Rest and Relaxation

This week has just flown by after all the rushing around from last week. I haven't accomplished much as I have been sick most of the week but as of today I'm finally, Finally, feeling better. I took off for the cabin early Friday to get a head start on the beautiful weekend. When I arrived it was very quiet and I laid down for a nice nap. I wanted the weekend to be a time for me to heal and energize my body again. We had a quiet night Friday and had a quiet dinner of grilled rib eyes for dinner then bed about 9 pm. I awoke at 8am and knew by looking out the window at the blue sky with white puffy clouds and bright sunshine that it was going to be an awesome day. A quick cup of coffee to encourage the body mechanics and a Slim-Fast down the hatch I prepared for a long walk. I had been on the exercise wagon for most of the week as I was just not well. I took off about 9 am walking fast with my IPOD on towards the wigwam. I couldn't go very far as the creek was up over the roads so I had to change my normal pattern of walking. I ended up walking up two HUGE hills and when on the flay asphalt part of the walk I jogged a little. I spent about 90 ". I made my famous bacon wrapped dates and we hopped into my little red car to the wigwam. The food was all heavy appetizers and the wine flowed abundantly. Two bottles down The Hubby and myself. Whew. The DJ was family member of the birthday girl and the music was not country but mostly disco!!! My favorite. I danced and danced and danced in my borrowed too small boots. The Hubby and I danced some of the swing we had been practicing and I really got into the disco dancing. My hair was dripping with sweat by the time the evening ended. It was over about 10 and we made our way back to the cabin and bed. I woke about 2:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep, tossing and turning for a good hour. Finally I dozed off about 3:30 and slept till 8 am. I rested this weekend and partied this weekend. It was a perfect time.

More pic's

Beautiful Cake


Me and my sister

Dancing with brother



Beautiful back

Some pictures of the Wedding

Here are a few pic's from the wedding that my 15 year old niece took. They're not very good but they will do for now. Enjoy.

B & B2


B and her Daddy

Sister, Daddy, me and my brother.

Recap

(Pictures will come later)

Saturday, March 29...Not much to do for the day except wait for time to pass. Shower, hair poofed, lunch, wait...Finally, 3pm and I'm dressed and waiting for The Hubby to decide on which pants he wants to wear and to tie his tie. We load the Avalanche with bridesmaid dresses, the wedding dress, rings, marriage license, cameras and film, guest books and stuff and make our way to Five Oaks Lodge for the party of the year. We arrive and I fast realize that my shoes are not going to stay on for long. I had to order them to match my dress and I always wear a 7-1/2 but they are too big and there was not another size left in my color. The girls arrive and they look beautiful all done up with their hair and makeup and when they get their dresses on WOW! I must say I produced some beautiful babies. The bridesmaid is an honorary daughter and couldn't be more proud of her but pour girl is three months pregnant and very nauseous. The wedding is not until 6:30 and we are waiting as the photographer takes a million pictures of us all. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating much for an outdoor wedding but at least there was no rain. We all stood out on the deck overlooking the lake and B and B2 exchanged very sweet vows. Short and sweet. Everyone hurridly rushed in to the reception and the biggest party I've ever thrown. The cake was BEAUTIFUL. Four tiers of green icing that matched the bridesmaids dresses and with cream Mehndi design all over. Beautiful. The food was AWESOME, Catering by Orr and the staff was fabulous. We served Grape Ranch Wine as they met in Okemah at the Woody Guthrie Festival and that is where Grape Ranch Wine is made. The flowers were white spider mums and Bells of Ireland. The centerpieces were very tall vases with one spider mum and a tall sprig of the Bells of Ireland. The boutineres and corsages were Bells of Ireland too. The bridesmaid, maid of honor and brides bouquets were a mix of the mum and bells and B's had a loop that she carried like a purse and underneath was a horseshoe (another tradition). The Hubby was totally right in hiring the DJ as the music was perfect thanks to B. She picked out great dance stuff and everyone had a great time out on the dance floor. We had a guest book table to sign in during the reception and instead of a photo booth that is so very expensive we bought a $159 poloroid camera and lots of film and took pictures and put them by where they signed in a special book. It worked out fabulously. I took a spin on the dance floor with my newly trained husband but that was all he was going to get out of me as my head and feet were killing me and trying to talk to people made my voice non-existent. The couple danced and danced and I was impressed as to their ability. The Hubby danced with both of the girls as they had practice and then he got his very agile and classy 80 year old mother out there and they did the swing and then he dipped her backwards. She just laughed and giggled. It was great. I was so glad to see our family and old friends enjoying themselves. When I was escorted to my seat, as I looked out at my Daddy he started crying and so I started crying and when I sat next to him he started sobbing and saying "my baby". I could hardly contain myself and really didn't. He cried that it was too hard for him and I put my arm around him. He was so missing Momma. He didn't stay too long and didn't drink or eat anything. When he went back to the brides room to see B he hugged and sobbed again crying my baby. She is the first grandchild and the first to get married to it was overwhelming for him. When my Daddy cries I cry. Oh I forgot...when it was time for the newly married couple to leave the vintage Bently arrived and The Hubby got the gargatuan sparklers (over a yard long) ready for everyone to light as they came out and were whisked away for a very short, cheap honeymoon at Price Tower in Bartlesville. It was beautiful and now we can get back to life, get well, and carry on.

It's Done

It's done. I'm a mother-in-law!

UpDo

2:25pm
Okay, I'm feeling a little better but still no voice. I had my hair done and the make up is done, now all I have to do is wait and get dressed. Good news though...I had to buy two different sizes of the same dress as I knew I could wear the 18 and not sure about the 16 because I was losing weight. This morning I put the 16 on for the umteenth time and lo and behold it slid down over my hips and fit. The 18 now is huge on me! I'm very excited and thank God for spanx.

Here is a pic of my french twist. The Hubby calls it a beehive but I gave him the evil eye. He's really grating on my nerves. He keeps asking if we have done this and that and who's doing this and that. I keep telling him we have everything covered and he needs to BUTT OUT! He's being very emotional and is now writing his toast. He's having a little bit of a hard time that it is his little girl. He so loves his girls. (I hear him in the den practicing his dance moves.)

The Big Day

Here it is, The Big Day, and I'm SICK!!!!! I absolutely have no voice, well I have a voice but it is a squeak. I guess last night at the rehearsal dinner I talked too much on a voice that was only half there as it was. I don't really feel bad but I'm a mouth breather today and that is so sexy, my voice is squeaky and I am "sucking" as The Hubby calls it (trying not too.) This is what I looked like at 5 am as that is when my stupid eyes opened this morning. My hair appointment was at 10 and the wedding at 6:30 so I really didn't need to be up but of course I was. Dadgummit!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. Tonight was the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner, the dinner at our house. I'm pooped. It doesn't help that I am SICK! I feel terrible an absolutely have no voice. I can't believe it is almost here. Tonight was fun. I loved seeing all of B's friends and visiting them. My kiddos bring such special people into their lives and share them with us. It is very nice.

(To J - enjoyed visiting with you.)

Mehndi Party

Here are my feet and the bride AKA B, A - maid of honor and Rachel - bridesmaid...

2 days!

2 days until the big day. I can't believe it and on top of it all A and I are sick. I think mine is allergies but crap! Tonight the wedding party girls are having Mehndi done one our feet for the wedding. Mehndi is:
If you are confused, no my daughter is not from India but her wedding in incorporating worldly wedding traditions. Mehndi on our feet, a horseshoe in her bridal bouquet, a Cherokee blessing, the Methodist blessing that she said after all her youth groups, people surrounding the couple's first dance in the shape of a heart, and some more that my clogged head can't seem to remember. Things are moving fast. I've had my nails done, my hair today (color and cut) and the house is getting cleaned today for the rehersal dinner tomorrow night. Thank goodness I'm not cooking...potluck!

