Yes, it's STEAK NIGHT!!!!!

I'm so excited that it's steak night tonight!! We missed it last week due to the cruise and I am craving me some steak!!! Cathy & Brent are going with us, as usual, and I am READY!!!!

Here are some pictures from my fine painting job in our bathroom yesterday! Keep in mind that we still haven't put crown molding upstairs at all, so this is still not nearly a finished product! Our bathroom is my favorite room in the house and I am so in love with my bathtub! I am a serious bath taker/soaker and have never had a big bathtub before.

The big doors open into our bedroom, the door to the left is our closet, and there is a door to the right where the toilet is.

If this isn't a sure sign that i've gone crazy, I don't know what is. My best friend, Dana has 6 kids. Her oldest daughter, Amy, is 26 and we are very close too. I used to babysit Amy and her brothers when they were little, then Amy babysat Cameron when he was little, then Amy had 3 babies within 4 years and I babysat and helped her out a lot when they were little. So anyway, Dana's youngest daughter, Emily (13), is in town from Kentucky and she wants to come spend the night, along with Amy's oldest, Payton (8), before she leaves to go back home. But here's the catch! Once Payton comes to spend the night, then I owe his sisters, Camille (7) and Ava (5) a night and I get a bit overwhelmed, and then Landen gets extremely jealous when Payton comes here, so what to do? After consulting with Walter, who thinks I'm crazy but said ok, I am inviting them all FIVE to spend the night Tuesday night! I am VERY patient and fun for about 24 hours and then I tend to change into another personality, but they will come Tuesday afternoon & leave Wednesday morning, so i'm thinking it will be fun!!

No news in the dieting world! I lost about 1/2 lb. since Tuesday, but that is not typical for Atkins. I went to Walmart today and bought the Ketone strips that tell you if your body is producing Ketones (burning it's own body fat) incase I am eating things I shouldn't, but everything is good there. I'm thinking I need to exercise, which I keep putting off because i'm lazy. Today I had bacon for breakfast (wasn't really hungry), a Bubba burger with cheese & mayo for lunch, and i'll have my delicious ribeye w/sauteed mushrooms for dinner!

I haven't seen most of my friends from high school in 25 years and we are still working on planning a girl's night out soon. I have always been an avid picture taker and plan to go through my elementary - high school pictures and get out all the ones they are in and bring them with me! Our girls night out group has grown to 10 of us now, so I don't know if we'll go to a restaurant or what. I offered my house if they want to come here, so we'll see what happens. I am really excited to see everyone!

As i've mentioned before, my sister, Donna, is queen of the dingy people. She told me yesterday that she has been sick for SIX days with food poisoning!! She ate at Carrabas in Pearland (TX) and has been sick ever since. We've exchanged a few emails and after asking several questions, i'm pretty sure she has that salmonella poisoning that has affected 1,000's of people, including many Texans! Hello??? Mexican restaurant? Tomatoes?? Peppers?? Anyway, it hit me last night and I asked her if she'd thought of it and she said no. I am encouraging her to let Carrabas know that she got so sick and talk to her doctor. That girl! I once watched her spoon piles and piles of rice into her fajita and asked her why she was putting rice in it? She said, "OH, is that rice? I thought it was cheese!!"

Walter ordered the lumber today to build the pier. That is going to be an interesting project because someone is going to have to get all up in the river water to accomplish this job. There are snakes and alligators in this water and it is just plain spooky to me. I'll be sure to take pictures.

I had a few comments about my new budgeting plan. I use Microsoft Money 2004, but actually took the figures from there and made an Excel spreadsheet so that I can see everything in one place and make changes easily. When I balance my checking account in Microsoft Money, I also go to the Excel sheet and type every expense in the appropriate section and can see instantly what's working and what isn't. I'm not sure that we've ever been on a budget in the 10 years we've been together, so it will be an adjustment. We are dipping into our savings each month and I couldn't figure out why until I looked at my spreadsheet. We are paying extra on our mortgage to pay the house off in 15 years and even with that, we can easily afford our bills, but yet, we are out of money every month. So anyway, we'll see how we do with that.

And finally, a funny picture of my giant cat, J.J. sleeping on my ottamon. He is such a cute, goofy thing and I love him so much!!! Most people can't believe he is a cat because he is so big.