THEM

So I am walking along today... minding my own business, trying to focus and watch where I am going and I look up and THIS is staring me down. Scared the crap out of me! Goodness... I thought for a second what on earth is that? It wasn't there when I walked yesterday. Evidently it appeared today. It totally made me think of this movie I saw when I was a kid called "Them" where these giant ants (I think) attack this town.... too funny. This black cat is looking totally skinny from the side. Just has his back covered with a blanket. Um no wonder he looks so crabby. He is probably hungry! Bwa ha ha ha ha....













Noticed a smidgen of color on some of the trees today. Tried to take a picture with my cell. The quality isn't too fabulous but you can sort of see the yellow on the front tree on the left can't you? I am sooooo excited about all the trees changing and getting to take my walk lined with colorful fall trees.

Can someone explain to me the point of putting a 3.2 mp camera on the LG Dare and then not providing a way to get the stinking picture off the phone? ANNOYING. I've sat here for about an hour trying to figure it out. The Dare comes with this USB cable that makes you totally think you can just hook it up to your computer and pull the pics off. NOT... It lets you send them to an online gallery which I could NOT find for the life of me. Some annoymous stranger probably now has a picture of me and a black cat on their phone and is trying to figure out where in the heck it came from! Ha!!!! I finally googled "how to get photos from LG dare to computer" and viola! Found a free program you can download to do the job. Took all of 10 minutes. Duh... why do I not think to do these things first?














OK besides a VERY unflattering picture of me.... (boy am I getting brave or what?!) can you guess what this is? This is me, on my walk going past the now infamous dumpster. I believe I may have mentioned that I am very sensitive to good and bad smells. The right good smell is totally relaxing and good to me. The wrong BAD smell can make me literally gag.... Well on my walk route, there is a dumpster I have to walk past every day. I swear, they must have a quota to fill and run out there daily to fill it up with fresh dead stuff or something. It REEKS...I had to look up how to spell reeks... and here was the definition. 2reekintransitive senses1 : to emit smoke or vapor 2 a : to give off or become permeated with a strong or offensive odor.... STRONG or offensive odor. There should be a picture of this dumpster next to the definition. Darrel is totally laughing at me know because when I looked it up, the first thing that came up was a noun. I'm like, wouldn't it have to be a verb? Isn't that what this dumpster is doing, reeking? Bwa ha ha ha .... sorry... totally entertaining myself today. This is a good thing because I have NOT been in a good mood lately. Anyway back to the dumpster. There is no way around the stinking thing... (bwa ha ha ha get it? stinking thing??? smile) so everyday when I pass it I am waiting for the aroma to hit me. It sneaks up on you every day too! I mean the heat makes it worse and if there is a wind like today you can't quite tell which direction has the smell lying in wait for you. Well today the wind was straight at me and strong so not only does it hit you before you get to it... it reaches you further away so you can enjoy it even longer. I have to immediately grab my nose to avoid hurling till I get out of range. Now, do you know how hard it is to hold your nose, yet breathe, while breathing hard and being out of breath due to exercise? Are you getting the picture? I am sure I am quite entertaining to watch as I do daily dumpster battle. PLUS did I mention? I have to pass it twice? See I turn around to head back after the dumpster so I get the joy twice. What fun.... I should sneak over there some night and move the thing. Maybe I could pay to have the dumpster dumped?

For today's walk I decided I was bored with my normal ipod walking playlist so I decided to hit shuffle. Bad decision. How come when I do that it just naturally plays every slow song on the thing the minute I need to get up a big hill? Not so helpful. Not to mention that at least twice a song started to play and I would think what on earth is this song and who put it on my ipod? Well duh.. I put it on my ipod. Where am I thinking it came from? The ipod fairy? Although I forgot to go back and look but one of the songs I did not recognize at all and I still have no idea who sang it or what the song was! Ha. At least the other one I realized was part of a full album I had downloaded and I was just not as familiar with this one.

This is my niece Lauryn. I got to go to her track meet last week and I snapped this picture. She is an awesome runner! She was the first one to come in on her team and totally topped her own best time. She ran 1.8 miles! wow! I can walk 1.8 miles but um running? NO thank you. I totally thought I had this great picture of her at the finish line but my phone somehow was switched to video camera not camera and I missed it... I am beginning to think maybe reading the instructions would have been a good idea? Nah... just did that for an hour remember and it was NO help whatsoever!

Are you watching Dancing with the Stars? Who do you like? I like Brooke and what is his name? Johnathan? I also liked seeing Lacey and then tonight Pasha & Anya from So You Think You Can Dance. Who do you think has the potential to win at this point and um can you believe other people are going home before Cloris Leachman? Please..... She is getting on my nerves.

Blessings!

More Bravery....

OK - so deep breath here and I am gong to share some pictures. This is always scary for me. I am so used to the mean comment missles heading my way that I tend to want to hide or not put myself out there.... But, you have all been so supportive, I am going to take the plunge and share. Here is 51 pounds gone. I have decided I do not like the word "lost" as in 51 lbs lost... Lost seems to imply you are looking for something and I definitely do NOT want to found those 51 lbs.... Anyway... My husband took this picture (above) of me on Friday (9/26) This photo was taken when I began this journey at the very end of February this year. (below)













Now, bigger deep breath..... here is a FULL length (yikes!) photo now.... (and yes, I do have arms. They were behind my back and Darrel didn't notice how it looked when he took the picture! Ha.)




















And then................

