Just pictures of what’s happening…

So Mike had some friends over and they target practiced and blew up some stuff. Mike is selling his dirt bike so he can buy a smaller car with better gas mileage. Anyone interested? It’s a 1996 Honda CR80, with two tires (paddle tire and regular one) and it runs good.

 

Mike and Jim have been working together on many different projects. Mike had to work on his exhaust manifold and Jim was wiring my Envoy for a trailer plug.

Sunsets are my most favorite and this one, it’s awesome. I love the reflection on the lake. Jim and I are either going to build or buy a camper trailer we can haul with our smaller vehicles. We are just looking right now.

  

Mike and I went on a hike. A very long one and though Mike really hates walking he always goes because I ask him to take me. In the distant you can see a tower, we started there and went to the top of Cuyuna Lookout.

 

Here’s my boyfriend. He’s really my daddy goose but he “loves” me. HE is the most noisiest goose and follows me everywhere. When I’m outside he’ll come over from daddy’s house to see what I’m up too.

 

Lots of steps in each day except this past weekend when a migraine kept me close to the toilet and house. This past weekend one of our local green houses finally got to set up. We are so far behind this year in planting or getting ready too. I loved this.

 

I have Joss every Wednesday for library day and playtime and lunch to give her mama a break and this past week we celebrated May day with a craft and a May pole.

 

Mike got his new tool box. He’s working on filling it with the needed tools to start his new job. We took Terri to Olive Garden for her birthday this past Friday. Though it was the most awesome food I don’t think it’ll be someplace to go often. A bit expensive and not to good for the diet.

We had game night at grandma’s last week. Mike’s favorite food is spaghetti and malts so grandma spoiled him rotten and of course Mike’s dog scout is so happy to have him home. Another trailer we are looking at to maybe build into a camper trailer instead of buying a premade one.

My garden just this past weekend. The snow is just about gone and my rhubarb is coming up.

Today I set up my green house cuz my tomatoes really need to get out. They need sunlight, they are pretty darn wimpy. Hopefully now that our day time temps are in the 50-60’s just maybe things will thaw and we can have some spring.

So that’s what’s been happening between driving bus, working on a bit of this and that to keep a household running, and enjoying having Mike home.

I hope all is well with you all. I will be back next week once life is back to an empty nest. Blessings!!

So little time left….

I am sorry I haven’t been around to do any posting or visiting but I am spending all the time I can with Mike and family and friends before Mike heads off to his new job and new life a little ways from here. Life has been awesome, the diet not so much but Deb and I have been chatting and when Mike heads away I will be back to doing what I am suppose to be. It has been over a year that I have had anyone to cook for, eat with and enjoy meal time with and right now that is exactly what I’m doing. So that means the scale isn’t going to like me much though I am teaching Mike how to cook more healthy foods and portion control but I’m also fixing things he hasn’t had in a year and not all of it perfectly balanced to the healthy side. It is what it is and I am not regretting a single meal or time spent enjoy it with him. So a break I’m taking and after the 13th I’ll be back with a vengeance to deal with all that I need to.

Just wanted you to know what’s happening.

Take care and have a blessed week.

Week three and week seven….

And the only thing I’m going to say on this post is, it’s a good thing I can keep trying because even though I didn’t eat lots of junk, I did eat out twice. Even though I walked 10 miles while gone, it wasn’t enough to use up the calories I did eat. So with that said, my weight is back up to 198, that’s up 3 lbs but I also know a bit of it is my turn with aunt flow shortly but I’ve learned that just cuz I am up, I’m not going to stay there. I plan on working extra hard this week to get rid of those three pounds and be back into the 5’s and the following week start on the down hill side of the 190’s. Vacations happen, sitting and driving for 1100 miles isn’t good for the diet and no matter if I didn’t eat crap what I did eat fell back into my fat and plans on staying there for a few days but it won’t stay, I won’t let it.

While Mike is home we are going to do some hiking, biking and just being together. It has been awesome watching Jim and Mike interact again like father/son. Life is good, life is awesome!!!

Take care my friends. I will be stopping by to visit soon. Thank you Nicole for your challenge. Thank you Deb for being my partner in loss.

He did it….

 

                    

It was so awesome to watch Mike graduate. It was a very long year but oh so worth it all. He worked hard, graduated with a 3.5 grade point with perfect attendance 3/4 of the year. I got to meet some of his friends, have dinner with a special one and watch quite a few parents, friends and families meet and greet their new graduate.

