Toy Story 3

LOVED IT!  it was the best of the three.

You’ll have to go see the movie to understand the monkey image :)

Week 24 @ 1.3/week = 31.4!

Milestones

I hit 30 pounds!  Yahoo! I am also this close (take your thumb and forefinger and hold them really close to one another) to hitting another personal milestone. 

I was also reviewing the goals that I had set initially.  I was a bit overzealous and adjusted them to be a bit more realistic.

The average weight loss has been 1.3 lbs per week.  I had initially wanted 2 lbs per week.  I am good with the 1.3!

Another achievement was that my Mom signed up too!  I was excited to have her join me.  And, at least for the summer months, she’ll be joining me in South Bend for the same meetings.  Then, once school starts back up, she’ll find one out that way.

Wind

Last night (by the time my internet is back up, it will be TWO nights ago)there was a terrible storm that brought hurricane strength wind across the Midwest.  The storm started in Iowa and moved east quickly.  Many times, storms will weaken as they go.  Not this one.

Around 6:30 pm, winds picked up and stayed up.  Winds were measured at 79mph at the South Bend airport.  The airport is about 3/4 mile west of my house, as the crow flies.

There were winds just west of here that were reported to have reached 90mph though.  After seeing the devastation that 80mph winds can do…I prefer not to see the 90 mph damage.

The cemetery where we walk was hit quite hard.  There were no less that 7 trees that we saw uprooted and plenty more split in two.  At least one was a lightening strike.

I saw a neighbor’s tree get struck by lightening, many neighbors have collected piles of debris that rival the size of small cars, but I just have 2 branches and a lot of twigs to pick up.  I was lucky in many ways.

The  neighbor across the street’s yard, of course, doesn’t have a single leave out of place…she was out there right after the storm with her leaf blower.

Oddly, late in the day following the storms, during a sunny beautiful day…that’s when  my AT&T U-verse decided to go out.  The automated message said that it would be fixed w/in 3 hours of when it went down.  It has been 16 hours so far.  I am going through withdrawal. No phone, no internet, no tv…what? Suppose I could clean or read a book or something…nah…

 

Shapoopee…I mean CHIHULY

The Frederick Meijer Sculpture Garden has an exhibit of Dale Chihuly Glassworks.  It is amazing, and quite frankly, having been our 1st time there, we were all expressing how we don’t know if we’d like the gardens nearly as much without them.

This was one of our favorites.  It was simple, bright, and fun. 

 

 

Chris was a trooper and a much better faker than Jodie.  I “made” them get in a picture together.  Then, I “made” Chris take one with me (picture to the left).  She has has much more time to adapt to my silly requests – like documenting a fun afternoon together!  By the time we got to this, poor Laura was exhausted, so I didn’t force her to get up and out of the shade. Plus, she doesn’t want her picture taken since she’s 8 months pregnant.

This was an initial favorite ~ of course, shades of blue!  SO unlike me!

 

 

 

 

 

This one reminded Jodie of snakes and it reminded me of slugs, neither of which I find appealing, but for some reason, I really liked these!

This is part of a large (dare I say HUGE) sculpture that faded into yellow.  I liked the contrast of the red and orange against the blue sky.

 

 

This one is a little blurry, but it reminded me of a venus fly trap – or an alien sucker-thingy that you’d see fly out of something in a sci-fi movie.

 

 

 

 

 

These were clam-like vases.  The light was shining through them and made them glow. 

 

Looks like an octopus :)

Then this is the last one I will share.  I really liked this one too ~ again, no surprise, it’s blue…but the size and intricacies of these spikes was so interesting.  Very pretty.

Shrek Ever After

I liked it.  I went in with low expectations based off scuttlebutt, but I have to say, I found this one much more enjoyable than the 3rd and in line with the 2nd one.

Rumpelstiltskin was appropriately annoying. Donkey & Puss were great.  I still love Gingy.

There were some excellent one liners in there, as always, like when Donkey calls Gingy a “Cracker” and when Shrek declares that his donkey fell down their waffle hole.  There were at least 5 times where we laughed out loud at both the subtle & overt gags.

I had waited to go see this, even though I am not opposed to going to a movie alone, I had felt a bit off going to a children’s movie alone.  Being a female, I could get away with it more than a man nearing his 40’s could, but I still felt I may get weird looks.

As the lights dimmed, a man, nearing his 40’s, slipped in and sat next to us. I laughed heartily to myself.  He too was laughing audibly throughout the movie and, what I thought was weird, in places where no one else in the theater was laughing. Then, he would repeat the line or what just happened, “Ha! She ATE Donkey!”  Then, before the credits started, he sneaked out.  Seems he was worried about being labeled or put on a watch list too!

I have decided that I want to check out the soundtracks for all the Shrek movies.  Every time I go in to see one, I am impressed with the mix of new & old.  The 16 year old that was with me, I am certain, loved the fact that I sang every word to “I’m on Top of the World” by the Carpenters.  I mean, what 16 year old wouldn’t, right?

Blasts

In February, I received a birthday card from an “old” friend/co-worker and she wrote “call or email me and we can get together for lunch/dinner!” 

