Rob Thomas! Impractical Jokers! Weight going DOWN!

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!

–S

Just Another Monday and Upcoming Link-Up Party!

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!

–S

Tired, Tired, and Some Wisdom in the 30 Day Challenge

Hi y’all!  First and foremost Happy Birthday America!  I may not blog tomorrow.  We have some stuff planned. Today I did a total of 1.41 miles while shopping and then  I did an additional 55 minutes for my regular walk which made a total of 2.9 miles today.  I did walk with my weights today.  I can really tell a difference in my arms not being as fat.  They are still fat but nothing like before.  My pants are still fitting better and I have got to remember to punch that hole in my belt!  I was again very tired today but I huffed it down the road anyway.  I had to listen to one song because my battery was low but at least it lasted for the walk on a red battery.  Good old iPod!

I learned a new trick today.  When I am going up the hills and I get completely winded, and by the way there is only ONE, count them ONE, on the walk that does that to me, I figured out how to easily get through it–I put my head down, put my weighted hands on my hips and concentrate on the pavement and gravel while singing a little louder in my head to my tunes.  This totally distracts me and before I know it I am at the top!  Hey if it works, go for it I think.  Whatever little things it takes to get me through, I am for it.  And, by going back to work, I may be able to walk with my ladies in the PM and finally get in the extra exercise I have been needing, at least two days a week.  I don’t want to go gung-ho and wear myself totally out the first dash out of the box.  But even today at Wal-Mart I noticed that my back wasn’t bothering me so bad, I was NOT huffing and puffing or getting completely exhausted from the get-go and I was able to keep going.  I am noticing so many changes and I am so thankful to God and to the Dr for getting me straightened out.  I was tired as my title states but I kept it going and have to.  Also I am down to only one short break, about 20 seconds, enough to make blog notes, catch my breath and let God’s cool wind He sends me every day cool me off.  Then I am back on.  The other hill that I had to stop in the middle of on the way back, I go right on up it now. It seems that once I get going the huffing and going up hills gets better after I get warmed up.  Maybe I just huff it out on the one hill and my body isn’t interested in huffing anymore.  Whatever it is, it works.

I can’t really tell a difference in times of walking either other than I feel like I have everything accomplished when I walk in the morning. I am not sure if you are supposed to feel a difference in different times of the day walking or not.  If I walk in the evening I have something to look forward to when I get home.  Either way, I don’t feel different other than the feeling healthier that I have been feeling now for a while.  Monday will  be week 11 of diet and 10 of exercise.  Go me!  I absolutely love walking now and I look forward to it.  I can’t wait to get walking when it is time to walk.  I like to pretend that I can feel myself getting healthier.  Today though we walked shortly after noon and it was hot.  And muggy.  I did see one dragonfly but the little gnats that try to fly in your eyes were everywhere! The point is I walked in the heat because I usually don’t do heat well.  I am going to be out in the heat in a ballgame in a few weeks and I need to get myself acclimated to that or being out in any heat I choose to be in.  This is good practice and a way to build a resistance.

I have just been glad to have the day to do whatever. The dogs and cats have swarmed all over me all day and I was glad to see them.  My back is finally unwinding and my knees are unlocking but I will say when I was walking I felt some weird clicky sensations coming from there.  I hope they keep themselves intact but the sitting this week would kill anyone.

The Blog Centre listed me as on of the #ff for today.  Thank you very much!  I love being able to get my blog out there so others can see it.

#FeatureFriday#blogstofollow#sharethelove#FF@poothead@Verushka143@Br0nwynBJN@randommusings29@susanpajaro Thanks for the support

— The Blog Centre (@theblogcentre) July 3, 2015

I think I will do a few more of the 30 day writing challenge.  I may do almost the rest of them.  Don’t stop reading here!  There are some interesting ones coming up!

Day 18— Post 30 facts about yourself. Ok here goes.

