And For This I Am Truly Thankful!

Four years ago today, my daughter married this wonderful man. They didn't want a conventional wedding, so to speak. They were married by a justice of the peace at the hall where they had the reception. The attire was casual. The menu was vegetarian (except for the chicken that I was able to convince them of the morning of the wedding). People were encouraged to go in the bar and check on the Notre Dame game during the reception. It was different from any wedding I had been to before, but it was perfect. It was them, it was special and I loved every minute of it. Fast forward four years. This is them today. They have had their ups and downs like any married couple, but they are happy and healthy and what mother could ask for more than that. They are each others best friend. They have fun together.

As a mother, I couldn't be happier to have this man in my daughter's life. He is a perfect fit in our family. We are blessed that he became a part of all our lives.

And for this, I am truly thankful!

Happy Anniversary!!

I love you both with all my heart!!!

Weigh In/Week 4

It's not been a bad week over here. I'm down one pound. A pound is a pound. I'm loving the new More Workouts with the exception of the squats. They are killing my knees. They are also making my thighs hurt, so that is a good thing.

Globetrotting is going well. I was a little worried when I added up this weeks steps. It was quite a bit lower than last week, but I figured out why. Last week started on Monday so I had extra days in there. I felt much better after that little discovery. This week I logged 99,832 steps for a total of 49.9 miles. I love my pedometer!

I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving filled with family and friends. I'm hoping to be good when it comes to the food and liquor. I promise I'll do my best. The whole family will be here and we'll be taking our annual Christmas card picture. That is always something to remember. Try getting a dozen people to smile and look the same way at the same time when they range in age from 1 to 57. It's quite the adventure.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

Life Was Good Today!

It was a girls day. My six girls and I headed out to the local feed and garden center to meet Benny the Turkey. Because the littlest angel decided to sleep for the trip and had to be carried, I only have a picture of five of the girls and me. I would have liked to get a shot of the six girls. We learned some neat things about turkeys. Did you know that their head turns colors? We saw it go from red to white to blue and back to red again. It was pretty cool.
Somebody had a pretty good time with her aunt to protect her.

This is Benny the Turkey.

This is what the littlest angle did for the outing. Hey, when you're tired, you're tired.

We stopped to see the koi pond.

This one is for you, Mary!

We always have time for a pose or two.

Then we started running and jumping from hay bale to hay bale, so it was time to go.

We said good bye to Benny and off we went.
The littlest angel finally woke up when we got back to grandma's house. She doesn't even know what she missed. Maybe we can go back before the holiday, so she can see too.

So yes, life was good today. The weather was perfect and so was the company.

I love my girls with all my heart. In my book, they are perfect.

Weigh In/Week 3

I'm down a half pound this week. My body just likes to lose in little spurts. People keep telling me that if I lose it slowly, it will stay off. I'm going with that theory. It's just not going to take me to a big loss for the challenge. Worse things could happen, I guess.

Now, the Globetrotting challenge, I am rockin that. Although I may be doing it all wrong after reading other posts. I asked Christy last week if we could wear pedometers and count all our steps and she said yes. So, I've been wearing my Weight Watchers pedometer since before the challenge started. It is great because it converts your steps to miles for you. I've been as high as eight miles and as low as five miles on any given day. Since the start on November 9th, I've walked 126,561 steps for a total of 63.2 miles. Is that awesome or what???

I'm excited to start the EA Sports Active More Workouts on Friday. I got the biggest surprise last week when I received a copy in the mail for free. It was from EA Sports Active for being a community leader for the 5k challenge. I was so happy. Thank you so much for an awesome gift.

That is what is going on over here! Hope you all are having a good week.

Weigh In/ Week 2

Week two and it's not great. I'm up .1 pounds. It's okay though. I can live with that. I thought I would have lost something. I thought I did pretty well this week. Just goes to show how wrong I can be.

