Today's goal: think about what is important to you! A couple of days ago, I was on Netflix and came across a movie titled "A Little Bit of Heaven". I liked the main character in it so I decided to give it a try. What I was completely unaware of was how much it would 1) make me cry and 2) make me think...a lot...I'm a girl, so crying at movies just comes natural to me, especially these days, my hormones are a complete nightmare mess...anyway, this movie was about a young woman who learns she is dying, and she struggles to put right in her life the things that were wrong. She had to fix her relationship with her father, decide what her 3rd wish would be and how to deal with her loved ones around her and the effects of her death on them. How freakin sad! When I think about my dying, I hardly believe it would have an effect on anyone other than my husband and children....but I really don't know how many lives I touch, how many people like me more than I think or even how my own dogs would react. I'll never know...Does anyone ever really know? Do you have a bucket list? I don't, I wouldn't even begin to know what to put on one. I have done some things I wanted to do, but I've never had any lifelong dreams...I guess maybe because every year that goes by is one I never expected to see. I have a bunch of broken relationships, do I intend to fix them? not really, there's a reason why they're broken...I have a great love, I have an ordinary job, and my only dream is to move to the coast as soon as my daughter graduates from college, after that, its anyone's guess. I've never been one to aspire to do anything, never been one to save money, and I've surely never had those kinds of girly friendships where women take vacations together or go shopping at christmas time, its really very sad. I've never sat down to analyze my life and where its going. But this year, its been hard for me. I've decided to start working out, lose some weight and figure out which foods are going to actually work for my cells, and make me healthy. I have years of poor health choices behind me and I feel that I need to fix that. I don't want to die suddenly of a heart attack and I'm really not liking the wrinkles appearing on my face. I have no idea at what age I will die, but I know right now that I do need to do some things before I die...the question is, what? What do I need to do before I die? What do you need to do before you die?

So I was going to tell this story tonight but unfortunately I got home and had to do A few things and now its later than I thought. Swear I will tell it tomorrow since I have time to do it. See you then :)

boy does this place appear abandoned! :( I will try my best to update this thing on Friday! I have a great story to polish & publish! see you soon! kT

One autumn night

Oh how I love the stars in the sky
Twinkling brightly as the night goes by
The leaves rustling in the breeze
The squirrels sleeping in the trees
Darkness settles in too soon
Random clouds float past the moon
The last of the warm nights are here
Old man winter is drawing near
For now everything's just right
Hanging out on this one autumn night

Ahhh

A day off....this is a weird week, my work schedule is interrupting my days off! LOL.  I'm back on my exercise schedule and with a new elliptical, its proving to be a bit more challenging.  I like the elliptical and it is quite the workout for an old lady like myself.  I can feel the burn of my thighs within the first 5 minutes and that's great however, by the end of 20 minutes, its very difficult for me to keep going to the 30 minute mark.  Ugh...if only I was 41 with the body & energy of a 21 year old healthy young woman. My cholesterol numbers are looking so much better this year and I'm super excited about that, my total cholesterol is the lowest its been in years and I am attributing that to my new diet and exercise plan.  I want to change my destiny and I don't want to die of a heart attack like my grandfather did years ago and had I kept up on the path I was on, I would possibly be dead in less than 10 years and I am ready for a lot of things but I'm not sure I'm ready for that.  So, I'm going to continue on with a healthy diet & some consistent exercise and see where my numbers are in a year.  Wish me luck, because I'm going to need it! :)

Enlightenment

Before enlightenment, you chop wood and carry water
After enlightenment, you chop wood and carry water!
Enlightening thought eh?

Nathan & Michelle

Today I was honored to attend the wedding of my friend Rhonda's son.  Though I've not been officially introduced to Nathan, I've known Rhonda and Stewart for 5 - 6 years now and I've seen Nathan's pics in their home.. I know their daughter Stephanie & her family too.  So I didn't feel too intrusive today, they always make me feel so welcome as tho I'm a part of their family.  I love friends like that and I don't feel I have enough of those friends.  The wedding was lovely, quaint yet enough love in the chapel.  Weddings always make me teary eyed because the magic of love is very powerful and in its early stages its intense, intriguing and addictive. As long as you fuel the fire, the Passion can continue to grow and before you know it, well, let's just say 2 really do become 1 and your heart can't beat without the other.  I've been blessed to have seen the power of true love and how when one dies the other cannot live.  I really do hope this love hits Nathan & Michelle. I hope they continue to fuel the flames of Passion and I hope they never lose faith in each other.  They're a beautiful couple and I wish them the very best.  Nathan & Michelle, may God richly bless the two of you in everything you dream & everything you do!  Vaya Con Dios!