1. Jesus is my Savior.
2. I love to write.
3. I have met Rob Thomas.
4. I love to drive.
5. My favorite foods are mushroom and Swiss burger or pizza.
6. I am becoming an exercise addict.
7. I have two children.
8. Chihuahuas are my favorite dog breed and I have one.
9. I also love Min Pins and I have one.
10. When I shop I grab the second one back in the row.  Who knows what may be up with the first one!
11. I LOVE sweet tea.
12. I love to read.
13. My dream car is a Camaro with all the ground effects.
14. I want to go to Ireland someday.
15. It wouldn’t take much to convince me to move to Louisiana, near the swamp right outside New Orleans.
16. I am allergic to honey.
17. I am loving water as much as I do sweet tea.
18. My dream job would be to write professionally.
19. My hero would have to be my brother.
20. Stupidity is the one thing I cannot tolerate.
21.  I love going to big cities
22. I get to meet The Fray in a week and a day.
23. I have been married for 17 years.
24. I am working on my Master’s degree in Electronics and Computer Technology.
25. I am going back to work in the group home I worked at before.
26. My son has beat leukemia!
27. I get hot and sweaty very easily, even in below 0 weather.
28. I love to blog!
29. I don’t judge anyone for any reason.
30. I think that if you don’t own a 4×4, it isn’t worth having.

Day 19–Discuss your first love.  Well that had to be, other than a pet, George Peppard from the A-Team.  That probably gives away my age huh?

Day 20–Post about three celebrity crushes.  Oh my.  I gotta make it four. Ok obviously Rob Thomas.  I love the Impractical Jokers so would that count for 4? Ben Gleib obviously.   And last but not least, Michael Weatherly.  DiNozzo on NCIS.  And please know I like all these for very different reasons and not just the obvious although they aren’t hard on the eyes.  🙂

Day 21–What three lessons do I want my children to learn from me?  This may not be a lesson but love Jesus and please look at things from a different point of view than anyone else.  And keep things where they are never boring.

1. You do not have to put up with any crap from anyone.  Period.

2.  Work for what you have so you can always be self-sufficient.

3.  Please use common sense and avoid stupidity.

Day 22–Put your music shuffle and post the first 10 songs.

1. Sons of Jezebel– Whoo Boy
2. Pink–Family Portrait
3. Rob Thomas–Streetcorner Symphony (One of my favorites!)
4. Steve Earle–Copperhead Road
5. Ratt–Dance
6. Nickelback–Burn It To The Ground
7. Magic!–Rude
8. Pink–Sober
9. Michelle Branch and Santana–The Game of Love
10. Bon Jovi–Always

Day 23--A letter to someone, anyone–Hi kids!  There are four things that you also need to know.  There is good in everything, even in the most awful of situations.  Please look for it.  Also, there is humor in everything too.  If you can’t laugh, what is the point?  Live each day to the fullest.  And NEVER forget to tell those around you how much they mean to you even if they are sick of hearing it.  Life is too short to let people go without knowing what they truly mean to you. These four jewels of advice will carry you through life no matter what.  Love, Mom

Day 24–Write about a lesson you have learned the hard way.  The one thing I have learned the hard way is how to take care of money.  Every time we have ever taken out a loan or tried to do something new it seems life has attacked and things have gotten messed up.  I try to avoid that now and take better care of stuff.  You don’t learn these things until you get older though.

Day 25—

Search any word in Google Images and write about the 11th image.  I searched Chihuahuas.  That little one is so adorable!  I love animals so much!

Day 26–Write about an area of your life you would like to improve.  I do that every day.  My weight and self-image–I have to drop weight for my health.  The benefit is I will look awesome when I am done!

Day 27–Conversely, write about something that is kicking “butt” right now.  I have gotten to talk to some really cool celebrities on Twitter.  I hope I keep getting to!

Day 28–Post five things that make you laugh out loud.

