Best Birthday EVER!

Hi y’all!  I have taken two days off from writing, and I need to catch up.  Saturday we did a shorter walk, 47 minutes 1.89 miles, because company was coming.  I used the two-pound weights.  I didn’t care for those because they aren’t made of the mushy stuff and my sweat just beaded up and made them slick.  Annie said the next time I could just use her set of one pound ones together with mine and walk that way.  And talk this way….ha!  Hope y’all got that.  Anyway, I did that today but more on that later.  While walking we heard something snorting at us in the woods and on the other side of the road something that sounded like metal falling.  Odd.

We grilled out Saturday for our anniversary.  We have been married 17 years now.  It was a rare occasion for Derek and I both to be home at the same time for it but we were.  We grilled out corn, taters, burgers and dogs.  My brother, my best friend of (it will remain unnamed) many years Larry was here, and Annie’s friend Cody from work came out.  We had a good time, food was good and Larry and Derek played music.  We refuse to say how many years we have been best friends.  Just one of those things, ha!  I am sure they all got tired of me hashing out the Rob Thomas concert but they never said a word.

In the afternoon we had to make a birthday cake run.  The next day, the 21st, was my birthday.  I was born in the daytime which in my opinion is pretty odd.  Guess that explains me.  Ha!  We ran to Wal-Mart.  On the way there I played the concert for my brother to hear.  With our VIP pack we got a bracelet that gave us a code to be able to download exclusive content.  That content was the whole Indy show!  I am so thrilled to have a copy of it!  It has some new stuff on it that I will get another copy of as soon as the album comes out.  And it is just awesome because for me I remember what I was thinking and feeling at every moment during the show.  The sound quality is awesome too.  Anyway, I played that all the way to Wal-Mart and home and he thought it was pretty awesome.  Also we framed our signatures.  I will add a photo below.  I will also re-add the link to the video of him signing it for me since it was messed up the last time.

Another couple of observations about our show.  The lady who kept trying to get us to notice her apparently didn’t realize she was in the presence of greatness–Rob Thomas.  I did.  🙂  Also, there weren’t any scalpers or people trying to buy tickets out front of the venue.  I was glad.  I don’t like stuff that is annoying and that is.

We get to Wal-Mart and are faced with the dilemma of what cake to get.  We both don’t need it, but birthdays only roll around once a year so we did anyway.  We got the chocolate and the white one.  I had to have the flower piece, of course, because that is what we do when it is your birthday.  The birthday person of course gets the flower.  Do I believe that having some cake is going to rimrack my diet?  No.  Do I believe if I eat that every day in some capacity or another it will?  Yes.  Absolutely.  So I have enjoyed it now, and I am good.  I even bought some pop to have over the weekend and  I didn’t have that.  There is some debate over whether diet pop is good for you with the aspartame or not.  I stand on that without an opinion. I use sweetener in other stuff, and in the water flavors.  I guess it is as healthy as a chemically created compound can be, but when you are trying to fight off diabetes to keep it from developing, sugar is the enemy.  I guess we do trade one evil for another but I have noticed that you don’t consume sweetener as readily as you do sugar.  I guess that is a plus.  Or I should say I don’t.  I did notice this too.  After not eating sugar for almost 9 weeks, since this starts week 9 of the diet and week 8 of exercise,  I sure did get a bit stoned on the sugar from the cake.  Ha!

So my brother and I planned some stuff that we want to do soon.  One thing is in September Annie and I have a concert in Lexington Kentucky.  On the way home, we are going to see if we can take a tour of Waverly Hills in Louisville.  (Bear with me as I know some of this is a repeat.)  I mentioned to him about going to the concert and to Waverly.  He is going to go with us and hang out in the hotel and work while we go see the show.  That will be awesome!  Having him along is a hoot.  He acts about like I do, or rather I act like him since he is older.  The kids act like me.  You see the pattern here. For example, Annie stopped me this morning on our walk, pointed, and said branch, and took off walking.  There was a tree branch in the road and she apparently felt she needed to point it out to me.  I am really happy with how they both have turned out so far and with how they act, which is more and more like me every day. More on that later.