I can't breathe!

1:30 am I can't breathe. It is allergies but is morphing into a sinus infection which I have not had for years. I am going to have to call my doctor in the morning and either get in or have something called. The stress of all the wedding stuff and this yuck I called and rescheduled the colonoscopy to the end of the month. I'm starving right now, absolutely starving! May have to eat something...a cup of hot tea, maybe that will curb it. A is up too as she has been sick since she hit the ground at Tulsa International, damn flowers and pollen. I'm not working out tomorrow and I know The Hubby will look crossways at me but I don't care, I CAN'T BREATHE!

My Aching Body

Here it is the final week before the wedding and I think I'm getting sick. My head is stuffy my sinuses are draining and I'm starting a small headache signaling a possible head cold. I don't have time in my life for this. I hope that it is nothing but allergies. The problem if I am getting sick is that April 1 I am having my first ever colonoscopy and I can't take ibuprofen or med's for the headache. Not good. This morning at workout I could hardly finish. Last night I walked 2.2 miles with my walking group and I think my body has had it. Maybe last night with the wind that was blowing so very hard it just kicked up my allergies on the walk.

I've been trying to get hold of my "best" friend for a couple of days now because she wanted to have lunch with me this week, today, because it is my only free day because of the wedding stuff. Well, I have called and left several messages with no response. I called her home phone and was surprised to find out it was disconnected. I called her husbands office and asked one of their office people and they said, "Oh yeah they disconnected it a few weeks ago because no called on it and no one ever answered it." I call on it and have been for a bit. So I sit and wait today to hear if I will have my usual Slim Fast or eat at Wild Fork for lunch. Again, I'm left hanging in the wind but I'm prepared with the Slim Fast at least.

I'm a walker!

Yes it is true I am now a walker. I just got back from walking at LaFortune Park with a friend the full 3 miles. I can't believe it and I feel great. I'm really doin' this thing and enjoying it although I will be a fairweather walker. I hate the cold and won't be doing that during the snow or rain but this is great.

Thinking of Momma

I've been missing Momma as the wedding fast approaches. So wish she could have been here for it. She was with me for my first breath and I was with her for her last. Love you Momma!

Beautiful Day

It is a beautiful day and I have been tooling around in my cute little red car with the top down. What a glorious day. I have the day off and I'm totally enjoying it. The bird feeders are full of birds and I'm enjoying watching and listening to them.

I got on the scale this morning and I'm down another 2 pounds so that makes the total so far 12 pounds. YEE HAW! I'm so very stoked but I realized I'm not eating enough food. I really already knew that but I'm on a tear to make a dent in it before the wedding then I'll get a little more sensible. I have joined a website called Spark People and it allows me to track my exercise and my food. Great website and has lots of help. Check it out at www.sparkpeople.com .

Ouch!!!

Oh my goodness...my feet, my aching feet and my shins, and my quads, and my everything. Today is the end of the third week of my walking program and I'm still in it. The walk today was a different route and the coach said it was 1.85 miles but my little ole' pedometer clicked off 2.9 miles. Most of the walk was up 61st to the West which driving it doesn't seem like a hill but IT IS, trust me. We turned into the neighborhood behind Kirk of the Hills church and the last part of the name there is an indication of the rest of the walk...HILLS! Yup, I hurt. Last week I told The Hubby that from now on Monday and Thursday he is in charge of the dinner as I'm not coming home from the walk and try to cook. Tonight he had blackened steaks, oven fried potatoes, spinach and tomatoes. Yum and I didn't have to even clean up.

Today I put the wedding announcement in the mail for the paper so it Should come out in the Sunday paper March 30. Everyone watch out for it.

Oh gosh I'm so tired I can't even put words down here. I have to at least stay awake till 9 pm to catch who gets voted off the Supermodel show.

Wedding stuff!

For some reason I'm at a loss for words to put into "print". It must be the anticipation of the wedding a week from Friday. I can't believe it is almost here. We are now down to the final crunch. I paid for the cake yesterday. Tomorrow we pay for the DJ. The caterer and the place we pay after the fact. The dress is hanging in our guest bedroom waiting to be official. I just can't believe it is here so soon. I am uploading a few of the engagement pictures they took. They are so very cute together and they are both so in love with each othere. A comes home on Saturday evening and it will be very busy after that. Enjoy...

More walking, walking, walking

Tonight I officially walked in the St. Patrick's Day Dash. Woo Hoo. 2 miles down. My feet hurt, hurt, hurt. Another good thing is one the ladies that joined our group tonight I KNOW! Yeah. I have a friend to pass the time as I plod along on the asphalt trying to walk off some more fat. Thursday we do it all over again. My feet hurt.

Sunday oh Sunday

I am here sitting in my big comfy chair totally enjoying the quiet of my home. The Hubby has gone to his big toy box (the auto mechanic's garage he bought) to do some more clean up and ready to sell more stuff. We we went to the lake on Friday and had a nice quiet evening in front of the television but quickly hit the pillows about 9 pm. We were beat. About 10:30 I was awakened by tremendous thunder and lightening and lots of blowing rain. The Hubby had opened a window above my head which was fine till the blowing rain came in on my head. I shut it but later reopened it when the clang and clatter had stopped. I did another run/walk Saturday morning and boy was it chilly for a bit. This week I have successfully walked and ran around 5 miles. I'm going to pat myself on my back because for me that is something. Now don't get me wrong I have been doing Jazzercise for over 11 years 5 days a week, but to actually walk and RUN is a biggie.

We had to come back yesterday afternoon to attend an impromptu dinner of burgers at B & B2's. B2's father, brother and sister (her kiddo's and hubby) were all in attendance. We' only met the bro and father once so since the wedding is in two weeks it was time. This wedding is going to be very hard on Richard (B2's father) and all as his wife passed a year ago. They were ALL drinking a lot of beer and so the emotions were on the surface last night. Richard turned to B and told her that this was going to be very hard on him and that he was proud of her and that "Sandra" would be too and really liked B. The tears started welling up in his eyes and I saw B's and B2's and the brother too. Oh No... please no not tears. We had fun last night with a lot of stories and laughs but home we headed about 10pm. We just can't seem to stay up late anymore since we rise at 5 am.

I've been sitting here listening to some World music and it puts me into a thoughtful frame of mind. I want to type or write or something but my thoughts are so scrambled that I have a hard time putting one particular one down because it causes me to go off in a totally different direction. Sometimes I find myself saying out loud the end of a thought in my head to B or The Hubby and the look at me like I'm crazy. I have a whole conversation or thought process going on internally and then finish it verbally. Sometimes I wish I would plug my computer directly into my mind and let my mind type out my thoughts. I think it would be pretty scary what whirls around up there in my noggin. So for those few who do read this blog you will be blessed to read these random thoughts and I hope they can make some sense to someone. Just enjoy and go with the flow!!!!!!

A Busy Week Past and Future!

