Why do I have to work?

I'm tired of working. I just want to play with my yarn, buy more yarn, organize my yarn, knit my yarn and have fun. I think I might have been a cat in a previous life, lol.

One of these days, it may take me 10 years to make this idea come into fruition, but I'm going to open my own yarn shop. My idea is that I'll let my kids have my house, if they want it. I'm going to buy one of the old buildings downtown on main street, renovate it and have my yarn shop downstairs and turn the upstairs into an apartment. Then I can play with yarn all day long. My vision is a cute little shop with all types of yarn with all price ranges. (I won't carry Red Heart or Bernat because they can get that at Wal-Mart cheaper than I could carry it). I'll have a big round table in one room for people to sit around and knit, retro couch and chairs in another room, a tea pot with hot water at all times so people can help themselves to a cup of tea.

I may have to win the lottery to actually afford to buy one of the buildings, but that's my plan. What do you think about it? I can't tell you the name I have in mind because I don't want anyone using it before I get the chance.

It's coming along nicely

It's not a fast knit by any means, but it's coming along nicely. I wish I'd have been able to find some other colors, the picture is hard to tell but I have a pale blue and a pale lavendar side by side and they look like the same color and then I also have a deep red and a burnt orange side by side and they look like the same color too. I found the color swish so I'm adding it in my next square and I've got dewberry and drab on the way. I guess I should have waited until I had all my colors to start, but I just couldn't stand it any longer. I'm the type of knitter who can only have one project going at a time. I start feeling guilty about leaving a project and going to the next, kind of like I might hurt it's feelings. I know, I'm just weird like that. I'm the same way with reading books, I've got friends who will say "I'm reading this, and that, and I've just started on the next one, etc" I have to read one book at a time. Plus, with knitting I like to look at the pattern read through it, work a few rows and then just go. If I had 3 or 4 projects going at the same time, I'd have the patterns mixed up and my knit a mitered square in the front of a sweater. Hmmm, that give me an idea for a sweater, just take this pattern, some cool colors and viola! a retro 70's sweater. Maybe I'll make one for the baby.

New Project

I finally finished my interlaken blanket and I love it. It's so comfy to curl up on the couch and watching tv or working on my lastest knitting project.

I've started working on the modern quilt wrap from knitting daily. (pictured) Isn't it soooo pretty? I'm using kid mohair in all different colors and working mitered squares in different sizes, picking up stitches from one square to another. The pattern suggests using a size 7 circular needle, but it just seemed so tight so I switched to an 8 and it's turning out really cool.

Changes

I was reading some of my old posts and realized alot has changed in a year and a half. Like the animal situation, KC (Kitty Cat, my beloved 17 year old) died last year, his kidneys failed and he went blind all in one day, I had to have him put to sleep which was so hard. KC you are truly missed.

We acquired a new dog, Nellie in February (she was a Valentines present from Brennan to Chelsea).

Beau, our loveable big black lab was killed by the neighbors. I'm not certain, but the neighborhood rumors confirm they did it. He went out one night to go to the bathroom and he never came back, the shotgun blast concerned me, but I thought he was okay. Why are some people so cruel. He was a very sweet and good dog.

The most important addition to our family has been this little man (pictured above). Hayden Michael will be 2 months old on Jan 17th - he is the reason I continue to breath. I look forward to seeing him everyday.

Almost finished

Here it is, this is the Interlaken blanket from Berroco. I used Berroco Comfort worsted weight yarn and size 9 needles. It's really been fun making this blanket. I just wanted to let you guys see it. I'm not quite finished but almost, I need to complete 2 more sections and weave in some ends and it will be complete.

I taught my son-in-law Brennan how to knit last night, he has alot of anxiety attacks and worries about everything. He won't take pills, he says he can't - it's all in his head, but he needs a way to relieve the stress and tenion that builds up on him. So I told him knitting was the best thing to help you relax. I got out a pair of size 13 bamboo needles and some yarn I got on sale for .99 cents and showed him how to cast on, once he had 20 stitches on the needle, I showed him how to knit. He's making a scarf, and doing very good on it, if I do say so myself. He was able to catch on very quickly.

