Yummy Rewards

For all that walking I did I rewarded myself with this at lunch.

Then after swimming and doing some more excercises in the pool, I rewarded myself with this.

By the way is my tiny torpedo. She has gotten to the point of wanting to go without her swimmies. Notice her butt in the air? That just cracks me up!

And this is my little hammerhead shark in action. When she is looking for things that I throw on the bottom for her to retrieve, she swings her head from side to side searching. Then when she spots it, she zooms to the bottom. Hilarious I tell ya!

I got up early again this morning but didn't have time to walk or anything because we had a bridal luncheon for our cousin. About to head out to the rehearsal, but I digress. When I woke up this morning only my foot hurt from turning my ankle over the other day. But it's ok now so in the morning I will be walking my butt off again so I can chow down at the reception.;)

Did you realize...

that it's hard to walk while dancing? Seriously, it's true!

My darling(sometimes) husband plugged in his old Dell MP3 player before he left again. Don't know why, but he did. Anyway, I saw that it was fully charged up and decided to see what songs he had on there while I was walking. I figured it'd be smothered in Gangsta rap. Yeah, it was on there but so was Kenny Chesney, Wade Hayes, Brad Paisly, George Strait, etc. BUT what really got me movin' was the hidden treasures of Will Smith, Beyonce, Jodeci, and Eminem(the cleaner stuff). With all that I couldn't walk just the usual 20min. Get this- I walked for about 52min! I counted up that it takes me an average of 1min. to make 200steps. So if I have it right, I made approximately 12,000 steps already today! So exciting for me!!!!!

Also, I got a little suprise yesterday. My little Pooh is going in the water face first off the ladder in the pool! My father in law said she's been doing it. Well, she never did it with me around! And dang does she get across the pool quickly! She doesn't really use her arms but she's got some awefully powerful little legs. Just using her legs she can get across almost as fast as Sunshine. I now call her my Tiny Torpedo. It's funny though because she doesn't take off her swimmies yet so her little butt sticks up in the air. I will try to get some pics of that today. So hilarious!

Well, I guess it is time to go feed the natives since they are getting a little restless then must hit the shower. Hope you all have a super fantastic, fabulous day!!!!

Arrrrrgh!!!!!

So no weight loss but I am losing a few inches. My body is shifting and a changing so much that I have friggin' stretch marks everywhere. With each passing day I find a new one. Anybody got any suggestions? They are driving me nuts I tell ya!

I absolutely LOVE this oatmeal. I always get the blueberrry flavored. I am finding myself wanting this at night instead of the regular meat and potatoe supper. It is so yummy! You don't even have to add sugar, butter, or anything. I've been eating it every once in awhile with a piece of toast with a little honey. Sometimes I wrap the honey toast around a piece of sausage for breakfast. Of course I have to have some coffee and OJ with it. I ran out of this incredible oatmeal this morning or that's what I'd be having for lunch. Oh well....

Hope yall have a great day.

'Jack time again...

Scrapjack time that is. Here is my MGA jack. It just hit me all of a sudden this morning what I wanted to do. Let you know on a little secret-the paint is covering up a little Oops!

Phwew!!!!!

First let me tell you about yesterday. I got up kinda early but didn't get out to walk until around 9am. I walked for 20min. There was such a nice breeze blowing. Then I did a little step aerobics on our side steps of our front porch. Here is the proof.

Then of course I dug in the flower bed a little more clearing out those dang daylillies! Rrrrrr! Then went inside because it was getting a little too hot for me.

In the evening when I went down to the end of the road at the drive to get the trash cans, I saw a different kind of lily than those we already have. Then my mother-in-law went across the road to look at her deceased uncle's lillies. One kind was absolutely beautiful. It is a double bloom orange lily. Well, coming back across we stopped to look at my clematis. It has 4(That's right! FOUR!) blooms on it. So exciting for me.

Well, this morning I woke up early so I could get the grass cut before it got too hot, and the girls got up. I went ahead and went across the road while my mother in law was here and after calling our aunt, to dig up some of those lillies. She told me to get all I wanted. I got the ones closest to the road because it has all grown up so bad since he passed away. I am going to go buy a weedeater that doesn't weigh a ton, like my father in law's, so I can clear some of that out. And clear around my flowerbeds so noone will chop down flowers. Anyway, once I finish with the flowerbeds that I've started, I think I am going to go try to clean Uncle Bertis' up some. It is just sad how it looks now. He worked so hard and so much for so long and his yard and it showed. As a matter of fact, he passed away amongst his flowers with a hoe in his hand.

