Friday, February 14, 2014

Big news .....

a little late posting this but...........
WE HAVE A NEW GRANDSON!!!
 
John Thomas was born on Jan 23rd
7 lbs. 7 oz 22 inches long
he's going to be tall
 
It was a very rough start to his little life
about 20 min after our daughters water broke, the placenta started
detaching from her uterus
which then caused her and the baby both to start losing blood
it was very scary for our family.......our daughter was rushed to
the OR for an emergency C-section.
our little grandson stopped breathing and his heart stopped
our daughter lost a lot of blood
and then from a previous surgery, she had a lot of scar tissue so
they called in another surgeon to take care of that
she was in surgery just over 2 hours and boy were we nervous!
 
the good news is the baby and our daughter are both fine
and we are again, in love with another grandson
his little cheeks have a terrible rash on them left from the tape
that held the breathing tube in place. But it's getting much better
and almost gone now
 


 
later......
 


Thursday, February 13, 2014

Snacks ...

With clean eating, I rarely find that I want a snack
I guess because I don't have to worry about counting calories or fat, don't
worry about the quantity I eat because I just eat
until I'm full, I just don't need snacks
 
unless of course it's going to be a long time between meals
I eat lunch at work at 11:30 but don't usually get any supper
until 7:30 so I eat an afternoon snack at work
and may eat something like a banana before going to exercise class
 
One of the snacks that I have found that I LOVE is Larabars
not to be confused with uber larabars............which contains lots of
ingredients. That is what I try to stay away from.
 
some of my favorites are.........
 
peanut butter cookie - contains dates, peanuts and sea salt!
Banana bread - contains almonds, dates, bananas
Cashew cookie - contains cashews and dates
Coconut cream pie - contains dates, coconut, almonds, cashews
and extra virgin olive oil
 
the dates are in all of them as a sweetener
and let me just say, these are really good, I love them
 
 
later......


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Clean eating .....

I thought I would give an update on my clean eating
I'm still doing it.....and still loving it

I have found it to be very easy
and I think it's because I don't try to overthink or re-create things

I just try to eat food in its most natural state
and I avoid all sugar. I do see other people doing it and making it difficult but it shouldn't be. It's just easy......

I always said I would do this 90% of the time
vacation and holidays would be my 10% that I wouldn't eat clean

so during Christmas, I enjoyed other foods and some sweet treats
I only gained 2 lbs but that very quickly came off

what was the eye opener was how it made me feel
sluggish and not so great
and made me crave sugar

So it was very easy to go back to my clean eating
on January 2nd!!

believe me, clean eating....it's a good thing. I can't say enough about it and I really try hard not to sound preachy to people......I just love it so much and how it makes me feel.

I had eaten half of my dinner before deciding to take a picture
we had chicken BBQ, roasted string beans and roasted cauliflower
yum!!!!

 
later......

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Puzzles ....

I love working puzzles
but I usually just do them in the winter time.....and always
after football season
 

So when they were forecasting snow, I had to pull out a puzzle
that I had bought earlier in the year, 1,000 pieces.

Jake was coming over to stay with us during the snow "storm"
so we worked it together......and finished before the snow
even arrived....haha!!!

and since that one came together so fast, we decided to
get another one out....2,000 pieces!!
that was a little slower even getting the outline together
and then news of the new grandbaby coming forced me to
clean it all up.
Maybe another day......








later......

 

Monday, February 10, 2014

Snow ....

If you know me or have been reading my blog for awhile, you
know that I LOVE the snow. I seriously just turn in to
a child again at the mention of snow in the forecast.
I think it's crazy that people fuss about schools closing.....let them have fun!
and it's crazy that people in my area fuss about it because we are
pretty much never snowed in. I can think of a handful of storms that
kept us housebound for more than a day
in all of my 57 years of living in Richmond.
I think it is hilarious that people rush to get milk and bread for the storms but
I do not make fun of folks for doing it. It's just a Richmond thing!
it's funny and quirky and it's fine.
I'm sure there are people who will say yeah, it's fine with you because
you have the option to work from home. Well, that's true, I work for an
awesome company that is smart enough to make sure most workers
are mobile.....but even if I didn't, I would just take a day off!

