Finally Friday!!!

I am really glad that the weekend is here! I stay so busy at work lately that I need the break - mentally more than physically, I think. I usually bring stuff home every night and catch up on things, but when I left work today, I didn't bring ANYTHING home!! Yay for me!!!

Caution: STUDENT DRIVER!!!! Yes, it's true! It finally happened!! Cameron got his learner's permit today and I let him drive us home in my new Mustang!! When I took this picture, he said, "I'm pretty sure that would be considered distracting." Well, you wouldn't see me taking the picture if you were looking at the road!!!! He was nervous driving my car and I was nervous letting him, but we both handled it well. I made a few suggestions (nothing like the continuous commenting by the driver's ed teacher) and refrained from freaking out or going crazy. When we got home, he said, "You did good!!!" I had to laugh because I'm pretty sure that I should have been telling HIM that!!! And I did. Walter & I both had to renew our licenses, so we took care of that too while we were there.

The diet news is all good!!!! I lost ANOTHER pound, for a total of 6 this week!! Since MONDAY!! I only have 9 more to lose, so I'm really excited!!! I was SO good at work today when my supervisor brought cookies to our meeting! Through all the tempting, taunting, and teasing, I RESISTED!!! And then Walter, Brent, Cathy, & I went to eat at a seafood restaurant and I had a shrimp & crabmeat dinner that was really good! Cathy had dessert and I did not join her!! Walter was good, although he ate a burrito at his meeting last night, but he had the same thing I ate tonight. He has lost 5 lbs. this week, but he's starting to fuss about what he can and can't eat, so I really don't think he will stick with it much longer, but I'm trying to keep him interested!!

Walter emailed me this halloween picture yesterday and I just had to share it!!! How funny is that?? Kinda gross, but still, pretty funny! It's not fit for the eyes of innocent little children, so run them off before scrolling any further!!!

Here is a video that Molly at I Need a Martini posted that everyone should watch!! So go check it out!!! Repost it!!! And DON'T VOTE!!!!

And here is a test to see if you are addicted to the internet!!! I didn't do too bad - 48 points:20 - 49 points: You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

One of the neighbors on our street got a letter from the homeowners association because they built a structure on their lot without submitting plans to our architectural committee, which is a requirement in our neighborhood restrictions. The neighbors then got mad and went through the neighborhood restrictions looking for something to complain about. There is a section in our restrictions that says you have to landscape your yard within 30 days of moving in, and this requires having 2 tress (yes, it's mispelled by the previous board members) on the lot. Well, as you may know (or you know now), Walter is the president of our homeowners association this year and when our secretary (our friend, Cathy) and treasurer went to follow up on the complaint, guess who owns one of the houses on the street with no tress in the front yard?? Yes, Walter the president!!! So, we are about to get a letter (from ourselves, I guess) stating that we have 10 days to comply and plant some tress in the front yard. And in all honesty, the restrictions only say you have to have 2 tress on the LOT, not front yard specifically, but we do know that is what is intended, so while we have 2 tress in the back yard, we will soon be planting 2 tress in the front yard. And the tress has to be 12 feet or taller? Can you say, "who cares if people have 2 tress in their yard or not??" And yes, I'm going to keep calling them tress. This was my typical reaction when the subject was brought up today:

Cathy: I rode down the entire street to find people who are violating the restrictions by not having 2 trees on their lot.

Me: No, they don't have to have trees. They have to have tress.

Cathy: Huh?

Me: Read it again, it says tress. And I don't even know what a tresses are and mine need to be 12 feet tall.

I really crack myself up sometimes.

And Don't Come Back!!!!

Sorry, that is for those 2 pounds that I LOST since my last weigh-in!! I've now lost 5 lbs. since Monday!! Yay!! Those 5 lbs. are the worst for me because they are the ones that keep my pants from fitting right! I can tell a difference today just by my clothes and that makes me a happy girl! Walter has a meeting at work tonight and they are bringing in Mexican food for everyone, so I feel certain he will cheat on the diet, but I was good anyway and sauteed some onions, bell peppers, and chicken and at it in a low-carb wrap! It was pretty good and I'm determined to stick to the diet without cheating for at least another week. Then, I still face the same problem of NOT going right back to eating like normal and gaining it right back.

Nothing much else is going on tonight. Cameron & Bryce are in & out of the house and Walter is gone until later, so I'm off to read some blogs and maybe watch some tv. My 2 new books, Breaking Dawn and Eclipse STILL haven't come in yet!!! I'm a bit disappointed, but I can be patient a little longer!

