel it again. Just take it from me and handle it please."

Today in my email, I believe I got a reply:

The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:8-9

The Idiot Box

2006-02-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

I wonder..... does what a person watches on television say a lot about him/her self? Here is what I watch regularly. You be the judge!

Mondays:
Monday Night Football -- if it is the season
The Bachelor -- I hate this show but keep flipping back to it during commercial breaks
Medium -- I watch this one, start to finish

Tuesdays:
American Idol -- need I say more?

Wednesdays:
American Idol -- yes, again
The Biggest Loser

Thursdays:
Survivor -- a show I try to not get involved in, but ultimately I can find nothing else to watch
The Office
ER -- my viewing of this one has been "take it or leave it" for the past 2 seasons

Fridays:
Seems I don't watch a lot on Friday but if I am around, I find myself flipping between TLC's "What Not To Wear" and the Food channel. Usually, there is a movie on somewhere.

Saturdays:
TLC extravaganza: Flip This House, Moving Up, Trading Spaces and, lately "Wild Weddings"

Sundays:
Cold Case -- it's my regular Sunday night have a good cry show

I have been watching the Olympics this week. Seems there is always some drama, excitement and inspiration to be had there.

Daytime shows: I do enjoy Dr. Phil most of the time. I will watch Oprah depending on the topic. Sometimes I get tired of her "I'm saving the world" stuff. Tell me, honestly, can a person really be that altruistic all the time? After a while, it starts to seem so self-glorifying. "I am Oprah, hear me roar....."

But that's a whole ' nother topic....

How was your weekend?

2006-02-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

Pretty good, thanks.

Friday afternoon, I met up with a bunch of gals from church and we went off on a "Ladies Retreat" in the Texas Hill Country. It was a really neat way to make some friends. The bummer part of the deal was the weather --- it was below freezing the ENTIRE WEEKEND! The place we were at ( www.threemountainretreat.com ) is really beautiful and there are lots of outdoor activities, NONE of which we could do, due to the freezing drizzle that rained on us nearly the entire time. Hopefully, we will be able to do this again. Spring would be an awesome time, with all the wildflowers in bloom. Ahhhhh.

So what did I learn? Well, I learned that church ladies aren't always "churchy". Which I love. Because me? No so "churchy". I was worried that some might find me....... slightly offensive. Or heathenistic. But no, for the most part, I fit right in. Now, of course, there were some "older" ladies who didn't hang with my group, who went to bed early and were very proper the entire time. But my group? We started Friday after dinner with the hootin' and hollerin' and sharing funny stories. Then we stayed up until after 1:00am playing this card game called "Nertz" ( sort of a fast-paced solitaire type game, very exciting ). The noise level was atrocious but we were having a fantastic time. Funniest things were when Amy McD forgot what the game was called and screamed out "ZERBOT!!!" when she went out. We all nearly died! And we found that Miranda (who sings like an angel with the praise band) laughs EXACTLY LIKE A DONKEY SOUNDS when she gets really tickled. I think we spent more time trying to make her laugh than actually concentrating on the cards.....

Saturday dawned bright and early (ugh!!) and to be honest, I napped a little during "quiet prayer time" (I wasn't the only one, I found out later). The day was spent mainly listening to the guest speaker. Okay, I'll come right out and say it: Not my cup of tea. I found her rather boring. She was a missionary from Africa --- her stories of life in Africa were interesting, but her main area of speaking was basically to tell us how we are all called to be missionaries, preferably overseas. That's nice -- but it isn't my mission; at least not at this point in my lifetime. So I listend some, but mainly busied myself with reading the book of Ezekiel. Now there's some weird, prophetic crazy stuff. Good reading, but wild.

Then lunch time came and afterwards, we were free to go or to hang out and shop in town or whatever. My group chose to go ahead and head home, for which I was very grateful. There were two or three ladies who decided they would try to ride the horses. We drove by the corral on our way out and let me tell ya, those horses looked pissed off. hahahaha I woulda been too, it was like 22 degrees out and misting ice.

Overall -- a good experience. I enjoyed getting to know the girls better. The food was great -- sort of "grandma's home cooking" fare. Fattening as hell but well worth it. And although the speaker wasn't my thing, I did enjoy the time reading out of my Bible.

So now it's Monday and back to the old routine.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep up the "accountability" posting -- I find it boring and redundant. Besides, I want to just "do the work" without having to constantly be thinking about it. There is a fine line between action and obsession when it comes to exercise and food. I read a really great blurb about just that in a magazine over the weekend -- I will maybe find it and print it here.

So how was your weekend? Share!

Nuthin.

2006-02-16T12:56:00.000-08:00

I am supposed to post something but I don't feel like it.

Accountability for the day is good. You can trust me on that! :o)

See ya later!

Souplosion!!!

2006-02-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

I just went to heat up my snack for the morning -- a delicious Campbell's Soup at Hand, Classic Tomato. Yum.

So I set the microwave for 2 minutes, then went to send a couple of faxes. Heard something go "POP"......

My soup exploded!

Apparently, the microwave here at the office is more of a Nuclearwave. I had to wipe down the entire inside of it -- soup was everywhere. And now I am left with a 1/2 container of boiling tomato soup to try and drink........

The german chocolate cake on the counter is whispering to me, but I will continue to ignore it.

Accountability 2/15:
Food: Breakfast - oatmeal
Morning snack - tomato soup, a few crackers
Lunch - Garden burger on whole wheat w/ lettuce, tomato & fat-free cheese, 1/2 cup baked beans
PM Snack - Nutrigrain cereal bar
Dinner -- Leftover roast, a bit of sweet potato and brussel sprouts

Exercise: Walk/jog for one hour. Today I took my pulse at intervals, alternated walk/jog to keep my heart rate in the "aerobic zone".....

Blame it on cupid.

2006-02-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

Romeo loved Juliet. Rhett loved Scarlett. John loved Yoko. Ozzie loved Harriett. Mork loved Mindy.........

Love is in the air today. Can ya smell it?? :o)

Who do you love?

Accountability for 2/14:
Breakfast: Leftover rice w/cinnamon, splenda and a bit of "I can't believe it's not butter" lite
Snack: Pear and low fat cheese stick
Lunch: Leftover Chili & handful of reduced fat Ritz crackers
Snack: Nutrigrain cereal bar
Dinner: Either pot roast w/sweet potatoes and salad (if it's done on time) OR turkey sandwich and tomato soup

Exercise: Just completed Turbo Sculpt (40 minutes) and I have sweat rolling down my back -- now I'm off to walk briskly around the block for 15 to 20 minutes.....

Accountability: 2/13

2006-02-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

Food: 8:30am whole wheat bagel with fat free cream cheese and no-sugar apricot spread
1:00pm Garden burger on whole wheat bun w/mustard, tomato, onion & lettuce, about 1/2 cup of baked beans, 2 reduced fat Oreos
6:30pm Homemade turkey/lean beef chili w/rice

Workout: Walked/jogged, more jog than walk, paying attention to PRE(Perceived Rate of Exertion) keeping it from 5 to 7, 8 in some places -- total time spent working out - 45 min

Tomorrow will be a better day food-wise because I have everything planned out. However, I won't post it until it's over -- makes no sense to post what I PLAN and then have something go wacky and I don't stick to it. Which won't happen but anyway....

Today was an "OK" day -- I'd rate it a 5.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Monday gets a bad rap.

