Happy Birthday!

Today is my daughter's 32nd birthday! How can that be? I'm only 26! She was born less than an hour and half before her dad's birthday. She was due Feb. 27, and she was born March 11. I was so overdue that everyone around me was nervous. They wanted me to sit and rest. My boss finally told me to go home and not come back until my maternity leave was over.

My dad always celebrated anniversaries of his 39th birthday. When I turned 40, I commented that I was catching up with him. His reply - "You done passed me up!" He was 20 when I was born, and my sister was born a year later.

My mom and dad gave us had an awesome childhood, living in a very small town where everyone knew everyone and their families. Heck, I was probably related to most of the town. My mom grew up in Selma, and my dad, although he was a city boy before marrying my mom, became a part of the community in a very short time. He drove the little Borden truck that delivered milk house to house, so he got to know everyone!

My daughter is 32 with 2 adorable boys. In a way, she's following in my footsteps. I had her when I was 29 and my son when I was 31, both 2 to 3 months before my birthday.

I remember my mom saying that being a grandmother was the best job in the world, and I heartily agree!!!
There was a time when my daughter told me I could spoil the kids, but she's changing her mind. She said it takes too long to undo what an hour or 2 of spoiling does.

I can't disagree - she's an awesome mom. And her husband is an awesome dad. I couldn't be prouder.

My daughter's dad, my ex, celebrates his birthday tomorrow. He'll be the big 65!!! We'll celebrate both birthdays tomorrow.

Lent

A "friend" asked if I would be willing to give up chocolate for Lent with her. After initially freaking out at the thought, I accepted the challenge. I had to clarify - ALL chocolate, or just candy bars? Even though the answer was candy, I've decided to do my best to give up ALL chocolate, including the chocolate flavored smoothies that I have for breakfast. I have enough vanilla to last a couple of weeks, then I'll definitely have to get more.

In addition to giving up something, I plan to read James McPolin's John, about John the Evangelist (who wrote the Gospel). The introduction is long, but it's very interesting. I'm excited about reading this book. I've been a bit confused about John the Evangelist, John the Baptist, and John the Disciple. I've known the Evangelist and Baptist were different Johns, but the Disciple? Is he the Evangelist? I hope to learn the answer.

When I mentioned giving up chocolate to my nutritionist, she said it was a good idea because whenever I want chocolate, I'll remember why, and for whom I gave it up - Jesus. Wow, I never thought of giving up something for Lent as a trigger for remembering Jesus. I always thought it was about suffering during Lent so I'd look forward to Easter and having the suffering end.

Of course, Lent represents the 40 days Jesus was in the garden (desert? Maybe I need to read this again.) before he was crucified, but I always thought of it as the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, when we had to give up something. As a Catholic school student, we were to do it for the sacrifice. I don't ever remember being told that it would be a way to remember Jesus suffering. But then again, there are lots of things I don't remember.

The important point is that I remember now. As a matter of fact, for the past year or so, when I thank Jesus for suffering and dying for me, I cry. Can you imagine having that much love for someone that you'd die for them? I don't know if I could do it. I would put myself between my children and danger, but to die for a stranger - well, I just don't know if I have that much love in me.

I'm pretty shallow. I've known that for about 40 years. I love my children with all my heart and I'd do anything to make them happy, but I didn't like anyone else's kids. I still have a hard time with other people's kids. BUT not my grandkids. They can do or say anything, and I love them more and more.

Where did all that come from?

Anyway, back to the chocolate . . .

I ate the usual amount of chocolate over the weekend. Then Monday, I realized I only had 2 more days left, so I stopped by Walgreen's and bought 8 Cadbury Creme Eggs - 4 regular, 2 caramel, and 2 chocolate. I still had the large Cadbury dark chocolate bar to eat as well.

That night, I got sick because I ate so much chocolate. Plus I got a burger and fries from Burger King! Then yesterday, I paced myself and managed to eat 5 eggs and the rest of a Cadbury bar with only a minimal amount of discomfort.

