2 weeks...14.5 pounds.

I weighed myself a few weeks ago at mt cousin V's and almost collapsed in grossness...LOL. The big joke about her scales is, no matter how much I weigh...her scales ALWAYS say 180. Last summer at 155-158...it said 180. A few years ago, when I was 175...it still said 180, but on this occasion, let's just say I wish it had said 180. I saw it going towards the big 200 and jumped back off the scales. After the dizziness wore off, I stepped back on and was right between 198/199. I was so embarrassed. I have NEVER weighed that much in my life except when I was incubating my 2 baby aliens. (Claudia put me at 206/207 the day before delivery and Catarina put me at 199.)

I felt sick for 20 minutes, even V weighed less than me...and that's a great feat b/c she NEVER has...well, maybe that time she was in the hospital and almost died, but that doesn't really factor into this equation.

Later that day when I was sitting on the swing with my father-in-law, who had went to the doctor earlier that day, I was complaining about my weight and he said that he had weighed 197 that day...I had to hold back the puke that was starting to arise in my throat. And still, it gets worse. My husband had his truck parked in the yard with the tailgate down and my father-in-law was sitting on it...i went to sit down beside him and one of the straps on the tailgate snapped...I just put my head down and came to my room and cried...LOL.

...and then I started Atkins the next morning.

Two weeks later, I am 14.5 lighter...WOW. Now, that's the Atkins I know and love.

It was hard, though...lots of egg salad, chicken, and ham slices...LOL.
...the end justifies the means, right?....not really, I miss you bread...LOL.

:o)
me

Dear MAT, I love you.

So, I started my Master's at Morehead State University and I am very excited. The orientation motivated me beyond anything I was expecting. However, I also, was not expecting there to be 110 of us, but that's OK...LOL. I held my own.

The great thing about this program is that you can only be in it, IF you do not have education as an undergraduate degree. It appears that many of my co-workers want to teach social studies or P.E. I plan, I hope, on teaching Middle School Math and Language Arts and later getting certified to teach high school Math.

My cousin, Karen, is kinda my inspiration. She is very smart and knows her stuff...but we are different in the fact that I like to be fun and get things done, and she likes to get things done...whether anyone has fun or not...LOL. (School is not the Carnival.) She doesn't have to be any one's fave teacher as long as at the end of the day, they can multiple, divide, and work well with fractions...LOL. I settle for 2 out of 3...LOL.

I recently had my first "real" interview and I thought it went "real" well...in fact, they told me it went "real" well...I was pleased, but totally understand that someone already certified will be hired first, and that I am a last resort...and the MAT program told us that would happen. I am not insulted at all.

However, I will persevere and learn more and more each day about education, core curriculums, and whatever is required to be the best teacher I can be.

****Thank you, Miss Cook (Kindergarten), Mrs. Honeycutt (1st grade), Mrs. Mullins (2nd grade), Mrs. Johnson (3rd grade), Mrs. R. Hall (4th grade), Mrs. Mullins, again (5th grade), Mrs. Crisp (6th grade), Mr. D. Hall, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. B. D. Hall (7th grade), Mr. Sode (8th grade), Mr. Duncan (8th grade), Mrs. Balkcom (8th grade), Mr. J. Hall (8th grade), Mr. Gibson (8th grade), Mrs. Duncan (8th grade)...and so on.

Oh Happy Day!

me :o)

The Wedding Planner

Who's getting married that I can offer my services? I am sooo in the mood to plan another wedding. Jennifer Love is getting married and I would offer my services for free, provided she flew me back and forth to sunny California. My friend E-beth wants me to plan hers--one problem, though...she needs a groom first (and she is actively looking, so I'm really proud of her for that...LOL) There's my friend, Kayla, too. I could do some fun, original things with her "special" day, but oh yeah...she's NOW in the same boat as E-beth...LOL.

Being a wedding planner is my dream job. (I gave up wanting to be a "movie" actress years, ago...Now, I just want to plan their weddings...LOL.)

Don't get me wrong, I love planning parties, but there is nothing like a wedding. Birthday parties are sweet. Holiday parties are festive. Baby Showers are precious, but weddings, weddings are enchanting. I have loved weddings since I was a kid. All my little girlfriends had the chance to be flowergirls, but I never had that opportunity...and I have only been a bridesmaid twice, but that will change...I think I'm going to advertise that I will gladly fill that position for any of my friends or family...LOL.

I think, with weddings, all seems right with the world on that glorious day. Wars, famines, and diseases seem not to exist and everyone can pretend that nothing matters but that moment...that moment in time set aside for you and the love of your life.


