I am now on You Tube

Here's my first video on You Tube where I will be discussing OCD, so if you know anyone with OCD, please give them the link. Thanks.

Finn

We welcomed Finn, f/k/a Willie, into our home this week. His sister's name was Wonka. She was adopted first. Finn is a distemper survivor. He found his bed immediately when we walked into the apartment and went right to it.





He and Callie are getting along well. We were worried he would not submit to her, but he does. His head bobble is very pronounced when he is nervous. His hinds legs are weak, but once he gets up and stretches, he's ready to roll. He is not able to jump onto the furniture yet, but his back legs are getting stronger, as evident from him now lifting his leg to do his business. Jumping up on the couch is probably in his near future. Only one accident so far in four days, so we shall see about that. He will stay in the kitchen during the day until we are confident he knows what the puppy pads are for in case we can't get home in time.


Both dogs have enjoyed spending time on the balcony. We have never let Callie out there before because of my balcony incident. It's now cleaned off of dirt and debris. We put a potty patch out there, but so far, neither dog understands what to do with it. Would be extremely helpful until I get home to walk them or in case of thunderstorm, which is sure to happen during hurricane season.


Here's a good shot of his facial features:



Namaste to all,
~b~

Confrontation at the 99 Cent Store

If you know me at all, I do not like confrontations of any kind. I will do almost anything to avoid one. Our restrooms are being remodeled on the 9th floor, and the doctor doesn't want me to use the stairs because I have an ankle spur. Rather than get rude looks from people like I was getting when I took the elevator up or down one floor (Lady, why don't you take the stairs kind of looks), I sometimes take the elevator down to the 2nd floor. That's how much I hate confrontations.


But last week I had had a terrible day. I hardly ever go into our 99 Cent Store here because it's filthy. The one in my grandmother's town is much better. I had to have a disposable mop (you know, the one that's still in its wrapper leaning up against my bathroom wall with the door closed so Callie won't tear into it.) I was already angry because I had just been at Walmart looking for a specific kind of mop, which, of course, they didn't have. I grabbed the cheapest one I could find - $1.42 or something like that on the sign. Stood in line FOREVER, only for the damned thing to ring up at $4 and something. I was pissed. It was hot outside. And I was parked a mile away. Did I mention my foot hurts?


So I went into the 99 Cent Store (I had to drive right by it anyway) and got a cart in case they had something else I wanted, like puppy pads, which they didn't. My blood pressure went up the moment I walked in. The whole place was disgusting. Crap all over the place, food and God knows what else stuck to the floor. Old spills on the floor, counters and gondolas. I owned a clean store for 9 years - it just upset me so much. People were buying food there, not just canned food but produce, people. The whole time I'm going to the back of the store, I'm getting angrier and angrier. There's just no excuse for that. People shouldn't have to shop or work in such an environment.


So I throw the damned mop into my cart, with the handle down in the bottom of the cart and the head of the mop sticking slightly out the front. I had folded the child seat up. Stood in line for a long time, which gave me more time to see the dirt, dust and grime on the counters at the checkout. The conveyor belt at the checkout was so grimy, that I just held the mop while I checked out.



Now, there's a man standing directly inside the front door of the store. I said, "Excuse me." He didn't move. So rather than yell at him to move, I went around him to the left as he turned towards my cart. I didn't hit him with the mop; never even came close. Okay, the CART did come kind of close to him, but the mop did not. I walked around him, and heard him say in a rude manner, "Well, you could have at LEAST said 'excuse me"!" I replied, "I DID say 'excuse me'." I was seething inside because all I wanted to do was get in my car and go home.


He said, "Well, you need to speak up!" I started walking out the door, and for some reason - I don't know why. Maybe it was his attitude, the heat, the disgustingly filthy surroundings - I said, "Well, maybe you shouldn't STAND in front of the entrance, then!"


We took it outside, and he kept going on and on about how he was just standing there, waiting for his wife when I come barreling through with a mop sticking out (which it was not) and telling me, "You should speak up like you're doing now!" Telling me how to talk and push a mop in a cart.


