Shopping by proxy

Funny story. You all know that I went through the entire weekend without shopping. First time I've done that in a very long time. Well, Sienna went shopping. I guess Goody's was having a big sale and she called to tell me about it. She said,"Mom, there are so many bargains here that I'm getting all excited about it, like you always do! Its funny, I don't usually get excited about it, its not like me but tonight I'm like you always are." I was so excited for her! She was getting the shopper's high. Now I'm not sure that's a good thing but it sure feels good at the time. I even told her to buy me a few things while she was there and I would pay her back. So, technically I didn't shop, just by proxy. After Sienna had bought all of her things and had her let-down, she called me again and said "Mom, I think I have buyer's remorse." Man, that sucks when that happens. Wonder if there is such a thing as shopaholics anonymous?


have a happy Monday!!

Grounded!

I've been grounded. Usually, if I am spending too much money, Rick will gently tell me to slow down a bit. I generally do for a while. Last night he told me absolutely, in no uncertain terms, that I was not to go shopping. Now what am I supposed to do with my time this weekend?! I mean, seriously, shopping is what I do. Shopping and scrapbooking. AND this is Tax-free weekend! Do you know how many sales there must be out there? The kids were here all last weekend and I must admit, I probably did spend way too much money on them but gosh, I have a vacation coming up! I have stuff I NEED. I think it worries Rick that he hasn't had time to do my Quicken and he has no idea how much I've spent. So, that makes him a little nervous. I will try to relax and find other ways to entertain myself I guess. I could always look through Amazon. Technically, that's not really shopping, is it? ; )

The swim suit dilemma

I had to take Don's picture from last week off of my last post. {{pout}} For some reason, he doesn't want others to see that cute card nazi face. awwwww, but he is so cute!!!! I guess I'll just have to use that pic in one of my scrapbooks because nobody ever looks at them, ever.

I am slowly trying to get prepared for our vacation. I am so excited. Only 22 more days! One of the things I am trying to do before we leave is find a new swim suit. Now that is a chore! There are of course nothing but granny suits in the stores in my size and I am looking for something a little more...enticing. I mean, this is an adult vacation, with my husband who I have hardly seen in 2 months. So, I think I'll go with enticing. There are plenty of good suits on the internet, but how do I know what size to order? I have done the measurements that they tell you to do for the proper size and mind you, I have lost 27 pounds and there is no way I could possibly be THAT size. There is no way I am ordering a suit in THAT size. Remember what I've said before, numbers do matter. So, I'm in quite the quandry. Not even my suits from last year are THAT size. How can this be? So, I don't know if I should go ahead and order the size I think I should be in or just go without.

Sienna is pretty pleased with herself that she will make at least a C in her Prob-Stats class. I must tell you that when she said that I breathed a sigh of relief. She's really struggled with living an adult life over the last year. She has been under more stress than I think an 18 yr old should be. Hopefully she will pull it off this semester and be able to keep her scholarship. She wants badly to go to Tech next year but we just aren't sure she's up to it. She hasn't really shown us yet that she can make the commitment to her education. Again, I wish I could wave a magic wand for her.

Have a happy day.

This has been a wonderful weekend. I have spent it with the people I love most and that makes me very happy!

Friday night we were going to see A Flea in Her Ear. But Rick is so tired. We just decided to stay home and veg out in front of the TV.I feel so sorry for Rick. He is working so hard and will probably continue to do so until we leave on our trip on May 19.

Saturday I cleaned house and did laundry and sat out on my swing in the back yard. The weather here was beautiful. The swing always reminds me of my mom and dad as they encouraged us to get it and then helped us put it together. It doesn't look like they will be coming up this spring as they usually do because my mom is having her knee surgery on May 5. I'll be going down to help out that week when she gets out of the hospital. One more trip to FL. Then I will come back, stay for two days to get ready and we are headed back down there again. Rick doesn't like to fly so we will be doing a lot of driving. Its okay though. It gives us some good quality time to be together. Like Don and Leeann, we can fill 8 hours of drive time without the radio just by talking with each other. The IPods help too sometimes.