I'm back

Wow, alot has happened since I was here last. I've gained back all the weight I lost while on NS. I remodeled my house and I became a grandma. I know, I know, you think I'm too young to be a grandma. I'm really older than you think, I'm just aging gracefully! LOL!!! My grandbaby's name is Hayden Michael and he was born November 20th. He's 6 weeks old and very healthy. They've had a little trouble trying to get him on the right formula. Yes, he's on formula. His mommy really wanted to nurse him, but she just didn't produce enough milk, after 2 weeks she just didn't have anything to feed him. He is such a good and happy baby, and he is sooo loved.

So, It's a new year and I'm trying to lose this sickening weight that I've gained back. This time I'm just going to do it the old fashioned way. Portion control and calorie counting. That's right. I've joined a group called SparkPeople, if anyone is interested - check it out. It's free, they offer menu plans, articles to read, message boards, you can sign up with other groups and it's really motivational. Tomorrow will be my first weigh in.

Since, I'm back trying to lose weight, I've picked up the needles again. Right now I'm trying to finish a really cool blanket. It's a Berrocco pattern called interlaken and it's been really fun to knit so far, but now I'm getting antsy to finish it because I'm dying to start a new project with Rowan Kidsilk Mohair, it is a wrap that uses 9 different colors, absolutely gorgeous. We found a sale and were able to get some of the colors for $2.12 per skein, the other colors we had to pay $16.99 per skein - crazy, isn't it. I'm excited and I'll post pictures when I've finished my projects. Oh wait, I wanted to talk about a great find. Ozark Handspun yarn is beautiful and so fun to knit with. It's made by a guy in Missouri and the yarn shop in Tulsa finally got some in and I was able to get a few skeins before it sold out on the same day. It's $27.99 per skein but you can knit a great looking hat with only one skein and it only takes about 30 minutes to complete. Check it out.

Back on the wagon

Hi everyone - I'm back on the NS wagon. I've tried to lose weight on my own without buying the food from NS. I did really good until I went to Colorado a few weeks ago and now I've noticed a few extra pounds. So, I'm putting in my order with NS again. My food should arrive next Tuesday. I still need to lose another 34 lbs.

One of my employees, Sheri, just signed up for NS last night. It will really help having someone in the office eating the same way. She only has about 23 lbs to lose.

My sister and I are still planning on meeting my cousin Judi in Las Vegas the 3rd weekend of September so my goal for this month is to lose 10lbs.

Wish me luck on trying to lose the last 34lbs.

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone has some fun plans for today. I'm going to my sisters again tonight. We had Chelsea's birthday party there yesterday. We cooked burgers, chicken, and some dogs on the grill.

I'm so sore today, before the partiers showed up I went to Leigh's early. She was telling me that she had ordered Turbo Jam and wanted me to try it. It's a combination of ty-bo and dancing. It's really pretty fun. But, why don't skinny video instructors understand how hard it is for short fat girls to balance. First, knees wide apart, toes pointing out. Now tuck your tail bone up under you, this is the (tuck) and squeeze the abdominal muscles. Now with your tailbone under you, (Pump)! Keep your knees wide, toes pointing - now tuck and release. Kinda of a sexual looking move. Don't stop, now we are going to add jabs and kicks. Keeping your knees wide in the tuck positions with fists up (protecting your jaw) Pump and jab, 2...3...4... now kick out to your side. Oh I forgot the 7 step (it's like running through the tire part of an obstacle course, but on the 7th step you kick someone next to you.) I really can't remember if you lift your knee or kick out. Also the zig zag and kicks. Like I said it was fun, but will take a couple of times to get all the moves.

After the workout, we ate dinner. I think I did really good on portion control. I had a hamburger patty, lettuce, tomato, pickle, a tsp of quacomole, tsp of beans, tsp of potato salad.
1 bite of birthday brownie with icecream. Lots of water. After all the kids were gone, Leigh, her husband Brent and I sat out of the deck with the dogs. Drinking our water and listening to bluegrass music, talking and having a good time. Leigh and I even got up and did a couple of jiggs to the music. I'm just glad no one had a video camera.

I've got to get some laundry done today and hopefully knit up another purse. Then I'll probably go back to my sister's this evening and watch her neighbors shoot fireworks.