I finally let him have the last word. Well, I did have the last word; he just couldn't hear it. So I got in my car and my OCD kicked in. I never did see his wife; I was so focused on him. But all the way down the street - which is one of the busiest and dangerous 6-lane streets in the city of Houston - I kept thinking, "He's following me home." I checked my rear view mirror until I had to turn left, about 5 stoplights down. When I turned, there was only one car behind me, and it had a Dominoes Pizza sign on top of it. It finally turned and there was nothing in my rear view mirror, so I calmed down a bit. Then I went home, called my friend V and cried.


I don't handle confrontations well, which explains why I haven't had the nerve to confront my boss about that raise he mentioned a few months back. I don't like his attitude when I bring it up and I am not interested in defending myself when he's the one who brought it up in the first place.


Everyone have a great weekend. I'm going to work on my novel tomorrow for a few hours and then go visit my grandmother.


Namaste,
~b~

My Links

As my novel gets closer to completion, I wanted to remind you of my link. Here is the Facebook page for the book:


Reverse Skate


And here is the link to my OCD Blog - Around and Around


Hope your day is going great!


Namaste,
~b~

CATCHING UP

I wanted to share a few photos with you from the past year. Here's a photo of my soon-to-be 98-yr-old grandmother with my niece A2. The umbrella was a gift to my grandma from Thailand from my brother, who is A2's daddy. We had just moved my grandma into her new, larger apartment. She is almost blind but is still not in assisted living. We had so many problems with the place that we almost moved her back to her old place. She turned us down, however, because moving is very stressful to her. Not to mention that she would be living in her friend's old apartment who had just passed away, since grandma's old apartment had already been rented.












Here's a recent photo of me and J at the Vicki Lawrence show.











Here's a recent photo of K21. She is trying to change from red back to blonde. She now has a steady boyfriend and starts working at Starbucks on Monday while taking a math class. She will miss working at the theatre so much, but they were working her too hard with little pay.











Here's a photo of my attempt at painting at Pinot's Palette. Am wondering if you have places like this where you are where you paint and drink wine. Took K24 there for her birthday and she loved it. This is me without make-up. ACK! Below is a photo of K24 getting started with her painting.














Below is the outside of the beach house I rented in June for a writing sabbatical. Just me and Callie and the beach for three days. No problems with the neighbors until the last morning. The man across the street got quite upset when I was walking Callie in the empty lot. I showed him the poop bag in my pocket and assured him I would pick up after her. It wasn't his lot; the city owns it.


I got quite a bit of writing done on my novel and lots of inspiration. The ocean is a very soothing place to me, but I respect it since I almost drowned near there when I was 7.  There was a hot tub on the back deck. The bed was EXTREMELY comfortable. Would love to go back, but if we get another dog it would be a lot harder. Took me five trips up the stairs to get everything I needed into the house. The photo below it shows my writing area. The stained glass window is from a church. The house was built in 1913. The photo below that is Callie laying in the sun saying, "I want to move to the beach!"























Here's a photo of what I look like at work with my reading glasses on.





Here I am at Wicked in San Antonio and showing off my key chain and necklace. I accidentally ran over my necklace last week with my drink cart at work. :( It's not fixable. We also walked away with a poster signed by the cast. Proceeds went to the A.I.D.S. Foundation and a $20 program. Unfortunately, Jennifer DiNoia wasn't performing that night because she was getting ready for her wedding. Alyssa Fox was "okay" but not my favorite.

























Well, that's all for now.


Namaste,
~b~

Vicki Lawrence

We had tickets to see Vicki Lawrence/Mama's show in Galveston Saturday night. We were on the third row and she was hilarious. Here's a video of the Mama Rap that she performed. It looks sideways, but it went turn when you click. Enjoy!

Redecorating

Have you ever taken a good hard look at your life and decided it's time to simplify things? Well, we did.


A couple of weeks ago, we decided it was time to get our apartment in order. Stress seems to snowball when you are constantly looking for things and moving one pile of things to another place. All you do is create more piles of things you never use 1) because you don't need them or 2) you didn't know they were there.


