My diet isn’t going too good at the moment.  I’m bored and lonely.  Micheal had to go up to southern Indiana for work, and I’m home alone.  Not good when it comes to dieting.  I don’t do alone very well, which has a direct effect on my diet.  But I’m working on it.

 I am trying to get some alternative exercise in.  I’m shopping again…something I’d virtually quit doing when I was able to swim every day.  And I’ve been doing a few things around the house that I’d been putting off.  One of our neighbors offered to mow the front lawn while Micheal’s gone (if it’s gonna need mowing again) but I’ll still have to take care of the trimming and the back yard.  Gee, it’s been years since I pushed a mower or handled a trimmer!  I wonder if I still know how…LOL!!!

I’m still into my photography.  I’m thinking I may go out tomorrow with my camera and do some drive-by shootings…LOL!!!  I was at the drive-through at the bank yesterday and got caught by the teller pointing my camera at the wall of the bank.  She wanted to know what I was taking pictures of.  There happened to be a Luna moth on the wall and I was snapping pictures of it.    I guess that would be called a drive-through shooting…haha!

 Well, guess I’ll read a few blogs then see what kind of trouble I can get myself into.

 I’ve been staying pretty busy this week.  We fared well during Hanna last weekend.  She just brushed us.  We got a little wind and a lot of rain, but that’s it.  We still don’t have everything back out of the shed and in its normal place, but we’ll get there.

 I haven’t even gotten to swim most of the week.  Sunday and Monday, that’s it.  The rest of the week it’s been raining and/or storming, so I’ve been trying to keep myself busy inside.  I did go shopping one day, but other than that…

I always have little things to do here around the house.  I’m still working on decorating, but that will come a little at a time.  I’ve enlarged several of the photos I’ve taken, framed them and hung them in the living room and dining room.  I’m not even done there yet.  I have a lot more I’m gonna enlarge and frame.  But my keychain map is up in the den and all the keychains are in place and Micheal hung shelves in the den for my frogs.  My big antique cherry desk is also in there along with all my books.  Hehe…I gave him the biggest of the two spare bedrooms for his office, but I took the other bedroom for a sewing room and I took the den.  Well, what was I supposed to do?  The den is open to the side of the kitchen, and you have to walk through it to get to the pool.  It’s the first thing you see when you walk in the front door.  Micheal wanted to turn the dining room into his office (the dining room is next to the living room with a 5 ft. open doorway between) and make the den a dining room, or just make the den his office.  I really didn’t want to look at all that computer equipment while I was sitting in the living room or walking through to the kitchen or pool.  Besides, using one of the bedrooms, he can close it off if we have company…especially kids.

 Ok, I gotta get dressed and go to Wally World and pick up a few things before it gets too warm out there.  If it doesn’t rain all day I’m gonna get in the pool!

But, if I go unheard from for a few days, don’t panic.  If we evacuate, my laptop will probably go with me.  If we don’t, we may be without power for a few days, so my laptop will be useless because the battery is shot.  Oh well. 

Ok, so I’m gonna try to curb the stress eating.  Actually, I don’t think there’s gonna be any time for stress eating today!  There’s just too much to do!  I did have some Fiber One for breakfast, so I did good there.  And if we evacuate, I have a bunch of yogurt I’ll pack in my cooler bag and take with me.

 Well, off to get busy.

We’re in town in a very nice subdivision, but we have a full acre of land.  Our house is 1650 sq. ft. with 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths and a den.  But that’s not the best part.  You’re not gonna believe this.  Now hold on…here it comes…we have a 16×32 ft. inground pool in our back yard!!  And guess where I’ve been spending most of my time!  You got it…in the pool.

 Ok, here’s the skinny…I gained back every pound I’d lost since first starting Buddy Slim.  But since I’ve been swimming almost every day, I’ve lost 22lbs of that, so I’m within 8 pounds of my lowest weight on here.  I can get in the pool and exercise my heart out, and it doesn’t hurt me!  And if I’m hurting more than usual, I can get in the pool for a while and the pain eases.  Oh, and another benefit…my psoriasis is gone!  I mean completely gone!!  No more itching!!  The pool?  the sunscreen? the sun? a combination of all three?  I don’t know.  It just disappeared, and I’m not even gonna try to figure it out.  But the pool has been so beneficial to me that Micheal is planning on installing a heating system for it and enclosing it so I can swim when it gets cold!

