Ragin' Cajuns...I have 2.

Mr. Chad and I traveled to Louisiana to spend a few days with the girls. It's a long drive and we all know Mr. Chad will not fly (yet). It was great doing their daily lives with them, though. It's the one thing I miss the most. I went to school with Claudia. I know most of her school pals and it's always great when they remember me. I watched her play dodgeball and do some classwork. I signed her out and then we went to get Catarina and one of her friends and THEN it was time to pick up Mr. Chad back at the hotel. We had Chick-fil-A and then dropped the girls off at their speech and drama competition.

Mr. Chad got to see his first, homeless wino--which is nothing to laugh at, but he has lived a very sheltered life. Back at the hotel he let Claudia swim while I took a nap. We had Bennigan's for dinner and that day was gone. Catarina did not have to go back to the competition the next day, but had to work at a car wash. I will not go into how it was the worst car wash ever, but I looked at it as giving money to my daughter's team...LOL. (Claudia was still able to write WASH ME in dirt after the car wash...LOL.)

The next day, the girls and I went thrift shopping at Goodwill. Nothing much for us except some books and Band of Brothers on VHS for a buck, but somehow we spent $44, and Claudia came out to the good. We then just hung out, went to Hobby Lobby, and browsed around.

We picked up Mr. Chad after UK's game was over and then dropped Catarina off to work the "car wash". The 3 of us then went to Wally World (Wal-Mart) and somehow Claudia schmoozed Mr. Chad into buying her new luggage. All of this was fine until it became "find Catarina a Homecoming Dance dress"...LOL. Mr. Chad is not a shopper, but he sucked it up and took it like a trooper. She must have tried on 8 dresses, but chose one in the end that was very, tasteful and classy.

As with any trip to LA, we went thru the drive-thru daiquiri stand. We think that's just the funniest thing. (Even when I lived there, I could not get use to that concept...LOL). I was tipsy and ready to eat, so we somehow talked Mr. Chad into going for Hibachi. Now, we never expected him to eat, but knew that he would love the experience...and he did.

When we're with the girls time goes by so fast...and when I drop them back off at their Dad's house, my heart sinks to a new level of low. It's fun to be able to do things with them, but nothing replaces the time that is slipping away, that I can never get back.

I have to snap back into "Christy in Real Life" on the drive home, otherwise I would be a very sad soul. I love my girls more than anything and although, co-parenting is the proper way to raise kids of divorce, it's never fun to have to say good-bye even if it's just for 6 weeks.

Mrs. B :o(

Happily Ever After...

I saw my Aunt today while shopping. It was weird b/c I felt like an adult with my "buggy" all full of crap. Normally, when I'm with any of my aunts, I feel like a little girl. They always pick up the tab, I'm usually with one of their children, so we're like an older picture that has been taken years before...

She hugged me and asked, "How's teaching? The new house? Married life?"...I was totally in control of being my big-girl self until she said those 2 words--married life. I couldn't control what started happening. I almost giggled out loud and my cheeks pushed up and my mouth opened to one of the biggest, truest smiles I'd had in forever. Do not ask me why? I have no earthly clue, but I think I got dizzy and almost fainted with happiness...LOL.

I am such a happily-married woman. I even feel sorry for people if they look like they are not as in love with their significant other as I am with mine...LOL. Isn't that funny? I can't speak for Mr. Chad, but I know he says that minus a new baby and maybe a garage one day...he's living his love song. (I blush...I'm really not that great of a cook...LOL.)

All I can say, is that I hope this feeling never goes away. The feeling that happiness is within you so deep that you want it for all of those around you. Country musician Jason Michael Carroll said it best:

Baby just look at us

all this time and we're still in love

Something like this just don't exist

Between a backwoods boy and a fairy tale princess

People said it would never work out

Living our dreams has shattered all doubts

It feels good to prove 'em wrong....Living our love song

Happily Ever After to y'all.

Mrs. B :o)

Secret Wish...

That's me...3rd row, 1st girl on the left...LOL.

Just kidding, right?...LOL, but I always had a secret wish to be a Dallas Cowgirl Cheerleader. I lost that dream when I hit a growth spurt at 13 and saw my first stretch mark on my hip, but I still had the dream. Now, I had goals that in no form or fashion dealt with me prancing around half-naked in shiny, white cowboy boots...there was that dream of being President, or maybe finding the cure for cancer, oh yeah...and helping with that whole "world peace" thing, but like a boy that dreams of having a chance with Heidi Klum...I wanted to be a DCC.

