Monday....

I have a few things on my mind...........

• I'm very excited about going to the beach for a week......leaving on Sunday
• Burglars, don't even think about it. There will be dogs and adult kids there!
• I worry about N Korea and the crazy people that are in charge over there
• I wonder why you do things for people and think you are doing good and right, but yet, they don't really care!
• It makes me mad how the media controls what people think about celebrities. Or maybe it makes me mad how people let the media control what they think about celebrities.
• To the Weather Moose........yes, it's hot up in Virginia! But we do have some good days where deck sitting is rather enjoyable.
• I hate my cell phone......I thought it was awesome when I bought it but now I realize that it's just a mini computer and it freezes up just like computers do!
• I wish my hair would STOP turning gray
• I'm very excited about going to the beach....ummm.......yeah, I really am!!

later.........

It's Saturday....

And Johnny is home from work....woot woot! He pretty much works 7 days a week so to have him home is the best!

I would like to give a big thanks and shout out to Holly, Connie, Mallory, Traci, Amber, Julie, Karen, Nancy and Lilligirl......for the encouraging words on my weightloss. When people do that, it helps. So thanks!!

And about that Oct 2001 all day concert.........to Karen, Yolanda, Mallory, Nancy and Lilly....yes, it was an awesome show......one I will never forget!

Thanks so much for leaving comments..........I LOVE comments!!

and now, I'm off to spend some time with Johnny boy as he will be back to work tomorrow.

but of course, here's a pic. I love this picture and not so much for the good composition but for what the picture portrays.

later...........

A sidekick, an angel and a music icon.....

Rest in peace Ed, Farrah and MJ......

I saw Michael Jackson perform live on October 21, 2001 at RFK stadium with one of my bestest friends in the world....kgirl!

This was his "What More Can I Give" concert raising money for the 9/11 victims.

We sat in RFK Stadium all day long waiting to see MJ.........we saw the following......

• Aerosmith


• James Brown


• Al Green


• Carole King


• Rod Stewart


• Bette Midler


• America


• Huey Lewis


• Destiny's Child


• P.Diddy


• the Goo Goo dolls


• Train


• Backstreet Boys


• Janet Jackson


• Usher


• Mariah Carey


• Pink


• N'Sync
  

can you even believe we saw that many acts!! they each performed 3 or 4 songs and then there would be a 20 to 30 min break inbetween each act. The final act was Michael Jackson who didn't take the stage until close to midnight. And it was magical! And then all of the acts joined onstage with him. It is an event I will never forget..........

later......
**update - I forgot to mention that the cutie John Stamos and Kevin Spacey hosted the event....

Determined.....

Before I quit smoking 2 years ago, I wore a size 6. Don't be all impressed with that because I'm short and I'm old so 6 is good. It's not great but it's good.

Then I quit smoking and packed on the lbs and went up to a size 10! This did not make me happy plus I had so many cute clothes that were size 6.

So we joined the gym and I worked out fo 2 months and only lost 4 lbs.

I changed up my plan and now only do cardio, no weight lifting, and I lost 6 more lbs.

I was telling my friend Robin at work (hey Robin!) that I had now lost 10 lbs total and she said...well, that's a clothing size.

HA! I had never thought of that. So on Sunday, I tried on my size 8 shorts and boom...they fit!! And they are not tight....they are loose!!

This....makes me happy. And makes me even more determined. I'll get there....soon I hope.

later..........

Just my thought.....

I did watch Jon and Kate last night.......even though I already knew what the annoucement would be.

I am a big believer in marriage and was blessed to have married a man I love who has the same thoughts. We take our vows very seriously.

So it is very sad to see their marriage fail.

I really don't like hearing people put them down because no one knows except for the 2 of them.

and yes, they put their family out there but if I had that many kids and had the opportunity, I can't say I wouldn't have done it. I still think they are good people so folks need to stop bad mouthing them.

just my thought.......

later...........

Happy Birthday Johnny boy...

Happy Birthday to my guy!

Top ten reasons why Johnny boy should have a Happy Birthday....

10. He's a hard working man

9. He's the best dad ever

8. He might be turning 56 but he sure don't look it

7. He has not had a day off since June 1st

6. He is the very best husband in the world

5. Did I mention he's a hard working man

4. He loves his family so much

3. Even old men should have a nice birthday....hehe

2. He needs to enjoy relaxing on his new patio

1. By far, he is the best guy ever.........funny, cute, full of love!!!

I love you babe

later...........

Happy Fathers Day.....

To my dad. As I have stated in previous post......the most wonderful Dad ever!

and to my husband, who is the 2nd most wonderful Dad ever!

I love ya'll with all of my heart.........

later.......

Channel surfing.....