Saturday night we spent with Don and Leeann. I haven't laughed so much in a long time. We had a lot of fun with Don in his role as CoCo the card Nazi. (inside joke). We can always find something to talk about with them. There are never any uncomfortable silences. Mostly just humor and laughter. I have never had friends I could be so open and honest with. It feels good to have that in our life. Please go look at Leeanns blog. Go back and look at a before picture then see the now picture. She is so beautiful!

Today Chanel and Jesse came over. I took her and bought her 3 business suits since she has her first interview next week. She is graduating in 2 weeks!!! Can you believe it?! I am so very proud of her. Words can't express how I feel about it. I am so proud. It was touch and go for a semester but she pulled it together and now has a 4.0 in all of her major classes. Oh! one more wonderful thing, she told me today that she was accepted in to the MBA program at Tech. They have a one year program and she plans to finish it in one year with an MBA with major in international business. Did I mention how proud of her I am? We had fun shopping today, She looks beautiful in her new suits. Very Professional. Jesse was with us and he frequently offered his unique point of view on the outfits. The wedding is back on. I mean the wedding at the lake. with all of the to-do stuff. Maybe they can focus on it once school is out. Maybe I can lose some more weight by their October date.
Chanel always makes me laugh. Its fun to see her and Jesse interact together, She tries to get feisty with him and he does just like Rick does, tries to insert a little humor and it works most every time. I have had concerns about them getting married but he is very good to her and he seems to know how to handle her many moods so they will probably be fine.

I've been slacking up on the dieting since the red velvet cake. I've been corrupted! But seriously, Chanel and I have decided to get back on the fruit and vege diet. Its easy to follow and it works. We each made a goal to see who could get below a certain weight (which I will not mention for the sake of Chanel's privacy) the fastest. She seems to think she can because she's younger but it will be fun to find out. I love these challenges, it really gives me something to strive for. We are also back on the fitness challenge for the next 8 weeks.

Then, tomorrow Sienna is coming over because she needs me to buy her some shoes. Working on her feet all day is causing her feet problems. She is miserable. Hopefully we will be able to find some comfortable shoes that fit. She can't wear tennis shoes. So we should have a good day shopping tomorrow. One of the things I love to do is shop. I did spend an awful lot of money today. So hopefully my financial manager won't be too upset with me after tomorrow.

Let you know how tomorrow turns out. Sienna with be pleading her case to go to Tech next semester. We and her Dad kind of want her to stay at Walter State for one more year. But she just seems so unhappy there. The questiion with Sienna is: will she be happy anywhere? It seems these days, she is constantly grouchy. Wish I had a magic wand to wave over her to make her have a lighter, happier spirit.

Well, we had our big anniversary dinner and just let me tell you, the red velvet cake is worth every single calorie in it! YUMMY! I don't feel one bit guilty about it. We had a beautiful meal. Rick had told them it was our anniversary and they put us in a nice cozy little booth way back in the corner. It was almost like it was just the two of us in the restaurant. So romantic. Rick and I aren't used to eating big meals like that anymore so afterwards, we were so sluggish we could barely move. So we just came home, put on our jammies and veged out in front of the t.v......bliss. Just being quiet in front of the t.v. with him makes me happy. If I could only express how much I love that man, you wouldn't believe me. My love for him is so expansive its hard to even explain it to others. I mean I love him SO SO MUCH. I am just grateful for every anniversary we have together. I cannot believe that someone like him could want to spend his life with someone like me but I am so thankful that he does. He makes me completely and totally happy.

Okay, enough of the mushy stuff. More later. Have a good night!!

Red Velvet cake

My anniversary is tomorrow. 5 years. We are planning on going to Regas. Rick sent me an email the other day telling me that he made reservations. He said, "We are going to Regas on the 17th. You will be having Filet and Red Velvet cake, so plan accordingly." Concise and to the point. So perfectly Rick. Cracked me up! He makes me laugh even when he's not trying to! But he has a good point, seems like we are always having to plan our next meal based on what we have eaten already during the day. I hear that Regas has red velvet cake that is out of this world. So, what the heck, it is a celebration and I will be having red velvet cake. It will be wonderful celebrating our life together. We have been together 11 yrs but married 5. It seems like we have been together forever and that is a good thing. There is noone else in the world that I would rather grow old with.

So I've been striving to fit into this dress for the last few months. I want to wear it to our anniversary dinner. And guess what? I tried it on last night and its too big!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is a very cool thing. Not sure what I am going to wear now, but I am happy to fit into it finally. So, I think I'll go shopping today.

