Alone

My blog readers probably notice that I write blogs in waves. Nothing for weeks then 4 or 5 in a row. I have to be in a writing mood which generally occurs when I am alone for long periods of time and not tired. I think I have adjusted really well to the "empty nest" that is our house with the kids all away. Scott and I have been having fun hanging out. Then two weeks ago his soccer season started back up and we go literally all week saying one or two sentences to each other as our paths cross all week. We do have the weekends. Yesterday since I can't go to the gym, I had left work early and got my nap in, so I went with him to soccer practice. But he had neglected to tell me he was going to KC this weekend to see his buddies at the Big 12 tournament. I had planned to go see Leah today but she has a concert I'll go down for Tuesday night so I didn't want to drive twice that close together, AND Scott took the car to KC. At $3.50 a gallon, I don't think I'll drive the truck to Newton. So after experiencing some lonliness this last week, I'm alone for the weekend. So far, so good today. Am actually enjoying myself. But for some strange reason, no one is returning my texts today. Doing whatever you want is overrated.

Food Issues

I finally felt like I got a handle on this food/exercise/cholesterol problem and my weight was slowly sliding back down, when my stupid back started hurting again. I have been to the chiropractor weekly for about three weeks and I finally asked, "What the heck is going on?" I would feel tons better after an adjustment and no pain at work then it hurt during and after work outs. I see tons of people my age and older in my classes--why can't I do it consistently without constant aches and pains? (My elbow tendon-itis is flaring again too, but I did enjoy about two months pain free after my arches healed). The chiropractor said I have a bulging disk. He wants me to lay off exercise altogether for a week. Crap! A week! The thought of further reducing my caloric intake so I can at least maintain and not gain this week causes me anxiety. If that isn't enough to say, "This person has food issues," I don't know what is. So Thursday I at treats at work, Friday lunch was a mexican meal the female teachers made for the guys, then Friday night Scott and I went to Kite's in JC after his soccer practice with the Meadows. Scott ordered trout, rice and veggies. Huh! I ordered a cheeseburger and curly fries and ate every blessed bite. I am doing better today, though. Since I am not a salad fan, I "diet" by eating high fiber, high protein, healthy stick to your ribs food. I got up this morning and drank my coffee with sugar free creamer. Then when I got hungry, about 9:30, I ate kashi cereal with blueberries and almond milk and had some light mango pineapple juice. After cleaning and grocery shopping, I had a grilled natural peanut butter sandwich (grilled with butter flavor Pam) on multi grain 45 calorie bread, pretzel chips, skim milk and one dark chocolate almond dove candy. It is now 4:30 and I am drinking a sugar free, soy latte. I also ate a 100 calorie pack of dark chocolate covered soy nuts. I really want chipotle for dinner so I may grab one to take home with me after I finish up here. The bowl I get is 660 calories so that means that is all I should eat today. Except maybe some fruit. I can do this! Maybe I'll ice my back and then take the doggies for a walk later, too.

Fake Patty's Day

So I decided it was a beautiful day and I should walk to aggieville to see what is going on and have a cup of coffee. I am currently safely inside the coffeeshop and it is quiet and calm in here. Out on the streets, however, are swarms of young, drunk people dressed in green. They are celebrating what Manhattanites call "Fake Patty's Day", a celebration held today so that the KSU students can have their pre-spring break drunken frenzy. The local businesses love it, the local police and prevention folks hate it. On the way walking down here, I witnessed two, not one, groups of guys peeing between buildings. I wouldn't have looked at one but he spoke to me and I turned in time to look right at his rather large penis peeing. "I'm sorry," he said, and he continued to pee. I kept walking. Next was three young ladies in a heated argument and they were spewing F-bombs rapidly. I kept walking. As I got closer to the coffee shop, I passed few people who could walk a straight line. An alley was quite full of people and there was a police car with lights flashing. I got inside quickly. The kids in here seem quite sober, thankfully, even the ones coming in for refuge from the party outside. It is a gorgeous day for it, though, sunny and warm enough. Warm enough to sit outside in the sun, if one were feeling brave.