2006-02-13T09:04:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder if Monday has low self-esteem, comparing itself to the other days? Nobody likes Monday. Everybody loves Friday and Saturday. Tuesday thru Wednesday, while not celebrated, are considered "ok". And Sunday is usually a nice, relaxing day that everyone wants to hold onto. But poor Monday. Nobody likes him.

I'm feeling cranky this morning and I don't know why. I should probably eat something. Which means I need to get to super Walmart for a few things on my list. Then I have to go by 2 banks, doing company business and personal business, then I can go home which is where I want to be.

I see a pot of chili in my future. Chili over rice while watching the Olympics. Sounds good!

Will I exercise today? Most likely. It won't be pretty, but oh well. It needs to get done. I guess you'll find out tomorrow if I did or not!

p.s. Thanks to Paulmoodle for fixing me a few background photos so I can continue to decorate my blog :o)

It gets worse before it gets better.

2006-02-11T16:55:00.000-08:00

The sinus crap, that is.

Last night was the worst thus far this week. What started as just allergy/sinus stuff in my head has sorta migrated down into my throat. I can't seem to clear my throat no matter how hard I try. I feel really gross in the morning -- take a super hot shower and then feel pretty good until about late afternoon. Then I just feel tired and grody, with the constant throat clearing and sniffling.

BUT -- I am hoping that means that it's on the way out! Surely tomorrow will be better. And the next day. And the next.

I believe Jimmy is starting a round of P90X on Monday. I have no desire to make this a place where all I talk about is workouts and diet -- but I'm going to have to post something about it, probably, so that I'll stay on track. Which I have not thus far, really. But with Jimmy working it -- I can do the weight workouts with him. He'll skip the cardio stuff so that I will have to do on my own, on alternate days.

I have something special coming up in March and I really want to be ready for it. Not in the way that I look or what size I am -- but in the way of strength and stamina.

So, here's hoping the sinus crap says good-bye really soon.

CH-CH-CH-CH-Changes....

2006-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

I have figured out how to hack my own blog, so there is no tellin' what you will see here in the days to come. I'm havin' fun playing with different backgrounds and such! Stay tuned!!

p.s. -- I keep coming back to pictures of the beach and ocean. I love the ocean. I love the smell, the sound, everything about it. Someday, I want to live by the ocean.......

Me, from another angle.

2006-02-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

I was so happy to see that HotHat Heather (Triple H -- member of the infamous Gulls) commented on my blog yesterday!! That got me to thinking.....

Since this is my blog I guess it supposed to be about me. But I often don't like to write about myself and I don't usually know what to say.

So today, I have a suggestion:

All of you who read this know me in some way. Some have known me for decades, others just a little while. Today I want all of you to write my blog for me, in the comments section. Each of you tell something you know about me; a memory, a story from our past, maybe I made you laugh or made you cry. Whatever it is, it all tells the story of me....... so let's "hear" it. Write away. And don't be shy. I've done a lot of really embarrassing things in the past, true -- but I don't think I'm one who hides things. Or at least, I don't want to be one who hides things. Within reason of course. Heh. ;o)

And Kathy -- this means you too. Write away! :o)

You gotta have friends......

2006-02-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

It has been said that if you can count the number of friends you have in your lifetime -- really genuine good friends -- one one hand, you are blessed.

Well, I have to use my hands and feet and I still run out of digits.

You know who you are. Thank you for being my friend.

Rewind and Review

2006-02-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

I just sat here and read my entire blog - archives and all. I see that I talk about Jesus a lot. That ain't necessarily a bad thing. I see that I obsess about exercise quite a bit. That isn't good -- I write about it more than I do it. HA! I also write a lot about food and, apparently, a lot of cookies are baked in my kitchen and it is usually Jimmy's fault. HA! again

Oh well, I am who I am and this is me. Cookie eatin' half-ass exercisin' Jesus freakin' Tammy.

I swear there's more to me, I just can't think of what more there is right now.

So I gave my email address to my brother and we are email pals now -- I'm going to give him this blog address so he may stop by. He's a pretty cool dude -- we were always really close growing up (it was just the 2 of us)...... not as close as adults but maybe we'll fix that :o) He has five kids. Yeah, that was not a typo. Five. You and I may think he's crazy (I'm sure he does, too, at times) but they are a happy family and honestly, the kids are adorable. Not adorable enough for me to want another one.... but ya know what I mean. :o) Love ya, Billy.

Also -- Billy -- should you stop by and leave comments, be nice. Remember, I have many, many embarrassing photos of you. And I'm not afraid to post 'em.

Heh.

Who, me? 110 pounds.

2006-02-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, Dave & Woo -- are ya happy now?

So yesterday I pissed and moaned about my weight. Today I'm in a better frame of mind and I have made a decision.

I'm going to just lie and tell everyone I weigh 110 pounds.

Because in the end..... who cares?

On to more important things. I figured our income taxes today -- did you know that you can no longer take the Child Tax Credit when your kid turns 17? Well, neither did I. So now, instead of getting a small refund, we owe, like, a thousand dollars.

Thank you, IRS.

Who decided 17 was the cut-off? I mean, come ON..... he still lives here year round, he is eating our groceries and using our electricity and water. The really crappy part is -- he was 16 until November. I say we should be able to at least count January thru October and get a partial credit. Somebody call George Bush.

What does all this mean? I think it means I get another part-time job....... *sigh*......

FLUMMOXED!

2006-01-31T07:39:00.000-08:00

Okay so today was "weigh and measure day". To be honest, I don't know why I bother, because all it does is make me confused and frustrated and somewhat pissed off.

According to the scale and tape I have gained about 5 pounds, gained 1/2 inch on my waist, lost 1 inch off my belly and gained nearly 2 inches across my ass.

Now, this confuses me because I know I am slimmer. My clothes tell me so - my jeans especially. I can wear them straight out of the dryer now with no flab hanging over the top. And they are not tight in the ass so I don't know where that 2 inches is. Jimmy even commented the other day that my waist looks smaller and my butt looks smaller and tighter. So there! I know it's true!

I have been around the block enough times to know that you can't always trust what the scale and tape say. The human body is a mystery -- it does what it does and none of makes any sense for the most part.

So what is my plan? Because I am obviously farther from my goals now, according to the numbers. Well, for starters:

I am going to start eating every 3 hours. When I lost 45 pounds 2 years ago, I did it by eating. Imagine that! But yes -- you have to eat to make your body burn calories. Right now I think I eat enough, however I don't space it out properly so I probably end up eating too much at one time. So, it's back to breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner for me. This will keep me (A) never feeling hungry and (B) never overeating at mealtime.

I am also increasing my fluid intake. I know I don't drink enough water and that could explain 2 to 4 pounds right there.

I am going to have to suck it up and stop "cheating" so much if I want to be smaller. A cookie or two (or three) here, a Dr. Pepper there..... before you know it, it adds up and I have a tendency to rationalize it away. I will stop that, at least during the week and save the "treats" for the weekend, if then.

My exercise has been fairly good, but yes, there is room for improvement there. I've been managing to workout 4 or 5 days per week usually 5. I will make that a solid 5 for certain -- maybe 6.

I will weigh and measure in two weeks (on Feb. 14th, what a great Valentine's gift that should be) and see if today was just an anomaly or if I truly am a mutant.

Now, I am trying to be really normal about this entire thing and not let it bother me. I know that I should be in this for reasons other than my weight and size. I know that. And I am. I do like working out and how it feels to just feel capable and strong. I am into that. I am already making gains in strength and ability -- all I have to do is count reps to see that.

I am just typically female and, like every other woman out there, I want the physical to reflect that.

