Friend Makin' Monday - Getting to know you

We have a happy kitty!  The hubby left last Wednesday to go to the ginormous Hamvention (radio geekery) in Dayton, Ohio and just got home last night.  This is how Miss Maddie spent the first 3 days without him....

She didn't move to far from his pillow.  So when he got home last night and was sitting on the patio (outside that window) - she went nuts yelling for him.  And when he talked to her thru the window, her meows got longer & higher-pitched.  It was so cute! 

Now let’s get to this week’s 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!

Getting To Know You

1. Have you ever been skinny dipping?  Lots of times!  Last time was in the pond on my parent's property Up North a couple summers ago,  It was me, both sisters & 3 total nieces.  We were laughing that we should watch one of the guys didn't show up and spoil our fun. 2 minutes later, here comes my brother running at top speed down the hill and cannon-balled into the pond!  There went our fun!

2. If you could choose an exotic vacation destination today, where would you go? London is the first place that popped into my mind. Any foreign country is exotic to me!

3. Do you prefer to live in the city or the suburbs?  Da 'Burbs.  I think I'd actually like my sister's place better since it's more isolated in the country.  But from those 2 choices, I like where I am. 

4. If you could paint, draw or illustrate any masterpiece in the world, what would it be? I'd love to paint like Bob Ross (don't judge me!!!) so anyplace in the Washington Cascades or in Alaska would be ideal.

5. What is your favorite dish to cook when you’re cooking for one?  Hmm.  That doesn't happen often.  Probably something simple like a couple sunny-side up eggs with grits and some shredded cheese. 

6. Who has recently influenced you in a spectacular way? Spectacular?  Ummm..........I got nothing. 

7. Have you ever considered dating a person who’s younger than you? If so, how young would you go?  I have in the past, but I'm happily married to my old man (6 years older).

8. What do you typically wear when you’re at home with no plans to go out?  A baggy t-shirt and shorts or my flannel Red Wings lounge pants. My sexy fuzzy slippers. 

9. Do you prefer a shower or a bath? Showers for daily, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE going to the bathhouse in Hot Springs, Arkansas. 

10. When you meet strangers are you outgoing or more introverted? I'd have to say more introverted. 

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions. Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments! Say hi to someone new this week, and have a happy Monday!

Friend Makin' Monday - Q&A

Happy Monday!  Did everyone have a nice Mother's Day?  I got taken out for breakfast.  Hubby is lousy with the whole gift giving / flower giving / card giving / etc so I guess I should be happy he even acknowledged it {{insert eye-roll here}}.  He did put a post on Facebook for me (and also one from the dog & from the cats!)  However, the one that touched me the most was from Miss Angela - 

~sniff~!

btw - people say we look alike - I don't see it!

In the afternoon we went over to Mom's and took her the hanging baskets of Fuscias (bright pink flowers with purple centers) we got her & visited with the sisters, brother-in-law, nephew & niece-to-be. Then we had pizza and came home. 

So here is last week's progress report from WW.  I was not happy with the 1.2 lb gain. But I have been really lousy with tracking & such.  This isn't exactly accurate.  I need to get better with that. 

Meals will be much simpler this week - as of Wednesday, Randy will be in Dayton for the giant Ham Radio Convention (and he hasn't made me go yet!!) so it's just me & Angel.  She's happy with mac & cheese or Bagel Bites for dinner so I can stick with salads & tons of veggies. Yay!

 

So now onto the fun stuff!

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!

1. Do you use coupons? Not a whole lot.  

2. How often do you weigh yourself? Once a week at my WW meeting.  I don't even have a scale at home.

3. What was your favorite TV show as a kid? My brother & I raced home from school (I was mad when he went to middle school and got home before me!) to watch the Dukes Of Hazzard. 

4. How often do you drink alcohol?  Not often. If there is a gathering of some sort, I'll have a few.  But day-to-today, no.   I used to be almost alcoholic until I got pregnant with Angela.  Then I discovered that hangovers are more painful than childbirth.  Yup.  So moderation is the key now!

5. Have you ever met a celebrity or public figure that you really admire? Nope. 

6. If you had to choose between only your cell phone or only your laptop all week which would you choose? My cell, since I have everything on it. 

7. What is your favorite brand of detergent? I use All Free & Gentle with store brand lavender fabric softener. Strong scents give me headaches and this combo is light enough to not bother me. 

8. If there was a movie about your life, who would play the role?  Hmm.  I think someone like Julia Roberts, since she can be both serious and funny. Maybe Sandra Bullock. 

9. What book are you currently reading? Somewhere Along the Way by Elaine Coffman.  It's part of a series about a family, each book is about a different sibling. 

10. If you could spend one day on vacation anywhere in the world, which place would you choose? Gosh.  Only one day?  That makes it tough!  All the places that come to mind would require more than one day!  Let's just say someplace warm, possibly tropical & includes umbrella drinks. 

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions. Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments, and say hi to someone new! Happy Monday!

Happy Mother's Day!

(hint: take Mom to Tim Horton's!!)

A-Z Reflections

Mission Accomplished !

First of all, a special thanks to Arlee Bird at http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/ for masterminding this whole challenge. And to all the co-hosts & minions that spent so much time & effort on making this a success. SMOOCHES !!

