Hi y’all! I know it has been a while! While I have been gone I have been working the new job. Still loving it! They truly do make me feel like I am welcome and definitely don’t make me feel like I am a new hire. All those are good things in a job! I walk a lot there. A LOT. It is mostly spinning circles but it is there. I kept my phone in my pocket the other day, and one day I walked almost 5 miles and yesterday, Monday, it was almost 6! I am not sure but I think this will be doing me some good. Does anyone have an opinion about that? I am beat by the time I get home and walking for another half hour is almost out of the question. I have decided to start doing sit ups before bed and when I get up. When I get up may not happen this week, but the before bed is. I have been needing to do some toning like this anyway so I hope that that along with the excessive walking will keep it going. On days when I am not at work, I plan on walking. That may be only one or two days a week at this point. I am also cutting down how much I eat. I have been eating a few carbs but I don’t overload on them and try to stay within my 20-50 a day. If I go over 1 or 2 it is ok. I had been drinking sweet pop and tea at work only so I could have some caffeine since I go in at like 7 in the morning, but I cut that out this week. I am taking my water flavor packets and putting it in tap water. That water stays so cold in the foam cups at work.
But, BUT, I had to take Jeffrey to the doctor last week and I am down 35 pounds! 35 since April! Holy cow! I did this by walking, cutting carbs, cutting sugar out completely, and drinking water. I will tell y’all though, I have had some cake and things along as I go. I think 35 in 4 months isn’t too bad if y’all ask me. I made the commitment to do this and I am going to until I get to where 1. I want to be and 2. it will help my health. I am not sure again if those two will be the same or not but we shall see. And I also like the idea that I can eat what I want every so often. It would be a miserable existence if I had to cut it all out NOW. I could do it but it would suck. I do know that it feels so nice to walk and your gut not flop, and to look down and see your gut going away. And to put your hands on your hips and feel it going down. It totally inspires me to continue on and keep going. And I am fitting in 1 to 2 sizes smaller shirts. I haven’t fit in those in forever!
Ok on to some other news. School is back in. I know this semester is going to suck. There is a lot of reading in one of my classes and the other is starting on my Master’s research paper. I need to have the first part of that done by the 24th and I am still swirling around the topic in my head. I am at a loss. I will get it I hope.
Remember how we got to see Rob Thomas in June? Well guess what? He is going to be around here close again and we have PIT seats this time! Holy smokes! She got us seats to see him again. Only my daughter! I cannot wait for this! I hope he signs again after the show. I know we already got to meet him once but I wish I could do it again. And maybe a pic this time! That would blow my mind…..
EVEN more news: I know y’all have frequently read about me posting something about the Impractical Jokers. I have never in my life watched a TV show that can make me laugh that much. I have seen funny stuff, don’t get me wrong. They are just on a different level of funny and I love it. Anyway, they are touring this fall, and we have been waiting for this. We have FRONT ROW PIT SEATS WITH A MEET AND GREET! HOLY SMOKES! I am so excited I cannot wait! Y’all thought I was going to be nervous to see Rob and get a chance to meet him, y’all ain’t seen nothing yet! Somehow I kept it together with Rob. I do say that I drive along and it occurs to me frequently that I have MET Rob Thomas and I have met Isaac Slade TWICE. It just boggles my head. 🙂 I hope I don’t have a spazz of some sort when I get to meet them. Just an FYI, I love them all but Q is my favorite. I am sure my daughter will video my reaction especially if it turns out that I have a tizzy. Ha! My daughter was determined that at any cost we were going to see and meet the Impractical Jokers. And we are. 🙂
Tomorrow our #Alittlebitofeverything link-up party will open. Please invite all your friends that blog and retweet for us! We want to see everyone who blogs join in. It is a wonderful way to meet new people and find some awesome blogs to read. I have read so many good blogs out there! I have a blast every week doing this with Iveth from over at fortheloveto.com. Stop by and say hi to Iveth. And if you would, say a prayer for her and her family. I think the world of her and want to thank her again for inviting me to help with her link-up! Information on the link-up including my featured blogger will be posted here tomorrow. We hope to see y’all there!
I think I have rattled long enough. I will have more later in the week I am sure. I just don’t have as much time as I did but I will blog when I can. Have a great night y’all!
Hi y’all! Hope everyone has been having a great week. Our link-up party is going very well. Thank you to all who have linked up! If you haven’t linked up yet, please come link up! It is a great way to meet new friends and read new blogs. I love co-hosting with Iveth. She is an awesome friend! Check our her blog too! The link-up party information can be found at https://pootsnotes.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/a-little-bit-of-everything-link-up-3/.
The walking is still going well. This week has been kind of strange as far as walking goes. I know we walked around 2 miles or so at the Illinois State Fair yesterday. I worked Tuesday and I know I walked a bunch then. Of course I can’t get my minutes and time because Facebook has decided to puke but rest assured I am still walking and doing everything that I need to. Monday I did do right at 4 miles after all the errands were run and with the walking later in the day. Tuesday I worked and walked constantly all day and yesterday was the Illinois State Fair. Today I am beat and am just taking it easy. Wednesday for whatever reason I decided it was time to have some doughnuts. So I did. I didn’t feel any better. In fact I could tell I had too much sugar. I took it easy yesterday and cut a lot of calories out. Today I am very tired since we got home at 430 in the morning. It was a long day. But it was awesome!
We just saw The Fray last month in Indy and met them there. And we wanted to see them again. They were going to be at the Illinois State Fair. We started out really early heading to Springfield because I hadn’t been there on my own and I wasn’t sure how the fair parking and all worked. Once we got into Illinois I noticed a few things. There was a cemetery that had a few stones but mostly all flower bouquets sticking up out of the ground. The stones could haven been flat on the ground but it was just odd. Another thing-all the roads to Springfield from here were two lane and at one time I was backroading it. Well nothing new that doesn’t happen here since we live on the back roads. I believe that the town/city signs in Illinois mention the population underneath the name. I kept trying to figure out why we didn’t see any big buildings in Springfield. The population was in the 117,000s. I had Annie look up the population of Indy. It was over 800,000. That could explain it or we just didn’t get into that part of town. Even Indy has a few huge buildings. Illinois though was way easy to navigate. It takes some time to get there and it looks like I never left Indiana, but it was an easy drive.
