Date Night Report

So I have decided that all pictures of me from now on should be taken while I am sucking a thick milkshake through a straw.... it makes your face look thinner....Ha!! Darrel took this last night during date night. We went to that little diner I talked about last month that had the awesome milkshakes, burgers, fries and pie! Here is Darrel with his shake... and yes.. I confess... I took his picture first.















Now how cute is that? You can see the decor of the diner is a bit dated. It also perpetually smells like smoke. There does not seem to be a "no smoking" section and lots of people appear to take advantage of this. I do not like cigarette smoke... yet I want to go eat there. This should tell you something about how yummy that shake is!





















OK. Just looked at this picture of Darrel and saw his Dad for a second.... when does it start happening that you look more and more like your parents when you get older? Anyway, as you can see great burgers too and the coleslaw? YUM. Good stuff. We drove an hour to eat here and it was well worth it. The waitress we had was the same as last visit. She is slow but I like her. Why? She always makes too much milkshake for the glass in the metal mixing cup thingy... when that happens, she brings you the metal cup too. I am liking this problem. :)

After dinner we had wanted to hit the drive in, but the 2 that are over that way were both playing movies we weren't interested in. We decided to hit the theatre instead. Movie didn't start till 9:50 PM so we had some time to kill. We looked around in JC Penney for a bit. They had some really cute high heel boot type shoes. However they were $80. I am thinking I will wait for a sale on that one. OK... just checked so I could link for ya and they are on sale. $50 is still a lot... and I already spent my birthday money. They would be cute for fall with jeans or dress pants don't you think? After Penney's we needed a hallmark.. and um Darrel confiscated my shoes before he'd let me go in. I had on my high white wedge heel sandals. Date night sit at dinner and at the movie shoes. They were starting to hurt a smidgen and I had brought a pair of flats just in case so he took my shoes! I told him I was more interested in being cute than comfortable but he didn't seem to see my logic. I told him I was putting the other ones back on for the movie and I did at least win that portion of the argument! I am short people and let me tell you when you go from like a 4" wedge to flats... well you feel like you stepped in a hole. Especially when one's husband is 6'2"!

After Penney's we drove around looking for other places to kill time and spotted a Maurice's. I have never been in Maurices because I didn't think they had anything that would fit me. Well I saw a sign in the window that they had 14-24 too.. so time for a look. Liked Maurices, and found several things to try on pretty quickly. Um after I figured out their sizes... they were labeled like 0,1,2,3... what the heck does that mean? I'm like is that 1x, 2x? Is it supposed to make me feel better or something to say I wear a size 1 or 2 or something? Sorry but that wasn't fooling my head. I asked the girl and she informed me 0 is a 14, 1 is a 16-18, 2 is a 20-22 and so on... OK.. good to know and at least I had grabbed the right sizes for the dressing room. I ended up with 2 cute sleeveless tops (here and here) and a very cute dress which was marked 75% off. It was $9.99! I really like it. Little shorter than I am used to, so hopefully I won't chicken out of wearing it. Darrel says it looks good. All 3 things were in their size 1! That would mean 16-18... now that may not sound so fabulous to you but um for a girl that was in 30-32 2 years ago... I am pretty stinkin thrilled about that!

The movie was in a theatre we hadn't been to before. It seemed new, but I was not impressed. I have gotten used to the stadium type theatre where you enter and go down the hall and come out in front and then have to climb up the stairs to your seat. This one was the old way where you come in at the back and the theatre was tiny! The movie was excellent though! We saw SALT. It was a spy/action/adventure type movie and it was rated PG! Couldn't believe that. There was not one swear word or undressed person. The action and story were excellent and Angelina Jolie was very good! I observed while we were there that apparently we buy movie popcorn just so we have something to do while waiting for the movie to start. Ha! We always like eat it all then and like none during the movie. Perhaps we need to buy it later or get 2 bags! Ha!!

My friend Shawn has completed a layout for the 52 layouts challenge and it is awesome! You can take a look on her blog here. Love it. Also, if you are a sketch lover, Shawn designs sketches and has some awesome ones. Check those out on her blog as well. I worked on my layout today. I am like 1/2 done. Having fun! I will post on Monday and show you a picture of the inspiration outfit as well. Can't wait for challenge #2.

Looking forward to August! We are going to the state fair this week! Yay! Love State Fair day together! Can't wait. We also have a week of vacation and are already making plans for that which will include Holiday World, Patoka Lake Beach, maybe some antiquing, and it should be about time for Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster!!! YUM. You might have surmised we aren't going away for vacation. Not in the budget. At least this way I don't have to pack. I hate packing... ugh..

Well it is now midnight and church is early in the morning! Have to be there at 8:30. Looking forward to a La Caretta lunch and taking a birthday gift to a friend and to our niece! I have a picture to share of one of the gifts but it will have to wait till after she has it.... You know who you are..

Blessings!

Thankful Thursday

I think I have a love/hate relationship with food. I love food. It is a definite pleasure for me. Chocolate, Mexican food, pizza, Chinese, cookies, cakes...ooh.. Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake from Cheesecake Factory, Steak... a good burger, fries and a chocolate shake... Are we seeing a chocolate trend here? Love love food. It can be a comfort, a pleasure, a friend, a way to celebrate, something to do on a date, and even a way to care for someone or celebrate a holiday. The hate part? Well that would definitely be the whole weight issue. I gain weight easily. Food can be my enemy. Sometimes I wish I could just quit food cold turkey. I have never been able to just eat as much as I want or whatever I want and not worry about it. I have had this struggle since I was a child. So.. yes... love/hate relationship with food.

I also enjoy cooking and am told I am a fairly good cook. My husband seems to be a fan. Lori and Lisa just told me last week they were impressed by my layer cakes... just the fact that I can stack two together evenly and un-lopsidedly... is that a word? I probably enjoy baking the most. When I lived in Illinois I was known for my chocolate cake. It's a chocolate cake from scratch, topped with Mrs. Richardson's hot fudge and cool whip. And yes... it has to be Mrs. Richardson's Hot Fudge. We couldn't buy it in Indiana and used to stock up whenever we'd go back to Illinois for a visit. Recently though we started finding it at a grocery store in Evansville! Happy about that! Try it... you will see why! I am picky about ingredients like real vanilla, real butter, etc. so why not be picky about the fudge?! Today I was really wanting chicken and noodles and that is what I made for dinner. My Mom and my Mamaw always cooked their chicken in a pressure cooker so that is of course what I do too. Picture above was tonight's dinner just before we were ready to eat.















