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First of all, I lost 3 more pounds this week, putting me into the 170s. Whoo hoo! I can't believe how far I've come. I can't remember the last time I weighed 178 pounds. I can't believe I'm in a size 14 jean. Boy, that's a lot of negatives for a girl in such a positive mood! :) Happiness. That's all.Now for my second topic: random acts of kindness (RAKs). Recently, they discussed RAKs in Nick's preschool class, and the teachers sent home a sheet where they wanted us to record 5 RAKs performed by our child. That was pretty easy, as Nick is a sweet boy. These included such things as offering me a bite of his food, telling me he loved me out of the blue, etc. This got me to thinking about RAKs. I remember years ago when that phrase became popular, putting a specific label on something that all of humankind should be doing naturally. I do my best to perform little RAKs most every day - things like telling someone I like her earrings, sending an email to a friend just because, etc. If I'm at WalMart and I see something that I know a friend wants or needs, I'll just pick it up for her. Stuff like that. But, I've always wanted to up the ante a little bit - kick it up a notch, if you will. Do something a little more off-the-wall and truly "random." For several years now, I have harbored the idea of paying for the person behind me in the McDonald's drive-through. I've wanted to do this for the longest time, but it seems like I never think of it when I'm actually IN the drive-through - just at other times. Well, today, I finally thought of it when I was actually there; I'm sure that this was caused in part by the warm, fuzzy Christmas spirit that has fully bloomed within me over the past week. Anywho, I got to the window and paid for my food, and then I said "I want to pay for the next person." The employee said "The woman in the van?", and I said "Sure!" It took her a minute to catch on - at first, she thought that I knew this person. I explained to her that I didn't know her from Eve and was just performing a holiday RAK. She acted like that was the coolest thing she'd ever heard of. I told her to just tell the woman that I said "Merry Christmas," and that I hope she'll pay it forward (Jill - you and I are of a similar mind lately!) by doing a RAK for someone else. Here's the best part: I looked in my rear-view mirror as the woman pulled up to the window. She held out her money, listened for a second, and then got a huge grin on her face. She waved at me, and I waved back, and then it was time for me to drive away. She didn't know who I was and will never know, and that is so cool! It wasn't about recognition - it was just about making someone's day. And I'm not going on about this in my blog to get kudos for it - honest! I'm going on about it because it felt even better than I thought it would. I have had my own grin pasted on my face ever since I got home, and I still get a rush just thinking about it. So here's what I say to everyone reading this post: I challenge you to perform your own truly random act of kindness ASAP, whether it be the drive-through thing or something else. Be creative! Then, comment on this post and tell me about it. Let's start a sensation!Merry Christmas to all.
Last night was the last rehearsal before the Rolla Chamber Singers concert on Sunday. Let's just say that there will be some good moments and some very tenuous ones. I'm a bit concerned about some of the pieces. But, we've reached the point where there's nothing more to be done, and we'll just have to see what happens at the concert. Sometimes, that "concert adrenaline" can work miracles. :) And this is certainly the perfect time of year for one of those! I also rehearsed my solo ("O, Holy Night") in front of the choir, and it went OK. Again, it had a couple of places that I wasn't happy with, but hopefully, I'll have it ship-shape by Sunday. I always love singing this song at Christmas, so I'm glad to have the opportunity. Our director recently announced that this will be his last concert with the RCS, as he is stepping down. It was quite a shocker, and I have mixed feelings about it. My main concern is that the choir will fall by the wayside. The choir president said that we won't do a concert next semester, but that a new director will be found and we will resume next fall, but I have to admit that I'm very dubious of this. The choir has dwindled over the past couple of years, and many of the members are older people. There just doesn't seem to be much passion for it among the members, and I fear that this loss of our director will be the fatal blow. I also think that it will be a tall order for them to find another director. Basically, I'm expecting that we will not resume, so that if we do, I'll just be pleasantly surprised. While this choir is admittedly not fabulous, it's still a choir to sing in, and it's the only one available to me here. So, if it is over, I will be quite sad and bereft of a singing outlet. :( Only time will tell...Nick is at preschool, so I'm off to make the most of the next 1.5 hours!