We started by creating a list of everything we wished we could change in our apartment from repairs being done by the maintenance man to expensive purchases. We *ed items we knew needed to be or could be done, i.e. afforded first. I'm happy to say we have crossed out about one -third of our original list.


The first week we were gung ho; the maintenance man was not. We purchased new pillows for our couch to match the blue in J's new recliner.

There are two more on the other end and one on her recliner. We got these at Garden Ridge for half price.


We also purchased new placemats, napkins and napkin rings with the goal of keeping things OFF our kitchen table and eating there more often together as a couple.





To help keep from dumping keys and mail on the table, we purchased a mail/key holder for $9.99.



Not too pretty, but functional. We also purchased an over-the-door holder for my shoes to keep my shoes away from Callie (she has learned how to open our closet door.) $19.99





We also purchased a shower curtain. liner and rug to update J's bathroom. Here is a similar shower curtain:

And here is the bath mat:

Her theme has always been ocean/shells, so these match her accessories nicely. I want a Wizard of Oz bathroom (I know, how childish of me), but am having trouble finding accessories I want. I don't need a shower curtain, and that's really about all they have other than some ugly bath mats.




We also had J's shell lamp re-wired (again, destroyed by Callie). I'll try to get a photo of that sometime. We need a new kitchen table as we can't stand ours. It's tall, and the chairs are more like bar stools. Two of them have broken and besides, they put your legs to sleep before you've even finished playing a round of Rummicube.




We have also been cleaning out closets and have made several trips to the Goodwill Donation Center down the street. We sorted CDs and DVDs. Some went to a resale shop; some are being downloaded on J's Ipod and then will be sold.




We have high hopes to frame and hang some photos and autographs soon. I like having projects to work on with J. It's exciting. I think she's excited about it, too.


Meanwhile, in all my spare time, I'm still working on my novel and crocheting a 6-foot tall Lord's Prayer




So as you can see, we've been extremely busy. Hopefully, I can add blogging to my list of things I'm doing. Two or three days this week already. Yippee! Until next time.


Namaste,
~b~

This could have been me seven years ago. I'm so glad it's not. R.I.P. Robin Williams

I'm Back...

Wow! It's been almost one year since my last post. Blogger looks different and maybe I do, too. I have missed writing; I have so much to catch you up on. So let's get started.


My maternal grandmother died August 2, 2013. Seems she was the last person I wrote about. I was told I was giving the eulogy. It was hard but I did it. My ex was there with both of the girls. J didn't come to the funeral; I was sad about that. I have a 97-yr-old paternal grandmother still living. When she passes, we are just going to have to bite the bullet and she will attend with me. I miss my grandmother every day. She left me her double pearled ring, a ring I have loved since I was a child. She always told me it would be mine when she died.


When my mom got it out of the jewelry box and put it in my hand, suddenly I knew what I had to do. I don't really wear too much jewelry; I like to wear the necklace J gave to me on our first anniversary back together. So I had the two pearls made into two pearl necklaces for my daughters for Christmas. I let the jeweler keep the actual ring to sell the silver to help pay for the necklaces; I regret that now. As we were walking to the parking lot, J asked me if I changed my mind, we could go back in, but I said "no" and we got in the car. I was crying. But I know I did the right thing. The girls were so touched by the necklaces and I notice them wearing the necklaces every time I see them and it's been eight months since they received them.


Another big change in my life is that I have started going to Unity. To me, it's not really a church as much as it is a spiritual center. I don't believe everything they teach there, but I am starting to make friends and I always feel welcomed and accepted. I joined the choir. Here we are doing a patriotic gospel song.


America the Beautiful


It's not the greatest recording, as it was taken on a cell phone, but as you can see, we rock!


We still have Callie, or as J calls her "Callie Belly." Here's one of my favorite photos of her riding in the car.





