We’ve been making plans for our summer trip to Alaska which involves details, details and more details. We purchased our tickets months ago but now we’re into the nuts and bolts of things. It’s our first trip to Alaska so we decided to go right before the summer season (End of May, early June) before it gets too crazy with tourists. We will be flying into Fairbanks to visit with Bob’s sister Rita and family and also take a 10 hour train ride into Anchorage for a few days.

Last night Bobby was talking to his nephew (Lars, who is 18 years young) and Lars was asking if we had any type of fleece lined parkas. Bobby responded, “I have a long black leather trench coat”. I could tell by the conversation that it struck Lars in a funny way when I heard Bobby say “I can tell ya already that we’re not going to look like we’re from around there”. We need to go shopping as our long heavy coats and hiking don’t blend.

Rita has plans to take us hiking and we’ll both need some sort of hiking boots. So we began our search for stores (online last night) in the area that carry camping supplies. Bobby and I both keep laughing as this type thing is new to us. And on top of it we can see those Alaskans laughing with us, no doubt.

OK, so between our outbursts of laughter and getting down to business, we were trying to think for the life of us what the name of that big camping great outdoor store is called. All I could think of was the Bass Pro Shop, but that isn’t the one we’re thinking of. We still couldn’t find it in our search so I went on over to Jennifer’s Blog. I remember her posting waaaaaay last year about John taking the kids to that sort of place. Low and behold I found her blog where she talked about “Gander Mountain” but the ones in TX are too far from us. Hopefully we’ll find what we need before our trip. Oh, and if anyone can think of the name of the “Great Outdoors” store that we’re trying to think of, would you be so kind to refresh our memories? We’re really looking forward to our new adventures in Alaska next month and want to be prepared.

Ash & Jen

My Nieces Made the basket weave cake for Easter Sunday. Mom gave the girls a little help on the basket weave sometime back and must say they are coming right along on their creations.

It’s times like this that I miss family. Mom always had us over for Sunday dinners. She would always make a pot roast, mashed potatoes & gravy with all the extra fixins’. On Easter Sunday, she would always make a ham and yesterday was no exception. They had Dave and Pam’s family over for Easter dinner and we really missed being there with them. Bob’s comment to me yesterday went something like this. “We’ll just have to make a special trip there some weekend.” Now I could really go for that!

Picture taken from out the back of our home

We awoke in the middle of the night to sounds of sleet on the windowpanes. It’s one of those dark cold days and the snow has been gently falling all morning. The ground is to warm for anything to stick but I’m actually kinda enjoying this day. I have a feeling this will be our last bout of cold weather before our spring/summer season shines through.

We had plans to work in the yard this weekend but with this weather, I think we’ll stay in where it’s warm. After my shower this morning, I asked Bobby if he had any plans for us to do errands and whatnot. He didn’t have anything pressing so I jumped into my comfy pj’s and that’s what I intend to wear for the day. It’s going to be one of those comfy cozy days around the house.

I’m feeling back to normal and into our routine. Of course it helps that Bobby’s off today for a nice long weekend and we’ve already had our date to our favorite Mexican restaurant.

The garage is finally clear of the large furniture pieces we wanted to sell. We finally had our last big sale Thursday evening and what a relief to have that clutter out of the way.

My glazing booth will be set up over the weekend and I look forward to my new glazing venture Monday. First things first, I’m going to enjoy this nice long weekend and give thanks for all God has given.

He is Risen and Happy Easter to all!

I feel like a fish out of water when I’m not in my normal routine of things. Pottery has taken a back seat since the furniture was moved into the garage. I haven’t really done any pottery to speak of lately except for the classes I’m taking on Tuesday’s.

I’m really looking forward to this long weekend where I can relax with my dearest as it’s his Friday off week. We’ve got some more shopping planed and Mexican is going to be our treat this weekend.

I still have my slow and steady weight loss going on and refuse to lose site of my goal. My goal is 1% per week as that’s what Weight Waters suggests. I’m not going to WW but I just remember that from the meetings way back when I used to go. I’ve been losing a little bit more than 1% and trying to keep that healthy steady loss. I’m so thankful Bobby and I are in the wagon together, it helps so much.

Home Warranty Issues

We’ve been in contact with the warranty department on our home and they are not wanting to follow the guidelines of the structural engineer’s (the one Bobby hired) report. The warranty department will take care of the steel piers but the engineer also listed soil stabilization to be added underneath the home. In order to add soil stabilization, they need to lift up the carpet in our family room, drill a hole through the foundation and add the stabilization treatment deep into the soil. The warranty department is telling us that the stabilization is not required. What’s so frustrating for Bobby (an engineer) at the moment is, our warranty department has yet to send an engineer to look at our situation. We have several sink holes on the property next to the house and the engineer (Bobby hired) told Bobby that our home was not built to code. All the warranty department wants to do is add piers and continue giving us the warranty on our home. That problem is still up in the air and who knows when it will be resolved. The other drawback is… Bobby wants to add the soil stabilization to bring our home up to code but the warranty department will drop their end of the warranty on our home if we mess with it. What an ordeal!

