Memorial Day Weekend

Who knew the holiday weekend could be so good when you stay close to home? This is the first time in years that I've stayed in town for Memorial Day but it was a lot of fun! Friday night, K and I met Melanie and Chuck for sushi and drinks on the patio at Rain. We stayed there till around 11. K and I came home and hung out for a couple more hours in the backyard, sippin' some beers and talking. It's so great to have someone that I adore hanging out with and doing nothing!!

Sissy and John decided to go up to Heber to check on some jobs and get away so she brought Speedy over for me to babysit. The little princess was not thrilled about being left behind.

Kennon and I decided to chill at the house and hang out at the Redneck Riviera for the day. We ran to Target because he needed some swimming trunks since all of his are packed away at the mini storage and we grabbed some lunch at Jason's Deli while we were out. We got home and went straight to the Riviera. We chilled all day in the backyard, listening to music, reading magazines, soaking up some rays and drinking some beer. It was awesome. Here's K chillin in the pool!

We started getting hungry and decided we didn't feel like getting ready and going out so we ran up to the Fresh Market and grabbed some goodies to throw on the grill. K got an ole 96er and I got a cajun burger. We also got some shrimp to go with the homemade remoulade we still had in the fridge, some corn to roast and some cauliflower to mash. It was super yummy.

Sunday morning, I got up and made us some Devil's Eyes for breakfast before church.

We went to the late service at Hope and then ran to Dick's Sporting Goods and Gordman's to pick up a few things for our upcoming vacay. We went over to Heather and Jason's for a while and hung out at the pool and then K, Heather and I went to the Pool/Karaoke Party at Angie and Brian's. We stayed there pretty late and had a ton of fun. We ate lots of BBQ, sang lots of karaoke, splashed a lot of water out of the pool and pissed off a lot of their neighbors. Darrin and Wendy, Clint and Crystal, Judson and Jessica were some of the people there. There were a ton of kids having a blast too and I wish J could have come with us.

We are suppose to be going to a pool party over at Heather and Jason's today but I think we've decided to stay around the house and hang at the Riviera again. I have a few things that I need to get done around here and we're about sick of drinking!

What's best in the long run!

Mom was busted out of the hospital late Wednesday afternoon. J and I went and sat with her that morning but around lunch time, her head started hurting really bad so we left to try to let her rest. I took J to his dad to spend the night and went home and tried to take a nap. I wasn't able to sleep, of course, haven't since Saturday. My mind will not stop racing! The thoughts of how I will possibly survive with Mom gone will not stop. So I got up and went for a jog/walk and did some pilates. It definitely made me feel better. Later that night, K and I met Sis and John at Skimo's for some beer and crawfish. We had a great time!

I came back to work yesterday and my desk was piled a mile high so I needed a little escape. I went out at lunch to grab a salad from Bogie's. The weather was awesome and it was nice to get some fresh air! I REALLY wanted to play in the fountains with the kids but I went back to work. I did leave early though, J and I had dentist appointments and then he had baseball pics and a game. They lost to the same team that handed them their first loss and it sucked. It may also have been J's last game. His coach said they may not be able to reschedule Tuesday's game and their jamboree is on the Saturday that we leave for Anna Maria Island....if Mom is in good enough condition that I feel safe to leave. I talked to her yesterday and she was horribly sick again. This cannot keep up, she has got to get some relief.

After J's game, we swung by Buffalo Wild Wings to grab some dinner. I tried a new kind of wing, the desert heat, and was very pleased. It was a spicy dry rub they put on the wings instead of coating them in a sauce. The rub was quite tasty and the wings were rather crispy so I was a happy camper. I tried one of J's sweet bbq wings and one of K's spicy garlic and they were both a let down compared to mine. We got home kinda late and I was exhausted. I just knew I was going to sleep like a baby but nooooooooooo, once again, mind wandering, tossing and turning. Ugh! I may have to resort to sleeping meds real soon. I tried to sleep in a little but that didn't work either.

