Hello Blog Peeps! Let me start this post by saying how grateful I am that my Month of Grateful is over. I am truly, honestly, profoundly grateful for the many blessings I have been given, but there is some kind of unnatural pressure to write about it every day. I failed miserably, so I am thrilled to have rolled my calendar to November where there is no daily requirement. I will not be signing up for something like that anytime soon!
So, what's up??? How about a Top Ten Tidbits to fill you in on the goings on around here! These are kind of long so it is really more like Top Ten Short Stories - but here we go!
1. Halloween was fun! Harry did a canned food drive with the Thespian Club at school. It is called "Trick or Treat, So Kids Can Eat." He drove around the neighborhood with two cute girls gathering food for the needy. Not a bad way to spend an evening! At one point during the evening we ran into another car full of Thespian kids and when they found out we were Harry's parents they all immediately started yelling "Roll Tide" at the top of their voice. It was so funny! Yep, that is our boy. Chip got to spend Halloween doing his absolute favorite activity...Trick or Treating with his buddy Pootie and then Ding Dong Ditching several friends in the neighborhood. He dressed as the same dark weird caped guy from last year. He is mostly concerned about his costume being black so he can hide after ding dong ditching people. I have no idea why that is such a thrill for them, but I mean they love it. We came home and he said "Mom, thanks for another awesome Halloween!" Good Times!
2. Harry finished his Cross Country season with a personal best 21.03 race! Way to go Harry! He improved so much this season and I think overcame some of the psychological mumbo jumbo that you have to work through to make your body go faster than you want it to! Super proud of him. Speaking of running and psychological mumbo jumbo...I am joining the Hubs, Harry and some of our other family members to do a Turkey Trot in Alabama on Thanksgiving morning. I haven't been running that much and was worried about whether I could run the whole thing. This morning, Martha and I did just that....ran a 5K without stopping! It was slow and steady (like Harry could almost run two races!) but we talked the entire time and it wasn't really too bad! Feeling better about being able to trot on Thanksgiving morning!
3. Hubby and Harry took a testosterone filled trip to DC last weekend. They flew out Friday after school. Woke up bright and early on Saturday morning and caught a Maryland vs. Georgia Tech football game, then a Celtics vs. Wizards NBA game on Saturday night. Did some historic touring of DC on Sunday morning and then caught a Redskins vs. Jaguars NFL game at noon and flew home late Sunday night. It was a whirlwind trip and they had a fantastic time. Lots of good memories being made! Chip said that next year he was going with them! I must have bored him silly!! No really, we had a pretty great weekend just the two of us!
4. I am putting together craft kits to make the sweetest, most precious little Baby Jesus ornaments for our Lakeside craft this month! Poor Chip was stuck running to four Hobby Lobby's this weekend to find all the necessary parts and pieces with me. He was actually awesomely helpful and made some great suggestions. I was so tickled with how easy the final product was to put together and when I tell you they are cute, I mean they are CCCCUUUUUTTTTTEEEE!!!!! This phone picture does not do them justice!
I also spent some awesome craft time putting together little Thanksgiving wreaths for the staff at Lakeside. I had grapevine, flowers, ribbon and hot glue all over the place. It was very fun and I really tried to pray for each of the staff members as I was putting their wreath together! Good times!
5. Chip had his Veteran's Day performance last night at school. The fifth graders sang four awesome Patriotic songs and our little Chip was belting it out with the best of them. Starting to think about all the "last" elementary school functions we will have this year. Kind of makes me a little melancholy....where has the time gone? After the performance we went out to grab some dinner and on the way we started listing all of Chip's nicknames in his short little life. He has had at least 26 fondly recalled nicknames in 10 years. Thunder, Chip, McDougal, JuJu, Big Papi, Karl, Schmickems, Fresh Lou, Scooter, Dooje, and the list just goes on and on.....we all got a kick out of that walk down memory lane.
6. My sister called me last week and the conversation started with "You will not believe what I have done...." You know that is going to be a good one. Seems, she went to get into her car after work and her key fob wouldn't open the car. She was in a bit of a panic because she had to get home to get Mario to physical therapy. She tried the key and it wouldn't go in the door easily...she was perplexed. She called Mario and said the key fob isn't working and I feel like the key is going to break off in the door if I turn it any harder. He said maybe the battery was dead in the key fob. She called her friend that was still at work and she came down to the parking garage to see if she could help. She brought her key fob so they could maybe switch out the battery and try that. My sister, "The Nice One" is apologizing to her friend for making her come down to the garage as the friend is trying to pry the back off of the key fob. She turns it over in her hand and says "This is a key fob for a Ford. Your car is a Chevy." Turns out "The Nice One" was trying to open her car with Mario's keys. She was laughing so hard telling me the story! Oh my goodness....getting old is going to be so much fun!!!
7. I haven't mentioned my weight loss in a while. Shocking, I know. I have been hovering around 72 pounds, but finally hit a solid 73 pounds down yesterday. Those crazy hours I working and the traveling to Bama was quite a test of my ability to maintain under stress and I did that fairly successfully so that is a big win for me. However, I am super close to reaching my goal, but need to buckle down and get these last few pounds off so I can start a successful maintenance plan in January. Would love to be down 80 pounds by December 31st. I was talking to Mr. Knowledge the this week during our workout session and told him I didn't feel panicked or frustrated cause I knew it would happen eventually and he said "You trust yourself. That is big." It is big and I DO trust myself. I know I have all the tools to get the last seven pounds or so off and I will do it. No doubt in my mind. Not one. I have whispered "I trust myself" so many times over the last few days. It is kind of a profound realization and very empowering.
8. I made a super yummy, high protein, low fat Frittata for Bible Study this week. It was packed with mushrooms, onions, kale and a few tomatoes. No cheese. Cooked on top of the stove for a bit and then finished in the oven. I have never made one before, but it was easy and a recipe that I will making again! Leftovers were easy to pop in the microwave and warm up for a quick meal.
9. What about that Bama game? I couldn't even watch it! I had turned to House Hunters on HGTV cause I kept screaming and hitting the couch and Chip was dozing off and it was scaring him. I texted my sister and asked her to keep me posted via text! When they pulled out the last minute win, my phone lit up! My brother Guk was on my land line, I was calling my Dad on my cell phone, texts going back and forth. I reached my Dad and he was sitting in a quiet room reading a book. He is a hard core fan and couldn't watch it either. He worries about how much his old heart can take!! I told him they had pulled it out. He didn't believe me. Then he started the mad scramble to get his cable box rebooted so he could see the replay! It was an emotional win for the team and I only hope they have enough left to get by Texas A&M. I think this will be the biggest challenge of the season for them. Not sure I can take it, but with Hubby and Harry home they will not want to watch House Hunters instead of the game.
10. Can't wait for Thanksgiving! Bob has already started circulating emails about the menu and games and fun activities. I am talking recipes and sneaking in some exercise with my nieces. I am so looking forward to spending time with the family! Should be awesome as usual!
Hope you are wrapping up your week with a smile on your face! Happy Friday!