Once we got to Springfield I pulled over and called the fair people to find out what we needed to do. We needed to go in gate 6 and park in lot 18 for the show. Ok. That was the easy part. Next, what about these VIPIT things we have here? They will be giving out bands prior to the show. Ok. So we get parked and head on in and run into a security guard to ask what the deal was and to find out when and where this will be. He said 5 PM, and The Fray had just pulled up. Awesome! He was a really nice guy and we chatted with him a while (yes it is true, I never know a stranger). On the way in we came by a helicopter ride place. Nope, not for me. I was going to go up in one in Branson Missouri with my uncle but I was so car sick from the ride there that I passed. Now I don’t think I could deal with it either. But Annie wanted to. She went up and had a great time! She showed me the video she took and all. The guy there told me that he got car sick too but there is nothing like that in a chopper. Nah. Just still not for me. Don’t think The Fray would fancy my lunch on my shirt should I get into close proximity to them. Here are a few pics, and I have a video that I will eventually post. She is in the back in the gray shirt.
We go back in and start trying to find someone to ask about the passes and such. There is a line already forming and after we ask someone we decide to jump in there. Glad we did. They were all waiting for The Fray too all with VIP passes like us. So we sat and waited. About an hour after we had been there someone said they were over by where we were sitting at. Annie and I debated whether to go or not but the people we were with held our place for us. We walked on over and saw a couple of the other guys but no Isaac. We rounded the corner and oh my! There he was! He was chatting with some of the other people from the line. He was done talking to them and started talking to us. At this point I think we both were about to have a spasm. I told him that we had just met them last month in Indy and showed him the pic on my phone. He said he was glad he was wearing a different shirt and asked if I would like another pic with him! Well yeah! So I turn my camera on, hands shaking like crazy and I swear I am brain-dead. I cannot figure out why the selfie function was not functioning. He reached over and flipped it to the right setting. I took 3 pics, in case one of them didn’t take right–shaky hands you know. I thanked him and Annie got one with him too. That was just awesome! We got one with one of the other guys too and by that time their security had caught up to them. They weren’t running people off but they were just moving on down the line of the food places in front of the grandstand. I am just still in shock! I am just absolutely thrilled to death to get to meet them again! And Isaac Slade again! How awesome is that???? He is a really nice guy. 🙂
We go back to our line and the security people were making sure that only the people who were there first didn’t get cut in front of. At around 5 they got our bands for us and we still had to wait longer. Around 630 they let us start going in and told everyone not to run. Well that didn’t work well since it was general admission for the pit. We got in good and on the right side of the stage, first in line at the fence. Yeah! It was pretty awesome. Here is one of our views.
Andy Grammer opened for The Fray. He was pretty awesome too. I got a few good pics.
Then The Fray came out. Oh. My. They are just as awesome as they were in Indy. About three or four songs in he goes out in the crowd. He is climbing up the grandstand and seeing the people up in the top. He climbed back down and came back on the side of the fence where we were standing. At the end of the song he hops up on the fence, right over Annie! Now I am standing beside her, and fumbling with the phone to get the pics. I got them! So not only did we get to meet him but we got to see him hop up right there at us! In the first one of him close up you can see Annie’s hand reaching out to touch his arm. 🙂 I was too bumfuzzled to reach out….I was trying to take pics.
I took all sorts of great pics here. I will post several. We had such a good time! The Fray will never disappoint. I also have a video of them singing “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.” I will try to get it out there and posted. If any of you guys happen to read this, thank you. You have made our year, twice in a row. 🙂
This has been an awesome week! Keep linking up and have a great weekend!
Hi y’all! It has been a few days so I figured I better get a catch-up in here. First of all, I will be co-hosting the #Alittlebitofeverything link-up party with Iveth from fortheloveto.com again this week. Iveth invited me to co-host her link-up party again with her this week! I am so excited because I had such a good time last week, reading blogs and meeting new people. Please, please, PLEASE come link up to our blogs. Iveth is an awesome friend and I know you too will love talking to her and reading her blog! Don’t be shy, come on over and link up! Link will be posted on Wednesday.
Saturday I worked and ended up doing over 3 miles at work so I was done with the walking for the day. Sunday I actually walked and we did 43 minutes 1.88 miles. Sunday we did our regular walk and Annie went with me. That one infernal hill that always gets me, it seemed easier although she said I huffed and puffed all the way up it. But we did it. Yesterday, Monday, we walked down the HUGE hill to my Mom’s house but had my uncle take us back to the top. I am crazy but not crazy enough to try going back up until I get some more weight off. We did 45 minutes and 1.52 miles. Today Jeffrey and I did the same, walked to my Mom’s, with 43 minutes and 1.78 miles. I have been walking late afternoon too. The heat hasn’t been bothering me so that is a good thing. Sunday and Monday both we just got back to the house and a storm hit. It was hissing and blowing yesterday and I went out on the porch and stood in the blowing rain and wind. I was hot! That cooled me off! No storms today. I was a bit disappointed. I wanted to get cooled off faster. Oh well.
I have had a light week this week so I have been able to eat here more. I have gotten my diet under control again and now I think I need to fix the portions. I dread starting something new like that right in the middle of some other changes I am getting ready to make but I think I can do it. I hope I can anyway. The weight is still coming off and I guess I am impatient but I have made so many healthy changes.. I know it is all having a great effect on me. The changes include drinking more water, giving up sugar cold turkey, cutting carbs, cutting out the sweet pop, limiting my diet pop intake, and walking! Walking and the water have been the two that if I was to pick some, I would have thought those would be the hardest ones for me to get used to but I am doing it and doing it successfully. I still love that when I go places I can walk and not huff and puff.
