George

I know most of you have seen this, but for those of you who don't have facebook, here is George. I am so excited to get him. He is six months old and very obviously a Lab mix. Which is great because I love Labs. He is already thirty pounds. I think it is going to be a lot of fun to have him in our family.

Chillin'.

I am spending the week with my Grampy in TX. He is my mom's dad, and he misses my Grammy. She died not TOO long ago. I miss her. A lot. Especially when I am at her house and she is not.
My aunt, Cheli, whom he lives with, is having surgery today and my mom is at the hospital with her. I am here with Jeremy, Grampy, and the cats.
So far things are going great. We ran a couple of errands this morning and everyone is eating when they should be. I enjoy spending time with my Grampy. He is a good guy. He likes to do things on a schedule, so he is helping me regulate my time. Which I need. He likes to do errands in the mornings and eat at regular times and he has little jobs that he does. Like go around on his scooter and return all the neighbors' trash cans back up to their garages after the trash truck comes.  He is also the neighborhood can collector and goes around and cleans up the neighborhood of cans and other trash. All except for one guy, who is a "jackass" who told him not to mess with his trash cans. LOL.
He is taking good care of me, making sure I have enough to eat, and that I know I am welcome to anything in the house. He spends a lot of time sitting in the garage with a fan on him, but he is constantly coming in to check on me and Jeremy. It is sweet.
My aunt Cheli is doing well, out of surgery and into recovery. I hope her surgery works out for her.

Hoarders?

Went to a class on couponing tonight. It was pretty cool. It isn't something I am interested in myself, but I learned a few things.
First, don't be a shopper, be a buyer. Go with a list. I believe we have discussed my loathing of writing things down. But seriously? I gotta get some things in order.
I can be a buyer. I can make good decisions about things that I buy, and such.
Currently, I am a shopper. I like to walk each aisle of the store, look at most of the departments, take my time, find everything I might want or need. I don't currently restrict myself on the things that I buy.
Honestly? It is a source of contention between The Man and I.
My sister says that her husband works so hard for his pay, that she doesn't want to be wasteful about it. I totally agree with this sentiment. The Man works SO HARD. I feel like I have been remiss in my duty to take the responsibility of being in charge of the household budget seriously, and to execute that duty with  the gravity it deserves.
I don't think I need to change EVERYTHING about how I am. But lots of stuff is getting in the way of making progress. For instance, I am having trouble losing weight because I am horrible at saying no to things I shouldn't eat. Another example is that I have problems with The Man because I spend too much money. I have problems with my spirituality because I don't follow the most basic of requirements. So maybe instead of thinking of all these things I have to change, perhaps I should focus on the one thing they all have in common. Because I gotta tell ya, folks, I am overwhelmed. The thought of all the important things that are needing attention and work in my life is enough to make me want to crawl in a hole and give up. But I can't give up. The things that need change are too important. So instead of focusing on all the things I need to fix, I am going to focus on the one thing they all have in common. Self discipline. Lack of, to be specific.
So let's see what I can come up with. Maybe I need a routine. Maybe I need a more organized life. The thought of doing the same thing every day at the same time makes my skin crawl. But it isn't working the way it is now. Really, it isn't. So a schedule it is. A routine. I have plenty of time to get everything done that I need to get done, and I am motivated to do all those things. So I am going to work on my self discipline.
Wish me luck!

My feet hurt.

It is a lot of fun to make so many things, but my feet hurt.

Jammin.

Hey ya'll.
I am making jam and pickles all this week. Yum.
Today I made a beautiful strawberry lemon marmalade. It is dark pink and looks like a jewel in a jar. I had a little left over and tried it and it is FAN. TAS. TIC. Every one else thought it was great too.
We went to Canino market today to get fresh veg and fruit for canning things this week. It was THE best farmer's market I have ever been to. Beats Soulard by a mile and a half. All the produce was gorgeous, there was a HUGE variety, and it was all very inexpensive.
We are making dilled carrots, stewed tomatoes, strawberry lemon marmalade, pepper carrot salsa, honeyed peach and blueberry compote, lemon ginger marmalade, and blueberry citrus conserve.
Yum.
My mom and sister are making the veggies, and me and my sister are making the fruits. We are also doing bread and butter pickles. Friday we are going to the ocean. It will be my first time to see the ocean. I am looking forward to seeing it, but I am not going in the water, and I am afraid it will be hot and dirty. Oh well. I am also sure it will be gorgeous and maybe a little awe-inspiring.
I am having the best time.
I missed my sister and her family a lot more than I thought I did. I am glad to be able to see them.
Also, Avery gave me a kiss on the hand today! Woot!

Dogs, it is hot.

Going to be over one hundred degrees all week!

Blogger on my Galaxy Tab

Woo Hoo!

