Happy Hour Chatter

Oh my gosh!  I did it up good yesterday.  I now have to let my belt out another notch!  It was all sooooooooo good though. I stayed up on Wednesday until 11:30pm getting the kitchen set up, stuffing made, table set, and everything ready to go so all I had to do on Thursday was get the bird in the oven, turn on the stuffing (crock pot), and finish up with some last minute cooking.   We had 8 people at my house: brother-in-law Bill, his wife Jackie, their daughter Amy and her partner Nick, Mary - Jackie's mother, and Ella, my mother-in-law, and of course me and hubster.  The food was delicious, if I do say so myself.  Most importantly, the gravy did not have lumps!  (That's because I've finally found out that it is less headach to just go by the premade stuff than to keep apologizing for the lumpy gravy!) ~L~ My in-laws are ranchers - so by 3:00pm, everyone was gone.  My first year I cooked Thanksgiving dinner, I was just SURE that...

I remember growing up, my mother would make a comment about a neighbor lady and say something like, "she keeps a good house."   It seems that woman's status in the community was judged by the way she kept her house, cooked, or baked.  You know, the ultimate housewife and homemaker.  I used to think it was so funny, but not so much when mom would have me doing the spring AND fall cleaning.   This wasn't  the usual dust and vacuum.  Nope.   This was the all out get on the hands and knees scrubbing of walls and floors.  And lest not we forget the turning of the mattresses, washing of bed linens, and polishing till I was blue in the face. I try and keep up with the fall and spring cleaning, but in truth, I admit that I get at it only once a year.  That deep down, crevace, actually MOVE the furniture and vacuum, polish and shine and wash everything down.   I feel good that I do it, but chastise myself that I do...

  Now that the weekend is here, I'm definitely showing signs of life!  Funny how that happens.  :-)   This was an unusual week in that I had two Mondays in one week....and we all know how I hate Mondays!   I enjoyed the day off on Wednesday in observation of Veteran's Day, but coming back on Thursday was a killer!    Add to that my yoga nights were on Monday and Wednesday this week instead of Tuesday and Thursday.  Let's just say that I'm a little off kilter!  (Some would say that is normal for me though!) ~L~   I had a great training session with Levi last night.  He once again put me through my paces and had me sweating in no time.  My heart rate went from 112 bpm to 152 bpm in one minute!  Yow!  I felt good though.   I keep reminding myself that everything that I'm doing now to keep me strong and healthy will help me in my later years.  I don'...

....that's me rejoicing that I made it through "hump day" and Friday is looming ever closer. I don't like to wish time away, but I do so love my weekends! (Don't we all!). It's been a whirlwind of a week so far, but I'm loving every minute of it. Monday started out with yours truly attending PPCT (Pressure Point Control Tactics) class for 8 hours. PPCT is a great class for self defense out in the world.....but inside a prison setting it is used to "take down" an uncooperative inmate with nothing but your bare hands. Now, I want to remind you that I'm five foot nothing, I'm in fairly good shape, I'm limber, flexible, and really a good sport. I was looking around the room at my co-workers and thinking..."you want me to do what?" Talk about stepping outside the comfort zone. ~L~ Travis (instructor) was fantastic at explaining things in detail, and very patient with this particular desk jockey. At one point, while performi...