time...

Yesterday I did not get any of my goals done. I have been having pains and a bit of bleeding since Thursday...though it was HORRIBLE on Sunday. So, yesterday was spent being absolutely worthless and lazy. So, I watched the entire 4th season of The Tudors.

Isn't it funny, that King Henry VIII, while looking back on his life, would say "Time is the most irrecuperable, it can never be redeemed". (sorry if my quote is a bit off, I could not find it in writing). After spending the entire day watching 10 episodes...man!! did I agree!

I enjoyed the series, yes, I'm a bit of a prude and don't need that much s*x on my screen...but the portrayal of human nature was fascinating. I truly believe in the adage "Power corrupts, Absolute power corrupts absolutely".

I cheered when Surrey and Culpepper were executed (though I know a lot of the details are conjecture) and irl Surrey and Culpepper could have been innocent of being the obnoxious humanoids they were portrayed to be.

As a Protestant, well, you know which side I was on for the religious battle. So, I cheered when that ugly Cardinal was shunned and asked to leave court. teehee.

I have a special affinity for Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth. One of the first real books I ever read, was Anne of a Thousand Days. Also, she was executed on May 19...my birthday. So, the ending blurbs about how Elizabeth was such a great queen made me cry..Always. Like at the end of The Other Boleyn Girl.

So, the series inspired me to do something I haven't done in YEARS! Are you ready? I used my Encyclopedia. The 1976 Bicentennial edition of Encyclopedia Brittanica that my dad bought. I remembered to use the blue bound editions to look up the subject (Mary 1 of England)...then the red bound for details..book 3 page 222 for biography (wanted to see if she ever got married) AND book 15 page 556 to see why she is called Bloody Mary. So used to 'googling', but it was kinda cool to do it the old fashioned way. ha!!

p.s.
too funny. For my devotions I am reading "The One Year Christian History" by E. Micheal and Sharon Rusten. The 6-28 entry, about how God used Henry VIII's selfish reasons to bring us the reformation....ha! Here is their blurb "King Henry VIII may have had selfish reasons for forming the Anglican Church, but God usd him for his purposes anyway. The wonder of God's sovereignty is that we don't have to understand why he does what he does. It is enough to know that it is all part of his greater plan for our good and his glory"

weight loss progress in pics

Yesterday, I spent some time on the Jenny Craig website and there was a thread with before/after pics...so, I thought I'd go ahead and post some.

Warning...these (esp the before) may not be for the faint of heart...ha!!!

Oct 2009, While on my European Cruise, @ 215 lbs






November 2009 is when I made the decision to commit to a lifestyle change and started using Sparkpeople.

July 2010..@ 180 lbs...no longer wearing clothes with an "X" in the size and you can start to see cheekbones. AND according to the BMI index, no longer obese.



then I hit a 9 month plateau, I stopped the disciplines as far as food, but kept up the exercise. I was able to maintain @180 ...with a slight gain around the holidays.
So, I went to dh and told him "I've proven I can maintain, can I join Jenny and lose the rest".. He said yes.

so, March 2011, the day I started Jenny...184 lbs



This morning at @166 lbs, I'm wearing the same outfit as the 180 pic, so we can see progress.






My goal is 150, hoping to hit it end of Oct this year. Though the hysterectomy has put it all on another screeching halt. BUT in the 6 weeks since I have been able to maintain. Hoping once I'm cleared to exercise, I'll be back on the weight loss track.

AND I'm open to an ultimate goal of 140...but let's get to 150 first!

a really good book and a quick mini album

After finishing Prisoners of Hope, I picked up The Beach Trees by Karen White (my first book by her) and it was excellent. You are immediately drawn in. I spent all of Friday reading it as I could not put it down. No such luck with the next book, The Matchmaker of Perigord...after 5 chapters had to put it down. Just not worth my time.
I am starting Tarzan of the Apes today. A kinda funny choice, but while on Goodreads it was on one of my 'feeds'...and I just thought, why not??

Yesterday was a big scrapping day for me. I was supposed to go to a crop, but the other ladies started dropping out...so, I did the project I was taking at home. Its a paper bag book for my coworker. As we were leaving for Texas last May, she let dgd take a singing duck toy with her. So, I made a minibook of pictures taken of Adriana with the duck.













this morning, I'll look at it with 'fresh eyes' and add journaling and more embellies.

Then we went to have dinner with the kids. Ds 'owed' me a dinner...it was terrific. I requested Coq au Vin...but he bbq'd a tri tip, with garlic mashed potatos and a salad. No complaints here!

last night, I hurt myself. I was wearing a knee brace, and as I was going to bed, I still had it on. So I did some kind of twisty/turny maneuver to try to take it off and really hurt my ab area. The pain was sharp and shooting and really took my breath away. GOTTA remember no fast moves, everything must be slow and deliberate.