I've been thinking all day about what I was going to focus on being thankful for. Food kept coming to mind. Here is what I am thinking the reason is. Haiti. All Darrel has told me about Haiti and conditions there in the town where he spent most of his time. The people who live there don't have enough food. They barely have homes and in this picture, he tells me this is their "kitchen."





















The kitchen is these baskets up front with the bowls and pans. They cook over an open fire and this is what they use to prepare and serve their meals from what I understand. Before Darrel left for Haiti there was some talk that the workers might not have enough food either. Would seem very possible right if the town doesn't have enough food? I prayed every day that he would have enough drinkable water and enough food to eat. He said they did. It was very different. Breakfast was a type of pasta that was coated with tomato paste and hot dogs. One of their meals were MRE's (meals ready to eat) like the military eat. For dinner and lunch they had rice with either a dried fish sauce or a bean sauce. They did also have fruit and he said it was really good. He mentioned the avocado trees and asking Tiga, this 17 yr old guy they worked with how they got the fruit down. He said Tiga was going to climb this tree where the fruit was 30-40 ft in the air! They told him not to so instead he picked up a rock. They thought well no way that would work right? Wrong. Apparently Tiga threw the rock and nailed a piece of fruit that promptly fell to the ground. He threw a second rock which split a second piece of fruit precisely in half and it fell to the ground. Guess he has had some practice at that huh? 2 rocks. 2 pieces of fruit.

All of this has me thinking about my pantry full of food and the fact that I struggle daily with eating too much food. In Haiti they saw one woman picking thru their garbage looking for food. Wow... I just threw away some cantaloupe we had left in the fridge till it spoiled... How much food do I let go to waste when others are hungry? I am very thankful for how God blesses us and provides for our needs. I am thankful I can drive to the grocery store right now and fill a shopping cart. I am thankful for a full freezer and the Schwan man that comes to my door. I am thankful for our tiny garden with just a few tomato and pepper plants. I am thankful for how easy it is for us to drive up to a restaurant and order anything we want. I am thankful for our jobs which provide the means to pay for our food. All of this makes me realize I should never view grocery shopping or putting the groceries away as some chore to avoid. It's a privilege don't you think? I am thankful I have a kitchen stocked full of pots, pans, dishes, and appliances. Do I ever even think how it would be to cook over an open fire every day? Nope... but I do now and I want to remember and do a better job of being thankful and especially of being a good steward of all God has provided for us.

Other things I have been thankful for this week:

• The new scrapbooking challenge. I am so excited and spent part of today working on an idea for my first layout. Can't wait to work my way thru the book and share with you all.
• Darrel being home. Yes.. I am still positively giddy about that.. I think I'm giddy... not sure I've ever been giddy before... ha ha ha
• all the amazing scrapbook supplies I have and a room to use them all in!
• my pretty pink laptop
• date night! Sooooo missed date night while Darrel was gone. Did you know its date night eve?
• The Beach. Especially since beach hours are already about to start winding down with the beginning of school approaching within a couple weeks.
• pink nail polish
• my droid phone. Love it!
• Eclair cake.. enough said
• my pink and white sewing machine. I was playing with it this afternoon.
• my Kindle. I scored like 6 free Kindle books yesterday.
• my friends. I have such amazing friends. How did I get so blessed?
• my job
• praying with my husband
• singing a duet with my husband
• my husband's experience in Haiti. I feel like I should say "our" experience because I feel like I've been through it too.
• my favorite black heels.. well OK... all cute shoes!
• stuff that smells good like moonlight path from bath & body and my favorite passion perfume.
• my ipod and Nike plus
• walking and zumba and how God has changed me into this person who LIKES to do those things.
• my new fossil watch. Love it!
• walmart brand iced oatmeal cookies... don't ask me why but they are a new love lately for some reason...
• a new toothbrush. We had the battery operated kind. It died... we spent several days brushing with the broken battery operated kind the old manual way.... um just not the same. We now own a new rechargeable!

I have a busy day tomorrow. Lots to do at work. Then for date night we plan to hit the little diner restaurant with the amazing shakes. Been looking forward to that all week. Afterwards we plan to suck up the free wifi at Starbucks and read and talk... or... go to a movie or the drive in. Hope your weekend is amazing! I'll probably post on Saturday and then Monday- the reveal of the first challenge! Yay! Blessings!

Ten On Tuesday... Wednesday Style!

1) Yes... apparently I am late yet again. Is it time for detention now? I mean tardy two weeks in a row. Why do I always feel like the blog police are going to come and get me? Meant to blog last night. Got to talking and spending time with Darrel and that was the end of the blogging plans. I mean which one would you pick?

2) Going to China Wok buffet for dinner. I decided Darrel felt like taking me there today. Fortunately he agreed. Ha! I figured we could put a new memory in place of the one I have from the last time I was there. That was during the time he was in Haiti. I went by myself, had dinner and then promptly cried right at the table.... Pathetic aren't I? I was lonely and sad and missing my husband big time... what can I tell you? 3) Look at this. Darrel brought this Nativity set home from Haiti. It is all hand carved. Isn't it beautiful? He had to barter for it in the market in Calebasse. I believe he told me the shop owner started out at a price of $75 while telling him it would cost him $90 at the Baptist Mission. I am not sure how long the negotiations went on between 2 people that didn't speak each other's language but I believe they finally agreed to $35. I think its a beautiful keepsake from his trip. The cool thing? The only other nativity set we have is a tiny glass one that we bought at Six Flags on our Honeymoon. I love that we now have this full size one from his trip. I definitely think we need to make baby Jesus a manger (oh my gosh... too funny.. I just found a typo where I said we needed to make baby Jesus a manager... rather than a manger. However.. I guess that would be true too! Ha!!!) out of twigs or something and I am wondering if maybe Darrel can build a stable.





















4) On the left, you have the water bottle that Darrel took to Haiti. On the right.. is the one that was left at home. Do you see what it used to look like and what it looks like now? I saw this in his luggage and I am like what on earth did you do to the water bottle and if it looks like that.... well goodness what happened to you? I'm glad he's not all beat up and dented with his paint all chipped....















