A great contest!!!

My lesbian best friend from myspace brought her greyhound dog to my house this morning while I was in my beige shower to tell me about a contest over at http://mamakatslosinit.blogspot.com/. I was so excited about the prizes that we had a discussion about epistemology and I nearly injured myself with a fluke!! LOL!! Go check out the contest and get entered before it's too late!!!!

Temptation!!!

I am into the 2nd week on my diet, still stalled at the same weight for 6 days, but not gaining anything back. I haven't been tempted by anything that would make me stray from my diet, even when other people around me are having chips or sweets. We were even at Cathy & Brent's house last week and everyone had some Bluebell ice cream, but I turned it down, no problem!!! Then, Cathy & Brent came over on Saturday to eat at our house and they brought some Bluebell ice cream, and again, no problem! I went and got my sugar free jello and was as happy as I could be. But then they left it here. That is when the trouble started. Sunday morning, i'm thinking about that ice cream in my freezer. I never looked at it, but Brent said it was a new Bluebell flavor, Candy Jar. That sounds interesting, but it probably has some jelly beans or something in it, but I can resist that. But then I remembered he said something about peanut butter cups, so I decided to go look at the carton. This was a big mistake! Not to ruin your diet, but just so you can share in my pain, here is what it says: Candy Jar - Caramel Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Cups, Chocolate and Caramel Chunks, Peanut Brittle, and Chocolate Crisp Pieces. Woah. And it's IN MY FREEZER!!!!!!! I told myself that "if" I somehow mess up my diet, then i'd eat some ice cream, then start the diet back tomorrow. Then I started of thinking of ways to mess up my diet!!! I made it through the evening and didn't touch the stuff, and last night, Walter came in the kitchen looking for a snack and opened the refrigerator. I asked "what are you getting??" because I knew if it was the ice cream, it was all over and I was having some too. He said "watermelon, why?" I said, "I was hoping you weren't getting that ice cream because I can't resist it." He said, "me either!!" He suggested we drive it down to Cathy's house and give it back, but it was kind of late, so I'm sending it home with her today!!!! Whew!!!!!! It has more carbs in 1/2 cup than I am supposed to eat in 2 days! Maybe I will treat myself to a bowl of it SOME day, but it would just wreck all my hard work if I get into it now! But as for my diet, today I had 3 pieces of bacon for breakfast, leftover grilled steak with sauteed mushrooms for lunch, and will have left over roast for dinner. My friend, Lesley, and her husband, Mike, are starting the Atkins diet today and I'm so excited to see how well they do on it!! Good luck Lesley & Mike!!!

So, Cameron's dad picked him up early this morning and it's all quiet in the house. I really don't like it when he is gone, but I've gotten used to it over the years (we've been doing this for 12 years now), and I have learned to enjoy the time to myself, but I do miss him being here. It is so nice now that everything is ok when he's at his dad's house. It didn't use to be that way with his wicked step-mother, but after 3 years of counseling and his dad being pretty certain of losing his 50/50 custody, his dad stepped up and told the wicked witch to mind her own business (he had been letting her do all the parenting), and things are great now. I asked Cameron once if things are better between him & her and he said "no, I just ignore her now." Wow. I would feel bad for her, but the way she treated my son was unacceptable and I refuse to associate with her at all. I don't know how someone could be mean to a child, especially one like Cameron who really is a sweet kid and doesn't cause any trouble. Anyway, he loves to go there now and I think he has his dad to himself when he's there now (I can imagine how happy that marriage is).

I am getting ready for my FIVE little friends tomorrow afternoon for a big ole slumber party. I am trying to think like my new friend, Mere. You know, the whole, "what would Mere do?" I have a 13 year old girl, 8 year old boy, 7 year old girl, 6 year old boy, and 5 year old girl to entertain, so i'm trying to think about all of them. So far, I have the DVR recording enough movies that we will be able to come to some agreement on one or two of them. I am recording:

• Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• Free Willy
• Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
• Muppets From Space
• Happy Feet

All of them love to draw and make things, so i've got my art supplies and huge sticker collection out. Working as a school counselor, I have plenty of that type of stuff. I also have Landen's toy box that is full of fun things. My only rule about that is the LOUD toys can only be used OUTSIDE!!! Yikes!!! I bought Landen a set of musical instruments for his birthday last year assuming he would want to keep them at HIS house, but luckily for me, he wants to keep them HERE!! We also have the pool and the boat, so between all of that, I think we will have a fun time. I am also making a HUGE pitcher of kool-aid so the kids don't drink all of the soft drinks in the fridge and end up staying up all night!! I think it is so awesome that my grandson and my best friend, Dana's grandkids play together and I'm glad that all the kids love to come here!!