1. Impractical Jokers
2. Stupidity at times.
3. Auto-correct on my iPhone
4. Ben Gleib
5. My radical dreams.

Day 29–My goal for the next 30 days, or goals, are to keep walking, tighten down my carb control, refresh on how to do my job at work, keep blogging, gain more followers, see another Reds game, meet The Fray, and start back to school for the Fall semester.

Day 30–My highs and lows for the month–July has just started but I have my job back and I am still exercising.  My lows, well, being broke.  That will change with my job.

That is all of that one!  Interesting stuff there.  Annie, you pick our next one ok?  And that is all for tonight! Have a great night y’all and a safe and wonderful 4th!

–S

Forests, Landscapes LOTS of Diet Pop, and LOTS of Sillies!

Hi y’all!  Today we had a change-up in routine.  I had to drive out-of-town for job training.  This made for around 2 hours worth of time for me to blow my ears out with music and think up my blog for today.  Odd that sitting in training all day will produce a blog like this but here goes.  Let me start with the main reason I blog first.  We didn’t walk until this evening and it was really changed up.  43 minutes with a total of 2.3 miles for the whole day.  That is pretty good.  Jeffrey walked with me this evening. Changes, remember?  It was 76 degrees but most of where I walk is in the shade and the good Lord saw to it that I had a breeze right when I needed it.  It was pretty cool for the most part.  Don’t worry about me being dehydrated in the heat.  Wait until you hear that story.  I heard bugs and birds and wind and there were all sorts of things running in the weeds beside us.  It is like the forest came alive, welcoming me back with wonderful foresty embraces since I had been gone all day.  So did two dogs who had to both jump in the chair, love on me and give me kisses.   I missed them too.  Jeffrey said they would hear a car, think it was me and mope when I didn’t come in.  Awww.  I love my babies.  The cats were happy too but you know how the unherdable cats are.  You know they are happy only when they want to show it.  Also I can really tell today that I am still losing and how the walking is affecting me.  I can tell how I look when I sit, how my arms look and feel and most definitely in how I breathe when I walk any distance.  Just gonna keep it up!

Speaking of forests, the one thing about traveling in Southern Indiana is that no matter where you are, what type of highway there is or buildings, street lamps, whatever, there are rolling hills and forests.  It is just beautiful to travel here.  And the landscape is just rolling hills.  With trees as far as you can see.  It almost sounds like I kind of love the place where I live doesn’t it?  Yeah, I am a little biased.  🙂  Kind of like the weather here where you can go from heat to a/c in a matter of hours, you can go from metropolis to farm in a matter of a few minutes.

Oh that is one way they say (whoever they is, let me know–I can tell you all sorts of stuff) you can tell someone is from Indiana–we measure distance when traveling in minutes or time rather, and not miles.  I always thought it made more sense to measure going somewhere in time anyway so you can figure out when you need to leave and stuff.  And streets—who uses that other than Siri?  The part of Indiana I am from “over yonder” is a direction, a place and a final destination when going somewhere and everyone knows where that is!  Streets get you lost, over yonder puts you where you need to go with time to spare! More like landmarks and the “turn left at the big tree there at the end of the drive there”–those kinds of things.  Anyway, I didn’t think much about the minutes things until I reread my post on Facebook this morning, telling about my time to training not miles.  And when I walk, the first thing I list?  Time of course!

I get to where the training is and realize that I had been there before.  I just didn’t remember it because it had been so long ago.  Funny how some things you never forget and others come rushing back at certain times.  Training for me was a review of things I already know but have to go through anyway.  Again.  Moving on to lunch, I had to have McDonald’s, since my time was limited and it was closest.  I had a Sirloin burger and fries and Diet Coke.  I had been drinking on sugar-free lemonade, the kind of powder that you put in the water, all day besides that Diet.  After this week I have got to hammer the carbs back in check. I will just have to cope but remember that I am still walking and avoiding sugar so I still have that going for me.