Onward and upward, right? :o\

Through the door, into the Light

2006-01-28T11:05:00.000-08:00

Today my thoughts are with someone who this past week took a big step and opened the door to a second chance. I hope and pray that she'll go through that door and follow the path of Light before her, for her destiny is not to live in darkness and pain. She was wonderfully created -- as are we all -- and she's here to to live in joy and happiness and to be forever a shining example of our Father's Glory!

To anyone who hides behind a smile
To anyone who holds their pain inside
To anyone who thinks they're not good enough
To anyone who feels unworthy of love
To anyone who ever closed the door
Closed their eyes and locked themselves away

You don't have to hide
You don't have to hide anymore
You don't have to face this on your own
You don't have to hide anymore

So come out, come out, come out wherever you are
To anyone who's tryin' to cover up their scars
To anyone who's ever made a big mistake
We've all been there, so don't be ashamed
Come out, come out and join the rest of us
You've been alone for way too long

You don't have to hide
You don't have to hide anymore
You don't have to face this on your own
You don't have to hide anymore

And if you feel like no one understands
Come to the One with scars on His hands
'Cause He knows where you are, where you've been
His scars will heal you if you let Him

(--- "hide" by joy williams)

HI KATHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-01-26T07:14:00.000-08:00

It was brought to my attention that my friend Kathy (member of the infamous Gulls, my confidant and faith mentor and all around good for a guffaw girl) has my Blog as her computer's homepage. This puts a lot of pressure on me to write up something on a near daily basis, so that she will be highly entertained. For that alone is my purpose. To entertain. But... I digress....

I wish I had a picture of Kathy to post on here. Hmmmmmmmm. If I dig around I bet I can find one. I may amend this entry later to add a photo. Perhaps I can find the famous "John the Baptist head on a platter" photo of Kathy taken as a Senior picture in 1985. Ahhhhhhhh the memories. Just thinking of that one brings a giggle.

Don't worry Kathy. I would never post that here for the world to see. *wink... nudge*

Just imagine what life would be like if Kathy had never moved to Texas. *gasp!* I cannot imagine. I do not want to go there. Life would just not be the same. I hope that all of you reading this have friends like I do. That is truly a blessing!

Kathy -- I love you!!! This is for you............... *ahem*....... (music begins...)

So truuuuuuuue
Funny how it seeeeeeeeems
Always in time,
but never in line for dreams
Head over heels,when toe to toe
This is the sooooouuuuuund of my soul
This is the soooooouuuuund
I bought a ticket to the world
But now I’ve come back again
Why do I find it hard to write the next line
When I want the truth to be said
Ah ooh oooh oooooohhh Ahhhhhh
I know this much is true
Ah ooh ooh oooohhhh Ahhhh
I know this much is
Truuueeee!!!!

My Grandpa

2006-01-24T11:44:00.000-08:00

This is my Grandpa and LJ when he was about 3 years old. They are making tomato sauce. That was the year my grandparents' garden put out more cherry tomatoes than you could ever possibly imagine. I remember Grandma asking "What do you want me to make for dinner?" and Grandpa replied, "I don't know, but it better not have any damn tomatoes in it!" Teehee.

When I was growing up, we lived just down the road from my grandparents. Looking back, I see how special this was. My cousins only saw Grandpa a few times a year -- I could see him every day and pretty much did. When I was little, I would spend the night there and always slept in one of his giant, white cotton t-shirts. I remember we couldn't bathe and get ready for bed until after Grandpa did. Later, Grandma told me that this was because when he was a child, he was last in line for a bath and had to use the bathwater left from all the other kids, never fresh, clean water.

He always smelled like Campho-Phenique. He wore coveralls (like in the picture above) every day. The only time I ever remember seeing him in a suit was for his 50th anniversary party. He worked hard and had his own business for years -- it was common to see him screeching around town in his little Ford Courier pickup. This was a sight to see because he was a big man -- 6'4 and probably 250 pounds or better in his hey day.

In his later years, you could find him kicked back in his recliner watching television in the living room. It was always his routine to nap after lunch. I remember one time my brother and I took our tape recorder and recorded his snoring during naptime. When we played it back for him later, he feigned surprise and swore that could not be him making all that racket!

When the smaller grandkids and great grandkids were around, he would mesmerize them with stories of his days "Down on the Pecos with Pancho Villa" (yes, I was a teenager before I figured out these were made up stories! He was convincing!) He would bounce babies on his knee, singing:

Peepin' through the knot-holeof grandpa's wooden leg,

Who'll wind the clock when I'm gone?

Bring me the ax There's a flea in Lizzie's ear,

And a boy's best friend is his mother.

After LJ was born and it was time for me to return to work, Grandpa and Grandma were my "daycare". They doted on LJ -- spoiled him rotten. Grandpa would hold him and sing to him. Grandma would dance around the room with him to her favorite Cajun music (to this day he loves the Zydeco). He was their baby, their special great grandson, until we moved to California when LJ was about 18-months old.

Time marched on -- Grandpa grew older and more frail as the years went by. Eventually, he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak clearly. This was frustrating to him. You could tell he had things to say, but the words just would not come out right. At first, Grandma could help him around the house, but in time he needed a nurse's care to help him in and out of bed or a chair, to use the bathroom and to bathe.

Early one morning, he woke up before Grandma -- and before the nurse arrived -- and tried to get to the bathroom on his own. He fell in the hallway, striking his head on the door frame, breaking his neck. He was rushed to the hospital, where they placed him in a steel "halo" to keep him immobile. My dad called me at work and told us to come -- and come quickly. It was so sad. Grandpa was so weak, so skinny and frail looking in that hospital bed. He was awake, but not very alert, and not saying much. I went in and spoke to him for a few minutes -- he did not respond.

LJ was with us -- he was 13 and just old enough to be able to go in and visit. I'll never forget this: we walked in together, he went to the head of the bed, leaned over and gently said, "Papa, it's me." And Grandpa smiled and whispered, "That's my boy....."

:o)

Grandpa never left the hospital. They did all they could for him, but he was too frail to hang on. He passed on Christmas Day, 2002.

Answers

2006-01-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

Dave:
Multiply the number by the reciprocal of the fraction.
Simplify the resulting fraction if possible.
Check your answer: Multiply the result you got by the divisor and be sure it equals the original dividend.
(Or do what I do -- refuse to do math. Buy a calculator.)

Web: Four. Then I always chew 'em up. I'm an impatient hussy.

Heather: It depends on the wood. Pine? Birch? Oak? I need more details.

Friday Ramblings......

2006-01-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

The picture above is the Photo of the Day from www.wikipedia.org and depicts a collection of sake barrels. Sake is a Japanese alcoholic beverage, brewed from rice. In Japan, the word simply means alcoholic beverage. As with other alcohol in Japan, sake is poured with the palm of the hand facing down and the back of the hand facing up, particularly when it is poured for another person. Pouring with the palm of the hand facing up is considered rude and is likely to elicit surprise and disapproval.

How do you pour something with your palm facing up? I don't get that.

And this has nothing to do with my life, I just found it interesting. Maybe I will start doing a "factoid of the day" thing around here.

My health and fitness plan is coming right along. I am noticing changes, good changes. Jimmy said he notices them, too. That means I am not hallucinating. Hallelujah!