So I have been dealing with some things, most of which I am not going to really name names and places, etc. But I will be as descriptive as I possibly can. I have made some choices lately that I thought were for the best. Turns out they were choices I should have said no to but yet it may propel me in the direction I need to go. I have been wrestling with the fact that I am not the same person as I was previously and if that was causing me the issues, with Jeffrey’s sickness and being saved and going to church. Honestly, yeah, that is a LOT of it. I can’t run from people who don’t think like I do but I sure don’t have to put up with people who are nasty and hateful and treat me bad because of something that I have no clue about. I also want to say that this has nothing to do with my beliefs or anything that I can tell from that angle. This is how I see it: if you have something to say about me, say it to my face, not behind my back. Furthermore, if you are gonna say good/bad things about me in any capacity first, you best be on a “I’ll call/’text/Facebook you” level because if you ain’t friends enough to have a way to get a hold of me, you don’t have any business talking about me. This may sound and mean and hateful but for real, find another game. I don’t have time for high school drama. If your stuff is that boring that you to flap about everyone else, well, I am sorry. But don’t mess here. I have been through a lot, I have seen a lot, and the things that I think were once important, ain’t no longer. Don’t waste my time and yours starting a bunch of stuff that has no merit to it. In other words, “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” Yes I am saved and go to church and it takes all I have not to tell these people exactly what I think but I have been successful at keeping quiet. I have to remember that I am representing my church and God. That is one of the best reasons I can think of to keep a calm and level head. And again, I am.
Now that I am off that soapbox I do have some things going on, things that I will mention eventually, all of which will be good. In the meantime, school starts back next week and I start working on the major project so I am sure that will be interesting. Say a little prayer for me that these things get fixed. In the meantime, I am beat and need to finish my blog for the link-up and do dishes. Have a great night, y’all! Don’t forget the link-up tomorrow!
Hi y’all! Don’t forget the link-up party starts tomorrow! I hope to see everyone out there who has a blog linking up! Or at least those who read my blog. Pass it along to your blogger friends too. It is a great way to meet new people and find awesome blogs to read. Again I can’t thank Iveth enough for inviting me to help host her link-up party! It is an honor. Check out Iveth’s blog at fortheloveto.com.
Today I had to take my uncle to Rural King so I ended up walking 1.34 miles there. How did I do that you ask? Well it is a huge store, and everything has been moved so a lot of it is hunt and peck to find something, you know like how people type one-handed. They look and look and finally find it. So it was at Rural King. We got that done and headed home. On the way there we kept driving into what looked like a massive storm but it barely sprinkled on us. That was good because it looked like a rough one.
We got home and I got lunch ready and took a nap (gasp! I know–I have been so tired lately). I have been trying to crank the carbs down like the dr told me to do and also the exercise. So there will be more crock pot cooking here and other things. He also told me to eat more protein. That will help me more than anything. And he also mentioned about how now that I am not used to eating a bunch of sugar, how I will feel awful after I do. I have indulged in a milkshake the other day and it was a reasonable amount so I didn’t feel too bad but I can tell a difference in how I feel when I eat more on the wrong side of things than I try to eat better. It is just hard because again of being out and about a lot and also because finding low carb snacks is hard. I almost wrote low barc. I guess those may be hard to find too.
Fall must be going to be early this year. The wind was blowing when we took our second walk and leaves that were yellow were falling. And the grass–the grass is starting to die and look like it is fall. I am ready for it. Fall is my favorite time of the year. It is cooler and it just feels good all the way around.
Later this evening we took another walk for 41 minutes 1.31 miles. We walked to my Mom’s house. Yes we went down the hill. But I had Gary bring us back up the hill. I am crazy but not THAT crazy. Last time I did that hill going up was the second day I had been walking when I started all this and I had to stop three times, and I felt dizzy and light-headed and I am not ready to try that again. After I get another 20 off I will, but not now even with what I have lost so far. I will get there. I just need to hammer down on the exercise so I don’t know if that means to walk more or add more. I will get that adjusted too. All I know is I need to kick it in gear somehow. He also agreed that one day a week if I have done well I can have a few things I like. Awesome!
Tomorrow Jeffrey goes back to school. Tomorrow is also shopping day. I don’t know much else new so I am going to stop here. It is kind of short but that is ok every so often. Have a great night y’all, and I hope to see you all at the link-up!
Hi y’all! I am so excited because in the next day or two I will be hosting the link-up party with Iveth! Look for that soon! Please stop by and link-up your blogs!!! Iveth is an awesome person and has a great blog over at fortheloveto.com. Stop by and say hi!
Today I didn’t specifically walk because I knew I was going to have to go shopping for my Mom later in the day. This awarded me with 1.37 miles and I will take that. Wal-Mart about puts me down though. Something about that floor just really kills me. We got it done though. Tomorrow will be a regular walk so I am excited about that. I do have a question to pose to my readers. What other things can I do that will help me lose more of my gut and get healthy? I was never into push ups and sit ups and things like that so surely there has to be another way. I have been sticking with my water better. I haven’t had pop now for a few days and I don’t mind leaving it behind because even though I am busy I am still having time to make my tea in the mornings. Those are good things. I just need to figure out how to eat less carbs at work and on the go. I had to take Jeffrey to the dr this morning and I asked him (the dr) and he gave me a few suggestions. Scales still show I am almost 30 pounds down so I am not about to stop now. He had several suggestions and I plan on following them. I am still stumped by snacks but I am sure I will figure that out.
We did Jeffrey’s school shopping today. We ended up with several good gel pens and 85, yes 85 tablets! We all seem to run through tablets pretty wild around here so we stocked up. At .17 apiece who wouldn’t? Still need to get a graphing calculator for him. The ones we looked at today were almost $100 each! Holy cow! I don’t think so. I hope to find a cheaper one on Amazon or somewhere. That is just highway robbery! I hope they don’t assign some sort of wild assignment the first day because it may take a while to find a good one that isn’t so expensive. I don’t need much like that for my classes, just pens and paper. And books. I will get those ordered next week. I am doing the major project this semester and it really gives me a slight feeling of dread. I have to do this in a scientific manner and what I wanted to do is apparently not scientifically measurable they way I wanted to do it. I guess I will just need to rethink this situation or panic. I am leaning more toward number 2 there but I am not a panicker. I am not sure how long I have to complete this because I know that I will have to use a good chunk of that time to figure out what I am doing which was supposed to be done last semester or at least a good idea was supposed to be figured out. All I figured out was I don’t know how to figure this out. Bleh. I will conquer this. Somehow.