Mrs. New Bride,
me :o)

No Plans on Lottery Win

I have no plans on winning the lottery...I mean not by picking numbers and hitting some, mega-moolah jackpot. I have no plans on winning b/c I have 4 or 5...OK, maybe 45 friends that plan on winning, too. Instead, I plan on inventing something that makes me a millionaire. Now, I am no inventor. I do not sit around trying to come up with some cockamamie idea, day after day. I just know it will come to me and I will know it when it does...for instance, I watched the story on this a few years back and it has NEVER left my mind:

The Spin Pop was the brainchild of two postal workers, Tom Coleman and Bill Schlotter, living in a mobile home park in Virginia. The two men had been friends since 1965, and had tried several other ideas before conceiving the idea of a novelty candy on Halloween 1987. The idea was to make a glow-in-the-dark candy. What emerged was Glow Pops, a cylindrical pop attached to a lighted handle. With this idea the two couples Tom and Ann Coleman and Bill and Ann Schlotter formed BAAT (Bill, Ann, Ann, Tom) Enterprises. Ann Coleman was the Treasurer, Ann Schlotter the Secretary and Bill and Tom the Inventors. They spent the next four years trying to sell the idea. In 1991 they met Russell Gold, an engineer from Cap Toys, at the Impact Invention show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They showed him the Sci-Fi candy treats and Russell knew they had a hit on their hands. Cap Toys flew the couples to Cleveland. They signed a deal on the spot. Glow pops were renamed Lazer Pops and did well, but it was their next idea that was the daddy of all interactive candy, "the lazy mans lollipop", the Spin Pop. Cap Toys created a division called CT Gifts, which later became Cap Candies to handle Spin Pops. The largest hurdle for spin pops was convincing retailers that consumers would shell out $2.99 a pop (sorry I couldn't resist), an unheard of price for a lollipop. But buy they did.

What do you think about that? I mean, something that cost $2.99, ( Parents we have all, pardon the pun, been "suckered" into buying on of those things.) and those trailer park-mailmen are now millionaires. Any ideas on what I could invent?...Yeah, none here either...YET...LOL.



Still searching for a "signature" closing,

Me :o)

Paint Chips

Talking paint with Mr. Chad is like speaking Chinese...you know you're not saying it right, and you can tell by his facial expression that he damn sure doesn't understand a word you are saying...LOL.

I buy paint based on the name of it...I mean, it has to be roughly the color I'm looking for, but I will always buy Aloe Glow over light green. The name of the paint just seems to add a certain Je ne sais quoi...makes me feel like I've added a personality to the space.

For the past few weeks, I have been acquiring paint chips. I am probably the biggest paint snob that I know...LOL. I think there is no paint like BEHR, but I loved Christopher Lowell paint, too--when I used it a few years ago. As far as names, Martha Stewart wins hands down, but for my budget currently...it will have to be Dutch Boy from Wal-Mart, and that's okay with me...LOL.

In defense of Dutch Boy, though, they definitely have some pretty good names...Asian Silk, Galaxy Depths, Artful Red, Ballerina Kiss, Chocolate Truffle, Cantaloupe Frost, and Mmm Mint. I can't decide whether it makes me want to travel...or eat...LOL.

Wait, yes, I can...
I think I hear low-carb Butter Pecan ice-cream calling...LOL.

from the center of Mr. Chad's universe,
me :o)

City Mouse...Country Mouse OR Grey Goose...Goose Creek

Mr. Chad and I are country mouse and city mouse. I say it all the time, or refer to something that suggests how obvious it is...

If it wasn't evident by looking at the cakes at our wedding (horseshoe pit for him--trendy circles for me), then it has to be obvious in our dress. Currently, I own 1 pair of jeans and no "flat" dress shoes...and he owns NO jacket and dress slacks. I have hats for every occasion and his only tie came from Goodwill as a joke. His drink of choice is Bud Light, while mine is anything served in stemmed or footed glasses that normally has something in it as a swanky garnishment.

Our taste in music is definitely different and this past Saturday night was a lesson in his "type" for me. For years, Mr. Chad has listened to a group called Goose Creek Symphony. I listen to them when he does, but they're not on my Ipod (yet). He has seen them in concert, but I never had, so as a wedding gift, I got us tickets to see them in what could be their last tour. (They look like the Grateful Dead with some Earl Thomas Conley thrown in to mix it up...probably not a lot of tour dates in their future...LOL.) The concert was in Clintwood, VA--a little town about 30 miles from us--a very quaint place, and the venue was an old, refurbished theatre. Nostalgia at its best.

It was a great concert and I loved the band live. We ran into a friend of mine from work (his band Velvet Water opened for GGS) and i LOVED introducing Mr. Chad as "my husband". All in all, it was a fun time...good music, little town, man of my dreams--this city mouse had a great time being a little country.

Mr. Chad's wife,
me :o)

Happy Birthday, MeMaw.

Time doesn't heal all wounds or sense of loss.

Today would have been my grandmother's 91st birthday.

It's going on 5 years and I still think I can wish her back.

She was such an original...she ALWAYS had an opinion...good, bad, or ugly.

She raised me and made me into who I am...good, bad, or ugly...LOL.

I look at my girls and think how much she would have loved them, and how sad I am for them that they will not know her the way I did.

Catarina can remember her and Claudia asks when I'm going to take her to see MeMaw Hall's grave. I always say that I'm going to do it, but have never been back myself...and don't know when I can make myself do it...I guess I'll put it off until I have to face it FOR THEM.

We all know that I like to correlate music to events, time, people, etc...MeMaw is no different. Although, this correlation may crack you up. I always think of my Granny when I hear ELVIS...but not b/c she loved him...LOL. She couldn't stand him. (Sorry, KR...I know he's from Mississippi...LOL) I find it soooo funny. She had 12 kids and all their names started with an "E"...but one of the greatest musicians of all time irked her...and she would proudly tell you that none of her boys were marred with the name Elvis.

Happy Birthday, Granny!

Thanks to you, I didn't end up in the ghetto (in the ghetto...y'all sang it, too, didn't ya?...LOL)

Love, the granddaughter that LOVES you most (heehee),

Christy