The next day, the 21st, is my birthday.  As you already know, Annie gave me tickets to Rob Thomas, second row, which ended in a meet and greet with an autograph.  That was a dream come true!  My Secret Sister at church gave me a Denny’s gift card, which is my favorite restaurant, and two light up yard spinners!  They are awesome!  Later that afternoon, Annie couldn’t sleep so she blogged then she randomly tweeted to Rob Thomas.  Here is what she said.

Hey @ThisIsRobThomas it’s my mom’s birthday today. We saw you last Tuesday in Indy! She would love for you to wish her a happy birthday! 🙂

— annie ☔ (@annieebanannie_) June 21, 2015

About three minutes later she came running out of her room and told me to look.  She was absolutely flabbergasted.  This is what I found.

@annieebanannie_ tell her happy happy from me. But only because you like @truTVjokers

— Rob Thomas (@ThisIsRobThomas) June 21, 2015

I almost come undone.  She almost come undone.  Rob Thomas took time, again, to talk to his fans.   I just think more of him every day.  I knew when I first heard him that he was awesome and now I have proof.  Thank you again Rob, if you ever happen to read this.  Two of your biggest fans are in Indiana.  You sure made my birthday rock!

Annie and Jeffrey both are two of the greatest kids ever.  She went out of her way to get those tickets, wait with me to get the autographs and then try to get him to tell me happy birthday.  Jeffrey was talking to me this morning and told me that he can tell I am losing weight but I was just fine the other way too.  He has a heart of gold.  I wouldn’t trade them for anything. They both deserve son and daughter of the year awards.

And we can’t forget Ben Gleib last week told me happy birthday too.  I also had so many birthday wishes on Facebook that I couldn’t keep up with them.  This birthday has been one of the best ever.  They are all good knowing I made it another year and spending it with family.  This one was just totally special.  I just want to say thank you all to everyone who made this birthday a special one!

Today was back to normal, sort of.  We walked this morning, 1.71 miles and 54 minutes.  We shortened it a bit today.  That thing was still snorting at us in the woods.  Originally thought it was deer humping (ha go ahead and laugh) but if they are still going strong after three days…..well that isn’t it.  My Mom said it was most likely a mama deer with a baby.  My uncle apparently tangled with one of those once.  I decided I didn’t want to tangle with that so we went another way.  On the other way we decided that maybe it was a Bigfoot.  We were then trying to figure out what we would do if we found one or what the Bigfoot hunters would do.  That is one question I would ask.  Once you find one, what are you gonna do with it?  I am not sure if they are friendly or not so this may take some thought.  Some states say it is illegal to shoot one, so that is out.  I hope it is a friendly one.  Like I said, as long as it lets me take pics, I am cool.

So we changed routes and went back down the hill and up and then back up again.  I had no issues with huffing and puffing too bad or breathing in general or dizziness.  That is good.  Tomorrow we are going to do the same thing again and see how it goes.  I want to work up to going to the crossroads here, which is down a smaller hill, up a large one, down a dip and back up and then you are there.  Once I get that, then I want to walk to circle, around the neighborhood.  I will get there.  For whatever reason we think that walking the hills is much better for us.  We like to believe that it works the guts and the butt more.  And the legs too of course.  I just want to get more of that burn in because it helps.  I also took a handful of two one pound weights and walked with those in each hand.  That still seems to be doing some good.  Lots of good really.  Still been hot, still really buggy in the mornings. That one stupid bug seems to like to fly in, land, and be obnoxious but only on the pavement part and only in a specific part of the woods.  I am going to look it up and see what it is and what repels it.  If it says to wash in tomato juice I would be tempted to just to repel it.  The dragonflies thought have disappeared too.  I rarely see one of those anymore.  I still plan on Googling them I just haven’t yet.

Our deep freeze has gone on the fritz.  I am not sure how we will handle that but we will figure out something.  I am about all typed out for today.  I have much more but I can catch up tomorrow again. Y’all have a great night!

–S

Thursday Ramblings and Other Stuff

Hi ya’ll!  Today we walked 2.4 miles for 1 hour.  During our walk we rehashed the Rob Thomas concert.  I will be talking about that one for a long, long time.  Y’all will probably get tired of it but I hope not.  It was good times.  My dream sure came true.  Then we also hashed out the other shows we are going to this year.  An interesting side note, we both tweeted to Vinyl Station who opened for Rob and they responded and liked our tweets!  That is cool!