I had to finish my lunch during training because there wasn’t enough time in 35 minutes to site in line for 20 and drive back and eat.  But it turned out all good.  Training turned out all good.  I feel like this is where i am supposed to be no matter how much I think I want to argue that.  I have a sense of peace I never had the last time.  I think I am going in the right direction right now so I hope to see where this leads and what the reason is for the peace.

On the drive home I had to stop and get gas.  It was one of the pay first then pump places which seems like where they have all gone.  I go in and pay and decide to get me a Diet for the ride home.  Yeah, I really lived on the edge today.  I needed the caffeine and wanted something cold, so I got a Diet.  As you remember from above I have already been filling up on lemonade and one other Diet.  I got my cup and filled it up and realized that I didn’t just get pop, I got the largest one they had!  I had thought that the cup seemed bigger.  I get to the check out hauling this honker sized cup and the cashier asks me if I need anything else.  (I can’t even concentrate because I cannot figure out the honker cup of Diet.  At this point it could just as easily be 75 gallons. And to answer that could I have a porta potty for all the pop I am stuck with?)  I am so confused that I tell her the wrong amount of gas and then I have to tell her the right amount.  (Can she not see I have a lot on my mind, like what to do with 75 gallons of pop?)  I pay and my pop and I waddle out to the car.  Goodness I am still drinking on this!  It argued with me all the way home.  But it didn’t argue with me as much as the water this morning.  I was driving and trying to get a flavor put in a water.  I got the lid off, laid it and the iPod on my lap.  iPod went in the floor, lid disappeared and so here I sit, driving with a bottle of water in one hand and an open flavor in the other.  I had to put the flavor in, reach over and grab the water bottle I just finished and take that lid and put it on my bottle.  What a mess!  Thank God I had a red light in there to do some of this.  Oh the messes I get in!

Some other random thoughts for today–where the training is at is close to 65.  So I drove under it to get there.  It was calling out to my soul, wanting me to hop on and go to Indy or Louisville.  I had to shut that down or I was going to forget why I was there in the first place.  I LOVE to drive.  I know I have said that before.  There is a line out of a song, “Guitar Town” by Steve Earle that goes like this: “Hey pretty baby don’t you know it ain’t my fault I love to hear the steel belts hummin’ on the asphalt.”   I love many songs but I have to say that this one describes me to a capital T.  The other news is, the way the place where I trained at is laid out, if you get bored you can sit in the lot and watch the traffic on 65.  Oh it still called out to me all day, but I had to be a good girl and focus.  And not on buzzing up the road either.  😦

On the way up this morning I saw a little place by the road called Gobber’s Holler.  It was a gas station type of place.  It wasn’t open on the way back or didn’t look like it but I swear I would have stopped had it looked open.  Up the road from it was a covered bridge that I would have also stopped at had I not been going somewhere.

It was a good day all in all.  Thank God for safe travels and I know He will see me through all week.  Thank God too for giving me the gift to make all this stuff a bit more amusing than necessary.  🙂  Well I had better hit the sack . 530 will roll around way too early!  Have a good night y’all!

–S

Wednesday Shopping

Hi y’all!  We didn’t do our walk today because today was our shopping day.  I usually keep track of what we walk but today I had the phone on the cart because the notifications were hot today for some reason.  It won’t record stuff like that so going by past shopping trips. it was between 2.5 and 3 miles over the course of a few hours.  I will be glad to get back to the regular walking tomorrow with some jogging added in.

This post is going to be relatively short.  I don’t have much going on today because there isn’t much to report from pork chops and roasts.  I am also extraordinarily tired today.  Shopping just wears me out no matter how much better walking is.  I will write more tomorrow, when I have more time to collect my thoughts.  We are going to use the new lawnmower tomorrow so that should open up some new things.  Some could be hilarious I am sure.