And yes, I am happy and feel GREAT. It's very exciting, and quite honestly a bit frightening to so suddenly have so many people noticing and commenting. I love it and yet I still have those fears about what if I can't make it all the way? What if I fail? How do I keep from going back the other way yet again? I've been praying about those things A LOT when I am walking and at other times. I seem to end up praying pretty often during my walks. I think part of my answer has been that I am doing things differently this time. I have realized it is not about "will power" or trying harder. For me, it's doing this in God's strength. I believe He is giving me victory and changing me. And boy, has he changed me. I am working on a layout right now that says "I would have said you were crazy.... if you had told me I'd be walking like this." The old Deanna would NOT be walking 3 miles a day. She sure wouldn't have looked forward to it either. The old Deanna would have used the summer heat and humidity as an excuse not to go. The new Deanna went anyway and felt GOOD. The old me would have used any excuse to take a day off or even a meal off from weight watchers and walking. Now, I make sure I don't take any outs or excuses to miss any days. See I have learned that those times when I used to allow myself to "think about it later" well those were the beginning of the end. This time during vacation I walked every day, on my birthday I still counted points, yesterday at a family dinner I counted my points before I cleared my plate from the table and then I went and walked. I feel very determined and focused and I am trying hard to make different choices and decisions than I have in the past. You know the saying "if you do what you always did, you'll get what you always got." Well I am trying to break away from that one. So the new me says God first, walking and weight watchers and eventually.. I will get there. Trying to be patient and get there a step at a time, although as I may have mentioned before, patience is NOT my best thing. Maybe there is a lesson there for me too? I appreciate all the prayers, kind comments and support. I am soooo thrilled to see how contagious this is too! From my Weighting On Him Support Group, to online friends, to family, to many others who have said hey, I like what is happening to you and I want to do that too. Wow. I am AMAZED at how God is using this and I soooo love the support and company! So sorry to ramble on, but it seems I can go on and on about this topic these days. Another change.

So in other news, life has been STRESSFUL lately. We have had some financial issues come up that are NO fun. Trying to not stress but all this economy stuff on the news lately does not help. The first day though that this happened, I opened up my Bible looking for some comfort and my eyes fell on this verse: Psalm 34:19 "The righteous face many troubles but the Lord God rescues them from each and every one." Wow. I love how that is worded in the New Living Trans.. "rescues them from each and every one." So I know He will take care of us. He always has. He always will. Things have been hectic too. Would you believe I still haven't even unpacked from the crop last weekend? My bags are right where I set them when I got home. I am a little behind on housework, I am wanting to get the porch cleaned up and decorated for fall, I have been trying to put in more hours at the office, there is more but I think my head might explode. I told myself that after a very busy September that we would slow down in October and not make any plans or agree to do anything... Somehow though my calendar is still pretty full and about 5 minutes ago another thing was added.... Deep breath. And here I sit wondering why I've had a headache all day. Maybe tomorrow night I can sneak in an hour of scrapping and see if that helps my frame of mind? Ha. ha. ha.

In scrapbooking news, have you heard of the new Rasberry's Schoolies collection? I saw this on Scrap Scene today. The schoolies have that whole office supply/school supply look that I LOVE. I'd love to get some of these. Totally the kind of thing I like to use for layering, journaling, etc.. Might have to put that on my list for Santa.

Well off to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a few minutes to share some pics. from the weekend. The family got together to celebrate my Dad's 65th birthday. We had a nice dinner together and then all went to church together in the evening. Lauryn, Lindsay and Ethan sang a trio, Darrel and I did a duet, and I did 2 solos. It was a really nice evening and I hope it blessed my parents. Um would you believe a couple people wanted to know if I had CD's for sale?? I need a smilie with its eyes bugging out of its head! Ha. A big wow on that one huh?

I just read this verse on a friend's caring bridge site and it really spoke to my frame of mind at the moment so I wanted to share it. It was: Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Blessings!

F I F T Y

These are the layouts I completed at the crop this past weekend. I finally had a few minutes to get them scanned. This first one is our niece Amber. How cute is she? This was a FUN layout. The base page is a Prima Paintable that I got to color in. I used some Prismacolor colored pencils and a blender pencil for the butterfly, flowers, and flourishes. After coloring I went back and outlined with a glaze pen. LOVE those pens. They give a cool, shiny, raised effect. Had fun getting all glittery too with some Making Memories Noteworthy glitter die cuts and the new glitter thickers. Aren't they a cool font? I also did this layout:

















Part of our crop fee included a class. So on Saturday, all 50 of us made this layout together. We did the base with the circle cutout, strip of patterned paper, yellow flowers, diamond cut outs, brown corner and the doodling. They also gave us this neat template that gives you a guide for a circle and where to place individual gems to make your own "bling" circle. That was very cool. After we all completed that part, I worked on it a bit longer myself and added the picture of Lisa and I, the title block and the stickers. Kind of wanted to finish it off and "make it my own" so to speak. Really happy with the result. Aren't these Kaiser papers pretty?

So, are you wondering why the title 50 on today's post? Well guess what? I hit 50, yes I said FIFTY pounds lost today!!! Woo hoo!! Praise the Lord. I have been working SO hard to get to this goal and it feels AWESOME. I am thrilled and amazed and very pumped to keep moving forward. I think I've been saying it to myself all day... fifty... I lost fifty pounds... WOW. I am soooo determined even more so now and heading straight for that 60 and beyond. I think it has really made a difference here since I kicked up the walking into the 3 mile range. I definitely intend to keep that up.

Speaking of walking let me fill you in on today's walk. I worked late because it is what we call Newsletter week and that is always a project in itself. I still managed to get home by about 6:15 and decided to go ahead and get my walk in before dinner. Lately to get in my 3 miles I have been doing umpteen laps around the beach parking lot at the end of my walk route. Today I had the idea to add in a few different roads at the park instead. I set out from the beach like I always do and headed back towards the park entrance. Today I walked out past the gatehouse, out to the road and back in to add some distance. I then kept going on my same route. At the end of the route I had been thinking I'd try adding in this one road that branches off to the left at the end of the lake. I was thinking it would add about .5 miles going down it and back.... So as I am walking and approaching the road I am thinking "dang.... that road is longer than I remembered and UM HUGE hill at the beginning. I do NOT want to have to climb back up another big and steep hill...." I kept walking to the end of my road, turned around like I always do and was faced with this extra road. I thought, OK, I'll give it a shot. Well the hill practically had me running down it and as I'm heading down the hill I'm thinking well I guess I'm doing this now. When I got to the bottom and more on the level road, I noticed how close the lake was and um still thinking how I don't want to go back up that hill I begin to consider if maybe it would be easier to just swim back across the lake rather than tackle that hill...of course not a good idea considering I am not much of a swimmer... bwa ha ha ha... I got to the end and started heading back and am noticing that it seems I have found another favorite goose rest stop....Do you know how hard it is to dodge goose poo on a gravel & weed road??.... Anyway, now I am back at the hill. I am praying for God's strength to make it back up and dive in to tackle the hill. One of my favorite power walking songs starts to play and up I go... well a few steps into it I realize it isn't bothering me. I am going up the hill and feeling good! So now I am smiling and almost giggling by myself, ipod blasting walking full speed up the hill. Totally enjoying and entertaining myself by myself... I probably looked like an idiot! ha. Didn't care!! I made it, it felt good and I was jazzed! I got back to the entrance, again added the area by the gatehouse, got back to the car, walked the last loop there and checked my distance. 2.98 miles. Did I stop there? Close to 3 right? NOPE... I want that 3.. So back around the loop I go and ended at 53 minutes, 3.12 miles. I was a little wobbly at that point so I stopped even though I was still thinking I could probably walk the loop one more time.... So again.. what has happened to me? I love it!! God has changed me soooo much in just a short 7 months and I am thrilled and amazed.

