Just East of the Bridge

The Higher The Number, The Longer The Celebration

... or at least, that's my theory!

So happy birthday to me!  I've been reading about a new nail product called Shellac by Creative Nails.  It's a new procedure where the special color and top coat is sealed under an ultraviolet light and they claim it will be free from chips, smears, smudges and dings for 14 days.  That interested me because I am so hard on my nails.  I usually end up buying whatever color a salon uses on me, or bring my own from home, so I can do touch ups as needed without starting over.  And by the time I pay the bill, start the car, get home etc, inevetably I've messed up at least one!  I go through spells where I'm willing to spend the money and get it done ... and then I'll go strip them off and go for months and never do it.

At my last haircut appointment one of the girls there had just come back from New York City where she had her nailed Shellac'd and her's were already 10 days old and still looking fabulous.  So, I found a place, made an appointment for Wednesday night and here's what I have.  I took this picture this morning so my nail treatment is already 5 days old and looking great.  What I'm really interested in is the wearability because if this wears well, I'll do this before Betsy's wedding in June.

 
Thursday, my co-workers surprised me with lunch and that was nice as it's difficult around here for any of us to be gone at the same time and usually we cannot eat together.  That's always a treat as I am very fortunate in enjoying the company of my coworkers.

Friday night after work I headed down to Clearwater to meet up with my good friend Janet where we had tickets to the Make and Take Event associated with the StampFest.  Some of the MnT's were just so-so, a couple were great, one was so terribly ugly it was pitiful, a couple just weren't my taste ... but we had fun.  Afterwards we went to Smokey Bones for dinner where I had wings and cole slaw.  (Yeah, I know I just posted about a weight loss with Weight Watchers and no, I havn't figured out how many points those wings were but hey .... it's my birthday, right?!!  I'm back on the system as of this Monday morning and that's that.

Saturday after breakfast we joined the other 14 million people at Stampfest.  One of the vendors from Pennsylvania has some great flower stamps that coordinate with industry standard flower punches -- what a great idea!  At her booth I bought some precut cards, these flower stamps and the hummingbird stamp.  (sorry, I know it's sideways but I can't figure out how to flip this on typepad!)

I left Janet behind at the Stampfest when I left at 2:30 as I had to be at Christina's by 5.  Saturday  night was the Valentine Banquet at our church, and even though it was my birthday, I offered to watch the little kids so my big kids could go to the banquet.  It's not unusual -- and it's not something I EVER take for granted -- that the little kids come running and calling my name and reaching for a hug everytime they see me.  It's a blessing to my heart EVERY time.  And that day was no exception except this time .... Baby Wyatt (15 1/2 months) came running too.  He's a sweet little boy and definately making his personality known and holding his own with his older siblings. 

After Christina and Austin got home and we chatted a while I went home to find over 100 messages on facebook, email and answering machine in addition to the ones I had in person, on text message and my cell phone that day.  I have some great friends and they sure know how to make a girl feel special!!

Sunday, after lunch at Christina's we played a game of cards called Trim and then we had an appointment at David's Bridal for me to try on dresses for my role as Mother of The Bride.  It's going to be a 7pm wedding, so that means a formal dress for me.  And enough of a color change that I can't wear the dress I wore for Christina's wedding.  So after trying on several dresses, we decided on one (although I really would have liked to have been able to combine the skirt of another one with the top of the one I ordered!) and I went with a dark teal that they call Jade.  The bridesmaids are wearing 'Pool' so this is just a darker version of their color. 
This picture doesn't do either color justice but you get the idea.

Then to celebrate my birthday, Valentines Day and the Finding Of The Dress, we went to Red Lobster to celebrate.  I highly recommend the fire grilled shrimp and lobster tails!  Mmmm-mmmmmmm that was good!!!

As we left the Red Lobster I was thinking that this had been a good, full, fun, productive weekend and was happy with my birthday celebration, not knowing there would be one more blessing.

On the way home from Red Lobster, we picked up Brendyn at his dad's and when I stopped at a gas station to fill up the car, Brendyn bought me a Diet Mountain Dew out of his own money.

I love that boy!!!!

Last Post of The Year

Well .... my year anyway!

Tomorrow I will be 10 years old.  5 and 5 makes 10, right? I don't know why this double nickle number is bothering me because 50 didn't bother me and neither did 51,52,53 or 54.  But this one ....... I don't like the sound of it. 

A couple of weeks ago I was into Perkins and the waitress gave me the Senior (Over 55) discount.  I was very torn ..... do I accept the discount and keep my 54 year old mouth quiet ... or do I protest and say, Hey, I'm not that old yet!  Finances won out over pride and I stayed quiet, paid the bill as presented and left.  But still .... I'm just saying .....