Today and tomorrow Johnny boy is working a double shift.......6:30 am to 11:00 pm.

so I'm on my own all weekend

and I have shared before that I do not pump gas but I needed gas today so Jake rode with me and pumped my gas.

I worked in the yard and cleaned the house

then made a pot of coffee and settled down with the remote

and came upon the "Real Housewives of New Jersey"....ummm....New Jersey?

I could not stop watching it

While watching, I kept saying out loud, I can't believe I'm watching this

and then I fast forwarded on the menu to make sure I had the new one on Tuesday selected to record.

I know, I can't believe it either.

and just because post are no fun without pics, here's my little guy Maddox and Nicole. They stopped by for a visit today.

later.........

Awesome giveaway...

go here.....she's giving something really nice away!

http://mysweetsavannah.blogspot.com/2009/06/one-lucky-reader-will-win.html

Fresh Basil......

I know everyone's gardens are full of fresh basil right now. Here's a great recipe.....

3 large tomatoes (coarsely chopped - 3 1/2 cups)

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp each salt & pepper

1/4 tsp dried oregano

12 oz box fusilli pasta .....or your fav pasta

1 cup fresh basil leaves cut into thin strips

Put tomatoes, onion, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, papper and oregano in a large bowl, toss. Let stand at room temp at least 30 min ....tossing occasionally.

Cook pasta, drain and add to bowl with tomatoes. lightly toss........add basil.

This is a wonderful summer recipe......my family just loves it. I like to make it ahead of time so that it has a chance to chill. I made some for our cook out today along with fruit salad.......watermelon, blueberries and kiwi. I'm also fixing those smashed potatoes from Pioneer Woman and grilling hamburgers and hotdogs. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

later.........

The Patio.....all finished!

Here are the pics of the patio all finished. If you click on the picture, you can see a much better view...more detail. Of course we still need to bring in some mulch for the flower beds and Johnny still needs to finish up the steps but he's almost done. We are extremely pleased with how it turned out and highly recommend the company that did it. They were wonderful to work with, prices good, cleaned up very nicely when they finished.....so if you're in the Richmond, VA area and want an awesome patio, let me know! I also included a pic of the deck that I took from the window upstairs. It shows the cool pattern Johnny did on the deck along with the stain he used.

later.......

The Patio....during

now here are some pics during........and they think they will finish today!! They got it all dug out and the gravel put in and packed.

I LOVE the dry stack around my flower bed. Also pic of the pavers that they will be putting down today.

later.......

The Patio....before

Here are a few "before" pictures of the area where we are putting the patio.

pretty much.....a mess!

and notice my flower bed......the new patio will be partly in the flower bed. Also note, Johnny boy is still working on the steps!

later.....

Maddox....

A friend of mine asked about Maddox today so I thought I would share an update with all of my bloggy friends too........

Maddox is my 3 year old grandson.......my only grandchild so far. I hope there will be lots more :)

Maddox has struggled all of his precious 3 years. He had a lot of health issues and had to wait to become healthy before those issues could be addressed. And this may or may not have caused him to be delayed....we really do not know. But the first 6 months of his life, he did nothing. He did nothing but try to survive and get strong. Once healthy, he started his daunting task of trying to catch up. No label was put on him which was fine with us. As my daughter's pediatrician has said.......if we label him, expectations automatically are lowered. And I think that is very true. So our expectations for Maddox are high, as with any toddler. Our daughter is doing everything for him that can be done.....he has had physical and speech therapy since 10 months old. He is enrolled in special education pre-school and LOVES it. So really, if he was diagnosed with anything else, what would change? Nothing...

He is an awesome kid.......he walked late but with the help of braces on his little tiny ankles, he is walking good. He is talking a bit at school and starting to talk at home a little. He understands everything you say to him......he just for one reason or another doesn't talk.

It certainly doesn't stop him from getting his point across. He does sign a little bit....and he

can go get what he wants and I guess we have all gotten very good at reading his body language. And even with all of that, he is probably the happiest toddler that I have ever met. And he loves the outdoors. He thinks being outside is the best........we had dinner last night on the deck and he was so excited. Maddox might be delayed by a lot of standards but it does not faze him one bit. He's just an adorable little guy who is always working so hard to be like all of the other kids.

We laugh about how obsessed with his mommy he is but really, it's just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen. You can tell by the way he looks at our daughter that she is his entire world! He is good as gold and rarely fusses. If he does by chance throw a tantrum, it takes but a moment to make him forget all about it. He loves school, riding the bus, his babysitter, church, all of his aunts and uncles and cousins and all of his family. I watch him and it just brings tears of joy to my eyes. He has overcome so much but yet is just so happy.

We have noticed with him that he adores music.....especially live bands. And we've been hearing/reading about music therapy so our daughter has found a music therapy class for him for the summr while school is out. So who knows......maybe he'll come over one day and "tell" me all about it!

later.........