The last I blogged here I was at 9 pounds lost, well, I'm glad to announce that as of Friday it was 10 pounds. I have not been this weight in over 20+ years. I'm very stoked by my desire to continue on my quest this time. To top off the 10 pounds I broke a small zero, not the big one but that will come in time. I walked with my walking group Monday 1.5 miles, then again on Thursday. Yesterday I again walked and ran at the lake about 2 miles. Tomorrow I am supposed to walk for a St. Patrick's walk, 2 miles, but the forecast is 90% chance of rain and I'm sort of a fair weather walker. We'll just have to see. I know that if I choose to not walk The Hubby will give me grief and looks. He is so afraid I am going to stop and is kind of watching me out of the corner of his eye. Makes me very angry. Lately I've been very perturbed at him with his little comments. I made the statement about being at the back of the pack of my walking group but I'm working as fast as my legs can work and at a very steady pace. He said, "Well, when you lose more weight you'll move faster." That is not the point my dear. My legs are very, very short and so my stride is very short, hence the back of the pack and probably will always be at the back of the pack. I have to face the fact that he is coming at this whole thing with a skinny person brain and I come into it with a fat person brain. They are so very different in their preception of weight, food, exercise, trust me I live it I know. Enough of him. I will proceed the way I want too!

The wedding is two weeks away and we are plodding along nicely. I think we have to pay for the cake and part of the caterer this week and get the announcement in the paper too. She won't let me put the picture in the paper, Rats! Next weekend A comes into town and I can't wait to see her. She seems to be doing very well in California now. She's teaching music to various students, piano, voice and guitar and Loves it. I'm proud of her on sticking to what she wants in life and trying to attain it. Good girl!

Tomorrow The Hubby and I meet with a financial planner. YUCK! The Hubby has decided we need to make more money on our money, make sure we are where we need to be so when we retire or sell the business we will be comfortable. I totally agree but I hate to talk money with him because then he might question "any" of my spending and I draw the line. I do not go shopping and just blow wads of cash contrary to what his perception of my handling of the money goes. He trusts me to manage the money at the office and I do quite well with that and I manage all our money at home and do well with that. I just hate to be put under the microscope. It has taken me a month to gather up all the stuff I needed: 3 years of tax returns, business and personal; monies in the bank in various accounts; properties and the taxes paid; wills, trusts, life insurance, health insurance, etc. I have a HUGE stack of stuff to take there on Monday. I am kind of dreading it but kind of excited to know where we are. One of the things I had to do though was...shhhh...I have been playing at the stock market a little for about 4 or 5 years and since we had to bring all financial records I decided I had better cash out, rats. It was okay as I was losing money at the moment and it couldn't hurt having a little loss right now. It wasn't much, only about $2300 but I was having fun with it but had gotten bored. When I first started it one of the stocks I bought went up from $50 to 1850. I sold that one very quick and it was a good thing because it went down again and has not been up like that again. Very nice return.

I broke "a" zero

So far I'm down 9 pounds and have broken a zero. It's not the all important zero yet it is a zero. After years of not moving the scale I'm thrilled by my progress. Last night I went out with a few of my girlfriends at Kilkenny's and after a day of Slim Fast I was HUNGRYYYYY. I arrived first and ordered a beer (planned on that) then read the menu making my mouth salivate. I was 10 minutes early so I had a lot of time to sit in the booth and read and read all the delicious food. Whew, I was on the verge of being a very bad girl. In the end I was good. I ordered charbroiled salmon and vegetables with rice pilaf. I did have another beer and did partake in a little of the appetizers but all in all I was a good girl.

A Beautiful Sunny Day

It's a beautiful sunny day outside as I sit here in my room. The rays of the sun are warming my body as I relax in my awesome chair listening to a Pottery Barn CD called "Music to Soothe the Soul" but I know that it is only the illusion of warmth as I have ventured out to get the paper and feed the birds and was shocked by the cold. I had the brief thought of taking a walk but thought better of it. Yikes! I so hate the cold. I know I need to get out there and walk but I don't want my joints to get cold and sore. I think tomorrow will be a better day or even later this evening.

Today is the shower. My house is clean and I am just waiting. I need to take a shower and get spiffed up for the occassion. The Hubby has left to visit the flea market and then to the office for work, work, work. That means my desk will be piled high with invoices to type on Monday morning. Good, I'll have something to do.

I'm a little apprehensive today as my best friend will be at the shower and I have only seen her twice since November! I've spoken to her probably four times since then too. I know it is a very wierd relationship to call it best friends but when we do get together we have a pretty good time for the most part. I'm lonely. I miss my other best friend Gail. This week she has been gone from this earthly plane for two years now. I miss her still and will for a good long time.

Dance Lessons

Yesterday I took a dance lesson with The Hubby. I found out by accident that he had been taking private lessons for a few weeks. He wants to dance really well at his daughters wedding. I found out when he called me into the den where his computer is and there on the screen was an email with a very familiar name. It was a girls name that I recognized of a little girl I used to babysit. I immediately asked about it and he very quickly told me that I wasn't supposed to see that and put his hand up. Excuse me! I was halted in place right there. He then told me that he found her on the Internet and all about the private lessons. Okay that is fine and it was wonderful to see her after 35+ years, yes I said 35+ years. Yesterday he wanted me to go with him and dance. I did. Let me explain that The Hubby LOVES to dance and LOVES music but the poor guy has 5 left feet and his no sense of rhythm. I've been doing Jazzercise for 11 years now and that is basically dance so the lesson was very easy for me. He wants SO very badly to get it down but inside I wanted to burst out giggling. We did okay and we go back next week.

Now on to the wedding plans. The RSVP's are coming in pretty steadily and we are up to about 130 acceptances. She sent out over 200 and was freaked out that all of them would come but I think we will be alright. Actually B2's family has not even sent the RSVP's back except one so that could be where we pick up people. We're fine on it all though. Oh and the kink that has been thrown into the wedding plans was where the dance thing came in. B did not want a DJ mostly because she was trying so very hard to stay within the budget we gave her and the space constraints and because she has some really different music she wants played, and she was making her own CD's to be played. Now mind you the wedding is March 29 and we are at crunch time. The Hubby came into the office on Monday and pointed a finger at her and told her he wanted to have a DJ there and don't worry about the cost and then left the office. She sat there with her mouth hanging open and tears in her eyes. I tried to talk to The Hubby to let him know that we might not be able to pull that off but he was pretty insistent. Today B was able to get it together and find a DJ and you know I think she is a little relieved as she was having no time to get all the music together. She has been so very stressed and then a couple of weeks ago the judge that was to perform the ceremony (my friend) had to beg off but promised that she would make it right as we were at the end. Finally, TODAY she came through and set it up for us. Whew! Tomorrow is the last bridal shower and her friend asked if they could have it here so tomorrow we will have a house full of giggling young ladies. It's fine though because I don't have to do anything but have the house clean and it is done already.

A little bugged

I'm just a little bugged by The Hubby. You see with this new energy I have to add the extra workout to my life has given The Hubby another chance to butt into "my life." I know he is my husband but give me a break. We live together and work together I need my own space and my own body is my own body. Today is the first time my walking program is going to meet. They told us that we will walk no matter what except ice and lightening. That's okay with me, even though I HATE the winter and snow and cold and guess what today is like here, YUCKY weather, cold and snow. The Hubby is concerned that I won't go to the walking gig and I looked at him like he was nuts. Of course I am going to. He thinks that because it is icky outside that I'm not going to follow through but I am and he needs to but out! He's so very excited that I'm upping my workout plan and not eating that he can hardly control his excitement. It's kind of pissing me off, not kind of it is! I know he wants to help but back off!