While in Laramie we did some last site seeing and hiking. We had a blast and got to say good bye to a town Mike is in no hurry to go back too. This cool park has a track around it, in the middle all kinds of games and sports and a concert corner. Along the track are 15 exercise stations with directions to show you how to use the piece of equipment. Then we went up to Happy Jack rest area and hiked around. I saw this really cool church with the stain glass window. This church is shaped like the bow of a ship on the west side where the wind is strongest.

   

  

 

And on our trip home we saw these and went to Mount Rushmore and then it was to dark to see anything else so I drove from 4pm-11am to get Mike to RDO and his quest for the perfect apartment, which we found in a basement apartment with a very nice older couple that were so happy with Mike they asked him to stay.

 

So we are home now. Mike has gone through all his stuff and got it organized. We now need to find him a dresser, blender, microwave, glass dishes, and a vacuum cleaner. He has a chance to buy the kitchen table and couch that are already in the apartment which I think if reasonable he’ll get. Maybe a TV for his bedroom some day too.

So that was our trip, Mike’s graduation and one very proud mama. It really has been a year full of learning, adapting and moving forward.

So now it’s onward and upwards to a new career in a field that he chose and being low man on the totem pole and willing to learn and move up and someday ….. well who knows what someday will bring. Right now it’s one day at a time.

Thanks for all your well wishes, your support and help in learning to deal with a son growing up and becoming the man I had some help in him becoming.

Blessings my friends!!

Have arrived...and no way am I flying again....and the puke bags are big enough to catch it all!

So 3:10 came very early this morning after not sleeping for the night but hey, it's a great cause, I'm seeing Mike today.
I did awesome all the way to the cities. I talked to Mark, he kept my mind occupied, and we had a good visit. The minute he pulled up to the airport I started to cry and shake. I still jumped out of the truck and walked in....about 10 feet and then sorta hide behind some big metal machine. It took me 10 minutes to get myself together and than called Jim and told him I want to come home. There were enough hours left before tomorrow graduation to drive out. Of course he said "NO!!!" you are going and you will see Mike in 8 hours. UGH!!!! It was hard but me and my big girl panties walked up to the gate and did our thing, went to security and just told them I haven't a clue, just walk me through it and then went and walked 3.28 miles waiting for my flight. I paced, I worried, I bought a $2.75 bottled water and they called and I drag my feet. I was the last one to get on the plane.

It was tiny, nothing like what I expected except what was I expecting? Something like we see on TV I suppose. I sat with a nice young lady who help me understand this sound and that sound and what to expect next and why does it take so long to get above the clouds, we don't fly above the clouds....I glanced out the window once in awhile and then put my music on and promptly fell asleep for 1/2 of the flight which means other then taking off and landing and the bumpy ride which really I liked because it almost felt like a car ride then, it was okay. I didn't like the up and down, kind of like a gentle roller coaster (however I thought it was a terrible roller coaster until....). Got to Denver and my connecting flight ended up way on the other side of the terminal but it was also perfect timing cuz I went potty and came out and loaded onto a sardine can. In fact I'm pretty sure the sardines in their can have more room. Anyhow, This became the trip to cement the fact I am NEVER EVER going to fly again. Thank God for those little throw up bags. I wasn't sure they'd be big enough but they are. I got sweaty, clammy, cold, hot, pukey, cried, headache, and could only hold my head and pray that they flight would just hurry. It was like riding the Wild Thing at Valley Fair. ICK!!! Oh my God...(and I don't say that ever)...it was horrible, terrible, rotten and it is now 4 hours later and I am still yucky feeling. NOPE, NEVER going to happen again. Got to Laramie and had to wait for Mike to get out of school and come and get me and boy even though I saw him a couple weeks ago for his interview and such it was the best face in the whole world. The hugs made me feel better and just being on the ground was perfect.

When things settled down we took Tyler, Mike's friend out for lunch and now I am sitting in our motel room while Mike does his sign out at school and then we are going over to another friend for a visit. We decided to stay in Laramie until Friday morning and then head home because Mike has to stop in Fergus Falls to sign the lease on his apartment. So might as well drag out butts just a bit and see this place one last time before he goes home 

I am happy the plane ride is over and our visit and graduation and trip is yet to come. It will be perfect and fun and great to spend the next two weeks with Mike before he starts his new career.

