Tropical Storm Debby

So Tropical Storm Debby stopped by for a brief visit!

The rain started on Sunday morning....we got 1.6" of rain and some wind. Our electric blinked off about 10 times before we left for church on Sunday and then about 5 minutes before we left the house, it went off completely! We wondered what we would find when we got to church, but there was electric there!

The 2nd and 4th Sunday's we have fellowship dinner, followed by an afternoon service from 12:45-1:45. Then at 2 we sing at one of two local nursing homes.

This past Sunday our family was on the schedule to share for the afternoon service. But when we got to church we found out that a couple who had just come home from a Nicarauga mission trip were prepared to share about their trip, so our program got postponed to this coming Sunday night! :)

Monday morning I went out to the garden to see if there was anything left to pick. My zucchini and cucumber plants are dying off and there was no fruit on either of them! My zipper peas did not fair well. Once they were about big enough to pick, they would shrivel up! :( I don't know what is wrong. The plants look lovely and had tons of peas on them! I'm bummed and hoping to find some somewhere at a produce stand!

While I was out at the garden, the clouds were rolling and the wind was whipping.

We grew our cucumbers on the back fence. Max helped himself to one that got a little big! ;) He seemed so proud of it too! He was trotting all around the back yard with it while I was out there! :) Crazy dog!

From all the wind we had been having, it blew the blooms from the crepe myrtle's down! :( It looks kind of neat to see the dog's pen covered in a carpet of pink petals, though! :)

Yeh, the blooms were down all over, including in the pool!! : /

Soon after I got back in the house, it started pouring and it rained and blew all day Monday! We got another 2" that day....so 3.6" isn't bad compared to the 15-25" they were predicting!! :O

Sometimes the house got so dark from all the clouds and rain....it was a lazy kind of day!

Tuesday morning the rain was gone, the clouds were gone....it was a brilliant blue sky morning.....for a few hours. I was going to hang out my wash, but by 9 AM it was raining again!! By late afternoon it has pretty much cleared out again and it's safe to say, the storm is gone! 

Last evening Dan and I ran again, after not running for a week. Well, he did last Thursday. A group of local people started a "Fun Run" every Thursday night in town. They have a route mapped out for different distances. I'd like to go some week soon! Last week I think they had 38 people show up! Dan and Danny have been going as often as they can and they would love for me to join them! :)

But this Thursday, I am going to the Women's prison near here to participate in their evening chapel service. I'm not sure if I'll be home in time to run!??

And speaking of that service. I need to decide for sure today what I am going to share about and prepare for it! The deciding part is almost harder than the sharing part! :P Any ideas??

Of animals and flowers

Our neighbors are in Nicarauga for a week on a mission trip. They asked Danny to feed their goats, chickens, geese and fish while they are gone. Yesterday, I decided to go with him.

The goats saw us coming and were waiting in anticipation for their feeding!

But Danny went to take care of the chickens first.

He brings home 3-4 eggs every day, which is quite nice! I love fresh eggs!!

The chickens watch and wait, till he is out of the pen, then.....

....Let's Eat!!

The goats were waiting by the gate till we got back over to their pen. :)

They are pretty goats!

As much as they like to keep a distance from you, once the food shows up, they are all over it! :)

Adding some new hay....it smelled so good! :)

The littler goats came over and ate here. I think the bullying of the big ones was too much! 

 Our crepe myrtles are just FULL of flowers. I think all the rain we had a few weeks ago must have been what they needed!!

The branches are just weighted down.

We put our pool up in a different spot this year because of having dogs in the back yard.
But, this is what you go out to every day! Thankfully, a few sweeps of the mesh skimmer cleans them right out! Kind of makes you feel like you are swimming with rose petals all around you! ;) Hahaa!

They add so much color to the outdoors! :)

**Thanks to my neighbor for loaning me his camera for a few days. I used it to photograph some items I wanted to list on Ebay, and then before I took it back to him yesterday, I took the opportunity for a few more snapshots... :) I'm praying that some day sooner than later I can figure out how to get a new camera! :)

Giveaway!!

I know this is probably not even worth my time, but it would be SO awesome to win! Especially since my camera is not working anymore! You don't know how much I MISS not having a camera. I am borrowing my neighbors right now, because I had things to sell on Ebay. But I can't keep mooching off of him! :P

So yeh, go check it out!!


http://www.groopdealz.com/index/giveaways

Pics of Weightloss Journey....

Here are a few pics of me along my weight loss journey....

This was back in 1995 when Dan and I were dating....

{I thought I was so fat then....if only I knew how much worse it would get!}

A few pics of me at my heaviest weight. 