 Can you tell I’m happy?  You better believe it!  We finally have a place to call home that’s all ours (well, ours and the mortgage company’s), the weight’s finally coming off again, the pain has eased up, the psoriasis is gone, I’m getting brown as a bug and I’m having a blast!

 I’m gonna try to get back on here regular.  If any of my old buddies are still out there, give me a shout!

These past few days have been rough.  I’ve figured out that the weather has a lot to do with the way I feel.  It’s been wet, or cold or both the past couple of days and I’ve been hurting pretty bad.

All last week the weather was beautiful.  And I felt great.  The one day I went shopping, I actually went without my cane, that’s how good I was feeling.  Then things started going downhill.

Saturday we went shopping and I did ok.  It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining.  Sunday Micheal smoked a roast on the grill.  It was a fairly nice day, but not much sun shining.  The temp had started falling.

Monday I was still doing ok.  It had turned colder but hadn’t started raining yet.  I stayed in and took care of myself.  Tuesday was pretty much a repeat of Monday except the pain was a little worse, but Micheal took me to dinner and I managed pretty good.

Yesterday morning I got up hurting pretty bad.  I stayed in the recliner under my afghan all day.  When Micheal got home, he cooked dinner and did the dishes afterward.  It started raining yesterday evening.  It was 39 degrees when I got up this morning I was hurting so bad I actually took a Vicodin.  I haven’t taken a pain pill in about 4 months.  That’s how bad it is. 

Well, I got the curtains all made and hung in the kitchen (they look pretty good if I do say so myself), but I haven’t gotten the dust cover made for my keyboard yet.  As soon as I’m functioning better I’ll get that done, among other things.

I went digging through my linens last week.  I have a couple of beautiful table cloths that I’ve never used so I got one of them out and put it on the table, along with some lace placemats, gold chargers and a pair of beautiful blue accented lotus candle holders with white tapers.  I told Micheal that I was gonna stop saving the pretty things for special occasions and company.  We have a lot of nice things that have been stored and unused and I decided it was time to use them.  We already use our good china for every day. 

And when we went out to dinner Tuesday evening, we got dressed up instead of wearing our every day stuff.  We even decided we were gonna dress up and go out somewhere nice at least once a week.  No more waiting for special occasions.  We’re gonna make every day a special occasion.

Diet wise, things are still the same.  Someday….

Well anyway, here’s to making every day a special occasion, no matter what!!!

Y’all have a great day.

I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since I’ve blogged!  I’ve been busier than a one legged woman in a butt kicking contest and time has been passing so fast.  First we moved to
South Carolina, then Thanksgiving came along.  Then there was the trip to
Florida and meeting Nikki and Christmas shortly after that.  I’ve been doing a lot of shopping, of course, and I made the Christmas ornaments for our kids and grandkids.  And of course there was all that other stuff leading up to Christmas.

We spent the weekend before Christmas in
Myrtle Beach.  We spent one evening on the casino boat.  Boy was that a trip!  I’d never been on a boat bigger than a little john boat out on a lake.  And there were no waves on that lake!  But they had to take the casino boat out 3 miles from the coast before they could turn on the machines, and it was definitely an experience I’ve never had before.  The boat was really a-rockin I didn’t even have to drink to feel tipsy!!!

Since Christmas I’ve been trying to get our house fixed up.  Today I’m working on making curtains for my kitchen.  It took me two different trips to 5 different stores to find the material I wanted.  Yeah, I was being picky.  I didn’t have anything in particular in mind.  I just wasn’t finding what suited me.  But I finally found some pretty white crocheted material and bought that and when I stretched it out to cut it, lo and behold, it was patterned with tulips, my favorite flower!!  I have the material all cut and the curtains for the door ready to hang.  I just need to finish the ones for the window above the sink.

I’m also working on a dust cover for my keyboard.  Micheal got me this fabulous electric grand piano for Christmas and I don’t want it to fill with dust when I’m not playing it (it’s so dusty here).  So I’m gonna make a cover for it.  I have the material but just need to get it cut and sewed!

Micheal loved his sax.  He couldn’t believe I actually found one, and in such good condition.  It’s a C-melody, made in 1925.  They haven’t even made the C-melody since the 1930’s so it’s definitely a collector’s item.  He used to play one back in high school but it disappeared after he married his first wife.  He’s been looking for another ever since but hadn’t been able to find one.  But I did.  I’ve been looking for one for the past 5 or 6 years.  I’d found a couple on Ebay but wasn’t about to pay what they wanted without seeing them first, but they couldn’t even provide a decent picture.  I got this one from an old gentleman that collects and refurbishes old horns.  He made sure it was in perfect working order.