Web asked about my running. Well, it's coming along slowly. My knees bothered me this week quite a bit more than normal, so I only walked yesterday for an hour. Today they feel much, much better, but I won't run again until next week. The running thing is surprising me in that it really isn't that bad once I am warmed up and going. I can now see the peacefulness of it that so many "runners" tell you exists. The key is to run YOUR race...... not theirs. This is why I struggled for so long, I felt I had to do it a certain way, which usually meant running miles and miles as fast as possible without stopping. Well -- no, that isn't my race. That isn't my pace. So I do MY thing and it works. Imagine that. ;o)

This week has seemed really long for having a Monday holiday. What's up with that?

I still have "vacation fever" but I make myself put it out of my mind because there's no way to fly off to paradise anytime soon. But someday it'll happen. I can wait.

I am slightly anxious over finances right now. We have property taxes, some bills we want paid off, our property insurance comes up in May and Jacob needs braces. When I think about all of it in one big bundle it makes me feel nervous. It seems like everytime we start to gain an edge on things, something else comes up. I suppose it is like that for everyone, eh? One thing at at time, it will all work out. It always has.

So that's my week. Pretty boring. Hey, some of ya'll should start asking me questions in the comments section, then I could answer them the next day. Like Dear Abby. That would give me something to write about, at least.

It's a nothing day....

2006-01-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

Well. I suppose that might offend some since today is MLK day -- what I meant was, for me, it has been a "Do nothing day". I had the day off work. The weather outside is cloudy and windy. It doesn't appear to be very inviting. I have passed most of the day by doing laundry and watching TLC's What Not to Wear or Food Network.

I am somewhat disappointed that the day is not sunny & bright. If it were, I would head for the park. *sigh*

So, it's just a boring, do nothing day for me here at the house.

I'll try to think up something cool to write about tomorrow.

:o)

I'm a trainwreck....

2006-01-13T15:47:00.000-08:00

That pic is for Dave & Heather. Because... I'm like dat. Ha!

So I haven't said much lately about my quest for fitness. That is mainly because I have not wanted to jinx myself. It never fails -- if I write or talk about it, then I end up quitting big time!! So I have just kept quiet about it here and elsewhere and just been doing the work. Anyhoo -- I dont want you to think I forgot about it or just blew it off, I have not. I intend to update my stats at the end of the month and I'll report to you then how it is goin.

So, I think my quest right now is to build up the stamina to actually run. I am not built for running -- my legs are like, 1 foot long each. I have a big bosom that heaves and requires 2 sport bras when jumping up and down. My lungs are tiny. I don't have a stride and I run "flat footed". Overall, it is just not pretty. BUT I have asked around and read bits here and there and based on what I'm getting, anyone can run as long as you ease into it correctly.

Which is what I'm working on. Today was a run day. I borrowd LJ's iPod thingie because I figured having music would (A) be a good way to pass the time and (B) DISTRACT ME FROM THE IMMENSE PAIN. hahaha Which it did, but here's what I did. I didnt load anything into it and I didn't want to listen to his stuff so I put it on the local fm Christian radio station, 99.3 the Rock. The afternoon gal plays pretty cool, funky stuff, upbeat so I figured it would get my feet moving, which it did.

But at the end I was just..... so tired and my butt was draggin' let me tell ya. Just then, this song came on by Kirk Franklin called "Lifting it up to You" (I think that's what it was called I could be wrong) Now this song is like 70's soul music -- it almost has a disco groove and well, my feet HAD to get moving. So off I went. That was very, very cool. Just what I needed when I needed it. Which is no surprise because, hey, He's cool like that.

Then I had to laugh because after that I was BEAT, man. I was still running but at this point I'm sure I looked like I was about to start crawling down the street. I had that thick, gluey saliva thing going on, I was finding it hard to breathe but there I was, feet slappin' the pavement and the next song comes on:

"I'm a trainwreck, I'm a trainwreck for You
Oh Lord yes I am now...
trainwreck I'm a trainwreck...."

I just had to laugh -- Yes at that point I WAS a trainwreck. Too funny. He has a sense o' humor too. :o)

Happy Weekend!

Is it summer yet?

2006-01-12T09:31:00.000-08:00

I have vacation-itis. It starts usually in January, after the thrill of the holidays is done. It builds as the weeks and months go by, so that by April 1st, I'm about to come out of my skin with desire to get the hell outta Dodge, if you know what I mean.

I dream of warm sun, white sand and blue water. *sigh*

I have to keep dreaming...... for a while anyway................

If you had the life you wanted.....

2006-01-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

I heard a quote today that I loved:

"If the life you wanted to have were a book, it wouldn't be worth reading!"

Yep -- you'd put it down after 3 pages because it would be BORING! A good story requires some excitement, a cliff hanger! You want to read it thinking, "This isn't gonna turn out well at all!" and in the end it does and it makes you glad you read it!

Life's the same way. We all have cliff hangers we'd rather not have. We all face situations we would never choose for ourselves -- situations where we think to ourselves, "This isn't gonna turn out well! At all!"

But we make it through another day and by grace from above things turn out. Maybe they don't turn out "okay" but they turn out the way they should in the end. Can I get an amen?!

Maybe you lost a job. I did. Maybe you are losing your marriage. I nearly did. Maybe your kids are off on a path they should not be on. Maybe you are fighting a disease. Maybe you are facing serious financial concerns. Maybe you need to lose weight and save your health. Maybe you've just taken one more look at a house that desperately needs cleaning and thought, "Arrrrrggghhh! I just can't take it!"

All things we'd never choose -- but in the end they make our story one worth reading.

Speaking of stories worth reading: take a moment to read my friend Heather's blog today. www.aztlgrl.blogspot.com You are guaranteed to laugh and cry -- and maybe be reminded of how we are all stronger than we know when the going gets rough.

Tuesday Random Babblings

2006-01-10T11:16:00.000-08:00

Random because I have nothing else on my mind today....

Is it me or does this puppy look like he's about to open a can o' whoop ass? I want a puppy. *sigh*

Know what would be good right now? A Starbucks espresso brownie. Mmmmmm. I am holding out for the weekend to have one.

My friend Heather did her first day of Fitness Boot Camp and it sounds scary and awesome all at the same time. www.aztlgrl.blogspot.com She's going to kick some ass, I know she will.

My friend Dave has a funny blog -- check him out www.dave225.blogspot.com He never fails to bring a smile and a chuckle.

If you want to get all thinky, read my friend Nina's blog. www.neeeenaz.blogspot.com She's a good writer. You might even join us in dressing colorful on the 4th day of the month to honor her mom's wacky style. Bring your Pepsi.

Is anyone reading a good book these days? Tell me about it.

I guess that's all for now. Just random babblings. Not many of them. That's because I have a small brain. Bet ya didn't know.

;o)

SURPRISE!

2006-01-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

I got the best surprise on Sunday.

I was sitting in church, in the back row with my friend Amy. We were singing along with the praise band having a good time when this woman walks in and takes the seat directly in front of me. I never saw her face, I just saw her back as she took a seat and I thought, "Wow that looks just like Kathy." Then I glanced down and saw her purse and her Bible (which is covered with an embroidered type cover that has a bear on it) and thought, "Hey that looks amazingly like what Kathy carries around, how bout that." and kept on singing away....

Then the lady turned and gave me a sly grin over her shoulder...... it WAS Kathy!!!

She had driven over an hour to come and go to church with me! She said the look on my face was priceless. We stood in the aisle hugging and crying while the congregation kept on singing. I'm sure they thought we were nutty or somethin' hahaha But oh well! My homegirl was in the house!! As we took our seats and brother Jerry led us all in prayer, I don't even know what he was praying about because I was thanking God for Kathy over and over again.