Hope you are having a great week. Blessings.

Weekend Cropping Fun

Do we look happy? Lisa and I got home from the Doodlebug Crop this afternoon. We had an awesome time. Melanie & Hannah owners of Doodlebug put on an awesome cropping weekend. The crop started at 9 AM Saturday morning and went till 1 PM Sunday afternoon. We were at a nearby college in their gym, walking track and cafe area. We all had our own 8 ft table to work on. LOVE that. I usually never feel like I have enough room. This was perfect. Here is a shot of the whole gym that I took from above (standing on the walking track).















How cool is that? Love to see 50 scrappers all happily working away on their pages. It is fun too to walk around and see what everyone is working on, and what cool tools and supplies they have. We also had great food with a snack table full of snacks and pop and then lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday. The food was great! For lunch on Saturday we had stuff for tacos/nachos/burritos as well as salad and dessert which was Pumpkin Mousse, fruit pizza, or angel food cake. Dinner was smothered chicken (smothered in swiss cheese, onions and green peppers), loaded baked potatoes, salad and "death by chocolate" cake for dessert. Breakfast today was from Grandy's. It was good! Scrambled eggs, sausage gravy, biscuits, sausage and bacon & potatoes. They took really good care of us. They had 2 massage chairs too for a little extra pampering. They also had lots of fun goodies and games for us and we all also got a 2 LO class. We made a really cool page with some new Kaiser paper. I'll have to take a picture of the things they gave us when I unpack... definitely a job for another day. You could also earn tickets all weekend for various things and then use those tickets to try and win whatever particular prize you wanted. I earned 1 ticket um for having the neatest/most organized space..... here was my spot.












Do you notice a pink theme? She walked over and handed me a ticket for that and asked me if I had even unpacked..... No comments please. I told my husband I had been given that honor and he said "no, not you....' I can't help myself. Things have to be tidy and orderly for me to work well.




















We also had visits from the "Scrap Fairy" who came to us a couple times bearing gifts. This is Hannah. How cute is she? She was a great scrap fairy and too too funny. She gave us fortune cookies, a set of mini acrylic alpha stamps, and an 8x8 paper pad from Cosmo Cricket. Cool huh?!




















Late Saturday night we all took a little field trip back to the store for some shopping. Very fun. I got to see Lisa's Shabby Pink display and LOOK! In the lower left corner, that is the mini book kit I designed. How cool is it to see your design hanging in a store?

We came home Sat. night (around midnight) long enough to fall in bed and sleep and then head right back over early Sunday morning. I didn't sleep so well Friday or Sat. night either. Not sure why. Anyway, got home today and was worn out! So what did I do? Take a nap right? Um no..... I figured I needed to go walking since I had to miss Saturday and since I had eaten a little more at the crop. Just a little though. I felt like I did pretty well. So - out we headed for a walk. Decided to walk from home over to the park today for a little different route. From home to the park entrance is .9 miles. Got in the park and walked all the way to the end before turning around to head back home... This made the distance today 3.64 miles walked. It took us 64 minutes!! Um, did I mention I was tired when we started? Not to mention it was humid (..ugh..) and I was fighting a little dizziness. Yet I stayed on my feet and kept moving. Now even when you don't feel great, do you know how good that feels? If that makes any sense..... Love it!

So it's late and a busy, busy week ahead. Where do I get in line for a nice slow calm week? Lots to do at work this week. Hair appointment tomorrow. Eye DR appointment on Tuesday to do a re-check on my cataract surgery from last year. Definitely needing new glasses too. Discovered that at the crop several times. I think Lauryn has a track meet on Tuesday too. Wanted to make that, but might not be able to since I will get to work late because of the Eye DR. Need to rehearse a song and get sound equipment too. Darrel and I are doing a duet, and I am doing a solo at Mom & Dad's church next Sunday... There is an auction Saturday we might go to. Wow, are you tired yet? I am! Hope you have a great one. Blessings!

I *heart* the Nike+ people....

Seriously.... I think I love the Nike+/ipod people. Since I have my nike+ for the ipod, I have quickly went from walking 2 miles to wanting & achieving 3 miles. I have been walking my um...butt off literally.. HA! (I wore a pair of pants today that I haven't been able to wear for over 5 years. I tried them on a month or two ago and they were still tight. Today, they were loose enough that I was worried I looked like I had a saggy butt.... Bwa ha ha ha ha ha. If you've ever tried to loose weight, you understand right? How amazing does it feel when clothes are loose?!!) I told you the other day that I got to the end of my walk and walked longer till I got to 3 miles right? Well I did that again today! Got home from work late, but still decided to head out for a walk before dinner. That has been my normal time since I started this. Darrel was home (since I was late) so he decided to go with. So we headed out (in the gorgeous weather by the way) and I did like the other night and went up around the gate house, etc. to add some distance. When we got to the end of the route, I was more tired than I was the other night when I kept walking that last loop. I wasn't sure why until I hit my Nike+ to check my time, etc. and found out I had improved my pace to 16 min & 30 sec. per mile! Woo hoo!! That is the first time I've been able to do that on this route. My best has not gotten below 17 minutes because of all the hills. I have noticed in the last week or so though that the hills aren't bothering me near as much so today I must have been moving! yay me! Thank you Lord. So anyway, even though I was tired, when I heard that I was at 2.38 miles, again I wanted more. I wanted that 3 miles. (um when and how did this happen to me?) So I kept going. I walked that last tenth until I hit 3.07 miles! Best total (without stopping) so far. This time a woman's voice came on, an athlete I am sure but I didn't recognize her name and now I can't remember it. She told me like Lance did, "Congratulations, that was your best work out to date!" I love that. How fun. There is just something about being able to check my time/distance and then saying I think I can go farther or do better. And um today.... I pretty much walked until I could have collapsed. Seriously.. My legs were quite tired to the point I was staggering a bit and losing my balance. Ask Darrel. It was actually kind of funny and believe it or not I felt great! He just kept grinning at me and telling me he was proud of me and how cool it was to see how much I've improved. He said a few months ago I would have needed a day to recover if I had tried to do that and now, by the time we got in the car I was breathing normal and talking instead of like um laying on the ground and dying..... Ha. ha. ha.

