Confessions from a Fat Girl Part 1

First, some people will be offended by the title of my post. But the truth is the truth. I have always been large. In fact, I think I probably skipped right over the junior section clothing sizes and right into 1x and right on up. So this past August I had two epiphanies about my weight. I won't share those this time: but needless to say they were my wake up calls about this body I am living in.

I had promised myself I would not write this post until I lost 20 pounds. I have been on this odyssey since September. As of 12/28, I have lost 27 pounds. And while we are on the subject of losing weight, I have decided I am not using the phrase "lost x amount of pounds." I would prefer to say, "I have gotten rid of 27 pounds." I think saying you 'lost' something denotes you want to find it again. And I don't want to ever 'find' these pounds again.

27 pounds may not seem like alot in 4 months, but I do believe I am doing this the healthy way. And I have to keep telling myself that I didn't get this size in 4 months, it has taken YEARS! That is probably the most frustrating part of all this............an average woman could lost 27 pounds and people would NOTICE. But when you are this size, the only good thing is feeling great in your clothes again.

Hip hop class has been one element that has jump-started this process. It has been sooooooooo much fun. I knew I wouldn't begin losing weight until I was doing something fun. I will continue to write about weight loss on this blog, because, well, it's my blog. Hopefully this will be an encouragement to me along this journey. I'll share more stories and info. along the way; goals, stories and such. We shall see where 2011 takes this body.

2011

As we approach the New Year we got this on a Christmas card, but I thought it was most appropriate to serve as a guideline for 2011. We wish for you the most healthful and happy New Year:

Mend a quarrel.

Seek out a forgotten friend.

Write a love letter.

Share some treasure.

Give a soft answer.

Encourage youth.

Keep a promise.

Find the time.

Forgive an enemy.

Listen.

Apologize if you were wrong.

Think first of someone else.

Be kind and gentle.

Laugh a little. Laugh a little more.

Express your gratitude.

Gladden the heart of a child.

Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.

Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it still once again.

White Christmas

Because I messed up the dowload, it might be hard to see the above..........but we got between 5 and 6 inches. It started snowing about 10:30 Christmas morning and didn't stop until mid-Sunday morning. It's the first time this part of NC has seen a White Christmas since the 1940's. I am so glad it snowed when we weren't in school. I don't want to miss anymore school because of weather.
Making 'snow angels'

Santa Visited

Yes, I got my child a MJ book. Lots of good pictures!

Here's the toy that is a big deal..........we've been wanting a DS around here. We got up very early after Thanksgiving to get this deal. It was most definitely worth it. Although I think we will be darkening the doorstep of Gamestop now. Nor loves her guitar..........she is so hard to shop for right now. And with a birthday right around the corner too.

Testing

First picture taken on the new camera. I finally had to break down and get a new camera. First, a couple of years ago when Nor was much younger, I left the camera sitting on the table outside and Nor grabbed it and put it in the kiddie pool. From that day it sucked all the power out of batteries. When not in use I had to take the batteries out. But it still took good pictures so I could live with that. Fast forward to this past October and we went to Anderson for homecoming. RCM and AES go to get on the carriage with the kids, I want to take a picture, and there is nothing but a gray screen. No pictures for us from our day in Anderson. UGH!!! But we got home later that night and it was working. Go figure. Then this past Thursday we headed to Columbia for our annual Griffin Christmas. We decided to head to Riverbanks for the lights, about mid-way through the day the camera did the same thing; gray screen. And hasn't worked since. I figured I better break down and get another one since Christmas was one day away.....

Cove Christmas

We headed to the Cove to serve at the 3:30 service. Then we rode the wagon with Nana.
We were "Team Fluff." We handed out marshmallow, sticks, and made sure the fires were going. It was a real joy to watch our children serve other people. They had a good time.

I think the animals were over-fed by the time we got to them. They had already been through 3 services.

Our annual picture in the atrium. I am having a hard time recognizing the woman in black. I think it's the hair which happened totally by accident.

The Green

Last weekend we headed into Charlotte to ice skate. Nor-Nor talked about it all last winter so it was definitely time. I have more picture, but messed up the downloading process from my new camera. We had a good time and then headed for a late lunch to Fuel. It was great pizza......but cold downtown. We were glad to get back to the car. We'll have to go again sometime soon, Nor loved it. Tug was not overly enthused but I still think he had a good time.

Cookie Adventure

You never know what the weather will be like on the weekend of the Statesvegas Christmas parade. This time around I had a plan B. It was cold, rainy, and nasty for the parade this year, so we decided for health's sake that we better not get out there. So we made cookies. I bought pre-packaged frosting with the idea that we would just have fun decorating them.
And we tasted a few as well. Lesson learned: the package on the frosting says let air dry for four hours before packaging. They really mean that. We had an oooey-gooey mess the next morning in the container.

They had a good time and forgot we had ever talked up the parade.

The Billy Graham Library

We headed to the BGL last weekend. It was crazy busy but still wonderful. We hope to go back sometime during the week. We wanted to go tour the house and get a carriage ride, but it was just too busy. We did tour through the barn and Billy Graham's life.........very fascinating.

The tree in the barn.

My camera does not take very good low-light pictures and it's getting about time for a new one, but I just don't want to make that purchase.

