Ya'll ready for this??

THE A-Z CHALLENGE STARTS TOMORROW!!!!

My newest love.....

My newest love.....

That is all.



The A-z Challenge is coming soon!

This SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!

I've mentioned before that I'm doing this challenge for the first time this year.  It should be really fun!  In keeping of the spirit of the name of this blog, all my posts are going to be mainly weight loss / health related.   And while concentrating on keeping posts short, there will be lots of pics.  Nothing terribly deep.  I do Weight Watchers, so a lot of my info will come from their website.

I have most of my posts already done & scheduled to post on the appropriate day, so I can have plenty of time to check out some other blogs - there's already over 1200 blogs signed up!


There's still time!  Go over to Blogging from A-Z to sign up and join in the fun!

Friend Makin' Monday - Current Favorites

Happy Monday!
Yeah, I didn't post after my weigh in last week.  I was totally disgusted since I had been doing pretty well (I thought) with my food choices & tracking - only to find out I was up 1.5ish lbs.  I can't freakin' win!  I was so ticked I am ready to throw in the towel.  I'm tired of swearing to myself I'll do better & blah, blah blah.  I'll save that for another post. I don't even know where my book from WW is right now.  Grrrr.

Anyway... We had a busy weekend.  I took Friday off work to run errands, Saturday we had to go support the studio team at a competition & then yesterday the girl danced.  She was in 5 numbers.  I didn't go backstage to get pics between the "line" numbers - which is all 4 levels of dancers from our studio - the petites up to seniors.  They placed 4th for jazz line, 3rd for tap line & 2nd for hiphop line!  WOOHOO!!!

 5th place 

Teen Small Group Tap

"Boom Boom Bang"

 7th place

Teen Small Group Jazz

"All Dressed Up in Love"

 She wanted me to help, but apparently I was too gentle.  

So her choreographer took over!

Right now, it’s time to get to this week’s FMM topic!

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at:  www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Current Favorites

1. Song - Hmmm, probably Canadian Girls by Dean Brody - which is funny, since I'm not Canadian!
2. Drink – Water with strawberry Crystal Lite
3. Physical feature of the opposite sex (or the sex that you find attractive) – arms & chest.
4. TV Show(s) – I don't watch much TV.  But I'm hooked on RuPaul's DragRace (go Latrice!!) and I often watch Top Gear on the BBCA with hubby. 
5. Actor/Actress – I don't really have a favorite. 
6. Book – not really a favorite, but this is what I'm currently reading - My Wicked Little Lies by Victoria Alexander.
7. Form of communication – at work?  by email. Sort of an electronic paper-trail.  Actually, I like email all around, since you can think about what you write before sending.  To fully express feelings, I'd rather be in person. 
8. Exercise – walking
9. Food – BBQ beef short ribs. Om nom nom nom nom
10. Quote – "If you can't love yourself, how the hell you gonna love someone else?" - RuPaul

Now it’s your turn to answer the questions!  Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments.  Happy Monday Friends!

edited to add the quote!

Friend Makin' Monday - Online Dating

Hope everyone had a great St. Patty's Day!

Me

Lisa / Angel

Mom / Laurie / Linda



I went out to my sister's house - who called to ask the local restaurant if we could "bring our own party".  So these people were expecting a big rowdy bunch of drunks, but instead they got us.  We were all dressed up and brought in table decorations.  Then we went back to Laurie's house and played cards.  We are such party animals!!

It's Monday!!



If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. Take a moment to answer is week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Online Dating

1. Have you ever tried online dating? Yes
2. If you’ve done it, what did you like about it? What did you dislike? I liked that it was a way to meet someone, since I was at a time in my life that I didn't get out much - I was a single mom to a 4 year old and was just scraping by living on my own.  I wasn't going to find anyone at either my work or at daycare!
3. If you haven’t done it, would you? If you have done it, would you do it again? Why or why not?   I had a couple misses at first, but then I found a winner and we've been together almost 10 years and our 6th wedding anniversary will be in July.  Do it again?  I hope not!!
4. What precautions would you take before going out with someone that you met online? We emailed back and forth for a couple weeks before moving onto the phone.  We met face to face for the first time when my computer crashed & he offered to come look at it.  But he made sure to let me know that it was only if I felt comfortable with it.
5. Do you have a favorite dating site? If so, what is it?  I met Randy on yahoo personals.
6. What questions would you ask before agreeing to a date?  We talked about our backgrounds, careers / employment, family, hobbies.
7. How long would you correspond with someone online before meeting them?  Depends.  I think there's a lot of gut feeling involved, too.
8. In your opinion, what are the pros to meeting someone online?  You may meet someone you never would have otherwise.  Randy lived only like 5 miles away from me, but I probably never would have run into him.  And it's nice to get to know someone without right away worrying about how you look.  You can get the feeling if you can really be yourself if and when you actually meet.
9. In your opinion, what are the cons of online dating? You don't know for sure that the person you're talking to is really the way they come across as or if they're acting.
10. Share a funny or embarrassing online dating experience with us if you have one.  I don't really have one.  Except for having a 2nd date with a guy that he never showed up for.  My work / daycare and my mom's house are all close together, so I never went home after work to get the message that he was cancelling.  So I sat there for a good hour at the restaurant before giving up.  Obviously before cell phones!   With Randy - I agreed for him to come over to look at my dead computer & he showed up early.  The girl (who was 4) was running naked thru my apartment after her bath & I was barefoot and no makeup.  I was mortified, but he said he knew right away I was the one he was going to marry.  :)