So I walked with my walking weights today.  They are only 1 pound each but tomorrow I think I am going to take my regular 2 pound weights.  I seem to be toning the arms up so I need to increase the weight.  I also was so surprised because I didn’t huff and puff at all Tuesday while walking in 80 some degree weather, and at one point talking on the phone!  That was cool.  Again the exercise is paying off and apparently in other ways too.  One of the ladies at church told me last night that she can tell I am really dropping the weight.  Awesome!  That made me feel pretty good when some days I feel like I am getting no where at all but I know it is paying off.  Just have to remember what my aunt told me and that is again how I feel compared to now as opposed to how I felt before.  I can tell a difference in endurance of activities and things like that too.  Standing too long and walking too long still cause some significant pain in my sciatic area and in my foot and leg, but that I hope will ease after I get some more miles logged and some more weight off.  And next week will start week 9 of diet and 8 of exercise. That many weeks in of exercise and I can tell a huge difference in how I react to stuff!  Side note too, Rob’s concert t-shirt fit very well and it is a size smaller than I normally wear.  It is either extra big or I am getting smaller.  I like to think it is both.  I forgot my dadgum bug spray this morning so the bugs were thick.  There is one specific bug that just lights, hangs on and bites away.  I don’t know what it is but I am gonna knock it into next week if it don’t go on with itself.  And when it bites it draws blood!  Argh.

My dieting all seems normal to me now.  They say 22 days to become a habit.  Ok, I can buy that.  I feel like less carbs, making sure of the carb count, water with flavors, tea with sweetener instead of sugar, it all seems normal to me now.  I am used to it and wouldn’t have it any other way.  I have also switched my flavor for the water again and have been drinking pink lemonade.  I have had Wyler’s and Wal-Mart’s and I have to tell you I like Wyler’s better I think.  They are both good choices because they are sugar-free without carbs.  The sweetener that I use in my tea has a carb or two per serving.  I have decided to keep my carbs at 20-30 a day.  I think that is a good amount.  I still stopped the bread at home.  That hasn’t bothered me in the least.  Not sure why I thought of this but I do have a sugar-free cake and icing here.  I may see if  we can make that tomorrow for our cookout Saturday.  Yes I am grilling Saturday for our anniversary Saturday and the birthday Sunday. Yummy!  With that in mind we have been cleaning all day and will finish it tomorrow.

We actually got the VIP pack for the show which came with a USB bracelet with recordings on it and some other stuff.  It wasn’t ready to be sent before the show so it will be here tomorrow.  Can’t wait to see what other kind of cool Rob stuff they sent.

One thing Annie and I discussed on the way to Indy was the idea that when objects age they are old but people aren’t. Such as, I am going to be 39 on Sunday.  Most people consider that young.  If I would be a car, I would be considered old. Not sure exactly how or why that is but we can’t figure it out.  Any ideas?

I learned this the other day about WordPress.  If you link to your Twitter or Facebook, WordPress counts those as followers. I disconnected that so I can see how many I really have.  Odd that it does that.

There were a couple of annoying things that happened Tuesday. I didn’t want to write them yesterday but that was an awesome blog I did if I do say so myself.  Most of the time it is parking, or things like that but no issues there.  This don’t fall in that category but on our trek to downtown Indy I saw a dude digging in a trash can for food.  He dug out what was in there and took off with it.  I was just in shock.  Makes one think that is for sure.  Anyway, at the venue, things there went well before the show.  As I said yesterday we were first in, first to get shirts, got a pop and got to the seats.  The security guard harassed us but hey, he was a hoot. After the show started and Plain White T’s were on, Annie yelled at me to get my purse.  Some one with brilliance spilled their beer on the floor and it was running everywhere.  Eww.  I don’t drink and I sure don’t want to smell like beer all the way home.  So we had to stand in that the whole time.  It was sticky and hard to move in it.  But Rob was worth it but if I could have found who did it I wouldn’t have been able not to either throttle them or pour a cup of beer on their feet.  The lady in front of us kept dropping her glasses and her phone and stuff in it.  She was a story in herself.  She kept turning around, blabbing, wanting us to look at her and talk to her.  Sorry lady, we paid to see Rob, not your lit self.  Those were about the only things that were wrong.  Insignificant really but annoying all the same.