A quiet weekend and Adelle

Not feeling good. Fighting something off but winning! Yesterday I spent 5 hours working on the kids' taxes and fafsas' in the cold basement. Today I rested all day but decided to take Adelle out for a quick ice cream. She was apparently quite pleased as she came bounding out of the house, down the stairs and into the car. She chatted on to me about her favorite show, Around the Horn (apparently she has no one else to talk to about the show because they don't know what she's talking about). She said Jackie Mac kicked butt and Jay Mariotti kept getting docked points for saying things that weren't NBA related. Cracks me up. Adelle told me she has track try outs tomorrow after school. She said she plans to make varsity and go on to the olympics. She asked me how my friend, Jess, is and was delighted when I asked how her friend, Darby, is. Adelle downed two large ice cream cups in the time it took me to eat a mini blizzard then she was ready to go home. Just before I dropped her off I said we should go do something fun next weekend. She suggested swimming. I said no, too cold for that so she said, "We should fly to Boston!" So I told her to go on in the house and tell her mom we'd be flying to Boston next weekend. Ha Ha.

TGIS--Thank God its Saturday

Whew! A cruise is an awesome thing but the adjustment back to real life can smack you in the face! Last weekend was a whirlwind with unpacking, laundry, grocery, squeeze in Adelle and trying to rest an recover. The boat still felt like it was rocking until about Tuesday. I had to go in to work early Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and had meetings late Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. Finally got a nap on Thursday and then again yesterday after work. Also was working out at the gym extra hard and I did knock back off the two pounds from the cruise! But I still want to lose. Got my cholesterol drawn yesterday so that should be interesting. The adjustment back to work was ok but there were some stressful situations with the TLC kids bad behavior, some girls bringing alcohol to school and passing it around in the cafeteria, and a domestic violence situation in a family I work closely with. But yesterday got my nap, my snack, a good hard workout, chipotle and some good Scott time then I slept 11 hours last night! This morning I'm getting ahead on cleaning and will go get Adelle for awhile and take her on some fun errands--best buy to get my computer a free check up, pet store for dog food, Christian bookstore for some new music, and hobby lobby to get some stuff to scrapbook for the cruise. Thank You, Lord for the weekend!