This is the second year running that I've completed the A-Z challenge with 3 blogs signed up.  It sounds insane, but I mainly pre-wrote a scheduled the postings ahead of time, so there wasn't  much stress hurrying at the last second to get a post up.

2 of my 3 blogs had themes.  I felt those had better quality posts over the one that I basically was winging.  My opinion.

Anyway, I would have liked to see more people using the category codes when they signed up.  I’ve read other reflections posts where people said they were hard to remember what the codes were, I thought they were fairly obvious & thought they helped immensely.  I’m not all into film & book reviews & gaming, so it was nice to have that little heads up as to what I was clicking on.

One suggestion I would make for next year doesn't really have to do with the challenge itself, but with the edu-macational posts beforehand.  I’d like to see the topic of photos & citing covered.  Like when you find a photo on Google, the proper way to give credit to the owner, etc. Someone commented on a photo I used in a post that had a watermark on it and while I had noted I got it from Google images, but it got me wondering if I should have looked harder to find the original site & such.  However, when I used a photo from an actual website, I did link back to that page – just sayin’.

I didn't notice a huge increase in followers, but I’m OK with that. Quality over quantity! 

The one thing I will try to do better next year (and there WILL be a next year!) is to visit more blogs during the challenge & reply back to comments quicker.  I was glad my posts were already written, since life happened & it was just tough to visit as many as I wanted to. 

13 in 13 update

 First of all - I post this with pride! 

My 2nd consecutive challenge with 3 blogs.  I feel I did better this time, since I had all posts ~completed~ and pre-scheduled to post ahead of time.  Last year I forgot to actually write a post for "L" on 2 blogs and basically posted a letter.  This year, also for the letter "L", my posts were LATE!  But still on the correct day so it's OK. 

In a day or two (or maybe later today), I'll be linking up my Reflections post with all the rest of the participants.

Now, onto the nitty-gritty. 

An update on my goals.....

1. rededicate myself to WW - eh. I didn't go to this week's meeting since it is TOM and I just felt gross and really didn't want to face the scale.  But as you can see below, I've tracked 100%.  even with last weekend's smorgasbord of food in the dressing room at Angel's comp.  I controlled myself this time!

2. post eTools progress report weekly = check!  here is my monthly overall progress report. 

I'm loving those Activity Points! 

And last week's. 

3. earn at least 15 WW activity points weekly - this is going GREAT!  April 3 I picked up one of the WW Activelink activity monitors & have been wearing it faithfully.  This first week was an assessment, then it set me recommended daily goal of 3 Activity Points (above the 3 AP baseline) I've averaged 99%, 99% and 100% the past 3 weeks.

4. use my waist & arm / thigh trimmers while doing DVDs or Wii Fit - Meh.  I haven't used the DVDs much since it's getting warm = walking the dog! I've done Wii Yoga a few times, but it was more for the pinched nerve / pulled muscle (whatever caused the pain) than exercise.  The stretching helped.  And a co-worker and I have been going out walking around the building at work.  5 laps is about a mile.

5. plan meals weekly - check!  Adding more grill-ables to the menu.  Why does food taste better cooked outside??

6. eat more / new veggies every week = check on the more , not so hot on the new.  I've been getting the frozen steamer packs & taking them for lunch.  They're fairly low points & tasty.  

7. be a better blogger - I think check!  See above about the A-z Challenge.

8. spend at least 15 minutes per day straightening up my house- eh. It hasn't been 15 minutes a day.  Randy just told me that he was going to rent a dumpster again over Memorial Day weekend. This seems to be an annual thing lately.  The first time we did this, we got a 22 foot long dumpster and had it 3/4 filled from mainly the garage!  The last couple years have been the 6 foot deep, car sized ones. I already know quite a few things I want to toss in it!  Randy is a bit of a packrat & it kills him to get rid of things.  I need to send him away for an hour or two while its here and go to town!

9. make time for ME!! for exercise & meetings  This one has been tough.  I just went to weigh in last week and didn't even go this week.  I'm having a hard time to get motivated to DO anything.  I'm having a lot of mental issues, feeling sorry for myself, etc. 

10. find plans & designs for holiday displays (tomato cage trees / MGC fence / potion book)  I did get out there to do a sketch up of the front yard, now I have to figure out placement, since where I put the fence will determine how much fence I need.  Oh and I got a neat box that looks like a book, with the thought to put loops in it to hold tiny potion bottles. 

11. work on RACES certification - a big fat NO!  I'm thinking once all the chaos involved with the girl & her dance stuff  (comps / pictures / recital) settles down, I'll be able to take more time & maybe sit out on the patio in the sunshine and study. 

12.

13. wean myself off pop - I'm still around 2 cans per day. 

Rebecca’s April Challenge - Finances!  I've been spending less for frivolous stuff, but making up for it at the dance studio.  I've had to replace jazz shoes (her old ones are 3 years old and stretched out, so justified), several pairs of tights for competitions, the last costume came in, etc, etc, etc. 

I think I'm going to keep all my goals the same for May.   And the Big Challenge is to Be The Inspiration.  Hmmm, this is going to be a tough one! I don't have any ideas as of yet as to what I will do, but I'll figure it out!