Kathy...... I met Kathy about 23 years ago when we were sophomores in high school. She became on of the infamous Gulls. She & I have been the best, closest of friends ever since. She is not only my best friend, she is my "faith mentor" (to which she rolls her eyes and says, "Me? You have got to be kidding." haha) She's ...... inquisitive (are you laughing at that one, Kathy?) She's a great listener and a wonderful counselor. She has a way of getting to the heart of a matter. She's direct, but not hurtfully blunt. And she's funny as hell, too.

We spent the entire day together. We went for Mexican food, then just sat and talked and talked and talked. When we get together, we can just talk forever. One day not too long ago we sat at a Kentucky Fried Chicken for nearly 6 HOURS just talking away. I bet the KFC workers thought we were homeless hahaha At the Mexican restaurant, we sat in the parking lot talking and Jimmy had to call me TWICE on my cell phone to tell us to come inside and order our food!! We just get lost in our world of girl talk, she and I.

It was a great surprise and a wonderful way to start off my week. I love her.

:o)

Oh -- and the band played Todd Agnew's "Grace Like Rain" at worship service and it was soooo awesome.

Lighten up!

2006-01-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

I figure it's time to leave our worries behind for a bit and lighten up and have some fun......

I just watched the movie "Into the Blue" . Entertaining enough. Action, romance, good looking guys & gals.

It occurs to me while watching the beautiful ocean scenes that I have never snorkeled. I want to snorkel.

Jimmy & I were on a cruise in the Carribean last fall and we didn't snorkel. What sort of people are we??? hmph.

This summer, I want to take another cruise and THIS TIME I am going to snorkel. I don't have the slightest idea how to do it -- I'm not even that great a swimmer and I'm kind of afraid of stuff in the ocean. But, dammit -- I AM GOING TO SNORKEL.

What is something you've never tried -- maybe never even dreamed of trying -- that you want to do? Tell me about it and tell me when you'll do it and how you'll plan for it!

Turning My Face to Him

2006-01-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

As I have spent much of the past 24 hours in conversation and prayer with God, it occurs to me that it is truly a challenge to walk with Him daily -- however the reward is great.

How empty I feel when I fail to make time for Him daily! It is far to easy to become absorbed in this world we (man) have created for ourselves. I so readily slip into my own little space, worrying about finances, my job, my life. I fight to find solutions to my own small problems, laying out Plans A, B and C in my head, debating with myself over what to do, what to think, how to be..... how to live a life that is rewarding and fullfilling.

When all I have to do is turn my face to Him and listen.

See, He speaks to me. I know He does -- He always has -- only I am stubborn and full of self-will and forget to listen. This morning, as I drove to work, filled with sadness for my friend Lori, concern for another friend's teen daughter and disappointment over my job situation, He threw me a lifeline by way of a song:

And I am the moon with no light of my own
Still you have made me to shine
And as I glow in this cold dark night
I know I can’t be a light unless I turn my face to you

(You Are the Sun by Sara Groves www.saragroves.com)

Oh how I want to shine! I am nothing but an empty shell without Him. My life is not my own anymore. I turned my all over to Him the day I jumped into the waiting arms of Christ Jesus.

I am pitifully unworthy........ I have so little to give. Yet He continues to fill me with hope and light, He is forever faithful, guiding my way with His mighty hand. My face is turned to Him today. I pray that I will turn to Him each day and not be sucked into the worries and fears of this world.

I wish the same for you.

Jeremiah 30:17 "For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, saith the Lord."

2006-01-04T12:21:00.000-08:00

I met Lori Arlene Roberts in the 3rd grade. We quickly became the best of friends, ready to play "Jaws" on the playground or even sit out recess together in a show of solidarity when one of us got in trouble. We were in and out of each other's lives and classes until 7th grade. That's when our friendship solidified itself and we became each other's confidante and partner-in-crime. And we've been friends ever since.

In junior high, you could find me at Lori's house or on the phone with her on a regular basis. I don't remember ever washing the dishes (that was "my" assigned chore) without the phone hanging off my neck and her giggling on the other end of the line. We shared a love for late night phone chats while watching David Letterman. We shared a love of music and weekly wrote out our favorite "Top 10" lists. And we adored the Rolling Stones to the point that we were going to marry them one day. No, we had no idea at the time how old they were. (haha) We made brownies together in Home Ec (like cutting an elephant with a spoon). We were inseperable.

High school came along and we remained the best of friends -- but the circle widened and we became a group of 6 over time. (These are the "Gulls" I have mentioned in previous entries. ) Together, we forged thru the high school years. We were on the Flag Corps together. We drove "the drag" together. We saved our lunch money, starving for days, so that we could buy tickets to see Billy Squier in concert (with opening act: Saga!) Lori was always in the thick of it all. She had a car, a job and more freedom than maybe the rest of us had (certainly more than I). We were there when her prom dress got sewed together inside out (remember that, gals?) and we were there for the time she cut her own bangs the night before class pictures (centimeter bangs!).

After high school, we had a time where we all sort of drifted our own ways. I got married (Lori was a bridesmaid) I moved to California with Jimmy (he joined the Army). Lori wrote to me regularly -- she was my link to home in many ways. She was, at that time, in an abusive relationship and got pregnant with twin boys. Most of the abuse was kept from me -- she always was trying to protect me from stuff like that. She gave birth to 2 beautiful boys and kicked out the chump who fathered them.

Lori's tough. She went it alone with twin babies for a time. She held things together for her boys. I always knew she'd be a great mom -- and she is. She's like a tiger with cubs -- don't cross her! :o) There came a day when she met Ricky. Finally, a good man who wanted to treat her like she deserved! They married and had little Mason (now age 3) and Sydney (now about 18 mos).

Did I say Lori's tough? She is. While pregnant with Sydney, she found out she had thyroid cancer. She waited until it was safe during her pregnancy to have treatments and surgery. We held our breath the entire time. But she sailed through it and gave birth to a perfect baby girl.

Flash forward to today: The cancer is back. Recent scans find "activity" in her neck, chest and abdomen. It isn't right. It isn't fair. She's doing everything the doctors say to do. She's having the treatments (radiation treatment, which keeps her from being near her children for weeks at a time). Everything looks clear for a while....... then we get the news that it's back.

It isn't right.

She's 38 years old. She's got a loving husband and together they work to eke out a living and raise their kids in a good family. She's got twin boys who are now....... what? 12 years old? She's got little Mason and little Sydney, cutest kids ever. After all she's been through....... this isn't right. It just isn't.

There is no way I can do our friendship justice in just a few paragraphs, but I hope I've given you some insight into who Lori is to me. She's more than just a friend -- she's my sister. All the Gulls are. And it's at this time that we are circling together in prayer, asking God to heal our friend.

Now, you don't know Lori -- to you she's just a person you read about. But think about your dearest, closest friends and what you would do for them.

Pray for my friend. Please.

One door closes.... another opens..... hopefully.....

2006-01-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Well, hell. I just was told after today I no longer have my part-time job at the bank.

One of the other girls just graduated college and they had promised to put her on as full-time when that day came. That day is here -- and due to them having 3 full timers now, they no longer need a part-timer. At least, that was the decree from home office.

So -- I'm out.

This sucks because (A) I like it here and (B) I like the schedule I had set up. Now I'm not sure where or what I'm going to do. I have a lead on a full-time position that would be really cool and a great place to work amongst friends, however... I don't want to give up my present position. Part-time work is hard to come by, though, especially when you are picky about the hours.

*sigh*

Oh well. That's life. I am an optimist by nature. Although I'm flummoxed right now, tomorrow will dawn bright and cheery, with new opportunities. I just have to listen and watch and see what is meant to be.....

