An achievement

Well I did it. I lost two more pounds and made it to the 50 pounds lost mark. **happy dance** Only 25 more to go. I dont think thats too bad for an 8 month time span. I keep telling myself when I hit my goal weight I will buy myself a belly dance costume. lol But then I remember they are anywhere from 300 on up and where would I wear it, and I think maybe I should think of something else.lol Now that I can find my belly button, I may have it pierced :) who knows, but I am gonna do something!!

We have another snow storm headed our way, its snowing now. Just a fine snow, but steady. Also calling for wind, which means drifting. Keep your fingers crossed that they close my office for tomorrow lol. I just feel bad for our Basset Hank, he has to go out and plow his way through drifts lol. The other boys are tall enough to bounce through the snow, but when your legs are only about 3 inches long, that really isn't an option, lol.

I see Chris already wrote about us getting the exercise equipment. So far so good, I am guessing there may be a time when we start hanging clothes on them (ha!) but hopefully not for some time yet. With the snow coming tonight, dance class may be cancelled, so I will be on the treadmill. The one bad thing to come out of this weight loss, is I have nothing to wear. I mean not just "I dont like whats hanging in my closet so I dont have anything to wear" sort of thing. I mean really, I got nothing!! lol We went to the thrift store on saturday and I bought 4 pairs of dress pants, and 4 shirts for less than 20 bucks! I have to have work clothes, and the pants I was wearing I had taken in so much they looked like they were pleated! lol Going through my dresser to look for work out clothes, I realized I dont really have much, but then I realized I have absolutely NO summer clothes. lol Oh well, my birthday is next month, I will ask for gift cards hehehee. Keep your fingers crossed for me, that I dont have to safety pin everything on.

modifications

I attended a nutrition seminar wednesday, offered from the people I work for, it was really eye opening and informative. I dont know if everyone knows but 7 months ago i started belly dancing and changed my eating habits, I have since lost 47 pounds so far. I dont like to use the word "diet" because i am not dieting, but changing a life time of bad habits. This is the only body I have, if I want it to last, I need to take care of it. The fact that my ability to walk was becoming minimized due to bad knees a()nd being over weight wasnt helping was apparently the wake up call i needed. As i lost weight the knee pain eased up. Do they still hurt? yes on occasion, but nothing like they used to. It has been years since I have been under 200 pounds, my heaviest was 235, I am now 180 heading towards a goal of 150.

So anyway... where I was going with all this was the whole changing eating habits. More changes will be made, and Chris actually agreed to go along with them. You all know how that man can eat, and he has a sweet tooth like nobodys business!! But he needs to change, his dad had a heart attack early in life, I dont want that to happen to him. I wish I could get him to quit smoking, him and my kids. Did you know that you would have to gain over 100 pounds for it to be as detrimental to your health as smoking is? crazy huh?? So, we will replace white flour with whole wheat, as well as the pasta too. More veggies and fruit and no worries, he can still have his peanut butter lol. Just a lot less processed foods, even though we really didnt eat much of them to begin with. We are going to put out some different veggies this year, and I would like to find another blueberry bush. I stopped buying pop (more for ecological reasons, but its not the best beverage choice) I dont eat fast food at all anymore, again for ecological as well as physical reasons. So that means Chris doesnt eat it as much either.lol Amazingly he has lived to tell about it lol.

I am thinking the garden may have to extend into the front yard now, we are running out of expansion room in the back lol!! But I dont see where that will be a problem. We can put the greens and lower growing things out there, it gets plenty of sun. So once again, we are growing. We find more places to plant things on one acre than I ever thought we would!! LOL

the good and the bad(but no ugly)