On the way home I passed Annie. I always call her Is Nan, because she is Nan. Ha! So I pull up beside her, and holler Is Nan out the window. She just told me in a message that that was a new one and I needed to blog about it. So here ya go. 🙂 It was a new one. And I will probably do it again. Ha! Her schedule has gotten changed on her and I don’t get to walk with her as much as I would like to. She has some days off coming up so hopefully we will get to walk again. Or do something. More like blow my diet at the Chinese place probably.
OK so back to the job thing. I emailed a professor of mine from my old college who also happens to be a good friend of mine. I asked him what I was doing wrong in my job search. He basically explained that companies don’t do things like they used to. And the job market was just harder and being called in for an interview is almost a thing of the past. Well, I do say that doesn’t make me feel better but yet it does because maybe it isn’t me, for once it really is everyone around me. I don’t know but surely I will hit on something one of these days. I am just disgusted because a BS is supposed to be that magic potion that helps you succeed. I know I have a great job coming. I just need to be patient. And of course I can use him for a reference. 🙂 If you do happen to read this, your advice is priceless, regardless of what it may be. Thank you.
I had tweeted to Ben Gleib the other day and he favorited the tweet so that was awesome!
And real quick the 30 day challenge catch up. (Annie please catch yours up! I miss reading your answers!)
Day 22-Do you play a sport? If so tell us about it. If not, tell us about another hobby. Well, I used to play pool really well but I don’t much anymore. I need to get me a pool table. I love to watch baseball though. I have many hobbies, including collecting ink pens, reading, writing, messing with my computer (a variety of things there–web design, fixing my own stuff, etc. since I am a computer geek ya know), walking, shopping, etc. One of my favorite things to do is drive, so I love to go places.
Day 23–Your opinions on Lady Gaga. Love her! I love her music. If you listen really close to her, she can sing anything in this world that you could imagine. I would love to hear her put out some gospel songs. Yes, I think she sings that well.
Day 24--Oh my, the last movie I saw in theaters I think was Toy Story 3. That has been a while back.
Day 25–Tell us about the last book you read, for leisure or for school. Well the last book I read was the Bible which I read in a bit ago. But I read a few for school, one of which was “Borrowing Brilliance.” It was an awesome book about how no idea is new–all ideas are borrowed and made your own. I did a research paper on it, in the form of an interview, and got an A. Professor said he hadn’t seen anyone do one like that and was happy with how mine turned out. 🙂
With that being said I don’t dread the research paper, it is the set up and execution of my data finding process that is killing me. Bleh.
Tomorrow I gotta run out to Rural King and then I need to get my stuff ready for my missionary meeting on Wednesday. I will be around though. Have a great night y’all!
Hi y’all! I hope y’all are doing well. Before I even get into my walking stuff I have some exciting news I cannot wait to share! I will be helping my friend Iveth over at fortheloveto.com host her link-up! I am very excited about this opportunity and look forward to reading new blogs and meeting new people! Thank you Iveth for the opportunity to do this! It is going to be great!!!! I will have more information posted later in the week! Please feel free to check it out, link-up and share the news!
Yesterday I did 47 minutes which was 1.61 miles. I didn’t get much walking done today but I had to undecorate the church from VBS and I worked so I did 1.75 miles doing all that so I will take it. I have been doing relatively well with my eating again but I have to say I had a milkshake today. I didn’t care, I was needing something to pep it up a bit and that helped. Of course it doesn’t help that the best milkshakes are right here in my hometown. I have had milkshakes in a few places in my life but Bo-Macs is the best. No contest. Anyway, I have been able to crank the food down a bit and escape a lot of the restaurant food which has helped.
The walking is helping too although I have to say that there is a very confusing thing going on that I cannot figure out for the life of me. They say to walk, to lose weight and to get healthy all the way around. Some of the issues I have had with my back should leave when I start walking. Once I get walking and get some weight off I should start having less pain there. Well, no. It seems like I walk in the mornings, and things are good. I then go to work or whatever it is I am going to do, and driving tears my knee up. Walking further at work tears my knee and my back up. I sit it hurts. I stand it hurts. I walk it hurts. But I keep going which I think is what I need to do but again am I just messing things up? I am not sure but I do know I am perplexed with this and this will be a topic to address at my next Dr appointment. I sure don’t know what is going on but I know i am tired of it. And for the record, I am a very busy person. I have had to go back to work part-time and I do tell you that if I worked full-time that whoever had decided that two days off work was enough to rest up, they are wacko. Certifiably and completely wacko. I can’t get rested up with what I have working fifteen hours a week! Holy cow I don’t know what is happening!
I have had VBS all week. I have had such a great time! I just do what I think God is directing me to do and VBS is one of those things. On the last day we had a drawing for some prizes but everyone got something. And the thing they looked forward to? The Pastor and my son Jeffrey both got hit in the face with some cream pies! That was a hoot! When we lured them to come over to where we were, the kids were hesitant to throw the pies at them, although they know they were supposed to! But it was good times! We studied the underdogs of the Bible–Joseph, Daniel, Esther, and David. It was very good. I look forward to doing it again next year!
On the way to town today, there was a little baby deer just walking up the road. It still had its spots! It wasn’t the least bit afraid. We were afraid someone was going to come along and hit it so I tooted my horn and it jumped off into the weeds. We figured it lost its mom somewhere and couldn’t find her. I hope it found her. Stuff like that bugs me.
So the husband tags me in a post on Facebook of this old country song. I look it and the lyrics up and it was apparently considered a very racy song in the day and was apparently banned off the radio, I believe I had read. Ha! It was quite mild compared to what is out there today. I am going to see if I can find it and link it up here so y’all can see it.
Work this week went much better. I am not sure what my problem has been. I am so torn between getting my dream job, and God only knows what that may be, and between being there. I don’t know what I am doing wrong because regardless of how many resumes I send out, I never get a call back. I know that maybe I need to call them, but I don’t want to be a stalker. I have had some places tell me not so nicely that if they are interested they will call me. Although this week was good there are some days like today that makes me question anything I have ever done and if I am or ever will be good at anything. I feel like I have lost my touch or something. I think maybe I am just very tired and I need to rest. I think I will get myself back together this week. I know I will.
I think that is all I have for now. I look forward to helping host the link-up party! Have a great night y’all!
