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Thursday, January 18, 2007
here i am, again! last 2 weeks have gone by sooooooo fast!
this is a long blog entry, so sorry. remember, i'm new at this, i'm OLD, & give me a break, okay?
the top secret project was a surprise party for my dear friend, holly, who turned 50 on 1/15. holly's husband, steve, had wanted to have one for her but didn't have time to do the planning. randee & gail to the rescue. steve is a neonatal pulmonary care specialist at children's & is also on the teaching staff at osu, so he's a busy, busy guy. i don't usually (i mean, i never) like to do things in such a short amount of time but holly is special & deserving of our best effort. so, 100 handmade invitations(thanks, ruthie! for coming to my rescue & helping!) & lots of quick planning resulted in a very special evening.
holly & her family went to dinner last friday night & while they were gone, gail, her daughter shayna & i went in & turned holly's dining room & kitchen & great room into a dessert buffet attended by 50 ladies. i got there first & gail had said the key was hidden in the lantern on the back porch. i found the lantern, but no key. i looked around & around (in the rain!) but to no avail. finally, 1/2 hour later, gail & shayna got there. gail said "here it is, just where i said, in the lantern" & proceeded to remove the key from the back light fixture attached to the house. she's from virginia & boston & that's what she calls the outdoor light, i guess. that was at 7 pm & they were due home by 8:45. we had to work really fast. the fact that we were doing this at holly's own house made it so much fun. when she walked in, gail, sarah & i were standing in the kitchen & said we were there to serve them dessert. (that only surprised her a little since the four of us are very close & we comprise the servant's team for community bible study, the inter-denominational bible study that is our life's work at the moment.) then, everyone yelled surprise & as you can see by the photo below she was shocked! it was a major outpouring of love for her.
holly is the teaching director for the community bible study columbus northeast day class & 96 women & 40 children call her blessed! if she was turning 50 & 1 week next week (which she is!) & the right thing to do would be throw her another party, i would!!!!!! but, i'm so glad, no party is required for that ;)
okay, now on to other things -
i've lost 4 1/2 lbs. without being on the treadmill in 2 weeks. when i get the time, i have to either find my good walking shoes (i hope i didn't leave them at lizards thicket) or buy new ones.
my beautiful italian friend, barbara, has offered to help us with planning our trip to italy. she & her husband, tom, have been there many times. yeah! we need their help!
a word of advice! - if you are planning on having your roof replaced - leave town while they are doing it!!!!!!!!!!!! oy vay! my head is killing me! pound, pound, pound all day long. the stipling was even falling off the ceilings (as well as the pictures off the walls!) . weather permitting, they'll start replacing the siding after this.
the plan (again, i'm the only one really enthusiastic about this!) is to sell our 2 houses & buy a newer one. i really, really love this house but would really, really love one with a larger, more open kitchen & entertaining area. having new siding, new roof, & 2 new bathrooms should help to sell this one. i know the first thing we need to do is CLEAN, CLEAR & DE-CLUTTER!
neither one of us are very good at letting things go but GO they must!
it's kind of funny to even think of selling our house with the front yard the mess that it is! i'm confident, however, that shelly will, as usual, do a fantastic job of transforming, once again, an ugly duckling of a front yard into a beautiful lawn, as he has the rest of the yard! shelly may have fooled some people into thinking he's all about "BUDS & WHOPPERS" but i know he's so much more. in fact, he's all that & a bag of chips! (when i was working as a nurse at st. angela's nursing home, that was one of the expressions i heard frequently. that was over 10 years ago, but it stuck with me as one of the craziest but most meaningful expressions the nursing assistants ever expressed. however, the MOST meaningful one was expressed by a gal very angry with me when i told her she couldn't leave her soft drink cup in a resident's room. i would share it with you, but it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. okay, i'll share it with you. she said "don't you be kinging me!" what did she mean? if you have any idea, please let me know. but back to "all that & a bag of chips" - shelly is that!)
what else do i have to share? henry is totally obsessed with the wiggles. he calls them "choo-choo chugga chugga" if there is a sound, he can make it. he's the absolute king of sounds.