Today marked the end of week #1 of the Flat Belly Cure. I got on the scale and have lost 1.6 pounds.....I was kind of disappointed with that number, was hoping for more, even though I know to lose the right way, it shouldn't be any more than 2 pounds/week BUT then I took my waist measurement and it was down 1 1/2"!!!!!!!!! So I am pumped about that. And I am also really happy with the way I have been feeling. No stomach problems, sugar cravings are down and I actually feel like I am getting close to a flat belly too. Got another week before the beach and am hoping to continue losing and feeling good. This week may be a little harder though. J is at his dad's all week so there is more opportunity to go out for happy hour or to eat. I just have to remember and keep in the front on my mind what is best for the long run!

I talked to Mom a little while ago and she ate this morning and kept it all down and said her head isn't throbbing so today is better than yesterday!

Things are looking up

Mom saw the neurosurgeon Tuesday and he said he would let her go home soon. She is going to have to continue taking pain pills until the clots go away but it's a better alternative than surgery. Mom is bummed but glad to know what is causing it and really looking forward to getting home and seeing her puppy.

Tuesday was also J's last day of school. He went to lunch and to see Shrek after school with Leegan, Jackson and Christopher. Angie took them to do that. I was able to get out and go for a jog/walk while the boys were playing. K's knee was still pretty bad and he had some customers to take out to dinner so he laid off the run.

J came home to get ready for baseball and I made us some yummy pizzas that are on my belly fat cure diet. I made him a cheese and oregano and made myself a tomato, basil, avocado pizza. I used whole wheat pita pockets for the crust and they were spectacular. I thihk this diet is going to be pretty good, I'm doing really well so far watching my sugar and carbs and am still getting full and enjoying what I eat AND not thinking about sweets so much. Tomorrow will be a full week that I have been on it so I will find my total pounds lost and remeasure my waist. J's baseball game wound up getting rained out. Right before we pulled into the parking lot, the bottom dropped out of the sky and lightning and thunder from nowhere. J and I went and did a little Tarjaying and then came home and hung out. He was so glad not to have a bedtime but was still completely out before 10:00. K had left for his dinner with customers around 6 and J asked how long they took to eat. I told him that they were having drinks to and he said, "Oh, so Kennon is going to come home wasted?" He's such a damn nut! I love him so much. So funny :))))))

When it rains it pours

I made it home from Portland late, late Thursday night and was so happy to see my 2 guys! Kennon was asleep on the couch "waiting" for me to get home and then I got to see Jacob's smiling face first thing in the morning. I made it back home after taking him to school and caught up on some sleep and made it to Target to get some beach clothes and some water toys for the backyard. I got one of those 9x4 blowup pools and a slip and slide.

J had a baseball game Saturday morning and the Giants won. J didn't pitch but seemed ok with it. He played 2nd base and made 2 outs, he caught one pop fly and tagged another one out after getting the ball from outfield. He made 2 hits and scored one run. While we were at the game, K went to Goodman Rd and Byhalia, he had been told that a guy from Opelousas set up a cart there and sold crawfish and other Cajun yummies. After the game, K got home when we did with a bag full of goodies. He had jambalaya, Cajun gravy, smoked sausage, alligator boudin, shrimp boudin and crawfish boudin. We set up our redneck riviera in the backyard with the pool, slip and slide and beach chairs and K fired up the grill and cooked the smoked sausage and crawfish boudin to make cheese and sausage plates. We had a great day in our backyard and got lots of sun. Drew and Jackson came over and played hard with us in the redneck riviera. The plans for the rest of the night were to take the boys to the Shell for the Jimbo Mathus show and then let them camp out in the backyard. Roy called while I was getting ready for the show and said Mom was almost back in town from Destin and they were taking her straight to the ER. She'd had a headache for 2 weeks and it had gotten so bad Wednesday or Thursday that she had started vomiting. I told him and Sissy to let me know and went ahead and took the boys to the show. Sis called around 9 and said she had a blood clot and they were rushing her to Baptist East. Chuck came and picked up the kids and Kennon and I made it to the hospital. We stayed there until they moved her to the ICU. They wouldn't let anyone in there and Melanie told us it would be best if we went home. We went home but didn't really sleep. I went back to the hospital around 8:30am and Sis and I visited her for the 9am visitation. Somehow Roy bullied his way back there earlier. Mom didn't look good at all and was really, really sick. She got moved to a regular room before noon. I stayed with her for a little while after she got moved and then went home and tried to take a nap. I slept a little and then K and I went back to the hospital. Mom was given some different medicines while I was gone and was feeling a lot better. She had stopped vomiting and had a little relief on her headache. We visited about an hour, went and picked up J from the Mays' and grabbed some dinner. I came back to the hospital this morning and Mom had just gotten back from her brain scans they were doing to determine if she would need surgery.