I just had a great day and night! We went to Courney's and we scrapbooked all day! I finally left about 10:30 and I was exhausted! We completed several projects and I got 4 additional pages done from page kits. Whew! Now that's my idea of a very good day! Courtney is so creative. I really like her style. If I could have 1/10th of her creativity I would be jumping for joy. So we had a good time hanging out with other women with our same interests and I always have a good time with Leeann no matter what we are doing.

Rick is working again today. I wish he didn't have to work so hard but a guy's gotta do what he's gotta do. Hopefully things will lighten up in a couple weeks. So, today I plan to, you guessed it, scrapbook! Its so relaxing to me. I have friends who just don't understand it but there is just something calming about working with my hands and getting those creative juices flowing. Besides, it keeps me away from the mall. Its raining here and its a perfect day to stay inside.

Leeann was telling me that the track we walk around is about 1.25 miles around. We always walk at least 2 or 3 times around, depending on Rick's foot and the amount of daylight left. I also am walking 3 miles with Leslie Sansone in the mornings. That's means potentially 6 miles a day! Now wonder I am losing weight. Rick is doing great too. Only 7 more pounds to my next goal! I am still planning on doing the Race for the Cure in October. I'd really like to walk a little faster so I can walk further at one time. Christy is planning on running the race. I'm sorry, but this body is not going to run the 5K this year. Can you imagine? lol.

Chanel graduates in 3 weeks! Yippee! Its been a long road. I am so very proud of her. The wedding date has yet to be decided. It will probably be sometime this summer. They are both too stressed out to really plan it right now. She just wants to do a spur of the moment thing, he wants to plan a little more. I just hope they take their time. She is still planning on grad school. I hope she gets in. She did take her GMAT and did pretty well considering she only had like 3 days to study.

This week has been a down week. I'm oversleeping, I'm hating work and I am very snappy with Dr. Robertson. Fortunately, he understands me. I at least have the insight to realize that this is a temporary thing, but it is tough to go through month after month. I have a great life and I am happy about that. Sometimes these things just happen regardless of life circumstances. I just deal with it and move on. I'm kind of coming out of it today. Feeling more like myself.

Tomorrow is going to be a great day. Leeann and I are going to spend the entire day and evening scrapbooking. Its going to be so fun! It will be fun to be around a bunch of women who all love the same thing. I can't wait!

Have a good night!

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to say happy Easter to everyone. I've been reminiscing about past Easters when the girls were little. Coloring Easter eggs the Saturday before. Easter egg hunts both at home and at church. The beautiful dresses the kids wore. Sienna inevitably got chocolate all over hers. She definately was not a fru-fru girl. I miss all of that. But I am hoping that one day, in the very distant future, I will experience all of that again with my grandchildren. I hope my kids don't move too far away from me, airfare for all of these holidays could get expensive!

Oh, just an update on the whole diet thing. While on the fruit and veges plan, I lost 16 pounds in one month. I think that's pretty good. I've actually lost 22# since October. So, I'm on the right track. Planning on going back on the fruit and vegie plan for the next month until our vacation on May 19. Would like to lose another 10# before the beach.

Have a good Easter Sunday.

We really need to get together more often.

I have been thinking a lot today about my personal relationships. Why is it that in many of my close relationships I am always saying the words, "We really need to get together more often." ?

This past weekend I visited with three of my aunts. One I hadn't seen since I was about 17. The other since the girls were very little and the other, not in 2 years. I love these women. I admire them. I love being with them, but I still say, "we need to get together more often". Aunt Pam and Aunt Karla are my favorite aunts. They are very different from each other but I see myself in each of them. When I was saying good-bye to them on Monday, I sobbed. I mean gut wrenching sobbing. It was pitiful. Like a 5 yr old. My Aunt Pam and I have always had a special bond and she just has to look at me cross-eyed and I am bawling. It's very emotional. We have a very special relationship and I really need to make an effort to see her more.

So that was Monday. Today is Saturday and three times today I have said, "We really need to get together more often."or something like that. Three times. What is wrong with us in our society that we are so busy that we cannot foster relationships with the people we love the most? I am a people person. I enjoy being around others. I don't think that makes me needy, I just love people. I love the way it feels to be in a social environment. I really need to make more of an effort to be with the people I love and with those who love me. I really need to make it a priority. I think we all should.