Have a safe and happy 4th everyone.

I'm back

Wow, it's been over a month since I've updated my blog. I guess I haven't been very motivated lately. I was on a plateau for the last month and finally today it broke with a 1.6 lb loss.

I decided to postpone my NS food for the month and see how I do on my own. Maybe that's what helped me break the plateau, my body was used to eating the same things all the time.

Let's see - what has happened this past month?

School is out so Chelsea has been looking for a job. She turns 18 tomorrow and is hoping to get a job at the local recreation center as a front desk clerk. Work has been busy, lots of drama going on with my employees. One got married, one is not happy in his marriage and the other is having problems with a step-son. Whew!!! I'm supposed to go to Boulder on the 12th for a training class. It should be fun, Stefanie from our Tulsa office and I are going. We are both the Risk Safety Coordinators for our offices in addition to our other duties.

I finally got my yarn back out and started knitting again, I've got lots of stuff on ebay right now. I'm trying to get all of my old yarn knitted up and sold to make some money to buy new fun yarn when I go to Colorado at the end of the month. (Check out my auctions on Ebay, search for handknit items and mine should show up in the list, or search by name for knakedknitter.) It's always fun to go see Mom & Dad up in the mountains. Plus, we hang out at Edla's Yarn shop alot knitting and drinking tea. It's very relaxing.

We had girls night last week, Frankie had to have back surgery, she's recuperating well. Diana had a total hysterectomy and is doing good. Kasey kicked her husband out and is dealing with that situation fairly well. Kim is doing good, her son just got back from his 6 week stint with the army. He's an MP in the reserves. We had a good time just talking and catching up on everything.

I've been spending alot of time looking at flights to Vegas, my sister Leigh and cousin Judi are planning a trip in September to meet in "Sin City". I've never been and I'm looking forward to the trip.

I'll try to keep everyone posted a little better.
talk to you later,
t

Weigh-In

Good news! This week I lost another 1.4lbs which brings me to 161.8 a total of 33.2lbs gone forever. This morning I straightened out my NS cabinet to get ready for my new shipment which should arrive Wednesday.

I haven't done much today - haven't felt that great. I mowed the yard - 2 acres yesterday and my allergies really hit hard. So today I've just played on the computer and watched some tv. I did manage to get a load or two of laundry done.

Today's Food

I got up this morning and had my favorite breakfast, blackberries (microwaved 3 min) sprinkled with cinnamon and splenda topped with NS granola and a few squirts of butter spray (microwave again for 20 secs) It's fabulous.

Lunch was NS tuna salad on a small whole grain bun with lettuce, tomato, green onion and green peppers. Very tasty!

Snack - ff yogart

This evening I think I'm gonna have the NS Chicken Parmesan, green beans and peaches with sf cool whip.

I'm running low on my favorite desserts, I think I've got some carmel corn left. I've got several puddings and shakes but I really don't care for them.

The Rest of the DAY

I'm going to go for a walk, what??? did I say that? just baby steps, for those of you who read my blog you know I hate exercise. So I'll go to the end of the road and back which is 1 mile. Then we'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm not making any promises, but I can set a goal. My goal is to walk 2 times this week. Remember I'm taking baby steps. Maybe next week I go for 3 times and progress from there.

After my walk - I'll have dinner and then finish up the laundry and finish reading the James Patterson novel I started the other day. Okay, Teresa get up, get Beau's leash and go for a walk.

TGIF

It's Friday finally - actually it's Saturday morning. Couldn't sleep so I decided to do some writing. What a day - still having problems with our new system, payroll has been a disaster. Still too many freaky glitches happening.

Mom and Dad came for a visit over the long weekend. It's always good to see them. They drove up last night from Colorado. I hope that everything works out and I'll be able to take off work for a week and go visit them this summer. The weather is always so nice at their house in the summer. It's so humid here in Oklahoma and add 100° temps to that and it's miserable here.

If I haven't mentioned this before, my sis and I are doing some research on our Indian heritage (or, trying to prove our Indian heritage). It's been really interesting. We always thought we were Cherokee, but we've recently found out that we also have some Osage history. Now we just have to find the proof in writing somewhere. I sure wish we would have started this while more of our family was still alive to help us with names and places.