I just finished 5 weeks after the surgery, only one more week till I start work...but...that does not mean my body is done healing.

finished a scrapbook

dgd's 1st half of 2010...here's a couple of the layouts from yesterday.

found this Little Yellow Bicycle pack and actually fell in love with that orange polka dot paper. Was inspired by a lo in June's Scrapbook Ets, Leah's musical memories that had a sun in the upper right corner...and it grew from there. I used Slice's Big Kids font for the title. and hand drew the stitches...ha!!




this is a very simple lo...I find I simply cannot cut up Prima papers...so just matted the photos, used the CUTE the way it was packaged and that star matt behind the small photo? its the packaging the CUTE came in.

Ya'll have pp like that? Just cannot cut into it. for me it is Prima and Websters Pages...I collect a lot of Websters, but so far, have not used them. Just too pretty to cut up!!

So yay, one book down. I've pulled out dh's 'adventure' book. Only have 5 lo's and it will be done. My only bummer, is years ago, he, my son and a friend went on a 'cruise' (don't think cruise ship, think they had to crew) around the islands in Washington (San Juans, cannot think of the name) and I don't have any pics of that. I do have pics from our trip to Washington, but its not the 'adventure' the album is about. He's been on a snowmobile trip up north into Canada, skydiving, a rafting trip down the Colorado...he's had some adventures.

3 more books toward my goal

Over the weekend I finished, Angry Conversations with God by Susan E Isaacs. A very good read. No matter what our circumstances, I think we all have the same questions of God.

And The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson. Found this at a used bookstore, but I really enjoyed this author and plan to read her Marie Antoinette book next. I really liked how she humanized these historical figures and brought them to life. I was very sad to have this book end.

And The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund. very fast read and unexpected resolution.

Today, I'm starting Prisoners of Hope by Dana Curry and Heather Mercer.

Last 2 weeks of my vacation from work, and 6 more books to hit my goal! I think I can do it. Though, I kinda feel like I should not be counting the Patterson books, as they are such quick reads for me. So, I won't count any Pattersons for the last 6 books. Only new authors.

Yesterday was a very mellow day around here ( I read 2 books). We kept the tv on the John Wayne marathon for dh. soooooo, I was quite bored. (okay, I did get a little into Hondo) I baked him a cake for father's day, put up with the Duke and got him a couple of nice shirts. Did not make him a card. I am intimidated by masculine cards.

4 more lo's and I'm done with Adriana's first book of 2010. It goes from Jan to July 4th. Don't know if I'll complete 2010 next. We'll see what project interests me when I finish. My trip to Florence is halfway done. hmmmmmmm

A li'l sad, only 2 more weeks and I'll be back to work. siiiiiiiiigh. BUT it is the end of week 4 and my dr said I could restart yoga and babysitting ...I have had some regular pinchy feeling under my belly button. Should I? I think I'll do a simple yoga routine on my wii balance board with the wii fit game. Keep it slow and controlled.

Adriana's home, the world is 'right' again...

What can I say, I missed her (and her mommy too). They arrived last night, and mommy needed to take care of the church bulletins, sooooo dh and I got to pick up Adriana and take her out for Chinese "noo-nos" aka noodles. We had a great time at the restaurant. We chose not to get her a high chair, she sat in the booth with us. Funny she started out next to me, and stayed there during the cream cheese wonton appetizers. (she loves to 'dip' her food). But once the food was served, she sat in my lap and wanted "grammy help". Soooo, it really worked out, she kept me from overeating, as I could only 'pick' around her.

While waiting, she told us 'like grammy' and threw her arm around my neck and pulled me in for a hug, then she looked across the table and said 'love pa-pa'..and made dh cry. (happy tears) He was soooo happy. It really made his night.

So cool how she is putting together li'l sentences.

We took her home @7:30, by then ds was home (he had to work 6am to 6pm)...and she ran across the yard to him. Guess she missed her daddy. Ddil and I switched cars, so I could have the carseat, so I got to 'hang out' with ds and Adriana while waiting for her. The church copy machine was being difficult, (yay for me) so I got to stay thru shower time and then we watched Kipper on Sprout. It was a great night for me.

on the home front, a pitbull male showed up on Thurs night. He's a good, friendly dog...but our dogs cannot do 3's. Our alpha male, Rocky, gets wiggy and aggressive. He's fine for a short period, but he even starts to attack our other dog, Kema. And we LOVE Kema and will do what is needed to protect him.