Ok, now on to the good stuff.  I haven’t lost any more weight, but I haven’t gained any more either.  From the time we moved here, over Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’ve stayed the same.  Yeah, I gained and lost 3-5 pounds then gained and lost them again.  But don’t we all do that? 

But the amazing (and somewhat annoying and frustrating) thing is, it didn’t and still doesn’t matter what I do or don’t eat.  I stay within the same 5 pound range.  During Thanksgiving and Christmas I had pecan pie, and peanut butter pie, and cookies and mashed potatoes and gravy, and dressing, and burgers and fries, and all kinds of junk and didn’t gain.  But I had days and days of eating nothing but fish, chicken, turkey and salads, staying within a 1200 – 1500 calorie range and didn’t lose.  My activity level stays pretty much the same.  Actually, I’ve been more active the past 3-4 months than in the past, but it doesn’t seem to have made a difference.

Buddies, I get so frustrated sometimes that I just wanna puke!  But that’s even frustrating cuz I don’t puke, no matter what.  So I guess I don’t have to worry about becoming bulimic!!  When things settle down a bit and I get some time, I’m gonna go to an acupuncturist and see if that does any good.  I’ve been told they can help tremendously with my pain and possibly with weight loss.  If it only helps with the pain, then at least it’ll be worth the effort and money.

And speaking of pain…yeah, it’s still hanging around.  Always is.  I keep trying to run it off, but it just doesn’t want to leave.  But like I told Nikki, it’s something I’ve learned to live with and I go on with what I need and want to do in spite of it.  When we were together in South Beach, Nikki was worried about me the whole time we were walking around, afraid it would be too much on me, but it’s like I told her…I would be in pain if I was just sitting around in the hotel room or riding around in the car, and walking around spending time with her was a lot more enjoyable, so it was worth the risk of worse pain.  Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do in spite of how it makes you feel afterwards.

Well, I’m off to finish my curtains.  I’ll try to do better about blogging now that things have settled down a bit.  I got out of the habit and I need to get back into it.

Y’all have a fantastic day.

Ok, so it’s been almost a week again.  I’ve been a busy lady lately!  I thought I was done with everything, but NOT!!!!!  I keep finding things I need to do.

Micheal got me a sewing machine cabinet for an early Christmas present so I had to get busy cleaning out the spare bedroom so I had a place to put it.  And I had to get the rest of the packages mailed so they would be delivered before Christmas.

Today I’m gonna be shelling pecans and sometime in the next couple of days I need to make cookies for Micheal to take to work.  Oh, and I still need to go pick up Micheal’s present when it’s ready.

I still need to pick up a ham and some pie shells for our Christmas dinner.  Micheal’s gonna cook the ham in the smoker so I won’t have so much to cook.  I made him a couple of pecan pies for Thanksgiving (my first time making pecan pies) and they turned out pretty good.  I’m gonna make him peanut butter pies for Christmas.

We’re gonna be home alone for Christmas.  Micheal’s gonna have to work part of the holiday, but not Christmas day.  Working for a school district, there are some things he can’t do while the teachers, staff and students are there, like taking down the mail server or one of the other servers they frequently access.  So when the whole school is closed for a holiday, that’s the best time for him to get some things done.  He’ll be able to take some time off in the spring so we can do something.  So we’re spending Christmas here.

My Dad and stepmother are going to spend Christmas with her family in
Texas.  They left this morning.  Consequently, my family got together this past Saturday for an early Christmas.  Dad gave me a call while everybody was together so I could talk to everybody, since that’s practically the only time I get to talk to my older and youngest sisters.  I used to call them at least once a month, but they can’t be bothered to call me except on my birthday, so I got to the point that I just don’t bother.  Then my older sister moved and didn’t bother to let me know, much less give me her new address and phone number.  On top of that, her daughter got married last month and they didn’t bother to tell me, much less send me an invitation.  And when we go out there for a visit, those two sisters hardly bother to show up.  They usually manage to give me a couple of hours during the entire time we’re there.

