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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Things That Make Me Smile...


Look what I found in my files.
It's Miss Emily 2 or 3 years ago.

Doesn't she look just like her mother?

But look who has his Pepaw's moves!

Is that enough reason to love both of my boys.

Monday, June 27, 2011

A Boy, a Box, and a String

Before I begin, I feel the need to update all the bloggysphere about the temps out here in the sunny southwest. 

The prediction for today is 107 degrees.  Let me repeat...ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN DEGREES.  And the whole dry heat thing...

IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE.

107 degrees is hot no matter how you slice it.  Of course, I just checked The Weather Channel app on my phone and it said that it may only get up to 103 degrees.

Brrrr...I may need a sweater for this "cold snap".

Enough of my temper tantrum, now to what I really wanted to share with you today.  About nine or eight or seven years ago, I was teaching  a preschool Sunday School class at our church.  The lesson was about how young David would help by bringing food to his brothers.  The craft for this lesson consisted of a string connected to a box which the children were supposed to use to pretend they were David taking supplies to his brothers.  Being the always over prepared teacher that I am, I had leftover  box/string contraptions which were in my living room.

Mr. Jacob found one of the box/string contraptions  and a favorite toy was born.
Who needs fancy toys when you have an imagination?

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Feel the Burn Ladies


I have been on quite the little fitness kick lately what with all the running and such. So imagine my delight when, after my four mile jog this morning, I opened Boo Mama blog and found this...





Feel the burn ladies!!!

As I was watching this, I realized I could see Teri Garr, Rose Marie, Dionne Warwick, and Shelly Winters heckling from the background! It's an 70's exercise-fest!

And just let me ask you, did you see one drop of sweat?  When I come back from my runs, I resemble a horse that has been rode hard.  I am sweating and not very pretty.  These ladies know how to feel the burn AND look good.  (Maybe there were hair and make-up people right off camera but I want, nay I WILL, believe that they knew how to up their metabolism and look good at the same time.)

You know, perhaps if I had a huge lighted backdrop that said PAMELA behind me when I run, my running would be easier.  If not easier at least more glamorous!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

What Happens in Nicaragua, Stays in Nicaragua

While we were in Nicaragua, Danny and I had two very different jobs.  I ran the eye cliniic and Danny was the leader of our  team.  As team leader his job was to help with the line outside the clinic. 

The line outside the clinic is a delicate thing to manage.  People line up for hours to get in to see the doctors.  After people have stood in line for hours they can get a little testy when the clinic shuts down and they have not gotten inside.  But docs get tired, eyeglasses get used up, and nurses become exhausted.  The line never ends and everyone will not be seen by a doc.  That is just the fact.  Danny's job on Friday was to balance the needs of the medical personnel with the needs of the patients and make everyone happy.  My, my, my.
Picture of a line.


So, Danny was out on the line playing charming American.  He shook the men's hands, kissed the babies, and flirted with the ladies.  One lady in particular became "taken" with my charming husband.  She was eating a flavored ice and Danny apparently was acting like he really wanted one. So the lady stepped out of line and purchased one for him.  One immediate problem is that he can't eat it because of the ice (no Nicaraguan water for the American) so how does not offend this nice lady?
Danny with his gift from his lady friend.

 Answer, he takes it inside the clinic until the lady gets her eyeglasses and leaves.  Then he can dispose of it without eating it.

So what does a wife do?  When this lady comes around for her glasses, I asked her (through a translator) if she was the lady buying MY husband treats.  She laughed and said yes. 

So whenever Danny gets on my nerves from now, I will just tell him to go look up his little Nicaraguan girlfriend. 

Monday, June 20, 2011

Nicaragua...We Will Never Forget You.

For the 3 or 5 or 7 of you that read my blog may or may not have noticed that I have not posted for about a week. Danny and I have spent the last week on a Medical Mission in Nicaragua in conjunction with Olive Branch Ministries.

In the next few weeks I am sure there will be several blog posts about the adventures and misadventures that Danny and I had while there.  We worked, we laughed, and we had our hearts touched in ways that are unimaginable.  But for now, I will just leave you with the reason we have gone to Nicaragua for 5 years.
Danny comforting a crying baby.
Me with a young lady for whom I made glasses.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Enough Already! Everybody Go To Their Rooms!

I was so totally going to ignore all the goings on with our elected officials, but I have reached my breaking point.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! EVERYBODY GO TO THEIR ROOMS!

 When children are misbehaving adults will often send them to their rooms until they start behaving.  Perhaps some our elected officials should just go to their rooms until everyone can act like a grown-up.

 Gentlemen, and I use that term loosely, grow up!  Anthony Weiner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Edwards, and Christopher Lee, just keep your clothes on.

Weiner and Lee.  There are Public Service Announcements all over the television about the dangers of texting and sexting.  We, as adults, are always warning teens about what can happen when you put anything on the internet.  When you send a naked or near naked pictures to someone THE PICTURES WILL BE SEEN BY OTHER PEOPLE.  That's what we tell your average 13 year old with a cell phone. Surely you are more intelligent than the average middle school student. If you send inappropriate pictures by twitter, Facebook, email, or even snail mail, they will be leaked to the press.  Don't do it.

Schwarzenegger and Edwards.  Just don't do that.  Simple.  If she is not your wife, STAY AWAY.

Mothers and fathers of young boys please teach them to be men.  You know, the kind of men that do their job, (whether that job is as an elected official, doctor, lawyer, or Indian chief) and then go home to their family.