Now it’s your turn! Don’t forget to post your answers then come back and link up in the comments! Happy Monday friends!

Friend Makin' Monday - Bookworms Revisited

Happy Monday!  What a spectacular weekend!  The hubby & I took the girl to dance class Saturday, then wandered around a couple antique stores until it was time to pick her up.  Yesterday was 65 & Sunny! ~swoon~    I was talking to a coworker Friday & she mentioned it being a good weekend to do some geocaching & I thought she was brilliant.  Geocaching is basically a treasure hunt using a GPS to find containers that other people have hidden.  You'd be surprised - they're everywhere!!  Anyway, I printed out 14 possible caches within a mile of our house (and that wasn't all of them, either!) and we ended up finding 12. 

We really need to get it to sink in the girl's blonde melon that just because the GPS's arrow points a certain way, that's NOT the only way to get there.  We separated looking for one in the nearby park.  Hubby walked along the parking lot, down a road, across a clearing, and down a sunlit path - boom.  Found it.  The child (with me following to ensure she didn't get lost or die in the process) found the Michigan version of the LeBrea Tar Pits.  The mud was insane.  And picker bushes.  And grasping vines.  And rotted trees.  It was horrible.  The my phone chirps - it's Randy wondering where we are.  ^#(*&!@%$()!  Says the girl "but the arrow is pointing that way!!" GRRRR!!
Glad the rest weren't that bad!

Anyway,  we surivived with only minor injuries and I have my first lovely red nose of the year from the sun!  Joy.  We all had a (mostly) good time & were outside for a good 5 hours.

It’s Monday again, and you know what that means. It’s time for FMM!  I haven't participated in FMM for a past couple weeks and I've missed it!   Love the new image!

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Bookworms (Revisited)

1. How often do you read for pleasure?  Quite often, actually.  Sometimes I find myself reading when I should be cleaning my house or something else equally dull.
2. Are you currently reading a book? If so, which one?  Right now, I'm re-reading the Duke's Night of Sin by Kathryn Caskie.  I need to get the rest of the series.  I like smut (aka historical romances).  I just finished reading the entire Twilight Saga, and I like them better than the movies.
3. Do you subscribe to any magazines and/or newspapers?  I get QST, which is a ham radio magazine that comes automatically with membership to the ARRL. 
4. Do you prefer reading traditional books or using an e-reader?  I've never tried an e-reader but I admit to being intrigued.
5. How often do you go to the bookstore?  I used to go to Borders in the mall all the time when I was forced to drive the girl there.  But they closed it & now I'm sad. So I don't go very often anymore.
6. Do you read at the gym? I don't go to the gym.
7. Have you ever been a member of a book club?  Not that I can remember.
8. Do you wear glasses when you read? I have to wear glasses or contacts to see farther than my nose...so yes!
9. Has anyone read the Hunger Games?  No, but I've heard a LOT about it!
10. What is your favorite thing about reading?  The fact that it can temporarily take me away from reality and get immersed in the story or even an entire family. 

Now it’s your turn! Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments! Happy Monday!

Weigh In & an Award!!

I was more interested in making my fabulous spaghetti for the family tonight than staying for the WW meeting, but I did go weigh in. 

Down 0.8 lbs!  Yay, me!  I swear in the past week my umm, bosoms, feel like they've gotten smaller. I don't think the hubby has noticed yet, but I'm sure not complaining!!  Those darn things get in the way sometimes!!  That's also a contributing factor to my being a non-runner.  I was a whole lot thinner when I was in the Navy and I hated the bounce then, too. 

Don't get me started ranting about jumping jacks!!!

I got an award, too!  KC from The Occasional Adventures of a Hermit gave me the Versatile Blogger Award!  Woooooo, thank you, thank you (bow, bow, curtsey)!!  I'd also like to thank the Academy...oh wait...that's not right!  LOL!

So I'm supposed to spill 7 random facts about myself and them spread the love to 15 other bloggers.  Alrighty...7 things that aren't already listed in the above tab......let me think!