& has no interest in words or names. i, personally, think it's a sign of genius!
and now, it is time to close this ridiculously long entry. i hope i get better at this blog stuff.
love,
miranda
this is a long blog entry, so sorry. remember, i'm new at this, i'm OLD, & give me a break, okay?
the top secret project was a surprise party for my dear friend, holly, who turned 50 on 1/15. holly's husband, steve, had wanted to have one for her but didn't have time to do the planning. randee & gail to the rescue. steve is a neonatal pulmonary care specialist at children's & is also on the teaching staff at osu, so he's a busy, busy guy. i don't usually (i mean, i never) like to do things in such a short amount of time but holly is special & deserving of our best effort. so, 100 handmade invitations(thanks, ruthie! for coming to my rescue & helping!) & lots of quick planning resulted in a very special evening.
holly & her family went to dinner last friday night & while they were gone, gail, her daughter shayna & i went in & turned holly's dining room & kitchen & great room into a dessert buffet attended by 50 ladies. i got there first & gail had said the key was hidden in the lantern on the back porch. i found the lantern, but no key. i looked around & around (in the rain!) but to no avail. finally, 1/2 hour later, gail & shayna got there. gail said "here it is, just where i said, in the lantern" & proceeded to remove the key from the back light fixture attached to the house. she's from virginia & boston & that's what she calls the outdoor light, i guess. that was at 7 pm & they were due home by 8:45. we had to work really fast. the fact that we were doing this at holly's own house made it so much fun. when she walked in, gail, sarah & i were standing in the kitchen & said we were there to serve them dessert. (that only surprised her a little since the four of us are very close & we comprise the servant's team for community bible study, the inter-denominational bible study that is our life's work at the moment.) then, everyone yelled surprise & as you can see by the photo below she was shocked! it was a major outpouring of love for her.
holly is the teaching director for the community bible study columbus northeast day class & 96 women & 40 children call her blessed! if she was turning 50 & 1 week next week (which she is!) & the right thing to do would be throw her another party, i would!!!!!! but, i'm so glad, no party is required for that ;)
okay, now on to other things -
i've lost 4 1/2 lbs. without being on the treadmill in 2 weeks. when i get the time, i have to either find my good walking shoes (i hope i didn't leave them at lizards thicket) or buy new ones.
my beautiful italian friend, barbara, has offered to help us with planning our trip to italy. she & her husband, tom, have been there many times. yeah! we need their help!
a word of advice! - if you are planning on having your roof replaced - leave town while they are doing it!!!!!!!!!!!! oy vay! my head is killing me! pound, pound, pound all day long. the stipling was even falling off the ceilings (as well as the pictures off the walls!) . weather permitting, they'll start replacing the siding after this.
the plan (again, i'm the only one really enthusiastic about this!) is to sell our 2 houses & buy a newer one. i really, really love this house but would really, really love one with a larger, more open kitchen & entertaining area. having new siding, new roof, & 2 new bathrooms should help to sell this one. i know the first thing we need to do is CLEAN, CLEAR & DE-CLUTTER!
neither one of us are very good at letting things go but GO they must!
it's kind of funny to even think of selling our house with the front yard the mess that it is! i'm confident, however, that shelly will, as usual, do a fantastic job of transforming, once again, an ugly duckling of a front yard into a beautiful lawn, as he has the rest of the yard! shelly may have fooled some people into thinking he's all about "BUDS & WHOPPERS" but i know he's so much more. in fact, he's all that & a bag of chips! (when i was working as a nurse at st. angela's nursing home, that was one of the expressions i heard frequently. that was over 10 years ago, but it stuck with me as one of the craziest but most meaningful expressions the nursing assistants ever expressed. however, the MOST meaningful one was expressed by a gal very angry with me when i told her she couldn't leave her soft drink cup in a resident's room. i would share it with you, but it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. okay, i'll share it with you. she said "don't you be kinging me!" what did she mean? if you have any idea, please let me know. but back to "all that & a bag of chips" - shelly is that!)
what else do i have to share? henry is totally obsessed with the wiggles. he calls them "choo-choo chugga chugga" if there is a sound, he can make it. he's the absolute king of sounds.
& has no interest in words or names. i, personally, think it's a sign of genius!
and now, it is time to close this ridiculously long entry. i hope i get better at this blog stuff.
love,
miranda
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Friday, January 5, 2007
life is good! i am dog tired, my neck is killing me & i'm very hungry. i've been involved in a top secret project since wednesday morning at 9 am. i can't talk about it until after next friday, but my creative juices have been put to the test. this is a multi-faceted project. the first phase is 75% complete. oh, by the way, it has absolutely nothing to do with dieting or walking. in fact, it's what i can blame for not walking on the treadmill since tuesday. & i've eaten very little in the last 3 days. but this project is for a very good cause so i think it's worth it. and the reward for today is pizza. donato's. sausage with pep on half. arriving soon via my own personal cafe courier! who, has been working on his own project ("The Pecan Project"). & people wonder how we fill our days since we are not gainfully employed. we are up early & on the go all day long. sundays, tuesdays & thursday we're up at 5:30 a.m.. oooooh! the pizza's here. more later.....