She was a therapy dog for a couple of months, but then we realized she had major separation anxiety. We started putting her in doggie day camp three days a week. They let the dogs bark all day at the passerbys in the window, so when I started taking her to nursing homes, she would bark at everyone. Not good for a therapy dog. So we stopped. She is now just a rambunctious, two-year old dog who loves belly rubs and hugs and kisses; has her favorite spots in the house (all spots in the house are hers). Her favorite person at night is me; her favorite person in the morning is J. She loves her piece of turkey bacon every morning, and expects it. She loves going to the dog park and jumping around in the mud pit by the lake. She loves her car seat because she can see out on drives.


Callie is supposed to get a big brother. He is a rescue from a high-kill facility. He had kennel cough and low-positive heartworms. We were supposed to get him last weekend, but now they found out he has distemper. :( I hope the little guy makes it. His current name is Rufus. He's the black one on the left.







Until next time...


Namaste,
~b~

Life

is boring.
Life is lonely.
Life is depressng.

Speaking of ... Dog TV

Here's a video on that very topic.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Love Overflowing

Have you ever loved someone so much that you feel you are literally overflowing?

It's hard for me to remember a time when I wasn't in love with J. I remember officially meeting her on a band trip, where she made me laugh hysterically and she wore my cap on the bus. I remember driving to her house to ask her to go to Whataburger with me. I remember hugging her after meetings when I dropped her off at home. And then BLAM! That's all I remember about not being in love with J. From so early on in our relationship, I think I must have actually been in love with her. The feelings went from mild to wild in a matter of days.

I believe God instills us with such great love for others so that we don't give up too soon in relationships. When J and I have had hard times, it's been easy to stay and work it out, no matter how much work it entailed. But when J and I have had EXTREMELY hard times, I admit that it has been tempting to just forego the drama and settle for some peace by running away. That's what I did in college; I ran away from the drama. I was done with the hard work. But looking back, I was only 22 years old. Did I really know how to work and fight for a relationship?

It took me over 30 years, but I did come back. We have both worked so hard to keep this relationship together no matter what other stress is going on in our lives. If our love was not overflowing, I don't think we would still be together. No matter all the craziness that is going on, I still have love left over for J. And she does for me, as well.

We have been on three, count'em, three date nights in the past few weeks! Hey, if we're going to make an effort, it might as well be fun! On Saturday, we are driving to Louisiana for the night to play some poker, eat some killer sandwiches, and just relax! Can't wait!

So my point to all this is: make an effort and make it fun! And make sure there is enough left over for the ones you love!

You know you're relationship is going well when...

the only thing you're arguing about is what TV station to put on for your dog while you're at work. Hmmm. What do y'all think - Animal Planet or Cartoon Network?

Waving Goodbye

I have written on my blog before about my maternal grandmother. I am closer to her than I am my own mother, which is strange considering our past together. It was her poor excuse for a husband who molested me all those years, and I'm pretty sure she knew it. She did walk in on us once, and that scene is included in my novel Reverse Skate. She has probably pushed it out of her mind like most other things he did.

My maternal grandparents were my favorites, especially when I was younger, before the abuse started. They lived almost a thousand miles away from us, up north, where I first experienced snow. We were lucky if we saw them every year, usually every two years. Because of her husband's job, they could not travel down to Texas to see us very often, so we would pile into my dad's Malibu station wagon and make the trip instead, usually straight through. My dad stopped almost hourly to stretch his long legs.

My brother and I would ride in the very back of the station wagon, the sun beaming down on our legs, with the smell of my dad's pipe tobacco choking us. I guess he thought the small crack in his window was enough to ventilate the car. Definitely didn't want to let the cold A/C air out. I would play songs from my cassette player or try to connect with a station with my green transistor radio.

We would stop at a little cafe in Arkansas, outside of Little Rock, where a waitress in a white apron would tell me to eat my peas. The closer we got to my grandparents' house, the more excited I would get. She would be at work when we arrived, at a large department store, where she sold quality furniture at great prices to third generation customers. She was a great salesperson, who did not pressure people into buying something they didn't really want or couldn't afford. I would walk into the store with anticipation, looking all around, between the tall warehouse pillars and amongst all the fancy couches, chairs, and water oil lamps. And then I would see her, putting her cigarette out in the ash tray, waiting with open arms for a hug. "God love it", would be her greeting as she held me in her arms and stroked my hair.

