Lost Handwriting…

I recently was looking through some old cards and enjoying the beautiful handwriting of my mom and her two sisters. They all three write alike to the untrained eye. I can tell the subtle variances. This got me to thinking about my own handwriting and how bad it has become – then of course to how this might have happened.

When I was younger – like, much younger! – I used to write my name over and over and over. I’d write my high school name, our mascot, my class – I just loved to “doodle”. I used to write my grandma, my friends, and don’t forget the boyfriend! If I had a dollar for every time I wrote “Tonya loves [the Hubster]” I’d be a rich woman today!! I think I had decent handwriting. Of course, back in the day, we wrote our reports – no typing allowed; so I had ample opportunity to write. And it never bothered me.

Today, I never write. I type everything – all – day – long! I don’t write anyone letters – I email. I don’t write checks to pay the bills – it’s done online. I rarely have the opportunity to write. Because of this my handwriting looks horrible now. It’s become scribble! When I do write at work it’s to hurriedly jot down a reminder note from the boss. Most times I can’t even read it! Imagine – not being able to read your own handwriting! The shame of it! I ask the universe – Has anyone found the lost handwriting I’m looking for? I know it can’t be too far. … Can it?

No, I don’t think so. For the past two weeks I’ve made a point to write more often during the day and to take my time doing so. The key is taking my time and racking my brain back to elementary – how do you make a cursive Q? Never did master that one. Any-who, it somewhat resembles my old handwriting. I figure another week and I’ll be back to my old handwriting self. I also have told myself to write letters instead of emails. Then I realized that most of my emails are work related. Nothing against my co-workers, but I just am not going to take the time to handwrite all my replies to them. BUT… I can write letters to my grandma. To my mother. To my daughter. To my friends. And to my sweet Hubster! Besides, who doesn’t like getting snail mail that isn’t a bill or solicitation? By the way – that could be another hot topic we could discuss – never mind, don’t get me started on the USPS!

To my fams and peeps – if you’d like a handwritten letter – give me a holla! Oh, and make sure I have your snail mail address!

Love y’all!

p.s. While looking for a cute picture to put with this post I learned there is a National Handwriting Day!! Holy Cow! Did y’all know this? Geez, I’m bummed I missed it. Any-who it was January 23rd. Maybe next year… I wonder how I will celebrate it next year…??? Ideas?

zulily

Ok. I know I'm slow but really why didn't y'all tell me just how great this site is??!!! I've ordered a few times already. I just love the deep discounts. For me. For my home. For my Brat. And for the day IF I EVER become a grammy! If you haven't checked zulily out, you really should! For reals!!!

Laughing children

Tonight I heard a sound that I've missed terribly for the past 2 months. The sound of my children laughing together. Now that my daughter lives in NC I don't get to hear her and my son laughing together. It doesn't matter what mood I'm in - when I hear them start laughing together it just brings so much joy to me and warms my heart. Tonight my son came over and we were able to FaceTime with her. It was soooo good to see her beautiful face and listen to her and her brother going back and forth and laughing. It was so wonderful I soon found myself overwhelmed and began sobbing... {Sigh} What a mush I am. I've always felt that children's laughter is musical - even grown up children....

Pinterest Pin: Slow Cooker Boiled Peanuts

If you live in the South then you know how YUMMY boiled peanuts are. And how time consuming it is to make them at home. Personally, I'd never heard of boiled peanuts before moving to the South. Roasted peanuts, yes, but not boiled. My preference now? Oh, boiled by far!!!

I've tried making them at home before but it's really a drag because it takes a long time to process them. And, like you, my time is precious. For quite sometime we've just relegated ourselves to purchasing them from the occasional 'Boiled Peanut Vendor'. We have our favorites and those that have been deemed 'no repeat'. Hey, it takes talent to get the right amount of salt! :D

Some time ago I seen a Pin on Pinterest for making them in a slow cooker. This week I spotted green peanuts in the produce section and brought 5 pounds home determined to try the slow cooker method. I have two slow cookers: 6-qt. and 7-qt. I put about 2-1/2 pounds of well rinsed green peanuts in each cooker (they were both full - to the rim almost), topped them off with water, and gave each a whole cup of sea salt. I'm telling y'all success lies in the right amount of salt! I did this last night about 6-pm. Set both cookers on High and left them. About 11, Hubby was concerned about leaving them on High during the night because the house smelled like BOILED PEANUTS. (Go figure!!) So he turned them down to Low.

Because I'm 2-weeks plus with a UTI and couldn't sleep, at 3-am they went back up to High - how dare he interfere with my test anyhow! - and by 10-am this morning I couldn't resist any longer. I scooped a plastic cup full and went out on the back steps and started my taste test. SHUT THE BACK DOOR!!! Oh my, I have one word for y'all - YUMMM-MYYY!!!