Done working out til next MD visit :(

All that intense working out that I've been doing gave me a small case of tendinitis on my Achilles. Not happy about that, so for the next week & a half, I have to rely solely on my low calorie intake. Today I'm off work and that seems to present quite the challenge and I'm going to have to find some things to do to take my mind off food. So far so good tho, here it is 9 am and I haven't eaten anything yet :) Hopefully I can retrain my brain into not eating all the time. I don't live to eat, I eat to live and all that jazz...UGH...this sounds frightening! Well, wish me luck! :)

Dreary days are tough to get through

Yesterday it did nothing but rain, all day! I did manage to get my 3 mile treadmill walk in, and come to find out, my truck is having problems again :(  I'm going to have to take it to the shop today if they will have time. I'm so not ready to make an auto purchase, I spent last night looking on cars.com and its crazy the prices attached to these things, some sedans cost more than suvs and suvs are around 20k .....I'm going to have to get a second job here at this rate just to pay the damned thing each month.  Ugh!  I need a moneyfall! Just my luck, when it rains, it pours! And yesterday, that was literally what was happening! :(

What a day & it isn't over yet! :)

Today was the Mosaics art fair in St. Charles, we thought it would be nice to take Spanky out there.  My friend had a booth out there with her art displayed for sale, & whenever she has a booth going, if its my weekend off, I enjoy going wherever to see her and all the other artists.  My kinda thing! :).

Spanky enjoys walking around, people give him treats, lots of attention & compliment how adorable he is.

We had lunch out on the patio of a quaint little restaurant and the cute guy ordered a 32 oz fried chicken sandwich! WOW! That was quite a bit of chicken!

Needless to say he didn't eat very much of that! :) Hit up Trader Joe's on the way home & now we are fixing to eat dinner off the grill! I'm excited! It was a great day today, and I'm thankful for all my blessings!

Geez, great timing after yesterday's post

I just finished my 3 mile walk/run on the treadmill,  stepped off, took a swig of my poweraid when the lights went out. I'm standing in the dark basement thinking; did my treadmill trip a switch?  I'm kinda leary now because of the treadmill mishap a few days ago...right at 3 miles my treadmill quit... I walked up the stairs to check the breakers and found nothing out of the ordinary. I called the power company and they were so kind to inform me that 74 people in my area are without power just like me! Isn't that nice? LOL.  I still have my George Foreman video to do, but so what, I can take a little break right?  I did some chores around the house that don't necessarily require power other than my own manual labor power, and here it is over an hour later & still no power.  Well, there is still more I can do around here so I guess I better hop to it. I can't afford to run down my phone battery blogging & all..that would mean I would have to go drive around wasting fuel for my cell phone..and its completely not worth all that.

Life....As We Know It!

Life as we know it changes daily. Its quite difficult to master a routine if things keep changing. I find myself now with trying yet another routine. This time though, its a work out routine. Trust me when I say I'm doing this kicking & screaming & whole-heartedly against my will! I'm coming up on 42 years old and I'm ashamed of the weight I've gained over the years. I couldn't buy the weight when I was 21, I was maybe 105lbs at the time. Today, I have 65lbs on that one! You aren't supposed to double in weight as you double in age, at least not after 18 years old. It took years to put on the weight, and by no means do I expect it to fall off over night. I wish it would fall off, but I know it won't. There are so many rules to losing weight, eat more fiber, eat more fruits & veggies, add exercise to your diet, drink lots of water, blah blah blah blah blah....ugh...I suppose if I were excited to lose weight, I might actually lose it faster however, walking on a treadmill is NOT my kind of fun! Its boring, it takes forever to lose 500 calories, my calves ache, my back aches....this isn't a grand time! Gaining weight is not painful, but losing the weight is excruciatingly painful, especially when it takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r! All I want to do is give up, but as I proved to myself in respiratory school, when you want something bad enough, you'll do the work, even if it sucks! So....this puts the first workout week to rest, and tomorrow starts another week....respiratory school was a total of 70 weeks...I sure hope that I can lose 50lbs in less than 70 weeks! Oh brother...here we go!