5) This was the day after Darrel got home from Haiti. He was tired. He was not himself. He hadn't gotten enough sleep or unpacked or anything else. What is he doing? He was in the kitchen making me an Eclair Cake for my birthday. Is he not the sweetest man on earth? The Eclair cake was exceptionally yummy too.





















6) This picture is from my birthday. I never did give you the details did I? We planned to spend the evening at home and dinner was carry out from Applebees. I had the shrimp diovolo or something like that... and Darrel had the fried chicken salad. We also had those yummy chicken wonton tacos again too. Well as soon as we both get home from work there is a huge storm and the power goes out. So dinner was a candlelight dinner by default which was nice... however we could not stick our carryout in the microwave to heat it up so dinner was rather lukewarm. It was still nice! In the picture I am opening my card and gift from Darrel which was the fossil watch I showed you last week.





















7) After dinner Darrel proceeded to empty two boxes of candles to place 44 candles in the eclair cake. Do you know how long it takes to light 44 new candles? I thought we were going to melt the cake. He then sang happy birthday to me all by himself.... Awwww... He even bought cute candles. One box was striped and one box was "confetti." I'd share a blowing out of the candles picture with you but the stinkin' camera didn't take it.. GRRR I hate when digi cameras do that stuff. I didin't get them all out in one shot... I did however make a wish to get to 100 lbs lost... I'm thinking that is kind of an ironic wish to make while preparing to eat birthday cake.





















8) This is the official "I'm now officially 44" picture. Darrel took a couple and I decided I didn't like them. I started playing with the camera while he was off doing something else and managed to capture this one. Not too bad for do it yourself huh?

9) I have heard that several of you plan to join me in the 52 layouts challenge! Yay!! I am so tickled about that. Someone asked if they could post their layouts via facebook and that is totally fine by me. No rules. I'd just love to be able to see your work. I plan to set up a separate page here on the blog to post all of mine to and keep track of the challenge.. see.. that will satisfy my I need to organize and have order side. I will also go ahead and look into setting up a flickr page/group if we'd like to have one central place to post and see each other's work. I have an idea for my layout. It came to me yesterday morning while getting dressed. I plan to use a favorite shirt... and yes... pink is involved. Are you shocked? The shirt is the one I had on in the airport reunion picture... That's all I'm giving away right now. OK... one more clue... this will be a test to my sewing skills or lack thereof..

10) Still at the 97 lb mark. Praying I can keep it together and get to 100 without it taking months. Regardless.. I plan to do what it takes. I am thinking all of the birthday eclair cake was not conducive to the plan so probably a good thing we finished it off.

Hope you will tune in tomorrow for thankful Thursday! I still need to figure out what I am posting about. Can I use having my husband home 2 weeks in a row? Blessings!

You've Heard of 27 Dresses?

Well welcome to 52 layouts! Since seeing the movie Julie and Julia a few months ago, I have had this idea.. See in the movie, Julie cooks her way thru the Julia Child cookbook. She sets a start and end date, and then commits to cook each recipe in the book by a certain date. While doing so, she writes a blog about the experience. I loved this idea. I love blogging. So of course... the two need to come together don't you think? I began to think about how I could make this happen and this book, 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner was the first thing to come to mind. I bought my copy directly from Elizabeth's blog when it first came out. She even signed it! Cool huh? I really enjoy her blog because she has lots of creative ideas. Check it out if you haven't visited there before! Anyway... back to the challenge. The book has 52 different scrapbook challenges... you are saying well Duh Deanna... the title pretty much gives that part away. Yes.. I know.. humor me for a moment OK? It has 52 challenges ranging from using a page protector as part of your design to finishing a page in 30 minutes... Yikes.. that will definitely be a challenge for me! So I am thinking 52 challenges... 52 weeks in a year... coincidence or perfect set up for a challenge?

So... your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to scrap along with me this year. The start date is today, July 26th, 2010. The ending date is July 26th, 2011. The challenge? I will post a different challenge from the book each Monday. You and I have until the following Monday to complete it. If nothing else, by the end of the year, you will have 52 layouts done! Hopefully though you will also have fun and we can share lots of ideas, use up some supplies and maybe inspire lots more scrapping! Anyone with me? If you have a blog or online gallery somewhere please post a comment with a link so we can all share in each other's work. Lisa had the idea of setting up a flickr account to post the pages to. Loving that idea but figured I'd wait and see if anyone wanted to be involved with me. If you'd like to do that, leave me a comment and we can go that route too!

Now my creative, don't make me follow the rules when I am scrapping side is at war with my organized, I need my lists and order side.... Do I do the challenges in the order they are in the book? Do I leaf thru with my eyes closed and point to a page. Do I pick which ever one strikes me for the week? Well... I haven't decided. So for today... we shall go with challenge #1, we will make as little rules as possible and make up the rest as we go along huh?

For week #1 the challenge is to "Get inspired by an outfit." (page 11 in the book if you have a copy. It's also available on Amazon here.) To quote from the book, you are to "find an outfit that appeals to you, whether it's from your own closet, off a mannequin, at your favorite boutique, or out of an online or print catalog. Let the shapes, color combination or patterns inspire your next page." Cool! I've never done this. I've done a layout inspired by a printed advertisement. That would likely be the closet thing. There you have it my scrapping friends... ready... set... SCRAP!

How about a little Monday randomness and a date night report before we close? Yes? Let's start with today. Have had a sore throat all day today. Why in my head when I don't feel good does that somehow equal... must eat more food? I mean this is not conducive to the whole weight loss journey, 3 lbs away from a 100 plan. Nor is it a good idea to have one of those giant Ziploc packages of m&m's close at hand. (who is the evil person who invented that thing and why was I dumb enough to buy one telling myself well then I can just eat a few at a time.... right...) Was not a good girl weight loss wise today. The words train wreck come to mind. My throat wanted chocolate, eclair cake... OK... and ice cream too. However... sore throat or not, well I am back at it tomorrow. At least I have learned 2+ years later that one messed up day does not have to mean "the end" and that I can get back on the horse so to speak and keep moving forward. I mean goodness... didn't even feel good enough to go walk today... and then add the food... what is wrong with my head? OK... done kicking myself now... bad Deanna!