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
went to aaa today to see what they have to offer in the way of info & trips to italy.
really, really, really wanted to walk in & have someone start telling us that they had just the right trip for us, that everyone that goes on it absolutely loved it & it's available for the timeframe we're talking about. ha, ha. the gal we talked to was very nice & says she books a lot of trips to italy but she's never been there. i think we want to be on a tour for most of the trip, one that has the fewest number of people so that we don't feel like we're in a herd of cattle, & then we want to do our own thing for a few days, also. we (mostly me) want to spend at least half the time in tuscany, then one quarter of the time in rome, then also a day in venice, a day in pisa. so, anyway, today was at least the first step toward planning the trip. other than practicing our italian. shelly says he's leaving that up to me, we could be in big trouble if we do that. though i'm getting really good at sounding like that cute little italian cook on the food channel. i got 2 of her cookbooks for christmas, too bad they didn't come with pronunciation charts. & too bad i can't even remember her name, i know her last name is delaurentis. oh, her first name is giada, which is pronounced jaada ? whoops, i'm doing the randee ramble, sorry about that.
did a mile in 23 today, intended to do 1.5 but my right instep was killing me. maybe i'm not putting my right foot down properly or i'm wearing the wrong shoe.
as usual, life is goood! bible study starts again tomorrow after a 2 week christmas break. we'll be studying hebrews for the next 18 weeks, after doing 12 weeks in galatians.
looking forward to seeing what God has planned for us in the days ahead.
really, really, really wanted to walk in & have someone start telling us that they had just the right trip for us, that everyone that goes on it absolutely loved it & it's available for the timeframe we're talking about. ha, ha. the gal we talked to was very nice & says she books a lot of trips to italy but she's never been there. i think we want to be on a tour for most of the trip, one that has the fewest number of people so that we don't feel like we're in a herd of cattle, & then we want to do our own thing for a few days, also. we (mostly me) want to spend at least half the time in tuscany, then one quarter of the time in rome, then also a day in venice, a day in pisa. so, anyway, today was at least the first step toward planning the trip. other than practicing our italian. shelly says he's leaving that up to me, we could be in big trouble if we do that. though i'm getting really good at sounding like that cute little italian cook on the food channel. i got 2 of her cookbooks for christmas, too bad they didn't come with pronunciation charts. & too bad i can't even remember her name, i know her last name is delaurentis. oh, her first name is giada, which is pronounced jaada ? whoops, i'm doing the randee ramble, sorry about that.
did a mile in 23 today, intended to do 1.5 but my right instep was killing me. maybe i'm not putting my right foot down properly or i'm wearing the wrong shoe.
as usual, life is goood! bible study starts again tomorrow after a 2 week christmas break. we'll be studying hebrews for the next 18 weeks, after doing 12 weeks in galatians.
looking forward to seeing what God has planned for us in the days ahead.
Monday, January 1, 2007
follow the adventures of a suburban grandma & her nutty husband as they work hard to get in shape for their italian vacation!
january 1, 2007
happy new year!
may God bless you & yours with a year full of promise & new beginnings & may you awake each morning thinking ..................................... LIFE IS GOOD!
one of the things that is so good about life is ........... it's full of new beginnings! & i'm so very thankful for that! i think i've had more new beginnings than there are stars in the sky & i'm not talking about the number of new years i've experienced. i'm talking about second chances & opportunities to begin again & also second chances with relationships.
today, i'm going to embrace the opportunity that God so freely gives to all of us to begin again.
i desperately need to lose weight! & to show my commitment to doing something about it, i'm laying it all out here & now for everyone to read about & hopefully you will all encourage me along the way back to physical fitness.
i didn't gain this weight overnight. it's crept on over the last 10 years, but the last five have been the worst & just in the last year i've gained 15 lbs. making my total weight gain for the last ten years a whopping 40 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i've gone from a size 6 to a size 16. even my shoe size has increased!
i could start in with all the excuses as to how & why (menopause & medication have most definitely played a huge (no pun intended) part in this) & i could also beat myself up over it. but the important thing is to have a plan & start with it today & do it one day at a time!