I am guessing you noticed I actually got EXTREMELY brave and posted a picture Darrel took of me walking today. Wow, exercising and bravery with pictures all in the same decade. Who would have thought it was possible? NOT me. You get to see the beautiful place I get to walk and me in the "official" walking uniform. Nike+ shoes, good socks (love the ones from Nike that keep your feet dry), bike shorts (are they still called that or am I showing my age now...) old t-shirt, hair up, sunglasses on, ipod/armband in place and earphones in! Well at least they were in at that moment. The stinkin' things still fall out just enough to drive me nuts. I figured I'd have him take a picture so I could add it to my weight loss journal and maybe even do a regular LO about the walking since I like it so much.

Let's talk about geese for a moment shall we? Do you know why? Do you live around an area where geese hang out? I bet you know where I am going if you do. Geese are gross! They leave a HUGE gross mess wherever they have been congregating. Serious... (I guess I like that word too...serious, seriously... ) Well the campground is around a lake. Where there is a lake there are geese. I walk where the geese hang out near the lake.... They leave goose poo all over the road. It's NOT tiny. What comes out of my dog is smaller....seriously... I mean its like a goose poop obstacle course or like dodging land mines or something... ok, goose mines? ha. ha. ha. ha. Plus, I have a question for God. Did he make the color of the goose poo so close to the color of the blacktop on purpose so it would be camouflaged? So that we would step in it in the middle of our walking path? I am thinking God has a sense of humor and is getting a good chuckle watching me dodge the goose poo land mines.... Maybe it helps build good leg muscles? Ok, aren't you so glad we covered that topic..

On to happier fall things LOOK














I didn't know it till this year, but they decorate all around the park for fall/halloween. I LOVE that. I mean do they do this every year? Um did someone know my love and affection for the fall and therefore fall decorations and come decorate my walking path just for me? Just to make me smile? I am guessing probably not, but I can tell myself that and enjoy can't I? This is at the main entrance. Then all along the roadway, there are more spots decorated like these.
































These are a couple of my favorites. When Darrel said he was going with today I told him I had planned to take the camera and go back when I was done walking and get a few shots. Well he volunteered to do it while we walked and said he'd catch up. Well, Mr Photographer that he is, he can't not take a perfect picture and several shots so he ended up catching up with me on my way back! Ha. I think he got quite the work out himself running from spot to spot. There were too many pics to post them all. Maybe I can share some of the others over the next few days. The decorations are very cute.

Here is a new way to think about your ww points.. assuming you are doing ww points which I guess all of us aren't... anyway - We went grocery shopping last night and saw the Halloween Oreos with the orange filling. I figured how many points they were and 3 oreos are 5 points. 5 points.... Now, if I walk 53 minutes like I did today, I earn 5 points. So how eye opening is that. If I think about it from that angle... would I go walk 50+ minutes just so I could eat 3 oreos? 3?! wow... Not so sure that is worth it. Really makes you think doesn't it? Kind of like if you've ever stopped before buying something and think about the price and then figure out with your hourly wage how many hours you have to work to pay for it? Sometimes that will make your jaw drop too and probably some re-thinking about the purchase. I was just thinking too that you can also have 3 of those Ghirardelli chocolate carmel squares for 5 points. If I have to choose that sounds like a better choice to me..... NOW all that being said.. I just ate 3 halloween oreos before heading to bed. I know, are you laughing at me now?

I've had a much better day today. The thing that was upsetting me was resolved yesterday and I feel much better. I shouldn't have gotten so upset/angry. I should have realized the thing that happened was out of the norm and that there must have been a lot more behind it. Turns out there was and I feel badly that I wasn't more patient and forgiving. Understanding can so change how you see things.

I need to head for bed. Tomorrow is my day at home and I have about 110 things to get done. This house has not been cleaned good since before our vacation. There has just been no time. A messy dirty house makes me nuts. I intend to go thru it tomorrow top to bottom. Hoping I can get lots done. I also need to pack for the crop on Saturday, get my walking in, do several loads of laundry, change & wash the bedding, dinner, plus I am sure about 10 other things I am forgetting. I need my list. Yes of course there is a list. Sometimes there is even a list for the list....

Blessings!

Benefits of a Bad Day

So I guess I am about to be the proud owner of a LG Dare. Darrel is finishing up the order on the other computer as I type. Let's just hope now that I can figure out how to use it. Do you think he will give me the Cliff's Notes version of the instructions? I so hate having to read the instruction manuals. I'd rather dive in and see what I can figure out and then look up the things I can't figure out... it's a patience thing.