I feel better now...now some more news and I'm not sure how I'm dealing with it. I have written about my dear, dear friend Gail that passed away very suddenly at the age of 49 years old. Tomorrow will be 2 years since she has left the world as we know it. It has been very difficult on me and I am just now getting to the point of not crying when talking about her. I miss her tremendously. Anyway, her husband Kelly and The Hubby have been best friends since they were toddlers and The Hubby got the bright idea of fixing him up with one of their high school classmates. I have fought it for awhile as "I" was not ready for Kelly to move on in that regard even though I know he must. A few weeks ago we all went out to dinner and had a great time and ever since then their relationship has exploded. The Hubby is so happy he is grinning ear-to-ear most of the time. He thinks his buddy Kelly's thingy is going to fall off if he doesn't get "happy" soon so he is on a mission. (Men and what they think with, I mean.) Last night who should show up at our door but Kelly and Bev. I was glad to see them. They bounded into the house and she was absolutely giggling. They plopped down on the couch and were wrapped around each other like high school kids. I was very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. We decided to go out to a quick dinner and after dinner they were holding hands under the table. After dinner we got into our car and I noticed they were in Kelly's car KISSING! OH MY GOD! I'm not ready for this. I am very happy for them but it is a little creepy for me. I'll get over it but ugh (shiver).

One other quick note...does anyone read this blog. Please let me know with a quick comment like "yes". I would like to know someone besides me reads this thing. I feel alone out in the world sometimes, just typing in thin air here. Pardon me I must be PMSing...I hope not though.

News, News, News

I have a lot of exciting news and updates. First of all I'm down 7-1/2 pounds as of Friday morning. To go along with that is I've joined a 12 week walking program that starts tomorrow (Monday). I will walk two times a week with this group and then am supposed to add one on the weekend, so three times a week I am to walk. The goal is to walk the Maple Ridge Walk on Memorial Day which is a 5K (3.1 mile). I am really pumped. I have new running shoes and a lot of excitement on my new endeavor. Last weekend I walked at the lake but Saturday I really put some foot time in. It was such a beautiful day and I couldn't wait to get out. I made sure I packed my workout clothes, my new running shoes and my I-Pod and so was ready! It was tempting to just say no and relax in the hammock but I didn't. I walked from our cabin to the boat docks, and back, then up a very steep road and to the front gate then back to the cabin. In fact, not only did I walk but I ran a good part of the excursion and am today very sore. When I left today I got into my car and drove the route so I could know how far I walked and ran and amazingly it was a tad over 2 miles! WHAT, me run, well yes I certainly did and it was beautiful. I have never been much of an exercise person until I started Jazzercise 11 years ago and now I will be a walker and possibly a partial runner plus I bowl once a week! It was a moving experience for me to realize what I had accomplished. I'm very happy. Of course last night I may have blown it a bit as we had a fondu dinner at the neighbors house with a few people in attendance. It was great fun and I enjoyed a few glasses of wine, a shot of tequila and to top off the evening three glasses of chocolate martini's. Yeah, I made my offerings to the porcelain gods last night but really don't feel too bad today. No headache, just a little queasy this morning. Tomorrow night I have to feel better for the first walking class.

Here are a few pictures I took of Spring trying to make an appearance and my time in the hammock!

Spa Day

Today was my Spa Day! My favorite spa place is in Tulsa and is The Skin Care Institute. My package today was the Pamper package: Super Hydradermie Facial, Citrus Body Polish, and a 90-Minute La Stone Massage. Oh My Goodness it was fantastic and took 3 hours of my day but was well worth it. Then I had to run off to Coldwater Creek as I think I found my Mother-of-the-Bride dress in their catalog. Unfortunately, when I got there the girl informed me that it was an online item only. So because I'm rapidly losing weight I ordered two sizes just in case and will have to take the one back that I don't wear. What a dilemma but can't be helped. Then I was flying to the shoe store for some running shoes for my walking club. Back into the car and run to the office to cut a couple of early paychecks. WHEW! What a day, I'm tired and I should be glowing...hey wait, I am!

What a Wednesday!

What a Wednesday I've had. This morning was the usual stuff; Jazzercise, work, then we had a lunch meeting with our insurance guy. This luncheon was the third time he had scheduled with us. He kept messing up his calendar and canceling on us, but finally we met the occasion. I'm not saying we were looking forward to the meeting as this guy is long winded. This is company insurance so we talked umbrella, workman comp, general liability and auto. YUCK! The most boring stuff and the most expensive stuff. We pay over $19000. a year in insurance total for all of the above. He came to our office at 11:30, 30 minutes late mind you, picked us up and drove us to The Brassiere. We have not been there before so yummy. This guy, every year he takes us out he orders dessert for an appetizer so that he can tell his wife he didn't have dessert. We finally wrapped up the lunch at 2:30! OH MY GOSH! I was so very bored.

Finally, done with the lunch it was back to the office and wait to leave to go bowling. Last week I killed it and now my average is 139. Today I bowled a 168, 165 and 137. I even had 4 strikes in a row. I was HOT! It was so very exciting! I rushed out of the bowling alley because I had a meeting to go to and get this...it was a walking orientation meeting at Fleet Feet. Yes, I'm adding a new regimen to my weekly workout schedule. I will start walking three times a week starting Monday. So then I will do Jazzercise 5 days a week (1 is Personal Touch-intense 1 hour muscle work), bowling once a week and starting Monday walking 3 times a week! The goal of the program is a 5K walk Memorial Day! We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck everybody. Oh and I've lost 6 pounds so far on my DIET!

A quiet weekend

Friday The Hubby and I soared off the the cabin for a little R&R. It was very quiet and chilly. A roaring fire in the fireplace and I was cozy with a good book and my journal. Saturday night we had the neighbors over for dinner and they tried to teach us bridge. That was funny for The Hubby. It brought back a lot of memories of my parents playing bridge with friends and Mom's bridge club. I liked it. We cooked T-bone steaks, salad, steamed broccoli and I made AWESOME sweet potates. I cubed sweet potates and tossed them lightly in olive oil, jalapeno salt and a touch of sugar and roasted them on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven till done and a little brown, which was carmelization of the jalapeno salt and sugar. YUM! Very good with the steak and broccoli. During the day I took a long walk to the boat ramp and even jogged a little ways back. I took a few pic's of our heaven on earth. Enjoy!

Yee Haw

Here I am sitting at our lake home and I'm on the Internet. I went into one of the extra bedrooms and took my new laptop and tried to get a connection. Lo and Behold I'm connected with the neighbors connection. Yee Haw! I knew he had it unsecured as others here use it occasionally and now I can too. I will always bring my laptop from now own so in the mornings when I want to write or blog I can. I'm very happy. I'm connected with the world. Just kidding. I really like not having the outside interference when I am here as I like being left to my books and my journal, but this is cool.

Reality TV

Well, I am a definite addict to reality TV and truly the season has started. My DVR is absolutly programmed to the hilt. My life is not my own as I try to find the time catch up on all of my programs I've lined up to watch:

Big Brother (3 nights a week)
Survivor
American Idol (3 nights a week...come on)
The Celebrity Apprentice
Make Me A Supermodel
Project Runway
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew
Biggest Loser, Couples
America's Next Top Model (when I can watch it, probably online)
My Fair Brady: Baby Maybe
Scott Baio is 46 and Pregnant
Rock of Love 2
and I have to admit I sometimes catch the Flavor of Love 3 show


AND when it starts:
Top Chef
Celebrity Fit Club


So as you can plainly see my life is not my own!

Lawyers

The past few years I have been battling our lawyer. He is a nice guy and has been a casual friend of ours for over 20 years but I've just about had it with him. In 2005 we had him develop a LLC partnership for our real estate workings but he has been disagreeing with us on how we deal with it and our trust. I have done my own research, my cousin is a tax attorney (now our attorney) and our CPA and our financial advisor have agreed with me. This previous attorney has just been acting like if he ignores me then I'll forget about it but I haven't. I sent a letter 3 weeks ago requesting all of our files and no response. Last week, Monday, I called, told his secretary I wanted to leave him a message, I didn't need to speak to him, just leave a message. I left this message: "I want our files messenged to our office as soon as possible." That was all I said but no response until Tuesday morning at 9 am when in walked the guy. He had two small file folders in his hands and handed them to me. First of all I didn't know he smoked, yuck, the files and himself stunk. Second he started lecturing me again that I needed to rethink what I was about to do. Third he said that the two files were all he found, that he would keep his eye out for more files. Now we have clients of his for about 20 years you would think there would be more than that. Fast forward to today when I went to the bank to AGAIN open a checking account in the LLC name and was told that the file I had was missing the operating agreement. The file consisted of partial paperwork, a photocopy of the certificate, nothing original. I'm am ticked off royally with this guy. He has made more work for me and I really don't appreciate it. I am so angry with this guy and really am stuck trying to make it right.