Today we also started trying to figure out how to get Annie her new truck.  After the search today I learned a few things.  Older pickups just don’t exist in a readily available to purchase state right now.  That really is not good.  This puts us to having to buy new or not very old which shoots the price up.  She really wants a Dodge Ram and those are expensive even with one 2 or 3 years old.  I guess I will just have to go out and get the loan for her.  This is the only way I see how to make this work.  Ahh what won’t we do for our kids….

Didn’t see or hear anything too bizarre on the shopping trip today.  I did stock up on enough potatoes and meat to last us until the end of the month.  That is a very good thing.  And stocked up on detergent and things too.

I need to catch up on the 30 day writing challenge so I will do 2 tonight.  Here goes.

Day 2 Write something about yourself that someone told you that you never forgot.  Well the only thing I can think of here is what someone told me about the first impression they had of me in a class.  They said they were looking around the room and I looked ok, kind of like a normal person like they felt themselves to be.  They said that then I started typing, and pretty fast, with several web pages open and answering my phone and doing all these things at once.  They said then they were intimidated by me.  I had to laugh when they told me this.  I may be many things but intimidating is not one of them!

Day 3 What are my top 3 pet peeves?  Oh boy.  This is interesting I guess.

1.  People who say they will call but never call back.  I don’t understand why people do that.  If you aren’t going to call me don’t say you will call back especially if you, or I, know you aren’t.

2.  Slow stuff.  I shouldn’t get so aggravated on stuff like that but it irks me.

3.  Stupidity in all forms.  No further explanation is needed there.

Ok well those two are caught up.  I believe I will shut this down for now before I fall asleep at the keyboard.  More tomorrow–have a great night!

–S

Past Ramblings

Hi y’all!  We didn’t do our walk today because this is our one day a week when we don’t walk.  I sure miss it though. Kind of glad today we didn’t walk much because it was 81 before noon but we would have been done walking way before that.

I had church this morning and this afternoon.  Two very good messages today.  There was something that just occurred to while at church today.  I was thinking about how wonderful the people are that I go to church with and how I didn’t know them before now.  The only places locally I would be would be the store or the laundry mat.  I am just glad I know these wonderful people now because they add so much to my life.  My Pastor and his wife are wonderful too.  I have never known anyone quite like them and I love and appreciate them very much and the messages they have for us every week.

The pot roast today was very good but for some reason today I have been starving!  I will need to get back together with my diet tomorrow.  I don’t think I did too bad today but I need to tighten the carb intake more.  And I will.  Some days this is a work in progress and other days it is like I have done thins perfectly forever. I can’t figure out though why the appetite fluctuates so much.  I do notice that I am slimming down so I don’t want to mess it up.  This will hopefully be the week when I add more exercise every day.  I will just make time.  I have to.

I think I have mentioned this before but I love to drive.  I love driving anywhere at anytime for almost anything.  You want to go to the city, call me.  You need something from town and I am not busy, call me.  There is something about driving along, with the music as loud as it can be, that it totally exhilarating and exciting to me.  I love exploring new places and I have to say the maps on the iPhone and iPad are so far the best map applications I have ever used.  Anyway, I had gone to the Dollar Store the other day while I was out and at this particular one, you pull up on the street and basically parallel park.  There was a space open and I had to parallel park.  Yeah, I had that.  I put that big old SUV of mine right in there, no issues!  I was pretty proud of myself because that was the first time I had parallel parked in years.

I haven’t had this blog for very long but I have over 400 views I believe.  I get several each day and some places on Twitter retweet when I blog.  I must give a shout out to @BloggerBees, @TheBlogCentre, @TheBloggersPost, @lovingblogs, @RTYourBlog and @TheBlogGuideRT for always retweeting my posts of my blogs!  Thank you so much!  I know some people may not think that 20 hits or so a day is good, but hey, I’m cool with that.  I really love writing and have since I was a teenager or so.  I have always thought I would love to write all the time and still do.  I can combine my love of writing with my love of computers and that works out really well.  I do think that blogging like this every day helps me stay on track and clear my head both of which are necessary evils now a days it seems.  I just hope y’all enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it!  A huge thank you to everyone that reads this too!  I hope my silliness can get a laugh or something may be in there that could help someone.