Trying again....

to get pictures in blogger a bit bigger......

Me+Target+Lightning = What a great deal!!

Last night after working out at the gym, I stopped in at Target to pick up a few items. I had been watching this clock........the one that you can set to show 3 different time zones. It was originally 30 bucks and I had watched and watched but it really didn't come down much in price.

Last night I'm in there and low and behold......there it is priced at $4.98...woot woot!

Then I'm over in the card section picking up some birthday cards and huge thunder and boom, out go the lights! And it was so dark, you could not even see your hand in front of your own face! It was funny because this lady standing next to me was like......oh no, I've never been in a store when the power went out....what do we do. Her teenage daughter told her to just stand still and don't move...haha. What seemed like a few minutes passed and the emergency lights came on and then the power came back. So I hurried on to the registers worried that they could go out again. We had to wait and wait because the registers had to re-boot....seemed like we stood there forever. And the sky looked like it was about to open up with buckets of rain. But I couldn't leave..........I had the clock for $4.98!!

Finally, the registers worked and I made a fast run to the car. Only to have my car not start...arghhhh. WTHeck.........she's only 2 years old! Tried to call Johnny but he was still in the gym. The storm was like some of those tropical storms we have been in down at the beach...torrential rain. I think we ended up getting 2 inches! Lightning hit a light pole out in the parking lot and filled my car with blue light........scared the cuss words right out of my mouth.

Finally got Johnny and he was on the way!! The car was hot.......I couldn't see out the windows and I had nothing in the car........except the owners manual so I started reading that.

Johnny brought the jumper cables and jumped her and she was fine. I will be taking her into the dealership so they can run a diagnostic on her to see what went wrong....don't really want that happening again.

But I got my clock ya'll...........

later.......

Show last night......

Johnny boy and I went out to see Willie Nelson last night.....in an outside venue.....and it was 92 degrees with lord knows how much humidity. But as the sun set, the temps cooled down and it was really nice just sitting out there and listening to ole Willie sing.

We were trying to guess his age.....thinking early 70's but he is 76 years old. Wow!

as best as I can remember, he sang the following........

Whiskey River
Good Hearted Woman
Crazy
Night Life
Working Man Blues
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
Blue Skies
Georgie on my Mind
Mammas don't let your babies grow up to be Cowboys
On the Road Again
Always on my Mind
Jambalaya
Angels flying too close to the ground (my favorite)

and more but I can't really remember..........

it was good. I wished I had remembered to bring my camera! I very rarely leave home without my camera so don't know what I was thinking!!

later...........

Missed the party.....

again!

I can't believe it's the 3rd anniversary of my blog and I missed the party again.

thank you to this gal, http://www.purple4mee.com/ for pointing it out to me.

3 years....wow, can't believe it's been that long.

later.......

Tuesday....

that whole thing about getting up earlier and doing the treadmill......yeah, I was kidding. It didn't happen.

Tonight Johnny boy and I are going to see Willie Nelson. We are NOT country music fans....both of us are very big rock and roll and alternative rock fans! But for some reason, we have always been drawn to Willie. And his very old song, Angels flying too close to the ground.....yeah, that's my favorite.

later.......

Frustrated.....

I am very frustrated with the whole losing weight, going to the gym thing.

Johnny and I started going to the gym about 2 months ago, maybe 2 1/2 months ago. The trainer told us you have to do a combination of weights and cardio. It takes a little while...gotta build up the muscle and then you'll start seeing the weight come off.

So ok.......been going to the gym every other day. I do 10 min warm up on the treadmill then my weight routine takes about 20 to 25 min and then I do 30 minutes cardio.......15 on the bike and 15 on the treadmill. I get my heart rate up so I know I'm working hard. I lost 4 lbs in the beginning and then nothing.

Last week I decided to cut down on my calories even more, which I was probably eating around 1400 a day. So I cut down to 1200 or less......and believe me, most days were less. And last week I lost 2 more lbs. As you can imagine, I was pretty happy and thinking this is it....I have finally hit that point that I will lose.

On Saturday night I strayed from my diet and had 2 small pieces of pizza. And guess what....gained those 2 lbs back!!

So now my new plan is I'm going to quit lifting weights and just do cardio every day. I'm going to try very hard to get up early in the morning and get in 30 min on treadmill before work. I'm not sure how that will go but I'm going to try hard.

I'm very frustrated at this point but I'm sure I can work through it.

If anyone has any tips, Please, Please let me know....it's just awful getting old. When I was younger, if I wanted to drop some weight, I just cut down on eating and maybe drank some slim fast but now, when you're older........it's FREAKIN HARD!!!

and just because she makes me so happy, here's a picture of my Chrissy girl.

later...........