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Weekend Wrap-up!!

Caption Contest Winner! This week goes back to Nadine with, "He shots! He Scores!! Goooooaaalll!!" Gina, was yours a euphamism??
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Weight Watchers Update: At the close of Week 24 I am happy to announce dropping another pound and getting me to 40# down and am at 218. I am approaching my wedding weight, however, after two kids, I'm pretty sure my wedding dress won't fit like it used to! I averaged 1.6#/week.

With the holidays coming up I have decided I'm not going to berate myself should I gain. I will still try to keep it in check but if I waffle, I'm ok with that. I don't plan on completely letting myself go in the next five weeks but I do plan on enjoying the holidays. ;-)
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Busy weekend to report, though a good one. Steve, Mal, and Mom went out Saturday morning to get the Angel Food I orderd last month. Some good food in the boxes and some that will probably get donated to the food bank. If it can help supplement our grocery bill and help us spend less then I'm all for it!

So while they were off doing that, Jenna and I took part in the Open Door Mission's "Drumstick on Wheels." Over 3,000 families signed up for food assistance for Thanksgiving. In fact the ODM had to close registration early because so many families had signed up.

The ODM visited several churches to talk of this mission and was looking for volunteers. About a mile or so from the Mission our lane of traffic was at a complete standstill. I drove off and took a different street with a shorter line to get through the intersection. In three directions there was nothing but cars; hundreds of cars all coming to help the ODM deliver these 3,000+ boxes of turkey-n-fixins to needy families.

I was planning on taking three boxes worth but instead took seven boxes. It took the better part of an hour just to get to the loading area. I moved the car seats around so I could fold down the back seat and get the boxes in. And off we went!

I was able to deliver five of seven boxes; one wasn't home and one I flat-out couldn't find! The part of town I was in was right around Creighton University where I work and reminded me of my days working home care. It was interesting listening to Jenna's take on the whole experience. One house we stopped at had plastic stapled over the windows; either the glass wasn't there or it was for drafts. I saw a run-down house, of which it was.

Jenna? "Oooo, Mommy! Look at the pretty windows!" Oblivious to what was right in front of her. Oh, to have that child-like innocence and acceptance again.

"People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Luke 18:15-17

Yesterday the weather was great for the end of November. Fair and in the 50s so I got some last-minute yard work done. I raked a couple of cans and dumped some on the garden and tilled that in to help "feed" it for next year's season. Jenna is already planning what she wants to grow next year and carrots are high on her list! I told her she can have her own little spot on the garden to grow what ever she wants.

Jenna helped me clean up from raking and I have all the outdoor Christmas lights plugged in and ready to go. All I have to do now is plug in the timer and we're set!

Mal and I walked down to the mall to get a few more little Christmas presents from Bath & Body Works then went to Target that's in the mall. I was planning on walking to Lowe's to look at counter top samples but got sidetracked by Pier 1 and had to go back to Target to finish a Christmas project that Pier 1 started. We were gone for over an hour. It was getting a bit dark on our way home so I kicked it in high-gear.

All-in-all a good weekend. Looking forward to the short week/long weekend this week. I'll probably start digging out all the Christmas stuff this week.

Caption Contest!!

Boy, TGIF!!! Have a busy morning planned tomorrow between Angel Food and Drumstick on Wheels. But it should all work out.

So here is this week's enstallment for the contest. Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!!

Am I The Only One?

...that is completely SICK of this woman??

How much more ego-centric can one person be? Yes, she's gorgeous, is the most powerful Black woman in the entertainment industry, is a fabulous philanthropist (she turned me on to Heifer International) has her own talk show, production company, and magazine.

I understand the magazine is named for her, but REALLY!! Does she have to be on EVERY. STINKIN'. COVER????

WE GET IT!! You have more money than you know what to do with and because you had a crummy and hard life growing up and were denied lots of things you are going to flaunt your now wildly successful career and win the hearts of American women. But sometimes things aren't as rosy as they appear.

I can just imagine the conversations at the weekly staff meetings at O Magazine:

"So who's the cover shoot for this month? Oh. riiiiiiiight. My bad."

I'm sure it makes the shoots go much faster as there's no outside person to schedule, but don'cha think they're getting tired of shooting Oprah in various outfits and settings and encouraging her to give her best cheesy, "I do love you, but I love seeing myself plastered all over my magazine even more so EAT YOUR HEART OUT, AMERICA!"

Is it just me?

Groaner Foul!

Can I Get An "AMEN!"?

Thanks, Stacy!!