California Here I Come!

Valentine's Day The Hubby and I boarded a plane and headed to the supposed to be warm sunny state of California. My greatest fear in traveling, in particular flying, came upon arrival to the security gates at the Tulsa International Airport. I breezed through the scanner thingy and the alarm went off. I was so flustered I could hardly make words come out of my mouth and make sense. I have long feared this day. I stepped back and the tough looking security lady with her very tight bun told me to step back and to make sure my pockets were empty and that it would be my "last pass". What did that mean, "last pass". I reached in my pocket and there was my stupid cell phone. I forgot I put it in my pocket. So out it went and I stood looking at her afraid to proceed through the gate thingy again. I stepped forward and WHEW, breezed through without an alarm going off. The next step is that I forgot to put my toothpaste in my checked luggage and in the trash it went. No problem. I asked the friendlier and nicer looking security lady what "last pass" meant and she didn't know but guessed it meant that if I beeped again then I would have gone to the area to be wanded! No problem, I would have stripped naked if they wanted me too. Now I have lived one of my greatest fears.

We arrived in Ontario, CA at about dinner time and sweet A met us at the airport before she had to go to a choir practice for their performance on Sunday. She was glad to see us but dreading the one-on-one she was going to have with her Dad later. Dinner was at the hotel as it was late and I didn't want to try to navigate California on a Thursday night in a rental car with The Hubby at the wheel. It was quite yummy and expensive, Valentine's Day and all.

The next morning A met us at the hotel to be our driver for the day. She wanted to drive the rental which was quite alright with me as she has been living there for over a year now and knows the way of California driving. I was quite comfortable with her jetting around on the freeways but The Hubby was about to have a stroke in the front seat. It was funny seeing him very agitated. I thought A did a superb job of driving us around and was very proud of her. We went to Long Beach where she interned at a recording studio last year then we went to Huntington Beach where a friend of mine and her husband moved to a year ago. We spent a good part of the day walking along the pier, eating and shopping. It was a beautiful but quite chilly day. Then we drove to Tustin to have dinner with friends of The Hubby. It was a very long day but a good way to see part of California.

The next day, Saturday, were to go to A's boyfriends father and step-mother for dinner and meet his siblings. They were the nicest people and had a gorgeous home. Dinner was delicious and the conversation was very nice. It is nice to see how much her boyfriends family supports and loves A. It is a comfort. The next day was A's performance with the Pasadena Pro Muscia Choir after going to church with her at a Unitarian church in Pasadena. I asked her how she found the church as it was 45 minutes away and she said the Internet. I asked her again how she literally found the church, did she drive there by herself and she said yes. She totally amazes me by her courage and bravery to travel the areas she lives in and finds her way. She just strikes out and does it. I would never, could never now be that kind of adventurous person. She is my idol in that respect.

Before the concert we had lunch in Pasadena and before the meal arrived The Hubby had launch into her not going to college, what is she doing with her life, he's afraid that she has no health coverage, no retirement, no this, no that. I wanted to kick him under the table. I don't know why he can't get off the college thing with her. She is just not college material and may never be. She is almost 23 years old, he needs to let it go. The college thing is his own inadequacies that he doesn't have a college education. He/we took the hard road to be successful and he just doesn't want that for her but it may just have to be. He can't push her down a road that she doesn't want to take. She is finding her own way, which is what we did. I think in the end he feels better about her situation but not great. He just has to quit harping on her. It's not helping her at all. Cut the apron string for God sake!

It's Tuesday

It's Tuesday and I'm sitting at the office cursing at my STUPID computer! It is making me crazy. I don't want is wrong with it but it is slower than molasses. I've been having problems with it for awhile and I can remedy part of the problem when I run Adaware but today it is doing it again and I'm gonna SCREAM! I can't even get my Quickbooks open to do invoicing or make a deposit. Good thing I backed up yesterday huh. I just want to make a deposit and then play Club Pogo since I've done everything else and all I have to do is answer the phone if it rings.

The wedding invitations are going out today! Yeah. I still have the problem with a friend planning on coming to the wedding when she is not getting an invitation. What do you do in a situation like this. I just don't know how to deal with her and then B won't even see fit to add her to the list of invitees and I know it is because the list is full right now till we start receiving the "I can't come" cards. I'm just in a pickle right now.

No Country for Old Men

The Hubby and I went to see "No Country for Old Men" yesterday, a movie he has wanted to see for quite some time. It stars Tommie Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem and a short stint for Woody Harrelson. Let me just say that if you have a weak stomach for blood DON'T go see it. I woke up this morning and Bardem's character was fully implanted on my mind, scary. It was a good movie, creepy but good till you get to the end of it and the whole theater went "What, that's it." It ended pretty crappy and very confusing. Josh Brolin was great and Tommie Lee was funny much of the time with his dry one-liners. Bardem was disturbing, very disturbing.

HOLD ON...The morning news just reported a shooting at the AMC 20 Southroads where we were last night...OK...an hour after we left a person was shot in the parking lot. I may not go to a movie again...uh no that won't happen.

A Whole New Can of Worms-"Relative" Size

Yesterday The Hubby's sister-in-law (mine too) emailed a huge thing about "The Mark of the Beast" and I guess The Hubby had enough. The SIL is a huge religious person and The Hubby's brother has fallen in line with it even though in 32 years that I have been in the family he has only been to church the past 4 or 5 years. The Hubby email back to ALL that he didn't believe in it, that it already happened and that was his story and he was sticking to it! Now the rebuttal emails are coming in. He has opened a huge "relative" size can of worms.

My story:

When I was about 10 years old, my brother 8, we were at a girls house that was in my class just playing. She started in on us that we were going to hell because we didn't go to her church and we weren't baptized yet. Then the mother started in on us and the mark of the beast stuff. We started crying and ran home and then my mother got in on the act. She went off on that lady big time and then started damage control with us. We were terrified and I had nightmares for awhile about it. It definitely affected me most of my life.

I guess we will wait for all of the fallout from The Hubby's email. You never know. The BIL may start preaching at us and I will have to come down on him. This is why I keep my own personal beliefs mostly to myself as I believe or don't believe.

Oh for a hot shower

This morning I rolled into the house after Jazzercise and all hot and sweaty ready for breakfast and a hot shower. I had my Slimfast, finished the crossword and headed for the healing warmth of the shower. The water normally gets hot very fast as we have a circulating pump so I turned on the water and got in expecting hot. Nope, the water was tepid. I waited and waited but no hot water was gushing forth. Since I HAD to go to work and do payroll this morning I had to wash the sweat and oils off so...That was the fastest shower I have ever had. Brrrrrrr. A long story short The Hubby met the plumber here shortly after and re-lit the pilot light on the water heater and pronounced that the thermal coupler was probably going bad, on a new hot water tank mind you, probably defective. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a hot shower till the new part comes in.

Sorry round 2 of pictures...Good ones

Here are pictures of A when she attend 2008 NAMM convention in Hollywood...