Didn't get this post published before my computer's battery died. The regular doctor finally came by late in the evening last night and told Mom there was another bleed they didn't know about but he didn't know what could be done, the neurosurgeon had to make that decision and he would be in the next day. It is always tomorrow around that damn hospital. JUST FUCKING FIX HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't understand what they are waiting on. I talked to Melanie and she said it was very possible to miss a bleed on a cat scan but still what if they didn't miss it, what if it's a new one. How can they just leave her lying around in pain? And she started getting sick again last night. I'm so frustrated.

I'm heading back up there after I get J dropped off to hopefully get some answers. It is also J's last day of school so he and I are really glad! Glad to be through with Ms. Legge for sure. He told me yesterday if they let him keep his math book, he is going to burn it and no one wants to burn it as much as him. I was like hold on there boy, I can assure you I want to as bad as you do! We had some serious fights over that math homework this year. So glad it is through and hopefully won't be as bad next year when he gets a better teacher.

Sad Day!!!!

I haven't posted in the last couple of day because I had been running non-stop at the conference I was at and was going to catch up on things when I got to the airport and had some down time but horrible news was received in the last hour of the conference and the last few days food and events really don't matter. 2 West Memphis drug interdiction officers (Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans) were shot and killed this morning on I-40 at Airport Road. The 2 suspects got away and were located a little while later in the Wal-Mart parking lot where a huge gunfight erupted and the Crittendon County Sheriff and another officer were shot. The suspects were killed also! The wounded have been taken to The Med and it looks like the Sheriff will recover but the other officer is in very serious condition. I have no words.....

Hilton Portland

It took a hell of a lot longer than I thought it would to get here but we finally made it to Portland and our hotel yesterday afternoon. 1st flight was a little over 3 hours and about 30 minutes on the tarmac and the 2nd flight was about 2 1/2 hours. We are staying at the Hilton Downtown which is where our seminar is being held and it looks like there may be quite a bit to do. It is very beautiful, especially for not being a beach locale!

I went straight to my room....the TINY room and snagged a nap. I was worn out from the trip and waking up so early. I was outta the house at 5:30am and by the time I got to my room it was around 4 Memphis time. So took a little nap and then went to meet Richard and Art at Jake's Grill. It was downtown, probably about 10 blocks from the hotel. It was pretty good. I had a couple of glasses of Pinot Grigio, a salad wedge and some linguine with garlic, olive oil, tomatoes and shrimp. Very tasty!

A weekend full of food dough

Monday morning and I am sitting at gate C-10 waiting on my flight to Portland and rehashing our completely unproductive and enjoyable weekend with lots of money spent on food and thinking about how fat and bloated I feel. Was it worth it? Possibly but probably not but we sure enjoyed it while it was happening.

We had late reszies at Restaurant Iris Friday night so we started off at the Blue Monkey for a few drinks and then headed over to Iris around 8:30. Everything we had was absolutely amazing. Jamie waited on us and we couldn't decide on appetizers. We finally decided to start off with oysters 3 ways (fried, bread pudding and something baked similair to Rockefeller) and then Jamie brought us a sample of the other appy that we were thinking about getting. It was 2 corn pancake type things with lump crab meat and yummy spices in between. Both of these were to die for. K ordered the surf and turf and I got the soft shell crab served on top of mock shoux.....both were really, really good :))))))) Then Kelly brought us some kind of ice cream sundae thing for dessert. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of all the deliciousness!

After dinner, we swung by The Half Shell to see what kind of craziness was going on there and to have a few more drinks. The craziness was in full swing with a drunk, lunatic girl and her boyfriend, a couple of hookers and a really large, red headed girl trying to pick up someone/anyone at the bar. K and I were enjoying ourselves so much we drunk texted his mom who is on her girl's beach trip and closed the bar down.

Saturday was spent recuperating around the house all day with the exception of me going to Panera to grab us some lunch. Saturday night, we went over to Jason and Heather's to finally celebrate Shera's birthday with her.