Hi y’all! I am back! I have been so busy and worn out that I just took a few days to get things together and now I am back. I am glad to be back although this week will still be extremely busy. Saturday I did 2.3 miles at work and shopping then I came home and walked for 40 minutes which made the total for the day 3.82 miles. When I got home from work, and got my Mom’s groceries put away and the church decorated for VBS, it was almost dark but we went anyway. Those hills really got me! I huffed and puffed up that one that gets me all the time. Mercy it was rough! I even had a few second pause. But I moved on. My daughter told me I was huffing an awful lot, and I responded with I did though didn’t I and didn’t give up! The second hill on the go back Saturday was ok. I dealt with it ok. When we got back we were sweating up a storm. Literally. I haven’t been that hot for a long time walking. It seems like when I walk I don’t sweat much, but when we stop I sweat and it literally pours. I thought your body was supposed to sweat to cool you off but I don’t get extremely hot when I walk contrary to how I feel most of the time. I am not going to argue that but you would think you would sweat a bit. Well I do but I guess the real sweat session comes after you stop. I have been out of the loop of the hills now for a while. I still get my time in, at work or whatever, but I think there are more benefits to walking, for a consistent amount of time, at once. This week I will be able to get on that. Also every week when I tell say I am going to crank down my carbs I end up not being home to do so. This week though, I will. Yesterday I rather well and had a small piece of pie for dessert. Today has been well so far and I intend to keep that way, at least in my range that I try to hit. Yesterday was church and I didn’t walk but we finished the decorating and I ended up doing 1.18 miles doing that. It is good to take what I can get as far as walking goes when I can’t hit it like I need to. This morning though, we did 43 minutes and 1.37 miles which will go up after VBS tonight I am sure. That hill that gets me? I puffed up it this morning and it wasn’t so bad. Didn’t take so long to get back in the loop. And the second one wasn’t too bad either. I powered up it and kept on going. It did drizzle on us a bit this morning. We saw our rabbit in a different place and we think it was another one. And no bullfrogs tried to get us. 🙂 I guess that walking all the time is like riding a bike. Once you get out of it for a minute, and when you start back up, it is like you never stopped. I can really tell a difference. Remember I said I wouldn’t huff and puff in Cincinnati? I didn’t! I hit that goal! Now I guess I need to set another one. I am torn between fitting in smaller pants or not huffing and puffing doing certain things. I think I better stick with the huffing and puffing thing since I think that I need to be able to walk more and in better health than my pants size, but that is important too in order to hopefully stop diabetes before it starts. Whew!
It seems like I feel better if I get my walk in every day. I just cannot seem to get myself to relax. It is like my muscles tense up and I cannot get them to wind down. I don’t know if it is just me, or I just can’t seem to let go because I expect the hammer to drop on something or what. I hope to get un-tired this week. I can keep on wishing. And this ignorant cold I caught, it has gone except for snot stringing down my throat. That is driving me mad. I hope that goes on too. I do say with not smoking for as long as I have, colds are not as severe as they used to be. Annoying still but not as bad.
We decorated Saturday and yesterday for our VBS at church. The theme is Underdogs of the Bible. It will be a really good VBS. Today I think we start with Joseph. Jeffrey will be doing crafts. If you are close we would love to have you come out. It will be a good time!
And now we come to Nate Ruess. My daughter, as you know, loves to do stuff and I usually get to help pick these things or suggest things. So now we are going to see Nate Ruess, from fun. in September. Oh that will be good! I like several of fun.’s songs and I like his solo stuff. It ought to be good. Will of course post pics. I wonder if he will sign afterward? Will find out I guess!
I have had several cool things on Twitter. Of course, Idiotest interacts with me all the time and that is cool. Wish I knew who was running that account, if it was Ben Gleib or someone else. I may have to ask someday. I have met several mom bloggers on there that I connect with and I thank all of them for that, and several blog retweeters that I really enjoy and I thank for retweeting me, including The Blog Centre and a few others. The Blog Centre mentioned me in their newsletter they sent out today. You can read it here: Blog Centre. Thank you again for featuring me!!! And Daniel Goddard, who plays Cane on the Young and the Restless favorited a tweet I sent to him. So all that is cool.
I also better catch up the 30 day blog challenge.
Day 14–Do you have siblings? Talk about them or what it’s like to be an only child. I have a brother, that I have talked about many times. He is the most awesome brother in the world. He has had my back from day one, vowing to always look out for me no matter what. When my Dad wasn’t around he did a good job of doing those things that he was supposed to do. He has always helped me out and then some. And an update on him, he got to come home Saturday and is doing very well after his surgery. I am so thankful to God for that! I would do anything in this world for him, and him for me.
Day 15–Tell us your favorite junk food. Well believe it or not, I can take junk food or leave it. With this diet, I don’t get much obviously. If I had to pick one, I like Reese’s anything, and I love cake but I am not sure you count that as junk food or dessert. There is no junk food out there that I can’t live without but I guess my favorite would be pop.
Day 16–Your favorite Disney Princess movie. Hmm. I guess Beauty and the Beast. That is my favorite one, went to see it in the theater when I was a kid.
Day 17–My thoughts on Ugg boots. Not for me.
Day 18–Do you drink soda more often than milk? I suppose I used to but I drink more tea and water than anything.
Day 19–The initials of your crush. I am married so that don’t count.
The 30 day challenge is caught up. If there is anything you want to know about me, or want me to blog about, just comment it to me. I would love to answer things! I think I will close it for now. I need to get lunch and get ready to head to VBS. Have a great day y’all!
Hi y’all! Miss me?? I was at a baseball game Wednesday and then I was sick yesterday and this morning. I have had some sort of snotty nose, hacking, chilling on and off type of disease. I am finally feeling better this evening which is an odd time to be feeling better all things considered, since I just got off work. But I do have some stories to tell!
On Wednesday by the time the day was over I had done close to 4 miles on foot. Wow! I did good! And again, I didn’t break a sweat or anything. I was sooo happy that when I trucked through there, even upstairs, I had no issues going up or down the stairs, although I can’t say the same for my knees. And since I was sick I was hacking and sneezing all through the game. Ugh. Yesterday I did around mile just walking at work and stuff. I hate that I missed today but I did do close to 2 miles at work today so I suppose that will be ok for now. I will get back on it tomorrow.