A and Bonnie Raitt
A and Kip Winger

A and Hal Sparks

Snow, Snow, Snow

Snow what a beautiful sight. The white flakes drifting out of the winter sky. I'm actually enjoying the snow this time, probably because I know it will be gone tomorrow. I went to the office and got to leave early to not have my little car out on the slushy roads.

This post is full of several different subjects. First I will update "my room" situation as I have been working hard on it.

Second will be pics on the snow and also of the beautiful fire I made the weekend I was at the cabin all by myself.

Enjoy.

Milking

Enjoy...this is a short story I wrote in a class a few years ago about milking with my Greatgranny.


The coldness crept under the covers as Greatgranny quietly and deliberately moved to extricate herself from the small featherbed so as not to arouse me. I lay comfortable and warm under the down blankets looking up at the tiny window close to the ceiling. A faint hint of dawn daylight was creeping through the plastic that covered the window to keep the cold out. Gradually I mustered up the courage to climb from the warm cocoon and pull a empty five pound coffee can from under the bed. This can was what was considered the toilet. It was definitely a challenge to see if you could perch yourself on the small rimmed coffee can to do your business. If you wanted to brave the snakes at night you could walk down to the two-seater outhouse with its bright red door. During the day you would have to contend with the wasps that nested in the small wooden building.

Looking through the curtain that pretended to be the door to the freezer room, I could see Greatgranny sitting at the dining room table sliding her shoes on. Aunt Marie called Greatgranny's bedroom the freezer room, I guess because along with the featherbed was a long slender freezer that contained a wide array of meats and vegetables. The vegetables came from Great-grandaddy=s garden and the meats came from Big Dan and his hunting escapades.

I went into the dining room that overwhelmed the large dining room table with four chairs of which none matched. The table was pushed up against a long wall, which they called the picture wall. The picture wall contained a multitude of pictures, some old and some new. In the middle of the wall was an old photograph of a man and a woman that as I was told were my great-great grandparents. The man in the picture had dark chin-length hair and a clean shaven face, but under his chin was a white curly beard that circled the bottom half of his face. The woman was gaunt and stern looking or maybe just tired. Pictures that surrounded the wall were various cousins at any stage of their lives, from infancy to adulthood. There were some photos that I didn't know and Aunt Marie always explained that they were some kids from a friend that she knew or were friends of a friend of a friend that had come to visit. On any given day it was not unusual to see a car turn in the gravel driveway to unload carfuls of visitors to Rattlesnake Hollow. There were never strangers.
The dining room table this early in the morning was covered with a large cotton cloth that protected whatever was left from the night before. Bread, jelly, sugar, salt and pepper and some things you didn't want to know.

The dark pitted wood floor was smooth from years of treading feet. We made our way through the wishbone doorway into the living room. The wishbone doorway was Greatgranny's collection of every bird she had either cooked, eaten, cleaned or disposed of in some way. There were wild turkey wishbones to robin wishbones. She even had people from other parts of the country and world that knew she collected that would send her new specimens for her wishbone collection, We tiptoed through the living room so as not to disturb Big Dan sleeping in his bedroom and walked out onto the front porch into the crisp spring morning air. Sandy, the Collie was sleeping on the top step and he slowly stretched and arouse to greet us. Greatgranny patted his head and cooed sweet words to him to make his tail wag.
We made our way down the three steps to the path to begin our journey to the barn. I still wore my long flannel gown as we walked through the dew covered grass, my hem becoming damp with the dew. Walking down the yard towards the gate Fatso, Greatgranny's long-haired white cat greeted us with his tail standing at attention. The path took us across a sturdy wooden slat bridge which groaned as we trudged our feet along the way. The bridge covered a small creek that rarely ever had water in it. As we crossed the dried up creek bed, Sandy pressed against my legs to protect me from the edge, stepping on my toes as we went.
As we grew closer to the barn we could hear Pet, the Jersey cow mooing from her stall, anxious for our arrival. Upon entering the double doorway of the ramshackle barn we were overwhelmed by the smells of the sweet hay. Pet had plenty of fresh hay, but while Greatgranny prepared to milk Pet I was to mix Pet's feed. The feed smelled of sweet molasses and caused my stomach to grumble and growl. I measured and poured the brown-colored meal according to Greatgranny's instructions into Pet's trough.

Greatgranny had a little three-legged stool to sit on while she snuggled her head into Pet's right side, and with each hand firmly grasped around a teat she would begin the steady downward squeezing motion that resulted in the milk flow into the metal bucket below, ringing as the first few squirts hit bottom. Pet's tail began to swish into Greatgranny's face and the cow shifted on her feet causing Greatgranny to give her a smart swat on her rump with a scolding to be still. As the bucket continued to fill, Fatso came out of his corner where he sat patiently waiting for the first tinkling sounds of milk in the bucket. Greatgranny noticed him sitting near, waiting for his daily reward of milk for his mousing quarry. He reared back on his haunches as she talked sweet talk to him as she aimed a teat in his direction. The warm milk squirted his fuzzy face as his mouth opened wide. The milk filled his gaping mouth, his pink tongue lapping constantly the warm liquid he loved so much. When the flow subsided he still sat up licking the milk off of his face, his tongue rounding his mouth to get all that was on his face and whiskers.
Greatgranny finished her task of milking and now came the walk back to the house with our escorts. The sun was beginning to break as Greatgranny carried the pail, sloshing the foamy white warm milk over the brim, back to the house to begin separating the milk from the cream.

When we returned to the dark brown painted house there were sounds of people moving about inside. Opening the door you could hear Aunt Marie in the kitchen grumbling and talking to herself, not quite awake. She was making coffee, and the smell of fresh brewing coffee urged my stomach to gurgle with anticipation of breakfast. Big Dan was still sleeping because he had come in late from fishing so we had to try to be quite although Aunt Marie, his wife, apparently did not agree with this arrangement with all the racket she was making, clanging skillets and silverware around in the kitchen.

Greatgranny carried the fresh milk into the kitchen and put it on the cabinet. She had some gallon glass jars already set up on the counter ready to have the milk poured into them. She placed what looked like white handkerchiefs across the mouths of the jars with rubber bands holding the handkerchiefs in place, with a little well in each of them. Slowly she poured the milk through the handkerchiefs catching the foam and thick cream. When through she would twist up the handkerchiefs and squeeze out the excess milk. Then she would put the milk into the refrigerator to cool.

The refrigerator was sometimes a little scary at Greatgranny's because you never knew what kind of creature would be waiting for cleaning. Opening the door you could find anything from a stringer of fresh caught crappie or catfish to squirrels, snapping turtles and even live bull frogs that would jump out sometimes if still alive.

Come Saturday Morning

I've been lacking in posting lately as my mind is as frozen as the season outside. I so HATE winter and seem to hibernate like a bear this time of year. I gain weight (which I'm trying to work on) and I get sullen and just want to stay inside and veg out. Luckily I have friends that can get me bowling and out for a glass of wine and laughs.

I've had troubling days as little A is very sad and unhappy in California and her life right now. I was of the thought before that she needed to be there but now it is time she said I was wrong and came home. She needs to be somewhat close to us to regroup on her plans for the future right now. I don't mean she move in with us again, GOD NO, her father and she would kill each other but close, maybe even Oklahoma City or Dallas, just closer. The Hubby and I are flying out there in February for 4 days to see her and see where she lives with her guy. The Hubby is not going with an open mind at all. She is 22 years old and he just keeps harping on her going to college. I have told him over and over again that is not an option for her right now. She is not in the right frame of mind and probably will never be until SHE decides it is right for her. I am not going to do high school all over again as it was ME who made sure she even graduated in the first place. It was a struggle to keep her in school as she hated it so very much.