Here are the girls enjoying the weather outside, in between rains!











I love these guys!!! Especially the 2nd one from the left!












And I love these girls too!

On the way home, K wanted some Awful Waffle so we stopped in at the one by the house...never a good idea but my scattered, smothered, diced, peppered and capped were pretty damn delish!

Sunday was spent being lazy (again!) and catching up on TV. I fully intended to go to Church and get outside and exercise and enjoy the weather but that plan didn't pan out. We got outside to go by the office and pick up my laptop so I'd have it for my trip and then again when we went by Sissy's to drop J's clothes off that he will need for the nights he spends with her and to get some dinner at Houston's. I was craving one of their salads with the garlic buttermilk dressing and cheese toast. K ordered the ribs and I got the prime rib and we shared and it was goooood!!

I was hoping to get a good night's sleep but that didn't happen. I never sleep well when I have to get up early. I freak out and keep waking up, thinking I am going to oversleep. I am hoping to get some sleep on my flights. We will see. I just hope whoever it is with the smelly feet at the gate right now is not sitting anywhere near me!

Leftover pizza

I don't imagine I will be able to say the scale didn't budge tomorrow :-\ I slept late this morning after staying up late last night for the baseball game and a massage so I didn't get a workout in this morning. Figured I would do it this afternoon after work, totally forgetting J had a baseball game tonight. I had a spinach pancake w/ tzatziki and an apple this morning but was starving by 9:30am so I had 2 pieces of leftover pizza from yesterday. At lunch. I ran out and got my B-12 shot and went to Whole Foods to pick up something easy to make after the game tonight. I grabbed some pistachio crusted halibut, some potatoes to bake and some squash and zucchini to roast. While I was there, I grabbed some shrimp spring rolls, a little cup of pasta salad and some toffee to eat later in case I got hungry before we got home. I would up eating 3 pieces of the toffee and both spring rolls when I stopped by the house to grab J's baseball gear and the team snacks for tonight. Got to see K for a few minutes before I left. Oh yeah and snagged some reszies for tomorrow night at Restaurant Iris....surf and turf, here we come!!!!!!

Good work day/Great family night out

I meant to start yesterday off with one of Jillian's workout but when I got up my back was still pretty bad so I did 40 minutes on the elliptical with the Ellen show. I made me a piece of peanut butter and jelly (with Betty's homemade strawberry jelly!!!!) for breaky. Work was a little chaotic. We had all the new recruits in (24) to get fingerprinted and ID'd before the class starts. The office was packed and loud and full of energy. The girls had to work through lunch so I moseyed on down to Domino's and grabbed them some pizzas and cinnamon sticks for lunch. I brought the leftover salad from last night for my lunch and ate one....yes ONE piece of BBQ chicken pizza. I really don't think I have ever in my life eaten just one piece of pizza EVER! Kinda proud about my willpower on that. Of course the big salad before hand helped but still, damn :) And I was satisfied too.

After lunch, I had a meeting out east at the training academy and it was over at 2:30. Bill gave me the rest of the day off so I went home and took a fantab nap with K before picking up J. After picking up J, we went to the Redbirds game. It was a wonderful night for baseball. The weather was perfect and we had some decent seats in the outfield. We made our seats even better after watching the really gross man in front of us gnawing and gumming and slobbering on his sandwich. So gross. K stopped me from looking but saw he had a big slime line of slobber hanging off his hand, connected to his sandwich. So we moved about 7 more rows ahead and got the pleasure of watching the monkey toes of some crazy woman that would not put her shoes on. I do think the whackos are just as attracted to K as they are to me. Another reason we are such a perfect fit! The game was good, Redbirds were up 7 to 1 when we left at the top of the 9th. It was already 9:30 and I needed to get J home. He found one of his buddies from his baseball team and they were all over the stadium all night long. Mostly at the bullpen but made they were to the big hill and the playground. The Redbirds pitcher threw J the ball he was warming up with at the beginning of the game. J was supa stoked over that. K and I had a few beers and an order of BBQ Nachos. I can't ever go there without eating those.

The day was full of junk (pizza, beer and nachos) but at least I did it in moderation and worked out that morning and I think that is why the scale had not changed when I got on it this morning! I'm still only down .8 of the 10(15) but it's better than being up .8!

