Crazy Monday...

WOW...what a day this was. I was busy from the get go starting out by seeing this pathetic excuse of a plant in my husband's office!

My husband is in Mpls working now so I forget this darn thing is in there...translate that to mean it doesn't get watered!!! LOL...so I watered it at 8:15 this morning. I went to my fitness class, came home and the plant still looked the same. Showered and ran some errands and when I got home around 2pm it looked like "MAYBE" it was gonna perk up so I watered it one more time. And here it is, recovering, at 6:30pm! This thing just will NOT die! What a plant!!!

During the afternoon I made a tote bag for a friend. She came over yesterday and picked out fabrics for the Lazy Girl Designs pattern that I already owned. I like how it turned out. Lazy Girl does such precise and easy to follow directions. This particular pattern is called "Whimsy". Thanks Joan!!! I have ordered 3 more patterns and the acrylic bottoms as well!!!

GIRL'S NIGHT!!!

what fun! we did a jewelry exchange...

a little fondue for dinner...

don't forget the CHOCOLATE fondue for dessert!!!

OOPS...the chocolate dribbled on the chin!!!

After the food we watched a movie and then it was time to go home!!!
And this is why I want to stay here in KS...GREAT GIRLFRIENDS who are irreplacable!!!

Sad day...

A fellow quilter that I met at Alex Anderson's quilt retreat a few years ago has died. Marlene was a beautiful human being and I had another opportunity to visit with her 2 years ago when i was in California. Marlene had a heart of gold. She was a very quiet lady who was very sensitive. She had a zest for life and a passion for quilting. I know she made pincushions for retreaters at Alex's retreat. She will be missed...

RIP MARLENE.....

Girlfriend day...

Tonight will be spent with my 2 best girlfriends!! We're celebrating Denise's bday by fonduing at my house and watching a movie or two. It's D's choice!!! Look for pics tomorrow!!!

"YES WE CAN"

YES WE CAN...I woke up this morning to this gorgeous sunrise in Minneapolis. What a beautiful way to wake up and ask God for change for the USA...YES WE CAN!!!

Unfortunately, I forgot that the official swearing in occurs at noon EST...which is 11am CST. YIKES...I would be on the road driving back to KS from MN. I just KNEW I had to stop somewhere along the way and watch it live. SO...I was in Clear Lake, IA at a Bennigan's watching the swearing in! BOY am I glad I stopped. I had chills throughout the whole process.

I was impressed with the passion that Barack spoke with. He sure made me proud to be an American and an American who voted in November!!!

I must say that I was not sad to see the Bush's leave DC. It's been a long overdue stay. I don't want to bash GWB, but he was not a very competent leader of the great USA! Thanks, but adios!

And, welcome to the new and good luck! America NEEDS change! So today i say, "YES WE CAN"!!!!!

Shopping!!!!!!!!!!!

I am still in MN. It has warmed up and this is a GOOOOOOOOOOOD thing! LOL...on Friday I spent the day with my sister. My all time favorite quilt store here in MN is going out of business. The owner is retiring and Friday was the day everything went on sale at 50% off!!! Who could say NO to that!!! The second row from the top and the pink and 2 yellow batiks and the black stripe and coordinating floral, AND the bright multi-color floral and "pickup stix" coordinate are from that store!! OH...and the wide backing (black with bright swirls on it) is also from there! WOOHOO!!!!! My sister and I were shocked to see that about half of her fabrics were still there!!! (Mary, did you get over there on Saturday...if so, did you find anything?!!!)

The rest of the fabrics are from 2 other stores we visited. Who can go to just ONE quilt store? LOL

Yesterday Steve and I went to watch our nephews play basketball. That was a lot of fun. Afterward, we stopped at a condo place by the Mall of America. We went back to the apartment and I finished a binding. Then back for more bball and a visit with the BIL's fam at their house! All in all it was a great day.

Today might bring a movie and some condo open houses and football. Nothing too stressful!

Met a fellow blogger

I had the chance to meet Mary today. She braved the frigid temps in my previous post and walked 15 blocks to hook up at Starbucks. What a trooper and she's a southern gal at heart! Me on the other hand...I'm a native who's lived away for the past 7 years and have become a woos. I couldn't even fathom THINKING about being outside much less walking 15 blocks!!!

Thanks Mary! It was a nice afternoon chatting with you. We'll have to do it again sometime.
Laurie

FRIGID COLD!!!