TGIF

2005-12-30T08:16:00.000-08:00

My friend Dave yelled at me for not having pics of my family on here. Well, buddy, there ya go. Thats us at our last camping trip. Happy now?

Speaking of Dave..... read his blog today www.dave225.blogspot.com His memories of his mom Anna Dee are wonderful.

Friday ramblings:

I am sick. I feel like someone turned my throat and sinuses inside out, scrubbed 'em with a Brillo pad and shoved 'em back in. Ick. I'd rather be (A) really really sick or (B) not sick at all. This half-assed kind of sinus-ey sort of throat sore and burning nasty feeling wanna take a nap stuff really makes me angry. And whiney. *wimper wimper*

We are leaving tomorrow for San Antonio and New Year's Rockin' Gull Fest '05. I hope that (A) I feel better by then and (B) that everyone can come and that (C) we have a hilarious good time. Which reminds me....... I gotta run by the store for cheese dip fixin's.

I got some cool new work out shoes and, of course, now I feel like crap and don't want to work out. *wimper wimper* But at least I got the shoes, eh?

Happy New Year to all -- be safe, don't get too drunk and if you do, please don't drive! Let's pray that 2006 will be a blessed year for us all.

:o)

Up In Flames

2005-12-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

We've had no rain in like, 3 months here. Yesterday it was 85 degrees and the wind was blowing like 30-40mph. There is a burn ban out and we were under a "fire warning" because the conditions were so bad for grass fires. So I'm at work at the bank and I get a text message from my friend Tish (mentioned in my blog yesterday). They just built a new cabin style house out in the country outside of town. She messages me: "Huge grass fire at the house! Gone to get the girls out! Please pray for us!"

So I started praying for them but figured they'd be safe cuz she was getting the kids out of there. She messaged me again that she got the girls out and was going back to spray water around the house to wet everything down. This was like... 2:00pm.

I got done at the bank at 3:00pm and as I was driving home, I saw the smoke from that direction (they are like.... 10 miles to the southwest of town). It was TREMENDOUS. I was thinking, crap that's a lot of smoke. So I stopped at the house and grabbed Jimmy and said, "Let's head out that way to see what's going on and help Tish if she needs us." So we are driving out that way, and watching the smoke and thinking it's alright, the smoke seems to be further south away from their home site.

Then we turn on the highway headed out that direction and we are like.... Hmmmm, that smoke looks more like it is close to George's back yard (George is Rick's father -- lives on the land across the road from them). Then we turn off onto the gravel road that goes toward the house and we are thinking.... Hmmmm, this is NOT GOOD the smoke is RIGHT THERE..... then we turn left onto their little tree-lined winding driveway that leads up to the home and it is BURNED completely all the way to the road!!!

So we got up there and found that the house was okay -- they had stopped the fire about 20-yards from the home, but people were scurrying around everywhere putting out "hot spots". The wind was blowing like a son-of-a-B and everytime a spot would get stamped out, the wind would blow and it would flame back up. The area is thick with trees so it is hard to get a fire truck in thru there to put it out. The trucks had pretty much moved south, following the actual fire and trying to keep it from burning houses and hay fields down the way. So Jimmy grabbed a shovel and a 5-gallon bucket of water and took off. I grabbed a hoe and took off with Tish (she had a shovel) and we went off into the trees to try and cover up "hot spots" and keep the trees from burning higher up and spreading. It was hard work -- the ground is super hard from being so dry. We really couldn't do much with the wind blowing like it was. At one point, I was trying to cover up this pile of smoldering brush and it wasn't working. The wind blew up and the tree next to the pile caught flame and it just started climbing up higher and higher. Luckily Jimmy came along at that moment to help, then a water truck came in and was able to back up to the tree and spray it down.

We ran back and forth doing this until about 8:00pm. At dark, the wind died down and the spots started to stay out and not flare up anymore. As of this morning, things were quiet and calm.

My friends were lucky -- their home was saved. Praise God.

The town of Cross Plains was not so blessed. Cross Plains is about 30 miles north of Brownwood, on the other side of the lake. Yesterday afternoon, a grass fire broke out near the town. As of this morning, 50 homes have been destroyed, as well as the Methodist Church. There has been one death and rumor is that several people have been taken to the hospital with burns from trying to fight the blaze.

The people of that community could sure use some prayers.

Jesus Fish

2005-12-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday ya'll!

How was your holiday weekend? Ours was great and relaxed. Here's a recap:

Saturday: I worked from 9 to 12 at the bank, then came home and did a couple of chores. Jimmy & I went to Home Depot to get gift cards for his brothers. We contemplated going to Walmart for a split second. Looking at the parking lot convinced us otherwise -- it was PACKED! I feel sorry for anyone in there on that day. We then went by Blockbuster but did not find any movies we wanted to see in particular. Then we went next door and ate CiCi's Pizza (LJ was working that day). While eating, we realized the Cowboys were playing football so we hurried up and went home to finish watching the game on the big screen. I don't remember who won at this point. I guess it was not important.

After the game, we went to our friends home (Rick & Tish). They have just built a new smaller home and sold their larger one and moved in. It is really cute -- it is like a hunting lodge. The walls are cedar planks and the ceilings are tin. It is really cozy and "country" style. Things are kind of scattered right now because they have a bit of finish work to do and unpacking, etc., but overall it's really cool. Rick's sister Liz was in from Ohio so we all went over to their parents' home for Christmas Eve dinner. That has sort of become a tradition between our families and it is a lot of fun.

Sunday: Jimmy & I got up around 8:30 -- we finally woke the boys at about 10:30 and had to make them get up and open presents so everyone could shower before the family arrived. Teenagers! haha The boys enjoyed their gifts (clothes, gift cards, candy). Jimmy was happy with his wireless keyboard and mouse (which took some doing to get installed. Microsoft! grrr) and he was surprised by his gift of "delayed gratification" -- tickets to the PGA Byron Nelson tournament in May! :o)

I opened my gifts from him: a stack of blank CD's (I burn a lot!).... two beautiful Christian books I had been wanting to read, one of them a leatherbound edition book of prayers....a beautiful gold plated bookmark engraved with Phillipians 4:13.... at this point I was getting misty eyed because I was so touched that he really paid attention and knew what would mean the most to me (like he wouldn't anyways..... he always does but still..... it gets me!) And my last gift was the piece de resistance:

A delicate, gold icthus pendant on a fragile gold chain.

I love that man.

The Fisher clan came over at about 1:00pm and we watched March of the Penguins on the big screen (good movie, very cute). All the kids (8 total from ages 17 to 2) opened presents and generally made the den look like a tornado came through. There was much hollering and laughing. We ate baked ham and trimmings, cheese dip and coconut pie. The clan left by 6pm and Jimmy & I fell asleep on the couch for a bit......

All in all -- a good holiday weekend with much to be thankful for and feel blessed by. I am looking forward to 2006 as a year of growing in Christ, conquering some of my "self" stuff involving my health and above all, remembering to be grateful each and every day for the blessings of God, a loving husband, family and friends that surround me.

Happy Tuesday everyone. Hope your Christmas was as full of cheer as mine.

A Most Happy Christmas Indeed

2005-12-25T08:57:00.000-08:00

Luke chapter 2:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Peace to you and yours this Christmas. May God bless us all.

I'm absent!!

2005-12-23T09:45:00.000-08:00

I'm neglecting my blog. It's Christmas time -- there is shopping to do, cookies to bake, presents to wrap, rooms to clean, parties to attend...... *whew* It's a busy time!!!