Since being diagnosed with Type II Diabetes in September I've been trying to make some changes to my dietary habits.

Some of these habits go back to grade school.  For reasons I really can't explain, we never ate breakfast at home during the school week.  We lived just outside of the boundary for bus service, (1.5 miles) and so our mom had to drive us to school every day.  Me, my three siblings and my mom would pile in the car every morning and we'd drive 2 miles the opposite direction from the school to Pursley's Market and the four of us kids would take turns going into the store to buy something for breakfast.  Whoever went in the store got to pick.  So ... sometimes it was donuts, other times it was poptarts, eclairs, cream puffs, cookies, maple triangles etc.  They had a very nice bakery display. No milk (milk was an extreme rarity for us to EVER have!), no orange juice, nothing to drink, just the hand-held store bought breakfast.  Then we would have the 3.5 miles back to school to eat whatever had been purchased.

Since my dad worked for Kellogg's, we always had cereal in the house, but that was either a weekend breakfast food or an evening snack.  Cereal and milk is still today, one of my go-to favorite evening snacks.  I've just had to learn to pick my cereal choice better and have now lowered my milk to 1% and actually measure out a serving with a measuring cup.  Let me tell you, cereal bowls and cereal servings are not in sync with each other.

After being diagnosed I had a few sessions with a diabetic nutritionist and she had me focusing a lot on carbohydrates, and changing what I could over to the whole grain variety.  I've also lowered my milk from 2% to 1% but I can't quite make it to skim.  Skim just doesn't taste good to me.  I've thought about buying 1% and skim and mixing them but that has not gone beyond the thinking process.

A couple of weeks ago my daughter started talking about Weight Watchers and I said that I had been thinking about joining that also.  I was going to join right after the first of the year (typical I know!) but I was still sick and I know myself well enough to know I can't pile too many things on at once and being sick and on a diet just wasn't doable.  But by the time she was talking about it, I was feeling better (finally!!!!). 

So last Thursday we joined and yesterday was our first weigh in.  I lost 3.6 (I just did a typo and typed 34.6 -- wouldn't that have been nice!! LOL!!).  This morning I was back at my regular doc for a diabetic checkup and med renewal appointment and all together since September 24th I'm down 11.5. 

So 11.5 times Happy Birthday to me!!

P.S. To those who asked about the previous post, Betsy (Elisabeth!) is my youngest daughter.  She's 28, a teacher at a Christian school in Port St. Lucie and is twitterpatedly in LUV and just got engaged.  Christina and I are going shopping on Sunday to see if we can find me a dress I like for the wedding.  I'll keep you posted!

 

 

I know, I know ...

I know ... my last post was November 29th.  And perhaps you've been checking in here and thinking I have dropped off the face of the earth. But ... I'm still here!

Right there after Thanksgiving I got sick with congestion/cough/sneezing/snotting/ respiratory and ear stuff.  It took 2 months, 2 complete cycles of antibiotics, 2 bottles of Mucinex DM, prednisone and did I mention 2 months before I finally started to feel normal again.  Most days I'd leave the office, drag myself home, and collapse on the couch only to fall asleep in 10 minutes. But, thank God, I'm finally feeling better.

Big news from the East of The Bridge country is that Betsy is engaged!  She met Peter at a missionary camp in North Carolina and they've been traveling back and forth from Florida to North Carolina and burning up the phone lines ever since.  We met him briefly in November and then he was with us at Christmas for a few days.  A few Saturday's ago he drove 5 hours south and Betsy drove 5 hours north and they met in Brunswick Georgia and climbed the St. Simon's lighthouse and he proposed at the top of the lighthouse.  They are now planning a wedding for June 3rd and planning and plans are in full swing. 

The funniest remark about the engagement was Brendyn's who said, " I don't know him well enough to call him Uncle!".  I told him to come up with a list of questions and we'd have Peter answer them.  Apparently Brendyn must have thought he had a vote in the matter!  LOL!

Last weekend Christina and I hosted one of our Crop in The Country crops, this time in Sumterville since the Lake Pan facility wasn't available.  It was a smaller venue but it was good.  Linda and Natasha and Jules all came up and we had a blast.  I like the smaller crops in that we can all chat together.  There was lots of laughter, lively conversation and even some productivity happening.  Linda worked on a new clock for Hilltop, Natasha was working on her Brave Girls online class things and Jules, Christina and I were doing scrapbooking pages with kids being a common subject.

So .. there you have it.  You are all caught up now. 

And I'll try to be here more often ........ I promise!!