Monday, August 25, 2008

Week 17 - August 25, 2008

O.K...I am posting even though I am not happy. Good things happened and bad. I went to Tampa this weekend to go wedding dress shopping and I was not good. I ate on the run and quick. I gained one pound.

The good thing is that this week my water bottle broke and I got a new one that I love. On top of that, I found through a friend, Walmart's brand of Crystal Light in pink lemonade flavor that I love so I have been drinking more at least.

I also brought my clothes to work so that I could go walking if the weather holds up. Hopefully so...

I'm looking to better things next week.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Girl's Trip - Weekend Wedding Shopping!
My youngest, Debi, and myself are off to Tampa this afternoon to go shopping for a wedding gown for our "middle child", Jessie. Exciting times for me as a mother.....I am looking forward to it immensely! Debi will be leaving Alex with Eddy for the weekend but I don't think she will have time to miss him with all the running around we have to do in one day! Tampa here we come!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

WEEK 16 - SOMEONE CALLED ME ON THE CARPET! THANKS!

This is week 16 and I am very late posting. Someone finally called me on the carpet about it and I thank Gina because I needed to be checked up on!

I did lose 1/2 a pound this week. I think it was because my physical activity had increased due to a project I was doing on a friend's house...painting...taking off wallpaper...sweating! It helped. Otherwise...I have been a little more conscious of my food intake but not really being good. My water is also a problem. I just can't seem to drink all my water.....any suggestions would help.

Anyway....down 8.5 now so it is better than nothing. Traveling to Tampa this weekend to go wedding dress shopping with my daughter. Remember...I have GOT to lose weight by her wedding in March!

Next week!



A MAKEOVER FOR A SPECIAL PERSON!


Our good friend, Helen Slocum, (shown in rear of picture taken when she saw the room for the first time)who we call "Grammy" recently went on a two week vacation to the Old Sod. For the longest time, Grammy has been frustrated with the wallpaper in her bathroom as it was peeling off. I decided to get the job done while she was gone so I went to my husband and Charles and Barbara Rickmond and asked if they were up to it. All said "when and where...let's do it." We also involved our visiting French priest, Fr. Jacques, who is a good friend of Helen's also. When I told Grammy...she argued but I told her it was a done deal so pick the color paint for the bathroom. At that point she said...."You know, I always wanted a yellow bedroom." At that point, bells and whistles went off and I decided we had to do the bedroom and all agreed. For weeks prior to her leaving we had to keep the bedroom a secret.

Grammy was off on her trip and we dug in. It took us a little under two weeks to complete the project but we enjoyed it so much. We peeled and stipped wallpaper, put Kilz on all the walls, painted and scrubbed like crazy. Her patio in the back was pressure cleaned, a herb planter planted and windows cleaned. While doing the painting, every few minutes we would step back and just look at how gorgeous the yellow paint looked. Then we got Fr. Jacques to go shopping with us...dinner first of course.... for new bedding, towels and decorations. It was so much fun!

What a labor of love this was and what a wonderful bonding experience for good friends. You can see the pictures of the work in progress at the link below.

All we can say is that we love you Grammy!


Sunday, August 17, 2008







Tropical Storm Fay



Last report is that we shouldn't get too much weather from Tropical Storm Fay. It is dark and cloudy and we had some winds this afternoon but that was it. We will se how the weather is tomorrow although our school was supposed to start tomorrow and they cancelled it.
They said on the news that we are to have winds from 30 to 70 miles per hour tomorrow, thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. School busses don't travel in high winds and therefore they cancelled school's opening. Hey...some people have snow days...we have hurricane days.
Here are a few pictures that I just took. Only the southern sky looks stormy.



Thursday, August 14, 2008

Tell the World......She said YES!!

When I asked our son, Danny, if I could put this on my Blog....he said....TELL THE WORLD!

We are pleased to announce that our son, Daniel Jay, proposed to his girlfriend, Amanda Chambers, last night on the beach in Hawaii! We are even more pleased that Amanda said YES! Our family just loves her and are very happy with our son's choice.

Danny has been like a little boy with his hand in the cookie jar for the past several weeks as he tried to contain himself with the excitement and the waiting as he knew where he wanted to propose. Danny won a trip to Hawaii at work for being the top saleman and he knew that this would be the perfect moment and place. He was right!

As you can see from my earlier post, Amanda recently graduated from NOVA University and is a Dr. of Physchology!

We love you both! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008




Creativity Runs in the Family!



This past week my daughter, Debi, asked if I would come by her new classroom. She is going back to work as a teacher and was hired by Keys Gate Charter School in Homestead as a 5th grade teacher. Debi said she didn't have any bulletin boards in her classroom and she also had to create a word wall where students would post words that they didn't know the meaning of and would have to look up in the dictionary. Needless to say, I was so amazed when I visited. Debi's theme is the jungle and her word wall is created out of vines hanging from the ceiling. She also took fabric from my stash and created her own bulletin boards in the classroom.




Here are pictures of what my daughter has created.

Week 16 - Monday - August 11, 2008

Where have I been? I've been in the weight loss doghouse!!
For the past several weeks I have been lost, fallen off the wagon, fallen off the scale and not holding myself accountable for anything and everything. On top of that....once again....no one else has held me accountable or asked where I have been. Please....I will not get mad......ask me?????
Why? I just don't know why or how I fell off the weight loss wagon.
What brought me back to watching my weight and my blog again? I realize that I cannot be complacent or I will get nowhere. I am feeling bloated again and detest that feeling.
The good news: I have not gained any weight since my last blog entry.
The bad news: I am still down only 8 pounds from when I started 16 weeks ago. I know...I know....it is not bad but it could have been much better if I had concentrated on what was important.
What has changed: I am once again eating healthy.
Am I back to exercising: No...as of this moment I have not but I do plan to get back to walking. The hot weather had just defeated me prior to this. The humidity has been horrendous.
What is expected: Please look for my update for Week 17..................