Going back to the writing thing, I decided when I was 12 that writing was the thing for me.  I remember spending the extra class time writing on novels or stories or whatever it was that I had concocted.  I remember showing my stuff to people and most of them really liked it.  Or they said they did.  It was such a passion then and it still is.  Back then I wrote things, like TV scripts and fictional stories.  At one point I had decided I could never do like the big time fiction writers of today do, but now that I reevaluate this, I think I may be able to handle it.  It is like I have all this inside me and I have to write it down.  Some people who know me know I get all giddy and excited when I get to design a web page, and it is just as bad when I get to write!  You will never find “normal” stuff in my purse, like bandaids (there are now but usually not) or wipes or stuff, but you will find a trillion pens and a note pad or two so I can write when I feel the need.  If I am writing something huge for school or even for myself I must have a written, literally written, copy first then I can type it up.  I have just gotten used to blogging in this form and I don’t mind it.  But I do keep notes on my phone of topics I wish to blog about.  Anyway, once I got to college, I was asked to edit the newspaper and was an assistant editor for a semester or two.  Then I got to take it over.  I think one of the funnest things I have ever taken part in was writing and editing that paper.  My professor had enough confidence in me to put me in charge of it and let me run the meetings, and that confidence has rubbed off on me with many things. I was the only one who could interview people, such as the Dean and President of the university.  That really made me understand I can do anything.  But it really convinced me I was a pretty good writer.  I contribute a lot of who I am today to him.  But I did that while I was there and I also had a couple of articles in local papers too.  I had decided at that point that I wanted to write real stuff.  One day that same professor asked me, or told me, if I realized that writing for a newspaper was not that great of a paying job.  Well I rethought all this out and decided at that time I didn’t know what I was good at but finally hit me it was computers.  I can combine my love of writing and computers together.

Well I suppose I have rambled enough for now.  I will ramble more tomorrow I am sure.  Have a great night!

–S

Today Was AWESOME!

Hi y’all!  Today we did 56 minutes and 1.82 miles.  It feels so good every day to walk!  When I said yesterday that I really need to do this every day and not miss it because it bothers me if I do, I was serious.  It also has a lot to do with the company that I have on the walk too.  Yes, with my daughter, and I love our little talks and things.  We were talking about a variety of things today but I still think I am going to add an additional PM exercise to my routine, and we had thought about commandeering Jeffrey to walk with me in the PM for a while.  I haven’t added anything to the PM yet because I tend to get busy in the evenings.  I will have to do like I have the morning walks and just make time.

I truly notice that I have more energy and I don’t get as tired as I used to.  It is easier to walk and do things now than it has ever been and I really look forward to see how much better I will feel when I get another 20 pounds off!  One way I notice that I have more energy is that when we come in from our walk, unless it was absolutely roasting outside, I come in and don’t even have to sit down and rest.  I just keep moving on into whatever it is that I need to do.  That is pretty impressive considering that a few weeks ago I was huffing and puffing.  Also, Monday will start week 7 of diet and week 6 of exercise!  I can do this and get it together!

I also changed my eating times and that has helped too.  I have been successful with dropping the toast in the mornings and also when I eat at a function or something I can eat a reasonable amount and stop.  I have also noticed that my appetite is regulating too.  That is a blessing for sure!  I have this thing whipped!  I know I will succeed this time with getting healthy, without a doubt!