so -
the plan: weight watchers online (which i've belonged to for over 5 years, i think!) & exercise (treadmill, video & maybe, just maybe the cardio kickboxing class they just started at church)
the goal: lose 25 lbs. by 5/15/07 & be able to walk 5 miles uphill with keeling over!
the incentive: a trip to italy late may, early june
complicating factors: severe food allergies, psoriatic arthritis (a form of rheumatoid arthritis), lack of self-control, hectic schedule
things in my favor: God is on my side & so is shelly!
day 1 -( today) 1/1/07
intended to get up at 5:30 to hit the treadmill. we both overslept, then henry showed up & coffee & the newspaper & henry kept me occupied til 10 am. shelly beat me to the treadmill, he did a half mile in 15 then i did a mile in 28 (no big deal). the house is absolutely full of sweets & goodies & cheeses & all kinds of things that are not on the plan but are all the things i crave around the clock. if it's bad for you, i crave it. if it's good for you, i'm allergic to it! i get 21 points a day. i think the hardest thing will be to find a variety of good things to eat & portion control. what a piggie i've become! :O) oink oink
well, i'm off to easton now. z galleries is calling my name. maybe if i'm spending money, i won't be eating. (bad habits die hard - i just asked shelly to drop me off so i wouldn't have to walk!!!!!!!!) guess i better drive & park at lazarus (whoops, macy's) & walk over. why am i going? they have beautiful christmas decorations on sale. they've been on sale since the week before christmas & i didn't buy anything. so now, i'm thinking, if anything is left, i'll buy it, if it's all gone, that's okay, too.
that's all for now.
oh, one more thing - when you think of us, please pray!
with love,
miranda
happy new year!
may God bless you & yours with a year full of promise & new beginnings & may you awake each morning thinking ..................................... LIFE IS GOOD!
one of the things that is so good about life is ........... it's full of new beginnings! & i'm so very thankful for that! i think i've had more new beginnings than there are stars in the sky & i'm not talking about the number of new years i've experienced. i'm talking about second chances & opportunities to begin again & also second chances with relationships.
today, i'm going to embrace the opportunity that God so freely gives to all of us to begin again.
i desperately need to lose weight! & to show my commitment to doing something about it, i'm laying it all out here & now for everyone to read about & hopefully you will all encourage me along the way back to physical fitness.
i didn't gain this weight overnight. it's crept on over the last 10 years, but the last five have been the worst & just in the last year i've gained 15 lbs. making my total weight gain for the last ten years a whopping 40 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i've gone from a size 6 to a size 16. even my shoe size has increased!
i could start in with all the excuses as to how & why (menopause & medication have most definitely played a huge (no pun intended) part in this) & i could also beat myself up over it. but the important thing is to have a plan & start with it today & do it one day at a time!
so -
the plan: weight watchers online (which i've belonged to for over 5 years, i think!) & exercise (treadmill, video & maybe, just maybe the cardio kickboxing class they just started at church)
the goal: lose 25 lbs. by 5/15/07 & be able to walk 5 miles uphill with keeling over!
the incentive: a trip to italy late may, early june
complicating factors: severe food allergies, psoriatic arthritis (a form of rheumatoid arthritis), lack of self-control, hectic schedule
things in my favor: God is on my side & so is shelly!
day 1 -( today) 1/1/07
intended to get up at 5:30 to hit the treadmill. we both overslept, then henry showed up & coffee & the newspaper & henry kept me occupied til 10 am. shelly beat me to the treadmill, he did a half mile in 15 then i did a mile in 28 (no big deal). the house is absolutely full of sweets & goodies & cheeses & all kinds of things that are not on the plan but are all the things i crave around the clock. if it's bad for you, i crave it. if it's good for you, i'm allergic to it! i get 21 points a day. i think the hardest thing will be to find a variety of good things to eat & portion control. what a piggie i've become! :O) oink oink
well, i'm off to easton now. z galleries is calling my name. maybe if i'm spending money, i won't be eating. (bad habits die hard - i just asked shelly to drop me off so i wouldn't have to walk!!!!!!!!) guess i better drive & park at lazarus (whoops, macy's) & walk over. why am i going? they have beautiful christmas decorations on sale. they've been on sale since the week before christmas & i didn't buy anything. so now, i'm thinking, if anything is left, i'll buy it, if it's all gone, that's okay, too.
that's all for now.
oh, one more thing - when you think of us, please pray!
with love,
miranda
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