I'm on detox

A fruit detox that is. I try to be healthy person, I exercise and I try to eat right. I like to try some of the latest diets to see if they work. Not necessarily because I need to but it becomes a challenge for me. I did the Atkins - hated it. But I did lose 10 lbs on it. I've done Weight Watcher (through friends), Slim Fast, etc... So now I am doing the fruit detox. I like it. I like it because you only do it 3 days a week. For someone trying to lose weight you do this 3 days a week for 12 weeks. Then you do it 3day a week for 1 week every month for maintenance. Another reason I like it is because I like fruit. So eatting fruit all day is cool with me. But I have felt better every time that I have done it. Not just weight wise but I lose all my water retention & helps with my other female issues. So there you have it. Due to the fact that I tend to eat pretty poorly on the weekends I do this Mon - Wed, eat ok on Thur & Friday. And cheat all weekend. So I do not lose weight with this, but I do feel better.

Most Depressing Day of the Year

Not says me, but that is what today has been declared! I won't agree to that 100%, after all the year just started. But I will agree that it started out to be a pretty depressing day.

I woke up early and started dreading the day and all of the stresses that I had coming up. So I could not get back to sleep! GREAT! Not only stressed and depressed but tired too. But I managed to get out of bed, make it to my appointment on time, study for an exam, pass my practice exam and get some encouraging words from the Suitor. So I guess it's not so bad after all.

The boys and I did have a good weekend. Saturday they both had a basketball game. Then we went to see Arthur and the Invisibles (really liked it). We ended the night with pizza. Then yesterday we spent the whole day in. I enjoyed it more than the boys. Cody stayed in his PJs all day though. So not so bad for him either!

Journey to Oprah

My journey to Oprah was pretty nerve racking. I was supposed to fly out on Saturday to Chicago. Well with the weather forcast not looking too promising, I headed out on Thursday. No problem getting on the flight. I ended up on a 1:30 flight that left Springfield at 3:30 pm. We flew to Chicago, which at the most takes 1 hour & 15 minutes. After about 1 1/2 hours, I realized that there must be a problem. Sure enough the pilot comes on & announces that we have been circling O'hare due to bad wind & they want us to circle for another 20 minutes but we are out of fuel. So we are diverting to Rockford, IL.

So after landing in Rockford for a "quick fuel up and then off again." We sat on the runway for 1 hour waiting for clearance to leave. The flight from Rockford to O'hare is only 20 minutes. Well once in the air, we circled O'hare still for another 30 minutes. So by 8:00 PM we finally landed.

Thank goodness for me because bad weather came after that. The flight that I left on was the last flight to leave Springfield until Monday morning! Holly made it Tuesday night with little problems.

Once to Chicago the Oprah show called me 2 times. Once to tell me that taping time had changed. We got the 2nd taping of the day (which ended up being the first day taping of the new year) 11-3. Then they called again to tell me that the topic had changed. But we still had tickets.

So due to the relevance of the show topic, we taped yesterday & it airs TODAY!! To make the experience even more amazing, we got really good seats. We are 2nd row center!!! So watch the show today & I will give you more about the experience tomorrow!

OPRAH

I’m going to be an audience member on Oprah!!! There it’s out. I’m so excited. As many of you know I travel to Chicago on a regular basis. Well every time I go, I look to see if there are tickets or this last minute ticket thing that Oprah does. The put topics online for last minute tapings and you write in to be on the show or in the audience. I have written in on several. On Tuesday they had one about working moms. Are you a working mom that wishes you could stay home, or a stay at home mom that wishes you could work, or do you have the best of both worlds and work from home? So I wrote in about working from home. They called me yesterday to say that they had a spot for me in the audience. The taping is next Wednesday. I get to bring a guest, has to be a working mom, so my bff Holly will be joining me. We are both SUPER thrilled. I will post more when I know when the show will be airing!!!

Present pics

Since I have had some questions about my ring. Here is a picture of it.

Also here is a picture of my purse. I do not think that you want to see a picture of the waffle maker or wine set.

Post Christmas Post

I'm not being very organized with my posts these days. So you get what you get.

I spent Christmas Eve at the hospital. Volunteering.

I spent Christmas with the family at mom's house. We had a good time. The boys got a lot of great gifts. I got a lot of great things too. From the family I got mostly money/gift certificates. Which is perfect for me.

From the Suitor I got a Coach purse, ring from Tiffany's, my fav tea, a waffle maker (I asked for) and a wine set. All of which were perfect & exactly what I wanted. The only gift that I asked him for was the waffle maker. More to give permission to give me such a practical gift. The rest he picked out himself. AWESOME!!!!

For New Year's we spent family time at a friend's house. We played games and had a good time. I plan to post a year in review list next. I did not make a New Year's resolution. Since my last year's one was a total bust. Did you make a resolution??