My grandmother had beautiful, long fingernails that she always painted with White Snow nail polish. I would lay my head in her lap, and she would stroke my hair until I went into a trance. Her house smelled of Occur perfume, which she purchased from Avon for years. She would give me near empty bottles of Occur to take home, that I would literally sniff for months until the fragrance disappeared. My grandmother was the best hostess ever. Every Christmas Eve she would invite friends, family, and even people off the street into her home for a homemade buffet of everything you could imagine. This, after working a six-day work week. Wednesdays were her only days off. She would have a beautiful, 8-feet, snow flocked tree, hundreds of presents, lights, and festive music. She even wore hot pants under her evening gown that she would show briefly for a laugh. My grandma smiled all the time and never complained about anything, even though she had a rough life growing up.

My mom's dad died at 23 from his appendix bursting when my mother was 9 months old. My grandmother was pregnant with my uncle at the time of his death and told my grandfather on his deathbed that she had missed her cycle. Widows and single mothers were not looked upon favorably at that time. I often wonder if that's why she chose to marry again when my mother was eight years old. My abuser was a drunk and carouser, so much different from my mother's dad who was a lay Nazarene minister who probably preached against that behaviour.

Back then, I thought my grandma was old, even though she didn't act old. She was probably about the age I am now - 51. Each time we had to leave to go back to Texas or each time she drove away, I remember waving goodbye to her and thinking to myself, "This is going to be the last time I see her before she dies." In 1989, she and her husband moved to sunny Florida. She was now in her 70s, and again, each time I left their house to go home, she would stand in front of her house, and I would think to myself, "This is the last time I am going to see her alive."

And now, it is 2013. My grandmother is 93 years old and in hospice care. She feels like shit and still, never complains. She says, "I don't need anything. There are other people who need more." Up until last week, she insisted on going up and down the stairs to her bedroom in my parents' house. Now, she cannot. Her long, beautiful fingernails are no longer. Her hair is thin and she has no teeth at all. I stroke her hair instead of her stroking mine. She doesn't even have the energy to wave goodbye to me. I know the final goodbye is here, right now, looking me in the face. I have had all these years to be ready for it, and I am not.

When I go to heaven, my grandma is the one who I want to take me to meet Jesus. I know she will be there at the gate, waiting to give me a hug and say, "God love it."

My New Office

When I say "my new office", I mean it literally. Since I left, my boss moved down one floor so it is brand new to me. Now, instead of walking done ten flights of stairs if the power goes out, I only have to walk down nine. Hey, that's better than what J would have to do; she is on the 57th floor.

Here's a photo of a corner of my new office. I had the printer moved to my desk as I got tired of having to go into another room just to insert an envelope or piece of letterhead. My boss has had five, count'em, five assistants since I left two years ago. That's not including temps. Anyway, it's good to be back working with attorneys. They're not much different than children, actually. I enjoy serving clients, even though some of them can get kind of needy. Did I mention they're like children? I had forgotten, though, how slow it can be some days and how during those times I would love to go out on the playground in the sun and watch the kids search for bugs or show me their latest tricks on the monkey bars. But all is well. Whenever I get to feeling that way, I just think to myself, would I rather be doing this or dealing with ungrateful parents and staff all day? This, hands down.

Here's a photo of our lobby. Very beautiful but hardly anyone ever sits there because I take them to their conference rooms right away. The flowers on the table are real and are brought every Monday morning by a very creative florist named C. My favorites are climbing orchids.

Both grandmas are in the hospital today. Here is a photo of them with my youngest on her homeschool graduation day two years ago. The one on the left is my paternal grandmother, who is 96. My maternal grandmother is on the right and is 93.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

~b~

Goodbye Glasses!