Date night was awesome this past Friday! I was SO READY for our date night since Darrel had been away on his trip to Haiti for the previous 2 date nights. We did some of our usual and regular stuff which seemed to be just what we needed. I think I crave routine sometimes. It's a sickness... kind of like that OCD thing.. We started out the night at Crazy Buffet for some yummy Chinese food and make your own stir frys. We probably hadn't been there in maybe 2 months? So it tasted quite yummy. And yes... we enjoyed a few chocolate dipped strawberries too. Next it was off to the mall. I had some birthday money, and 6 new pounds gone so I needed a new shirt or two don't you think? Here is what I found ....Found this tank at Coldwater Creek.  It was marked down to $23.99. Not all that fabulous of a markdown... but, I had a $10 off anything birthday coupon they emailed to me so I was quite happy with a $13.99 price!  I really liked the battenburg lace on this one.  I also picked up this shirt at Old Navy. 

I fell in love with the sleeves on this.  It is almost sleeveless, but has these layers of cute little ruffles on like a cap sleeve I guess.  Love this bright blue color.  Aren't you amazed it wasn't pink? They didn't have pink... they did have orange... but we went with the blue.  I always get compliments when I wear this color.  Apparently its good on me... who knew? 

Next I found this at CJ Banks.  I seem to seldom find anything I like there these days, but I fell in love with this t-shirt.  It says vintage roses and the fabric has a real layered scrapbook paper kind of look.  PLUS I was able to get it in the smallest size they carry.  When I first started my weight loss journey I was over the top thrilled when I was able to buy anything in this store.  Before I started losing, I couldn't even fit in their biggest size.  Now... I won't be able to shop there much longer!!  I could have cried.  Two more pluses.. the shirt was 40% off! And, when I was checking out, the clerk (who has seen me in there over the past year and 1/2) asked me if I had been losing weight.  I got to tell her yes, 97 pounds!!! AND I got to show her my beginning picture, and tell her all about it.  She literally got emotional and told how she was trying to lose, etc.  It was so cool. 

We had a really nice evening which ended with a little ice cream at Lic's.  I had chocolate thin mint.  You know.. like the girl scout cookies!  It was YUM. 

With that I better head for bed.  Currently my throat doesn't feel good, my stomach doesn't feel good and I am hot... not a good combination for a good mood.  I am also very annoyed with AOL which is currently refusing to send my emails because of a "rate limit" error.  I did a little chat with them only to find out their servers are having an issue and I just need to be patient.... Um patience is not my best thing and I rely on my email a lot for both home and work... Let's hope they have it fixed in the AM.  Blessings!

Thankful Thursday ..... I Mean Sunday

So yep, I get a tardy slip again don't I? What is up with me and posting late this week? The whole week has been hectic and I've felt behind so why not be behind on the blog too I guess right? I even was certain about what I wanted to write about... still didn't get it done. Better late than never I guess? I guess though that might depend on how eager you were for a thankful Thursday Sunday post huh?

Well this is going to be a serious and somewhat personal one. But, as I always say, its just us right and I can share with you? I thought so. This week I am focusing on how thankful I am that my husband returned home safely from his mission trip to Haiti. Let me tell you why. If you've been a blog reader for awhile now, you might remember that I have shared in the past that sometimes satan likes to attack me with fear. I can struggle with fear big time. Tell me you are sending my husband thousands of miles away on 4 different airplanes, to a dangerous place no less.. that I will be home alone and lonely for my husband for 8 days and well there you have all you need for the set up for that fear thing to kick in. Sometimes I stand strong and fight it pretty well. Actually more times than not these days. I remind myself of scripture that says fear is NOT from God. That perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). That God did not give us a spirit of fear (2 Tim 1:7) but of power and love and self discipline. Most times I remember and pray and ask Jesus to come and stand between me and the fears that surround me and try to attack me. I ask Him to protect me and he does. However I have to admit that sometimes I am weak and the fears come and attack me and instead of standing firm... I find myself cowering. The weeks leading up to Darrel's trip and especially the second day of his trip are two examples of cowering. I was plagued with the fear that he wasn't going to come home. I was afraid to even speak it out loud it was so real. I tried to stand strong and turn those fears and worries into prayers for his safety. I was having a hard time looking forward to my birthday and things we had planned for after he returned because I just could not seem to get myself to the point of thinking beyond what could happen that week he was away. Airplanes don't always make it to their destination. Haiti has scorpions, tarantulas, water that is not safe to drink, people that could be dangerous, and what about more earthquakes or hurricanes? Trust me... I thought of it all.

The day they were flying from Chicago to Haiti (pic above is of Darrel and friend Andy on the plane) it got really bad. Darrel called me at each leg of the trip that he could. The first call was Saturday morning July 10th from Ohare airport. He was telling me they were getting ready to get on their first flight from Chicago to Miami. One person from their team had not been cleared to leave with the rest of the team because of a problem with his passport. He was going to have to stay behind. This terrified me. My head starts thinking of these news stories you hear where the one guy missed the plane for some reason and ends up being the only one to survive. I talked with Darrel and told him bye and he promised to call when they reached Miami. He knew I was afraid and tried to calm me. We hung up and I was beside myself. Crying and so upset and afraid. I started crying out to God. Help me. Please. I need reassurance. I am scared. It was early and I had been in bed so I got up to get tissues. My eyes fell on my Bible and I grabbed it asking God for that reassurance Darrel would be OK. At first my Bible was opening to passages I had marked. However, then it opened to Ezekiel 18. Honestly at first I thought.. I don't want Ezekiel... I need comfort! But then I thought no.. read it. Ezekiel 18:5-9 is a passage about a just and righteous man and the last sentence of that passage reads: That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign LORD. Oh my goodness... could there be a more direct answer to my prayer? It was like a switch was flipped. I was immediately calm. I felt reassured. I was able to lay down and rest and was certain God had just told me my husband would be safe.