Pig time again

It's BBQ fest time in Memphis again!!! This is probably one of my favorite events we have. I saw this rolling past me outside of work as I was leaving yesterday. I'm pretty sure I know where they are headed :)

I'm sad we won't be going this year :( but I am looking forward to spending some QT with K at the lake before I leave for Portland next week. It's the last weekend of Turkey season and I plan on going with K to try and bag us one or a few for the freezer. He's dying to try one in the fryer/smoker I gave him for Christmas. I hear they taste so much better than the ones you buy in the store so I'm excited!

Last night for dinner, I picked up some salad and chicken/gnocchi soup from the Olive Garden for dinner. I never had that soup before and it was super duper yummy. K and J thought so too. We pretty much licked our bowls. We also played a little baseball in the backyard....well Kand J did while I drank a little vodka/soda drink and supervised.

Plan B

J and I had dinner with mom last night. Roy wasn't there, he had to take Shenena to Arkansas for something so mom picked up some Subway sandwiches for us. She's on some kinda Subway kick lately, thinks they are really good sandwiches, I dunno. Last night's wasn't too bad, the bread was really fresh which made it almost yummy. We had some leftover chips and cookies from Mother's Day lunch that I ate too. Meant to not eat the cookies, oops! I had about 3/4 of a white chocolate chip macadamia and 1/2 of a peanut butter. Really didn't mean to eat the second one. We spent a few hours over there and then went home. I was supa tired too. K seemed to be in an ok mood when we got home. He'd had some meetings at work and the buy out doesn't go into effect until June 30 and they are saying it will only affect people at the corporate level.

J was suppose to have a baseball game this evening so I didn't plan anything for dinner tonight. Figured we would grab something after but the games are cancelled because the fields are still too wet to play on, sooooo now not sure about tonight. I would like to go out for something but have this feeling I would really overeat and would want a couple of drinks so I guess we will stay at home. I weighed this morning and had lost 0.2 pounds. I am starting to feel better, even if the weight isn't coming off yet. I definitely feel like I am starting to tone up again and not feeling quite so yuck in my clothes. I was craving something sweet to eat after lunch today but just kept saying to myself 170! 170! 170! 170! 170! 170! And I willed that damn craving away so yay for me.

Today's successes include:

Great night of sleep last night after a GREAT massage.

45 minutes on the elliptical first thing this morning and watched yesterday's episode of Ellen. She's damn funny!

Breaky - banana

Snack - wheat thins

Standing and pushing up

Lunch - went home to make some of this spinach/mozzarella pasta with a little olive oil and parmy topped with tomatoes, spinach, bell pepper and green onions and found K there too. I love getting to see him in the middle of my day, makes my afternoon especially bearable and reminds me what I have to go home to. Here's a pic of my lunch minus the best part:

Lately Mel and I have been using famous couples to call each other by since we should be connected at the hip. For example, Sonny and Cher, Starsky and Hutch, Drake and Zeke.....after texting with her after lunch, I was trying to think of some other good couple's I could call us and thought about Mr. Roarke and Tattoo. I was dying laughing, so when I got back to the office, I checked Zulu and they have about 10 of the episodes on there. That is what I have been doing this afternoon.....bringing Fantasy Island back!!! Real productive, huh? In my defense, I spent this morning revising SOPs so I kinda feel that makes it ok ;)

LOVE IT!!!!!

What happened to summer?

Woke up this morning to rain and COLD weather and had gained back 1.4 of the 2.2 lost from the 10(15). Guess that pimento cheese sandwich, 2 cookies and no workout yesterday mattered more than I thought. Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh big sigh. WTH? Currently it is 52 degrees and feels just like an October or November day. Glad to have gotten in some good sunshine over the weekend and hoping it keeps my mood afloat til tomorrow when the temp is supposed to get up to 88. Not sure what is really going on except we have had some incredibly strange weather going on lately....and apparently it was an omen because K called me around 10:30 to let me know his company had been bought out by their competition that already has an office in Memphis. He said he has about a 50-50 chance of keeping his job. I can't see why they wouldn't love to have him considering he's the best they can get but who knows. This may be a sign that he needs something new. I'm going to keep positive about it and hopefully he will be able to also. I hate when stuff like this happens to people I love. I want to fix it and I can't. Very frustrating!