I'll let ya know how it all went next week ;o)

Merry Christmas! Remember the reason for the season -- Jesus loves you and believes in you even if you aren't sure about Him :o)

Answers

2005-12-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

1. What is your favorite Christmas song?

My favorite traditional song is The Christmas Song, as sung by Nat King Cole. It's a true classic and his voice is so smooth. I love it.

2. What is the best Christmas gift you ever received?

This is kind of a hard one, but when my boys were little we used to give them a little money and let them do their own shopping. Whatever they gave me was always a treat. I remember getting salt & pepper shakers and things like that. It warmed my heart to know that they were thinking of what I would like!

3. What is the worst gift you ever received?

Well, this is a hard one, too, because I am grateful for any gift I receive no matter how unneccessary or unattractive it may be. One year I got a really ugly seafoam green sweater. I guess that would be it.

4. What is your favorite Christmas memory?

The excitement and anticipation of being a little kid waking up on Christmas morning! My brother and I were always ready to get up early early EARLY. I think one year we got up at 4:00am -- and my parents let us go ahead and open presents. Crazy!! But we couldn't wait!

5. What is your worst Christmas memory?

Christmas 2001. After we had opened gifts and spent the day with family, laughing and having a great time, my father called to give me the news that my Grandpa had passed on early that morning. He waited until the end of the day to tell me -- he didn't want to ruin the holiday for us. I felt kind of guilty that I had been having a good time all the while my father and grandmother were grieving.

6. If money were no object, what is the one gift you would love to buy and for whom? Why?

It seems like everyone in our family could use something -- either a house or a car. I would buy houses for my mother and father and brother. I would buy new cars for my brothers-in-law and their families. I would buy Jimmy a golf course!!! :o)

7. What do you love most about the holidays?

On Christmas afternoon, my brothers-in-law and their wives and children all gather at my house for gift exchange and lots of food and fun and laughter. We watch movies, play games, the kids run around the house all crazy! At the end of the day, the house is a total mess -- but I truly love every minute of it.

8. If you could change anything about the holidays, what would it be?

I would love to see a move away from the commercialism of Christmas -- a move away from gift giving and receiving and having the holiday be about what is on your "wish list". I wish that everyone had loving family and friends to spend the day with in love and fellowship. And above all, I wish that the true reason for our celebrating the day -- the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ -- was in the forefront. How sad that He is being pushed further and further from our culture at a time when we need Him the most!

On Christmas Day, we celebrate the most important gift ever given to all of mankind -- a child. A child who would grow up, walk a perfect path of obedience to our Ultimate Father and die to save us all -- believers AND unbelievers alike.

I wish the entire world would be grateful for Him.

Holiday Questionairre

2005-12-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

Take a moment to answer some holiday questions -- I'll give my answers tomorrow.

:o)

1. What is your favorite Christmas song?
2. What is the best Christmas gift you ever received?
3. What is the worst Christmas gift you ever received?
4. What is your favorite Christmas memory?
5. What is your worst Christmas memory?
6. If money were no object, what is the one gift you would love to buy and for whom? Why?
7. What do you love most about the holidays?
8. If you could change anything about the holidays, what would it be?

Monday Aftermath.....

2005-12-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

Not much to talk about today.... I am having an interesting email conversation with my friend Heather ( http://www.aztlgrl.blogspot.com ). Seems we share a brain.

The weekend was good but it involved way too much rich, fatty food. Well, the entire last week did. We ate out for dinner Wednesday, Thursday AND Friday. Then my mom came and while we cooked for dinner Saturday -- we cooked fried potatoes, smoked sausage, biscuits and gravy. And Mom bought a carrot cake.

So I spent part of Sunday night in the bathroom with "sugar gut".

*sigh*

I suppose I shouldn't feel bad or guilty. The holidays are a hellish time to be thinking about one's health and staying slim and active. And for the most part, I don't worry about it -- I do what I need to do to stay within range. I just wish I didn't feel the need to make it all or nothing.

I really want some balance. Still searching for it.....

Friday Brain Dribbles.....

2005-12-16T06:51:00.000-08:00

It's FRIDAY!!!!!! **....do a little dance .... make a little love.... get down tonite! get down tonite!.....** (Well that implies a lot more than I may want you to know...... heh)

Last night our new big screen Sony HDTV finally arrived -- and not a minute too soon, I think Jimmy was gonna open a can o' whoop ass on a delivery company, so someone was spared! *teehee* It is really cool but it has a lot of settings so it will take at least a week to figure out the best way to set the picture and all that stuff for optimum viewing pleasure. But still -- yay!

Today is open house at the bank so that means there will be....... COOKIES!!

After work today I will brave the wilds of Walmart and finish up my Xmas shopping and buy some groceries. Does your family use a lot of milk? Milk does not stay in our home. It's like it evaporates instantly. Well, no, it gets sucked up by the 3 men in the house. I buy 2 gallons at a time and *WHAM* it's gone in a day or two. That and bread. And cheese. And cookie dough. Okay that's enough, I'm giving you too much info about our eating habits. No wonder I'm fluffy................

Sunday afternoon will be COOKIE DOUGH SUNDAY (geez here we go again with the food. does she ever STOP? No, she doesn't....) I am making White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies to give as food gifts this year. I figure I'll make probably 6 batches of dough to refrigerate, then bake them off thru the week as I run around and deliver 'em. That way they stay fresh. So, Sunday I'll be in my kitchen, covered in flour, butter under my fingernails.

And my mom is coming......... :o)

Happy FRIDAY!!!!!

Sifted Like Wheat

2005-12-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." -- Luke 22:31-32

I have just finished reading a book called "Jesus, The One & Only" by author Beth Moore. If you have not read her works, I advise you to go immediately and purchase every one of them and get started. She is truly a gifted teacher of the Word of God.

I finished this book 2 days ago and it has not left my mind. I finished it in tears, with an ache in my chest. You see -- while I loved reading of Jesus and learning about Him, I came to realize my favorite disciple is Peter.

Simon Peter's story shows us that despite our love for the Lord and the purity of our intentions, we are fallible humans at the core. We are destined to make mistakes. Peter made the worst of them -- he denied Christ. Not once, but three times. Yet, in the end, he was forgiven by the resurrected Lord and given commission to feed and defend His flock. How awesome is the power of redemption!

Luke 22:31-32 is a Scripture that really speaks to me. In order to understand it, you have to delve into the translation. You see, the word you in verse 31 is plural, while the you in verse 32 is singular. This implies that while Satan asked to sift the disciples as a collective, Christ specifies Peter's own encounter in verse 32. It implies that Christ allowed Satan to attack Peter with more force than the others. You may ask why -- well, rest assured that the Lord never allows Satan to have his way with a Believer unless there is something that needs to be sifted out of him!

I have been sifted and, like Peter, in the midst of it I, too, denied my Savior. Perhaps that is why Peter's story speaks to me on such an emotional level. I know the pain he felt.

Picture this scene: Jesus has been arrested and taken prisoner. Peter, in a fit of emotion, draws a sword and cuts off the ear of a man taking Jesus. Such is his love for the Lord! But then -- he went to sit and join the soldiers and officials by the courtyard fire, warming his hands. A relative of the man whose ear Peter cut off challenges him and Peter does the last thing he ever expected to do.

He denies Christ. He denies Jesus to save his own skin. Satan has most certainly sifted him like wheat.

