Carb Lovers Diet

I am officially on a diet. I don't do diets. I think they are wasteful. But my current "see food" isn't working well with my clothes, so I'm trying it out.

The Carb Lovers Diet is a book created by those at Health magazine. It's all about certain food being resistant starches. Among those foods are bananas, potatoes and pasta. Yep, pasta. It mixes carbs, protein and a little fat. The first phase (7 days) includes three meals and one snack. I almost croaked when I saw that. I need at least 2-3 snacks plus meals. But I was wrong. I ate all three meals and wasn't really starving for my snack, but ate it after supper. And I was never starving. A little hungry, yes, but not to a passed out point.

I'll keep you updated on now the diet is going.


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Mommy's Helper

L loves to help me out. She's been dying for an iron and ironing table. We found one at Target last week so we HAD to iron together. Of course.









She sure is fun to hang out with.

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Shockers Bite the Dust

We traveled to Springfield, MO this weekend to watch MSU play WSU. Unfortunately, the Shockers lost by 4. They played poorly in the beginning and tried to catch up in the end. But it wasn't their time...MSU won their 1st MVC title.



It was a little foggy on our way there. Luckily, there weren't many cars.



Our view. We were center court in the top row. Not bad for viewing. L was shocked at all these people rooting AGAINST the Shockers, but soon she warmed up and had a good time.
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Amendment to the Previous Post

So my dad sent me an email at 11:50PM kindly telling me I didn't remember the story correctly. So here I post it (some paraphrasing):

"You told me you didn't want any flowers for Valentine's Day. I thought about what I should do and decided to get them anyway. But I put them in your room because your mother's flowers were downstairs. And then you came home with the crying and tears and I sent you to your room..."

You know, when my dad tells me that, I kind of remember it more, especially the fit. Oops. I guess I did get flowers every year. Thanks dad!,




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A Funny Thing

L takes her lunch some days. In it I pack her lunch and a note that says this,



The first time I wrote it she came home so excited about it. Twice this year I forgot to write it (once on purpose). Whenever I do, L tells me I forgot to put the note in her lunch.
The funny part is related to my own memory. When I was 13, my dad had been buying my mom and I Valentine's flowers. That year I was ungrateful so the next year, I didn't get any flowers. Oh how I cried. I loved the flowers and told my dad. From then on, I have received flowers every Valentine's Day. So even though L doesn't tell me every day she likes the note, the days I forget and she notices is good enough for me.

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Final Home Shocker Game

Tonight was the last home game. The arena was packed. The boys played a great game, beating Creighton by two points. We had four seniors that said good bye tonight. I'm a little sad, but glad we had a good season.







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I Kicked the Can

I have officially kicked the diet soda habit!!! It's been 30 days of no soda. I used to drink 2-3 cans of diet soda each day. I will confess, I've had a couple regular sodas, but even those aren't too tasty. But diet soda tastes gross now. I definitely drink more water and honestly I really don't miss it. I haven't lost any weight but I'm still happy I've stopped the soda habit.



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Night of Fun

We had supper at our friends, Kay and Peter's, house last night. Mama drank a little too much wine so I was wiped out when we got home. Dinner was delicious (no surprise). We had so much fun visiting and catching up since we hadn't seen each other for almost three months.
Their kitties, Jojo and Java, are always a hit. Jojo hides but Java loves to hang out with us. And he's a little thing who can fit anywhere.




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A Beautiful Night on the Patio

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Road Tripping

We met my in-laws in Emporia for lunch today. My mother-in-law's birthday was Tuesday. We had a good lunch and a great visit. We took her shopping afterwards.
Since we in the car for two hours, I got some quality time with my Nook. I'm really getting into my current book, Moon Over Manifest. Jeff was kind to pick up Starbuck's before we left Emporia.


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My Valentine's Flowers

I forgot to include pictures of the flowers my dad gave me. Thanks dad!





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Girls' Night

L and I had the night to ourselves again so we made the best of it by shopping, eating at Pei Wei and getting Orangeleaf. It was a beautiful night outside.


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5 Positive Things

Sometimes I get distracted because of all the things I do and things I need to get done. So I thought I'd spend a couple minutes reflecting on the good.

1. L woke me up at 3:30 am needing medicine for her cold. While going down the stairs, I missed and fell down 3 of them. Luckily, my butt took the brunt. I'm thankful it was only a couple steps and that I have cushioning.

2. The sun was shining and it was 70 degrees when I left work today. Much better than the -10 of last Wed.

3. I got to spend the evening with L. We shopped, picked up dinner and shared lots of laughs and stories.

4. I am grateful that I get to provide snacks for L's wonderful teachers. They are a great group of people.

5. I am grateful that after 2 days I have email back at work after our server died Monday.

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The Kindergarten Program

L had her program tonight. They performed for the school in the afternoon and for the parents tonight. They did a great job. L was a duck and was very excited about her speaking role. The theme was a farm. There were ducks, pigs, dogs and farmers. What a sweet bunch of kids!





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Happy Valentine's Day!