 I was stuck at that weight from about 2003-2008.

2007 {??}

 December 2007

 November 2011

 Feb. 2012 {Valentines Day}

May 2012 {Mother's Day}

C25K Week 1, Day 1

 A friend encouraged me to blog about my weight loss journey, and I think I will be thankful in the future if I do this.....{I am stepping out of my comfort zone, but I need to be honest} :/  :)
 Just a real brief history for all of you that don't know me. .....
 I have been overweight all my life. I don't remember what I weighed on my wedding day, but it was into the low 200's. When I got pregnant with our first child I was 230.....and during that pregnancy, I gained 40 lbs. making me a whopping 270! Of course, after our son was born, I lost some of that, but not much. I think I dropped to around 250. Then I got pregnant a second time a little less than 2 years later. This time, I only gained 15 lbs., but that put me up to 265 again. After our daughter was born, I lost a few lbs, but over the next few years, I got back up to 270. The highest # I remember seeing on the scale was 274.
 I KNEW I couldn't keep living like this. Thankfully I was healthy otherwise! Well....as healthy as you can be at that weight! :P

 In the Fall of 2008, I visited an Endocrinology/Infertility Specialist to see if we could get some answers to some issues I was having, the biggest being secondary infertility. The first thing the Dr. wanted to do, was have me lose weight! So I was put on a low carb diet.......that was the beginning to my journey of weight loss and healthy{ier} eating. There were ups and down's along the way, but I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight and have a long term goal of getting to 180 (50 more lbs.!!) I'd love to be there by the time I turn 40 (5 more years), but I don't want to do it so fast that I am prone to gaining it back! I also want to keep changing my eating habits to make this a lifestyle, not just a weight loss program I follow for a few days, weeks or years.

 Last fall, after encouragement from a friend at church, Dan and I started the Couch to 5K program. It is a 9 week program that gets anyone from being a couch potato to running a 5K. I made it successfully through the program, but never attempted to run a 5K. We got done with the program in January or Feb. of this year. I ran a few times after that, but with it getting hotter outside, I decided to just stop for the "summer". Then in April, I started having numerous heart palpitations every day......{this was a whole journey in itself} After two months of having them nearly all day, every day, they seem to have quit on their own. I have only been having a few right after lunch the last 3 days. There seems to be no explanation....I've had so many tests done on my heart as well as checking my thyroid, and many, MANY other things!!
 Since the palps have stopped, I am SO ready to run again...and I don't care if it's hot! This time my goal IS to be able to run a 5K! I am starting the program over...with Day 1. Tonight was my first night.
 It was neat to see how much farther I got this time than the first run back in the Fall!! :) Yeh, my legs feel weak and shaky all over again, but it feels good. I am hoping that the running, combined with watching carbs, will give me the oomph to get some more weight off. I've lost 23 lbs. since Dec 30, 2011, so I am not complaining! :)

 I'd love to hear your input....have you ever tried C25K?? Do you have a weight loss story?
 Encouragement would also be welcomed!! :)

I am going to try to blog often, at least once a week....and maybe even add some pictures along the way. :)
 ~Later~

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to my husband and the Dad to our kids!! :) 

We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

2012

2011

I love comparing pictures, to see how much our kids are growing. And growing they are!! :)

Today was just a relaxing day.....some napped, some swam, some watched the race. :)

I am missing my family. Every year on Father's Day weekend the whole family goes to the cabin. We haven't been there since 2006! I hope next year we can make it work to go to PA over that time! 

Am so thankful for my Dad and being raised in a Christian home!!

Chalkboard Project

I have always loved seeing chalkboards in people's homes, especially when using them to post verses, quotes, prayer requests, etc. 

Well, I am planning a Graduation Party for Dan for this Friday night and when looking for some decorating idea's, I came across a neat idea that needed a chalkboard, so I searched my house and found this frame we weren't using. It was an oak frame. 

{I forgot to take a before pic}

I had bought a can of chalkboard paint a few months ago, but it was still in my closet {waiting for such a moment as this} :D

So this morning I took the frame out in the yard and painted it glossy cherry. In real life it looks a little darker than these pics.

Then I washed the glass with Windex, followed by alcohol and rubbed some fine steel wool over it and used alcohol on it one last time to get it good and clean.  I took it outside and gave it 4 coats of chalkboard spray paint.

The finished product!! :)

Well, not technically. I still need to prime it by rubbing chalk over it once it has dried for 24 hours.

I am excited to be able to use it in my kitchen when the party is over! :)

I got my instructions for this project HERE.