You know, I know such a man.  He goes to work, pays the bills, and makes time for his family and church.  Perhaps our some of our elected officials need to come visit MY home and meet a real man and take a few lessons on what being a man really means.

They should meet my husband Danny.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Just Pour That Diet Coke on My Thighs

My ongoing struggle with my weight is well-documented and known by anyone who knows me. I am always on the lookout for anything that will help me control my weight.  ANYTHING!  So I was intrigued when I saw this on the internet...caffeine laced leggings!




Let me say that again...CAFFEINE LACED PANTS!!!

In theory, the caffeine helps mobilize fats using the ordinary friction of daily wear. According to manufacturer's claims I can lose close to 2 inches of my ample derriere in 21 days. I wonder is there is enough friction generated by watching The Real Housewives of Orange County Marathon to give me the slim hips of my youth?  Probably not.  That would probably be too much for even Vicki, Tamra, Alexis, Gretchen, and company.  Actually, Peggy would probably say to use plastic surgery.

Anyway, I digress (again).

These leggings are $69.00 and are currently sold out.

My plan is to buy regular leggings and soak them in Diet Coke (watching the calories).  After they have dried I will slap those bad boys on my lower extremities and watch them (my extremities, not the leggings) shrink.

It could work.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Good Shopper? Yes Ma'm, I Am!

So, have you ever received one of those Kohl's cards that give you $10 off any purchase?

I get them regularly and try to use it efficiently.  In other words, I try to spend as close to $10 as possible to try to spend as little as possible.  It sort of a game I play ith Kohl's.  They aren't aware of the game but we play it every time I get one of those little cards.

Today I took my little $10 off card and made a trip to Kohl's.  I thought I would probably purchase some underwear or socks, you know something really exciting.  But first, I decided to look at the t-shirts.  We are leaving Saturday for our Medical Mission trip to Nicaragua and I like to take some t-shirts for in the evening after all the work is done.

I saw a rack of half price shirts but one shirt hanging with them didn't really look like the others.  In fact, I liked it much more than the others.  I started looking for the price tag and couldn't find one.  I asked a clerk, she really didn't know the price.  She suggested I take it to the register and they would be able to tell me when  I checked out. 

Now I don't know about you but I like to knw the price BEFORE I check out so I walked to the back of the store and asked the Guest Services clerk to find the price.  She clicked on her computer, looked at me, and said, "This is your lucky day.  It is 90% off.  It is $2.40."

"$2.40?" I said.  "Do you have a dozen?"

Alas she had no more of the $2.40 shirts but I did decide to look a little closer at the clearance racks.  I found two more that were $10.60 each which is not to shabby.  If you are keeping score, that's one shirt for $2.40 and two for $10.60.  After my $10 off card, I spent $14.00 for three shirts!

And now for the photos.

First the $10.60 shirts...

Not bad, huh?

Now for the $2.40 shirt.  I tried very hard to take a picture of me wearing the shirt but I apparently lack the photographic skills tdo that, so here is a floor picture of the shirt.
All righty then!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Apple, Pear, or Maybe Frog?

Before you read this particular blog remember that I am not a medical profession.  I am a retired elementary school teacher.  While I have extensive experience applying Band-Aids to boo-boos, I have no experience diagnosing medical conditions.

Much has been made of in the news the last few years about body shape and the medical implications of the particular body shape you happen to be.

There is the pear shape...

According to my exhaustive internet search (I googled it and looked at ONE WEBSITE), women of this shape are more likely to get cellulite and varicose veins. 

There is also the apple shape....

According to the same exhaustive research that I put in for the pear shape lets me know that this shape has more serious medical implications.  Apple shaped ladies are more likely to have fat surrounding their internal organs.  This kind of fat decreases insulin sensitivity, raises blood pressure, and decreases levels of HDL (good) cholesterol.

(Wow, do you feel like you just had a health lesson?)

I always thought of myself as an apple.  You know, I have short arms and skinny legs attached to a rather round body.  But on second thought, I began to think I was more like a T-Rex.  Short arms attached to a large body equals T-Rex.

 See those shorts arms.  It could be me.  Especially with the attitude that this T-Tex seems to possess.

But while walking around the old Champion homestead, I saw a little something that best exemplifies my body shape...



This little wind up best shows my body type.  Round missle, short arms, and long skinny legs. 

It's me!
So if you will excuse me, I'll go sit on a lily pad.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Squash

For the two or four or seven of you out there who actually read my blog (Hi, Mom!), you may have wondered where I've been for the last few days.  Well, it turns out that retiring and packing out 19 years of teacher stuff is just a tad bit labor intensive. So my little blog suffered, but I am now officially retired and have two bedrooms full of teaching materials to go through.

(Caution, major topic change ahead. Warning.)

So, I was perusing my little garden.  (You remember my garden.  It has 5 strawberry plants, 2 squash plants, 2 tomato plants, and a partridge in a pear tree.) And look what I found!

Oh Yeah!  My first squash.  In fact, there are TWO of them.  So I picked them.
I brought them in the kitchen with the intent of frying them up and eating them.  But there is the problem of my cholesterol.  I am a memaw and I have to start thinking about my arteries. Yep, getting old is not fun. But I do love my fried squash.  So I knew I would have to skip the heavy batter and Crisco.

(Next, I'll so be ordering a HoverRound and sitting on the front porch complaining how the young'uns are just getting worse by the day.)
So I sliced that  bad boy.

Slapped a little stone ground, all natural corn meal on them (thinking about my arteries).

Fried them up in heart friendly peanut oil (arteries once again).

And yum yum.

I ate every one.  It was a little slice of heaven. Or squash.

Whichever.