This week has been really good food wise...I really need to get the exercise in, but I HATE IT!!! I know I would lose the weight faster if I'd get off my butt and get some cardio. I always have grand ideas and plans for exercising. I'll take my walking shoes to work and plan a walk during lunch time - do I walk? NO! I play on the internet instead. My friend Sabina wants me to take salsa dancing lessons with her. It sounds like fun, but I just can't see myself doing the salsa without throwing out my back. I can always think of an excuse not to exercise. My girls club wants to start taking belly dancing lessons...haha that's funny. The image I have of myself wearing a belly dancing outfit is hillarious. I'm sure it's good exercise and I should do something like that maybe I'd be more inclined to stick with an exercise plan if it was something fun. Because walking up and down my road just isn't fun. Going to the gym isn't fun. If not for the exercise the belly dancing would make me laugh so hard I'd have to burn extra calories. I'm giggling right now just thinking about it.

Sunday is weigh-in day - let's all pray really hard that the scale moves down again.

Talk to you later,
t

Alyssa's Graduation

This is the reason for getting up in the morning!

David (20) Chelsea (17) Alyssa (18) Baryn (16). Hey Sis - I think this means we are getting old. 2 more graduations to go, then we get to look forward to the weddings!

Last night my niece Alyssa graduated from high school. We had a get together before the ceremonies. There was alot of food and I am very proud of myself for not standing around and grazing in the kitchen. We had very very lean hamburgers on wheat buns, small amount of baked beans, a bite of potato salad and a cauliflower/brocolli salad. I didn't have cake, but I did have some unsweetened fruit with sf ff cool whip and 1/2 of a small brownie. I could have taken my NS food, but I want to be able to learn to eat real food and not go crazy. The only thing I could have done better was drinking more water. I got it all in, but it meant drinking water until 11:30 last night which interrupted my sleep more than once. Somthing else makes me wonder-hmmmm, I had a 2.4 lb loss this week, would it have been a bigger loss if I'd eaten NS food or a smaller loss. Did that REAL food throw another log on the furnance in my body or was it because it was just different food. Or, was it because I didn't have a loss last week and my body was just catching up. That's probably it! I'd forgotten about last week's non-movement of the scale.

This has been a nice weekend, I took a vacation day on Friday and I'll also be off on Monday. I've got to start using my vacation days because the year is almost halfway over and I've only taken 1 week with approx 6 weeks left. I always have to roll over 2 weeks at the end of the year but that's all I can roll, anything leftover I lose. I spent most of Friday at my sister's house trying to research our family history. It's been very interesting. This all began about 3 years ago when my grandmother died and after the funeral a great aunt started talking about the history of our family and that her great great grandfather was full blood Cherokee. We've always know this but she actually had a name. Leigh Ann and I went to the library and search the Dawes rolls but found out that our ancestor got off the Trail of Tears in Missouri. So we thought our proof of Cherokee blood would never be traceable. Then about 2 months ago one of my employees was telling me that he had just gotten his tribal card, I told him my story and he said his ancestor was the same way. He was able to trace his lineage back to the White River Band of Cherokee Indians in Missouri and Northern Arkansas. So we were back on the search. During this we also got some more information on my Grandfather's side that traces Cherokee back to my GGG Grandmother. So that would make me approximately 1/64 on my Grandma's side and 1/32 on my Grandpa's side. I've never been very good at fractions but I think that calculates to 3/64. Is that right? So we've got branches of family trees all over ancestry.com, a little here and there and we are trying to tie the tree together. It would be nice to be able to get our tribal cards to help send the kids to college and also for medical care if they aren't able to afford health insurance when they are on their own. If nothing else it's been fun.

You know something that I haven't talked about in a while is my knitting - that last project wore me out and I haven't knit since January. I put everything away while I was painting and just haven't gotten it back out yet. But I've got the bug again. I'm going to knit this tank. It should ber very simple and not take too long, plus it will be nice for this summer and I can probably even wear it to work. It's made out of cotton so it shouldn't be hot. I really miss my knitting, I think I might even go to the yarn store tomorrow and pick out the yarn for this tank and get started on it. What color should I get? I have alot of clothes this color of green so I need to get something else. Maybe turquoise??? What do you think. Leave me comments and let me know.