I went over our new budget this weekend and was very pleased! We are 1/2 way through the month and I did not have to transfer any money from our savings to our checking, which is great! We have only eaten out ONCE each week, which is amazing. I am really working to keep up with our spending and the budget and hopefully we can start building our savings back up.

Questions & Comments:
Tam asked if Elizabeth's adoption was an open one and if I knew the people who adopted her. The answer is no. My obstetrician had a patient who was unable to have children and made the arrangements privately. I had gone to some adoption agencies where I could pick the parents, but I was scared that I would pick the best looking people or the ones with the most money, and I really just wanted my baby to have parents who loved her, so when my doctor told me she knew someone, I felt good trusting her decision. I did ask to receive pictures throughout my daughter's life (because I knew the adoption agencies did that) and the adoptive parents said no!! I almost changed my mind, but I couldn't make myself hurt these people who had already been told they would be able to adopt the baby. Not to mention, I guess they knew we'd all be living within 30 miles of each other and if I'd known what she looked like, I would have likely recognized her in public. I know that if i'd known where she was, I would have surely been driving past her house trying to see her!! After we met (which her mother was very opposed to) and got to know each other a little bit, her mother gave me a video of the first few years of Elizabeth's life, which was incredible for me to see. She also allowed me to scan all of Elizabeth's baby and childhood pictures.

Sunny Sunday!

We had a great time with Cathy & Brent last night. Cathy came over early to swim with me for awhile, then we grilled steaks and they were SO good! Cameron even emerged from his room to eat with us, but only because it was steak he said! After we ate, we went on an early evening boat ride and it was so nice and peaceful!!! There was only one problem - a crazy neighbor that we call "Junkyard George." We live in a nice neighborhood where most of the people take pride in their homes and yards and keep them clean. Our entire neighborhood is just 1 street that is 3 miles long on the river, so it is a close knit neighborhood, for the most part. Well, if you remember the post where I mentioned that Walter, who is the president of the homeowner's association, had to go to court over a neighbor who refuses to pay his association dues of $40 per lot per year, which for him is $80/year...he's never paid them in the 6 or 7 years he's lived here and the previous board members didn't want to do anything to make him pay them, and now I know why!!! He also has a really junky yard and refuses to clean it or participate in the neighborhood cleanup days. In the meeting with the Walter, another board member, Junkyard George and the judge, he was yelling and making threats to sell his house to minorities (and if you know me - I do not tolerate racism!!!), etc. The judge was supposed to rule in 2 weeks by mail (does she sound scared too?) but after a month, we still haven't heard anything. Anyway, we are cruising down the river through our neighborhood and we pass Junkyard George's house. We noticed he's out there, so we just sort of keep going and try not to attract attention, but he recognizes Walter or Cathy (who is the homeowner's secretary) and starts to glare at us. Brent decides that waving to Junkyard George is the best plan, so he waves and Junkyard George becomes angry and starts to walk along his yard so that he can stare at us as we pass his house. He looked like a wild animal and I was a bit unnerved. Walter keeps driving the boat, never looking up, Cathy has her eyes glued to the water and wont look at him, and Brent realizes he's made the man madder by waving, so he starts to wave MORE! I'm watching this man stare us down and i'm like, "y'all, this man is crazy!" Junkyard George was almost unable to see us any more and begins to grab his umm, "thing" and shake it at us!!! I tried to grab my camera, but it was too late by then! I was sitting there speechless and Brent yelled something to him and Junkyard George started screaming things that I'm glad we couldn't hear! I am fully expecting the crazed man to burn my house down or something. Yikes. But anyway, beside running across him, we really had a nice time, then came back to our house and watched tv for awhile.


I'm still maintaining my same weight, but i'm doing good on my diet. I had scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, leftover stuffed bell peppers for lunch, and I have a roast cooking in the crock pot for dinner and it really smells GOOD!! Cathy plans to go to our health club tomorrow afternoon, so I'm going to drag myself with her and go work out. It's so hard to make it there, but once I go, I want to go back all the time. I am sure it's going to take some exercising on my part to lose any more weight since I haven't lost anything since Tuesday.