This pitbull has all the qualities we like, but we cannot give him a home. So, I put his pic on Facebook hoping against hope, dh called a pitbull rescue...we can hope, can't we? Then last night, he barked most of the night. He's young and there is a lot going on in the country. Dh was mad...but I told him, "if it was Rocky barking you'd say he was doing his job". I am so sad, and don't want to call the pound to pick him up...but if nothing else works...we'll have to.
Hope against hope with us, please. DD did some internet research for us, to see if anyone is looking for him on the local Craigs list and newspaper. nothing.

ATC's with kids and 2 more books!

Weds night the kids came over (their dads do a Bible Study with my dh) and we made ATC's for a swap on splitcoast stampers. So, I made 'kits', but it still was a bit of chaos. But it was okay. One of the girls did not show, so I need one more swapper to fulfill my sign up. One of the boys was here and he'll do cards, but I could not think of/ find cards with young guy stuff. any ideas??
They'll be back next week to finish.


I finished 2 books yesterday. The first was "Csardas" by Diane Pearson. It was really good. It took me 4 days, which throws me off my goal of 20 books in 6 weeks. It is a sweeping historical fiction ala Gone With the Wind...with interesting and flawed characters...and because you know the history, you know the tragedy to come.

Then I grabbed a James Patterson "Don't Blink" to finish the day. It is a fast read, pretty good but pretty cliche. Toward the end, you are telling yourself 'Ah come on, really??"...but hey, gets me closer to my goal.

Tonight, I'm cooking lasagna and banana split cake for my son. My ddil and dgd have been out of town. Ds has been working most of the week and has to work on Saturday also, so I thought mom's lasagna would be nice. He'll be bringing his dog, Gunny Sargeant aka the Gunz...100 lbs of stupid. Seriously, he's a Great Dane and even though he's a good natured dog...he sure is a big galoot. But he gets along with our dogs and can have to opportunity to run out here. He's the dog in my header pic.

read 2 books over the weekend,

The first was The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. I heard about it on the 2 Peas Reading Thread. It was a good book, but not your happy ever after type of book.
The whole book reminded me of Ecclesiastes, "vanity of vanities"...the lives of these 2 women was frustrating. They were painted as victims, victims of their birth, of their society, of poverty or wealth, of racism, of the men (who have power)even of their own bitterness...the next generation was destined to the same.

I guess I just have a completely different worldview. I am glad to be a Christian, as it says in Romans 8:28...we can find meaning/strength/God in any circumstance.

After such a serious read, I needed something light, so I grabbed The Five Things I Cannot Live Without. Another book I heard about on 2 Peas. A couple of years ago, there was a start to a 2 Peas book club, this was one listed as a potential read. But the book club fizzled after the first book. This one is a look at modern-day relationships of women in their late 20's. Not a great book, I found myself telling myself "just finish it" as I was reading it. But I do like the way it ended.

So, that makes 9 books out of the 20 I hope to have read during my 6 weeks off. Speaking of which, Today is the start of week 4...so halfway there!

For my 10th book I've chosen Csardes. I heard of this book from a friend on FB, how much she loves it. I'm hoping its a Gone With The Wind type of book set in Eastern Europe. I could use a grand, sweeping story right now.

Since Thursday the pain has been pretty bad. A dull constant aching on my left side. Yesterday, I broke down and took a pain pill and sat with my book on a heating pad. And I ate...lots of snacking. fritos with cheese, cherries, snappeas, a couple of handfuls of dark chocolate m&m's...just off the top of my head.

Oh well, learn from it and don't repeat it!! that's all we can do, right??

genesis of a page...

I got to be crafty yesterday, made some thankyou cards for all the ladies who provided meals my first week after surgery



and I got to scrapbook!! Working on dgd's 2010 book. I have pics from this family event in March...I knew I wanted red with these pics. Thought red would really bring out the denim/black in the pics



for the lo design, I was inspired by the calendar pages from June's Scrapbook Etc...pg 51. Though they are a different size and the picture are horizontal not vertical...the disign is a basic lift. PP on the bottom, horizontal elements above pic and round top right oh and stitching. Though I did mine on 3 sides not all 4.



and here is the companion page. I don't do a lot of 2 page lo's but I do like the facing pages to co-ordinate. So, I used the same colored cardstock, other papers from MME Animal Crackers...and the design is also from that calendar., its next page.

uh oh, a problem, my attempt to sew the crochet flowers directly on the page, yeah, crooked. so had to improvise with more flowers, they are Prima, its okay, but a li'l bottom heavy.



so, a brief genesis of creating a page...ha!

the next set of pics also are 4 - 1/2 size pics...so gotta find an inspiration for a design...don't want to just keep 'lining them up' kwim??