I am sure my post yesterday made a few of you wonder about my sanity.  Let me assure you, boredom leads to many things and so does creativity. Sometimes I think that boredom and creativity both border on craziness.  I come up with all sorts of stuff that I really ought to write in books.  And for those who were wondering, we did name a new Leaf today, Leaf 3.0.  Anyway, one of our conversations today was about arguments, and specifically what a mini argument entailed.  I was not aware that the term for a mock argument was a mini argument.  It is apparently when you and your friends argue back and forth, but it is only acting silly and like you are arguing but not really arguing.  Ok. I have done that forever with my friends being silly but I guess it is called something else by everyone these days.  Just goes to show I am not the only one reinventing and renaming things that people have done for decades.  🙂

Speaking of my daughter, I hope she gets her picks done for the Liebster award.  I loved having to look over all the new blogs and stuff that are out there.  I spend so much time trying to find places to list my own and I keep forgetting to find new ones to follow and read.  I need to do that more.  I just love the idea that the people who are reading my blog are growing.  I gain a few more followers every day!  Thank you to all who follow and read my blog!

Our cats have almost stopped walking with us.  Zippy was coming with us today but got scared home from traffic.  Jetty doesn’t go much anymore but when we get back, he does run out from the driveway to meet us.  He is so cute–he looks like a big lion running down the road!  He has a different colored mane under his chin, if you will, and he is just cute!  And speaking of cats, Annie’s new cat, Dallas, had made itself at home and climbed up and on my shoulder, and now it is hanging out on my lap . Yes we are critter lovers!  Here is Dallas.  Dallas is just a little bitty baby, but is weaned.

One exciting thing that happened today was I have my first Bloglovin follower! Thank you for that!

Now for another exciting part of the day!  Anyone other than me watch Idiotest?  I absolutely love that show!  Some episodes I’m an idiot, others not so much.  I decided this morning that I would tweet to Ben Gleib and tell him how much I loved the show.  And guess what?  He responded and favored my tweet!  Absolutely made my day!  Then just a bit ago Idiotest tweeted to me too and favored my tweet!  Holy smokes! My day really was made!  I was out there retweeting these things and was so wound up I spelled his name wrong and had to retweet it later.  I thought, man, I am truly spelling like an idiot. But I did get to correct it!  Anyway, here is a screenshot of all of it.

Just how awesome is that!!!  Really made my day.  Thank you Ben Gleib and Idiotest!

I better hush for the night.  I have my end of the year paperwork for church to send in.  Y’all have a great night!

–S

Lit My Fire

Well here it is Friday.  I guess everyone is getting geared up for Memorial Day weekend.  We are going to grill out and my brother is coming down tomorrow so it should be a good day.  I make hot dogs, burgers and potatoes on the grill.  Oh those potatoes are something else!  Slap some butter on them and yummy.  I cut down today and yesterday and even though I wanted potatoes I decided to wait until tomorrow so I can enjoy them with everyone. Church on Sunday and Derek works on Monday I think so it will just be a normal day.

This morning again I cut it down by about a little on the time and stuff just to get myself straightened up.  42 minutes and 1.43 miles I believe.  Not too shabby even for cutting down!  My bp didn’t raise this morning and I felt a little woozy when we got back but the bp actually fell from the reading I took before I left.  Maybe I need to get up earlier and take my meds earlier or something.  I will get the key to this figured out.  I am open to any suggestions too.  Maybe the order of things is out-of-order or something.

This afternoon waiting for Jeffrey to get home I finally got the shake weight out.  I had been wanting to get it out and do it in the evening as a supplement to work parts of me that the walk may not exactly hit on, like my arms and hopefully I can jiggle some more of my chin off.  I have been doing chin exercises a few times a day, and my son told me today that made me look like “I was calling whales in.”  Nice.  As long as it takes that infernal chin off, I will call in every last cow or whatever if necessary. Anyway the shake weight is one of the funniest crafted things I think I have seen in a long time.  But I tell you I can feel it working when I was shaking it.  I did some research because the one I bought I bought at St Vincent’s and it had no video or anything else with it.  I discovered that of course, there was a video that came with it.  There were also other places that explained what do to with it.  While I was doing this I hit on a link that asked if the shake weight actually worked?  I read two different articles.  One was a lady who was used to lifting weights stopped her normal routine and did the shake weight for a month.  She lost a little flab on her arms and all but she had some problems exercising normally when it was over.  She thought it wasn’t a good thing and recommended it for people who are not exercise savvy.  Another one I read said that the shake weight does work those muscles when you use it and works them well.  The whole idea I got out of both of those was this:  for someone like me who is not exactly lifting 200 pounds in the gym twice a day, the shake weight will give me some decent results.  Even if it don’t tone me up like a regular weight room, it has to be better than nothing.