Walter has been working hard all day on the pier. I sat out in the yard with him a good bit today and helped with measuring when I could. I hadn't realized how great the pier will be for just hanging out and watching boats go by. The pier is right under our Cypress tree, which we thought we lost in Hurricane Katrina (before we even started building the house), but it is flourishing now even though it it missing some of its upper branches. The tree was even in the way of where our bulkhead needed to go, but we had the workers build around it! The tree is much shadier than I thought it would be.

Here is a picture of the Wildlife & Fisheries (river police) pulling someone over in front of our house. You never know if they'll give the boaters a warning for something, write them a ticket for a safety violation, handcuff them and put them in their boat, or like today, give them free t-shirts for passing a safety check!

And here is a view of the back of our house from the river.

Nothing much else is going on today. Cameron will go back to his dad's tomorrow, but i'm glad we had him an extra week again due to the cruise! I will be resting up tomorrow for my FIVE little visitors on Tuesday. I need to come up with some activities for them to do and some easy things to cook that they will eat. My friend's 8 year old son, Payton, does not eat ANYTHING, so that will be a challenge.

Questions & Comments:
I really appreciate the comments about my "regret or rejoice" blog and I'm glad that some of you were touched by it, and thank you Lizzy for the standing ovation!!! That is only a small peek into my crazy life growing up and maybe I'll make a point to throw in some other bits and pieces as time goes by!!

Two important points that I didn't include in the post:

• My dad died of pancreatic cancer a year after abandoning our family. His girlfriend in Pennsylvania didn't bother to let us know that he was dying.
• The baby I had when I was 16 was a little girl and I gave her up for adoption at birth. I reunited with her 7 years ago. Her name is Elizabeth and we only live about 30 minutes apart and are very close. When we met, she had just found out she was pregnant with her first child, my sweet little Landen.

I hope you all had a great weekend and have a wonderful week!!!

You can either regret or rejoice!

I came across this quote the other day and it really meant something to me. I made so many poor choices in my life, mostly as a teenager/young adult, that altered the course of my entire life. Had I made better choices, or maybe had better role models, there is no telling who or where I would be today. But then I look at my life now. I probably had to work harder and longer than most people, but today, I am a very happy, successful, person with nothing major to complain about. Sometimes when those old thoughts get me down, I tell myself that I probably made more of my life doing it "this" way because the decisions I made to get here were based on me and what I wanted to do with my life, not what everyone else wanted me to do. I think having so much contact with my high school friends recently started me thinking about a lot of the old problems. I've never been much on comparing myself to other people, so it's not about that. It's more about what I missed out on and the friendships I left behind. I was a mixed up teenager, raised by wealthy, alcoholic parents and never felt "smart" or encouraged to do big things with my life. My dad & I never had a good relationship and I know that affected a lot of the choices I made in my life. I was always forced to be like my sister, and we are NOTHING alike, go to the schools she went to regardless of where I was already in school and doing well, uprooted and moved every year or two because my dad's business plans were more important than roots and stability. Anyway, I ended up pregnant at 16 & 18, a high school drop out, struggling to make ends meet for my entire young adulthood. My dad's business plans finally blew up in his face and he faked his own kidnapping and ran off to live with a girlfriend in Pennsylvania. We lost our house, cars, money, dignity, etc. It took years for all of us (my mom & 3 teenagers) to recover and get ourselves together, but today, my mom, sister, brother, & I are all so much better people than we would have been if none of that would have happened. I managed to get my act together in my late 20's, divorced someone I had married that wasn't really a family man, and got myself back in college (which took me 17 years to finish with full time jobs, life, and children mixed in), and met someone who wanted a family and the things that were important to me. At 39, I graduated college and at 41 earned my Master's degree! Who would have thought! I am such a well rounded, smart, fun, friendly, life loving person, a decent wife & mother, and honestly have everything I need and most of what I want, but yet, I still think back and kick myself sometimes. And as a social worker, I know the importance of letting it go. And as a spiritual person, I also see all of the work that God has done in my life over the years when I never thought He was there before. So, to myself and anyone like me out there, let it go! Forgive yourself for decisions you made as a child and help those around you to make better decisions. Take those kids who don't have anyone telling them "they can!!!" and tell them yourself!!!! And imagine that I now work with kids who have behavior problems, hoping to make a difference, no matter how small! Whew! So, I got that off my chest. Any questions? I'm an open book, so feel free to ask.