You laugh, but you know it's true...we all have some dream that, even though, futile at best, it was there. My brother, Jamie, was the original Larry the Cable Guy...and my brother, Bran, wanted to be DJ AM, my niece Sarah Lee wanted to be the next Faith Hill...her dad, my uncle Edgel, wanted to be a John Lennon, or Robert Plant, or Bon Scott, or someone like that...LOL. My husband, Mr. Chad wanted to race cars for a living, but not NASCAR, or IRL, or Formula 1, but dirt tracks...no money, but a helluva good place to make friends and drink beer (according to him).

Think back.
[...for years I have wanted to be an actress...(In my eyes, I will one day still be discovered...for I am an actress.)...]

What was your dream? Not the, "I'm going to be a _______when I grow-up!" The hiding in your room, with the door locked, pretending to get interviewed by Johnny Carson while looking in the mirror dream. Who did you see? Who did you become? One of my favorite quotes is by George Eliot, "It's never too late to be who you might have been." I think it's pretty self-explanatory. Never stop dreaming...and I won't.

...got to go practice my high-kick and count off...5,6,7,8...

Mrs. B :o)

Dollar Days...add up quick.

$377.00 grocery bill.
Mr. Chad and I could live easily on $30 a week, and for the most part we do. However, now that we have somewhat settled into our new house we needed staples, so we went to the grocery.

I kind of felt like Gilligan. We left for a quick trip and it became a "3-hour tour"...LOL. Everything was fine and going great until Mr. Chad discovered what I call the "armpit" of the grocery store...the dollar section.

This particular area has nothing to buy that you can eat, but is like a toy store for a man. By the time I got him out of that aisle, my cart was full of $50 of crap that "we'll need this one day". OK...so I bought an apple corer, but that means $49 was his stuff...LOL.

I laugh, but it was a fun night. It was like a scavenger hunt date. The 2 of us had the best time together and I saw the future us pushing a cart nearby. It was magical, if nothing else.

I love you, Mr. Chad...and we could so win on SUPERMARKET SWEEP.

Mrs. B :o)

Eat Vegan

Raw diet? Have you heard of this one? I mean, is she suppose to look better in the thinner picture? I think she looks sick. No offense, but maybe they need a different poster child. I can definitely see that the weight has come off...I'm just not sure about it for me.

CNN.com has a section on successful dieters and what they did to get in shape. It's pretty neat to see the extreme dieting of these folks. It's hard for me to believe that Dr.Sanjay Gupta thinks these diets are OK?...LOL.

Check it out...maybe there's a diet for you.

Mrs. B.

PS...I here a lot of celebs do this "raw" diet thing.

My name is Christy...

...and I'm a habitual dieter. How many times on this blog have I talked about dieting, eating right, nutrition, blah, blah, blah???? Lots, right?

Today, I just want to rant about skinny people who complain about being fat. Yes, we see that you are skinny...so, yes, we know that you know that you are...Don't expect us strugglers to feel sorry for you. Give me a break.This un-nerves me to no end.

I realize that there are people out there that struggle to gain weight as much as I struggle to lose, but it's still very different. I do not think that society considers skinny-ness to be a product of laziness, as thought with people that are overweight. I think I'm fat, but have never thought of myself as overweight...yet, I am.

I'm not unhealthy by any means. I don't drink cola. I don't add salt. I walk on a treadmill daily...and truthfully, I'm not big-boned. Yes, I am a thyroid cancer survivor and I know that somehow messes with your metabolism, but here I am wearing clothes in double digits (12/14).

How do I get to a figure "8"? Eight that's a good healthy size, right?

Mrs. B :o)

Run Elizabeth Run

http://pages.teamintraining.org/in/nikesf08/ecase

Just a little blurb on my gal pal's marathon. Elizabeth is running a marathon in California to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It is such a blessing to have her run in honor of my husband, Mr. Chad, a survivor of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

The funny thing is that E-beth is really into her health and eats and drinks strange crap all the time. She does yoga and pilates, but I could have never pictured her running...yet she is.

She has raised $2000 already and has set a goal of $4000. I'm sure she can do it...both run the marathon and raise the cash.So, today is just to say, "Good Luck, girlfriend...it's me, you , and the Flying Pig next year."

CBB :o)