Bobby’s car was parked at Discount Tire over night due to a flat tire on his way home from work. So Bobby’s using my car for work today.

My pottery class was canceled this afternoon due to the instructor having to take the afternoon off. That’s good for me as I don’t have wheels anyway.

I cancelled my plans with my buddy (Monika) today and will catch up with her another day this week or next.

Kristy’s Easter box is all set to go. I filled her box with all sorts of Easter candy and her favorite crackers and cookies. I added the Easter grass throughout the inside so it would look like an Easter basket when she opens it. I paid for the shipping online last night and also asked for pickup at the front door. Thank goodness as I don’t have wheels today but she’ll definitely get her surprise before the weekend.

So, today’s my day to stay home and get a few things done.

Our weekend started off with an unexpected guest. The phone rang Friday afternoon around 2:30 with my Brother Dan’s voice on the other end. The conversation went something like this.

Dan: Hi Deb, guess where I am?

Deb: (Knowing he was on a business trip, flying from California through Dallas on his way back home) I responded, “Dallas“.

Dan: Ya got any plans tonight?

Deb: No, what’s up?

Dan: My flight got canceled from Dallas to NC due to the rain.

Deb: Can I pick you up; you’re welcome to spend the night here?

Dan: Sounds great.

Picture taken around 5:30 AM Saturday, I’m not bright eyed and bushey tailed yet.

With that, I left the house about 10 min later to pick up my brother for the evening. It was such a wonderful surprise to see him and even better getting a chance to visit the whole evening. We stayed up pretty late visiting and thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

We all set our alarms for 5:00 AM Saturday morning as we needed to get Dan back to the Dallas airport for his early flight Saturday morning.

Needless to say, we didn’t follow through with our yard sale Saturday as we checked in for some much needed rest after we got back home. What a nice surprise and what a nice relaxing and restful weekend around here.

Bobby was able to put free ads on line for all of our furniture and our phone has been ringing off the hook all week. Side note: The beauty of putting things in ads on line is that you can take out the ad as soon as the item sells. We’ve had great success getting rid of stuff and sold all the black leather furniture last night. The bonus is that we were able to collect the full asking price on everything we’ve sold so far!

If we get rained out of the yard sale, I’d say we’ve done really well already. In that case, we’ll haul some stuff off to the auction and the rest to Good Will and be done with it!

Today I’m working in our closet getting organized for summer. The winter clothes move to the back of the closet and the spring/summer things get moved up to the front. Our summer things are already cleaned and the plan is to have everything ironed and in place by the end of the day. The house is pretty much clean but I’ll run the vacuum again to have it all tidied up for the weekend.

I was really sad to see Chris Sligh go, but already knew in my heart that he would be the next to go. Before they even got to his row, Bob and I both had the gut feeling that he would be in the bottom 3. I was really hoping that it would be Phil Stacey’s turn as he just rubs me the wrong way (different strokes for different folks).

Sanjaya, I don’t know what to say about him. All we know is that there are a bunch of AI haters out there voting to keep him in. I feel they should change their voting system by having everyone vote for the worst person. I don’t believe the AI haters could stand a chance with everyone else voting out the worst. Look at how they eliminate in Survivor, they vote by writing down the person’s name that they want to see leave.

Melinda Doolittle is the one who has my vote this year. I look forward to her performance every time and her humble disposition quenches it for me.

When it comes to Blake Lewis, I believe the judges got it right when they told him he was the best male contestant. He is really growing on us over here.

This is such a great season and there are several in this competition who have what it takes to be our next AI.

One day in late December 2005, way out of the blue, I heard from Jennifer O., who invited me to have a look at her site. I thought it was very cool indeed, so I began to start blogging myself.

In the beginning stages, I was not sure it would be something that I would keep up with. I’ve done some journaling in the past. I kept a diary for maybe up to 6 months at time but I have no idea where those diaries are anymore, perhaps in the trash. As the days progressed, long lost friends were finding me and I was discovering them along the way. Even though the miles separate us, I feel connected once again and that’s what it’s about.

Nowadays, blog journaling is first class, enriched with quite a few perks. There’s so many pictures right here to dredge up, and a number of details that I would never dream of putting in a diary. And think of all the paper I’m saving too! And I can’t misplace it either, no matter where I go it will always be right here, and that’s so comforting.

In the future, I’ll consider this my valuable keepsake with so many wonderful memories tucked away. I have to think I’ll enjoy this passage even more in the years to come. I’m so thankful I started this journey and trust I’ll never lose site of the old friendships that have been rekindled once again.

I must say, this weight loss journey has been quite an enjoyable ride. As of this morning I’m down 24 pounds in 12 weeks and have just about reached my half way point. Bobby’s down 29 pounds in 12 weeks and is half way to his goal. I’m pleased with our journey this year and thrilled that Bobby has joined me on this trip to our new us.