Anyway, after I played in the yard a good long time. I got on the mower. Well after getting half of the backyard cut, the mower went kaput. At least I got around the pool done. Oh! That's right, I didn't tell ya'll we now have an above ground pool. More on that later. Anyway, I got really hot digging in the flower bed again and decided it was time for a swim. I told the girls, one immersed in tv while the other was focused intently on her Nintendo DS, to turn off the tv and put down the game-we were going swimming. Sunshine didn't even bother saving her game!lol. We threw on some sunscreen, let it dry a bit, and jumped in.

Over and hour splishing and splashing in the pool, we went back to digging in the beloved flowerbed. Finally, I got this tree dug up that had made its roots well established in there by a rose bush. Yes, I will admit that I was having a few choice words with that carnfound tree. But it is gone. All the lillies that I could get out, I did. Some will go to Sunshine teacher, some more will go down by the end of the drive tomorrow/this evening if I have the energy.

Right now I'm ready to go scrap, but am really sleepy. Hmmmm, I think I'll scrap and just go to bed early tonight.

By the way, I have found a way to get my girls into the bed during the summer at a decent time-threaten them with hard manual yard labor. They go flying into bed. lol.

Bridge...

to Terabithia is sooooo very sad. I am going to watch it to see if I can see any really happy stuff about it at the end. I bawled my eyes out. Unfortunately, I saw Melita's post a little too late. Pooh didn't understand where the girl went. I couldn't tell her she went to Heaven because the little girl hadn't accepted Jesus. That part of the movie bothered me A LOT! Why did Jesse not tell her about Him when given the opportunity? Afraid of judgement? Didn't beleive it all himself? Aren't we all put in those type of tests at sometime in our lives? But I think her not really knowing is what made me so heartbroken. But after it ended and Pooh realized Leslie was not coming back, it was aweful! She was crying so hard it was so sad. We will not be buying that movie unless on the rewatch without interruptions I can trully find the good in it.

I wasn't going to do any challenges, but I just finished a layout that will work. I will soon get it up for all of you to see.

Also, I see some who stop by but never leave comments. Someone even stayed for 3hrs! Have I really rambled on that much? Well, I guess I have. LOL.

Hope you all have a great night.

Hot Dog!

See that picture up there in my banner? I took it yesterday morning after my walk(more on that in a bit). Well, I wanted to make it my banner. I called Amy, but she had typepad and couldn't help. I called Sally, was gonna call her anyway cause it was way overdue. (By the way Tex, you are in my Favs now so expect more calls. Ehehehehehe.) But she got to looking and sent me a link to someone absolute awesome. So easy to read the directions and do it myself. Here is the link I followed to get my banner up there: http://lindsayteague.blogspot.com/2005/06/how-to-1.html .

Ok, for the walk. I went walking around 10am. Yes, it was hot but I did it. Sunshine even walked with me-for about 10min. only. I walked for 20min. Sweating like a stuck pig by the time it was over. I mean even my legs were sweating. Yuck, right? Yeah, I know but I just gotta get it done.

At the very end of the 20min. an orange and black, not a Monarch, butterfly was on my purple butterfly bush. By the time I ran up to the house to get my camera and got back down to it, the butterfly was gone. So sad. See I have this thing for butterflies. My momma did too. So does Sunshine. For me I always thought they were beautiful, but during my mother's funeral they, including a Monarch or two, were flitting all around. Then they just hovered around me and kept zooming past/around me after the funeral was over. Keep in mind that this was Oct.31. So now everytime I see a butterfly, I think of my mother. It is as if that's God's way of her letting me know she is still with me.

Anyway, I went around the yard taking different pictures of different things. Of course most of them were of flowers. So I will be changing my banner from time to time with new stuff. Still got lots to do in the yard though, so I may get more shots as the yard starts looking better.

After I watched You, Me, and Dupree I told the girls they could come out of their room. We all went swimming. I put on my swimsuit and went out with them. We had a blast. I was sore last night and am still sore this morning. While doing my kicks on the kickboard AND hold the the girls(35 and 52lbs)on my back at the same time, I used muscles I had forgotten I had. But we did flips. Sunshine and I talked underwater. I taught Pooh to dogpaddle. It was so much fun! It is suppose to rain today, otherwise we'd be doing it again.