Needless to say, my stomach will be glad for Lent to begin today. It's been in an uproar since last Saturday when we went to Austin. Do you remember the scene in "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective" when he stands in front of the Men's room door and says "Do NOT go in there!"? Well, that's how it's been for me. My stomach isn't used to all this crap, and it lets me know. I know - TMI . . .

I put the word "friend" in quotes at the beginning because I may not like her in 40 days. We'll see.

Today is the beginning of the season of frozen fish patties being sold everywhere to draw in the patrons who observe Lent. I remember one year when I gave up meat - all meat. I didn't even eat tuna or fish of any kind. I ate lots and lots of cheese. I didn't know about the protein options that I know about now, thanks to Perfect Solutions.

But I think giving up chocolate will be suffering enough - for Jesus.

Too much fun!

A dear friend and I trekked to Austin to visit another dear friend. We were like the 3 Muskateers until we were split up by the move.

On the way to Austin, we talked and talked and talked. We had been friends since 1989, and our lives have been so busy lately that we don't get to visit as often as we used to, so we started catching up from the moment we got together.

We stopped by the Paper Bear in San Marcos because we love the store and couldn't see just passing by. We spent probably 45 minutes at the Paper Bear touching and examining everything. There are some really unique gifts in that store. Every square inch needs to be checked out. And check it out, we did. I managed to spend much more than I meant to, but I got some really great gifts. As we were walking back to the car, my campanion said "too much fun!"

We got back on the highway without incident and headed to Austin. We arrived in no time, chatting away. Dang, did we miss the exit? What exit were we looking for? What was the address? I had been given verbal directions to our friend's house, but we decided to trust my traveling companion's "Never-Lost GPS," confident in our ability to get to our destination.

The GPS told us to take the same exit as our Austinite friend mentioned. BUT the GPS reconsidered and sent us back onto the highway and then the adventure really got interesting. There was so much traffic, and I was merging and listening, and before we knew it, I missed an exit. YIKES! Now what? Her GPS was really nice and didn't miss a beat. She just told us to make a U-turn, which we did, then we ended up on another highway, which didn't feel right.

A couple of highways and wrong turns later, we finally were able to pull into a parking lot to call our waiting friend. Because she couldn't figure out where we were, she told us to trust the GPS, which again took us out of the way. Finally, we arrived! It took us 45 minutes to find her house once we started trusting the GPS. We had been right there! All we had to do was turn left at the intersection the GPS told us to renter the highway. At that point, we were 4.5 miles from our destination. Instead, we arrived 45 minutes later. As we were driving around, confused and lost, laughing and trying to make our way, my companion again said "too much fun!" I think Exxon or Texaco, or one of the gasoline companies has stock in these GPS devices. I'm just saying . . .

Instead of arriving at 12:15 like we originally planned, we showed up at 1:00. The good thing was none of us was stressed out. The friend we were to visit was running late, so she was glad we ran late as well. We were just in a state of shock that this "easy-to-find" house was so difficult to locate.

Once we got together, the fun really began. I don't think there was a moment of silence. At least one of us was sharing stories the whole day. We laughed, and I mean really laughed. It was too much fun.

Our hostess served Basil Broccoli Bisque with sweet potato fries, and cheesey biscuits, with chocolate-chip, beanut butter cupcakes for dessert. Deeelicious!

Somehow Sam Moon was mentioned, and before I knew it, we were in our friend's car, heading to Sam Moon. Guess what? We got lost - sorta. We were talking, and she got distracted. We just had to backtrack a block. Not like when I was driving. We arrived at Sam Moon at 5:30, and we shopped for 1-1/2 hours! By the time we left there, I was starving. I had mentioned craving enchiladas earlier, so we headed to Hecho en Mexico, a cafe in our friend's neighborhood. But, as luck and the never-lost GPS would have it, we did a few circles before we found our way. Again, too much fun!

Dinner was over about 9:45, and we headed back home. This time, we made it without incident. We had a cup of coffee so we would stay awake to make the 1-1/2 hour trip back home, and we left about 10:30.