Weekend Wrap-up

Caption Contest Winner! This week goes to Boo with his, "America's first pregnant man arrested when caught consuming alcohol while with child!"

I do what I can to give my readers nightmares...
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Weight Watchers Update: Got back on track this week and it showed; dropped 6#, which I attribute to being water weight. Plus this loss helped me break the barrier of 220. As of Saturday I'm down to 219.2 with a total loss of 39#.
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Steve and Mallory left for Des Moines Saturday morning so that left Jen and I to our own devices. We ran some errands in the morning. I think we all have a mild case of cruddies because Steve and I haven't felt great this past week and Jenna wanted to go home to take a nap. After she woke up I took her to Arby's and brought it home and we had a picnic in the living room and watched "Cars." Then she had a bath and dinner and then to bed! I watched movie and was in bed around 2130. I gave Jenna direct orders for Sunday morning; when she got up to go to the bathroom she could play quietly in her room but was to NOT wake me up.

Ya know what?

She actually listened! I rolled out a little after seven, which, for the weekend, is pretty decent.

Went to church and did a little project of her choosing then she went down for a nap. I took a 20" combat nap myself.

Found a great recipe for slow cooker pork roast. Very easy and ZOWIE is it good!

Ranch Pork Roast:

3# pork roast
1-1.5# new potatoes
8oz cream cheese
1 can cream-o-chicken soup
0.4oz Ranch dip mix.

Halve potatoes and place in the bottom of your slow cooker. Place roast on top of potatoes. In a separate bowl mix soup, ranch, and cream cheese until smooth; spoon over roast and potatoes. Low for 8h.

Then what I did (not mentioned in the recipe) was I spooned out the roast and potatoes and put them on a platter in a warm over. I slowly added some flour to the sauce and whisked it into a fabulous gravy.

Boy howdy was that good. It may sound weird; pork and ranch. But it had a great ranch flavor but was not over-powering. Might make for some interesting sandwiches......

Caption Contest!!

Finally it's FRIDAY!!! I could really tell it's been a full moon down in the ICU; very strange energy and fairly chaotic this week.....glad I don't work weekends on the full moon anymore!!!

Here is this week's installment of the contest. Honestly, after seeing this picture I just may go drink heavily!! Have a great weekend and I'll see you Monday!

At Last (though a month late)!!

Here's What I Think

If TV is airing Christmas-themed commercials before Thanksgiving then people should be allowed to have their Christmas lights on with no ramifications!

So there!!

Weekend Wrap-up

Caption Contest Winner! This week's seal of approval goes to Tom because he went there! "Looks like the carpet matches the drapes." LOVE IT!!
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Weight Watchers Update: It's time to get back on the wagon. Second week of gains, up to 225. Mutter mutter Halloween candy mutter mutter.....
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Saturday was an odd day for me. For so many weekends I'm running around the house and cleaning and doing stuff that I would really like to have a Saturday with nothing going on. Well, I had that wish granted and all I did was pace the house looking for something to do. Only did one load of laundry! Finally I was so bored and out of sorts that I started cleaning the bathrooms. How desperate for something to do was I? I even tackled Steve's "Icky Boy" bathroom!

Made home-made chicken noodle soup and baked some bread for dinner Saturday. It's gotten pretty cold pretty quickly last week and soup just sounded good. And it was a pretty decent batch, too, for never having made it before. Some warm jalapeno cheddar bread fresh out of the oven....pretty tasty.

Steve volunteered to make dinner yesterday. He made his lasagna and made the noodles himself! This has always been a bone of contention with me. He has this really nice pasta maker (from Italy) that he bought many moons ago. In the 12 years I've known him he's used it maybe three times. I am of the notion that if something doesn't get used in a year's time it goes bye-bye. So he had lasagna noodles haning around the kitchen. Not to mention he made them green - ON PURPOSE!! They were thinner than store-bought noodles so I wasn't completely convinced. He'll try ravioli sometime, then we'll see what the fate of the pasta maker is. He also did a loaf of italian herb bread that was very tasty.

Mal's been a bit out of sorts for the last few days. Possible combination of teething and flu shot side-effects. Very clingy and whiney, and you all know how much I love that in a child!

As it has been so blasted windy last week, though I am thankful we don't live in North Dakota with over three feet of snow onthe ground, yesterday was a really nice day outside. Though it was nippy, around 40, there was no wind. So I tossed Mallory in her stroller with her winter coat and hat, then a couple of blankets, grabbed the dog and off we went for a 45" walk.