The agenda today is to go pay a bill, pick up Bridge to Teribithia and Happily Ever After, get some bug spray, wash bed linens, and scrap. It is going to be such a fun day!!!!

Hope ya'll have a great one too!

Hey Ya'll!

Hope you all had a great Saturday. I sure did. We just kinda hung around the house. I finally got to see Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion. So funny but not as funny as Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Now that one can have me rolling on the floor laughing my fool head off. Anyway, when I saw it had Cecily Tyson in it I was so freakin' excited. LOVE HER!!!! Maya Angelo is pretty darn great herself. But just to let ya'll know that if my husband gets out of line, I'm gonna threaten him with a "gritball". If you don't know what I'm talkin' about, go get the movie. Tyler Perry is just awesome.

Ok. Really quick on another piece of my Presidential ramblings..... China. The treaty with China has taken a lot of jobs away from Americans because the raw materials can be sent over there to have things like tvs, radios, etc. made and then sent back here to be bought by us. We are no longer making these tvs, the Chinese have the jobs to make them thanks to Willy. How are we to buy the products if we have no jobs? True some U.S. companies are no going over there, but that doesn't really benefit us here with jobs now does it. It helps the big fish but not the smaller ones swimming in the pond. When all the little fish(the working class) die off(go unemployed)then it won't be much longer til the big fish(big companies, billionaires, etc.) diminish.

Which also brings me to another point. We are not taking care of our own. It kills me when I see commercials of organizations wanting to help little kids overseas. What about our own? There are families here that need help. For sure those losing their jobs in turn losing their houses and everything else. They can't really get much help until they hit total rock bottom poverty. Then they are so ashamed to ask for help that they don't. I'd love to find an organization that anonymously gives to those it sees in need. No paperwork to fill out, etc. I would sink every extra penny I had into it.

AND another thing, I'm tired of all this frivolous spending. Take the WWII(I think that is the one I'm thinking of.) Memorial. Cost-MILLIONS of $$$$$. There are still living survivors and spouses of those veterans who are barely getting by. They are having to chose between food, water, heat, or medicines. Why could all that money not have gone to them for these basic necessities to say, "You took care of us, now let us take care of you"? For me, it is a slap in the face. Having every father and grandfather, including in laws, serve in the military I just think the money should've been used more wisely.

Healthcare is something that would be a little more difficult to solve. I do think that those doctors who do what's called a "shotgun effect" type of testing runs the cost of insurance and healthcare up. (A shotgun effect is running every possible test and getting the answer. This is used instead of considering the symptoms, narrowing it down and then running thru the different tests.) There has to be an answer, but my thought is that most on Capitol Hill have some stock in the insurance/pharmaceutical/medical tech companies or this would've already been taken care of.

Immigration... While I do NOT think it is right for those who broke the law entering our country should get a free pass, I do think something should be done. If they are to stay, then I feel that a member of immediate family(husband, wife, son, or daughter) should be required to join one of the armed forces. They should be made to pay taxes two-five years before becoming citizens. This may eliminate all the jobs needed for the ones affected by the China treaty being snatched up by those who will work for far less than minimum wage. And I sure don't think that we should have to take care of these new citizens elderly/aging parents coming over here. We can barely take care of our own. It should be them paying taxes at least 10yrs before we take on the care of their parents. Then the parents should have to pay taxes too if they are going to accept all the benefits. Again, I don't feel those entering the country illegally should be rewarded, but they should be given some type of option. It is not right to those who go thru all the right channels legally.

Ok so that is my ramblings for today. Argue on. Disagree if you care to. Maybe you will help me see things in a different light, but I doubt it. lol.

Hope you all have a great Sunday. God bless you all.

Woooohoooo!

Yesterday was super great! I woke up at 6:08am. Drank my coffee and was working in the yard by 6:30. I didn't walk or run, but worked in the yard until 10:15 or so. With all the lunges I did planting the petunias and walking back and forth in the yard, plus all the squats I did, I think I did enough exercising. At least that's what my thighs and gluts told me last night and this morning. lol.

Anyway, I water the flowers a little. Planned on watering them more in the evening, but good ole Mother Nature helped meout a bit. Get this! It actually rained nice and slow for about an hour!!!!! It came in slowly, so no drastic changes in atmospheric pressure which meant no chest/back pains for me. YAY! So that made me even happier. We are suppose to get some rain later this week, hopefully it doesn't change it's mind. So later today or tomorrow afternoon after church, I will be planting those other rose bushes that I still haven't dug up and replanted. And I will be moving the rest of the day lillies.