Merry Christmas

Click here for my holiday greeting to you:

I'm an Elf

Wii

So, this post consists of 2 important facts. First of all, I found a Wii. I, like hundreds of other crazy people, have been hunting one of these things down for weeks. I happened to be walking through the electronic department when I saw the lady stocking the Wiis. So not only did I buy one, I bought 2. That is pretty exciting shopping right there!!! I really thought it was a miracle.

2nd, I tried to sell the 2nd Wii on ebay. That was my first selling ebay experience. I have purchased plenty. But this is my first time selling. Well the experience went unfulfilled. I ended up selling the Wii privately before the auction ended. I had 3 private offers. One at a premium. But I ended up selling it to a member of the family. I sold it to my 2nd cousin. When she found out that I had an extra one, she was so excited. And that is why I bought 2. Not to sell at a premium on ebay but so I could share the joy of such a great purchase with someone else close to me. She thought it was a miracle too.

Have you ever sold anything on ebay?

Who's Listening?

I listen to a lot of hip hop. Well a lot of times we listen to our music, listen to the beat and pretty much ignore the words. The other day Mr. T told me he liked this song, and I repeated some of the words to him, his response was, "I don't know I just like the beat." I'm the same way.

But try listening to hip hop with a 5/6 year-old and you will learn quickly what the words are & you will start listening to them more.

Thanks to Brayden and him listening to some of the songs, I know pay attention to the words in a song. Thus not listening to hip hop as much. After being told, "we aren't supposed to have secrets" and then being asked, "what is a dirty little secret", "why would you want a girlfriend that is wrong" and "why is she a murderer?" I'm pretty leary of the music we listen to. Even with the Christmas music. So far, I've gotten "how can there be 12 days of Christmas?" I'm waiting for why was the mommy kissing Santa Clause?

Deck the Halls

This past weekend, we finally put up the tree. We did a bunch of shopping including getting our ornaments for this year.

I also went to a Home Interior Party on Friday night. Home Interior is not typically my style of decor, but I went with a friend. They had a ton of really cute Christmas stuff. So I bought and I bought a lot. Too much. Then they had this center piece, which I liked. The lady said that whoever booked a show for January would win that center piece. So I ended up booking my own party for January & I got this beautiful center piece.

I thought I had it bad...

While I was in the airport waiting for my flight to Chicago this past weekend, I met a lady from Alaska. She came to Springfield for jaw surgery. So she had been here for 6 weeks. That day she had her flight from Springfield cancelled & missed her connection at O’Hare to Chicago. Then she could not get another flight out of Springfield for 3 more days to go to Alaska.

But prior to her coming to Springfield, she said that she had a flood at home and was without power for 9 days. She was not able to be at her house for 9 days, went home for 1 day and then headed for Springfield.

After her surgery, she went fishing, got stuck in mud, fell & hit her face. She had to have her surgery redone. I felt so bad for her. And she was doing this all alone because her husband had to stay home and work.

THEN she tells me that on a separate flight she said that the nose gear of the plane came off. And they were skidding on the nose of the plane down the run way. This made me think of a time in Memphis when this guy called me the jinx of the flight. Well I wanted to pass this title on to this lady in the airport.

The Break / Up

I feel like I’m living Jennifer Aniston shows/movies. The Suitor and I were on “a break”. We were on a break to contemplate our future.
When I think about being on a “break”, I think of Ross & Rachel and what Ross did on their “break”. Luckily this did not turn into a Ross & Rachel break.

Then there is the Break Up. Where the break up snow balls due to two stubborn people not saying how they really feel. In an effort avoid a scene like that, I try to tell how I feel also because I am not one to keep my mouth shut. But there were times that I thought that I should not say how I feel because what difference would it make? And I knew that he was not saying things that he felt. So I had put this in God’s hands. I had decided that I want to be with him and continue our “future” together. But I cannot control what happens between us, no matter how much I want to. Because for some reason the Suitor will not let me control him, how dare he!

But I made another trip to Chicago to see him this past weekend. We talked & had a really good weekend. He said the sweetest things to me & things that I have waited my whole life to hear. He said that he wanted to be with me too. Me and my boys. I could go on, but it is a lot of mushy stuff & like I said we had a really good talk and decided to continue seeing each other.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

These are some of things that I am thankful for and not so thankful for during the past weekend and holiday season. You decide which is which…

1. My family especially my boys
2. My job
3. The family web site
4. My health & the good health of my family
5. The woman that cut in front of me at lunch on Friday
6. The man that cut in front of me & that I had to push off of me
7. The short lines at SDC, when we went on Thursday
8. Happy Feet that I went to see with the boys that helped lift my spirits
9. Saving money on Black Friday by shopping at 4 PM when everything was sold out
10. Losing my voice over the weekend (that is what the family is thankful for)
11. And stressing out over the weekend about my Series 6 exam (to sell securities) that I passed yesterday!