Again, we talked all the way home, and it seemed like a few minutes later, we were in Schertz!!! You'd think we would have run out of things to say, but not us!

By the end of the day, the 3 of us decided we travel so well together that we just have to take a trip together. We decided on Albuquerque/Santa Fe. I can't wait. There's the Balloon Festival in early October - maybe . . .

Cashews, Chocolate, Cadbury Cream Eggs, Oh My!

After my last blog, I was challenged to give up chocolate for Lent. I'd rather cut off my right arm!

But, the thought intrigued me - Can I go 40+ days without chocolate?

My challenger suggested I could do it for Jesus. So, I have to know - does that mean ALL chocolate or just chocolate candy? I just bought a large jar of Mocha Slim Styles, which I have for breakfast every morning. If I can't have that, I'll have to get a jar of Vanilla.

My nutritionist and I had a talk the end of January about what I should do next. After a year of losing only 15 pounds, and losing the same 5 pounds over and over for the last 9 months of that, something had to change. We decided to let me go on my own for a month. February probably wasn't the best month to wing it, because it was a VERY busy month.

My grandson Tyson Andrew Tyler was born Feb. 3, and I had jury dury Feb. 4. Then, of course, there were the trips to my daughter's house to see the baby and family. I finished an online newsletter for one of my free-lance clients. I took a trip to Phoenix that included lots of food and a couple of glasses of wine. When I returned from Phoenix, I went straight into 2 weeks of overtime at work and producing a print newsletter for another free-lance client. Before I knew it, February was over!!!

When I weighed in this past Thursday - I'd lost 1.6 pounds!!! Yay me!

Yesterday was so busy that I didn't have time for lunch - well, I did have an ice cream cone from Sonic - if you can call that lunch.

At 5:30, I ate the left-over chicken cordon bleu that I took to work for lunch. Then I worked until about 6:45 and headed home.

I craved chocolate. I haven't had any since the weekend, and I had to have it. I stopped at CVS, and they had a sale on goodies. Cashews - buy one, get one free. Cadbury Dark Chocolate bars - buy one, get one free. and I had to have a couple of Cadbury Creme Eggs.

I opened the can of cashews on the way home, and before I knew it, I was dumping the salt from the can into my mouth!!!

I stepped on the scale with dread this morning - I lost 2 pounds!?! Don't do this to me. This sort of gives me permission to eat lightly salted nuts . . .

If you're easily embarrassed, you might not want to read this next part.

A friend and I were shopping one day for a night gown. She said she needed to buy some red panties. "Red panties?" I inquired. "Yes, red panties are power panties. I want them to wear to meetings. That way, my body and spirit knows they're there, and it'll give me more confidence." OK, that sounded like a great idea. But she didn't want any that were french cut, hipster, thong, or any of the newer styles - she wanted briefs. "You mean, you want power granny panties?" I asked.

After we got up off the floor from laughing at ourselves, we each bought a pair of red panties. I thought it such a great idea that I bought 4 or 5 more pairs over the next few months, and before I knew it, I was wearing red panties all the time.

A funny thing happened next. Things changed in my relationships. The man I was dating either changed, or I saw him differently. In a couple of months, we stopped dating, and I was OK with that. Someone I had known for a while who really interested me, finally asked me out. I think he felt the same. We went out a couple of times, and then he disappeared and married someone else. Then there was a long, dry spell. I started thinking about what had changed in my life, and I realized it was the power granny panties!

I mentioned it to my friend, and she thought back and realized things had changed in her relationships as well, so she immediately took action and stopped wearing them. I, on the other hand, didn't get the hint. I continued to wear them another 3 years or so - I happened to love the style of panties I had. Then, about 9 months ago, I stopped wearing them. I got other panties in other colors, and waited.

Nothing changed, so I took another step and threw all the red panties away. Still nothing. OK, I took another step and bought pink panties. Still nothing.

Oh well, so it's not the panties. It must be me. I have to work on me a little more.

So, the journey to 135 continues.