But before I go! If you haven't watched "Happy Feet" you just gotta do it. I laughed more than my girls did. I resisted this movie for a long time, but finally said we could rent it last night. Now I think we are gonna have to buy it. I just LOVE Ramone.

Have a super fabulous day! (Promise I will get back to my Prez ramblings soon.;))

Well...

I woke up early again this morning to exercise again. The air quality for today said "Unhealthy for Sensitive". It said that yesterday too and I was just fine. Sooooooo, why in the Samhill did I wake up this morning feeling like an elephant sat on my chest all night? There was no way that I could've gone even slow walking this morning so I tried to go back to sleep. No luck. I got up, drank my coffee, check email, now blogging this. I got a ton to do today but am waiting for a very important phone call. Hopefully I will receive it early so I can start running errands then later play in the flower beds.

These are a couple of the last blooms on the day lillies I have to get moved today or tomorrow. I've already thinned themout twice this year but need to do it again. Sunshine's teacher wants some of them, and I will move the others down close to where you turn into the driveway. I also have to get the other rose bushes dug up and replanted. My mother-in-law is so proud of the way her yard is looking. She's telling everyone about it. I'm trying to get it looking better and easier to keep. That way they can do little stuff to keep it up, then when I come home I can do the pruning, transplanting, etc. My husband will be able to help me in a few weeks to get it done faster. The couple of weeks that he is home we will all be busy.

These are the lilies that I weeded out yesterday and put down mulch. They were bloomed out bigger yesterday morning. I don't know exactly what kind they are but I love them.

Well, I am off to get ready to do my errands then finish one layout and start my new One Little Word challenge. Plus, now Sally has made her own challenge. If you want to do it, you can find it here.

Good day today...

I woke up about 5:30am. I reset my alarm for an hour later since the power went off sometime during the night due to the storms. But as I lay there, I kept hearing this little voice sounding similar to Ole Tex's telling me to get my lazy rump out of the bed. So around 6:10 I did. Drank a cup of coffee. Checked email and the Scrap Etc. message board. Then I looked at the time. It was already 7:45! I jumped up. Rushed to my room. Threw on some shorts, sports bra, and shirt. Put on my shoes and stretched a little bit. Then out the door I went.

I ran for just about a minute. Started coughing--and my breasts beating me to death didn't feel too good either. LOL! So I walked very fast, even by my standards, for about 20min. I am typically a fast walker. Some people don't like to walk with me because if I start talking while walking, I lose my concentration of keeping a slower pace for the other person(s). I digress...

After I did that I weeded around some lilies. Then hoed in the large flower bed where I will hopefully be planting 3 new rose bushed in the morning. After that, I put down more mulch in the large flower bed and around the lilies and an antique rose bush. I am trying hard to take care of the antique rose bush because it was my husband's great grandmother's when she lived here. It was planted by my husband's great uncle for his mother. He was a gardener extraordinaire. He is now gone, but I'd love for him to be here so I could learn some tips. I really do miss him a lot. I think he thinks I am doing a great job. Reason I think this is because flowers just keep popping up all over the place. Queen Anne's lace, which besides roses, I associate totally with him popped up. Petunias are found all over. While walking up to where we are going to build our house someday, I found wisteria and gladiolas. Then there was the delphinium that just happened to pop up. Unfortunately my father-in-law didn't see it and bush hogged it down. I should've dug it up when I had a chance.

Now I will be heading outside with my girls for a little swim lesson. More on that later.

I'mmmmm BAAAAAACK....

into the world of blogging and emailing and all that other wonderful junk. Can you believe that after not having internet for 6days I had almost 200 emails in my inbox. Uggggggh! About 1/3 of them were what I consider junk mail. About another 1/3 I had to actually reply. Then the rest that I haven't gone thru is just scrappin' stuff that I'll look thru tomorrow.

Deborah, what I lost when I got sick, I gained all but one pound as of this morning. I'm seriously craving some Snickerdoodles though. So guess I'll gain that pound back. Problem is that I have to have help eating them or I will sit down with a huge glass of milk and eat til I make myself sick as a dog.