Well, I'm finally done festooning the house for the holidays, and it looks lovely. As usual, it's rather overdone, but what can I say? I like it that way. Yesterday, I started at 11 a.m. and worked until 9 p.m., stopping only to eat, pee, and get online briefly. My saint of a husband kept Nick occupied away from the house all day so that I could work uninterrupted. I got the mantel and entertainment center all done, as well as the other interior decor, and got my "secondary" trees up and decorated. During Nick's nap, Brian helped me put up the big tree, and I got it all fluffed and ready to decorate. I chatted with Tim on the phone whilst I fluffed, which made the chore much less onerous. Today, I put all 8,541,236 ornaments on the big tree (it's really very out of control), and we did the outside stuff. And hallelujah - we're done! We can now enjoy the beauty for 5 weeks or so, until it's time to dismantle it and pack it all away again. Sometimes, I wonder if it's worth it, but then when I get it all up, I remember that it most definitely is.Exercising went by the wayside yesterday, for the 4th day in a row, but tonight, I'm heading down to the basement to walk and ellipse :) while I watch Desperate Housewives.Here are some pics of my wonderland: 1) my kitschy white kitchen tree, with glittering balls of colorful goodness 2) my real aluminum tree from the 1950s, with various balls in shades of blue3) the big living room tree - no theme - just ornaments that I love or that mark particular events in our lives4) my mantel5) my entertainment center, which has my Santa collection in addition to pictures with Santa, including two from MY childhood!
This morning when Brian went into Nick's room to get him up, Nick said "This is terrible! My car is under my bed yet again, and yet again, I must go under the bed and get it!"As you can see, I only gained a pound from Thanksgiving, which I find to be a happy surprise. The way I ate left me believing that the damage would be much worse. :) A pound I can handle! This week, I should be able to exercise and eat well with no problem, so hopefully, I can lose that pound and maybe a bit more. Thanksgiving was lovely. My Dad and I had a bit of snarkiness with each other as we tried to prepare the turkey (neither of us had ever done one before), but you have to understand that with us, snarkiness is our language. It's how we relate, so really, it was nothing out of the ordinary. It's our way of sharing our love. :) Our friend Mike (from the Army band) drove to Springfield to join us, and my entire family descended upon the paternal home. We had ridiculous amounts of sumptuous food, including all the classics and 3 kinds of pie! My sister made my Mom's sausage stuffing, as she always does, and it was faboo as usual. Everything was great, really. I really enjoyed getting to bond with my nieces, as that doesn't happen nearly enough. And Mike brought some delicious wine, so some of us were really feelin' the love! :) I'll admit that I got pleasantly tipsy. Later in the evening, Tim stopped by to visit, much to Nick's delight. All-in-all, it was a heart-warming, lovely day.Yesterday, we didn't do much. I went to see the movie "Enchanted" with Tim (after stopping by his house for a lunch of leftovers), and we liked it! It was cute and funny, and quite refreshing. I recommend it. We came home yesterday evening, stopping for dinner at Steak 'n' Shake on the way. Yum! Now, it's Saturday morning, and as soon as I am all caught up online, the Christmas decorating shall commence...
We're leaving for Springfield this evening, so I wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. Though not my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving is something I cherish, because there's no gifts or hoopla - just a day with family, eating good food and reflecting on all of the blessings in our lives. There's certainly something to be said for that! I hope that everyone has a good day tomorrow, and let's all remember to be thankful for what we have. We'll have about 14 or so people at my Dad's house, so it's sure to be a rip-roarin' good time! :) On Friday, I'm going to just relax - maybe go to a movie. I will most certainly NOT be hitting the stores - no bargain is worth it to me to go out shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. Will you be shopping that day? If so, where will you go?We'll be back on Friday evening or Saturday morning, and then the Christmas decorating shall commence...:)
Went to this craft bazaar thing today with friends Jutta and Rebecca. It was much less lame than I thought it would be. I'm such a skeptic. :) I only spent a few dollars, but what I got was really zesty and a great value! Can't reveal - it's a Christmas present for a couple of my peeps. I just had a nice time chatting with J and R - they're both quite lovely. Rebecca has sarcasm to rival mine, which makes me very happy. We spent quite a bit of time just walking around, and then we went to Jutta's house, where we were plied with tea and German baked goodness (and great music being played on the computer by Jutta's husband!). I got home much later than I had anticipated, and I'm feeling quite guilty, because I had all of these domestic chores that I was going to do which have gone undone. I did work out this morning, though, thank goodness! I realized that out of the past 10 days, I'd only worked out 3, which will NOT do. So, if I only did one thing today, I'm glad that I did that. Nick quote for the day: "I'm going to call Handy Manny so he can fix my train. Yeah, he'll fix it - or maybe Oprah will." :)