Is this why I'm fat? ;)

By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY

The "munchies" aside, pot smokers are actually less likely than non-tokers to be obese, according to a study by a French researcher.

The examination of data from two separate studies of more than 50,000 U.S. adults found that 14% to 17% of people who smoked pot at least three days per week were obese, compared with 22% to 25% among non-cannibis users.

The research team headed by Yann Le Strat, a psychiatrist at the Louis-Mourier Hospital in Colombes, France, appears in the Sept. 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

"Initially, we thought we made a mistake," says Le Strat, according to Reuters. He says he and co-author Bernard Le Foll checked the results several times to make sure they were correct.

"This is only a preliminary result," he says. "It doesn't mean that marijuana does actually help you lose weight, but perhaps there is a component that does."

The researchers did not examine whether diet and exercise habits were different between the two groups but did find that cigarette usage had no influence on the obesity findings, Reuters reports.

Beautiful Full Harvest Moon tonight!

The day started out like a dream! I was low censused at work! Love that and don't see it often enough. I got up early, started out with the intent to go about 4 hours on the treadmill. I would love to erase away the calories for the day before I even consume them. I couldn't get going, I kept getting off the treadmill for whatever reason, couldn't get the DVD player to work and I was forced to watch cable. Of course there was nothing on tv, that's par for the course I think. But I eventually found something and I started out on my walk. I had the fan set up, blowing right on me and I was all set. I almost hit the 3 hr mark on the treadmill when abruptly, it stopped. I nearly fell on my face. I guess the treadmill can't handle all the walking. I did purchase it used, and it sat in the house for about 2 years before I started using it on a more serious level. I'm very ashamed to say that. Anyway, I turned it off, unplugged it, and went upstairs with my high hopes completely deflated. I only worked off about 750 calories. So, I sat in the living-room watching netflix until I fell asleep! HA....that sounds terrible. So, fast forwarding to tonight, the cute guy & I went out tonight to play miniature golf & treat ourselves to ice cream. It was truly a lovely evening. We opted for the 18 hole course and there was only 3 people playing, that's including us. I love that! Even with my 2 holes-in-one, the cute guy kicked my butt. I love playing mini-golf with him, he's the first guy ever that I can play this game with who doesn't completely gloat after winning. He's sympathetic when it takes me 5 shots to make it in the hole. What a great guy! I totally could retire and do nothing other than play mini-golf with him! Love the sound of that! Then we went over to Maggie-Moos for ice cream. It starts getting dark here around 7:30 pm so it was just perfect for sitting outside enjoying our ice cream while watching the full moon and quaintly chatting about whatever! Ahhh the life! I'm digging it. I don't go back to work til Friday and for that, I'm feelin good!

Good bye summer

I'm very sad to close up the pool, summer leaving breaks my heart.  I love summer, I like autumn, but I love love love summer.  Wonderful memories were made this summer, sad ones too, but I'm hopeful to make some nice fall memories.  Chili, roast, stew & football await me.  I must admit, that does sound comforting.  Still, I'm not ready and I'm going into fall kicking & screaming! :(

Athena in the Nashville Parthenon

Makes me long to be back on Athens.  How I miss it so!

The Parthenon of Nashville

Not quite the original, but stunning anyhow.  Not nearly the stairs here that are at the true Parthenon, I like that, and, nowhere near as crowded

Awesome food at the oasis grill in kuttawa Kentucky

Food cooked to perfection, wait staff very friendly, average cost.  Loved it!

Today is a bit much!

What I would give to be able to sleep until I wake up everyday, but I have to work at least 3 days a week. :( today I just find difficult for some reason, I miss my dad and my grandma and my heart still aches greatly for their loss of life & for my loss of their being.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of them, cardinals gear makes me think of dad, & in stl, the gear stays in your face.  For grandma, its all the television shows she watched.  I don't know how long is normal for someone to grieve, but I know for me, its going to be a while.  Whew, facing the days without them in my reach is more difficult than I ever anticipated.

On a happier note, year two with the cute guy is starting off beautifully. I love him dearly and I've never been so happy in my life!

Happy Anniversary to me!

Happy Anniversary Cute Guy! It has truly been an amazing first year of marriage and a great end to the first year today as well! I can't wait til tomorrow when we begin year 2! It's a shame I have to work, but for now, that's the story of our lives! Soon, we shall retire somewhere warm, sandy and blue-watery! I love you with all my heart & thanks again for showing me what I never knew love to be! Forever yours, Me! :)