Here is what -24 DEGREES looks like in Minneapolis! Thank God for skyways!!! I'll use the skyway today to meet Mary at Starbucks! It's also GREAT weather to have a quilt on my lap and do the hand stitching on the binding! I might even check out Macy's end of the season clearance! Did I say end of the SEASON??? It better warm up quickly then!!!!!

Busy weekend...busy week ahead

WOW...what a busy weekend I had. I quilted 3 quilts and put the binding on 4. I will take these with me to MN so that I have something to do at DH's apartment during the day. With the frigid temps predicted in Mpls...the quilt on my lap, doing the binding...it'll work! Sorry for the bumps but I laid them on the couch to take pics.

This quilt top was made in 2007 and just needed the binding done...DUH...this was an easy one! LOL

This quilt was made for me by a dear friend...we say we are Twins Separated at Birth (TSB's). While in CA visiting her we chose a focus fabric (the border on this one) and then made a quilt for each other. This is Laurie's quilt for me...yep, i do her quilting so guess who quilted this one??? LOL...MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My other quilt is the one from this previous post...busy busy busy...that will be me!!! Have a great week and weekend everyone!!

Well, the streak has ended...

I ended my streak of NOT eating out tonight. But HEY...how could I turn down a movie/dinner date with my son????!!!!!!!!!! And, he PAID for it!!! We went to see the movie "BOLT" with John Travolta as the voice of BOLT. It was an AWESOME movie. Both of us loved it!

It was my choice for dinner and I chose Old Chicago because I knew what I could have that would be fine for being on WW. I chose a individual, thin crust chicken/broccoli/garlic pizza and only ate 2 pieces. I had a house salad before that. I still had a LOT of WW points left so I just counted the meal as the 17 pts. that I had left. I feel like I did pretty well!!! Back on track tomorrow!!

here's my date for the night:

Busy Day...#6 and counting

WHEW...it was a very productive day!!! I never left the house and that was AWESOME!!! I was going to cut a new quilt out but thought to myself that was not a very wise decision. I have several tops that need to be quilted and bound first! Since I am spending a week in Mpls with my hubby next week I thought I should quilt a few (if I have the time), get the bindings sewn on, and then take them with me to do the hand sewing in his apt. That way I won't be bored to tears while he's at work!!!

I got one quilt done and I'm not sure that I'm very happy with it. I might do some beading on it but that scares me because the center flower is printed on Printed Treasures. Holes in that will be permanent! YIKES!!! But we'll see.

I also got this loaded and started a couple of rows done on it. I am using the Circle Lord baptist fan template on it.

I finished day #6 of eating dinner at home!!! I think that's a new world record for me! LOL I had shrimp cocktail, green beans, and french bread with an olive oil/parmesan cheese topping on it. YUMMY!!!

Now it's time for some R&R...

Tomorrow it's back to the longarm! WOOHOO!!! Have a great night!

Today is day 5...

When the clock strikes midnight tonight I will have NOT eaten out for 5 days straight!!!!! I'm amazed how easy it's been and how much BETTER I feel!!! I am in control of how my food is prepared and what is going in my mouth. I also haven't had a beer or glass of wine either. I'm sleeping better and have more energy. It's SOOOO worth it!!!

There has been a lot of stress in our lives around here the past 6-8 months or so and I gradually got out of control with my eating habits. My portion sizes eventually got larger, fried foods started showing up in my meals, fruits and veggies were fairly nonexistent, and my exercise regimen slowed down. Over the holidays I grasped that I was out of control and needed to regain it. I have done that!!!

If you are struggling with stress try to take a 15 min walk every day. It will clear your head, raise your metabolism, and lower the stress. If you want to lose a few pounds...consider cutting sugar (if that's a downfall for you), the alcohol, the fried foods, or just adjust your portion size. Every little bit will help. I guarantee you that you will feel MUCH better and it will get easier every meal, day, week, month!!

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Made it back to WW...

Yesterday was a GREAT day! I ate well and worked out (working out isn't usually an issue for me). Here was my lunch...turkey is wrapped in that tortilla and it was a very filling lunch for onmly FIVE points!!!! It was DELISH!!!

So, today I bit the bullet and went back to my Weight Watcher's meeting this morning! I figured waiting a week so that I was lighter wasn't going to motivate me. Going to my meeting WOULD!!! It was ugly, but a pound less than "the ugly" I was anticipating! LOL...I gained 5.8 pounds in the past month. *sigh* I need to lose 15 lbs in order to get back to Lifetime status at WW.

The good news is that yesterday I spent about 2 hours planning meals and putting together a grocery list. The menu goes thru Sunday night and I'm sure there will be leftovers for Monday. Tuesday I'll head to MN (weather permitting) with a new attitude!!!