Wednesday I did our grocery shopping and then we took off for Cincinnati around 1. I found at the store diet vanilla syrup! I had been wanting to find some Diet Vanilla Coke because I love vanilla coke. I am glad I found that so when I do take a notion for a Diet Coke, I can make it with vanilla. I also found a couple of good pork roasts, one for $1.81 and one for $2 and something. You can’t beat that! I plan on crock potting one of them into some barbeque.
Whoever designed the road system or the GPS, I am not sure which, apparently has trouble with straight lines. When I look at a map, I see Indiana, some land, then Cincy. Oh no. We have to go through Kentucky, then right into Cincinnati. I hope that is the easiest way to get there. Looking at it on the map, it may be the fastest. If not, well I guess we are going that way anyway.
We stopped in Lawrenceburg to get Annie something to eat, and then we moved on. That place has a huge hill leading into it and I think it would be terrifying going down it in the winter. So the next thing, on the bridge into Kentucky I believe, they were working on it. Now I have no idea why but I have a mild sense of distress driving over these huge bridges and overpasses and things that shoot up in the air. I did in Louisiana, and those overpasses seemed to really shoot up into the sky. So we start toward this bridge and there is construction. It is down to two lanes, both enclosed in concrete things. I have to dodge the bridge on the right and the concrete divider on the left. Oh. My. Goodness. I think that had to be one of the most terrifying moments of my life. But the first time over it wasn’t bad. I could deal with it. The second time, in the return lane was worse. It was dark and the road was throwing me around and then the concrete dividers were not exactly even and on the right side of me over the concrete I am not sure if the bridge was out with nothing or what since it was dark, but I gripped that wheel with both hands and slowed down to like 30 something. I don’t think I have ever been quite as freaked out, or happier to see the Indiana sign on the other side. Mercy sakes. And just for the record Cincy, Indy is a lot easier to get around in after dark. No terrifying bridges or overpasses shooting in the sky. Just sayin’. And not that I mind either, because y’all know I LOVE to drive even if I feel like I am on a spaceship jetting into outer space. Just stating a fact here. 🙂
Once we pop back into Ohio it is just a few minutes to the stadium. We get into our parking space and walked to the stadium. Derek had to run to keep up with me! I was trucking on! I walked that, with no sweating, no huffing or puffing! I walked that like a boss! The picture I am going to post a bit later here is me with one of the mascots, and the shirt I had on was WAY too big for me. It is the only Reds shirt I have which is why I wore it anyway. It isn’t that bad of a pic, but you will see and when compared to my other recent pics, it is funny looking. I don’t mind it much because it does show shrinkage to my infernal chin although my shirt looks more like a dress. We get to our seats and unfortunately no one comes out to sign. Ugh. Oh well. I have a few pics from the whole thing and all.
I got one of my brats (bratwurst), which I think is the best brats in the world. Maybe it just tastes better because it is at a game. I don’t know. It was a good game although the Reds lost. There was also a kid who jumped down and ran across the field in the middle of the game! Found out just a bit ago he was from Noblesville, up north of Indy! Oh dear. That is just nuts. People need to remember when you go to a show, you are to WATCH the show, not BE the show. Being the show in someone else’s show does not have good consequences. It was crazy though because that kid ran, and the police were on the field like magic. I am not sure where they were but they sure showed up fast.
I got to see most of our favorite players, including BP, Frazier, Hamilton, Votto, you know the regular guys. There were a few others there, including Suarez, and Diaz, and they were cool too. But my favorite came out at the last. Chapman. He came out, I started hooping and stood up taking pics and Derek was like “Heel!” Ha! I guess! Anyway I was glad to see him and every game we have been to, except the one that was rained out, he was there. I sure miss Arroyo and Hanigan though, and Choo, well that was silly to let him go although I understand the mechanics behind all these people moving around and stuff. They didn’t ask me but I sure wish they had!
Throughout the whole game Derek would hoop and holler and I tell you there was someone across the way who would respond! Then they were selling cotton candy and the guy who would sell it would walk by and call it sugar on a ….STICK. He would emphasize the STICK. I tried to video him and he didn’t do it. Annie at one time had the seat next to her down and she said that she had an imaginary friend named Clem Cletus sitting with her. Well never a dull moment with us around!
Here some of the pics I took. I am aware that some of these have no significance unless you watch the Reds all the time but even if they don’t for you, they are still cool pics. Enjoy!
Chappy again!Great American Ball Park Cincinnati Ohio
Chappy!Me and the mascot. My shirt is WAY too big.
My husband Derek and I.HamiltonThe big insurance building you see behind the stadium.Our view from 5 rows back from the field on the Reds side.Mustache building.The building you see with the Reds hat and mustache.
For those who may be wondering, my brother is doing very well. He has graduated to walking with a cane for now, and will be heading home soon. He told me today he is feeling so much better and was amazed at how fast he was recovering and amazed at what a few days have done for him. I stand corrected. He is a Superman! He was a Superman before and his healing progress just shows that he truly is a Superman. Thank you all again for the prayers!
I also want to thank Iveth over at fortheloveto.com for reminding me about her link-up! I do appreciate it!
I had better stop for today. I am sure I will have more to say tomorrow, since unless I am gone or sick, I am never without something to say. Night y’all!
Hi y’all! I had to work Saturday morning early after leaving later so I had to get home and rest. Last night I was just too tired to even think about doing anything so I just rested. I have to go in early in the morning for a while but I am going to blog. I don’t feel so tired tonight thank God but I am still beat.
Yesterday I walked after I got home. I had already walked around a mile at work, so then I did 1.4 miles in 88 degree weather that felt like 94 or so. It was hot and very humid! I didn’t care. I did it anyway. I have to. I also took the weights again. I am getting really discouraged though. It seems like I can’t get my diet under control when I am out and I have had to be out the last three weeks or so. I haven’t put any on but I don’t feel like I have walked enough to accomplish anything. After next week I think things will settle down so I can get back in my normal routine. I am going to crank the carbs down tighter tomorrow. I am also going to cut out the pop again and drink just my tea and water. I know and realize that I am not putting it back on but I also don’t want to risk that just because of my crazy schedule. I guess I can’t shake the feeling that I think I should be further along than I am and I cannot figure out why. Other than the fact I need to cut the carbs again and walk more but with my weird schedule and stuff, I will just have to make time. I do notice that I am getting smaller but not in my infernal chin. Ugh.