It has not been a good day. I've been quite angry and upset for most of the day for reasons I can't go into here. Still having a hard time shaking it off. Maybe I need to become a stay at home scrapbooker.... Is there such a thing? Maybe I can invent it. At least that thought made me smile. So the benefits of a bad day? Well getting a new phone for one. One that will receive e-mail and go on the Internet. That will be cool. The other benefit? My walk today. I couldn't go at my normal time right after work because Darrel had a meeting at church tonight. That meant we needed to eat dinner earlier. I met him for dinner at 6 and then he headed out and I headed for a walk. I had been wanting to get out and walk all stinking day (and trust me...it was a "stinking"' day). I don't know when or how it happened, but walking has become a great source of stress relief for me. Great weather today too, very fall like so I was wanting to be out in it. Got over to the park and headed out on my normal route. Just a little way into it, I decided to walk up around the entrance and gatehouse to add some steps and time to my walk. Then I kept going and made my normal route in good time. However, as I was getting back to the car, I pressed my Nike+ to check my time distance and it said 2.4 miles, 44 minutes. I realized that I wasn't tired and was still moving at a pretty good pace. At the end of my route is this loop in the road which is about 1/10 of a mile so I decided to go around a second time. After the second time I still felt strong so I kept going. I went around about 6 more times.... by the time I was done and finally tired, I was at 52 minutes and 3.0 miles! Yay me! So I hit stop on my work out and next thing I hear thru the earphones is "This is Lance Armstrong. Congratulations! That was your best work out to date..." OK that was a big surprise and brought me my first smile/laugh of the day. I had no idea that the Nike+ did that. How cool is that?! I have walked further. We did 4 miles a few weekends ago, however it was broken up into about 4 different legs and on the Nike+ I had separated it into 4 different work outs because I didn't want to pause the ipod for that long when we stopped. So this was my best distance/time without stopping. Love it!! I told Darrel I should go walking while mad more often.... Ha!

If you are a ww (weight watchers) person you may also be aware that "activity" such as walking earns you points back which you can eat if you choose. So tonight's walk earned me 5 points plus I still had 4 left for the day anyways. (not too hungry when you are upset... see there...another benefit! ha!) So all of that earned me a snack this evening. Did you know the bags of mini chocolate bars, the ones that have twix, 3 muskateer, milky ways, and snickers, are just 1 point per bar? Very happy to end this day with a little chocolate. See, all kinds of benefits... who knew?!

Hope your Monday was better. I am intending on having a better week from here... regardless!

Blessings!

A Gift From Ike

Look what greeted us when we returned home from church today. We live in Southern IN people, some ways from the coast I'd say ...who would have thought we would have a day full of adventures thanks to Hurricane Ike? When we left for church this morning it was quite windy, but boy did that increase as the day went on. By the time we were leaving church, it was raining and really windy. I mean really windy. We headed for lunch and had to drive around several trees down in the road. There was more and more trees down and wind damage the further we got into town. During lunch my brother's wife called us and said they had been by our house and we had a huge tree down in the driveway....















I think this qualifies as a huge tree don't you? OK, the cool thing though, the God thing... it totally missed the house and the garage. It came down between the two. There were just a few marks on the edge of the garage door. The cooler thing is that had we been home, the car would have been sitting right there. It has been parked there for a couple weeks while Darrel is working on the garage. It would have done major damage. There was a huge gouge in the driveway from where the tree landed. It was right in the spot the front passenger side tire would have been. In a nearby spot in the yard some of the branches where impaled into the ground at least 6". So I guess you could say it came down hard. Before coming home we had to make a trip to Lowe's to purchase a chain saw. I think this qualifies for needing a chain saw. Not that my husband wasn't tickled to have a new toy to play with...















We tried to buy one at Sears, but when we got there, their power was out because a tree had come down and ripped their power box right off the building. They had a fire because of it! Yikes. So when we got home I helped with what I could picking up millions of smaller branches and leaves. I couldn't budge these logs. Wow are they heavy! Darrel thinks he might be able to salvage a couple of them and use the maple! I think that would be so cool. He likes wood working and does really great at it.




















For more added fun this afternoon we came home to no power too. It was out from 12:17 until about 6 PM. Once power was restored I checked the news on the Internet and they said up to 80,000 in the tri-state were without power and that the winds had been up to 70 MPH. There is damage in all the surrounding cities. Wow. We are very blessed just to have a tree down in the driveway.












So when we were cleaning up the tree... look what I found! My husband was totally laughing at me because I got so excited to find fall leaves!! Aren't they pretty? A good thing from the storm is that the temps and humidity dropped. Sitting here now in my flannel pj's totally enjoying the fall breeze coming in the windows now.

So while Darrel was figuring out his new chainsaw and getting ready to start on the yard, I decided to get a walk in. It was totally cloudy and looking like rain, yet I went anyways. I walked from home over to the camp ground fighting wind the whole time and rain 1/2 the time. Do you earn extra points for wind resistance? I totally think you should! How about walking up hills with added wind resistance? I think we need a new category for that. I got close to a mile and a 1/2 and was going to go further before turning around for the return trip and it started to really rain. I headed for one of the picnic shelters since I wasn't sure if it was going to pour. Plus, I wasn't sure if it was all rain I was feeling or if the winds were throwing lake water on me too. It seemed to stop but the sky was black so I headed back towards home. I still got in 2.8 miles in 49 minutes. I was really wanting to put in a little more and go further though. I just said that to my husband and he looked at me and said "who are you?" I know... what happened to me? I love it!!














Look what I got today!! The new Stampin Up scallop border punch!! Yay!! Also the new catalog and idea book which I totally love looking at. Going to settle down and do that in a minute or two here. Love this punch and can't wait to use it!!














Look at the baby mourning dove. Isn't he (or she) sweet? Darrel found him sitting on our car trunk. We think he may have been in a nest in the tree that came down. There were at least 2 empty nests on the ground. I love the mourning doves and the sound they make. I have been worrying if he is OK outside because we didn't see a mom bird around.

You might remember me posting about Steven Curtis Chapman and the death of their little daughter Maria a few months ago. This still just breaks my heart every time I think of it. Lately on WBGL which I listen to on the Internet at work they have been playing his song "Yours" with a new added last verse that Steven wrote since his daugther's death. Here it is on you tube.