Next Monday will start week 5 of my diet and week 4 of our exercise.  I can’t say this is the longest I ever dieted because I remember back in high school I stuck with it one whole summer.  Not sure what fell off there but oh well.  I have never been able to stick with anything very long but this time I think I will be able too.  Not just because of my weight and all and my need to lose it, but because of my health.  I have to do this.  One of my main motivations?  I want to look as beautiful on the outside as I feel on the inside and they don’t match.  The exercise comes into play here too.  I have issues with my back and my foot but I am pressing on anyway with the idea that once I get some weight off maybe, possibly, HOPEFULLY some of that will stop.  Everyone says it will.  I plan on finding out.  I bet one thing:  when we go to our rescheduled Reds game in July I bet I won’t huff and puff into the ball park.  And I figure i will have to have my Reds shirt altered because it will be TOO big.  Almost too big before but now it will be.  I can tell my arms are losing and my gut is too.  I feel like I need to do some more to my gut in the afternoon but I am not going to rush it.  It is coming along nicely.  I know on low carb you are supposed to lose faster but I know everyone is different and if I can just lose period I am happy.  Speaking of low carb I got an Atkins carb counter book and another book in the mail today.  That will make eating a bit easier.  I looked at it and it has restaurants in there too so hopefully that will help when we go out to eat.  I am still struggling with side dishes but I think for me I need to have one day with potatoes as a side and limit myself the rest of the week.  I need to keep it as low carb as possible and I am.  I also had Annie pick up some sugar-free cookies today, the Murray brand.  Of course she gave me that look over Murray and I had to explain to her that Murr did not own a cookie company.  🙂

So after the shake weight and that paragraph just went all over the place up there, when Jeffrey got home we mowed.  I have been complaining about needing a mower because the side yard is all inclined and I do not want to tackle that on a push mower.  Well we did the front yard today with the push mower.  That got me an additional 53 minutes and 1.4 miles onto my count for today.  I do have to say I am beat.  It was all on the flat but one part is a bit inclined and I have to swing it up and down the edge of a bank a bit. . Jeffrey only did a few minutes but I did get a small break in there.  I also discovered that I am now apparently allergic to grasses.  A few years ago I figured out I was allergic to thistles because when I chopped one of those up with a weed eater it flung juice all up in my face and I broke out.  I ran into one of those but it didn’t get one me.  So now I am worn out and all sneezy too.  But part of the jungle is gone!  Yay! So I had my iPod going while I mowed,  I have to say I Maroon 5’ved, lit my fire, Rob Thomased, and held on loosely all through the yard. I hope everyone understands those references.  But it sure did help mowing!

I know some people may read this and think all this trouble I am going through is just that: trouble.  I can’t look at it like that.  I again try to see the positive in everything even in the darkest of times.  We all have something to learn from our experiences, whether the experiences are good or bad.  I have learned that I do need to take care of myself inside and out better than I ever had before.  No one pays attention when they are younger.  But I have been hearing a lot of people say lately that their mind and body and soul seem to line up at 40.  I am almost there, so maybe it is just time it all came together for me.  Hopefully that will be how it goes.  My next part of life I am going to be rocking healthy and dadgum cute!

Ok, I have rambled enough.  May or may not get another posted tomorrow.  Have a good weekend!

–S