So glad I finally tried this!!! I'm not really one to 'follow' recipes obediently but these are so easy you don't have to be precise with how many pounds and how many cups... But I do recommend not skimping on the salt! :D Yes, I know these are probably a heart attack in the waiting with the salt, but honestly, they are BOILED PEANUTS FOR GOODNESS SAKES!!! :D

By the way, they were enjoyed today during General Conference!

Much love to y'all!

No more dieting! Changing the way I eat.

"Experts say making small change-ups to your day is one of the best ways to lose." (http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20543929,00.html)

I just read this in an article and I completely agree with it! Diets fail me. I have tried the Atkins diet - and was told by my doc to never do it again. Yep, he sure did! My body requires carbs - as does yours! The Atkins diet restricts consumption of carbs. Rather than my body burning the fat as this diet claims it does, my body was burning my muscles. Less than two weeks into it I couldn't bear to move one muscle because my muscles would go into spasms. Every muscle was being affected. I was concerned (and freaked out!) so I called my doc. Thats when he said stop, eat some pasta and do not do this diet ever again. That was the BEST bowl of 'puh-sketti' EVER! :D

Now I am watching my intake rather than "dieting". My biggest weakness? Cola and chocolate. What am I doing about it? Well, I was restricting myself to one Coke a day. And I bought the fun-size Snickers. With the itty-bitty bars I didn't feel so guilty if I ate 3 Snickers bars in one day. That's only 128-calories as opposed to a full-size bar at 280-calories! Love it!

But I failed recently. I was off work for a week and a half. Before I was off I had lost a total of 13-pounds (in about 9-10 weeks) but I didn't hit the gym during that time (well, one time, and that's all) & I didn't restrict my Coke intake. During those 12 days I quickly found 3 of those pounds. YIKES!!! BUMMER!!! I am now newly motivated to re-engage and get those 3-pounds lost again.

Back to the carbs -- don't think you have to restrict yourself from carbs when trying to lose the weight. Studies have proven there are good carbs as well as bad, evil, hip-hugging ones. You just have to educate yourself and make smarter choices. You can't go wrong with whole grain. They even help you lose weight because of the fiber and the "Resistant Starch" contained in them. I love reading and my topic of choice lately: GOOD CARBS. :D

Working Out -- Part III

I'm still working out! It's amazing! I've never lasted this long in the past. Forgive me, but I am proud of myself. It's not been easy. Many times I've wanted to say, "I QUIT!", but here I am, 9 pounds lighter - and much stronger! I actually feel muscles in my tummy and in my upper arms! It's so awesome!

What's been easy:

• staying under 2000 calories a day
• cardio - treadmill & elliptical are good
• accomplishing something i couldn't do when i first started
• feeling abs under the layer of blubber for the first time ever
• keeping up with Hubby when clearing a fallen tree - even "out working" him :-)
• the pride my hubby & kids have for me for sticking to it
• going to the gym with Hubby & The Brat
• having my trainer tell me they talk about my dedication

What's been not-so-easy:

• staying under 2000 calories when eating out - restaurant food is soo fattening :-(
• the workouts! they are killers! planks - squats - wall seats... (Ugh!)
• being pushed further and harder each time
• sweating - i detest sweating! it's not been fun riding home all sticky

As you can see, the good out weighs the not so good! Yeah!

I hope in another month, I'm another 7-9 pounds lighter!

You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. - Zig Ziegler

WORKING OUT… THE REAL TRUTH! [part II]

So now that I have gone public with my weight [REAL TRUTH WEIGHT!!], I have to be even more accountable to myself. I don’t want to ever be considered a liar – so I must keep this up. Plus, I’ve signed a one year contract to get in shape with my personal trainer. [That sounds so Hollywood – my personal trainer!] I don’t have a real goal weight. My goal is to be stronger, have endurance and be able to stand on my own two feet or one, if I choose! :D

Okay, now the REAL TRUTH of what brought this about… I’m so humiliated… First admitting my weight to you, and now this…