I love the new challenge!! I've been wearing a pedometer for the last few weeks. I like the incentive it gives me. I try to get 10,000 steps a day which converts to five miles. If I see that I'm lagging behind, I get up and walk. If I'm at work, I'll walk up and down the hall while I'm waiting for a child in the bathroom. I like to walk on the treadmill while I watch tv at night. This challenge has made me strive to get more than 10,00 steps. It's only day three, but I'm doing pretty good. Well past 10,000 the first two days and a little past as I sit and type this on day three.

If I have anything to say about it, I'll be posting a loss next week. This is going to be my best challenge yet. That is my promise to myself. My birthday falls during this challenge and my present to myself is to do the best I can possibly do. I'm shooting for 15 pounds. If they can lose double digits in a week on Biggest Loser, I should be able to do it in seven weeks. At least that's one womans opinion.

My 5K Day

So, my two daughters, son-in-law and I were on the road with the sunrise. Once we got to Plymouth, we found our team.

After getting our race bags, we made our way to the starting line.

We passed some pretty scenery.

We passed my daughter who was running the 10k. She's my marathon runner.

I ran as much as I could, but I walked more than I ran. Damn injuries!

At one point, we passed this liquor store and I was thinking a cocktail wasn't such a bad idea. You know, maybe a Bacardi and diet!

We finished our race and the kids ran the Fun Run.

We got to eat some awesome chili. That's why I do this race. Excellent food!

Just kidding!!

It was time for the awards ceremony. Believe it or not, I came in first place for my age division. This is a low budget race. It's a fundraiser for the NICU at the hospital where ny niece works. My prize was a plastic pacifier.

This was a first for me. One race, three shirts. I got the first shirt from EA Active. I filled in my blank with "me". I am active for me! The second shirt is the one that came in my race pack. The third is my team shirt. Team Anna and Kamryn. They are my great nieces who both spent some time in the NICU where their mommy (my niece) works. They are happy and healthy six and three years old now. I'm always more than happy to do this race and help raise funds for the hospital. They do amazing work. We were told on Saturday that over the last six years of this race, they have raised $25,000.00 for the NICU. So awesome!

Now, to recap. I started this 5k process with the help of the Sisterhood. They keep pushing me and making me believe that I can do these great things. I wanted so much to run this whole race. Unfortunately, I already had a longstanding ankle/foot injury and then I twisted my knee on a pile of wet leaves. I kept training as best I could and hoped for the best. Now, I have a new goal. I had said I would run the Flurry Scurry next month if things didn't go well here, but I found out Saturday that they no longer do that race. I did find out that there is a Sleigh Bell race, so I'll be training for that. That is my new goal!

Thank you to all the wonderful people at the Sisterhood, especially Christy, Melissa, April and Lisa. You four mean so much to me. You inspire me daily and make me believe in myself. I have lost 13 pounds since I joined you and I plan to keep going. You make me feel like the energizer bunny sometimes.

So, today, I'm clipping on my pedometer for the new challenge and envisioning myself running the entire 5k next month. Wish me good luck and fast healing.

Sandhill Cranes Part 2

We went to see the sandhill cranes fly in yesterday. It was pretty neat, but not as neat as I was expecting. According to a man who was standing next to us, how close the cranes are, how many there are is different each day. As luck would have it, we picked a lighter day. It was still kind of cool.

Here's my husband, daughter and granddaughter making their way down the path to the viewing stands.

Here are some of the first cranes coming in.

The sky was beautiful. There are quite a few cranes on the ground.

The sunset was breathtaking with the cranes against it.
You can see more of the cranes on the ground in this one.

Another one of the beautiful sunset.

We'll go back again. My husband was reading a sign that said there are more cranes in the spring. I think we'll try again then. My granddaughter made a few friends and seemed to have a good time. I think she would have liked it better if the cranes were closer. We kept telling her on the way there that the cranes were as big as her. It was hard for her to see that when they were so far away. Oh well, we tried.

Sandhill Cranes

We are going to see the sandhill cranes come in today at Jasper Pulaski State Park. Everyone says that it is absolutely awesome. There are thousands of them that come in together. I'm really excited. My husband, daughter and granddaughter are going with me. I'll take lots of pictures to share later. This is a video I found on YouTube of it. Hope it doesn't turn out be scary like a Hitchcock movie for my granddaughter. I'll be back tonight with all the info. Did I mention that I was excited?