Last month I had two eye surgeries - the first one to remove an oily drop cataract (young person's cataract) from my left eye and have a lens replacement; the second surgery to have a lens replacement on my good eye. Now no more glasses! I have worn glasses since the first grade. I remember that I had been placed in the third reading group (for slow readers). My mother took me down to TSO (Texas State Optical) in the Northwest Mall in Houston to be fitted with my first pair of glasses. I remember trying to walk through the mall without falling. It looked like there were stairs in front of me and I wasn't sure how to walk without falling down the mirages. Anyway, I was placed in the first reading group and I did well in school after that. After a month, I still wake up and put my hand on my night stand searching for my glasses. It was an expensive procedure, but so worth it. I will never have cataracts again and will never need glasses again, except for magnified glasses for reading if my eyes get tired. Yay!

Hello Old Friends

It's been a long time, huh? Much has happened in over a year. I have retired from teaching and have gone back to my old job, running a mediation office. J is busy taking care of her mom, who is recuperating from back surgery.

I have two grandmothers living, praise God! My maternal grandmother from Florida is 93 and lives with my parents; my paternal grandmother is 96 and still lives alone. On Sunday, 911 was called for my paternal grandmother. She spent several hours in the ER and was sent home, prematurely, I believe, as she is still ill. Yesterday, 911 was called on my maternal grandmother, who is now in ICU. My parents are exhausted from all this caregiving.

I would like to introduce you to our newest addition. I have been told she is a Cairn terrier mix. Meet Callie. She is approximately 9 months old. I named her after the character Callie in my new favorite TV show The Fosters. Callie is a teenager who has been passed around from foster parent to foster parent. I thought it made sense to name her Callie, since I rescued her from certain death. A few weeks ago, she was in a shelter scheduled to be euthanized. A local rescue group in Houston, Buster's Friends, sprung her out. She was originally given the name of Twinkle in the shelter. Then I called her Button because she really is as cute as a button. Then I changed it to Cricket because, boy, can she ever jump! But Callie suits her better and she is now responding to that name. That is K19 in the photo, soon to be K20. More about how she is giving me gray hair another time.

Since I know longer have to work at night or on weekends, I hope I will find more time to write on this blog. I have missed it here, and even more importantly, missed reading your posts. I see that a lot of my favorites have disappeared. Especially miss reading Tina and Jess's posts. If anyone knows if they have new blogs, please let me know.

~b~

Wow! Things Have Changed!

Goes to show you how long I've been away. There is so much going on in our life right now, I don't know where to begin. I have gradually started the process of "coming out" at work. So far, so good. A couple of months ago I was approached by the lower school principal and asked to start a new classroom. I am thrilled with this because I will be working with the younger students again and it will be my classroom only. I will have an assistant half the day. Looks like there will be between 17 and 19 this year. This has really helped control my OCD, since I have made list after list after list. Materials to buy, things to do, price comparisons, student lists, goals, books to read, and, of course, lesson plans. I technically have the summer off but will need it to get things ready. I will be making my own hours and am tutoring a high school student to make some extra cash. It costs a lot to walk on the Galveston Pleasure Pier, you know. I decided to take advantage of the summer to really work on my weight, especially an exercise routine. During the school year I get up at 5:30 in the morning to walk, and I have to be honest, I just don't feel like doing it every day. I find myself skipping more and more days. Since I don't have to get up as early, I am trying to vary my exercise a lot. I know that if you do the same thing every day, you will not lose the weight. I am rotating biking three miles, walking one mile, 10 laps in the pool, Zumba dancing, and weights from Joyce Vedral's Fat Burning Workout. That book helped me a lot in the past. In less than a month, I could see a MAJOR difference in the shape of my body. My eating can be better controlled in the summer, too. I take Lean Cuisines for lunch, eat cereal and fruit for breakfast, and cut my evening meal portion in half. Down ten pounds so far and it's only May 30th! J and I have been to some great events since last time I checked in. We went to the horse races on Kentucky Derby Day. J won the derby! We almost skipped it because the power went out for an hour and a half before the race and we thought about leaving. In April we went to see Carol Burnett in Galveston. She was great. It was mainly a q & a session. It's amazing the stupid questions people will ask when they have the attention. A couple of weeks ago we went to see Carrie Fisher in Wishful Drinking. I wlll say that that was one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. Our 14th row seats were free, but I would have gladly paid for them. If you get the chance to see her, you have to go.