Now I quote from the book:

"Peter's repetitive actions went beyond the realm of excuses. Rationalizing his choice to deny Christ and gaining sympathy from the others would have done nothing to help Peter become a man Christ could "crucify" then use. Peter had come face to face with the fact that in him no good thing dwelled. Only then would he be willing to deny himself and exist for the sole purpose of Jesus' renown.

"The scene ends in Luke 22-61-62 with an invisible sword piercing Peter's heart in a way no soldier's blade could have. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. In Peter's attempt to shield himself from the piercing sword of a soldier, he fell to a far more piercing one -- the look of Jesus into his eyes. Oh, I don't think the stab resulted from a look of condemnation. Rather, I imagine Peter's heart hemorraghed from Christ's penetrating look of unveiled love.
"I do not doubt that Christ's face was painted with pain when their eyes met in the courtyard, but I think the conspicuous absence of condemnation tore through Peter's heart. I wonder if Christ's fixed gaze might have said something like this: "Remember, Peter, I am the Christ. You know that. I know that. I called you. I gave you a new name. I invited you to follow Me. Don't forget who I am. Don't forget what you are capable of doing. And whatever you do, do not let this destroy you. When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
"Surely nothing leads to repentance in those who are tender like the kindness of God (Romans 2:4). Peter was devastated. As we conclude the chapter, sit just a moment and listen to him cry. Is anything more painful to hear than the uncontrollable cries of a grown man? Peter went outside and wept bitterly. The original language suggests he took on every external form of grief. He wailed. He probably tore at his robes. He may have grabbed a handful of sand and thrown it over his head. The conflict of his soul surged in a tidal wave of grief, betraying his true identity.

"His belief had not been a sham. His denial had."

The Best Decision

2005-12-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

On this day 19 years ago, I made the best decision of my entire life -- I walked down the aisle of a little chapel and married Jimmy Fisher.

We had not known each other for very long – just about 6 months or so. We had not met by chance. We learned as we dated that we had spent our lives in each other’s orbit but unaware. When the timing was just right, we were brought together face to face.

A couple doesn’t stay married for 19 years without joy and tears, highs and lows. And we’ve had our share, to be certain. But through it all I have felt in my soul that I was meant to be his partner and he was meant to be mine. He is one of the greatest gifts I have received. I believe he is a blessing to me from God. He is the backbone of our family – our cornerstone.

I have not always been a good partner to him. I have a tendency toward self-importance and selfishness. I have a need to be in control of things and have my way the majority of the time. In the past year, though, I have learned what marriage really means. Marriage is a God given institution; a lesson in loving as Christ loves, giving as Christ gives, forgiving as Christ forgives, accepting as Christ accepts.

I love Jimmy Fisher. I want another 19 years – no, I want another 29, 39, 49 years with him as my partner. I want to serve him, to give to him, to accept him and to love him for all of my days. He is my gift and I am forever grateful.

Fun with Google

2005-12-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

If you go to Google.com and click on "images"... then type in something, you get some interesting and funny pictures. I found this one by typing in "funny penguin".

Use your imagination, type in some weird stuff and see what you get.

Let me know what turns up!!

The Gift for the One who has Everything

2005-12-12T06:59:00.000-08:00

Got one of those people on your Christmas gift giving list that you just cannot find a present for? They have everything already -- what more could they possibly want? Here's an idea: scuba gear for their dog.

I don't know what's funnier -- the actual picture of the dog scuba diving, or the thought that someone actually paid good money to take their dog scuba diving. Wonder what the dog is thinkin'.

Anyhoo! My Sunday was a bust. I didn't go to church and we didn't go see the Narnia movie. We stayed home and vegetated. Oh well - nothing wrong with that, I got my laundry all done. I ain't complainin' about that.

I have a bit more Christmas shopping to finish up this week and I'll be done with that. Then I need to decide what baked goodies I'm going to make and give as food gifts so I can get started on them this weekend. I have a really simple recipe that involves puff pastry, cream cheese and chocolate chips. Sound good? It's either that or White Chocolate Cherry Chunky Cookies ( I made them last year, they were a HIT! ) but those cookes are time consuming to make. I'll probably end up doing both. Cuz..... I'm just like that.

Ok that is it for today. I have no interesting life question or funny anecdotes this morning. All I got is a scuba diving terrier.

Measuring Fun (If that's what you wanna call it.... robbie.... eye roll....)

2005-12-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

:o)

It's SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weighed & measured first thing this a.m. In the past 2 weeks I've:
Lost 3 pounds
Lost 1.75 inches (1 inch off waist, smaller amounts here and there)

What does this mean?

It means that when you first go into a workout program, especially one involving lifting weights (I've been using Slim Series a lot and those always have you slinging 5# weights around), your body reacts in the beginning by releasing cortisol (stress hormones) and retaining water.
It means that I need to up the ante and push to get those 5 workouts per week done, come hell or high water.
It means that slower results are best -- because those are the ones that stick.
It means that I want to lose another 12 pounds, another 2 inches off my waist, and more inches elsewhere.
It means that I will be patient and keep going forward. Backward is not an option.
I'll check the numbers again in 2 more weeks. I know you will all be waiting breathlessly until then.

My weekend plans: for today, I get off work at noon and I'm going home to do a cardio workout (gotta get my 5!) then I'm going to the movies at 4pm to see Narnia. It should be awesome. Then I want to go eat Mexican food (grilled chicken fajitas mmmmmmmmm).
For Sunday -- church and laundry. What a party! :o)

Have a happy weekend -- keep movin'! :o)

Tam's World of Dr. Pepper and Brownies....... **NEW** Now with SANGRIA!

Cleanse Days 2 & 3

Cleanse!! Am I crazy?

Happy Thoughts

Just thinkin.

The End is Near!

How I ran a 5K and managed to stay alive

Processing Quest 12

2010

Trying this again....

Once again.....

Wow. It's been a while.

I might be back. Maybe.

Wow it's been a looooooong time

Update Shmupdate

You wanna update?

It's the Gulls!

Monday monday.... lah lah... lah lah lah lah...

Friday stuff

Let's face it...

Special Request

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y... Nite!

For KellyC

Baby baby..... where did my oomph go?

Dad

The Fam.

Blockhead.

The weekend.

Nice to meet ya!

:o)

Random thinkings...

And I think to myself....... what a wonderful world....

Byron Nelson Review

Another week - another trip!

Manhattan, part deux

Gulls take Manhattan!

'Twas a night of noise and excitement....

Back!!!

Random Blabbering....

Change is ugh.

5 Que?

Hey, long time no see.

Friday Blog-Trippin'

Social Butterfly

It's crazy! It's adventurous!!!

Tuesday update...

When Worlds Collide

Just for fun!

Random Blog Surprise!

Friday miscellaneous....

The Secret Weekend Revealed!

I'm baaaaccckkkkk!

I'm a crappy blogger.

Is this working?

What keeps me runnin'

Some things you didn't know you didn't know.

I love internet surveys.

Putting stuff behind you

The Idiot Box

How was your weekend?

Nuthin.

Souplosion!!!

Blame it on cupid.

Accountability: 2/13

Monday gets a bad rap.

It gets worse before it gets better.

CH-CH-CH-CH-Changes....

Me, from another angle.

You gotta have friends......

Rewind and Review

Who, me? 110 pounds.

FLUMMOXED!

Through the door, into the Light

HI KATHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Grandpa

Answers

Friday Ramblings......

It's a nothing day....

I'm a trainwreck....

Is it summer yet?

Tam's World of Dr. Pepper and Brownies....... NEW Now with SANGRIA!

Measuring Fun (If that's what you wanna call it.... robbie.... eye roll....)