As the week progressed, I continued to pray for Darrel and my prayer partner and the group daily. For my husband, I tried to figure out what is my part as I am home here to help and support him? I felt led to fast and pray each day he was away. I have fasted before, but never as much as I did that week. I was led to fast for the whole time their flights were in the air on both Saturdays, and all but one other day of the week I went to 2:00 each day. I didn't know this while they were gone, but on their return, I learned that my husband had heat exhaustion on Tuesday that week. The group leader has medical training and he told me that had Darrel been in the states, he would have been admitted to the hospital. The others on the team looked at me with much seriousness and tell me it was very serious and they were worried and that Darrel and Andy were on the verge of being a medical emergency. They had walked to a building site that was twice as far away as on the previous day. They had worked, and then by the time they walked back, it was too much. They had to get them cooled down. In Prospere where they were, there was no electricity or running water. Therefore usually no ice. Nothing cold. On that day when they needed ice to cool them down.... there was for some reason ice available. They filled rubber gloves with ice and placed it under their arms. They did alcohol rub downs and even washed their hair with cool water to try and cool them down. This all happened on Tuesday during the hours of fasting and prayer. Wow.....

As we talked about the prayer partners and the fasting and prayer and how they had all they needed when Darrel, Andy and Julie were ill the group members also mentioned to me that on the flight between Miami and Haiti, there were others on the flight that had made the trip before. Apparently as they approached Haiti to land, these others commented that something was strange about the landing and that the plane had never approached the island that way before.... Maybe it was nothing. We will never know. Maybe it was something and they were protected. Either way I am so thankful for God's protection and for the safety of my husband during his trip and his safe return home. I mean look at this picture.....

They did some amazing work while they were there like building houses... however perhaps hugging and playing with the children was a far more important task that they were sent for. This little girl's name is Kenda. Several members of the group have told the story of this little girls parents asking the group to take her home with them so she could have a better life. Did I say wow yet?

Other things I was thankful for last week:

• my husband setting up birthday week deliveries for each day while he was away
• my friend Lori and the birthday week she also did for me as well as the awesome crop luau party and dinner!
• my friend Lisa who made me brownies and brought them to me with a Darrel gift on a day where I was really feeling lonely for Darrel. She came at just the right moment
• my friends Ashly, Kim, Lori W., Lori S., Lisa and Sandy who were all birthday week delivery people and for the special little gifts and notes they added on their own.
• for all the people mentioned above who made me feel so loved and special while Darrel was away
• for Pastor Mark who promised Darrel he would "watch over me" while he was away... and he did too. I got quite a few texts and hugs that week.
• tons of pink birthday gifts!
• an awesome meeting with my husband at the airport
• Darrel's sister who was sooooo much help to our mission trip group
• my niece Cece who made me a pink bracelet and a bookmark!
• 6 lbs gone!
• Birthday Eclair cake
• rehearsing a duet with my husband
• my new fossil watch!
• birthday roses
• pictures from Haiti
• for my parents who took me to dinner and also checked on me while Darrel was away
• my dog tanner who kept me company
• safe travel on my own to Chicago
• Lisa, and Lori again for both checking on me and taking care of me while Darrel was away
• and yes... still the beach.

Tomorrow I will be posting the details for the start of the scrapbook challenge I plan to do and blog about! Tune in for all the info! Hope you will join me. I will also have pics from my birthday celebrating with Darrel and some date night details from this past Friday! It was sooooo good to have date night after missing 2 in a row! Hope your week starts off well! Blessings!

Ten on um Thursday?

1) OK.. I started this post on Wednesday.. but I think it is now officially Thursday.. I guess better late then never. Life has been pretty busy since Friday. We had a normal routine kind of evening today...finally and it felt pretty great.

2) This picture (above) is Darrel coming down the escalator at the airport. Yes. I know you saw the video. I've watched it about 200 times now I think. Regardless... I am loving the picture cause see that big grin on his face? He is grinning at me. Love it! By the time we got to the escalators I knew his plane was at the gate and then he had texted me he was heading our way!! I am eagerly scanning faces coming down trying to find him! I saw one guy that looked familiar and suddenly realized he was a member of our group! (he is from another church and I don't know him very well and had only met him on the day the group left) Then I spotted one of the girls on our team and then... my husband! Now.. I had just driven 6 hours to see him. I wanted to look my best for my husband so I had carefully chosen an outfit I know he likes, in his favorite colors for me to wear, etc. I had toted my make up and things with me so I could freshen up after being all stale from being in a car for 6 hours.... When it was time to go to the airport, I then realized duh.. we are going in the church van. Um no a/c.... windows down... I'm like great.. I'm going to smell like sweat..not perfume... and be all wind blown... Apparently I need not have worried. As my husband stands there beaming at me.. the rest of the group starts the whistling and commenting... saying look... she's all dressed up.. I took this as a good sign that my plan had succeeded..... And yes.. it was very fun.















3) Friday was pretty awesome. We had a fabulous evening at my friend Lori's house. She had a whole crop area set up for us and a great dinner too. As I sat down at my place at the crop table look what I found under some papers Lori had for me! Birthday week gift #5 from my husband! Lori was delivery person for Friday. Darrel had left this cool mouse pad/notepad with her and another card from him. Is he not the best? He must have pink radar to find all this cool pink stuff for me. I think Lori has it too.















4) Lori had a whole crop luau planned for us. When I got to her house, I was greeted by receiving my official flower lei. Very fun. Then I got a look at the table all set for the crop time. Look at all the pink! She did not miss a detail. Lisa and I both received pretty papers that you see there in the front and a goodie basket there to the left with all the cool polka dots. It had great stickers, die cuts, candy a little pen, some brads.. all kinds of good stuff! There was a snack and prize table too also all decked out in Luau decor. Dinner was amazing. Have you ever had ham loaf? Lori said to go with our Luau theme we needed pork and rather than um cooking a pig in the ground... ha ha ha She made us ham loaf. It was so yummy. There was also baked beans, potato casserole, rolls, fresh corn, jello salad, deviled eggs, and then Alicen (Lori's daughter) made us this yummy 3 milk cake for dessert. I felt totally spoiled. She even had Diet Cherry Vanilla DR Pepper to drink. There were pink forks, luau napkins, and after dinner virgin strawberry margaritas that were quite yummy. My glass even had pink flowers around the stem. She did not miss one detail...















5) Not only did Lori do all those things.. there were also more gifts! Look at this cool cake taker! Lori used her cricut and cut out vinyl to add the pink polka dots and our initials. She said she could just see a carrot cake in there. I mentioned this to Darrel and he thinks we should try it out immediately.