So a while back we had changed up our routine due to some weird serial snorter we heard in the woods. I have lived out here in the woods all my life and I cannot recall something that sounds like this. When we went to see my Mom Friday I stopped and listened for this thing and sure enough, I was able to record it good enough so we could hear it. I took it to my uncle and guess what? It was a bull frog! I didn’t know no bull frogs snort at people! Again I don’t mess with frogs and reptiles and things of that nature but there is an old pond there up in the woods where we were hearing the noise at and it is an old bull frog! Well hmpff. There goes the bigfoot dreams. But it explains why it was there EVERY time we went by. It lives there. Not as exciting as I would have wanted it to be, but we can start back on our normal walking now and avoid that big hill if I want to. Yesterday I did avoid it. It was just too hot.
My Mom had an interesting conversation for me. She asked me if I thought I was taking on too much today. Nah, I told her. I sometimes wonder myself. I really wish I didn’t have to go back to work. The last two weeks I feel like I have been flattened by a steam roller. My back isn’t getting any better and my knees, especially my right one, is killing me. You would think that that would stop with all the walking I am doing and the weight loss that is taking place. And even if the weight slowing down, surely I am still strengthening my muscles, or loosening them up to work better, right? I am not sure what is going on. That just adds to my frustration of trying to learn new co-workers and them trying to learn me. I don’t feel like getting into that jazz but I have also come to the conclusion that I am different that I was before. I have seen my son almost die. I have been saved of my sins. I don’t smoke anymore. I have different priorities now. I can tell by my speech and my actions that I am NOT going to be the popular one at work. That is ok. I don’t care. I am not there to amuse or please the co-workers. I must remember to work at this job as if I am working for God. If it wasn’t for that verse many times last week, I am not sure. Honestly? I think I am so dadgum tired that everything is irritating me. I know full well that I am good at that job. I know full well that I am not one to be lured into any foolishness. I think that maybe I need to give it more time before I declare it a bust. I was put there for a reason. I am determined to figure out why.
Also we had another interesting conversation, me and my Mom today. I was driving along and I told her to watch where I was going. I had to wipe my eyes out since my eyes started burning and watering. I told her to tell me which way I needed to since I couldn’t see anything. She proceeded to tell me to go “thataway.”. Thataway? Which way is that? I got a chuckle out of her because she didn’t know which way to tell me to go but thataway. LOL yonder would have worked better……
I am just bleh here today. I am still tired. See, I just can’t seem to get it together for some reason. I just don’t know what I think so stay tuned for that. So let me go into some things that irritate me. I heard one thing today that irritated me and there is a saying out there that irritates me. I may have talked about it before but I am going to go into it again. So the word blouse. It is a shirt, not a blouse. That word just irks me. My Mom proceeds to tell me they used to be called shirtwaists. Well wow. That would be kind of cool and old school to go back to talking about a shirt. The other thing that bugs me is when people say “it is what it is.” What??? It is what it is.. I am glad you pointed that out, Captain Obvious, because I had NO clue it wasn’t going to be what it isn’t. I thought that was an unwritten rule. It is obviously what it is because it isn’t going to be what it isn’t!! Grr that one just annoys me!
I also have a badge up if anyone is interested. Let me know if it works or not.
I think I have rambled enough for today. This one is short but I will crank out a good one tomorrow. Have a great night y’all!
Hi y’all! I was out-of-town all day yesterday but I did manage to do 1.11 miles walking while I was away. I had some ribs for lunch so I tried to cut out carbs where I could. Today we got up and walked 1.65 miles which was 46 minutes. We walked really early so it was really cool outside. We hashed out many things today, including the serial snorter and The Fray. The pics have arrived!! We still can’t believe we met them, and how nice they were. They were sooo tall (I am a tall girl but I still had to look up at them), and they were very, very nice and seemed like they appreciated their fans so much. Back to the walk, we didn’t have any cats going with us or anything. One mewed at us part way down the road but it went back. So we went on, and took off down the driveway long enough to get the things snorting on video. I am going to play it for someone who knows what it is, then I will post it on here. It almost sounded like a bird to me today but why in the world would anything make this same sound in the same place this long? At all hours of the day? Just like humans, animals move in and out of their dwellings and it seems all hours it is there, doing its serial snorting thing. Very odd. Hopefully soon I will know what it is. I am going to try to upload the video here so y’all can hear it. Maybe someone can help me figure it out. It is very quiet but if you listen closely you can hear it make the noises.
It was cool this morning when we started out. I huffed up the hill again but it didn’t seem so bad today. Annie made the comment on the second hill that it was hot. I know it was heating up but we did good. I took my weights, but I only found one set of them today. Not sure what was going on there but one just up and walked off. I work today so I may get another walk in, you never know.
On Sunday we had tickets to see Matt Nathanson, The Fray, and Train. We left early so we could stop and see my brother in Bloomington before we went on. After we visited with him we ate at Cheddar’s. I had eaten at Cheddar’s in Evansville a few months ago and was very impressed with them. I was not disappointed this time. I try to get a half rack of ribs whenever I get to a place that has them. I order them without sauce, now because of the sugar but also because of honey. We don’t need to go there, just rest assured I know I am allergic and I don’t need to eat it. My Mom thought I would grow out of it but a few years ago I had some sweet and sour chicken or something that had some sweetness that I found out later was honey, and it didn’t end well. Annie had a huge chicken fettuccine salad type of thing and it looked good too. There was a waiter there, and he kept walking by and eyeing Annie, and she got the biggest crack out of it. I told her that he was her speed, and she didn’t disagree. Ha! Needless to say he gave her one last lookover going out the door. Ahh the funny things we see. I have one about like that. At the restaurant I ate at yesterday, with the ribs, and again I get ribs when I can, I asked our waiter for a refill. Now this waiter was a nice dude and I was quite impressed with how nice he was and the personality he had. He told me that I could have anything I want. I almost made a list…..ha! Sometimes I just have a hoot!
We stop in Martinsville to get a frappuccino at Starbucks. We whipped in there and got that and took off back toward Indy. As we rounded the last corner there in Martinsville, traffic was backed all the way up the hill! Holy cow! I was not going to sit in that since it is just silly to do construction on a Sunday. I had to try to get in the other lane and once I did, I backtracked through Martinsville and up 39 instead. I am glad I know a few other ways to Indy. If I missed this one I was gonna be MAD.