K18 performed her final performance with CYT as the wardrobe in Beauty and the Beast and we are all proud of her. She accepted the role of the middle girl, Hodel, in Fiddler on the Roof this summer with the local community theater sponsored by the college. Hope to check in more often. Have a great summer!

Yippee! We Got a Scale!

Trying to look at it as a positive addition to the household. I have never weighed this much in my whole life and am really feeling bad about it. One of my best excuses for not losing weight is that if I do, I will have the rolls of skin to deal with, especially on my chin and neck. I can tuck belly skin in if I need to, but everyone is going to see my face.

Don't have the funds for Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem. I lost all my baby weight with Nutrisystem after each pregnancy. Weight Watchers didn't work well for me and J doesn't do well with South Beach, so here's my plan. I have four Lean Cuisines left. After those are eaten, I plan to cut out white flour and use whole grain for my grains (taken from South Beach). I plan to eat a protein and a salad with each meal. I get so tired of salads, so I am just going to try to make very small ones. If I absolutely crave a starch with my meal, I will eat brown rice or sweet potatoes. I plan to go to Whole Foods today to look for Kashi that I can cook up for a change. I plan to drink 4 bottles of water each day minimum - 1 when I awake, 1 by noon, 1 by five, and 1 by bedtime. I am going to cut my diet soda in at least half by making crystal light. I used to drink CL for my water, but it tore up my stomach. No sweets or desserts of any kind. So I guess you could say that it is high protein, low carb, like SB but without the first two weeks of withdrawal (which I always hated but did flatten up the stomach somewhat. But my stomach is so big now, that I hardly think I would notice the difference.)

On Saturdays I will record my weight on my newly printed calendar and every other Saturday J will measure me with my new, pink measuring tape we bought at Target yesterday. I am going to post my weight and measurements on the refrigerator door as a reminder.

On the exercise part of it, I plan to do couch to 5K at least four days a week. Still trying to figure out which days. I want to do Joyce Vidal's fat burning workout but I don't have a flat weight bench so I have to skip so many of the exercises in there that it hardly seems worth it. I am on the lookout for an old piano bench at a thrift store.

Anything I have left out?

Mega Millions

500 million dollars. Wow. I wonder what past winners of the Mega Millions Lottery were thinking the morning of the drawing. Did they wake up that morning and say, “I’m going to be a multi-millionaire in less than 24 hrs.”? Was that day an ordinary day for them, taking kids to school, cooking dinner? Did they even think once about the ticket they kept in their wallet or purse or did they sit in anticipation, waiting for the big moment when the numbers were called? Did they split the cost of tickets and plan how they would split the money with others? Did they make a list in their minds of what they would do if they won? It seems so surreal that in the morning one could wake up like on any other day, dreading sitting in traffic with a mound of bills stacking up, carefully calculating your checkbook so that every penny is balanced, and then in the evening go to bed with millions of dollars waiting for you to spend.

I asked my mother last night if she had bought her lottery ticket yet. She said that, no, she had no use for that much money. If it had been 4 million she would have reconsidered. The only member of my family I have ever known who bought lottery tickets is my grandmother, and even she has decided to pass.

I never ever thought J and I had a shot at the money until this past year when a winning ticket was sold to someone at an H.E.B. store in Houston, about three miles from our old apartment. We had shopped there once when it first opened.
What would you do with that much money? Would you ever work again? I think I would choose to travel, but I would definitely work, too. I cannot imagine myself never working again. I would become too bored. And I would definitely donate a major portion to many different causes, not just one. I would give a reasonable amount to both of my daughters for a rainy day fund and pay for their college and for my future grandchildren. But I would not give them enough so that they would not try to support themselves.

So have you bought your ticket?