As I was writing this post and feeling good about day #2 (i have eaten well again), I looked out the window and look at the warm feeling that God sent me!!!

PS(Laurie, Barb, and Rose...thanks for your kind words on my last post!!! It's great to have the encouragement!)

Angry at myself...

I am not a person who makes new year's resolutions because they NEVER work out like I think it should. SO...that being said, this is NOT a NY resolution. It is a goal that I WILL accomplish because it never should've happened.

You might remember this post last January. I had reached my goal and was so happy and felt so healthy and comfortable in my own skin. I have always gained/lost/gained/lost etc etc etc. Things were sailing along wonderfully until early September or so. That's when DH decided to take a job back in MN (I was somewhat excited to be going back home but very sad to leave kids/friends here), our college son was hospitalized for a skin infection, there was a lot of travel for soccer games, and DH moved out...just a little bit of stress and when I'm stressed and lonely I turn to FOOD!!! I have an addiction to food/beer/wine when I am stressed and/or lonely. You probably have guessed it...I have gained some weight back. 16 of the 30 pounds I had lost to be exact. I am ANGRY at myself for this.

SO...today was my day to pull the reins in and gain control again. DH is back in Minneapolis and we won't see each other for about 9 days or so. I need to be in control before heading north and I WILL be in control! So far today has been wonderful! I've exercised and eaten well. I decided I needed to plan for the next 10 days so I went to my cookbook cupboard and thought I had 3-4 low cal/low fat cookbooks.

WHOOPS......look what I found!!! Not one, not 2, not 3 or 4 or 5...but TEN healthy cookbooks. LAURIE should NEVER have slipped into this weight trap but she did. It certainly wasn't due to a lack of healthy cookbooks!

I'm on my way again...thankfully I am getting a grip on this issue BEFORE it turns into 30, 40, or 50 pounds or more.

Have you BTDT? Do you want to join me to gain control of your eating and healthy? Hop on board!!! Together we can do it!!!

PS...I found ONE more cookbook that didn't make the photoshoot! SHEESH!!!

Happy New Year!!!

December 31, 2008 is now a memory. Here is a photo journal of some of DH's and my last day of the year!!!

Last year our son volunteered at the Fire Station and this year he had to work (he was hired on full time the day before Thanksgiving) at Station 3.

We made this year our 2nd year of taking the firefighters dinner from Jack Stack BBQ! The firefighters LOVE it too!!! They don't have to cook and they are getting AMAZING BBQ!!!

We were on our way to pick up the to-go order (about 3:15ish) when Dan called and said they were finishing up a call and wouldn't be able to meet us at the station at 4:00 as planned. I asked if there was a way to get in and Steve and I were given the code to the front door. We had to giggle when we got there. Ya know how in the movies when the station alarm goes off and they firefighters drop everything to go. WELL...it's true!!! The TV was on...the microwave was beeping with food in it, and this bowl of UNTOUCHED soup was stone cold on the kitchen table!!! Driving home I told Steve that I though the soup was our son's. (it was...I asked Dan when he got home this morning...he said it never tasted a bite of it!!!)

Once Steve and I got home I spread a quilt on the floor, sliced some cheese, opened 2 beers and broke out the SCRABBLE game (which was dusty since it probably hadn't been played in over 7 years!!!). I got the idea from Mary who has Scrabble Tournaments with her DH. Thanks Mary...it'd been YEARS since Steve and I had played Scrabble!!!

We watched a little football...KU played MN so we really couldn't lose! LOL...

And here ya go...Mary, you're gonna LOVE this story...I am leading Steve by 75 pts and he puts "RA_OR" in the upper right corner (enlarge photo, I had played Zany earlier in the game) and scores a 57. About 2 rounds later he says, "I can't win" and I told him he was only behind by 8. He laid down the "G" in "WIG" (upper left) and scored 11 pts and beat me by THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR...I thought I had the game in the bag. The second game was NO contest...he literally kicked my butt! I'd like to say it was fun but I really HATE to lose! LOL

I decided then that it was time to put the game away and eat! So we broke out the fondu!! YUMMY!!!

Once the main course was over we broke out the chocolate fondue for dessert! YUM YUM YUM!!!!!!

After that we watched some of our old Bob Newhart DVDs and I was in bed by 11pm. I was exhausted since I didn't sleep after waking up at 4:30am.

My wish for all of my family and friends is simple:
I wish you good health, happiness, and a year of peace and tranquility!!!