Weigh In Wednesday

Well, this is it. It is my official first day of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. What an eye opener it was. If you want a reality check, just weigh yourself and take your measurements. If you haven't done it in awhile, you might be surprised. I was mortified!! So, while I'm not comfortable posting any of this news for the world to read, I will tell you that I am wearing a tight size 14 pants and xl tops. Nothing to be proud of. Here's my before picture. It was taken at 10:00 p.m. so cut me some slack. I'm hoping that my after picture on May 20 is much better. Now, if I just win one of the Jillian Michaels DVD's today, I'll really be all set to start. Wish me luck!!

I've Joined the Sisterhood!

It is official friends. I have joined the sisterhood and come hell or high water, I am going to be in better shape by the end of May. I'm hoping that with a weigh in every week, I will be accountable to someone besides myself. This should be a good thing. Let me tell you though, this is not going to be easy. They have already tried to kill me with the Wii Fit hula hoop challenge. I thought I was doing good with my little 867. I get on the blog site and there are women with numbers in the 3000's. Holy crap! I am in big trouble.

Here is something fun (I use the term loosely) that is going on right now. If you head over to the Sisterhood and join, you can get in a great giveaway, but you have to move fast. It is only through 3:00 p.m. tomorrow. The actual challenge starts on Monday April 6. The giveaway is for the Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser coach) 30 Day Shred dvd. Check it out at the Sisterhood

I am really excited about doing this. Tomorrow is my first weigh in. I'm not too excited about that. I don't know if I am brave enough to post my actual weight right now. I'll definitely show losses and gains (I sure hope not), but it might take some time before I am ready to have anyone know what I weigh. To be totally honest with you, I don't even know right now. Tomorrow morning will be a surprise for me.

Wish me luck everyone. I think I'm going to need all the support I can get. I need to do this. I am determined to do this!

Another Fun Giveaway

I guess this is just my day to tell you about giveaways. Go check out My Flip Flopz and tell her that Bacardi Mama sent you.

Great Giveaway

I was just doing a little blog surfing and found a great giveaway. Cassie at Southern Domestic Goddess is giving away a Rick Springfield (yes, it's the Jessie's Girl Rick Springfield) cd of lullabies. How fun would that be. Head on over and check it out. I really hope to win this for my grandbabies!

We're Home

We made it home last night after a major traffic jam on I65 near Lowell. Don't you just hate it when you are so close to home and something like that happens. I don't know about you, but as much as I like a good vacation, I also like coming home and I was ready to be there.

The trip was nice. We had great weather. When we weren't hiking, I had sandals on all the time. Unfortunately, I'm not doing that anymore. I've posted some of the pictures from some of our hikes. I won't bore you with a bunch of them because they don't do the scenery justice anyway. That place is just awe inspiring. Our house was so nice. The views from the deck and picture window were beautiful. The sunrise was breathtaking.

The stupidest thing I did was fell off the mountain during one of our hikes. I didn't fall far, thank goodness. It really wasn't my fault, but I'm sure I looked like an idiot. We were coming down the mountain after hiking to a beautiful waterfall. This family was coming up the mountain and the kids were screwing around and hubby moved over to let them through and I moved over because he moved over and I think you can figure out the rest of the story. I scraped up my knee pretty good, but I was a trooper. We went to the store and got the things we needed to clean and bandage my knee and then we headed back out. It really wasn't my day though. On the next hike, (after I was all cleaned up) we encountered a snake (I'll post his picture, he was not small) that I almost stepped on. Like I said, not my day.

That's it for now. I have a mountain of laundry to do, no food in the house and a paycheck that I need to deposit. I also have all of your blogs to catch up on.

You Capture/Late Entry

I happened to get this shot yesterday on a walk at our friend's house. We just got home from vacation, so I couldn't post it till now. But, you have to admit, it's a great reflection shot. Be sure to go check out all the great captures at Beth's

It's Finally Here!