My Aunt Karla and I had a "sleepover" out by the pool at my Aunt Sandy's house. We pulled up the loungers and snuggled under the blanket and we talked and talked for hours. It was fun getting to know her again. I think that's how kids and teens maintain such close friendships. They have sleepovers and stay up all night telling secrets. They have intimate relationships. There's some kind of rule that grown-ups don't have sleepovers anymore. Rules are made to be broken. I think we should.

My Florida trip part 1

I just returned from a long weekend with my family in Florida and boy, there is a lot to tell! There was so much going on that I found myself taking notes. lol. So much I wanted to remember for scrapbooking and my memory is just not very good these days. I really question whether I have the early stages of alzheimers. I have to write down everything.

Friday afternoon I got in the car and made the trip to Florida by myself. The trip to my parents' house was about 10 hours. I sat in traffic from Atlanta all the way to Macon. It was stop and go for 2 1/2 hours. It usually only takes me 8 hours to get there. So, I had 10 hours to myself...to think. Believe me, I thought about everything. Religion, my attitude, marriage, kids, vacation, my job, scrapbook layouts, more scrapbook layouts...on and on and on. I've come up with lots of new philosophies which I won't bore you with here right now but maybe in the future.

On my way, I stopped at a Wendy's outside of Macon. ( I know, shame on me). While I was waiting in the drive thru line I noticed 4 women coming out of the restaurant. They all had on lime green t-shirts. One of them had on Kermit the Frog slippers! They were all dancing around and laughing. I enjoyed seeing their frolicking but the thing that touched me the most was the fact that they must have all been over 70 years old! I was like, "you go, girls!" I can so see Leeann and I dancing around like that when we are 70. I think when we go to Disney this fall, we should each buy a pair of Kermit the frog slippers to save for the next 30 years.

Saturday, I spent the morning yard saling with my dad. We took 2 of my nephews, Devin and Tristan, they are 5 and 6. We had a great time. I was reunited with a friend from high school who was having a yard sale. It was great to see her again and we both vowed to stay in touch. My dad was in a pretty good mood and seemed to be feeling well. I was wondering about how his health was doing and he seemed great. That was reassuring to me. We had a nice talk.I was so afraid that we would have nothing to talk about but it was really great. He had to parade me around to all of his neighbors and that felt good that he was proud enough of me to do that. Then I had lunch with my sister and 2 of my other nephews, Michael and Austin. They are 17 and 10. I enjoyed seeing them. They have all matured so much. I have disagreed with many many things my sister has done in her life and I have been mad at her for a while now but this weekend, I made the conscious decision to let it go. I love her and I want her to be successful and happy but she has to do it her way. I don't agree with her way, but I'm not going to waste emotional energy on being angry about it. After lunch the boys and I, all 4 of them went to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Not really my first choice but it was an okay movie and the boys really liked it.

Sunday, Dad and I and Devin went to church. Going to church makes me so homesick. I have a lot of old friends there. A lot of people that I grew up with are in the church. After church everyone swarmed me and it was really pretty overwhelming. I almost cried. One thing that everyone said that really touched me was that I seemed to be so happy. I was able to say that yes, I am truly happy. That I really have a good life and I am happy.

Devin and I took off for Orlando after my dad cooked me the best steak and baked potato I've ever had. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from my mom's. We had a great time. It was funny to see how much of Devin's life philosophy is based on Sponge Bob. He had so many cute expressions like he said " Oh Barnacles!" when I told him how much longer the trip would be. lol. At one point he told me to go faster and when I told him I couldn't because the cops would get me he promptly told me that cops only got killers, kidnappers and coyotes. He is so cute. I think he slept about 10 minutes and the rest of the time he talked. and talked and talked. That kid really has quite an imagination. I couldn't have made it without him though. He was my toll booth buddy. I think we went through 3 toll booths and I could have never found the money without his help. He did pretty good with the money considering he is just 5.

I guess that's enough for today. We met up with 3 of my aunts Sunday in Orlando and it was such a touching experience that I'll have to save it for another day as it will take up several paragraphs. I'll write more tomorrow.