Here are the lyrics in case you couldn't make them out:

I’ve walked the valley of death’s shadow
So deep and dark that I could barely breathe
I’ve had to let go of more than I could bear
And questioned everything that I believe
But still even here in this great darkness
A comfort and hope come breaking through
As I can say in life or death
God we belong to you

Wow............... I tell you what, I am not able to listen to that verse, or that testimony he just gave without crying. Wow.. Steven's testimony, those words, and our amazing Lord - there are just not words to explain how it blows me away. wow. Did I say wow? The power in that....... the strength, the peace from Jesus that passes understanding - so amazingly just Him, Jesus.

Praying you have a blessed week.

Fall May Now Officially Begin

OK - date night! Guess where we went? Yep, finally made it to Bath & Body to get my pumpkin soap! I know, I know you are probably sick of hearing about the pumpkin soaps. Sorry, can't help it. For whatever weird reason, I love them. They make me smile. They make me feel like fall is here. Aren't they cute? We also got this cool ceramic pumpkin candle holder. I think I will use it for a center piece on my dining room table. We hit Bath & Body and the mall after Red Lobster. The Endless Shrimp was YUMMY. We even got there early and didn't have to wait for a table. It was wall to wall people by the time we left. We had scampi, hand breaded, shrimp alfredo and the new grilled cajun which was very good. Other than Bath & Body at the mall we hit Trade Secret for some hair spray, and mostly walked around and browsed. Good way to get in some walking after dinner at least. We are also due for new cell phones/cell contracts so Darrel stopped and did some more investigating on what phones are being offered vs. what we want to pay. I soooo HATE the whole cell phone renewal/pick out a new phone thing. It's like buying a car or something with the negotiating and the plans and the styles and options. I am very happy that my husband is willing to handle it (and good at it). I told him it would be fine by me if he takes my phone wish list & goes and buys what we can afford and then hands me a working phone. I think at this point he is considering the LG Dare or the LG Voyager. Nice phones I think. They aren't pink....but I guess I can live with that. Ha! We might add the whole E-mail/Internet/text options, but are deciding if we want to add that to our monthly bills and/or budget. See.... too many decisions. Gives me a headache.

















We spent the afternoon today at a wedding! Here is the cute couple! Don't they look great? The wedding was outdoors at the groom's Mom's home which is in a beautiful location out in the country right on the river. It was quite hot and humid today but we were thankful because there was a good breeze which helped, plus it was not raining. Man yesterday it poured buckets and was supposed to continue to rain today. So we were all quite blessed with a beautiful sunny day. Here is a shot of the wedding party.














Since the wedding was at a house, they had to figure out how on earth to park the cars of the 400 people who Josh said RSVP'd. Wow.. We all had assigned parking areas and then they used the church bus and vans to shuttle people to the wedding. We rode the church bus, which is a school bus. OK... cannot remember the last time I was on a school bus. Wow. That was a new adventure for a girl in her 40's now. Yes, I did, I just admitted my age. ha. ha. Not only did it seem little and HOT but we ended up in the seat where the wheel well is which means no floor space. Good thing I have short legs. Not to mention no A/C (um did the bus have no A/C when I was a kid? how can I not remember that? I guess A/C gets way more important when you get old....) which means all bus windows open which is um not so good for the hairdo you just spent time on... Too funny. Told Josh he was worth it all though and I was happy to ride a school bus for him. The bride and groom were married under this canopy.















Pastor Mark told us the name of it which I cannot remember at the moment. He said it was very symbolic from the Old Testament and that the Bride's Father had built it. The top 2 beams were made one from Oak and one from Cherry to symbolize strength and beauty. The foundation was stone to symbolize a marriage built on the rock solid foundation of Jesus Christ. Cool huh?













Got home to a package! My Creative Escape book came. I ordered this just the other night when I saw it was available. Have you heard of Creative Escape? It's this cool scrapbook retreat weekend thing that has classes, etc. It is a Heidi Swapp/Bazzill thing and looks like it would be awesome. Since I will never be able to afford the tuition for this, let alone the air fare and hotel, I will settle for the book. It shows all the cool projects they did and gives pretty good step by step instructions. Will be spending some time this weekend reading.

Remember the chair from a few posts ago? Just ordered it! yay! Cannot wait to see it in person. For whatever reason though, shipping isn't until 10/15 so I guess I will be waiting.

Hope you are having a great weekend! Blessings.

Is It Fall Yet?

It sure doesn't feel like it here.... What happened to the fall? I figured maybe if I look at this picture long enough, maybe I could convince myself it really does feel like fall outside. Wrong. It is incredibly humid here today. September is always like this. One day its fall, one day it's like the middle of July. We are getting some rains from the hurricane and it sure didn't bring a cold front with it. I don't know if I can remember a day this humid this whole summer. OK have I whined enough? Sorry. I am just sooooo ready for fall. I believe I have mentioned I love the fall?

So even though it was about 99% humidity outside, I decided I was going to go get my walking in. All I had to do was step off the back porch to be sweating. But, yay me, I went anyway. The air was so thick today it was like hard to breathe. I normally drive over to the campground and then walk there. Today however I knew there was a cross country meet scheduled and I wasn't sure if it was happening or not since we had also had rain. I figured it would just be easier to walk from home, rather than driving over there and possibly getting caught in traffic. So I walked from home over to the park, then into the park for a bit and back home. I got in 2.5 miles in 44 minutes. Since I was completely soaked from the humidity I am going to say that was pretty darn good. Evidently they did not have the track meet because no one was around. I was a little disappointed because my niece Lauryn would have been competing and I thought maybe I'd get a glimpse of her. I'll have to try for next time.

OK, I need to make a "disclaimer" regarding the Doodlebug retreat coming up. This was too funny. Lisa stopped at the Doodlebug today and they mentioned that someone had said they read something about awesome goodie bags on my blog. Yesterday when I mentioned they had "awesome goodie bags" I did not mean that I knew anything about the goodie bags. I have no knowledge of said goodie bags. Ha. ha. ha. I just meant that any goodie bag is awesome right? I mean its got scrap goodies in it and its like a free surprise gift for the retreat. What's not awesome about that? ha. ha. I had just been re-reading the flyer in the newsletter and remembered it had mentioned a goodie bag as well as classes etc., plus there was an E-mail last week with retreat information and it mentioned an "awesome goodie bag" so I was just repeating what I read. So I am sorry if I caused any premature excitement or confusion although I am sure Hannah & Melanie have an awesome time planned for us. I can't wait! (think I got the word awesome in that paragraph enough times?)