well today cant decide if it wants to be a good day or a bad one. First I had a nail appointment(yes i get my nails done, my nails peel and wont grow and look bad. So a friend does mine.)which was good. Then I came home to find Chris aggravated, and muttering under his breath and slamming the basement door because the furnace wasnt working. Bad. Well while he continued to slam and mutter, i worked out on the Wii fit I borrowed from someone. Its was fun! and thats good. But then Chris finally decides he cant figure out the furnace and we have to call someone. Bad Cause we have to pay him to come out. 149.00 worth of bad. But furnace works now, yay! good. Then chris caught Hank the basset pee'ing on the side of an endtable. Bad, very very bad dog. I dont know if he does it because he is old and cant hold it, if he gets confused, or just being a shit. So that leads me to right now. I am waiting on the bathroom to warm up a tad so I can shower and change. I hate taking a shower and getting out and the bathroom is freezing! thats a very bad thing. Some friends and my daughter and us are all going to a belly dance show tonight and I am very excited!! That's a really good thing. really really good. So I am just concentrating on the good things. My nails look wonderful, I am working out and tracking calories,(great website for any dieters- Sparkpeople.com- wonderful! lots of info and help tell them I sent you LISAYW )and I have heat. All good. Top that off with the show, and it ends up being very good.

Back in the saddle, so to speak...

My goodness I haven't written here in months. I think its because if something goes on worth writing about Chris usually gets to it first, so I dont see the point of repeating it. lol I guess the other part is I am afraid it would just be grouching, and who wants to read that?? But, I will give it a try again.

The holidays were better than I thought they would be. Money is in very short supply around here, and with my kids too,so shopping was minimal. But I did pretty good at stretching what we had to get the kids a few things, and Chris. Chris got me the bellydancing outfit I wore when I danced at my company christmas party. They loved it. I totally shocked them all. No one knew I was going to do it until I walked out in the outfit lol. I did a good job if I do say so myself. The kids got me books that i wanted (I LOVE getting books) and some Gene Kelly dance videos, love them!! Oh and another belly dance DVD.

I have been taking the dance classes for about 6 months now, and since i started I have lost 47 pounds. Thats crazy to me. But I love the class, and am glad I lost the weight, if nothing else for my knees alone. I have so much less pain in them now. My circulation is better (I used to always be cold) I am able to walk further and longer with alot less pain. (I have a knee cap that wants to slide off to the side and the other knee has very minimal cartilidge left)I havent had the chance to go to the doctor yet and see where my cholesterol is. It was just a hair on the high side.
It hasnt been just the dancing either, I try to make better food choices and watch my portion size. I have 28 more pounds to go, although if I dont lose another pound I will be happy. I like the size I am now, I still surprise myself when I look in a mirror lol. But I know the healthier weight would be less. So we'll see :)

Luckily my job is stable,apparently kids are always gonna need braces. Which is good with Chris still not working. It's been so hard trying to make ends meet, it really weighs on a person. I juggle so well now I should join the circus. You know I never wanted to be rich, its too many demands and responsibilities. I would just like to not have to chose between groceries and the electric bill. Simple things like clothes, with me losing all this weight I got jack to wear! So I hit goodwill and thrift stores which is fine with me, but even coming up with that is almost impossible.Guess I just thought I would be a little better off at the age I am now. But you never know what the future holds, it can all change in a heartbeat. I am glad for what I have and will try like hell to keep it. Really hate that almighty dollar.

Seed catalogs have been coming in, and we want to sit down and see what we want to plant, and then what we can afford to lol. Chris keeps talking about planting different things. I am guessing since the back yard is filled,we are moving around to the front lol. A few squash plants in amongst the flower beds. Lettuce as a low border. Lots of ways to intigrate it in without the township grouching about it. Apparently where we are you cant have a garden in the front yard. But I think that was written a long time ago and I seriously doubt anyone would say two words about it.

We are up to 20 hens now (from the original 3 ha!) we are getting anywhere from 8 to 13 eggs a day. Yes we eat alot of omlets, dutch babies, fried eggs, boiled eggs...ok I am starting to sound like the guy in the Forrest Gump movie. You get the idea. I am still baking our bread, but Chris has taken to doing alot of the cooking. I still do a big sunday dinner for us and another couple who are both out of work. Just seems like there arent enough hours in the day to get everything I want to done. So I try to pick the most important and let the others wait their turn.