After we get on up the road and get gas, we get on the loop. Siri is telling me we have to go like 24 miles or so to our exit for Noblesville. At this point I am curious as to how long the loop is. Not sure why I didn’t know, but I didn’t. I tell her to look it up. For your future reference, the loop is 54 miles around Indy. Ha! I knew we were going to drive at least half of it! When Annie looked that up, she also found a video of someone just driving completely around the loop that had videoed it. Ha! She played it and it was the funniest thing I think we had seen in a while. Who would just drive it and record it?? Well we did part of it so yeah, us….ha! And a happy ending to the I 65 story? On 465 I believe I ran into where I would have landed at had I took 65 in Seymour a couple of weeks ago. I told it hello, and it seemed to understand that I was on the other end finally. A happy ending to the highway calling my name.
Once we took the Noblesville exit that put us on 69 North toward Fort Wayne. There was just a mass of lanes on that sucker. It does not make me nervous, but I just LOVE it. Remember the references to the highway calling out to my soul? There are reasons for that. I love to drive and this was no exception. We got there pretty fast and had about 45 minutes to wait until we could park. We had a bathroom break and drove back and forth in front of the place, and finally decided to park after passing umpteen cops. We were 5th in line or so to get in so once we got in, we were parked pretty close to the front. We had to go pick up our tickets and find out what exactly we needed to be doing. No one knew. There were some other ladies there waiting to meet The Fray too and they couldn’t find out anything either. The email said the gates open at 6 and the meet and greet started at 6. That made no sense. Found out a bit later the meet and greet was scheduled at 615 so that made more sense. We were first in line at the gates and when time came to open them, we had to shove down about 4 gates to get in. Somehow we got in first still and the guy standing there wanted to know how in the world we got tickets to meet them, Email we said. They will email about these type of things.
Notice VIP on the ticket!
We got in and got our VIP stuff. We got a bag and an autographed poster and our VIP badge, which you will see on me when I get the pic up here later. So we have to ask exactly where to go to meet them and they direct us to a gate up the way a bit. So we head up there and the ladies that were waiting with us was in the wrong line! The guy at the door didnt’ have a copy of our VIP pass but one of the guys working with The Fray came out and told him we were supposed to be there. The other ladies had gotten into the group to meet Train, although some VIPs for Train had already been taken in. Somehow I ended up being first in line. The guy comes out and tells us to just hold on, we would be going back soon. We waited until about 620 and they came to get us. Oh my were we nervous standing out there! We had to go down this long ramp and wait close to a bridge like thing. I am still first in line, as nervous and rattled as a doped up chicken. The guy comes and tells us when they get there, we can go up, one at a time, meet them, shake their hand, talk to them and get our pic with them. There may have been 15 of us and I have NO idea why there weren’t more. Come on now, this is The Fray! Isaac Slade!! What was wrong with people??? Anyway, in a few minutes, a bus door opened and here they came. Oh. My. My brain kind of did the off switch thing like when Rob came over to us.
Once they get lined up, he tells me I can go on over. I start at the back of the line, shaking hands and they introduce themselves to me as I go . I get to Isaac, and he holds his arms out for a hug. O. M. G. I know I say “Oh my goodness” as I get a hug from him! They are extremely tall too. When I go in for this hug, I hear a chorus of awws and sighs from the crowd behind me. He tells me later that he likes my shirt, and I had worn my Rob Thomas shirt. Seemed fitting for another concert. At this point they direct me to get my pic taken with them, I am not really sure what is going on at this point but I get squeezed in the middle of them. I am holding onto my ticket there, and I will say the first time I meet them I was pretty polite but the next time I am going for a hug for the pic! I was quite nervous but that was so exciting! I got to meet The Fray and hug Isaac Slade! And I felt the vibes coming off them that they were so happy to meet us. They were not in the least bit intimidating, or rude, or condescending or anything that some celebrities have been rumored to be. They were totally happy to see us and you could tell that. Here it is, the pic everyone has been waiting for!!
The Fray and I!!!!!
Yeah I am still pudgy but I am getting smaller! I do say I felt pretty dwarfed around those guys. They were all taller than me! Obviously you can see that LOL! They didn’t seem to care, and you could just feel they were very accepting of how everyone was. You know you can feel if someone thinks you are icky or fat or whatever, but they didn’t have that going on. It was just amazing and awesome and nerve-wracking all at the same time!
We get directed out of there and we go to get shirts and we are shaking and excitedly talking and all sorts of stuff running through our heads. We get our shirts and a drink and head on over because Matt Nathanson is already singing. We are seven rows back and let me tell you, don’t go back farther than that. You can still see them and see their eyes at that seat. Just an FYI.
Matt Nathanson is a hoot! He was out singing in the audience and was just funny when he was talking to us. He put on a good show. He sings “Come On, Get Higher,” “Faster,” and a few others I know y’all would recognize if you heard them. And get this: at the end of the show he threw his pick and I mean he skipped it like a rock. Annie got it!! That was awesome!!
Then The Fray was next! Oh my how we looked forward to that! They sang “Heartbeat” first and ended with “Over My Head” and “Love Don’t Die.” They were absolutely awesome! They even busted into a gospel song in the middle of the set. I know I was the only one where we were that understood that one. We were dancing and singing and hopping all the way through their set. They were just fabulous! I have several pics here. And guess what??? We are going to see them AGAIN in August! We have pit seats this time! Oh my!!
Train was up next and boy they put on a good show! He was out in the crowd singing too at one point. He had Matt and Isaac come back out and they did the “With A Little Help From my Friends” and then Train sang “Dream On” toward the end of the show which resulted in me headbanging and singing along. They sang “Drops of Jupiter” last. When he was singing, Pat Monahan would go and shake peoples’ hands, take selfies with them, and he even signed a shirt and threw out free t-shirts to the audience! And CALM! Everyone there was CALM! There was no stupidness, nothing that would be classified as people acting crazy. That was nice. Here are some Train pics.
We had such a great time! Will post more pics when we see them again. Have a great day y’all!
Poot's Notes 