Wednesday

Good news on the diet front today! Since starting over Monday morning, I have lost 3lbs. & Walter has lost 4lbs! He said there is no way that could be right, but it is. Atkins/South Beach are like that and the weight will roll off of you if you stick to it faithfully and don't cheat. I had a great time at dinner with my friends last night, but we went to Kona Grill and there was almost nothing low-carb that I could get. I was pretty much caving in and ordering a pepperoni pizza, but decided to order the baked seabass that someone had before and liked, so I got it even though it was $25!!!! NOTHING was reasonably priced there and I doubt I will go back there again because of it because it was not worth the price. The food was good though and I stuck to my diet and let my friend, Kelly, eat the shrimp fried rice that came with my dinner even though it looked SOOOO good!!! Tonight Walter & I are going to Hilltop for dinner because he has a meeting to go to tomorrow night, so I'll get my ribeye and mushrooms a day early! Yay! Brent & Cathy aren't going with us, but we are taking them to dinner Friday night for Brent's birthday.

And speaking of my dinner with my friends, I was so glad to see them!! 6 of us were able to make it, plus my friend's 2 month old baby! He is soooo cute! I held him for awhile and he went to sleep in my arms, so I got to keep him until our food came!! We ate dinner & visited until about 9pm, so I didn't get home until 10pm, but I really enjoyed my time with everyone.

Laura asked if Walter had fudged on the diet with me gone last night, but I thought ahead and cooked a roast in the crock pot and some "pretend potatoes" for him & Cameron so that he wouldn't get hungry and eat something bad!!!

Work was another crazy, busy day and I'm starting to think that this is how it will be from now on! I like being busy, but it's a little hectic sometimes.

Cameron is having a good week this week, maybe because of the promise of getting his permit Friday if he behaves. Whatever the reason, I definitely like the change of attitude. I hope it lasts!

Tuesday

Day 2 of my diet went well! I am going to dinner at Kona Grill with some friends from graduate school tonight and I hope I can stick to my low-carb eating. I have never been there but from looking at the menu, there isn't a lot for me to choose from unless I want a very expensive steak, so we shall see! Even the salads didn't look like great low-carb choices.

I had a day full of meetings today - 4 IEP meetings scheduled throughout the day. Only 2 of the parents actually showed up, so I wasted a lot of time!! I know things come up and people forget, but good lawd that causes me a lot of unnecessary problems later!! I didn't get to see any of my students today, but should have time to get to a lot of them tomorrow. I have 2 Why Try groups to do tomorrow and got tired of waiting for permission slips to come back, so I called some parents today! It's not always easy to get phone numbers and some of the kids don't have phones, but I got in touch with most of them. The principal is going to do "home visits" if I need her to so that we can get the kids in the program! I really love the support I get from the teachers and administration at that school!

Somehow, I really have nothing to say, so that's it for now!!! Have a great night!

My blogging personality...

Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious

You're an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends. People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support. You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone. You have a great eye for design - and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

And it's all true!!! Especially the part about having the best looking blog on the block!! That is thanks to Anissa at Beelicious Blog Design!!

Back to the old drawing board with the diet today! Walter & I both got back on the wagon this morning & have been good low-carb dieters all day. This was after a trip to the Chinese Buffet for lunch yesterday, then dinner with Sean & his girlfriend at Walk-Ons, a restaurant near LSU. We have really tried to cut back on how much we eat out and have been doing good, but this weekend was an exception! Today, I had a low-carb Slim Fast for breakfast and lunch! It's crazy because I just don't get hungry after drinking them and i'm home by 3 for a healthy snack. I came home and had cucumbers and ranch dressing, then it was taco night for dinner. I had 2 low-carb wraps with ground beef, cheese, & sour cream, which were ok, nothing great!! I am determined not to cheat for a week and see the results.

Cameron finished the last of his driver's ed today, so if all goes as planned, we will take him Friday to get his learner's permit. He is in a pretty good mood today, so that is a plus. He even did his hour of homework without complaining, the ate dinner with us without being asked, so all good things, and yes, I told him so.

Sunday morning

How 'bout them Tigers??? They played an awesome game last night and I am so proud of them!! Walter & I stayed went to dinner & ran some errands, and then came home to watch the game. Walter & I are making the most of this "starting the diet over on Monday" thing. We went to Chili's last night on our way to Home Depot and had dinner. I love their triple combo appetizer as a meal! I always get the spinach & artichoke dip, southwest eggrolls, and boneless buffalo wings. Yum!!