Tug's Christmas Doings

This is Tug's first grade class.

Last Friday, Tug's class had a little celebration. They built ginger bread houses, I mean condos. T was able to go over and join in the fun. Above is the masterpiece. I thought it was brilliant to build around a milk carton. They had a good time, although he informed me tonight that he couldn't understand why everyone sitting at his table wanted to be the boss of him. Not sure where to go with that one. On a more sour note: I have to admit I am a little bitter that our Christmas break does not begin after school tomorrow. Apparently we get out of school for rain now. We so could have had a 3 hour delay. So off to school Monday..............

Winter Expedition

The finished product!!!

Apparently Nor-Nor's wish of snow is Nature's command. We experienced our second year of full-blown blizzard for tree hunting. Ok, so blizzard is probably an exaggeration, however I would say by the end of the day there were a good 4 to 6 inches on the ground. In fact, the one tree farm we intended to get to we couldn't. The road was shut down because of how bad the weather was. We headed to this tree farm, had a hard time getting in the parking lot, but finally made it. We had a blast.

Adam skiing with nothing but tennis shoes.

Everyone loves to throw snow-balls.

We started out our day eating a yummy lunch at Cracker Barrel. We got a great table by the fire. I was a little afraid we might not make it back off the mountain at a couple of points, but we all made it safe and sound.

Crackn me up

Happy 90th Great Granny

Great Granny turns 90 tomorrow.......November 30th. We were glad to spend the day celebrating such a huge accomplishment. I am sure Delila's picture of everyone is better, but here are three generations.
Having some fun in Granny and Pawpaw's leaves. It wasn't hard to rack up a huge pile. The kids had a blast.

Great Granny got a little emotional talking about her life and what she is thankful for.

Opening up her gift from Mom. She loved it.

Decking the Halls

Since I did a Christmas tour of our home back in 2008 (you can check it out there) I figured I couldn't do that again. So here's the tree.........a little blurry.
We upgraded this year for Tug and Nor's tree. We had a 3-footer, but decided we needed something a little bigger for 'their' ornaments (aka the unbreakables). They had a good time decorating it.

This has been a long time coming. Some of these pieces have been collected as gifts for other occasions. I am very happy to have this. (I'm missing the wise men.......)

Intervention

I think an intervention is needed for me. About every 2 years or so I think I need a new comforter set. So here it is. Very similar colors to the one I already had, but this was a good deal and I couldn't resist. The next time you hear me talk about a change, stop me.

A Rant

I would probably post this on facebook if I had an account, but since I don't I'll just rant here. New rule for myself: I am not going to check my work email account at home. Inevitably there is either something on there that is irritating or will make me mad as fire. Tonight it was an email from a parent that was rude and uncalled for. In fact, I had no idea what she was talking about. So I sent my response and we shall see.

On top of that, usually I LOVE this time of year. The time of year of good times and cheer. But I am finding myself thinking more often that I wish it was just pass us by quickly and then we can move on with the rest of the year. I am SICK TO DEATH of people's attitudes, bad moods, whatever you want to call. People decide when they'll talk to you. One day you might get a hello, the next day, not so much. It's at work, the highway, in the stores...............Sometimes I think most people would rather just shoot you in the face than to look at you. It's depressing. Generally we just don't seem to care about each other anymore. Here's hoping to some better moods from alot of people.

Really? Nov.9th

How can it already be Nov. 9th, nearly 2 weeks since my last post? The holiday season is upon us. What's up with us?
1. I hate it when T's away. I know, I'm spoiled. But I miss him. He gets to meet Richard Stearns this weekend. I am sorry to miss out on that one. Have a girl's weekend/scrapbooking time planned.
2. We've had a death in the family. Frank the Fish is gone. He lasted about 2 years which I think is pretty good. Nor literally threw a fit when she found out I flushed him down the toilet. What else was I supposed to do with him?
3. So excited about the day off T and I plan for next week. We are going to go to the Christmas show in Charlotte and just spend the day together.
4. I know RCM was shocked and others will be too! I took Monday and Tuesday off of this week. Yesterday I used my mother's day present (massage and pedicure) and then I got my hair cut and colored. It was wonderful. Today I got up, took the kids to school and then did a little shopping. Bought several things for under the tree.
5. Why do crazy things always happen when you're by yourself? We were upstairs watching a movie last night, went to get something out of Nor's nose and it just started gushing blood. I have NEVER seen a bloody nose like that and I was so scared. I checked on her at least 5 times last night. Which is why I am tired and have a headache now.
6. I have the kid's Christmas portrait session set up for next weekend. Someone should be impressed with that because I am.
7. I am glad fall sports are over.......for the most part. Soccer is still in the playoffs. I hope that means November will not be as crazy as October.

I guess that's about it for now............

Scroll on down for several new posts.

Tricks or Treats

I should have saved this picture for last. We took the wagon along thinking that by the time we were on the way home we might have some tired kids. We got to the 1st house and Nor needed a ride. She rode it to three houses and really acted like this was her chariot. It was hilarious.

This picture was taken at Nor's daycare. What a HUGE disappointment. They each had about 8 pieces of candy so then we were wracking our brains about where else to go, afterall we went through all that effort to get dressed up. We headed to Rocky Mount on Perth. It was awesome and so glad we headed that way.