6) After dinner we did some cropping and visiting and then.. we had to do our picture with the hula girl cut out. I am thinking this is the quickest and easiest way I will ever have a waist this small.....















7) When it was time to go, because the airport drive was early the next morning, Alicen took a pic of the three of us. Love this. Then... I was presented with 3 more gifts to finish out the week.. .and look at this giant cupcake she gave me!















Since there are no calories on birthdays..... I found this quite yummy over the next two evenings. It even happened to have my favorite icing on it. I love that whipped cream kind of icing rather than like the butter cream kind and that was what this had!





















8) Here are birthday week gifts from Lori for Sat. and Sunday. Since I love notebooks and notepads and bath and body stuff... of course this was pretty great to find in the gift bag!





















The next day was this great devotional book for couples. Love it!















9) This picture shows my Monday birthday gift from Lori which is the awesome Longaberger pink bowl. I had not seen it before but wow.. LOVE it. The earrings were birthday week gift #7 from Darrel. He took me to Kohl's after church Sunday and picked them out. Birthday week gift #6 from Darrel was um... Darrel... coming home from Haiti. BEST gift ever. The scarf was my birthday gift from my friend Kay. How gorgeous is that? She has just returned from an Alaskan cruise and she said she found this on the cruise ship!















10) And this friends is the result of my husband and amazing friends and family showering me with pink gifts for a whole week. I am in awe of you guys being so amazing to me. I cannot begin to thank you. You overwhelm me with the love you show!

Whew... well that catches us up a little bit huh? Now I still have birthday pics and details to share from the actual day on Monday and my celebration with my husband. I also would like to share so much more about Haiti. You have to see this cool hand carved nativity set Darrel brought home with him.

Also...I have not forgotten either about the promised scrapbook challenge. Please be patient with me. Hoping to get that started this coming week. I heard on facebook that The Doodlebug Fall retreat only has 5 spots left! 5!! Wow and its only July. Hope you can get signed up quickly and join us!

Been doing laundry tonight at like um midnight... so that tomorrow I can go to the beach! Hoping for good weather. It's been a week since I got to go.

I am currently at 97 lbs gone! I am counting down that last 3 to 100!!!! Are you with me?!

Tomorrow Darrel and I will be rehearsing a duet we will be singing at church on Sunday! We have been planning this song for a few months and this week is going to be a sharing about the Haiti trip and guess what... the song really fits! Looking forward to it.

There.. since 10 on Tues. was late.. I threw in an extra few bits of randomness for you. We'll call it a bonus. HA! Blessings!

Ten On Tuesday... or Not...

OK. It's midnight. I have an early morning and we just got home like an hour ago... therefore 10 on Tuesday will be rescheduled for Wednesday! Ha! Tune in tomorow... same time.. same station. BUT I had to leave you with something right? So here is my favorite picture of my husband in Haiti. From what I understand this was a home they built and they were having a blessing service for the home. This baby girl has a home to live in now because they obeyed God and went to Haiti and built her a home. How awesome is that? I mean could you not like cry over this picture? Or is it just me because I am so in love with the tall, strong, handsome guy holding the little girl? Either way.. pretty amazing.

Hope your week is going well. I have to go put some birthday roses in water... :) and then I am off to bed. Blessings!

A Birthday Peek

It has been an awesome birthday! It's late and I still haven't had time to post with all the details since Friday but thought I'd at least give you a peek! This is my birthday gift from Darrel! The fossil watch I wanted! Yay!!!!! Love, love, love it! I just love him. He and my friends made my birthday so fun and special! Thank you to all of you.

We have a dinner meeting about the Haiti trip tomorrow night. If we get home in time I will post for 10 on Tuesday and tell you all about the awesome crop and dinner at Lori's house. Oh... and guess what? I lost another pound and 1/2 which puts me currently at 97 pounds gone! (I lost 6 lbs while Darrel was in Haiti....) SOOOOO Excited about that and am now counting down those last 3 pounds to 100! Yay!!

Until tomorrow.. blessings!

Reunited... and it feels so good...

Ok.. must interrupt the birthday week posting to show you the BEST thing to happen this week and my birthday week gift for Saturday... My husband came home! I hadn't really posted specifically that he was away and where he was, what he was doing, etc. because I am thinking posting to the world that one is home alone for 8 days is perhaps not the wisest thing to do. Maybe I'm just cautious. Darrel went on a mission trip to Haiti! He left last Friday, July 9th and returned yesterday July 17th to Chicago's O'Hare airport. I missed him desperately. There are not words. Why? Well because we are like that for one thing, but also because communication was VERY limited. I am so thankful that we were able to have communication at all. Don't get me wrong. It's just hard to go from being in constant contact to once a day or so if you are lucky and then it was likely a text. I was so hungry for the sound of his voice about midweek I was listening to old voice mails just to hear him say "Hi Princess..." I know.... I know... but I am so serious about that.

He went to Haiti to help construct new homes for people that lost their home in the earthquake earlier this year. The town they were in for the most time was Prospere. No running water, no electricity. 100+ degrees and 100% humidity. One day he actually had heat exhaustion. Another day he carried 93+ lb bags off concrete about 1/2 mile on uneven unstable ground with the last part being an incline... I've just started hearing the stories and looking at the pictures and there is so much more I want to understand about this amazing experience he has just been thru. I will be sharing lots more.

Back to the missing him part... I was so lonely for my husband. All the birthday week stuff he did last week? He bought the gifts in advance and contacted several of my friends to ask if they would be the delivery person for a particular day. He left 2 handwritten cards from him too. He had all that set up so I wouldn't miss birthday week and I would receive a gift from him on the days he was away. He is AMAZING.

When it was determined that their return flight would be coming in to O'Hare Chicago.. well there was no way I was letting a mere 6 hr drive keep me home and waiting for him. So on the day of the return, yesterday, I set out for Chicago a little before the time he was scheduled to begin his flights back from Haiti. Darrel's sister was so awesome and helped our group of 12 get to and from the airport so I met up with her and we went together to meet the group when they returned. As we were pulling into airport parking, thinking we had 10 minutes before the flight was due, I get a text from Darrel that their plane is at the gate! Oh my.. .Renita couldn't park fast enough. I was ready to jump out and run for the gate myself. With airport rules being what they are these days, the closest we could get was the baggage claim area. I could not stand still waiting to see his face appear on the escalator... A friend took these 2 video clips with Darrel's camera. LOVE them!!