Friday is fun day! ha!

Pretty funny, after reading the book about the Language of Clothes, while watching parts of the CMT awards, I found myself looking at the women's shoes!! ha!!

My pain was pretty bad yesterday. Just a constant pinch/pull on the left side and an occasional twinge on the left. Did take a pain pill at night. siiiiiigh. When you think its done, its not.

I did get my Anything Goes ATC's finished,
the only thing I changed was the colors, used tea dye and broken china distress inks and used different stamps. My embellies are 'got flowers' with tiny bling. (boy, handling that tiny bling was a li'l difficult)




Last night was fun! On Monday, our electricity went out, and though it came back on our stove/oven has not been working since. DH unplugged it hoping it would 'reboot', but it didn't. So, yesterday, I asked ddil if I could come over there and cook and bake. I had 3 overripe bananas and a recipe for a banana split cake from Betty Crocker's website. (yummy, by the way) And had been in the mood for a taco salad. She said yes, so I brought my stuff (she bought some) and dgd and I cooked and baked. Adriana was a big helper. She did the salad spinner, helped mash the bananas, stirred my taco salad dressing, sampled the grated cheese. She also 'helped' with the cake mixer...she put her hand on tip of mine...and of course, had to introduce her to licking the beaters and spatula...a rite of passage, right?

Of course my camera was left at home...so no pics...oh well, we'll just have to bake another cake another day!! ha!!!

don't worry, both Adriana and I had a piece without frosting, as both of us don't really need that extra chocolate.

vanity sizing and the language of clothes..

Yesterday, I watched the first part of the Dr. Oz show. Now, I am trying to not become a tv addict during this period, so generally I have the 'rule' of no tv before 4pm. Yesterday, I turned it on and saw the segment about 'vanity sizing'. Did you know that Marilyn Monroe was a size 12...and that a size 12 back then meant a 28" waist, but a size 12 today is @ 36" waist!! (even size 12's are different from manufacturer to manufacturer). Dr. Oz and his guests were not putting down vanity sizing, but warning women not to think "Oh, I'm fine, I'm still the size I was 10 years ago"...cuz the size ain't the same. Do not use clothing size as a gauge of health. I did, for a lot of years, I thought "oh I'm not gaining too much weight, I'm still a 16"...well, both me and my 16's were growing.

They said the best way is to take your height, mine is 65" and your waist should be half that. So, my healthy waist size is a 32.5". (I've got a way to go!)

Why am I spending so much time on the couch? The pain has been worse the past couple of days, that tight pinchy feeling. On the hysterboards, I had read about that, so I'm not too worried...but...I am avoiding reaching/bending and lifting more than I had been.

So, I also spent the day reading. Read "Hang-ups the Secret Life of Clothes" by Gloria Heidi. At first, I wasn't that impressed, was thinking this is a better blog than a book. But, I warmed up to it...it is about the history/sociology/psychology of iconic pieces of clothing..like the trenchcoat and the high heel. She uses personal observations and classic movies to make her point. I esp loved her chapter on the therapeutic effects of SHOPPING!! for some reason, that really resonated for me.

Yesterday, before my Jenny Craig appt (a small loss)...I went to a used bookstore and picked up an autobiography by Gene Tierney...so, her book is next.

What do you do without electricity?

Well, when you are limited...not a whole lot!! I've been spending my time on the computer, reading and scrapbooking..all things I need at least light to do. When we lost electricity this morn, I considered going to work with dh...at least I'd have access to a computer and light.

So, the hour or so the juice was off, I took a shower (quickly, cuz our water pump is electric and water will go out, also) folded towels left out on the couch, lit candles




and took pics.

Walked around with my container of batteries looking for a radio that will work. Didn't find one, but then it could be my odd assortment of C batteries...and hurray!! lights came on!

here is the ATC I've been working on, wish ya'll could see the pearly-blue splats...I found myself getting too serious while embellishing. creating a mini card with a word definition to attach to the card...then I thought...this is supposed to be fun, a reflection of you, not something you are not... so I did the standard 3 gems in a row.



I'll be playing with the colors, but I think I'll keep the same process.

yesterday was reading day. Read 2 books, the first was Memory by Philippe Grimbert..short book, I read it in @3 hours, but powerful and haunting. After reading such an emotinal book, I went for fluff...and read The Seducer by Madeline Hunter. Yes, a historical romance with some racy passages. I was so enthralled by the mysteries surrounding the characters, i found myself skipping those passages. So it was a good fluff book. Today I'll start The Secret Life of Clothes.