What life is

I am going to pretend that I just started working out. I have really been working out for almost two years. But I am not losing enough weight. I am strong like bull. (heehee) So now that I am sort of getting the hang of my food thing, I was thinking about sort of starting over. Taking my weight that I am now as kind of a new beginning and seeing how far I can go with it. Not to discount all the things and work I have done. It has been great. But I am beginning to feel overwhelmed and discouraged. The pounds, they are not coming off, people. I know it is because of food. I am horrible at eating right, and we have already discussed my hatred of all things tracking. that is one of the reasons I quit weight watchers. Anyway, I am going off on a tangent.
So this is my new start. Too bad I am going away from the gym for three weeks. I can think of it, instead of as a bad thing, as a challenge to really get my food under control. I am afraid of leaving the gym, and my trainer. Big time. I am afraid of gaining back even more weight than I already have. (Ten pounds, in the last few weeks.)  We have discussed and are discussing the idea of leaving my trainer for a few months during school and starting again in January with the training sessions. I know I can't do the personal trainer thing the rest of my life, but I am really not ready to do this by myself. I want to get my food under control, and lose about 75 more pounds before I try and finish on my own. OK, so maybe 75 pounds isn't reasonable. How about 60? How about down to 200? That is more than 75 pounds, friends. I don't know when I will be ready to tackle it without professional help, but I know I am not ready now. I want to get started losing again. I want to lose slowly and consistently. I want to eat right for real, and not just talk about it. I know how to do it. I just need to get there. And I think I might be there. I am ready to try the food thing, with the tracking and all. Even when it is ugly. What, is he gonna ground me?
I have learned that I can take whatever people throw at me, and use it to get stronger. I am learning to take my faults and problems and turn them into talents and strengths.
One reason I want to be a nutrition sciences major is to learn about the body. I want to help people. I want to know what food does to my body (besides make me fat) and help people to figure it out for themselves. I know that everyone has their own time table, and their own agenda, and that I won't be able to help everyone, but I can always help myself.

Question

Should I add a song to this blog?  What song should it be?

Tracking

Got Richard started with myfitnesspal.com today. Thought it would be fun to do together. I got started on it from my sister. It is really neat, and easy to do. I hate tracking. I hate lists, and calorie counting, and diets, and everything else related to tracking. The myfitnesspal.com tracking program is really easy and fun. I like it alot. Thanks Wendy!

Looking ahead

I am looking forward to seeing my family soon. We are going to see Taylor, who is coming home from his mission in Sweden next week. I am so excited to see him. And the rest of his family. I haven't visited with them really since we moved from San Antonio, 6 years ago.
We are going to have a party, of course, celebrating his return, and then my mom, my sister and I are going to do some canning. I am so excited, I can hardly wait.
Then we are going to visit with my Aunt Cheli, and my Grampy. I will even get to see my Hunky Bob.
The only bad thing is that I will not be able to get to the gym regularly. Fortunately, there will be opportunities for me to exercise, and I am going to be super careful about not eating fast food or junk. Even when we are traveling.
Also, I will get to see Dylan again. He has been gone for a while now, and I miss him. I hope he is doing well.
There is a wealth expert on tv. He is a dork. How do you get to be a wealth expert, I wonder?
Anyway, I guess that will do it.
TTFN

The Fourth

It is Independence Day today. I am sure you already knew that, seeing as how the day is three quarters over. There have been a lot of posts on the FB about how grateful people are to be in this country. How much they appreciate the men and women who serve has been another common thread. I agree completely. Of course.
This country is amazing. I hope it continues to be. I hope that the freedoms we enjoy now are ours forever.
Sounds like I am about to say that I am not sure they will be ours forever. I don't know that. I also don't know where we are headed. I am scared and excited and nervous and looking forward. I know that life is about change and how you deal with it.
I say bring it.

First post!

Here it is, after almost a year of no blogging, my first post! I have missed you! I hope you get as much out of my new blog as I do. I hope I get a lot out of it. Not sure where we will go, but excited about the journey.
Things going on in my life at the moment:
I am currently benefiting greatly from a personal trainer. His name is John. Outside of personal training, he is my friend. In our training sessions he teaches me how to exercise properly (and hard) and about nutrition. I am learning a lot about both of those things, as well as a lot about myself. For instance, it is really hard for me to stick to a certain diet. All diets, actually. I hate restrictions on what I can and can't eat. So I am really struggling. I am on a limited calorie phase right now, 1200 per day. Most days I am good with it, but sometimes I overshoot the target. I am trying though, and seeing progress in lots of ways.
I am going to start school again in August at Saint Charles Community College. Eventually I will end up with a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Nutritional Sciences. I think I want to be a diabetes educator in a hospital or clinic, but I am not sure about that part yet. I am taking three classes and one lab.
Having trouble getting to and staying at church. Not sure why. Still thinking about that one. Sometimes I want to drop it completely and other times I miss it so much it hurts.
Going to be visiting my family soon. I can't wait for this! I miss them all so much. They are amazing people.
Very diverse and intelligent group.
Well, I better get started on my day. To the gym!