This is an interesting thing.  You would think that driving after dark in a place you aren’t too familiar with even with Siri directing you would freak you out, but it didn’t me.  I don’t know, I guess I am just used to driving in Indy.  Not sure why that struck me as odd but it did.  Or even occurred to me at all at this point.  When leaving Cincinnati in the dark though and going through Louisville that is a bit nerve-wracking.  But I manage.  That is where that was coming from I guess.

Oh and the pepper spray!  I bought some pepper spray that would fit on a key ring back in February.  I have never used it or needed to thank God so I told Annie I wanted to be sure it worked.  I flipped it, aimed it toward my car and let out a little quirt.  She took off running, I turned to see why and I saw why–the stuff was way away from us and it burned your nose! Just the fumes was burning the nose!  I ended up sneezing it out but goodness.  If I had to actually use it I would have to hold it far away or run to keep from dousing myself.  But it is good to know it works.

Another interesting thing– I tweeted to Ben Gleib and to Idiotest yesterday about the next show on last night.  They both favorited it and then Ben Gleib quoted it!  Awesome!

West Coast. Tonight 10pm. In our new time slot. #Idiotest https://t.co/Ws48bPsPCC

— Ben Gleib (@bengleib) June 18, 2015

But it gets better!  Today was his birthday so I tweeted him and told him happy birthday and how it was a good week for birthdays because mine was on Sunday.  He told me happy birthday!  Just how awesome is that!

@poothead happy birthday.

— Ben Gleib (@bengleib) June 19, 2015

Also we tweeted to Vinyl Station since they opened for Rob.  They liked our tweets and responded to Annie.  That is awesome too!

I think this is all I have for today. Have a great night!

–S

Friday Ramblings, Walking and second Liebster Award! Woo hoo!

Hi ya’ll! Hope everyone had a great Friday.  First of all I have been nominated for a second Liebster Award, which I will work on tomorrow.  I do thank my daughter for that!  We did 54 minutes and 2.1 miles and later in the day when I went out I did an additional 1.18 miles.  It was hot and muggy again and buggy still.  I also used my hand weights but Annie chose not to so she could swat at the bugs.  This morning when I got up and put my walking clothes on, I could really tell that I have lost.  I also noticed this afternoon that my gut is becoming smaller and baggier, if you will.  It is like it is getting dimples because it isn’t so tight anymore.  I am liking all of that.  Keeps me motivated to keep going.  I do say that I do look like I have a huge booty because I have to keep my phone in my pocket so it will record my miles, and it is an iPhone 6 plus so it is a larger phone.  But  I can deal with that.

Before I leave on our walk every day I make a pot of hot tea, and take my meds.  I had bought a box of regular tea bags that had tags and such.  Before I had tagless tea bags.  I must tell you that the ones with tags, annoying.  I do not want to have to buy those anymore.  Takes too much time when you are running on a schedule in the morning.  I went through and untagged and unbagged all of them.  I showed them!  Ha!

On our walk today we discussed a variety of things, and we talked about night noises.  Annie said and I knew from past night shift experience that everything looks sounds and feels different at night.  I posed the question that are all night noises normal, or do they just not seem normal to us because the majority of us sleep at night?  She thought that some of the noises she hears at night are not normal and should not be happening.  These noises being stuff close to footsteps when alone and they aren’t yours noises of stuff being moved or dropped–basically noises that require another human on that end to be making, but should be impossible when there is only one there, like her.  It is an interesting thing to ponder on regardless.  Could be kind of creepy too.  But with me and her both, we are intrigued by creepy.  We have a concert in Lexington in September and when we come home, we are going to schedule a tour of Waverly Hills, so yeah, we groove on creepy.

The main topic today was discussing our upcoming Rob Thomas show.  I am sooo beyond excited that if I think about it too much I would absolutely flip out.  So we decided to make a list of concerts that we would be interested in seeing, meaning that if the band or person was the only one touring, we would go see them.  We had several that if they toured with someone else that we wanted to see, that would be cool. Here is our list, with some notes too.

People/Bands Annie and I would go see:

Aloe Blacc

Before You Exit–this is Annie’s

Bruno Mars–we both agree that Bruno would rock

Daughtry—-we both would groove on him too

Ed Sheeran–we both want to see him

Foster the People–mostly me but she would probably go

The Fray—GOING TO MEET AND SEE THEM IN JULY!  MEET THEM!!! WOO HOO!