The weather here can't decide what it wants to do either. Its either warm, and the snow melts and the ice, and the yard turns into muddy swamp land I could raise alligators in and will suck the shoes right off your feet. Or it drops and everything freezes into a sheet of black ice. Yeah its been a hoot driving to work some mornings. But thats Ohio! We only have 3 seasons here. winter, summer, and mud.

Well I suppose its time for me to head to bed. I will give it an honest try to do better with this blog. I do enjoy it and reading everyone elses.

Until next time.

odds and ends

We had our first heavy frost yesterday. When I left for work at about 7:30am, it was still heavy enough on the car I had to wait for it to defrost. Not a lot left in the garden so we only lost a few peppers, evrrything else had been brought in. Only thing that needs to come out of there is the corn stalks for along the front of the house.

We got the hen house cleaned over the weekend and all the gourds brought up. I dont remember the exact number of them, but there was a wheelbarrow load full lol. I dont know why I am so fascinated with gourds but I am!

Chris got his chili put up, but I havent gotten to the soup yet. I was hoping to this weekend, but I need to help my sister pack up my Momma so we can move her to a new apartment. Hopefully I can at least get one batch done and up over the weekend. Would also like to put up more meatloaf, it turned out really good. I was surprised! Of course a wide mouth jar would have made it easier to come out lol, but it was still good.

I am thinking since money is going to be very tight over the holidays with Chris still not working, I may just fill my kids freezer for Christmas. Make them lasagna, and casseroles, and homemade pizza's to just heat up when they get home from work. At least I would know they are eating something decent! It would help them out, and I would feel like I did something. So I am tossing that idea around. I think they would like it. Of course that would be in addition to all the cookies and fudge I make anyway.

Still would like to get a bushel of apples and put up pie filling too, but time is short and money is tight. So I play it by ear, for now.

Chris keeps adding more monsters and zombies to the house, I never who is gonna be there when I get home from work.lol! Few things left to do, of course there will be the day before fine tuning, but I think we have things pretty well handled. I am off the day before the party so I can do the majority of the cooking then, and I will have all day the day of the party, since it doesnt start until 8. So I am not worried or rushing like a chicken with its head cut off. Speaking of which, I need to remind Chris to take care of a couple of roosters soon! hehehee

Yes we're still around

We have been very busy gathering the last of the garden. Its rained so much over the past couple of weeks, there wasnt much to gather. Most of it split or rotted on the vine. Luckily there wasnt a whole lot left out there. My pumpkins have been brought to the house, 7 orange and 3 white. One was a monster at 33 pounds the others are much smaller but still a decent size. We're leaving the birdhouse gourds until the vines die back a little more.

Chris has done the majority of the canning since he is home, and done very well i must say. He is still gathering up ingredients to make more of his chili. I am thinking I may do some chicken soup, and there is another soup I make that has a tomato base, with spicy sausage and zuchini in it. So thats a possibility.

Then hens are slowing down in laying and there are a couple roosters that Chris needs to take care of before they get too old. We are trying to get things cleaned up and ready for winter, but we are a little side tracked this month by the Halloween party we are gonna have. We decided we would have a party because both of us are tired of always doing with out and stressing over the lay off and money. So since we had the decorations, and the food (I am just making finger food) we decided to invite everyone over and forget things for one night. Everyone was told to bring what they wanted to drink, if it was anything other than coffee or tea, those i have. Chris has become obsessed with decorating now. The front yard has now become a graveyard. He made an amazing grave digger,grim reaper, and werewolf out of chicken wire, duct tape and old clothes. I will have him post pictures. The living room is covered in spider webs, monsters, candles, and a huge wooden coffin graces one corner. There are black lights, strobe lights, sound machines, and zombies. There's just no stopping him once he gets on a roll lol, everyday i get home from work and theres been more added. Yesterday I came home to find the back of my toilet turned into the shoulders of a Jason look-a-like. He made the head on an ocilating fan (minus the blades) so his head moves around. Hope no one has a bashful bladder!!!