Cruise

Cruise Day 1. Yesterday we got into Miami about 5:30. We put our things in our room at the Holiday Inn downtown and walked across the street to Bayside, a shopping and dining area. The weather was perfect—I wore a no sleeve shirt. There was live music and excitement since it was Super Bowl Sunday. We walked along some shops and bars to the Hard Rock Café. It was super loud playing the Super Bowl on all the tv’s so we ate our burgers quickly. We walked some more and listened to the music some, I think it was reggae or calypso. There were some interesting characters to watch—a guy we called Moses dressed in a tuxedo with a cape and a long walking stick who had a full beard and long hair. There was a lady in spandex from head to toe with high heels and lots of cleavage who had the strangest shaped butt. There was another lady in regularish clothes but she had a very manly face and long weave blonde braided hair that went all the way down to her feet. We walked back to our rooms to finish watching the Super Bowl. I read the book I started in the airport and on the plane, Brava Valentine. It was a 4. We had a direct flight and it made all the difference.
This morning we got up around 8 and got ready and ate the breakfast buffet at the hotel. I enjoyed it. I had a little bit of eggs, two slices of bacon, a bran muffin, some pineapple and special K cereal. We got picked up by our town car and waited in all the lines for the boat and met the guitar player for casting crowns in line. We also looked in the guide and saw that Kirby’s band, Cloverton, is here as the worship band! What are the chances! (Kirby played drums in Late Night Assignment and the New Hope youth group band with Joel). We had lunch (roast beef, noodles, mashed potatoes, chicken) in the windjammer café then went up to our rooms to wait for our luggage. I read on the balcony. Perfect weather! After the luggage came, we did the safety drill and unpacked then I threw on my swimsuit and went to the pool. I treaded water for half an hour and had the best “seat” in the house for a warm up band. Who can say they got sun, exercise and worshipped all at the same time? It was awesome!
Showered and put on a dress and went to dinner in the diningroom where we had prime rib, baked potato, tomato tortilla soup, and blueberry peach cobbler. Good stuff. Soon we will go hear our first concert. I’m lovin this!
Day 2
Last night we went to the concert hall to see Toby Mac and he was amazing. Lots of yelling and dancing and jumping and loudness. I thought mom was going to die. His music is very energetic and fun. We then came up and changed into shorts and went onto the pool deck and heard Sidewalk Prophets. His music was anointed. I didn’t recognize as much of it other than the song I really like that I sent to Leah last year—The Words I Would Say. I saw Kirby and spoke to him and he recognized me and asked about Joel. Then we went back inside to hear Sanctus Real. As we were waiting, we got to hear Matthew West and his wife singing karaoke. Sanctus Real was good—I knew quite a few of their songs. We got to bed at midnight. Of course, mom had already turned in.
This morning I woke up and the room was dark because the curtains were pulled and mom was already up. I looked at the clock and it was 8:45! I showered and dressed and dave and Ronnie came to the door. We went up and met mom and I ate breakfast with her. We put on our suits and took a ferry (loud, cheap) across to Paradise island (atlantis) and sat on the beach. The waves were amazing azure blue and the sand was white. I was mesmerized watching the waves. We laid out a little while on our towel before we needed to head back but we got smart and took a taxi back. We looked for someone to give our return ferry tickets to and didn’t find them then ran into Kirby and his group and gave them to him! We hurried back. Lots of walking for mom and ate a quick lunch in our swimsuits then hurried dow to wait for our ferry to snorkel. Mom was really anxious about it. We went to the same place we’d gone before, or similar but there were fewer fish. I couldn’t get my mask to work and there were too many people around but I did enjoy it. Mom did ok, finally and she really did it! The ride back was a tour of all the stars’ homes on Paradise island.
We got ready for dinner super quickly and dressed formal. I wore my ruffly black spaghetti strap top and long black skirt. Dave wore a suit and Ronnie and mom wore little black dresses. We are filet of beef, mashed potatoes and asparagus followed by chocolate suffle. Very good. Our waiter shared his marital problems and we prayed with him.
Right now I’m laying in our luxurious cabin. This afternoon we had a plate with fancy cheese, nuts, crackers and fruit waiting for us and then tonight when we got back, of course our beds were made and the room all cleaned up but we also had chocolates on the bed and a box of chocolates and a mug from world hope also.
Day Three
Concert last night just with mom (dave and Ronnie were napping) was Francesca Battecelli and Matthew West. Matthew West was really good. I knew a bunch of his songs and each had such a good message. His new cd is about stories from other people that he read while staying in a cabin and wrote songs about. They showed some of the people and one of the families that lost a son was in the audience. Also, he brought a guy and his girlfriend on stage and sang part of a song for them that they consider their song and the guy dropped to his knee and pulled out a ring and totally surprised her! I cried. It was very cool to be part of their special time.
Today we decided to be more leisurely. I got up while mom was still sleeping (and snoring like a freight train). I showered and she woke up. I had breakfast alone ( the usual now—granola cereal, bran muffin, pineapple and coffee—this time a latte from the coffee shop. I went in to the worship and mom found me. It was cloverton and they did a great job! I really worshipped. The speaker was pretty good also. Left from there and went up to the fitness center and got on the sit down bike for 45 minutes. It felt good to sweat. Got back and they were waiting and we got our suits on and went to Coco Cay. Sat in the sun and played in the waves and had lunch all on the crowded side then dave and Ronnie found another side and we walked over there. This side was sunnier and much more private and the water was more shallow—you could walk way out. We layed out in the sun and the water all afternoon—even mom! A long walk back to the ferry and a good shower and now we are resting. We are eating in windjammers tonight and then going to see cloverton again and then casting crowns! I am enjoying the music much more than I thought. It is so awesome to be outdoors—even in the shade.
Day 4
Cloverton was amazing. They did three songs and we sat right I front of their wives. They announced that they have a single coming out and that they have signed with a recording studio. Casting Crowns was good also but I had to go get a Dramamine because we were moving. We went to bed early I slept a bit better with lots of drugs.
This morning we got up and had breakfast, again mom and I. We then got ready and went over to Key West. Right away we rented an electric car for four, basically a golf cart. We drove out to the beaches just to see and drove to some shops and shopped a short time then ate lunch in an outdoor café. I ate a huge burger and I’m not sure why. French fries, too. Then david and I went out to a beach by ourselves and just walked along a sea wall and o a boardwalk while the girls shopped more. We got back to the boat by 3:30 and I went out to the pool deck and took a nap in the sun. No more sun for now. Before we left for key west, we ran into Kirby and showed then our suite since they are staying in a small cabin. It was fun.
This trip has been amazing. I am grateful that I got to go.

God and dogs

I want to love God as much as my dogs love me. I think Professor spent 12 hours on my lap yesterday. He gazed up at me adoringly. He wanted my constant attention. Anywhere I went, he followed me, not wanting to miss a thing. He waited patiently for me. He just hung out in my presence and that was enough. He tries so hard to please me and when he messes up, he begs for forgiveness with his little pleading eyes and then lets it go and moves on. Rex matches his mood to mine no matter what. He watches me and follows me everywhere. He is concerned when I'm upset. He likes to play with me but mostly just hang out with me. He loves me unquestionably and faithfully, consistently. And I forgive them again and again and love them with all my heart.