Dieting today brings no new news, but i'm sticking to my diet and not gaining anything back, so that is something! I had bacon for breakfast, stuffed bell peppers for lunch, and tonight Cathy & Brent are coming over to grill steaks with us, so I will be in ribeye heaven!! As for the bell peppers, I made Walter & Cameron's (pretend with me that Cameron eats what we eat) with rice and made mine with steamed/mashed up broccoli!! I discovered that after eating the "pretend mashed potatoes" which are made with mashed up cauliflower that the texture of the veggies seem a lot like rice or mashed potatoes. And it was good! My friend, Lesley, is contemplating starting Atkins on Monday, so here is the pretend mashed potatoes recipe incase she needs it or anyone else wants it:

1 head fresh cauliflower, steamed until tender and mashed - I used a bag of frozen & steamed it
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup grated cheddar cheese chopped bacon
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Mix & mash ingredients together and place in a buttered 9 X 12 casserole or baking dish Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until cheese is completely melted and the casserole is heated.

Here are some pictures of the pier in progress! But first, I have to brag on what an awesome husband I have! His name is Walter, but he is affectionately known around here as "The Wizard." He can fix, build, or create anything!! So many times while we were building our house I would ask him "how do you know how to do that?" His answer is usually, "I don't!" But somehow he is able to figure out how to do any project and do it right. Once, Cameron's 3rd grade class was studying Penguins and each of the kids was told to make a Penguin. There were no guidelines - it could have been a drawing, a poster, etc. Well, here is what Walter & Cameron made out of paper mache' - a lifesize Penguin that was borrowed by the teacher the next few years as well as our public library!! After that, the school asked Walter & Cameron to make a paper mache' statue of liberty for a display in the cafeteria during a school celebration. It's probably a good thing that Cameron moved on to middle school or they might still be making creations for the school! Here are some pictures.

What memories!!! That seems like such a long time ago! Back then, Cameron said that having the penguin at school made him feel like "the president" because everyone was nice and wanted to talk to him!

So anyway, Walter has set his mind to building a pier and started on it this morning. He saw me with the camera and said "you outta take a picture!" I said, "Oh don't worry! This is good blogging material!"

We are also "boat sitting" for a friend of ours who needed to have work done on his boat trailer but didn't have anywhere to put the boat. They brought it by early this morning! He bought the boat on Ebay and flew out to get it! It really is a pretty boat and he will have a great time fishing in it.

TGIF!!!

First, let me say that the Atkins diet is a cheaters diet! What I mean by that is there is no diet you can start that you can really expect to lose weight every day, seriously. But that's the craziness of Atkins (and probably South Beach - but they specifically say NO RIBEYES and I'm not playing that game!!!) and now for the 3rd day in a row - I haven't lost anything. Atkins suggests leaving out the caffiene when weight loss stalls, so that's what i'm doing today. Bye Bye, Coke Zero and Diet Green Tea!!! Today, it's all about water and kool-aid-on-the-go, so we'll see how that goes. Today I had 3 pieces of bacon for breakfast, a Bubba burger with cheese & mayo for lunch, and I stir fried some chicken with bell peppers, onions, & mushrooms.

I spent a couple of hours floating in the pool this morning & reading my book. It is so relaxing and just does me a world of good!! The weather was nice and sunny today, instead of the usual cloudiness, and it was the perfect day for a swim!

A couple of updates from my job! My friend, Courtney, is SO excited about getting one of the jobs in my office! She put her 2 week notice in at her job this week and will get a week or so off before we go to work on August 6th. I am so happy for her! The 2nd job went to a girl who was working for a mental health agency based in one of our schools, so she will be great too, i'm sure.

I talked to the grandmother of my student who got the FREE braces, thanks to a local church!!! He got the braces last week and is so happy to be returning to school in August to show them off. He told his grandmother that the kids can't tease him about his teeth anymore! My boss is sending a thank you note to the church & the orthodontist.

Another student of mine didn't pass the LEAP test, which is required to go to 8th grade. I get really frustrated because the kids I work with are in special education and many of them have learning disabilities. How can we expect them to pass the same test that kids without learning problems can pass? Some can and some can't. This one didn't and has gone to summer school to attempt to pass again. His mother called me yesterday to find out when they'll know the results, so I called the school board to find out. The answer? August! School starts back on August 8! So now, this mother can't plan for the school year until she knows the results. She is quiet frustrated, and I certainly understand.