5 books toward my goal of reading 20 during my recovery period. I don't count the romance as they are fluff. I probably shouldn't count the James Pattersons cuz I go thru them quickly also.

Ya'll have any recommendations for good reading? something that can be read quickly,under my time constraints, yet a li'l thought provoking? A li'l mind enriching? A li'l world expanding??? I do like biographies...

this is what I woke up to...

a gift from Winston:


of course its still there...as I'm not supposed to be bending, and it would not even occur to dh to pick it up!


then I go in the living room to this:




fortunately dh did put it into his closet before leaving for work. I ended up kicking the laundry basket into our bedroom and throughout the day grabbing a couple of things and putting them away.

Last night when he started the laundry, he was putting all his button down shirts in the same load as his tshirts and my pj's (thats all I wear these days). So I told him, 'you know, when I do your shirts, I keep them seperate from the t-shirts"

I feel like that keeps them from getting as wrinkly and helps them to dry quicker.

His response, "well, that is your way, I have my own...and I've got it all under control"

So, I asked, "Are you going to change the litter in the litter box this week? Oh wait, THAT is my way, and YOU have your way" His response, "yeah, and I've got it all under control"

My way is to completely change the litter twice a week. We have 3 boxes and 3 cats.
His way is to scoop the poop then add another layer of litter. The last time the litter has been changed out was when I did it Sunday before my surgery.


I'm not the control freak, micro-manager I used to be...but can I just say it?

His way is driving me C R A Z Y !!

Finished another book today, You've Been Warned, by James Patterson and Howard Roghan...interesting...I won't give it away, but it is an unexpected ending and interesting.

Also got a lo done...actually used a couple of items from a swap I was in at Scrapbook.com. It was themed page elements, I had camping, swimming and beach. So, todays lo I used the waves and a tag someone else had done.

And made ATC kits for the kid swap I'm doing at Splitcoast Stampers...I've got 3 girls doing ATC's, so, I'm setting up basic kits...keep the chaos and mess down when they are actually working on them.

AND just played with an ATC...it may be the start point for another swap at Splitcoast Stampers. Had an old dictionary, tore a page out, then did a li'l distress ink painting, followed with splotting more distress ink w/perfect pearls....then stamped image in copper (love that copper ink) and then stamped it again. Gotta figure out how to embellish...then I'll take a pic.

"color story", yeah, I went there...

Last night, while talking to dd, I was working on a layout. But just could not make it 'pull together'...as we were saying our byes, I told her, "Yeah, gotta go, just can't make my color story work". wha? Guess that's what happens when you watch a marathon of Project Runway over the weekend.

So, here is the lo.



I've been working on my ATC's, finished another group for the PATC's yesterday...this has been a lot of fun. With PATC's (pick a theme) instead of doing one card for the group, you do a card in each person's theme. These are for..Paris, tropical fashions, Bahamas (the decorated angel wing) and France (a pic I took in Nice)

BUT all this play in my scrap room has left it a li'l messy...and since, technically I'm not supposed to bend or reach... can you imagine my asking dh to pick up my scraproom??



yeah, not happening, then I'd have to hear all his "you have too much stuff, you should open a store...blah, blah, blah"



Oh, I ended up taking a pain pill last night. I did load the dishwasher in the morning, got on the floor to help dgd put away some stuff, picked up trash from around the house (its trash day) BUT it is when I tried to sort dh's laundry in the closet...I felt the 'pinch' Just to the left of my belly button. Soooo, I'm trying to be good today...really!!!

had my first post-op appt...

Had my first post-op, dr. showed me a pic of my tumor...um... yuck. Told me that I had some emdemytriousis (sp) but no cancer.

After the appt, dh took me to Red Robin for an early dinner. He was practically pulling me on the sidewalk ...said I was "so slow", he could be seated, ordered and eating before I got inside. I told him then go and order! He told me, 'nah, you won't be able to open the doors, they're too heavy for you'.

Then had an appt at Jenny Craig, I've lost 4 lbs!! Don't know how, I've been eating the meals provided by the ladies at church...and lots of sweets and not exercising.
Does your body burn more calories while healing?? But today, I go back to my 1200 calories. All 'contraband' has been tossed, dh will take whats left of the pies to Bible Study tonight.

In the morning I worked on my ATC's for the PATC swap. Bahamas, France (not eiffel tower) and tropical clothing. And created an ATC 'kit' for the Kids Only Swap on Splitcoast.

Good day, BUT I was in bed before 8:30...I was e x h a u s t e d !!