We have dyed lace curtains black and replaced the drapes in the living room with them. I have black fabric for covering the couch and it will be draped with torn cheese cloth. We need something to cover the large area rug in the living room, but I havent figured out what yet. Its too big to just roll up somewhere, its almost the size of living room! lol

So, just wanted to let you all know we are still around and kickin', just distracted. I will remind him to post pictures, too. Hope everyone is doing well and finishing up the season without too much trouble.

Its gonna get mushy...

Just turned off the pressure canner, until tomorrow that is. We put up 5 quarts and 6 pints of tomato juice. Five pints of hot peppers and 5 pints of jalapenos. I have a huge stock pot of tomatos cooking down to become spaghetti sauce. I would like to can a few quarts of potatos too. I think that would be helpful for those nights I am home late and we need to fix something quick. I am also going to try my hand at canning meat. I found a recipe for meatloaf that you can. So I have 2 quarts ready to go, but since they need to process for an hour and a half, that will be tomorrow. I really like the idea of canning meals so that its easier for Chris to make dinner when i am running late. Or if I should come down with something, he can still feed me lol.Chris also canned 8 quarts of saurkraut. Apparently you let it ferment in the jar for a week then clean the lids and mouths of the jars, and process it. So hopefully it will turn out.

The pumpkins are doing well, I even have a couple white ones! I know there are at least 2 watermelons that need brought in, but instead "someone" brought in a pumpkin.lol He said it looked like a watermelon back under the leaves. Guess who wont be helping to make pumpkin pies come thanksgiving. He did realize once he cut it what it was, but its just too funny not to tease him about. (besides ...how can you not SEE the difference??? lol) We are gearing up for a big Halloween party this year. We have friends who usually host it, but they needed a year off and volunteered us. So I have a list of things we need to make and or find. lol I cant wait. Halloween has always been my favorite Holiday. Its also a time to pay respects to those who have passed on. Its the end of the year for me, so I celebrate,knowing things need to die (or end) so that new can begin. It is a necessary part of life.
I thank those who have taught me something, a little bit of themselves was passed on to me. Anyway, I wont go into all this just wanted you to know I love Halloween!!!

This wednesday is our 9th wedding anniversary, we were together 2 years before we married so really 11 together. I am usually not one to get all mushy, but...I am gonna anyway. My first marriage was terrible, I spent way too long in it and way too long miserable. When I met Chris,he was something I never thought I'd find. He listened to me, took my ideas seriously, wanted my opinion, and wanted to do things for me. I was not used to that at all. He put me first. He was funny and understood my warped sense of humor (since he is just as warped). He was and still is an amazing man. He has this foolish idea that I hung the moon and no matter how many times I assure him I didnt, he continues to believe I did. He is supportive, and encourages me in anything I do.(although I am suspicious that there may be ulterior motives with his encouraging me to belly dance.lol)He is creative and talented although he will tell you he has no artistic ability. He will try new things,and even though he can sometimes be bullheaded he tries to see both sides of things. I love him with my whole heart. I cant imagine my life without him. He came into my life when my children were obnoxious teenagers, and even though i told him he could make a break for it, he stayed. (Brave brave man lol) He is a good man with a big heart, strong arms and gentle hands.(callouses and all :)I would do anything for him, he means the world to me. I love him to pieces. Sometimes it seems like time has flown by and I cant believe its been nine years since he was having a hard time getting the words straight in his vows. (ask him for that story lol) But then there are times it feels like he has always been there. I keep saying to him "hey remember when the kids were little and....." he nods and then reminds me they were 12 and 13 when he met me. lol So Happy Anniversary Chris! I love you!!

(ok here is where everyone goes Awwwwwwwww... lol)