I was cold pretty much all day yesterday and all I wanted to do was curl up under some blankets. My hands and feet were not the culprits, but my core temp felt low and I was sluggy. That's one of the down-sides to losing this much weight; though I've found I can tolerate summers better, winters are tough as I just can't get warm. Maybe it's my thyroid as my blood tests two months ago showed questionable hypothyroidism. Which I find rather odd with losing this much weight. I'll get that checked out next month. *shrugs*

And though it is still unofficial, Obama may get yet another electoral vote from Nebraska's Second Congressional District! We all know this is beyond a moot point, but this is HUGE in the HUGEST sense!!

Nebraska is so red (and not because of the Huskers, thankyouverymuch)that Republican presidential candidates don't campaing here because they know they'll win our state, and because of that Dems don't even bother. HOWEVER! Senator Ben Nelson, back when he was Governor in the early 90s, signed a law that split our states five electoral votes into two regions. Second District (that's Omaha) and then the rest of the state. Maine is the only other state in the Union that has this special provision.

So for the first time EVER, Omaha has become a spot of blue in a sea of red. You betcha, change is coming! ;-)

Caption Contest!!

And so closes yet another week. As much as I cringe with fashion shows because we all know no one in their right mind would ever wear this kind of thing in public (let alone private), they give me so much fodder to work with.


So here is this week's installment. This week's contest is HEADLINE. Have a great weekend and I'll see you Monday!!

Sunday Sandbox

Nope...

...I'm not going to use this time or space to discuss last night's historic election, one that's for the ages.

...I'm not going to discuss the record number of voters that waited in long lines to make their voices be heard.

...I'm not going to discuss how the rest of the world watched with bated breath the events of last night unfold.

...I'm not going to say how happy I am that Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, for the first time EVER, became a spot of blue in a sea of red and gave Obama one electoral vote, albeit moot.

Nope...not gonna do it...

...Because it's already been done a thousand times over.

But I do want to brag. I want to brag about something in our fair city I didn't think I'd ever see again in my lifetime.
That is a current sign (as of last night around 5 pm), not one from five years ago. The cheapest I ever paid was $1 back in 1992. Considering gas was $4+/gallon this summer, I almost feel like stocking up. We'll see how long this lasts after the elections....

Lastly, Steve and I saw this person getting the word out to vote at the intersection of 72nd & Dodge; the State's busiest. I should have considered his choices. They were about as good as any other...

One Last Time...

Weekend Wrap-up

Caption Contest Winner! This week's winner is Aynde with her, "Zen and the Art of Pumpkin Contemplation."
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Weight Watcher's Update: Another gain to report; 0.8#. Not too upset by it considering the plethora of free chocolate laying about. We'll try again this week.
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What a glorious weekend to report! The weather was absolutely FABULOUS for the first weekend of November. In the 60s and 70s, and sunny. I've been grilling every day since Thursday, taking full advantage of the weather as we all know that grilling season is quickly coming to a close. Friday was steaks, Saturday I made a turkey loaf with Italian flavored ground breast and smoked it on the grill. Great flavor! I put a couple of potatoes on the grill as well. Last night I made some rye bread and grilled some chicken thighs.

I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday and gave Thursday a bath after trimming her nails. Sopping wet I tossed her outside so she could air dry. Washed her bedding while I was at it.

We finally got around to taking Mallory's 12m photos, albeit a month late. She hasn't really changed that much in a month. In ten years we probably won't remember the time delay!

We made it through "falling back" which is always intersting with a toddler who has no concept of time. Saturday night around 1830 we all went out into the front yard and played football, or anything Steve and I could think of to keep the girls moving.

It worked.

They woke up around 0630, which was 0730 in their world. Naps for Mallory were a bit tenuous, but she'll be on track in a day or two.

Halloween went well, great night for it. Jenna went as a Hula Girl and Mallory as a peppermint. You can view my pumpkins here. No, that is NOT a euphamism!!

Yesterday was in the mid-70s so the girls played int he sandbox. This was Mal's first time in the sandbox and she wasn't too fond of the sand at first and had a death grip on my arm. After a few minutes she let go and started banging pots together.

It's nice to see Jenna being so good and playing with her. I truly believe her actions are real and not contrived because it's something we want her to do. Even they make an awful racket in the house it's great to hear them both laughing as they chase each other around the house.

Finally, vote.

Most of us are more than ready to see this campaign finally go away. I haven't been this "excited" for an election. Ever. This is the first time I've watched all the debates. I hope that we, as Americans, show up at the polls and let our voices be heard.

Something so simple as voting can have such a profound effect.