Yes, Sally, I am dusting off the running shoes. I was actually feeling well enough to get out and walk/run this morning, but I had A LOT of errands that had to get done first thing. (Maybe all those vitamins are finally kicking in.) But I do plan on getting up in the morning to do it. With those yummy snickerdoodles calling my name, I must be prepared first. Hopefully I will be able to find them in a couple of days. If not we may have to make them, but they will be sent to Sunday School classrooms. Of course with the exception of the half dozen that my family will consume.

I got lots of phone calls to make tomorrow while waiting on another one. That is AFTER I make myself get up early before it gets hot and excercise.

Til later, God bless you all.

One Little Word "STOP"

Now this is my One Little Word layout attempt. I love this one because of the content matter. It made me laugh on something that really gets me agitated.LOL. The one little word we were to use was "Stop." My mother-in-law, who I live with right now, thought it was really funny too. Again, on this one, when I'd get stuck I'd hear Sally in my ear, "just throw something down!" Well, I did and this is the results. I'm very happy to get it done to since it will go in the ongoing book about me that my daughters will have to remember me by.

*Again, those of you waiting my ramblings on the Presidential debates, I will get back with you on Sat. morning. My modem is down right now. Thanks to my friend Amy, I am able to post these layouts. (Thanks again, Amy! What would I ever do without you?;))

Scrapjack time...

Here is my Scrapjack this for this session. So happy to have gotten it done. During this layout I heard Ole Tex telling me to "just throw something down" when I'd get stuck. So as the results it went really quick. I did this one in about an hour and a half. YAY!!!!!!!!

*As for my continued ramblings about the Presidential debates, I'll try to get to those on Sat. morning. My modem is down. I am sending this to you from my sweet dear friend's house, Amy. (Thanks, Amy!) So I will see you again on Sat.;)

If I were President...

Wow at the stuff I would want to do. First would be to tell the Senate and Congress that either we can work amicably for the good of the people or they can go suck an egg. I'm sick and tired of all the corruption on Capital Hill!

As you probably guessed I watched the Democratic Presidential debate. I don't agree whole heartedly with any one of them, but like Sen. Biden the best of them all. Of course he is for the troops. He understands that if they cut off funding for the war, then it is the troops who suffer- not the President! I do agree it is time for the troops to come home.

Here are my thoughts on the war:

The mission to begin with was to remove Saddam Hussein because he was not letting the inspectors into all the facilities. Sen. Clinton is wrong on this issue. How long were we and the rest of the world suppose to wait on Hussein to grant the inspectors permission into certain areas. I still think there are things that he had or had ongoing that just haven't been discovered or revealed to the people yet. The President had to act upon the intelligence he was given. Later only to discover it was incorrect reports.

To enable the inspectors to finish out their task was the goal while taking Saddam from power along with all of his commands. It was when the insurgents started warring against us and the Shiite and Sunnis starting warring against us that things went array.

Now it has been too long. It would take years upon years for the Shiite and Sunnis to tolerate one another. Just look how long it has taken Americans. Racism is still alive and well here. How can we fix someone else's problems if we can't fix our own?

Also, I think we should tell the Iraqi government and the U.S. Sen./Congress that the time is come. Either you let us do what needs to be done to control the situation or we leave and you can handle the mess. Just like a battalion(I can't remember exactly who it was-sorry.) was building a wall to try to stop all the fighting between certain groups. Well, they received orders, so it is said, to stop building the wall and remove it. Hello! That wall would have helped for at least a short time. When someone angers you, you don't want to see them everyday do you? I don't and sometimes a wall would help until I was calmed down about it. Muslims, as I understand, are calm people. Things have just gone nuts over there. Too much anger.

I do feel that our real war is against Al-Qaida. They have also trickled on into Iraq which just adds fuel to the fire. It's like the little devil on your shoulder/in your ear telling you to hurt them because they are doing this or that. We need to get our people down to tracking them down.

And yes! If you are suspicious of being a terrorist, then you should be sent to G'Bay. Sorry, but we just can't take chances anymore. We are a country at war.

A lot of this Al-Qaida mess could have been taken care of had Clinton given correct orders at the right time. I stand by my opinions of him from long ago, he is not to be trusted in any form or fashion. He is a coward and would sell his own child if the price was right. Just look at what he has done with the treaty with China. The China treaty mess up will be my next post then more.

I am tired from Vacation Bible School. Love you all. Have a great night.(Remember, when you comment, these are my opinions based on my feelings and gathering of information.)