I had not spoken to this person for about a year, but as you know, some friends can come in & out of your life without questioning intention.  I had been thinking about this person and then, I saw, from a distance, another person that she & I worked with.  That gave me that push I needed to contact my friend.  Thankfully, it was met with great enthusiasm and now we have dinner plans for next week.

It was weird though, because right after I sent the email, I ran into another former co-worker and he asked about her.  Then, tonight, as I was walking Cecelia, a car stopped just ahead of me (I almost turned around), but then they called my name.  It was another acquaintance from years gone by.

Just seems to be the season!

I bet you think this Blog is about you, don’tcho don’tcho?

Well, it’s not! But had you wondering, didn’t I?

Main Entry: vain

Pronunciation: \ˈvān\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, empty, futile, from Latin vanus — more at wane

Date: 14th century

1 : having no real value : idle, worthless <vain pretensions>
2 : marked by futility or ineffectualness : unsuccessful, useless <vain efforts to escape>
3 archaic : foolish, silly
4 : having or showing undue or excessive pride in one's appearance or achievements : conceited

synonyms see futile

— vain·ly adverb

— vain·ness \ˈvān-nəs\ noun

— in vain 1 : to no end : without success or result <her efforts were in vain>
2 : in an irreverent or blasphemous manner <you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain — Deuteronomy 5:11 (Revised Standard Version)>

synonyms vain, nugatory, otiose, idle, empty, hollow mean being without worth or significance. vain implies either absolute or relative absence of value <vain promises>. nugatory suggests triviality or insignificance <a monarch with nugatory powers>. otiose suggests that something serves no purpose and is either an encumbrance or a superfluity <a film without a single otiose scene>. idle suggests being incapable of worthwhile use or effect <idle speculations>. empty and hollow suggest a deceiving lack of real substance or soundness or genuineness <an empty attempt at reconciliation> <a hollow victory>.

Yeah, not the same…

I am almost ready to assemble these baby shower invitations to get them in the mail.  I have 3 of THE most anal retentive friends look at them.  It took a 4th anal retentive friend to notice that I misspelled “bundle” on the invite…they were just so darn cute that the typo was overseen!

Alas, I fixed it and will reprint this weekend.  There will be no buddling at any baby shower I host!

bud·dle (bŭdˈl)

noun

An inclined trough in which crushed ore is washed with running water to flush away impurities.

Origin: Probably from Low German buddeln, to agitate.

bun·dle (bun′dəl)

noun

1. a number of things tied, wrapped, or otherwise held together
2. a package or parcel
3. a bunch, collection, or group
4. Slang a large amount of money
5. Biol.
   1. any of the strands of specialized cells that conduct fluids or add strength in higher plants

      in full vascular bundle

   2. an anatomical unit consisting of a number of separate nerve fibers, muscles, etc. closely banded together

Origin: ME bundel, prob. < MDu bondel, dim. < bond < binden, bind

28.8

Last week, I walked. I walked a lot.  Generally my friend and I end up walking 6+ miles a day, but in addition to that, there were 2 days where I clocked 15 & 19 miles.  

I also ate a lot.  Mom made Sour Cream Twists. How dare she accommodate my request for the cookies!  The NERVE of some people.  Damn they were good.  And I allowed myself to accept the fact that I was OK if I gained this week.  The cookies are worth it.

I think this is part of what is helping me to be successful this time around with Weight Watchers.  I am being honest with myself and tracking what I eat (most of the time) and I am being realistic that there are some things that are going to be worth the (temporary!) gain.

The other thing that I have realized, and may have already mentioned, is that one meal does not a fat ass make.  One meal, while may be a caloric garbage dump, doesn’t mean that the whole week is a bust.  That’s just crazy talk!  Throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so they say!

There is a woman at WW with whom I (and others) get very frustrated.  She, if memory serves, has lost 78 pound.  What a feat!  Something that should provide a great sense of pride.  She is just so negative.  Her day is as efficient as possible.  She only does life-or-death activities, she has no way that she can make time to exercise more or better.  She also talks about cheating the system.  It’s tough.  What I realized is most frustrating is that she doesn’t see how much she’s accomplished.  I hope that my pointing it out (which then elicited a round of supportive applause for her by the rest of the group) helped her see…it’s all about support…

My emotional support this week (in addition to the normal group of merry Lisa makers) was in the form of a lovely pastry.  While it could have been a dysfunctional relationship, it wasn’t as destructive as others I have had (I shall leave names out…), I still managed to lose a pound.

Went Shopping

and…BOUGHT A SMALLER SIZE CLOTHING!!

I was ready to not be disappointed that I might have to force my fat ass into the same size I have been wearing.  It wouldn’t makes sense that I would; after all, I have lost close to 30 pounds so far this year.  But, I needed to make sure I didn’t set myself up for disappointment.

I picked up the smaller size with hope in my heart.  I meandered around the store, fearful to go into the dressing room.  What if they don’t fit?!  What if I look like a stuffed pig?  So, I just kept looking and trying to decide what size top I was going to fit into.  I am quite busty, and even when I was stick skinny, I had to wear a larger size top to accommodate the girls. I am happy to say that I was able to fit in a size smaller (for most styles) too.

That was one of the first times in a long time that I haven’t dreaded shopping.