Well time for bed. Have to get all rested up for work and then um date night with Red Lobster Endless Shrimp. YUM. I found some of the ww point info here. Looks like the grilled shrimp aren't too bad but other than that I think I will be using as little points as possible for the rest of the day. That works too though because then you have more room for shrimp. I haven't found nutritional info. on the Red Lobster site. If you are doing ww points, restaurant web sites are a great place to check. Many of them do list nutritional info which allows you to figure your points accurately.

Blessings!

Random Stuff

OK, so what do we think of this chair? I like it! I found it here. Have you ever heard of Home Decorators? Evidently it is somehow connected to the Home Depot. I stumbled across their web site when I was looking for a new cushion for our glider (which is IMPOSSIBLE to find in a store around here..). I've been looking for some kind of "soft" chair to put in our bedroom. We have a spot next to the tall dresser that just needs a chair. (in my head anyway) I have an antique sewing rocker sitting there now, but it just feels like another "hard" piece of furniture between the 2 dressers, the hope chest, the bed and 2 night stands. So I've been looking for a small arm chair or budoir kind of chair. I really think I might get this one. It is small enough, I like the color, it has a vintage feel to it (to me) and it has the softness/upholstered factor I was looking for. So, opinions? Jen, Mom, Lisa.... what do we think? You should check out the Home Decorators web site if you haven't. They have loads of TV stands I like and we really need one for our TV. We like this one and this one. I'd also love to get one of these small tiffany accent lamps for the dresser. My husband said I should get this shade. He is good isn't he? Oh and speaking of the glider... check it out















This glider was purchased by my great grandfather new. I wish I knew exactly how old it is. I would guess easily 50-60 years old. He had it, and then when he passed away his 2nd wife had it, my great grandmother Lela. When she passed away my Mamaw inherited it and had it on her porch (which is now my porch). When Mamaw died my Dad inherited it and took it home. A year or so ago, Daddy asked us if we'd like to have it and we jumped at that offer. Darrel went over and brought it home and we put it back in its "rightful" (is that a word??) spot on the back porch. When Daddy first got it, he had it sandblasted and repainted to clean it up and get off all the old layers of paint and rust. There are some spots that are so thin now because of the age of the glider that they kind of have a lace look to them. They were really careful with those spots. So this year, my awesome husband carefully sanded it and repainted it with some of the textured paints. Look how beautiful it turned out! Here is a close up so you can see the texture.















So then we added the new cushion from Home Decorators and it is perfect! This is one of my very favorite spots to sit, especially in this gorgeous fall weather we are starting to have. Mamaw probably sat here every day. Any time we would come here to visit, we would sit there together and visit in the morning and enjoy the quiet of the country.

So I have been home sick today. Came home from work early yesterday. Been feeling it in my throat for like a week, but started yesterday with chills and aches. Yuck. Hate being sick. Feeling a little better at this point. It's kind of all in my head at this point... no comments please. ha. ha. Meaning that now its mainly my throat, sinuses, ears, etc.

A week and a half from now Lisa and I are going to a weekend Scrapbook retreat with the Doodlebug LSS. Soooooo looking forward to this! There are supposed to be awesome goodie bags, great food, a class and lots of fun crop time. I am really looking forward to it. I was totally not a crop kind of girl like a year ago and then Lisa dragged me to one (kidding) and I have been totally converted. (ok this is too funny... I am sitting here blogging and since I am not feeling good, Darrel volunteered to vacuum. Nice right? Well he is in my scrap room, which has two fluffy pink rugs that you cannot vac. it will like eat them. So I keep trying to blog, but also keep looking over trying to catch his attention before he heads for my pink rug with the vacuum and we end up with either a rug or vac. casualty.... See cause he can't hear me and my throat hurts and I can't yell..... I know, I could just get up right. And miss all this fun? OK, crisis averted. We all feel better now right?) We also just heard that another fun group of ladies, Southern Indiana Scrapbook Friends are having a fall retreat in November that we might go to. They had a great one in the spring that they let us attend so I am sure this one will be fun too!

Did you see these cool new kits that Christine Middlecamp has up on her blog? Lisa alerted me to them this morning. I immediately got my name on the list for out of state people who can't go to a class but who would love to have a kit! Hope that works out. Love Christine's work.

OK, now the vac has moved to the living room and is making the dog nervous... he does not like the vac. and keeps looking at me to rescue him.

Do we all know that it is Endless Shrimp time at Red Lobster? Darrel and I are hoping to go for date night on Friday. We usually go every year during the all you can eat shrimp time. YUM. I am pretty sure I do not even want to know how many points in those meals.... I'll have to walk another 4 miles on Saturday! Ha. It would be worth it. I am hoping to top off date night at Bath & Body to get my pumpkin soaps! My Mom already has 2. I told her no fair!

Hope the rest of your week goes well. I hope to get back to work tomorrow and get caught up on housework. Blessings!

Happy Birthday Cole

So this is what you look like when you turn 14. Who can believe that? 14!! Wow. I remember when he was 4! This is our nephew Cole. He is a pretty great guy and we got to celebrate his birthday with him this past Friday night. I was NOT feeling well at the last moment, but did not want to miss out on the birthday party, nor did I want to disappoint my nephew. We managed to make it there and enjoyed Popeye's chicken for dinner and then DQ Cookie Dough Blizzard Ice Cream Cake for dessert. The birthday boy is a big fan of DQ cakes I think. I rememeber sharing one of my DQ birthday cakes with him when he was a little guy and he was eating all the icing and I was eating the ice cream part! Ha!! Now, to further astound you....check this out...














That is a 14 year old boy SMILING about the gift his grandparents gave him. LOOK, picture #2, and he is STILL smiling.... Amazing.

A historic moment which we are happy we caught on film. He had asked for and received Bose earphones for his ipod. I am guessing he really wanted this. Good job Grandma and Grandpa.