I'm a cheese head

Last weekend I went to WI. My first time to WI. It was The Suitor's birthday. He wanted to go to Lake Geneva, WI and go to an Italian food restaraunt there that he likes. So we did. I wanted to go on a tour of a cheese factory, but I could not find a cheese factory before hand. So I figured that we could stop at the information area and find a cheese factory. When we stopped the lady told us that there was not a factory for over 100 miles and that cheese is made in the morning so all tours take place in the morning. She gave us a map of all the factories & I saw one that looked pretty close. I asked her how far that one was, she replied "90 miles." Then I saw another & asked how far that one was, she replied "60 miles." And never skipped a beat. Oh well, 60 miles was further than we wanted to travel for just our day trip. She was right about the AM tours though.

We did go to a cheese store & tried several samples of cheese. Bought some for gifts & bought some salami too. We had a really good day in WI.

Sweetest Day

Last Saturday was Sweetest Day. To find out more about Sweetest Day, click here http://www.theromantic.com/sweetestday.htm

So anyway, The Suitor informed me that it was Sweetest Day the Thursday before. Which gave me time to get a card, get it in the mail, and he would get it ON Saturday. Well when he found out that evening that I got a card and he did not, he was rushed to try to figure something out. I also informed him that I would be in OKC at MrT's house on Saturday too.

He decided that he could get me a gift & a card and send it overnight for Saturday delivery. As to not let me out do him. He was so upset that he even told me about Sweetest Day. Then he could have gotten me a card & I would have not gotten him anything and then he would have something to hold over me, "Remember when YOU forgot about Sweetest Day?".

Well, Sat no delivery, Monday I was back home so FedEx, missed the Sat delivery portion of the Airbill. The Suitor had it re-routed to my house. But FedEx delivered it to Mr. T on Monday, picked it up and let it sit in there office until Wednesday. Well I was heading back out of town on Friday. So the Suitor called FedEx AGAIN, and had it re-re-routed to HIS house. So a week later, the package ends up full circle back to him and I opened up the semi dead flowers almost a week later at his place.

It was the thought that counted. What a great memory of our first Sweetest Day.

The joys of getting older

The boys & I are in OKC this weekend. We are going for a wedding and to visit some family & friends.

On the trip there, Cody wanted to pump gas, so I let him. Fun for him nice for me. So I will continue to take advantage of his services while he still enjoys doing them.

A Decade

WOW, a lot can happen in 10 years. I went to Tulsa for my 10 year high school reunion last weekend. It was ok. I saw 3 of my really close friends. Saw a lot of people that I had forgotten about and did not see some that I wanted to catch up with, oh well.

It was a little weird for The Suiter, who joined me. But he had a good time all in all. Minus the hotel room problems that we had.

Everyone kept saying how much I looked the same. Well they all looked the same too. Some had put on some weight, but I was amazed how 10 years had not changed most.

So here are 2 of my senior pictures - mind you I had my hair permed a week before pictures and then straightened again 3 weeks later before school started back up. So no one even saw me with permed hair.

Are you or did you go to your high school reunion? Who changed the most? You or someone else?

Back to my roots

2 weekends ago, I was back in Chicago and the Suitor and I went to eat Korean food. He has been wanting to take me for Korean food for a long time. I was not impressed. He said that it was not good Korean food. I just kept thinking no wonder I never missed this stuff.

When I told Mr. T about the experience he asked if I felt at home.

Then later, the Suitor said that he realized that he said 2 negative things about my Korean background, but then he said that he knew more about Korean culture than I do.

How politically incorrect are these people??

The Suitor

Mr. T and I had decided several months ago that if I were to discuss my boyfriend on my blog that I would take a page from Stephanie’s blog & refer to him as The Suitor. But due to the nature of our relationship, I decided not to blog about him. But now it is time. But due to the nature of his business, things will remain pretty vague.

So The Suitor came for a visit for Labor Day weekend. It was a pretty lazy weekend. We did a bunch of family stuff, went on the wooden go carts, played putt-putt, went to see Talladega Nights and of course did the lake thing. We really enjoyed our time together. Met tons of family, including the boys for the first time. It went great.

I almost titled this Guys are Guys. Because no matter what The Suitor is a guy. He is a great guy. I can talk to him about things that I have never been able to talk to anyone else about. He is easy to talk to about anything and everything. He likes to talk/communicate just as much as I do. We have a ton of stuff in common. He is anal about most things and I thought that he was very observant about things. BUT I went to get my hair cut on Friday. He knew I went to get it cut. When I got back, I just raved about how well my hair lady did on my hair. I have been going to her for years. But she did the best job ever on my hair this time. I just was so happy and kept talking about it. And what does The Suitor say? “I guess I’ll sound like a typical guy, but it looks the same to me. No different.”