I've got a new picture that I want to post - it looks a little better than the girls night photo. Chelsea took this of me last night before we left for graduation. At least I've got makeup on and my hair doesn't look crazy. In the girls night photo I look like I was getting ready to bend over, kinda hunchbacked, a little wild eyed. This pic actually looks like me (most of the time)...

Okay back to the graduate.

Alyssa plans to go to our local university this fall and apply for the nursing program as soon as she has met the requirements. I wish I could have gotten the picture of her actually receiving the diploma, but my cameral has a split second delay and by the time I pushed the botton she was already walking away. I took another picture of her when she was walking to her seat at the beginning and by the time the camera actually captured the picture, she had almost walked out of the frame. (I wish I would have spent another $100 and gotten the Fuji 5100 - trying to save a buck isn't always the best).

Here she is wearing the sunglasses. They released the balloons and are getting ready to throw their hats in the air. It was a great night, even though it was very hot, sweaty, and my butt hurt so bad sitting on those metal bleachers for a couple of hours. Congratulations Alyssa, I'm very proud of you!!! Love ya Teresa.

Poker Night with the Girls!

Here's the gang!! (those aren't real tatoos are Kasey and Frankie-just residuals from the craziness that goes on).

Tonight Kim was our hostess and she served some sort of chicken pizza, it was her own creation with chicken, feta cheese, almonds and some spices all wrapped up in a pie crust. It reminded me of a quesadilla. The girls really liked it, I had my NS hamburger and salad with Ranch chips. She also had some fruit, grapes, apples so I was able to munch on that a little bit. Girls night was a week earlier than normal, because next week is my niece's high school graduation - can't miss that!

Okay, so the theme this month was a little unusual. Kim called me today around noon and left a message that her theme was going to be egyptian queens because it's Mother's day weekend and since we are all moms we should be treated like a queen. Her last statement on my voicemail was "so wear a toga!" What??? Isn't a toga Greek? So we are supposed to meet at her house at 5pm and I'm listening to this message around 1pm. I called her and said "I'm not wearing a toga" She cried and carried on that I was going to be the only one not participating in the fun. "Why a toga? that's not egyptian" She said "pretend, make it look like the Queen of the Nile." Fine - I start digging though the linen closet, but I don't have any white sheets, the closest was light blue with clouds. "Good enough." I pack my junk over to her house and she starts wrapping me up in this and putting dark eyeliner on me, tied my hair up in Mardi Gras beads, gold belt and dangly earrings and viola! I'm the Queen of the Nile.
After the girls arrived and pictures were taken, we ditched the togas and ate dinner. Then we played our normal game of Cranium, and then poker. I did pretty good tonight. Started out with $4.00 and came home with about $20.00.

Frankie, Kasey and Diana decided we needed to go to the casino and play the slot machines so we all jumped in the cars to hit the slots. I only played about $5.00 and lost it all, but it was fun. Then we called it a night and headed home.

When I got in the house I immediately downloaded the pics because if there were any of me that I didn't know about I could get rid of them. Thank God, I was the one in charge of picture taking. hehehe Diana and Kim would kill me if they new their picture was on the internet. Here are some of the pics from tonight.

My kids...aren't they cute. Chelsea's a free spirit and Dave's my musician.

This week was so busy at work and it showed on the scale. Only a very small loss this week. We got a new database system on Monday and it was a week long training process. We had a trainer in the office and we ate out for lunch every day. I made wise choices, mostly salads with grilled chicken, but I drank less water and more tea. Usually during a normal work day I'll drink 3 bottles of water. I bet I didn't drink 3 bottles of water all week. Just so busy, I didn't take the time to think about fluids. There were a couple days that I didn't even pee until I got home from work. Next week will be better, hopefully we can get the office back to the normal pace.

Today I've been really lazy. It's been raining all day and I've had a headache since I got out of bed. I've watched a couple of movies, talked to my sister for awhile, washed a couple loads of laundry and that's it.