So man, where did the week go?! Headed back to work on Tuesday with a pile on my desk to greet me. Took most of the week to get thru things and get back with the routine. Have not had any time for scrapping or reading or fun stuff like that. Got to spend some time with Lisa on Thursday finishing the mini book kit and getting it ready for the Doodlebug. Glad to have that done. Now I get to help design some new LO's and cards with lots of new goodies from the recent CHA. Hopefully this week will be a bit calmer and back to normal routine. I'd be good with that. I work my normal schedule so should be home on Thursday. Saturday we are going to Josh & Sara's wedding. I am hoping Sunday will be quiet. Saturday is also my Dad's birthday but he is on vacation. We are celebrating his 65th at the end of the month at his church. He asked for Darrel and I to come and sing. We are doing a duet and I am doing a solo. Our nieces Lauryn & Lindsay are also going to sing. Should be a special time together.

How is the walking going you ask? You did ask right? It is awesome! Guess what we did? On Saturday, Darrel went with me and we walked 4.1 miles. 4 miles!! It took 73 minutes. Can you believe that? We walked from home to town to the library. Spent a few minutes there and then walked down the main street of town down to the other end of town. Then from there we took the back road home, stopping at the grocery store for a bottle of water and a little rest on the way. If you had told me this past Feb. that I'd be walking 4 miles.... that I would WANT to walk 4 miles... I would NOT have believed you. No way! Not only did I walk I wanted to, it was my idea... even though I wasn't feeling all that great, I sat here and said to Darrel "I want to get out and go walk.." He looked at me like "who are you and what have you done with my wife?" Grin... Today we had our church picnic. We walked around the park 4 times. That was 3.1 miles! 7 miles walked this weekend. No smalll feat for me people. I love it! I feel good and have so much more energy. As I keep saying..... who knew that um exercise could feel... good??

I've mentioned the walking a lot. What I haven't shared with you is the rest of the story. I haven't shared because it's personal, private and often times painful. I'm feeling OK about it though and like its time. At the end of Feb. this year, for about the millionth time, I began working on weight loss. Yes, again. Man it is hard for me to even type those words, weight loss. Why? Because my whole life its been a struggle and my whole life it has been everyone else's business. I've had the mean comments, the negtativity, the cruelty. This time it's been different. I've been different. I've handled it different. I am very determined and VERY serious about this. I give ALL the glory and all the credit to God. I believe thru HIM I can and will have victory in this area. That is why it is now OK to share. To show you what HE is doing in my life. So here goes.... this was me in February

I took this picture this past Thursdsay....

Can you see it? I am so stinking excited because finally I can see it. More importantly I can feel it. I am different and I love it. So far I have lost 47.6 lbs (and yes...every point anything counts! ha!) I still have a long (long) way to go to reach my goal, but it is going to happen. I have a special group of friends at church that are also working on weight loss goals. I was walking and praying one day a few months back and felt like God was leading me to start an online support group. He even gave us a name.."Weighting On Him." So I asked the girls if they wanted to do this and now there are 11 of us! Isn't that awesome? We stay in touch and share and try to encourage and support each other. Love that!! Those ladies mean the world to me! So... the big secret is out. Guess it wasn't really a secret, just something that is hard for me to talk about. Feels good to feel like a grown up and to be handling it well for a change.

Guess what else? 2 weeks ago at The Scrapping Spot one of the ladies, Anna, started a 2 week exercise challenge. I joined. (yes, me, I joined, without having a gun to my head...) Guess what else.... I WON. Me... Deanna.... I not only voluntarily joined an exercise challenge, I WON. I put in 552 minutes of exercise from Mon 8/25 thru 9/7. wow. yay me!!!!

On that happy note, I will say goodnight. Hope you have an awesome week. Blessings!

I Love Fall Stuff

Did this layout yesterday and today while waiting for the laptop to be repaired.... we will discuss that in a moment. I so enjoyed the Vintage Moon papers I used up all my scraps on this layout. Just had some fun making a "for me" layout about one of my favorite subjects.... the fall. One of my favorite tools/supplies lately are my alpha stamps. The set I used for "stuff" is from hero arts. I just got it recently when I visited a LSS in Bloomington IL. Now I need the lowercase I like it so much! The smaller alpha stamps used on the pro/con list were from Hero Arts also, but I purchased them as an add on from Studio Calico. I love to store my alpha stamps in the little mimi stamp cases. I need to get a few more now for my recent additions. They make it so easy to use and store your stamps.

As for the laptop repair.... GRRRRR Yesterday I had googled a particular topic, and was going thru the results checking out the various sites. Out of nowhere I suddenly had this virus/program on my computer which kept trying to run and halted everything else. Gradually it had the computer froze up where we couldn't do anything. Darrel ended up having to start it in safe mode where we were able to pull off un-backed up photos and documents (thank you Lord!) with the jump drive. After that we had to completely reformat and start over. Sooooo annoying!! This is the 2nd time in a year this happened. NOT happy with the virus protection on the lap top. (trend micro) Our main PC needs virus software update also so we will just be getting Norton for two! Both times this has happened, it was from web sites, not from e-mails or attachments. We are very careful about opening those kinds of things. How on earth can you be careful about going on to a web site that came up on a google search? This was a regular result, it wasn't one of the ads that come up on the top or side either. I know better than that too. So my advice is be careful and keep that virus software up to date! Reformatting was NOT easy this time around. Last time we were able to use the reinstall that Dell leaves partitioned on your hard drive. This time, that would not work and seemed to be corrupted as well. Darrel had to reload from disk and then even some of those didn't work and he had to spend a lot of time downloading drivers, etc. directly from dell and then transfering them from our main computer to this one. I vote that the mean people that do this kind of stuff should be sentenced to be strapped in a chair and have to endlessly work on a computer that they messed up! They should have to type one handed too! Ha.

On a happier note..... LOOK!

Bath & Body Pumpkin soap is available and look at the cute new dispenser! I was surprised they changed it for this year. Mom are you ready for that Bath & Body road trip? I've already explained to everyone how I need my pumpkin soap to officially start fall. GRIN.

Back to work tomorrow. These last few vacation days have mostly been at home scrapping, reading and um repairing a computer..... Hope you have a great week! Blessings.