Today's successes are:

Great nights sleep again last night

Cardio Pump workout first thing this morning

Breaky - Orange

Still standing and pushing up

Lunch - Spinach, tomato & feta salad with a scoop of chicken salad and some pineapple.

That's about it for now. Not a fabulously fantastic day but not near as bad as it could be either so I'm going to keep smiling!

All weekend things

It was a very good and pretty relaxing weekend even though I only had one of my favorite guys with me. I picked J up from school Friday after he had been at the All Lutheran Track Meet all day. He was sunburned and dirty and smelly. He had baseball practice and then we had Destiny's birthday party at Bahama Breeze. We had about 4 tables on the patio at Bahama Breeze. J and I sat with Tommy and Karen, Davis and Lisa Mays and Beth and her husband Anthony. I had so much fun with Tommy, Karen, Lisa and David. I forgot how much I missed Tommy and Karen. They really are some of the best people I know. I meant to get a pic with them but forgot. I had 3 beers while we were there, J ordered some of their yummy mac and cheese so I ate what he had left over, one of Tommy's onion rings and a couple of bites of Karen's mashed potatoes. After we got home, I ate the little side of queso and salsa that was left over from our dinner at Moe's the other night and another beer.

Saturday was pretty great all around. J had a baseball game that morning and he was the starting pitcher. He was really quiet as we were driving to the field. I asked him if he was nervous and he said he was. I told him about how you can take a deep breath to calm your nerves and told him to do it while he was on the mound if he ever got too nervous. Mom came out to watch him play too. He was really nervous the 1st inning and was throwing some real crazy balls but he calmed down and really brought it. He struck out 5 players and also hit a double. The Giants did a great job all around and wound up beating Trinity Baptist 4 to 1. They did an awesome job and Mom had as good of a time watching as I did. Here's J in the middle of one of his great pitches!

Here he is in the dugout, getting ready for the next inning.....

And here he is after hitting his double:

As evidenced by the pics, the weather was really beautiful AGAIN :) and J and I went over to Heather's after the game to enjoy the sun and pool. J and I ran through the Mickey D's drive thru. I got the grilled chicken southwest salad. J got some McNugget's but didn't meet them because he had a molar that was holding on by just 2 roots and really irritating him. I wound up having to do an extraction on it out by the pool:

J spent Saturday night at Jackson's and I chilled at the house catching up on my Criminal Mind and Tosh.O episodes. I had our leftover chicken and lamb kabobs, roasted broccoli and the last of the Greek pasta salad for dinner, a few beers and then some good, good sleep....until the stupid dog next door wouldn't shut up. I thought we had an understanding with those boys but clearly not, so I called the cops around 11:30. Not sure if they ever made it though since I popped an ambien and put in my ear plugs.

Sunday was a good day too. I picked J up from Jackson's and we met Mom, Roy, Sis, John, Marcia and Dillon at CTK. After we went to Mom and Roy's for lunch. Mom ordered some deli trays from Jason's Deli and we had a good lunch and some good quality time. I realized J and Mom and I didn't really have any pics together so I got a few before leaving.

After lunch, J and I went to Costco and came home and practiced on his pitching. I think I may enjoy baseball as much as I did football! I also received my favorite Happy Mother's Day wish from Mel, she sent a text that said, "Happy Mother's Day to a totally hip, drop dead gorgeous Mom, who will smack the taste outta her kids mouth if needed. You're doing a kick ass job as evidenced by the fact your kid doesn't drive me nuts. Sometimes Moms just gotta hear it..but not you cuz you don't give a shit what other people think." How great is that??? Love it! K got home from Louisiana and we are going to hang out at the house and watch the Red Sox game. Very good weekend AND I've lost 2 pounds since last weekend :)

Mid Day Break

I took a little break today around lunchtime and walked over to the Mid-America Mall on Main Street and found a little bench under a shade tree. I didn't think to snap a pic while I was out there but the area where I took retreat can be seen in this pic from my office. It is where the trees are just to the top, left of the building with the red roof (which happens to be our old jail). The wind was blowing and the temperature was a perfect 84. I was sitting next to a waterfall built on the side of one of the walls around the area and the birds were singing me some really relaxing tunes. I facebooked and read some tweets for a while and then just let my mind wander. I almost feel asleep until the guy came to empty the garbage cans on the mall. He made all kinds of raquet so I decided that was my cue to leave before he rattled my nerves. Went back to the office refreshed and  energized after getting some sun and fresh air, had my lunch and went to see Veronica for a little batch of Botulism.