It's been pretty amazing having him back home. I have tons of stuff to share about his trip as well as pictures.

Had an amazing crop night party at my friend Lori's house Friday. She outdid herself. It was amazing. I will share lots of details as well as more birthday week surprises from Friday and the weekend. Tomorrow is the big day! They sang happy birthday to me at La Caretta today. FUN! Love stuff like that. Darrel is in the kitchen right now making Eclair Cake! I hope to have time to post in the evening tomorrow. Until then... Blessings!

Thankful Thursday and Birthday Week Day 5

Well I am thinking thankful Thursday is a no brainer this week huh?? I am so thankful for birthday week, for a husband that set it up for me, and for amazing, amazing friends who pitched in and made it so awesome. I have been completely overwhelmed by the love and kindness shown to me. Let me share what happened today.

First there was this amazing gift from Lori. Gift #5. Can you believe it? Look at the cool flamingo clips! They are to hold your beach towel on your chair. How perfect is that? Love it! Then there was nail polish, a sparkly pink nail clipper, a cool beach scrapbook title and look at the card?! Loving these cards.















I had a check up at the DR this morning. I decided to walk and kill 2 birds with one stone as they say by getting my appointment done, and my walking done in one swoop. Plus it was early so it was cooler and heat index today was going to be 104! DR was awesome. He is always very encouraging and supportive about the weight loss. Down 7 lbs according to his scale since last visit. I go every 3-4 months. Walked back home and noticed my mail box flag was up. Um... I didn't put it up... I open it and inside is another gift! This one was left by my friend Ashly. The frame and jewels are from Darrel. The bookmark and key tag are from Ashly! She also wrote an awesome letter! She did say something about it being a "random" gift which I wasn't sure what that meant.















Well it meant gift #4 from Darrel was going to be delivered by Lisa! She brought me the plaque and clips from Darrel and then she and her niece Delilah made me brownies! Not only did they make brownies, she made healthy lower fat brownies! They have chocolate icing and they are sooooo YUMMY! Look they are even on a pink plate and the card was very cool and even rhymed... impressive huh? She brought them over right at the right time too. Was missing my husband and feeling sad and sorry for myself and they cheered me up.

Other things I am thankful for this week:

• text messaging and cell phones
• new sparkly pink nail polish I just tried
• AMAZING friends who take good care of me and are far too good to me
• walking! and a good report from the DR
• being able to continue staying off the blood pressure meds
• chocolate...
• a fun pedicure with a friend this week
• the beach
• Zumba
• the way my husband's shirt still smells like him after he is done wearing it.... and no.. I don't mean it stinks..
• a dinning room table that is currently full of pink stuff
• Tanner
• a nice dinner with some of my family Friday
• my church family
• our home
• my husband.. have I used that one yet? Can't say it enough
• my Kindle. I bought a book and started reading it while sitting in my beach chair in the water today
• shelter during the thunderstorm right now
• 3 lbs gone this week!!!!!! 94 lost.. Look out 100 here I come!
• being signed up for the Doodlebug retreat!
• air conditioning in 100 degree weather

It's been a hard week, but I have been very blessed. Remember the message in a bottle invite from my friend Lori? Well tomorrow night is the luau crop night! So looking forward to it! Hopefully I will have pictures to share. Not sure if I will have time to post again until Sunday. Please check back in for more birthday week fun and then Monday.. the actual birthday! I love birthdays.. have I mentioned that? Blessings!!

Birthday Week Day 4

So were you eagerly awaiting today's post or are you sick of me? I am guessing if you tuned in then you aren't sick of me. Look at the cool card Lori gave me today! It has cute shoes all over it and inside it says I have great style... Me. Wow. Um this would be the girl who used to get picked on for wearing NOT in style clothes or clothes sewn by her grandmother. Never feel like I am like "in style." Just that I am trying to be... So... I will take that as a huge compliment and self esteem boost thank you very much. She also gave me all this cool pink scrapbook stuff! Look at the cute little pink container! Plus buttons, a rubber stamp, heidi swapp flowers and birthday stickers! Love, love, love it! Lori you are awesome. Thank you!!!

When I get to work I see a little gift bag sitting on my desk. No one has any idea where it appeared from. Inside are these cool epoxy scrapbooking sticker thingys, a pretty pink beaded bookmark and 2 Vera B pencils. Now I thought the pencils were in a new pattern that just came out so I was trying to figure out how my husband did that? Turns out my friend Ashly was the delivery person today and the pencil part was an added gift from her, the rest was from Darrel. OK could I feel any more loved and special this week? I am thinking no. Am still amazed that my husband arranged all this and got stuff to all these different people and that people are going out of their way to bring me his gifts and have been adding their own! wow wow wow...

Did not go walking today. The heat index was over 100 which made it sound like not a good idea. I did however get up and do Zumba before work. yay me. I also had another pound go away!!!!! yay!!!!!! I NEVER lose weight like this anymore so I am so stoked about these past few days. I am now at 94 lbs gone! Praise the Lord!! 100 lbs.. here I come!! I am amazed that suddenly my body is releasing weight. I have been hoping with all this slowness and plateaus that this would happen at some point. It's just been so long in coming that I guess I had doubted it would really happen. It feels awesome and makes me so glad I kept trying. I will continue to keep trying. No matter how long it takes. This is my life now because otherwise I would be going back and that ain't happening...

Tomorrow is my day at home. Did some housework and laundry this evening so that hopefully I can go to the beach tomorrow. It's supposed to be exceptionally hot. I have a DR appt. in the AM which I am considering walking to and killing 2 birds with one stone... so to speak. We will see if I can get my hiney out of bed in time to do that.

In scrapping news.. I am currently stalking the "office party" kit that Noel Mignon is revealing tomorrow.. I do NOT need another kit right? Come on, convince me. :) I really love office supply related kind of supplies... you know that right? Still loving the dimension and layering to this girl's layouts. Love how she uses twine! Check out this layout or how about this one or this bulletin board. Maybe if I actually scrapped something more than once every six months I could make stuff like that too huh? ha ha ha ha

Better go if I plan to get up and walk to the DR tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow for thankful Thursday and birthday week! Blessings!