It's the middle of Feb and I'm having a great day. It started when I got to work to find Valentine's Day flowers for L and I.
Then I got home to find a new pair of PINK five finger shoes, new necklaces and a watch and some candy. Woo hoo!
We were pretty low key tonight. I fixed L's favorite pasta dish ( recipe coming soon) and chocolate covered strawberries. We watched our new favorite show, The Unpoppables, then finished the night with a book.


My kind of day.


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Today we...

crafted for two hours. We painted, used stickles, made scrapbook pages and painted some more.
We did home manis and pedis. Ahh...nice new colors.

We also watched Legend of the Guardian. I still can't figure out how to bring a web image to blogspot. It was a good movie-kid friendly.

It was nice to have a pure goof off day.

A Nice Surprise in the Mail

I picked up the mail today and found this gem inside. I received this medal for running a 1/2 and full marathon in a single year. While I'm proud that I ran both, adding the miles together makes it even more special.

Book Report: Still Alice

As a follow up to reading Lisa Genova's excellent book, Left Neglected, I finished her first novel, Still Alice. This book was also really good, but really sad. 49 year old, Harvard linguistic scholar, Alice, has early onset dementia. In the beginning of the book, she's pretty normal and forgets a few things, but by the end, she can barely recognize her husband. It was good, but very sad and depressing. I liked it, but wouldn't read it again.

Vent Hog

It may look like Reggie is just resting, but really her entire body is over the heating floor vent. She loves to lay on it. Goofy girl.

A Look Out My Window This Morning

Book Report: Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

Wow.
What a great book. I finished it a few days ago and I'm still in awe.
The story takes place outside of Boston, where 36 year old Sarah, lives with her husband and three children. She works as head of HR of some big company and she is busy all. the. time. She is always multitasking work, home, etc and is always exhausted. But that comes to an end when she's trying to dial a phone number while driving 70 miles and hour and she suddenly realizes everyone is stopped and she's not.
After she awakens from her coma, she feels great. But then the doctors discover she has Left Neglect, which means her brain in the right hemisphere was damaged and she doesn't recognize anything on the left side. Her turmoil of rehab, recovering and realizing that she isn't going to be the old Sarah again takes up much of the book. But in the end, she finds a way to find peace.
I would highly recommend this book. The topic is fascinating and Lisa Genova writes with such style you won't ever want to put this book down.


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Thank Goodness We Have Two Heaters

Because the downstairs one isn't working and it's mighty chilly down there.

Scrapbook Layouts

So my final scrapbook count was 70 pages for the weekend. Not a record (that was 100), but I am satisfied with the number I got done. It was fun to get some recent and old pictures cropped.
This page I lifted from my mom's scrapbook stash. It was already done so I just had to put the pictures on it. I chose some random goofy pictures of L. So easy to do.
This layout we were swimming at Melissa and Joe's neighborhood pool in August. The water was so pretty. And L's colorful suit made the page even better.
Preschool field trip to the zoo. Lexi and L had a great time together despite the hot and sticky weather.
One of my favorite layouts. Four generations of girls. We take this picture pretty much anytime we are together. But the layout also recognizes my mom before (top) and after she lost a lot of weight. I am so proud of her!

Til next time! (Sept. 2011)

Continuation of CAG

So this is my desk at Crop a ganza. It holds my essentials. Pens, adhesive, lotion, hole puncher, Kleenex. On the floor lies my box of photos (it holds 1000 pictures and I've filled it before) and my crop carrying bag which holds all of my paper and my finished layouts. I've gone to this crop enough times that it's pretty easy to remember everything and make the unloading and loading part of the trip less painful. Speaking of, one of my HUGE guilty pleasures about being at CAG (besides the obvious not being responsible for anyone but me) is the massage I get while I'm there. Yes, there are massage therapists at CAG and she takes away all of my tensions. I love CAG and appreciate every time I'm there.

Crop a Ganza

Tonight is our first night at CropaGanza. You say, WHAT???? It's where 180 ladies meet to scrapbook their photos, visit, shop and socalize. It's a great time to kick back, relax and not think/worry about anything else. I can't get my picture uploaded, so I'll work on that tomorrow. So far, I've scrap booked 9 pages. And Jill is chastising me to get back to work. So more tomorrow.

Book Club Girls

Tonight I met with the girls for our (almost) monthly book club meeting. Tonight, we went out. Chris was the hostess, but she's leaving for Canada on Sunday and didn't want to cook or clean. We talked about our selection, "Half Broke Horses". We all agreed the book was well written and it made understanding how the mom of "The Glass Castle" was the way she was.

I really enjoy being with these women. They are witty and keep me smiling. We talk about the book for awhile, then chat about what ever is going on in our lives.

The View From My Reading Spot

I love our master bedroom. It is one of my favorite places to read.

Blizzard of Oz

The weather people say we're in a blizzard. Although there hasn't been a ton of accumulation of snow, the wind has been howling. I was the unlucky person in my house who had to go to work. The drive there wasn't bad and really, neither was the ride home. But there were many people stuck in the snow when they were trying to get from a side street to a main street. At times, the view was pretty and I couldn't take a picture while driving and it wasn't pretty at home. While the rest of my car is clear, the back part looks like the blizzard.