So the day has been successful in these ways:

• 
  
  Sleep - great night again last night. I have really been lucky here lately!
• 
  
  Breakfast - spinach pancake with some cocksauce and green tea
• 
  
  Snack - peanuts, wheat thins and string cheese
• 
  
  My little escape to the park bench
• 
  
  Lunch - MORE leftover greek pasta salad (Harry, one of the guys at work, made mention that I had eaten that 2 days in a row. I corrected him and let him know it was 3 days in a row. I love cool foods when it's warm. Never get tired of them.)
• 
  
  The botulism appointment will have my face looking grand again in a couple of days
• 
  
  Another snack - grapes
• 
  
  Plenty of pushups and still no sitting at the desk, however when I got in Veronica's comfy spa chair for my Botox with the lights low and the calming music, I can say that I did not want to leave for a long time. After a week of standing all day long, I can really, really feel it in my calves and my butt. Hope I start seeing results soon. I know it has got to be doing something!!!!

Kennon left this afternoon to go back home. Ryan is graduation from college tomorrow. I really wanted J and I to be able to go but we couldn't do it this time. I miss that boy so much when we're apart but he will be back as early as he can Sunday so it's not too terribly long and we have a pretty busy weekend here, so time will pass quickly.

A little exercise, a little dinner and a lot of an energetic kid

Yesterday after work, I picked J up from Sissy's and he had the energy of 3 kids all hyped up on the dew. He barely gave me any time to talk to Sis but we did have enough time to decide we wanted to have a once a month dinner like last night with our fam because it was so fun and we don't take the time to make time for fam. Anywho, I had decided to take J to the park so I could exercise and he could run some of that energy off but K was ready to play baseball with him when we got home so they played ball in the back and I got 45 in on the elliptical and knocked out 2 of my Chelsea episodes. Of course halfway through my workout, J came in wanting to know what he could do, when we could go to the park, wondering if he could go to Leegan's.....after about the 4th time of him whining that there was nothing to do (he had no homework!!!) I told him if he asked me again what he could do, he would be cleaning his room. So that stopped that line of questioning. Of course then he insisted that I come outside and play with him, but I had dinner to cook, laundry to do and a glass or two of wine to drink. For dinner, I picked up some honey, ginger, soy chicken kabobs and rosemary mint lamb kabobs from Whole Foods, roasted some broccoli and ate some more of the Greek pasta salad. It was mighty delish. I added some tabouleh to my lamb. Very refreshing and filling :) J got a pretty bad stomach ache around dinner time so he got a bath and we cuddled on the couch til bedtime watching survivor. I hate that he felt bad but it was so nice to have him snuggled up and sweet as a baby. I sure do miss that little sweet baby.

Mother's Day Present - CHECK

Today has been a good, good day and I knew it was going to be a good one before I even got to work. I woke up, got on the scale and had lost a pound of the 10(15) since Monday, I got J out the door ready to school and to Leegan's house without an ounce of bad attitude, the sun was so bright sunglasses were a necessity, every song the radio stations played was a happy, smiley tune and every lane I picked to drive to work in was the fast moving one. Oh how I love when everything falls into place like that! The rest of the day has been pretty good too!
So the day has been successful in these ways:
Sleep - Great night, woke up full of energy and well rested
Breaky - banana and green tea
Lots o water = lots o bathroom time = lots o push ups
Snack - Triscuits
B-12 shot and present shopping on lunch break
Lunch - Leftover Greek pasta salad and yummy green grapes. Pic of pasta:

It really is quite tasty and I love cold food when it starts getting warm. BTW, Today is sunny and beautiful and warm, did I already mention that? Oh it makes me jolly to be outta the winter wonderland!
Still standing at my desk instead of sitting even though Bill said it was scaring some people in the office. (He's so damn crazy, I don't know where he comes up with half the stuff that rolls off his tongue!)
I should have plenty of time after work for a bike ride.