We’ve noticed how much better we’re feeling and want to continue on the road to wellness. One thing that we both want out of this journey is to make it life changing. Sure we are human and talk about having things that we are not allowing in our system the moment but those things can wait. Bobby asks me, “Where would you like to be on your journey before you make cookies”. He has a resting point in mind where he would like to stop for some cookies but he also wants to see where I would be comfortable to stop for a treat along the way. I gave him the weight of where I would like to be when I feel safe to stop and he’s just dandy with that. If inquiring minds need to know, it will be a few months down the road for both of us as he nor I are ready to stop and smell the goodies any time soon. I’m so in love with my team player!

We also talk about restaurants and what we miss and how we are going to go about adding things to our menu in moderation once we reach our goal. One thing we have both decided is that we are not going to lose site of where we came from. The other thing we will do is continue to weigh every day and keep ourselves in check. Something I look forward to is BBQ Ribs, and the day will come where I can enjoy them again, in moderation. The good news, we both love our veggies and fruit, we both enjoy eating healthy, and we will keep focused on our passage to healthy living.

We spent a good deal of time outside working in our yard this weekend. We worked on trimming the bushes in the flowerbeds, pulling weeds and getting things all spruced up for spring. We both have a mower so we zipped around here giving the lawn its first cut of the year. Bobby applied fertilizer and weed killer to the lawn while I used the blower on the drive and sidewalks. It was so nice to be outside working in 69 degree weather but oh is my body ever talking to me. It’s relaying aches and pains that have not been around in a while but the exercise was so good. As the summer draws closer, we’ll be ready to hire the lawn service again.

Bobby’s given me an assignment for the next 2 – 3 weeks, or however long it takes. He wants me to pick out window treatments for the family room. Now that we have our colors and everything the way we want in there, we’re both ready for the windows to take on a new look. I can’t wait to get right on it.

Before I get all wrapped up in the window treatment assignment, I want to concentrate on the upcoming yard sale this coming weekend. It’s time to go through our things and weed out so that’s where my focus will be this week.

I know my focus has changed from pottery and my pottery goals have been altered. I had no idea at the time that we would find our new furniture so fast as we had looked a long time for it. Nor did we consider doing a yard sale at the time either, now we have a garage FULL of things and the annual yard sale for the development came at the right time for us so here we are. I will not be entering a piece of pottery for the draw on Wednesday as my glazing has taken backseat for the time being. One of these days I’ll be able to focus full time on pottery but for now, duty calls.

What a wonderful weekend we’re having here at the home front. Bobby and I have been searching for a curio cabinet for my Precious Moments collection for quite some time. Bobby just surprised me with the one I wanted today and it now resides in our dining room. Bobby even has it set to a timer where the light comes on at the crack of dawn and off at midnight.

Bobby has showered me with Precious Moments ever since we started dating and he continues adding to my precious collection. Each piece has a special meaning for us, telling our beautiful story. That’s why it’s so special to me and now the collection has a beautiful display case where they can call home.

The top row: Motorcycle ride was our second date, sharing desert is something we’ve always done, the engagement was on Bobby’s sofa on Christmas morning,

The second row: The wedding and everything that has to do with the bride and groom.

The couple dancing says it all, that’s how we met, country dancing and I love how they are in western attire.

I just love this one with Bobby in his recliner with a puppy, a remote, and a can of soda. We’ve talked about getting a dog but for now we like to think it’s kitty up there with him as that’s what kitty does every night.

We were up bright and early this morning and its Bobby’s Friday off. What’s up with that? Well, Bobby has ‘jury duty’ today. The good thing is that he’s getting it over with and won’t have that to tend to for a very long time.

I’ve been thinking about my pottery goal and how I was supposed to have my things in the galleries by March 22nd. That was yesterday and I’m still not ready. I’ve wanted to get to my glazing, but our garage is filled with all of our old furniture, our old king size bed is all set up in there as we have all this stuff advertised. We had to clear away my glazing station to make room for all that stuff so I may be delayed a little longer.

The development we live in is having their annual yard sale next weekend and we plan to participate in that as well. It’s actually a really big event and the streets become so congested in here so maybe we’ll have some luck getting rid of all this old stuff to provide more room in the garage, we’ll see.

After taking Magic to the vet to have him examined due to the pet food recall we learned that our dear kitty has severe kidney failure. The Vet said it had nothing to do with the food recall and everything to do with his very old age. To explain it in laymen terms the Vet basically told me that kitty has lost in equivalent to one kidney and half of the other and has given kitty 2 weeks to 1 year. I think I posted kitty being 16 years old the other day and I stand corrected, little Magic is 17 years of age.

That was such a huge blow for me as our kitty has seemed to be in the best of health and I basically stood there in shock. After bringing kitty home I called Bobby and relayed to him kitty’s condition. It was really hard for me and Bobby took it really hard too. Dear Magic has been with Bobby the last 17 years and has been such a dear and special pal.

When Bobby came in from work tonight, we just stood there and hugged and cried and found it very difficult to allow the thought of losing kitty in our minds. We have him on special food and that is all we can do for him. Kitty is getting the royal treatment around here with lots more hugs, lots more affection and a whole lotta’ lovin’.