Now the sister just younger than me…she’s a different story.  When we’re out there, she takes time off from work so she can spend more time with me.  And she and I call each other at least every other week.  She lets me know about everything that’s going on.  She’s how I found out about our niece’s wedding!  The only reason Dad didn’t tell me is because he assumed Diane or Jana sent me an invitation.  Boy was he pi$$ed when he found out they didn’t.

Ok, enough venting.  I need to get started shelling pecans.  I’m gonna roast some for Micheal to take to work.  And I need to get some other things done, including some more work on the spare bedroom, so I have a busy day ahead of me.

Oh, I’m doing ok with the diet.  I’m not losing, but I am holding my own.  So that’s a good thing.  But I’m not buckling down on it at the moment like I should be.  After the holidays are over, I’ll get back on it full force.

Y’all have a great day!

Saturday I met Nikki.  And she is absolutely gorgeous, both inside and out!!!

Ok, let me start at the beginning.  Micheal and I drove down to Fort Lauderdale to visit some of his family who were there on vacation from California and
Nevada.  Since we were gonna be so close, we made arrangements to meet Nikki.

Saturday morning Nikki picked us up at our hotel and drove us down to

South
Beach.  She drove around and showed us some sights, then we walked around for a while and she took us to lunch.  Then it was back to the hotel.

Let me tell you, the time we spent was just too short, at least for me.  We talked and laughed the whole time we were together.  And I’m really glad we finally got a chance to meet.  In my opinion it cemented a friendship that I felt we’d already begun online.

Ok, that sounded a little weird!!!  But I think a lot of you will understand where I’m coming from and what I mean.  You can never have too many friends.  And Nikki and I have communicated online for months and gotten to know each other quite well.  Some people think it’s not possible to become friends with someone who you’ve never met, but I’m here to tell you that you can.  And then meeting them face-to-face can serve to cement that friendship.

As for what’s been going on in my life…

We’re finally getting settled in here in
Goose Creek.  Most of our house is in order.  I still have some things in my spare bedroom/sewing/craft room to unpack and get organized, but I’m working on that just a little bit at a time.  My early Christmas present from Micheal will be delivered in a couple of days so that will help.  He bought me a really nice sewing machine cabinet with lots of storage.   (My early Christmas present to him was a BBQ grill/smoker, which he used to smoke our Thanksgiving turkey.)

I got my corkboard and map hung on the wall and have all my keychains on it.  And yesterday I got to add
Florida.

I have all my Christmas shopping done, except the little things I’ll get to fill Micheal’s Christmas stocking.  I can pick that stuff up at the grocery store since I always fill his stocking with Reeses Pieces, a giant Hershey’s Kiss and other assorted goodies.  Other than that, all I need to do is wait for Micheal’s main present (a 1932 Conn C-Melody saxophone) to be finished so I can pick it up.  Tomorrow I’ll get all my Christmas cards and the presents for family put in the mail and then I can sit back and relax a bit.  I still have cookies to make for Micheal to take to work but I’m cheating on those.  I picked up the ready made dough so all I have to do is put them on a cookie sheet and then in the oven.

Diet wise I’m doing ok.  I’ve held my own during Thanksgiving and our trip to
Florida.  I’ve actually managed to lose a couple of pounds so I’m happy with that.  But I’m not going to obsess about it right now.  After Christmas I’m gonna buckle down and stick to the plan that my new doctor gave me.  I’ve not deviated from it much the past few weeks, but I need to stay with it 100% for me to get the full benefits from it. 

And that’s about it.  Nothing much has happened the past few weeks, but what has happened was great.

Now I’m off to get caught up on some blogs.

It’s been a busy week.  I’ve spent a lot of time unpacking boxes and trying to decide where to put everything.  I’ve arranged and rearranged cabinets and shelves.  I’ve arranged furniture and rearranged it.  We finally have everything in the house, including the new entertainment center and cocktail tables.  Yesterday I got some nice curtains for the living room and finally got them hung last night (I had to go back and get new rods cuz I bought the wrong size).  I still have boxes to unpack and stuff to organize, but I’ll get there.  But this is the first time in a long time that we’ve had a place where I can decorate, hang pictures, and all that stuff.  So I’m enjoying that.