This week also brought our 32nd wedding anniversary. I got dinner and a huge dozen red roses and unfortunately mother nature decided to make an appearance since it had been since October, RATS! This spring will also usher in the anniversary of meeting The Hubby, my fate and wonderful future 33 years ago, the first time he said I love you and our first "real" get together! I've lived with this man longer than I lived with my own family. Amazing.

We decided to stay in town this weekend to just do stuff at home and of course his new project, the garage. His garage we bought 2 days after Christmas and was an old working car mechanics shop. It is full of old engine blocks, oil, boxed new auto parts, old cars, riding lawnmowers, boats, and lots of greasy crap. He loves it! It's just a huge toy box to him. I stayed in town to do my mounds of laundry that I HATE to do and to work on my room. Yes I said my room. I have GOT to get it cleaned out since the rehearsal dinner is here in March and I need it to look great! Uh, yeah. It is 9:41 am and I'm still sitting her on the couch typing. I've had 2 cups of coffee, done the crossword and Sudoku and wrote in my journal. I guess I need to get up and WORK! It's just so gray and dreary outside. ICK! Enjoy the video/music Come Saturday Morning from my junior high era.

Books I've Read in 2007

Books I've read in 2007:
A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
Body Surfing (book on IPOD) - Anita Shreve
Calamity and other Stories
Deal Breaker - Harlan Coben (book on IPOD)
Fresh Disasters - Stuart Woods
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Scheeres
Jonathon's Story by Julia London & Alina Adams (I know it's cheesy)
Lean Mean Thirteen - Janet Evanovich
Lolita
Made From Scratch by Sandra Lee
Paula Dean, It Ain't All About the Cookin'
Pest Control - Bill Fitzhugh
Salt Dancers by Ursula Hegi
Shoot Him if He Runs - Stuart Woods
The Queen of the South - Arturo Perez-Reverte
True Evil - Greg Iles
Turning Angel - Greg Iles
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to me...Yes today The Hubby and I celebrate 32 years of marriage. It just doesn't seem that long but it is. I have been with The Hubby longer than I lived with my family. When we married I was 19 and he was 20, mere babes. We've had fun and I look forward to many, many more years of laughter and love.

Alone Time

This weekend I had some very nice alone time. The Hubby wanted to stay in town so I was able to hit the road for the lake all by myself. Of course our neighbor was there so I ended up hanging with her quite a bit especially for dinner Friday and Saturday, but I also had the time to read and journal. I finished an entire book on Saturday and was halfway through a new one by the time I headed back to town.

I'm Ticked Off!!!

I'm really ticked off today. Wednesday is bowling day. I love bowling and look forward to it once a week. I am on a team that I did not know the people when I started but that is not a problem for me. I've enjoy it but today my teammates let me down. I rushed to the bowling alley cutting short my nail appointment and damaged a beautifully painted thumb nail in the process. I ran into the alley right at time to start and where was my team, nowhere to be seen. On top of the total embarrassment and let down, we were to bowl the best team there. Two guys and a girl that kick ass on the lanes. They bowl 200's nearly every week and I am nowhere near that. I put my shoes on and get my ball out. I bowl the first frame thinking my team members will show up. I finally call one of the ladies whose phone number I have and find out she had a family emergency. Okay, that will fly. I don't have the other girls number (she is the treasurer of the league) but find the president of the league and friend of mine. She said that the girl with the family emergency called her and asked her to find a sub, which she couldn't on short notice. Uh, why not call me, her teammate. She then said that the treasurer girl left a check to pay for the lanes and when she does that she usually is not coming. Okay. WHY THE HELL DO YOU NOT CALL YOUR TEAMMATE! Both girls have my phone number but never called. I had to take my shoes off, gather up my ball and leave. I was mortally embarrassed by this and so very let down. I was stood up and I thought I had left all that behind in high school (my dating years). So here I sit at home while all the teams are bowling, without our team. WAAAAaaaaa.

Mondo's Great Adventure

This weekend we went to the cabin and B and fiance B came up on Saturday with the granddog, Mondo. This was his first overnight adventure and outing since they adopted him. He did quite well and seemed to have the time of his life. He loved running alongside the golf cart and his tongue seemed to get longer the more he ran.

The water she is arising again.

Last night was a stormy night in Oklahoma and the lake place was in the path of the torrential rains. Here are some pictures that some of the people that live there took this morning.

Christmas is finally in a box!

Today I took the day off to put Christmas in a box. I have just not had time to even think about putting it all away. It has been staring at me for a couple of weeks now but today I did the deed. I went my usual workout - ouch - and then home to tackle the task. It took me about 2 hours to get up off the couch and begin but I did. I packed 10 boxes of ornaments and crap that you set around the house and dismantled the tree. This year I found a tree bag to store it in and that was just wonderful. When the last lid was on the box I started dragging it all to the garage for The Hubby to put in the attic. I sat down and watched Guiding Light and talked myself into lugging the stuff up the ladder into the attic. I pushed and pulled every last one of those stupid boxes up that stupid ladder. Then when I got them in the attic I had to put them in their little spot up there so I tentatively walked on the decking to stack it all. The only thing I didn't get up the ladder was the tree because it is too heavy for me to lift so The Hubby will have to drag it up there. Tomorrow I will be so sore as today we started an intense muscle class focusing on the butt and quads, OUCH!

Work, Work, Work and Wedding Stuff

It has been a typical Monday at the office today. Last week we finally did the first billing on all the storm damage and I was just exhausted from typing. Today was the second round of billing but was mostly regular billing. The Hubby was behind with his paperwork before the ice storm hit so I was billing from stuff from November still. Pretty sad, but it is done. Now we have to try to get caught up on the work that needs to be done. We were behind there too. It's good we are busy but I hate hearing him grumble in the office when another call comes in. Funny guy.

Not only did I type, type, type today but B and I worked on wedding stuff. Saturday we attended The Wedding Show and go a lot of cards, cake samples and very sore feet. We also picked up her dress and it now hangs in our guest room (we were afraid her dog Mondo would chew it up.) B is such an organization freak that she has a binder with pictures, notes, and lists out the wazoo. Dress (check), bridesmaids dresses (check), ring (check), place (check), photographer (check), invitations (check), registered (check), wedding showers planned (check), honeymoon (check), limo (check), officiant (check), flowers ( ), cake ( ), food/caterer ( ), music ( )...just a few BIG things to go but I dare not offer my suggestions as she does not want me to get into it. It's hard because I LOVE to plan parties and to not have much of a hand in it except for writing the checks SUCKS, but I'll survive.

I've realized I have GOT to lose a few pounds before I buy the Mother-of-Bride dress. I just can't buy another outfit like this so today I'm getting down and dirty. I'm hungry!!!

Saturday night on Sunday morning

Today The Hubby and I are revisiting the events of last night. We set up our friend Kelly (widower) with one of their high school friends, Beverly. I have fought this for awhile, I think because I wasn't ready. The Hubby was a nervous wreck waiting for them to arrive at the house for drinks before we went to dinner. You would think that he was having the date. He really likes Beverly and of course Kelly is his best friend (since they were 5 years old). They arrived and we had a glass of wine, nice conversation and then we piled into The Hubby's Avalanche to our destination, Lucky's on Cherry Street. Kelly opened the car door for Beverly each and every time she entered the car, very nice. We had a really nice dinner and it was interesting to watch them have their own conversation, actually leaving us out of it. At the end of dinner when the check was brought, Kelly picked the whole thing up. Nice. I was really impressed with how well Kelly held conversation with Beverly. Kelly and his wife were junior high sweethearts and so he really never dated but I think he did well. It helped that all three of them, Kelly, Beverly and The Hubby all lived in the same neighborhood as children and graduated together so there was a huge commonality of stories and history to work off of. After dinner The Hubby wanted to show his new building, yuck. He then wanted to show off Beverly's new room remodel (we did the lighting). I was not sure he should have invited us all over to her house but she is single and the house is always immaculate. The evening was getting really late but we still had to come back to our house to look at our Europe scrapbook and then Kelly's Russia pictures. All in all the evening finally ended at midnight. We saw them to the door and The Hubby peeked out the window about 10 minutes later and they were still by their cars talking. Thumbs up I hope.