I almost can't believe it! In 17 weeks' time, I have come halfway to my weight-loss goal. It's a great feeling. One little caveat, though: I'm thinking of adjusting my goal weight from 155 down to 150, in which case I'll have to lose another 2.5 pounds to be halfway. But, that's just a small detail. The reason for the adjustment would be that 150 would truly put me at a "normal" BMI, whereas 155 would put me more at the cusp of normal and overweight. But, I'm still unsure about this, because BMI doesn't take into account one's frame, and I have a large-ish frame. So, I'm just going to see how it goes and see if I think those last 5 pounds are necessary when the time comes. I've been feeling so good about myself lately that even at 170, I'll probably think I look great. For my health, though, I really want to stick it out all the way to my goal. And I'm still right on track to be done sometime in March (barring a long plateau), which is amazing! I mean, I can't believe that in 4 months' time, I could be all svelte! Just in time for Nick's 4th birthday, and for spring and summer. It's almost more than I can handle. OK - I'll stop gushing now. :)Went to the Army band family gathering last night. It wasn't very well-attended, and the snacks were kind of lame :), but it was nice to finally meet Brian's new commander - she's very nice, and is quite excited that I sing! She is apparently a big fan of classical music and opera. It didn't quite come together for me to sing with the band this year for Christmas, but I have a feeling that I will be doing so next year. Brian is going to take a CD of me in for her to listen to. I also met a couple of other really nice band-members. I had a great, funny conversation with a guy named Greg. It's so weird, because my brother's name is Greg, and this guy's sister's name is Amy! Spooky. Today is a pretty low-key day. I might talk Brian into going out for dinner when he gets home. I'm sure I won't have to twist his arm! I absolutely have to exercise this evening, because I have been such a slacker! I feel really guilty about it - I don't know what my deal is; I just seem to have lost some of my motivation in that department. I've still got my eating under control, though, which is good. I'm bound and determined not to let the exercise thing get out of hand. Besides, I've got much more Sex and the City to get through, and I'm totally hooked. :) So, down to the basement I'll go...We don't have much planned for this weekend, really. We have various domestic stuff to get done, and I need to go to WalMart, but sadly, that's about it. Anyone around here got anything fun going on?Have a great weekend, everyone!
While Nick and I were enjoying our breakfast this morning, so was this squirrel on our deck table! 
Cheeky little critter, but it was too cute for me to be upset. And, I was sort of happy that it was getting a nice, full belly. I have officially helped a little woodland creature - yay! :)P.S. By the end of the day, a posse of squirrels had pretty much reduced the pumpkin to nothing. Tomorrow, they'll probably hit the big one next to it!
Well, the weekend was not all I expected it to be, but it was fine. We got to Springfield around 1:00 on Saturday, and later in the afternoon, I left to run an errand, after which I went over to Tim's house. Tim and I went to Panera for dinner (yummy French onion soup!) and then on to Drury University (my alma mater) to see my niece, Caitlin, play violin in an orchestra concert. The concert was good, but we ended up leaving at intermission, because it was going to last longer than we thought, and we were both very tired and had early mornings to prepare for. I did get to see my college voice teacher, which was nice. I don't see him nearly enough any more.I got to bed pretty early Saturday night, but when I woke up on Sunday, I felt quite ill. At one point, I had to sit down as a wave of nausea washed over me, and I was very clammy and sweaty. I thought "Oh, great - that will really please the church if I have to cancel at the 11th hour!" You see, when it comes to my singing, I consider myself an utmost professional, and would never cancel unless I deemed it absolutely imperative. I ate breakfast and didn't throw up, which I took to be a good sign. :) I still felt very weak, sweaty, and strange, but I got ready, warmed my voice up, and headed for the church. This was the first time I had sung there with their new music director, who happens to have been my choral director my senior year in high school. So, I hadn't seen this man in about 16 years, and wanted to make a good impression on him, so that he'll want to keep having me back. I soldiered through, and sounded great at both services. Between services, Tim took me to Panera again (I know - we're boring!), which was nice. During the second service, I was feeling very tired and weak and clammy, and I couldn't wait to get home. I had also developed a splitting headache. Kevin (the music director) was very happy with my singing, and it was great to talk to him and catch up. He's great! He's having me back to sing on December 16 - I'll be doing some recitative from Handel's Messiah, and singing with the choir as well. One bit of disappointing news: I had expected to sing "O Holy Night" and "I Wonder as I Wander" at the 11 p.m. service on Christmas Eve, just as I did last year. Apparently, though, they're not going to have an 11 p.m. service this year - they're just doing the 7 p.m. one. And there's no way I can sing then, as my family does Christmas on Christmas Eve. :(Alas. I'm a bit sad about it, but at least I've got the 16th. Anywho, I got home, and my dear Daddy kept watching Nick so that I could crawl into bed. I slept from 1-5! The rest of the evening, I just sat around feeling pathetic. My Daddy (so sweet!) went out and got me some Excedrin and also got us Chinese for dinner. I never seem to totally lose my appetite when I'm sick, and was quite hungry by then, as I hadn't had lunch. I ate my Chinese and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Desperate Housewives, and then took some Nyquil and went to bed. So, the weekend didn't go anything like I'd planned. I had some more errands I wanted to run on Sunday, and had hoped to spend more time with Tim, but it just wasn't in the cards. Also, there was another concert that my Dad and I had wanted to go to on Sunday, and we had wanted to go out for dinner, so my Dad's weekend was rather compromised as well, but he was very sweet about it.The good news is that I woke up this morning feeling much better! Nick and I came home, and here I am, catching up on my computing. I guess that was a pretty boring story, but it's the story of my weekend nonetheless. Now, on to another week...