I had to get glasses, yep I'm getting old age eyes. I had RK (the surgery before Lasik) about 14 years ago. I went to the eye dr. because I've been having trouble driving at night. He told me I'm far sighted with an astigmatism. (That's why the drugstore reading glasses didn't work for me) I picked up my new glasses yesterday and I'm having trouble with them. I can't get used to wearing them to read, because then when I look up I can't see far away. That might be part of my headache problem too.

Got to go, hope everyone who reads this has a good week. I'll write later.

Weigh in this week

I was actually very suprised this week to see the scale drop 1.8 lbs. It has been creeping along slowly but surely for the last month it seems. When it said 167.2 I got very excited. I was having trouble getting all my water in the past few weeks so I started substituting Crystal Light in the afternoon. It was so much easier to get all my liquids in during the day that way.

I'll be posting an updated picture soon.

Girls Night was a SUCCESS!!

Saturday night was my turn to host our monthly girls night poker game. I spent all day cleaning my house, 3 of the girls had never been to my house so I needed to make a good impression. Kim already knows I'm not the neatest housekeeper, but she loves me anyways. So I got up really early, about 6am and started my chores. I even shampooed the carpets. After getting everything spic-n-span I started cooking. I served lasagna, garlic bread, salad and dessert. I made a blackberry cobbler using frozen berries and a yellow cake mix. I thought I screwed it up because I baked it in a 9x9 pan instead of 9x13. I was afraid the cake mix wouldn't bake in with the juices and would end up being a golden crust with an inch of powdered cake mix and berries on the bottom. I did cheat a little because I sweetened the berries with splenda (they didn't even notice). I ended up making a backup dessert also. A Reese's peanut butter cake (this was actually something I had bought for the kids, but I needed it just in case).

The girls arrived about 5:30 and dinner was just coming out of the oven. After the tour of the house we gathered in the "favorite" room, the kitchen. They actually thought I had made the lasagna from scratch, but I came clean and confessed it was Stouffer's. Why spend $20.00 on lasagna ingredients when you can get a really good one for $11.00 already prepared. Before we sat down to eat we had to decide the winner of this months theme. The theme for this month was gaudy Easter bonnets. Chelsea was the bonnet judge and she determined that Kasey was the winner of the gaudiest bonnet. Her prize was a great smelling candle.

As the girls were getting their plates filled with the garlic bread and ooey gooey cheesy lasagna, I was preparing my dinner (NS lasagna). I didn't fill deprived at all. I had a large helping of salad and it was very filling. After dinner we played a game of Cranium and Kim and I kicked their asses this time. It was alot of fun. Then the girls decided it was time to try the cobbler. They cut a piece, microwaved for a few seconds and globbed on vanilla ice cream. The oohs and aahs wouldn't stop. You would have thought it was sex the way they were going on about it. I had my NS chocolate mochachinno dessert bar, which was very good. The stopped eating when they saw what I had and were very interested, "What's that? It looks very good." "It is very good." I replied.

After everyone was full we got out the cards for poker. We play no-limit penny Texas Hold'em. Ante is a penny and then you can bet whatever you want. I won about 3 hands, probably about $6.00 which was the most won. Kim won $1.75, Diana and Frankie split a pot which was up to $5.00 about. Kasey won the last hand which was around 85 cents.

It was a fun evening, I was able to stay on program 100% and the girls departed around 10:30pm. Next month Kim is the host - she doesn't cook at all so it should be interesting, but if it's warm enough to get in the pool we really won't care what we eat.

Girls night this Saturday

This Saturday it's my turn to host the girlsnight. The host prepares dinner, creates a theme and plans the evening. Usually it ends up being a texas hold'em night, which is probably what we will do this time too. The problem is I have NO idea what to fix for dinner. Since I'm doing NS and plan to stick to it 100%, I'm trying to fix something that will be close to what I'll have. So I think I'm going to do this the easy way and make a frozen lasagna, texas toast, salad and dessert. That way I can have my lasagna, salad and my dessert. Making a dessert for the girls and not eating it is going to be soooo hard. The plan is to make a brownie with mint chocolate chip icecream layered with hot fudge and cool whip. There only thing close to this in the NS plan is the Mint Chocolate bar, I think I might put it in the microwave for a few seconds and them put a dollop of fat free cool whip on top. I've got to be strong and make good decisions. I'm so close to the blue bear I can't take steps backwards.