Before the evening started my sister called to let me know that she has a new puppy. Great, not really. They've had two large dogs and didn't handle that well. The first one who was a wonderful kid dog got out and they NEVER looked for it. The second one, a German Shepard never was played with and they finally gave it away. They have two cats inside and one of them has a urinary infection or something that makes it wet everywhere except the litter box. It is so scared of everybody (except Sis) that it never makes an appearance. She needs to give it back to Street Cats but talks of just "getting rid of it". As a pet owner Sis is not the greatest. She has had one little dog that was fabulous but ended up living at my parents and my Momma loved that little dog. The other irksome thing is that Sis has a problem with naming animals after relatives. Her other dog was named Cleo after our grandmother. Now she wants to name this little puppy after our mother, Julia Carol. The dog is a boy. I suggested Jules and she loved it but I don't think the kids did. I can't wait to hear today of their first night with a new puppy. I bet it cried and screamed all night long.

I'm feeling better today.

I woke this morning at 6:30 am (I can't seem to sleep past 7) and put my comfy's on in the dark and tip-toed to the living room. The idea that today is going to be warmer is making me very happy. I hate the cold. I hate winter. I hate not having green everywhere. Let's face it I should have been born in Florida or California or someplace year round green.

Today is the day we help Kelly starting dating again. Deep breath. Today I will go to the wedding show with B to get ideas for her wedding. Today is today. I need to go see my Daddy sometime this weekend, probably not today.

I've been doing some deep thinking about my weight lately. I have been exercising (Jazzercise) five days a week for nearly 11 years now. I really eat very well: oatmeal w/raisins every morning; no fast food; grilled this and that; small portions; the usual. The weight is high but I've dropped from size 28 to 20 in those 11 years. I have a physical every year and this year were the best results. My cholesterol and triglycerides and blood pressure were perfect. In fact the doctor wrote excellent and perfect on my results sheet. But I still feel the pressure to lose weight. I would like to lose more and be a size 14 or 16. Those stupid commericals with Valerie and Genie crying and looking so good and talking about how easy it is. It is driving me crazy and I know The Hubby is watching. Many years ago I hated New Years to come around because he would start on me, "Well, have you made your New Years Resolution! Do you have plans on losing weight." (He's very slim and muscular.) I knew the fight would ensue with "his" issues with my weight. He doesn't say anything anymore because I do work out and I do watch what I eat now but the results are just not working fast enough. I know I will never be that itsy-bitsy little thing anymore. I can't be a size 1 ever again. I'll just have to remember how tinsy I used to be. Oh wait, those days in 1974 were probably not healthy or wise. I think I could have been borderline eating disorder if I didn't like food so much. I didn't eat in high school. Breakfast was non-existent. Lunch consisted of a Dr. Pepper. Dinner was maybe a hunk of Colby cheese and carrots or celery or a piece of chicken. If Mom cooked it was good food though so I at least had dinner. My cousin and I had a contest on how flat our tummy's would be. I did 100 sit ups every single night. In the morning as I would wake up my hand would feel my flat tummy and if there was little bulge I would not eat all day long. It was not a good thing. My downfall was actually the best thing in my life. I met my future. In my small town fast food was not in abundance but with dating we usually went to Tulsa where he was from and fast food places were our hangouts. It was delicious and I ate when he ate. Not good. That is when I started the upswing. Of course, as in most marriages come pregnancies. I lost all the weight in between children but after A I just kept going up and up and up and here I am today. I really like myself and I think I'm okay but if you watch the television and get sucked into the New Years ads you can feel defeated. I've often thought about getting a personal trainer but not sure I want the abuse. We'll just see.

Friday night

It is Friday night, 8:33 pm and I'm sitting on the couch in my robe and warm pants watching some show about match making on Lifetime. I would change channels but The Hubby took the controls and I would have to get up. The Hubby is already snoring on the other couch and I know I could change the channel now but if I get up I will just go straight to the bedroom and it is just too early to go to bed, so here I sit watching a show I don't want to see. DAMMIT, I guess I have to get up. BRB........

I don't know why I'm having trouble putting my feelings down here in print but I am. Last night I sort of started to attempt to write about friendship but I'm in absolute fear that I'm going to offend someone I really like. I guess I can just journal by hand since no one would read that, at least until I'm dead. I'm feeling sad I think because tomorrow night The Hubby has set up a "double date" with his best friend and their friend from high school. I'm having a problem with it because for over 30 years we were a foursome with Kelly and his wife Gail and she is now gone. I'm not sure I want to muddy that memory but I know that Kelly needs to move on and so do I. GOD....I miss Gail. She was the only friend that I could TRULY talk to about anything and everything. There is such a void in my life and to lose my mother right after that I'm just not dealing with it well lately. Maybe it's the holidays. I hope it passes when Spring comes around. I HATE, HATE, HATE winter. I get depressed and sad and I can't lose an ounce and I need to because of B's wedding March 29.

Don't Drink and Blog

Tonight dinner is late because The Hubby wasn't home yet and I fell asleep on the couch. When he got home I quickly fixed chicken and noodles (Bisquik style) and he opened a nice bottle of Cakebread Chardonnay. I've had half a bottle and he the other half. Whew. After dinner we sat and watched TV, in particular Celebrity Apprentice and then my sis called. She ticked me off right off the bat and I was a little terse with her but I held back what I wanted to say. She called mainly to brag on having her kitchen re-done and I'm very glad for her but she really called to make me feel guilty. She wanted to let me know that Daddy was upset that A left for California and didn't go by and see him again. I'm sorry but she had a lot of family to see and a lot of friends to see and I wanted to spend time with her. I know he sit in his house and is lonely but for God sakes get out and see people. Do not rely on us three kids to keep you company and entertained. ARGHHHHHH! She made me really mad.

What's a friend? A friend calls to say Merry Christmas. A friend comes by and has a cup of coffee at least once a week. A friend is like Lucy and Ethel at least in my idea of a friend! I've had too much wine and so my mind is ......there is so much more to say but I'm getting very sleepy. Night, night.

Happy New Year - 2008

Happy New Year to all.

December 30 we said our goodbyes to A at the airport as it was time for her to fly back to California to her other life, as she puts it. It was hard to say goodbye but I know we will see her in February, hopefully as The Hubby and I will drive to see her. We dropped her off and then piled into The Hubby's truck then we drove to the cabin to ring in the new year with a few of the people there and it was fun, really it was. Anyway, we had a progressive dinner going from cabin to cabin for appetizer, soup, main course (our cabin), dessert then finally Champagne and party favors. There were a few that had a little too much but that's OK. Some were dancing fools and some were in tears with sad memories of the year past. I just got sleepy. It was way past my bedtime and I was ready to just stay at our cabin at 9 and go to bed but I had to party on. We had a total of 24 guests dining at our cabin. We even had a no-show guest that sent food but didn't come to any of the festivities. His excuse was that his 93 year old mother was not well in Tulsa and he was staying close to the phone. Okay, on one level I will believe that but I know from his grumblings to other cabin owners that he had problems on how the event was planned, the amount of people and how or what we were to bring to when and where. Whatever! I can choose to believe his believable excuse or option 2. I'm not sure yet what I choose to believe.