Ten On Tuesday and Birthday Week Day 3

1) You just knew 10 on Tuesday would start with birthday week right? Well this was my gift today from my friend Lori. How stinkin' cute is that little (or big... depending on how you look at it..) pink clothes pin! I love it. There are also these awesome clips and pins in pink and purple... another good mix of Lori and I and beautiful butterfly note cards in a pink sheer bag. She also keeps writing the nicest things in the cards... I am so touched and amazed. Perhaps I need to let you get a glimpse of my dark side... you know to correct that notion that I am so great.. ha. ha...ha.. Thank you Lori!! You made me smile yet again.





















2) Got to work and the power was out. Called to report the outage and they said it would be out till 1PM! Yikes. It actually ended up not taking that long, however I took this as a good time to run to the office supply store. While I was driving back I got a phone call from another friend Lori, telling me I needed to check her mailbox at church and I would find something for birthday week. I asked if my husband was behind this and she said yes... she had had a conversation with my husband.. OK.. tears again. He left me the pink journal and then Lori, added the pink water bottle from her! It has a cat on it and says "don't like the attitude call 1-800 get a dog"... bwa ha ha ha ha... Too funny. Once again very touched by what my husband has set up for me and that I have such amazing friends who wanted to help him and bless me.. wow... Thank you again...

3) Got on the scale this morning and um would you believe since Friday I have lost 2 lbs! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been SO incredibly slow in coming off and I am sooo happy about that. Puts my total at 93 lbs gone.

4) Before I started my weight loss journey 2 years ago, I used to go to the local gas station restaurant 2-3 times a week for lunch for things like chicken nuggets, fries, chicken tenders.. that kind of stuff. When I started the weight loss stuff I figured that needed to stop. Therefore since I don't live in the town I work in, I went from going in several times a week to zip! Today on my way back to town I stopped to check if they had mascara which I'll explain in a minute. They didn't but I did buy a diet Dr Pepper. When I came in the door the cashier said "Hi! Haven't seen you in awhile." I said hi and went ahead to shop. While looking for mascara I glance over and the cashier and another girl behind the counter are looking around the edge of the aisle at me..... I realized the last time they saw me was 93 lbs ago.. and today I had on a sleeveless shirt and shorts... the kind of clothes I would NEVER have worn before... The peering around the aisle at me made me smile. When I got to the register she just rung me up and didn't say anything until right at the end... then she says "what's your secret?" I'm like "my secret??" She said "the weight loss"... and I explained as I usually do, God, prayer, Weight Watchers and lots and lots of walking... I also told her I stopped eating lunch there! Ha!! She thought that was funny! She said I looked great and I left feeling like I was floating. Will that ever stop feeling so good? I hope not! It gets me thru those days when its been weeks since the scale moved and I am sure I will never lose another pound and that I look completely huge and ugly... Yes.. those moments still happen. Still trying to overcome years of negative programming remember?

5) OK.. about the mascara. Um... mid way thru the day I suddenly realize I FORGOT to put on my mascara. How did I do that? Been doing dumb things this week... Did everything but mascara and I hate how my make up looks with eyeliner but no mascara. Did not want to go all day without it and since I was in the car, actually considered driving home to get it! However I live like 15 min. away one way. So I start thinking....... hmmm what friends are nearby that might loan me some mascara. I try my friend Julia.. she wasn't home. I start to head towards home and call Lisa! Lisa was home and had mascara and thankfully did not think I had completely lost my mind. Her house is closer than my house. But guess what? Her husband was heading past church and he was actually kind enough to be the mascara delivery person. He didn't even act like I was completely crazy and I would think it would be a guy thing to totally think that!!! ha ha ha ha ha !!! Once applying the borrowed mascara I felt much better and could then face the rest of the day.. It's a girl thing like the cute shoe thing I think... I think this was the mascara. I really liked it. Have to get me some of that!















6) Here is the promised picture of the new manicure. I enjoyed the manicure. Had not gotten one before. They did the clipping, trimming and filing like with a pedicure. They soak your nails in a bowl of warm sudsy water. Then he did a forearm, hand, wrist massage before doing the polish. Um yep.. I could get used to that! Doesn't look much different from when I do it so I guess I'll take that as a compliment that I do a good job doing my own! Ha! Either that or they did a bad job..Lets go with answer #1.














7) Here is the pedicure. The picture does not do the brightness of the pink polish justice. It is bright and I should probably go check and see if it glows in the dark... I love it. Loving the flower too. I've had this one before, but it's one of my favs. It's got a jewel in the center and sparkly polish. What's not to love?

8) I did Zumba and walking today. 40 min Zumba this morning. 60 min. walking after work. Currently I have a Charlie horse.. .is that how you spell that or are you laughing at me?... kind of cramp in my calf. It's been there since I ate dinner! It will not go away. I keep trying to stretch it which feels good, yet it remains cramped and in a knot! I think this is the same leg I thought I pulled a muscle in last week while doing zumba so now I am wondering if these two things are related? What does one do for a muscle cramp like this? Ice? Heat? Walk another mile? How about bed? Bed sounds good.

9) My actual birthday is now in just over 5 days... I am looking forward to Eclair Cake? Have you ever had Eclair Cake? YUM. Even though I do not suspend the weight loss efforts for special occasions, at least I try not to, I am currently thinking the 9x13 pan of Eclair Cake and a fork would be all I will be needing on Monday. Happy Birthday to me right? See the reason I love birthdays is because I figure if you gotta get older, well then you might as well have fun right? Normally Darrel and I would take a trip to Indy for dinner, but not sure that will be happening this year. Maybe we should just do our favorite La Caretta?

10) I've been going to finish my layout and scrap for days now. Figured this evening was finally my chance... wrong.. Been a little preoccupied. Perhaps tomorrow? Going to a scrap crop date night Luau this Friday! At least I know I'll get to scrap then! Tune in on Monday! I plan to post a new scrap challenge idea that I am going to work on over the next year. Hoping some of my blog readers will want to play along with me!

Hope to post tomorrow with birthday week day 4. I know I have one gift sitting on my dining room table and knowing my husband... another one will appear from somewhere... can't wait! I *heart* birthday week! Blessings!