A month ago, I wanted to work with my husband outside – he’s so good and always does things with me inside, I wanted to give rather than take for a change – so we’re on the back of our property cleaning. It’s wooded with thousands of volunteer trees, weeds, and vines that travel the tree tops from the ground up. It happened to be in the 90’s this particular day and very humid. Very hot for an early May spring day. I’m cutting small volunteers down and piling our cuttings; everything’s going good. He starts a fire to burn some of the debris that we’ve accumulated. [Did I mention this is all wooded? Not much air moving it’s so thick with growth.] I began pulling on a particularly stubborn vine that was as big around as a shovel handle and this vine is coming down from 4 different trees that I could tell. I really thought the vine was going to win the tug of war. I’m swinging all my body weight from it at one time [only for a second, maybe two, because let’s face it – that’s a lot of weight for a weakling to hold up!!] I finally won the tug of war after about 10 minutes - I think it was at least an hour or two, but Hubby says, ‘naw, about 10 minutes – maybe a minute or two less…’ Humph! I’m sure it was more of a battle than that – I was plum tuckered out!! Anyhow – boy I digress so badly!! – he’s burning the debris, I’m huffing and puffing with my near loss to a vine, and I’m taking a break to catch my breath. I really did think the vine was going to just come down and whip my tater!
After a few minutes – give or take 10 or so minutes here or there :D – I think I’ve got my breath back, so I’ll start helping Hubby with the burning. I’m putting limbs in the fire and thinking I’m not breathing very well. So I go off to another spot and start trimming tree branches where there’s no smoke and a bit of a breeze. I’m feeling good. [As good as one can when it’s 93* degrees out & working ones buns off!] After 15-20 minutes, I take a pile of my debris over near the fire for Hubby and I can’t breathe AGAIN… So I walk away and catch my breath, again. I go to start trimming another tree but I can only take in a little whiff of air. I can’t talk to get Hubby’s attention, but he sees me go to my knees and runs over – he loves me, ya know! He helps me walk about 25 feet to our 4-wheeler. I sit down on the rear rack – he tries to drive me back to the house this way. What was he thinking!!! Even if I could have breathed I would not have wanted to ride on the rear rack!!! Men! [I digress again…] He doesn’t go far and I’m on the ground – no strength or energy to hold on and I’m gasping air. He runs to the house, gets the truck, drives it down near me, helps me get in and parks in the shade. Air is going full blast in my face and I’m feeling this is working. Meanwhile, the neighbor called, “Hey, I’m broke down on my 4-wheeler, can you pull me home?” Well, of course, I feel silly for tying my sweet Hubby up with this nonsense and tell him to go on, I’ll be fine. After saying this four or five times, he gets out of the truck and gets on our 4-wheeler, but doesn’t leave. I’m a little frustrated now; my humiliation is growing the more he sits there staring at me. So I wave him on – several times – before he leaves. He isn’t gone 2 minutes and I start gasping for breath. I really was thinking I was going to die! I call his cell phone, but I can’t say anything for sucking in air. He hears me though and after a couple of more minutes he comes speeding back into the yard. Jumps in the truck and drives me to the fire department, which is only a mile away. I’m just wishing at this point that I could crawl into a hole and die by myself. I hate being seen in such a weak state by anyone. Even dear Hubby.
The diagnosis? I was hyperventilating. Yep, I was hyperventilating. Hyperventilating of all things! My BP was extremely high but my oxygen was just fine –that ruled out an asthma attack. I asked myself for several days why that happened… It wasn’t brought on by an anxiety attack [they said that’s usually why it happens], so then why did that happen? My only conclusion is that I never fully recovered my breath and was pushing myself to keep up with my Hubby, THE Man of Endurance! And since I couldn’t, it was hot, my heart was beating too fast [I was pushing it too hard] it all just said ENOUGH! YOU CAN’T DO THIS! And I think that’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard said to me. “You can’t do this.” When I really wanted to. I thought about all the many other things I’ve wanted to do. [The list is lengthy. Maybe one day I’ll share my bucket list with you.] But the final slap in this face was this realization of not being able to do those things I wanted to do because I have allowed myself to become weak and fat.

On Tuesday, May 29th, I gathered my courage and called the nearest gym to my work [taking away all excuses I could by choosing this one, downer to choosing this one: it's better known as UNIVERSITY because all the college kids go to this one – YUCK!] I went that evening, met with the director of personal training, met my trainer, and signed away 3 nights a week of my life for the next year to become a stronger healthier me. That’s 156 training sessions. That’s 43% of my evenings spent in a gym for the next year. That’s 4,680 minutes of working out to a better me! :D Let’s not forget the warm-up and cool-down times! That’s another 9,360 minutes! A total of 23,400 minutes spent in a gym for the next year. MINIMUM!! [I’m told that as time goes by I’ll “WANT” to go more often!!! Ah! Ha! Ha! That is just hilarious!!! So funny! I told my trainer and his director I thought they did very good stand-up comedy!] I’ve endured 8 of those sessions so far. ENDURED! Did you read that? I’ve ENDURED 8 of those sessions. I started them and I FINSIHED them! WOO-HOO!! My trainer is so good about pushing me when I want to give up – this is why I am paying for a PT – I would give up QUICKLY on my own. He’s very good about praising me for the things I’ve accomplished and keeping me motivated. I just wish he’d give up his love affair with planks and push-ups! Who knew there were so many ways to do planks and push-ups? Not me, certainly. Very good core training – not like the ones kids do for fun – real planks! OUCH!!! But I’m stronger this week than the first week! YES!! No weight loss – I was told not to expect any at first because I’m gaining muscle. MUSCLES!! I can’t wait until the turkey wings are gone from my arms! My waist is a waist again! My butt is no longer the biggest thing on me! I can climb stairs without fear of my knees giving out on me! I can get up and down from the floor without looking like I’m 90! Or even dreading it! I can’t wait for the moment my Hubby looks to me and says ‘aren’t you ready for a break yet!’ :D Oh, yes!! Bring on this healthier and stronger ME!!