Tomorrow is the big day. We are leaving on vacation and I am so excited. Smokey mountains here we come! We decided to leave tomorrow and get part of the way down instead of leaving at 4:30 a.m. Monday. We have no plan for tomorrow. Just get up, get ready and leave whenever. We'll stop when we feel like stopping, get a hotel and a nice dinner. Monday morning we will pack up, get some breakfast and head out. We can't get in the house until 3:00, so no reason to be in a huge hurry. I'm really looking forward to Tuesday. That is the day we plan to go to Smokey Mountain National Park. The weather is suppose to be awesome that day and hiking is definitely on the agenda. If you've never been there, it is a truly awe inspiring place. On the way home, we are stopping overnight in Fairfield Glade to visit with our friend who lost her husband last month.

This is going to sound stupid, but I am going to miss you guys. Reading your posts and your comments and having you read mine has become an important part of my life. When I started this back in January, I never would have guessed that would happen. This is one of the few times I wish I had a laptop, so I could take you all with me. As much as I will miss all of you, I am going to miss my grandbabies so much more. These girls are the loves and lights of my life. Any of you who are grandmas know exactly what I am talking about.

Take good care of yourselves while I'm away and I'll be back in a week or so with pictures and stories for you.

You Capture/Week Four/Reflection

I admit, right up front, I didn't have a lot of time to work with this weeks assignment. With work, a funeral and going on vacation, my time was limited to say the least. Though kind of lame, this is what I came up with. I hope my daughter remembers to post this for me. Please head over Beth's where I'm sure you will find some great captures.

Team James and Jake

I did something tonight that has made me feel really good. I got on the March of Dimes website and joined Team James and Jake for the March for Babies in April. If anyone feels so inclined, please check out my webpage there http://www.marchforbabies.org/NancyCollins54 I'd love it if any of you would want to help me meet my fundraising goal of $500. Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry is one of the most inspiring people I have the pleasure to know and if I can help her meet her goal for her boys team, then that is what I am going to do.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend. I'm going to try to get the laundry done so I can pack for our trip and leave on Sunday morning.

Welcome to My Blog Party

Hi, I'm Nancy and welcome to my blog party. This is my first blog party! This is all new to me. I've only been blogging since January. So, thanks for stopping in to see me. Fix yourself a cocktail and I'll tell you a little about me......

I am a 54 year old mom, wife, grandma, daughter, sister, friend and blogger. I have been most happily married to my hubby for almost 36 years. We have four daughters. Our oldest is 34, then we have twins who are 25 and our baby is 21. We have three sons-in-law and one more in waiting, plus two perfect grandbabies. Girls, of course!

I work full time at a preschool and love what I do. I can't think of a better job for me. I love to read, take walks and I've discovered that I love photography thanks to You Capture. I was introduced to blogging by one of my favorite preschool mommies and I love it. I am amazed at the wonderful people I have already "met" in the blogosphere. I find that I can't wait to get home from work to see what my new friends are up to.

My hubby and I are going on vacation next week, so I won't be on here much, but I wanted to at least be involved a little bit with the party. I don't like to be left out of things, especially new things.

Thank you to Five Minutes for Mom for hosting this wonderful event.

You Capture/Week 4/Shadows

I had the best idea for a picture at school this afternoon. I called home and my daughter brought me the camera. I told my kids that when we got our work done, they were going to help me with a project. That was my fatal flaw. By the time we got done with our work, the sun was gone. So, I did get one cool shot in the hall and I have the ones I took at the walk on Saturday. Be sure and check out all the other captures at Beth's blog.

Runnin with the Irish

Yesterday was our 5k we did pretty much as a family. My one daughter and her family were on their way to Indy for a memorial service on her husband's side of the family. Youngest daughter's boy friend was otherwise involved, but the rest of us were there. It was fun. It was the first time that my hubby and one son-in-law joined us. One of my best friends was there to. I didn't ask if I could post her picture, so I better not. This is usually our kick off to our summer walking program. Below are the bagpipers who bring tears to my eyes every year.


This is hubby and some of the kids waiting to start the walk. It wasn't nearly as cold as I was expecting it to be. Here we are heading up to the beach. The course had to be changed several times over the week because of flooding. There were some icy patches too.

We made it. Doesn't it look beautiful? I can't wait till it's warm enough to take our grand daughter out to the beach. She loves it out there.

We made it back all in one piece. Unfortunately, the corned beef and cabbage was cleaned out before we got there. Mind you, we were the ones who took it out there for my race coordinator niece. We had to smell it the whole way there (and Back).