1.  I have miscellaneous odd little things all around my house.  I'm currently sitting at my kitchen table - I see in the midst of a plant forest, a small toy  Steve Yzerman (former captain of the Detroit Red Wings) holding up the Stanley Cup, a bird made out of rebar, an old rake and some washers.  There's also a spider made out of  beads that I just made last night.  In the living room on a shelf is our wedding cake topper - the bride / groom / flower girl / dog & 2 cats made of polymer clay & googly eyes to look like all of us.  And  a Mr. PotatoHead wearing a Red Wings jersey & holding a hockey stick.  Stuff like that makes me happy!

2. My car is invisible to idiots.  I've been rear ended 3 times & cut off too many times to count.  So I think the military should get rid of haze gray and camouflage and remake everything in 2000 Ford Escort green.  Real Stealth!!!

3.  I love all animals, but I would not hesitate to run over my neighbor's Chihuahua's.  They have a perfectly nice fenced yard and do you think those damn dogs or their kids are ever in that yard?  No.  They live at the other end of the block and those un-collared & un-licensed rodents come down & bark at me in MY yard and torment my dog who is properly restrained!!  I spray them with the hose. 

4.  I prefer to listen to the country radio station out of Windsor instead of the Detroit station.  Their morning show is great, and their news is entertaining, and their weather is usually more accurate than ours, too!  Plus they are required to play X number of Canadian artists (there is a song by Dean Brody called Canadian Girls and it always catches me off guard at the line that goes "she'd give her life for the Red & White" - LOL!)

5. Both the hubby & I refuse to vote Republican or Democrat.  I'm not starting a big political discussion, but we feel the country would be better off with some fresh blood.  Actually, I don't even know the difference between the two or even what our current president is!!!

6.  My next crafty project is mummifying a sock monkey.  I saw someone had done it at a craft show last fall and was selling it for $40!!  No thanks, I will figure it out myself!

7.  My oldest sister & I share a birthday.  I was born on her 13th birthday !!!  Kinda sucked for her to have to share a cake & stuff.  Imagine Sweet 16 & Terrible 3 - LOL!

Alrighty that was tough!  Now I'm supposed to tag 15 other bloggers, but I'm going to wait for a while & spring it on people when they're not expecting it - BWAHAHAHAHA!!

Late weigh in post

Happy Sunday!

It's been such a crazy week !  The girl danced at her last basketball game of the season, she's started to bring home costumes from the studio (2 so far!)  I had to miss my meeting Thursday because of school conferences. Saturday was a fancy end-of the year banquet for the dance team, but we had to leave early because we had tickets to see the Monster trucks at Ford Field.  Today I got sheets changed & bathrooms scrubbed down, tops to bottom.  I also found 2 big albums of window clings that I started collecting when Angel was a baby, so I went thru those & got rid of a lot, so there's only one book now.  I feel it was a fairly productive day!

I went to weigh in Saturday, since Randy got stuck at work on a support call Thursday & couldn't go to conferences.  I hate going to conferences.  I can't think of anything I hate worse.  Angel is such a social butterfly that her school work suffers.  If she could force herself to ignore her friends for a while (and the teachers make her pay attention), she could easily be an A/B student in all her classes.  But she doesn't and it shows.  I won't go onto the whole spiel that 4 out of 5 teachers told me (good kid, happy, smiley, but doesn't do her work / turn it in - and I didn't make it to the 6th teacher) but I sat down at the geometry teachers table & I swear this woman went into raptures about what a good, hard-working student she is and her work is excellent.  She told me that she didn't even think she could recognize Angel's voice since she very seldom hears it.   I just sat there & blinked at her.  I even had to make sure we were talking about the same kid!  So what I figured out is that none of her friends are in that class.  Even the principal stopped us (she went with me) and asked how many teachers told me about her talking.  I told him I thought she needed a wall to put around her, so she could only see the teacher and he said he was thinking of something like a cone for a dog to direct her attention forward.  That's really sad (but funny, now that I'm not mad anymore)

So anyway.......I just stopped in st WW to weigh in Saturday & I'm so glad I don't regularly go to this meeting!  It's the last meeting of the week, and from what one of the other ladies in line said, people gave up chocolate for Lent, so they want to see if they're losing weight...I couldn't believe how many people were in there!  But I was down .4 lbs, and this was after skipping last week, too!

I took my measurements tonight.  There wasn't much difference since last time, since it's only been a month.  I noticed when I got dressed up for the banquet Saturday night that my cami (to smooth out lumps & bulges) wasn't as tight as usual.  I was fairly comfortable wearing it!  So that's a good sign!  Woohoo!

The Utica JV Dance team

Have a great week!