But enough of that......we finally got SNOW this winter.
January 21st we were told 3 to 6 inches and in true Richmond fashion
we closed schools, mobbed the grocery stores and waited and waited
for our snow to arrive. It was late.....and when it did, it was beautiful
but also in true Richmond fashion, we got 2 inches of snow, not 3 to 6!!!

but it sure was beautiful......
and it's cold, cold, cold!! the day after the snow it was 22 degrees
and with wind chill 10 degrees. We are supposed to get down to
9 degrees later that night......brrrrr.

below taken from my front door and whoops, forgot to take
red ribbon from Christmas off of the mailbox!







 
still waiting for that "big" snow......maybe next year
 
later.......

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Yarn and a wreath ....

I bought this cute, soft yarn last year hoping to make a baby
blanket with it. But seriously, when I tried, I had no idea how
to crochet with this stuff. I tried watching some youtube videos
but that wasn't much help considering I'm not that great at
crocheting. I taught myself and just kind of wing it!

But I really waited too long to return it so I decided to try
and make something with it.....a wreath!
how easy is this, I just wrapped and wrapped

it's hanging on the door to the sewing room and I think it
looks fine right there!!















 
later.....

Saturday, February 8, 2014

January ....

here's my January chalkboard
I didn't bother putting any events for the month up there
just needed this one message........
 
 
and our sweet little doggies had to wear sweaters with single
digit temperatures!!







 
later......



Friday, February 7, 2014

Bacon ....

Who doesn't love bacon!!
even with my clean eating, I love bacon.....I just eat the
nitrate free bacon. Bacon is so good you don't need to add
chemicals to it!!
But I hate the mess of frying bacon.....grease popping everywhere

So I started cooking bacon in the oven and all I can say is
why oh why didn't I already know about this!!

So easy

we just lay it on parchment paper.......easy clean up!





 
perfect and crisp every time!
 
later.....

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Baby sprinkle ...

More pictures from the baby sprinkle.....
 
Nicole and Janace.......Janace is one of my friends I have had the longest
we've been friends for 35 years! And I just love her!
 

Nicole and Lynne.....Lynne is Jacquelyn's mother-in-law and
one of my dearest friends!
 


Nicole and Sherry with Sherry's daughter......Sherry is Nicole's best friend
 


Nicole with my sister Kandi and her daughter Gabrielle
 

 
with my sister-in-law Susan and her daughters Abby and Mallory

 
with my sister Vickie

 
with Tyler's sister Heather

 
Bucky, Jacquelyn and Declan


Nicole and Tyler
 

 
about to become a family of 5




 
later......


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

A Baby Sprinkle ....

Jacquelyn hosted a baby sprinkle for Nicole at our house
on Jan 5th. A sprinkle is for a 2nd baby.....a smaller version of
a baby shower. This was the first party Jacquelyn had ever planned and
wow, she did a great job. She had wonderful ideas and everything
came together perfect. It was small and intimate which is exactly
what Nicole wanted.

here's some pictures......

so ready to have this baby!!



 
sisters.....



Jacquelyn had gourmet cupcakes for the sprinkle.....yum!!



 
the theme for the shower was "snow" since it was cold cold cold!!
these little paper decorations reminded us of snow flakes so she
hung them around in just a few spots


the table looked so pretty. She used snowflakes from my Christmas tree
on the table

 
guess the candies in the baby bottle and paper to write
sweet messages for Nicole and baby John








Jacquelyn did a great job on her first party!! Now she is planning
Declan's first birthday party!




 
little candies for each guest to take home


 
it was fun and wonderful being with our family and friends
 
later........