This is my oldest daughter, the runner. She placed for her age group and won a Runnin with the Irish glass. Not much of a prize, I know, but it's a fundraiser for a catholic school. The idea is to make money, not spend it. I think they did pretty good. There was over 500 people.

My time wasn't as good as I would have liked, but I gave up my time trying to take shadow pictures for this weeks You Capture. I think I got a few good ones. You'll see on Wednesday.

Well, it's time to get ready for church and then I'm off to Kohl's to get some shoes for hiking next week. I'm getting so excited. Only one more week and I'll be taking some really beautiful pictures of the Smokey mountains and our house nestled in those mountains.

You Capture/Week Three/Texture

First, thank you Beth for the camera strap I won in a previous challenge. I can't wait to get it.

Second, I had a little trouble with this challenge. The way I take pictures, you have to use the zoom to get texture up close and then it got blurry. I fiddled and I fiddled and here's what I came up with. Beth got the picture that I really wanted at the fire station, but I didn't have my own camera. Check hers out. They are great, as usual.

Here are my attempts. There are a few...






This is one of the baskets from my Longaberger collection.




This is one of my favorite blankets.

This is my Waterford vase.


This is the fringe on a couch pillow

Lastly, this is the bark on one of our old maple trees. It's my favorite capture.

Now, I'm off to work and then home to see all of your pictures.

I'm a Winner!

Me, the girl who never wins anything, won the cool camera strap in the You Capture challenge last week. I am so excited. I'm having so much fun with this challenge and then to win this was just icing on the cake. Thanks, Beth!

I've had a great couple days lately. One night we went to my daughter and son-in-law's house for dinner. My oldest granddaughter was the night's entertainment. She'll be three in May and is all personality. Our youngest grand baby slept the entire time we were there. Dinner was yummy too. Another night we were invited to another daughter and son-in-law's for dinner and a fun game of Scene It and another yummy meal. I had lunch out with my hubby and we went shopping today for a new tv. It's been a fun few days.

Saturday, I'm walking a 5k with two of my daughters and hopefully my hubby. We are trying to convince him to join us. It's called Running with the Irish and is a fundraiser for the school that I work at. It's at the Dunes State park, so the scenery is beautiful. Hopefully, we'll have decent weather. The best part is when you finish, you get to eat corned beef and cabbage. I love it and no one else at my house will eat it. If the truth be known, that's the main reason I do the walk.

I'm starting the countdown. Exactly two weeks from today, we will be on our way to our beautiful house in the Smokeys. I can't wait. It will be so nice to get away. On our way home, we are going to stop in Crossville and visit with our friend who lost her husband last month. I'm sure the time will go too fast, but I'm so excited.

Well, I better get ready for bed. I'm trying to get used to the time change like everyone else. have a great week!

Is Spring Finally "Springing"?

This is sedum coming up in the front yard. When I was out taking pictures for this weeks You Capture challenge, I found what I think are some definite signs of spring. What do you think?
This is some of the yard waste that hubby raked up today.

Buds on a bush that I don't recall the name of.
If this wasn't sideways, it would look like crocus buds. I tried to

rotate the picture, but no such luck.

These are buds on my lilac bush. A personal favorite!

So, what do you think? Am I crazy or am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing?

You Capture/Week Two

It's week two of the photo challenge with Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry. This week's challenge was perspective. Sometimes you are lucky enough that things just happen on cue. I've been trying different shots all week, but this one just appeared for me. I got home from work today and this little sign of spring was making his way across the driveway. I ran inside and got the camera. My neighbors now think I am crazy because I was laying in the driveway to get the shot. The things I won't do for Beth! Now, I'm off to look at all the great shots that everyone else took.

Team James and Jake

Head over here, just leave a comment and $1 will be donated to Team James and Jake for every comment that is left. Plus you are entered to win a $50 gift card to anywhere of your choice. You have every reason to go over there and no reason not to. And hurry and do it by 8 tonight (Sunday) because that’s the deadline. m’kay?

In my laziness, I just copied and pasted Beth's post, but it is so worthwhile. Please head over there and do this, please!!!