And we’re enjoying living in a place where we have some room to move around.  Our little place up in
Indiana was very cramped, and we were limited in what we could do.  Here our living room is twice as big.  Our kitchen is 5 times as big and we have a nice dining room.  And we have 2 spare bedrooms…one we’ve turned into Micheal’s office and the other is going to be the spare bedroom and my sewing room.  I have plenty of walls to hang pictures of the grandkids on.  And I can finally hang my map of the
US to put my state keychains on…all 42 of them!  We have a huge back patio that is covered where we’re gonna put a couple of lawn chairs and we’re gonna get one of those outdoor fire pits to sit around and enjoy when then evenings get colder.

Yeah, I think we’re really gonna enjoy it here.

And I’m going to try to find some time to get back to blogging more often.  I apologize for deserting my buddies.  I haven’t meant to.  Things have just been so busy lately.

And the bigger and better kitchen is enabling me to cook more healthy meals so maybe that will help me get my weight loss back on track.  I’ve had so much to do the past few weeks that I’ve not had time to think about eating junk that I shouldn’t.  And I’ve been a bit more active, even though it’s not making the pain any easier.

I’ll get there.  It may take me longer than I’d like, but I’ll get there.

The rental service was scheduled to come in early Saturday afternoon to pick up their things, so it was a bit crowded in here.  I called Saturday morning to confirm the pickup time and they said they were going to have to reschedule us for Monday because they had to go pick up a housefull furniture from a woman who was a month behind on her rent.  I told them that wasn’t going to happen.  I told them that I’d scheduled that time well in advance and I needed their furniture picked up because we had so much stuff in here that we couldn’t move.  We went ahead and moved all of their stuff into the living room so we could put our bed and dining table together.  They did finally come and pick up the rental furniture within the time frame originally scheduled.

If we ever move again (I should probably say ‘when’), I’ll be there to supervise every aspect of the packing!  Cheryl had called me and told me everything was packed and all that was left was getting more tape to seal up the boxes.  I told her that could wait til I got there.  Well, I got there Sunday evening, looked around at the number of boxes, then called Micheal to find out what size truck he’d rented, and then told him I didn’t think it would be big enough.  He said it was the same size as the one he used to moved our things to
Fort Wayne.  I told him that by looking at the boxes, it just wouldn’t work.  We couldn’t figure it out……

Til I started looking in the boxes.  Some were only about half full, some were only about ¾ of the way full.  Only one or two were completely full!  I called Cheryl and told her there was a lot of repacking to do.  Obviously she didn’t have the experience packing that she said she had.  So she and her friend came over and we started repacking…and decreased the number of boxes by a least 1/3.

But when we got everything here and started unpacking it all, we realized how much they really didn’t know how to pack.  They would take something small and fragile, put it loose in the box, then pile hard heavy stuff on top of it.  Just as an example – boxes of Jello with canned food packed on top of them.  The Jello is still usable, but the boxes are crushed.  Luckily we haven’t found anything important broken…yet.  But if we do, it will be the first time in over 6 years of moving around that we’ve lost anything.  Well, there is one exception…my container carousel.  I have one of those space saving food storage container carousels that sits on a shelf and spins and holds 3 different sized containers plus lids.  They had laid it on its side in the box and piled heavy stuff on top of it.  It still holds the containers but it doesn’t spin anymore.  But that’s nothing major.  Oh well.  We don’t have anything that can’t be replaced.  

What was really funny is we still had the original boxes for some things, which I’d told her about.  She didn’t repack those items in their original boxes.  They packed the item and then packed the EMPTY box separately, sometimes in the same box!!!  Like I said, if (when) we move again, I will be supervising the packing 100%!!!!!

Other than all that, we’re settling in quite nicely.  We have at least half of the boxes unpacked.  Most of the kitchen is unpacked and a good portion of the office.  Our new entertainment center, coffee table and end tables will be here tomorrow.  The kitchen and bedroom are almost completely organized.

I’m holding up pretty well, so far.  I’m doing everything a little bit at a time.  I’ll start unpacking a box, then sit down for a few minutes.  Actually, I’ll sit in the recliner and find a good movie on TV.  Every time I get up to go to the bathroom or to get something to drink or something, I’ll unpack part of a box.  So far it’s working.  But I told Micheal that I don’t plan to do this again for a while.

And one favorable note…I got on the scale when I got back to Fort Wayne, and had only gained a couple of pounds since we came down here, even with all the eating out we’d done.  So I guess I haven’t done as bad as I thought I had.  Now I just have to find my scale again.  It’s still packed in one of those boxes stacked in the spare bedroom.

Well, I’m off to read a few blogs, go get some groceries, then do some more unpacking.

Y’all have a great day!