And then tonight, Sean says that he wants to go to dinner for his birthday, so I am going to assume that he is really going to call and we will really have dinner with him for his birthday tonight. He also wants to pick up the pinball machine we have in our storage unit, which will be great, because we can finish clearing the storage room out and stop paying for it. When we moved out here, we actually had 2 storage units full of things we didn't have room for in our house (or just didn't want to store in the attic), and we're down to one now, but I'd like to get rid of them altogether.

I did go in the pool today and clean out the leaves that were stuck at the bottom and on the sides of the pool. The pool looks a lot better now and I think it will be clear and pretty before long. It was chilly in the water today, but not all that bad! I didn't stay in longer than necessary though!

I've spent a lot of time cleaning the house this weekend, which is good for me because I hate doing it, but don't want to hire another housekeeper, so I did good! Walter & I also washed my car and it is looking all pretty!! We took it to dinner last night with the top down! It is so much fun to drive!!

Here is a cute picture of our cat, JJ (aka GoGo) on the kitchen window sill. He really cracks me up!! He's so big that he takes up half the window!!

Nothing much else happening here, so that's all I have!! I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Saturday

So, you love my new blog layout too, huh? I am totally in love with it! It was designed by Anissa at Beelicious Blog Designs and this is your lucky day because Anissa is celebrating her 100th post by giving away a free blog design!!! Go there now and enter!!! Really!!

I got my package in the mail yesterday from my swap partner, Marla, at Pak Adventures, and it was like my birthday all over again! I love getting mail and this just made my day! Inside the package were lots and lots of Marla's favorite things!! She sent a great cooler, some wonderful hand lotion, chocolate covered cherries, tons of pens and highlighters, a children's and an adult's music cd, a Cranium family game (I LOVE the Cranium games too!!!), and a Legally Blonde cd! Thank you so much Marla!!! Oh, and I forgot to mention that GoGo LOVED the cat bed too!!!




And if that wasn't enough excitement, the package came in from the contest I won from Christine at Mommy Madness last week!!! I can not wait to show the webkin to Landen!!! He is going to be so excited!! I have already packaged up the "love your planet" bag to mail to my niece, Daphne! I can picture her carrying her & Elmo's toys around in the house while promoting her environment!!! I have asked my brother to send a picture when Daphne uses her bag!! I am keeping the book to use when some of my little friends come over to visit. Thank you so much Christine!!

Walter & I have been really bad dieters and we vow to start over Monday and do better. Atkins is a great diet (for us anyway), but you just can't cheat or it wont work. We both did good for several days, then cheated, then did good for several days, then cheated. We lost 5 lbs. each, but have gained them back, so that isn't going to work! We enjoyed some diet freedom and went out to eat Mexican food last night and it was soooo good! We are going to take Walter's truck to get an oil change later today and hit the Chinese buffet while we're out. That should be the end of our splurging and we will get back on track with our diets.

I had a nice day at work yesterday and the day went by really fast. That's my kind of day!! There was a "behavior bash" at one of my schools yesterday afternoon for the kids with no office referrals to go celebrate their behavior, which meant every class was about 15 minutes earlier than normal to make time for the party at the end of the day. I had to break my neck almost to get to the school for a 7:55 Why Try group with my co-worker. The group is usually at 8:10 which gives us time to go by our office first, then make the 30 minute drive to my school, but we made it in time. I had to miss the 2nd group again yesterday due to a meeting at another school, but my co-worker said it went ok. We are changing that group to Wednesdays because we found out that we are keeping those kids from playing Battle Ball in PE, which is only played on Fridays. My supervisor asked me to attend an IEP meeting with my friend/co-worker, because of a difficult case she has, but we got to the meeting to find out that it had been cancelled, but we were able to take care of some other issues she had at the school. Then we had a meeting in my office with my co-workers, my supervisor, and my boss that went ok. I didn't end up getting to see any of my students, except the ones in my Why Try group, although that does count towards the time I see them in a week.

LSU plays tonight, so we will be cheering them on!! They are playing Mississippi State at Tiger Stadium. Walter may go watch the game at a neighbor's house, but I only 1/2 watch the game and would rather be home doing other things while the game is on. I am not a sports fan at all, and LSU sports are the only sports I will watch.

I have been cleaning the house this morning & trying to get things picked up around here. I've also been trying to get the leaves out of the pool, but have pretty much decided that i'll have to get in it tomorrow to really be able to get it cleaned. It's still nice enough outside to enjoy the pool, so that is probably what i'll do! I also want to wash my car, so it looks like tomorrow will be all about playing in the water!