Today was a very hectic day at work, we are switching to a new system and we have mandatory training classes this week and next week which makes it really hard to get the regular work done. It addition to the training we have to complete homework and quizes after each session. But after the training I realized what today was, we have a massage therapist come to our office every other Thursday at 3:30pm to give us 30 minute table massages. You would not believe how good you feel after a massage. After sitting at a computer all day and the stress of the job it is the best thing in the world to have someone get all those nasty pressure points that cause neck and shoulder pain and the headaches, after 30 minutes we are all so happy and nice.

Remember in my last post the guy on light duty who really isn't hurt that I was going to fire? Well, I didn't actually fire him on Tuesday because he had a dr's appt and I didn't want him being upset about losing his job and tell the dr that he was in such horrible pain, blah, blah, blah so anyways he went to the dr, had the test done, the next day he was so sore he couldn't bend his leg so he went back to the dr. He came in after his appointment and said the dr released him and inside I'm singing hallelujah and then the door hit me in the face. I read what the dr wrote, yes he released him with a permanent work restriction. Which means I may have to keep him on light duty forever or until he quits. My only out is on Monday when he turns in his timecard, if he writes in that he worked 8 hours on Monday I have him because the lady at the nursing home that he was reporting to said he did not work on Monday and she would sign something to that fact. So I can fire him for falsifying his timecard. Let's hope he's the worm we think he is.

So as I sit here at the computer, I'm relaxed and calm. The crap of today is gone for the time being.

Wish me luck with the girls night and if you have any better ideas for dessert (that won't be so tempting) leave me a comment and let me know what I should do...

Monday, Monday

If was definitely a Monday today. My assistant called this morning and wanted to take 1/2 day PTO time, because she drove to Houston this weekend for Easter. I didn't really blame her, I wouldn't have wanted to come to work after driving 10 hours to get home. yuck...but it did put us in a tailspin. Monday's are very busy for us, we run Help Wanted ads in Sunday's paper and the phone is ringing when we walk in the door on Tuesday. I don't know if I've ever told you want I do for a living. I'm the Operations Manager for a Manufacturing Support company. We don't like to call ourselves a temp service, because we aren't - all of our jobs are full time 40+ hours per week and ALL of them have the potential to become permanent placements. The job market is very high right now in our town and the candidate pool sucks. Most of the people we see don't really want a job, usually their wives want them to work, or their parole officers.

I'm going to have to fire a guy tomorrow, he's been working a modified duty job because he got hurt at work (I think he's milking it for all it's worth) anyways, he turned in his timecard today for 40 hours but it wasn't signed by his supervisor so I called her. She said he'd only been at work a couple days last week and that most of the time he sits in his truck and listens to the radio. Apparently the last couple timecards he turned in were forged. So he's gonna be history tomorrow. He knows somethings up because we called him at 3:00 (he doesn't get off work until 4:30) and he answered the phone. I told him he wasn't to go back to the nursing home but to report to my office at 8am. He hem hawed around and finally agreed to come to the office.

I've got another guy who has been on modified duty in our office (knee injury) he left at noon to go to lunch and about 15 minutes before he was supposed to be back called and said he fell down at home and hurt his knee again, he wanted to stay home for the rest of the day. (probably has an appointment with his attorney). Work Comp really sucks for the employer, especially in an industry like ours.

Oh well, hopefully tomorrow is better.

Happy Easter

The first thing I want to tell everyone is I HIT MY EASTER GOAL WEIGHT! 169lbs and dropping.

What are you doing for Easter? How old is too old for the Easter bunny? Do you go to church every Sunday, just Easter Sunday or not at all? Do you have family traditions? These are questions that people asked me this week. Here are my answers....

I'm probably going to clean house and try and start mowing the 2 1/2 acres of grass that won't stop growing, if you watch really close you can actually see it getting taller. (if I ever win the lottery - I'm blacktopping my yard).

My kids are 20 - Happy Birthday Davy! and 17. I don't hide Easter eggs, but I did make them up a little somthing. I bought each of them a cute Easter coffee cup, jelly bellys, chocolate eggs, an OU t-shirt (go Sooners) and a $20.00 gas card.