The wood for the pier came today and Walter is all excited to get started on the project. He lost any chance of me offering to help during dinner last night when he told Brent "I am pretty sure there is a small alligator living in our boat slip." He tried to explain what he meant after that, but I really didn't need to hear anymore. He says something "jumps in the water" everytime he walks out there, but that it is on a log in the water already, not where it could get on ground and into the yard." Yeah, whatever!! Don't ask me to get in that water, as if I would have anyway! I usually stand on the edge of the water freaking out anytime he's in there, so I'm really not all that much help anyway. And next Friday, the 18th, our neighbor, Allen, is coming to start the screened in porch! Yay! Walter is helping him to cut the cost and I am so excited to have this done!! Our cats want to sit out there SOOOOO bad and I am just too worried about them roaming free in the yard. So, Walter will have 2 projects going on, but at least will have help with one of them. One thing we've found in building our own house is that help is not usually readily available!!!!

Questions & comments:

Kelley wanted to know if the sister I mentioned in my other post is the one in Houston - yes. I do have 3 step sisters, but don't interact with them very often.

Tam - thanks for the book recommendations!! I went to Half.com this morning & ordered Rebecca & Outlander!

Thanks to everyone on the compliments on my purdy blue bathroom!! Our bedroom is the same color (maybe if I clean it up i'll take some pictures) and we really thought we'd gone off the deep end with that bright color, but we really like it!!

And again, I am so honored to have received Mere's "Smile Award" today! When I started blogging, I really wasn't sure that anyone would read my blog or care what I had to say, so this really made me feel good! I have really been enjoying blogging and especially meeting new people in the blogging community!!! Thanks again, Mere!

Winner of the original SMILE AWARD by Mere!!!!

The Smile Award

I am so excited and honored to be awared the Smile Award!!!! Here are the rules and my 5 awards and I would like to thank each of you for putting a smile on my face!!! A great thing about receiving the SMILE AWARD for making someone else smile is that it made ME smile a whole bunch to receive it!!! It takes a really special person to think of a way to honor others and make them feel good!! Thank you Mere!


These are the rules:

1. The recipient must link back t0 the award's creator (http://www.thebabblingsofmere.blogspot.com/)
2. You must post these rules if you recieve the award.
3. You must chose 5 people to recieve the award after recieving it yourself
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted by Mere.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.

Characteristics for the Smile Award:

1. Must display a cheerful attitude. (not necessarily at all times--we are all human)
2. Must love one another
3. Must make mistakes
4. Must learn from others
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world
6. Must love life
7. Must love kids

After much careful thought, here are the 5 winners of my Smile Award:

1. Mere at http://thebabblingsofmere.blogspot.com/ I can't help but give the Smile Award to Mere, who created it!!! This young girl is the most mature, insightful, honest, young lady I have ever come across in real life or in the blogging community and I am always impressed by her thoughts and words. I am inspired by reading her blog and am really glad to have stumbled across it one day!! Mere is a very active, positive contributor in the blogging community, and she created this award to honor those who make her smile and that in itself is incredible to me, because aren't teenagers thought to only think of themselves??

2. Tam at http://mommasong.blogspot.com/ This is a place I go daily to smile!!! Tam has a great sense of humor and a sarcasm that I am growing to love!! She is very honest about her life and shares the details with us curious readers. Her ladybug post is probably the funniest post i've read yet and it still puts a smile on my face when I think about it http://mommasong.blogspot.com/2008/06/little-cute-ladybugs.html. Tam loves kids and is a postivie contributor in the blogging community.

3. http://crazy-life-of-mine.blogspot.com/ - I'm too new to know her real name, but this blogger definitely makes me smile and I enjoy reading her blog often. She is honest in her day to day life - the ups and the downs, and I feel that I really relate to her because I've been there! I feel a connection when I read her blog and love to see what she's up to each post! She has wonderful tips and ideas, not to mention recipes usually with pictures, which I really need!!! She definitely loves kids and goes out of her way to make average things fun and exciting for them!

4. Lizzy http://hottublizzy.blogspot.com/ is another place I go for a smile! This is an honest, upbeat blog about real life situations and dealing with them. Again, I tend to return to the blogs that I feel a connection with and this is one I truly feel like i've been where she is and love reading her posts about her life, her children, new love, and all those things that we can smile about!!! She loves to share pictures of her children and I love to see them!! Lizzy is certainly a positive contributor to the blogging community.

5. http://hannahandlily.blogspot.com/ - again, I'm too new to know some names, but this blogger makes me smile and I seem to keep finding my way back to her blog. She is a positive contributor to the blogging community and although she has lost a beautiful child, she keeps her memory alive through this wonderful blog, and also lets us into her world and get to know her younger daughter and share in her life. What makes me smile the most is her daily "sparklies" and i've been tempted to take that idea and use it too. She sees and shows others the good in every day and that is so awesome to me.

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.