You Capture/Our Choice

You capture, I capture, we all capture!

This weeks assignment was our choice. I couldn't even think where to start. I take so many pictures in a week, it was really hard to pick. I've become obsessed with the moon, so with the full moon this week, I had a million shots of that. But, when these two little sweeties came to grandma's house on Saturday, I knew what I was going to do.

Snow White stopped by for a visit.

She brought Dopey with her. Check out the ears. She had to be Dopey.

While Snow White was still the perfect princess, Dopey turned into Grumpy.

I'm anxious to see what everyone else did this week.

If you are too, stop by Beth's and check it out.

Happy Capturing!

Shrink-A-Versary Weigh In/Week 1

It's the first weigh in for the new challenge over at the Sisterhood. I'm very happy to say that I lost one pound this week. I'm excited. It's the first time in awhile that I have lost a full pound. I kept hanging in the almost a pound in the last challenge.

I'm really excited for Monday to come. We are starting the new exercise challenge. We are logging our steps. I had started wearing my pedometer again a few weeks ago. Smart move on my part. According to my pedometer instructions, when I put my stride in, it says that 2000 steps equals a mile for me. I've been trying to get at least 10,000 steps a day in. Usually, I get more than that especially with the 5k training. I've been trying to hit the treadmill every night and walk (or run) during a tv show. Last night, I did it during the Biggest Loser.

My 5k is Saturday. If you read my last post, my training has been far from perfect. I have been injury plagued. I was already having trouble with my ankle/foot injury from before and then I twisted my knee on the wet leaves at school. The general concensus of my comments on that post say I should take care of the injuries and walk the 5k and heal to run another day. I can't make myself not run at all if I feel pretty good that day. I'd like to at least walk/run. If that doesn't happen, I'll do the Flurry Scurry 5k in December.

So, that's what is going on here. One pound down, 14 more to go for this challenge. That's my goal anyway. I think if they can lose double digits in a week on the Biggest Loser, I should be able to do it in seven weeks. One more thing, if you haven't joined the Hood yet, you are really missing out on something wonderful. I had so much fun last night chatting with some of my fellow sisters. I think you would love it. Give it a try!

Check back Saturday. I'll have the scoop on my 5k and some pictures to go along with it.

I Never Should Have Said It Outloud!

Ever since I said I was going to run a 5k, the running Gods have been against me. What have I ever done to them? Really, somebody tell me what I have done to offend them.

I have a long standing ankle injury that I doctored myself. I know, dumb move but I did it anyway. I twisted my ankle badly walking one day. Once again, it's that exercise thing. Walking Gods hate me too. Most of the time it is fine, but if I overdo (like trying to run) it swells and hurts. I rest it and it's fine again. I've been dealing okay with it. One of these days I have to go and have it checked out, I guess. I actually tried to call and make an appointment several weeks ago, but the doctors office recording kept saying leave a voicemail and they would call me back. I'm at work guys, you can't call me back.

So.....Friday we got torrential rains here. Inches of rain. What I found out in that rain was that wet leaves are just about as slippery as ice. You guessed it...injury. I was walking a group of kids at school out to their bus and slipped and twisted my knee on a pile of wet leaves on the sidewalk. I didn't fall, thank goodness but twisted my knee. Today is the first day that it feels better. I've walked on the treadmill, but haven't had the nerve to try and run yet. I'm thinking that if it feels like this tomorrow, I'm going to try.

My race is Saturday. I really want to run the whole thing, but I'm afraid that might not be in the cards. I'm 54 years old and these limbs have to last for hopefully many more years. I make myself feel better when I read my friend Mary's blog and see that she has the same affliction as me. Some of us are just fallers and injurers (are those real words?).

So, I'll keep you posted. Hopefully, this will be a week of healing and I'll be running the entire race on Saturday. If not, I can live with walking some or all of the race. My goal is to finish anyway I can, but running is my real goal. We'll see! A few prayers probably wouldn't hurt about now, if you feel so inclined.