One of the things I hate doing most is buying gifts....Birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, graduation gifts, whatever kinda gift. The reason I hate it so much is because I am a perfectionist gift giver. I want the gift I give to be absolutely perfect and personal and not just shit wrapped up for the sake of giving a gift when a gift is expected. I have a lot of anxiety wrapped up in this gift stuff and I usually do a pretty decent job and when I nail it on the head, I am so proud of myself but I still don't like it. I ran out at lunch to get my B-12/Lipo shot and decided to swing in to Davis Kidd to see if they had anything I could give Mom for Mother's Day. I found this awesome little healing garden that you grow yourself. It has it's own little terrarium, soil, decorative rocks and seeds for aloe and 2 other plants that are suppose to have some sort of healing power.

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't knock it out of the park with this one but I do think it's really cool and something that Mom will have fun with andddddddddddddd I can quit worrying about what to get Mom (for this holiday at least)!

Crawfish and Family!

Wednesday nights at Skimo's is crawfish night when they are in season. I don't think K, J and I missed a week last year. We invited Mom and Roy one week and found out Roy loves the little critters as much as we do. They went a few times with us last year. We had only been once this year since K doesn't live out that anymore and to tell you the truth, they weren't that great. Roy called Tueday night inviting us to go so we met him, Mom, Sissy and John last night and they were goooo-oooooo-ooooood!!!! Roy and Kennon ate 3 batches of them. Of course I helped K with his 2nd and 3rd batch. We went home and couldn't wait to get our full bellies to bed but not until J did his book report. We made it through with only 1 minor skirmish between the 2 of us. Of course he waited til the last minute to do the damn thing and then tried to cut corners on it and get by without doing everything he was suppose to. I swear that kid is me all over again. Poor thing! All in all, it was a great night. I love my family so much and wish that we had more time to spend together :(

Elevated work station

Alright I turned ANOTHER NEW leaf Monday night. This is the heaviest I have been in YEARS and it has got to go. The desk job aint helpin matters either. I have got to shed at least 10 pounds but would love 15. I'm already feeding us better most of the time since I started researching the food industry and all the bullshit they put in our foods. So most of our groceries come from Whole Foods now and most of my pick up food is from there too.....unless Kennon is with me. After the fiasco we went through with him at WF a couple of months ago when it was so crowded, I'm not sure if I ever want to go back there with him and I'm not really sure he wants to go back either! So anyways back to the 10 (15) lbs. I've gotten rid of my chair at my desk at work. I've rigged my keyboard and mouse up so that they are at hand level when I'm standing and can keep moving all day. I kinda pace in place, do stretches or leglifts while typing and surfing the web all day. Everyone in the office finds it quite amusing. I've also made a rule that I have to do at least 12 push ups on the bathroom wall before I can use the bathroom and since I drink 20 gallons of water a day and have a bladder the size of a hamster, that will start to add up too. I am trying to cut back on all the non-sense that I eat without completely denying myself but am proud of my progress so far. Of course it has only been 2 days but damn, change has to start somewhere and everytime we attempt change, it doesn't always take on the 1st try now does it? Lord knows I've tried to shed these 10(15)lbs for months now, sure hope this time is successful! Here's a shot of my new work station set up:

So the day has been successful in these ways:
Yoga - 45 minutes the a.m.
Breaky - banana and a glass of green tea
Lots of bathroom breaks therefore quite a few pushups
Snack - peanuts and pineapple
A leisurely 2.19 mile stroll at lunch
Lunch - 1 asian chicken kabob with about 1/4 C tabouleh from WF and some greek pasta salad I made last night w/ part whole wheat and part regular fussili pasta, greek dressing, feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, spinach, bell pepper, and green onion
AND I did not take a seat the whole day except on the toilet, in the car and when I ate lunch!

I hope this no chair thing pays off. I've got 50 minutes of my work day left and I feel really good as far as energy and fullness and cravings go but DAMN my dogs are barking! This has got to be doing something. They seriously feel almost as bad as when I use to bartend. I'm thinking about getting some of those silly looking leg muscle building shoes to start wearing all day. The office peeps will really lose it on that I bet :)