So my friends, I'm not sure if there will be a post tomorrow night or not but if there is I will have so much to share with you.

Thank you so much for your prayers today. I arrived in one piece and learned what it's like to fly in smaller aircraft. I say never, ever but .... well just maybe if the plane is as huge as a mansion it isn't so bad to fly. I just know for sure, sardine cans are not to be flying in and the next step up, the spam can...it isn't a whole lot better.

Take care my friends and have an awesome weekend. 

Blessings!!!!

Week 2 for our challenge, week 6 for Deb and I….

Drum roll please…….…. I made the goal I set for myself last week. I wanted to weigh in at 195 and today I was 195.2.  I have lost 11.4 pounds in 6 weeks. It’s so very slow but at least it’s moving. Deb and I are working together at this with daily e-mails, sharing our calories and exercise and me asking her tons and tons of questions. My latest question was, if myfitnesspal allows me 24 grams of sugar a day how can I get the fruit and milk in I need for a healthy body. You can’t unless you take supplements and why should I have to take them when God gave us all we need with the natural stuff. So Deb did some talking and found out we, at the size and age we are, can have 50 grams and to keep 25 grams or less of that added sugar and the rest natural sugar. She said do not skip the milk and fruit. YEAH!!! I don’t eat candy often, I don’t do chips often, I don’t use sugar on or in anything, I don’t do cakes or pies, I do, do cookies but if I don’t bake them I don’t do them either. I do, do fruit and milk and yogurt and homemade jams/jellies, peanut butter, I do cold cereal but not the presweetened stuff, oatmeal (yes prepackaged since it’s palatable instead of that homemade stuff I have yet figured out how to make yummy), I love veggies and even some of them have sugar in them like carrots, squash, peas…..so I was just have troubles eating healthy and staying within the 24 grams. Now knowing I can have 50 grams I can have 2 glasses of milk,  2 servings of fruit, 2 servings of veggies and be right around 50 grams.

So I’m learning and that is what this is really all about, learning to eat right and be able to do it for a life time.

Now I have got to get in more exercise. I have only been able to get in 3-4 miles of walking each day. Not counting my every day walking, this is 4 mph or better walking for up to an hour each time. I need to get some more exercise in but I just haven’t been taking the time to do that. My days are filled with so much that when I do finally sit down exercise is the last thing on my list. Maybe once Mike is home in his new home I can get my mind into better exercise but for now I’ll keep getting my miles in and keep trying to do a bit extra here and there.

So my goal for this week is going to be very simple. Not to gain an ounce while away with Mike. I leave Wednesday at 4:30 am and will be home very late Saturday night. It’s my birthday tomorrow and my parents are taking me out for a steak dinner but I can choose smart for what to have with it. Mike and I are taking out his friends from school and I will do my best to stay within a good calorie range. We will be driving home for 18 hours so I am sure there will be quick stops along the way at fast food places but I will try had to eat wisely. I am planning lots of walking at the airport, we will be hiking Mount Rushmore and the badlands. While Mike is taking his finals I will be out getting some exercise and while we stop for gas I will do some trotting around just to stretch and not let the fat settle. 1 goal this week, 195 I must stay in.

Deb and I are trying to get into the 180’s before Mother’s day. She is doing awesome and I’m following in her footsteps. We are learning together, sharing and being in this challenge has been such a treat to read and share with you all. I do greet each of you during the week and love reading about your successes and mess ups because this is life and it’s all about learning along the way.

I wish you all the best of luck this week. I’ll be back this coming weekend with graduation pictures, travel pictures, Mike pictures galore and hopefully an update that says “I did it, drum roll please!”

Blessing my friends!!

Short and sweet…for week 2 of our challenge…

Been a good week….well sometimes, sometimes not so. Exercise wise, not so good. I’m trying, maybe not hard enough but I’m trying.

Deb and I been working on finding the right combination of foods so that we get all our nutritional needs and stay within our calorie allotment. I find it important to get in what is needed to stay healthy without taking supplements. A work in progress.

I fixed a strange good for me but not so good tasting dinner. Why is it that good for you, isn’t always the best tasting? Learning here too.

More on Monday and than I’ll be MIA until the following Monday. A plane ride, a cleaning of the college apartment, graduation, 1000 miles home, back to new work town to find a for sure apartment and than back to work. I’m going to try my best to eat right and get in all the steps/miles I need but the most important part of next week, is Mike’s graduation and his new life.