Gavin DeGraw–we both would see him I believe

Hunter Hayes—front row seats in September—one of Annie’s favorites

Imagine Dragons–funny story there.  She had tried to get us tickets to see them June 16 in Louisville.  She couldn’t find any.  The next week Rob Thomas tickets went on sale for what date?  June 16.  Interesting huh?  We were meant to see Rob.  Anyway, we both want to see them too eventually.

John Newman–mostly me but she would go too.

Josh Turner–I have seen and met Josh Turner and he is awesome.  She wants to see him too.

Katy Perry—one of 3 women singers I would actually go see.  All may be shocked at the second.  She is coming up on the list soon.

Lady Antebellum–front row seats in September.

Lady Gaga—love love love Lady Gaga!  I would go without a doubt.  Annie would too.

Lifehouse—we both would see them.

Luke Bryan–Annie’s idea but I would go too.

Macklemore–we both would see him.

Maroon 5–Annie saw them this year for the first time, and it was my second time.  Maybe third time I will get to meet them.

Matchbox Twenty–saw them once, and now I get to see Rob next week!!!  I am BEYOND excited!!!!

Nickelback–we both want to see them and she tried to get tickets but was the day before another show we are already going to

OneRepublic—we both would see them

Parachute–Annie’s—she wants to see them as bad as I do Rob Thomas

Paramore–Annie’s again and the same thing there too.

Pitbull–I would not object if he was touring with someone I was going to see.  Not sure if I would go if headlining.

Sam Hunt–Annie’s reason for seeing Lady A.  Hunter Hayes too.  I got roped into that one.  But I will go.  Ha!

Sam Smith–this is all on her.  I will have to sit through this because of what she is going to surprise me with one of these days.  I will survive.

Taylor Swift–I think we both could sit through her show.

Thomas Rhett–this one is all her.  I don’t know.

Train–they are touring with The Fray.  Will be an awesome show!

Nico and Vinz—they would be awesome!

I am waiting though, waiting and waiting, for Impractical Jokers.  I keep telling her that if she wants to see me have a panic attack it will be when I get to meet them.  Notice I didn’t say if I said when.  She will have the camera ready she said.  Stay tuned for that.

Derek and I had to go out this afternoon.  We flea doped the dogs before we left and they were not happy campers.  We ate lunch at a local buffet.  I ate what I normally would get but just less of it.  A few carbs here and there won’t’ hurt.  I did eat more mushrooms and ranch than anything else I think.

We had an interesting discussion on the way home.  He was catching his stuff falling off the dash as we were going up a hill and he decided that was due to my driving.  Gravity?  Ok anyway, I was talking to him that I am either on or off.  I have no in between.  I guess that really is how everything affects me.  I was telling him when I drive I drive like I am going to a fire (funny reference considering he is a fire fighter) or like Grandma.  Even when I am in the sun, I either fry like bacon or nothing happens.  My body even reacts in such a manner.  Cleaning is the same way. I want to do it all now, or not at all.  This could explain why I want to see more results with my weight loss.  I am putting all the time and effort into it now and want to see more now.  FYI next week starts week 8 of diet and 7 of exercise.

Going back to the driving thing, I four-wheeled over a tree once to get to Walmart.  Yup, it had stormed and I needed to go to the grocery store.  When the storm was over, I loaded everyone up in the Jeep and took off.  Down the road there was a moderately large-sized tree in the road and I didn’t have time to backtrack.  I put it in low 4×4 and drove right over it.  I thought of that when he told me today to watch out for tress in the road.  I put the car right between them and told him I avoided those like a boss.  Ha!  When I refer to car I mean my SUV.  We don’t own cars here.  Little redneck?  Maybe.  But it sure can be fun!

I called the boss at my old workplace today.  I need to work a bit for a while.  She thinks I will be able to come back to work.  Ever since I left the place I have been called back to it.  Well I had to–I lost my job when Jeffrey was sick so I needed to be with him.  I have had dreams of the place and something just feels like I am being pulled there.  I have often wondered if that is what I am actually called to do as far as a career goes and I have to say I hope that isn’t all.  I feel like  I am needed to do other things as well.  I guess we shall see.  It may be that  I am just supposed to work there, and not always in the same capacity as before.

I think I am going to stop here.  I will work on my Liebster Award tomorrow when I get back from taking my Mom to the store.  Have a great night!