I used to go to church every Sunday, in fact I've been going to the same church (First Christian, Disciples of Christ) since I was 12 years old until a few years ago. To be honest, I've never felt like I fit in at that church. I was the only kid in my age group, everyone was either 2-3 years younger or older than me, so I was put with the little kids and felt stupid, or put with the high school kids and felt unworthy. Even when I grew up I felt like an outcast. My ex-husband wouldn't go to church with us and at the time there wasn't a class for young married couples, so I went in the class with my parents, don't get me wrong it was a great class, but I was 20ish in a room with 45+year old people. Then about the time I got divorced, the church decided they needed a class for the young adults. Guess what, everyone was married except me. They would have monthly get togethers, parties, etc. and I just didn't fit in. But, I still felt like I had to go to church even though I was always on the outside. The reason I stopped going was because the kids stopped going. Davy was in the youth group band and when the youth music leader quit and went to a church in another town it just wasn't the same for the kids. They didn't want to go anymore, and I wasn't going to force them to go, because I knew what that felt like. I guess the other reason is I just don't like organized religion. I believe in God and that Jesus Christ is my savior and I pray and try to lead a good life. I am a very spiritual person, I'm just not religious. Alot of people will probably say I'm going to hell. But while I was watching the Passion of Christ last night, I don't remember him saying anything about not going to church equals going to hell. I remember him saying those who believe that he is the lord and savior will join him in paradise one day. So to answer the question...I don't go to church at all.

Enough of that....on to the next question - We used to have family traditions, (church, easter egg hunt, big fattening lunch, lots of chocolate and gooey candy, but since Mom and Dad scattered off to Colorado, the kids grew up, and I'm on NS now I don't think we are going to stick to the tradition. No chocolate bunnies for me this year.

We celebrated Davy's birthday last night (I just can't believe he's 20 years old), my sister Leigh and her husband Brent, Chelsea and their friend Tyler joined us. My niece Alyssa was our waitress and my nephew Baryn had to work at McDonalds. It was fun, Leigh Ann (she's also doing NS-just started, her NS screen name is bumpey, send her an email of encouragement) and I had a grilled chicken breast sandwich (but we didn't eat the bun) with tomato, lettuce, pickles and onion topped with a little mustard and tiny bit of ranch dressing with a side salad. I also had 2 (very small) bottle caps - fried jalapeno slices. They were very good, but I was proud that I just tasted and didn't binge on them.

I hope everyone has a nice Easter and don't eat too much candy.

It's hard to get the Blue Bear

The first 20lbs came off really very easy. I've earned the red and purple bears now, I'm in possession of the red bear and the purple bear was supposed to come in my last shipment, but they missed me (hopefully I'll get it in next shipment). I've struggled alot trying to get the next 10 lbs off, I want that damn blue bear under my belt. Last week I lost 0.8 and this week it was only 0.6. Two weeks and barely lost 1 lb. I will admit that I didn't do ALL my exercising that I commited to, but I did walk on Monday about 1/2 a mile and yesterday I walked the whole mile. I didn't walk last Friday or Sunday. I promise myself that I will walk the full mile at leat 4 times every week.

What is it that the others do? I read profiles all the time and there are all these people losing 3-4 lbs each week. How are they doing it? I stick to the food plan 100%. I've been getting all my water intake, I've limited my caffeine. I just want to see a 2lb loss next week.

Okay, no more whining!!! A loss is a loss, at least it wasn't a 0.6 lb gain. I'll be quiet now.

UPDATE Since this morning...
A former employee came to the office today, she quit last May to get married to an army man and moved to Texas. Now he's in Iraq and she's about to have a baby. She actually noticed my weightloss. I was very excited about that.

I took off work early today and went to the salon, got a cut and color. Now my hair is dark aburn with blond highlights. It looks alot like Debra Messings hair color (Grace from "Will & Grace") Then I went and bought some new pants (Size 12) yeah!!! and some tops to go with the pants...tops are a large, down from XL. But I've got huge boobs (36DD) so I may never be in a size small. So being so discouraged this morning about only losing 0.6 was just a pity-party and I'm over it, I'm down another pant size...and one day I'll be at goal.