Well, I stayed the same weight again this week. Poop! You know, it really doesn't make sense to me. On weeks when I pig out for a day or two, I lose weight, and then on a week (like this one) when I'm really good every day, I don't lose any. I just don't get it. I'm going to Springfield this weekend, so I guess I'll pork down and see what happens. :) I feel really guilty that I didn't exercise today, since I know I won't be exercising all weekend, and probably not Monday, either. If I go 4 days without, that will probably be the longest hiatus since I started this whole thing. I just hope I can get myself going again come Tuesday. Wish me luck!On a happy note, I had to go and and buy myself new jeans and cords today. I got a size 14 jean and 12 cords! Wow. That's pretty exciting. I'm not very excited, though, about the fact that I just realized this evening that I have nothing to wear for my singing gig on Sunday. After Nick goes to bed, I'm going to have to run to WalMart and look for black slacks that fit. I won't have a chance tomorrow, so it's tonight or never. I know I shouldn't be complaining about needing smaller clothes, but it is becoming a bit depressing to look in my closet and realize that all my pants and dress clothes are too big, and that before long, I'm going to have to just get rid of everything and start all over. That's such an overwhelming, expensive thought, especially for someone who hates shopping for and trying on clothes. The thought of having to buy new bras is enough to make me want to just hide out in my house forever. :) I've bought several new shirts lately, so I'm pretty good for those, although come spring, I'll have to start from scratch. I'm happy about it, but upset at the same time - does that make sense? Patty - surely you know where I'm coming from on this. How have you dealt with that? The whole thing just seems so wasteful, expensive, and time-consuming. I'll stop bitching now. :) I have so much to do this evening, and then I'll be gone all weekend, so the earliest I'll probably blog again is Tuesday. Wish me luck at my singing gig. The song is pretty easy, so I'm not too worried. Although, having to sing well at 8 in the morning is never a pleasant prospect. While I'm in Springfield, I'll also be attending a couple of concerts and spending time with Tim, so it should be pretty fun. Over and out...
I still don't really have anything of import to say, but I'm a bit bored, so thought I'd blog just for the heck of it. How is everyone's weekend? Did you remember to fall back? I love falling back. It's so nice to realize, at the end of the evening, that you have a whole extra hour! Yesterday, I went out solo for some shopping. I started at the Hallmark open house, where I enjoyed some punch and a cookie, and even won a drawing - I NEVER win stuff, so that was pretty amazing. My prize wasn't something I particularly adore (an ornament), but the winning itself was nice. I got some greeting cards, thank you notes, and a couple of other things. Then, I moved on to Dollar General and Dollar Tree. I got a couple of Christmas gifts for Nick at the former, and nothing at the latter. After some chicken nuggets and a baked potato at Wendy's, I finished up at WalMart. Didn't get anything overly exciting there - just some stuff I needed. Oh, I did get a cute hoodie (in a junior size L, no less!). So, there you have it. That is pretty much the pinnacle of excitement that can be achieved here in my small town. Rather sad, isn't it? It WAS nice to be out and about by myself, though, and to be able to take all the time I wanted. Brian is so sweet that way - he never begrudges me these things. The same could not be said for all husbands, to be sure.To round out the day, I did laundry, sang, exercised, cut Brian's and Nick's hair, bathed Nick, and changed all the clocks. A fairly accomplished day, I guess. Today, there's not much to do, really. Or I guess I should say that there are things I COULD do, but I don't particularly feel like it. I'm doing some more laundry (when am I NOT doing laundry?), and we checked all of our smoke alarms. I need to put all of my Halloween decor away in the basement, but am avoiding it like a champ. :) At some point, I will definitely sing and exercise, because those are non-negotiable (the singing is a must because I have a gig in a week). And later, we're going to put the sumptuous flannel sheets on our bed - mmmm! So, that's my day!
Dear Readers,I have been unusually silent this week. I'm not sure why - I just haven't felt like blogging, and like many things (cleaning, trying on clothes, doing taxes), you really have to be in the mood, ya know? Sorry for my absence. I'm still not feeling really talkative, but maybe next week! I am happy about my continued weight loss this week, even though my exercise record has been abysmal. I'm back in the saddle tomorrow - no excuses!
