The Challenge, Part 2

Ok. Do you remember that I said something about this?

I thought you might.

This week was not good.

I've been very stressed this week. I've got the important stuff glaring me in the face and it's oppressive. It's like it's looming just on the other side of the sun setting - and it's coming to get me.

I've not eaten everything in sight. That's a comfort.

But I put on 3lbs this week. That would be 288lbs. It's not pretty. Not pretty at all. You may see the other post on this for a pic. Nothing has changed. =(

I didn't get the chance to walk this week. I had no air conditioner in my house (When I got home on Thursday, for example, it was 95+ , according to the thermostat. Did I remember to tell you that the summer before we bought our house, the air conditioning unit mounted on the slab next to the house was clean cut and hauled off, so we have to put a window unit into a window that was not designed for that? And did I mention that we live less than 2 blocks from one of the worst housing developments in our city? Walking outside is not an option.)

Now, I realize while that's not a really great excuse, I've had episodes of passing out when my core temp gets too hot. I really prefer not to do the passing-out thing. It kinda scares C. Especially when he would not be able to get to me. (If the bed of the treadmill is down, you can't open the bedroom door. It lays across the opening.)

So, while I may have failed this past week, I will not fail this next week.

Please continue to have hope.

And just for the record, I said something about deep-fried Twinkies and Snickers, but I haven't touched one. I promise.

Y'all have got to watch this!!!!!

lifehouse everything skit

Yes, the Twinkies...

Dear Gretchin, yes I have seen the show on Food Network that talks about deep-frying Twinkies.

Now, my question for you is have you tried one?

I must say that I've never tried the Twinkies, but I have tried the deep-fried Snickers.

"Oh, dear Lord! Forgive me! Cause I know exactly what I'm about to do!!!"

That must be the prayer prayed right before eating one of those Snickers. Then, you may commence with the drooling slobbering and the ever-popular finger-licking. Yup - it's just like going to visit Colonel Sanders. Finger-lickin' good!

Because you know how they do it??? (I know cause I watched somebody do it right in front of me!!!!! I think I slobbered all over their table. Then I ate one, and it went straight to by muffin-top!)

They put the Snickers bar on an over-sized toothpick. They baptize it in funnel cake batter. They place it into the hot oil to fry. Then, they take it out and sprinkle it with powdered sugar.

Oh, sweet mercy! I can't talk about this anymore. I'm gonna want one!!!!

So, I'm going to starve until lunch (not really - I could live off my muffin-top for a few weeks, I'm sure), and I'll be good. I'm having Lean Cuisine French Bread Pepperoni Pizza.

What are you having??

Have you joined the challenge?????

There's been a challenge issued. It's over here. Do you have the dreaded "Muffin Top"??

I think I've lost my mind...

because I decided to join the challenge...posting my weight and everything.

Dr. Phil says that you can't change what you don't admit (or something like that), and Mom has said for years that confession is good for the soul. Let's see if they're right.

Confession: I have a muffin top.

See:
















AAARRRGGGHHH!!!! I can't believe I put that up here!

That's me in the blue. It's just not real pretty.

(You do understand that the camera just had to be at that angle, don't you??? Yeah, I didn't think so either.)

C says he doesn't care, but I'm thinking that I don't like this pic. I really don't like it at all.

And since Mom asked me to lead the worship music at the Nationals during the WNAC meeting, I've just decided that something has to be done about that muffin top.

I'm a few days late with this post. I was out of town enjoying myself some Corky's.


So today, I weighed in at 285. Down 1 lb from last week when I posted my weight over at Los'.

I'm going to go hide somewhere now...

Preferably with a treadmill...

And the goal would be around 80 lbs to lose.

I think I need a Twinkie. =)

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we have a few winners. I wanted to tell you sooner, but I've been a little SWAMPED at The Office. So, here we go:

I told you that the final list had been trimmed, and it had. C didn't do her monologue and E didn't do her photography, but that's ok.

Now, since the national competition is being held in The Big City (about an hour away), everyone thought there would be lots of entries this year for the state level of the competition. To be honest, there weren't as many as we thought there would be. There were lots of different categories entered, but not many entries into the same categories. Lots of people doing lots of different stuff.

The competition was on Saturday, so we went to The Big City on Friday night. We walked over to the big mall and ate a very nice dinner (for most of them, it was a really big treat). Then, we had to waddle back to the hotel. We thought it would be "lights out" shortly - it's going to be really early when the alarm goes off, but some managed to stay up until 2 - knowing full well that the alarm was going to go off at 5:30. YUCK!!!!!!!!!

Oh, who was it that stayed up until 2??? It was me and E. She was staying in my room. (The opportunities to talk with your kids come very few and far between. I'll take mine when I can get them. It doesn't matter what time it is.)

Saturday morning was met with frustration (and pain) as we tried to assemble the puppet stage (and a piece of PVC pipe was dropped on my bare foot - now, I have some really pretty bruises). We finally received some divine wisdom and got it finished. (you could see the guys getting their praise on - right out in public and everything!!!!) From there, it was on to the actual competition.

The day felt like it was drrrrrrraaaaggggggggggggggggggggggggging something fierce. Wonder why that was????

(When the awards ceremony rolled around, I was ready to nap while rolling around on the floor. I believe someone loaned me some toothpicks to prop open my eyelids. It was a fantastic day for sleeping and pain.)

Where was I?? Oh, yes. Awards. E won an award for her solo, SG won an award for her sax solo, the sign team won an award, and so did the puppets. I know you're thinking that I've left some stuff out, but I'm not.

Not everything that was sent to state competition gets judged on the state level. There are some things that go straight to national level. The 2 pieces of poetry and the bible entry are good examples of that. So the only things in limbo were the 4 things that were judged at state.

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! I AM PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT ALL SEVEN ENTRIES ARE GOING TO NATIONALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now do you see why I was really wanting to tell you?????

I should have pics some time this week. I'm also getting some emailed to me from a photographer that was there taking pics for the state FWB newsletter.

It was a great day. I'm so happy that the kids get to go to nationals.

Look out, Big City, we're coming back in July!

It's been a sweet forever since we've talked!!!

Lots of stuff has happened.

The Office has been crazy. Don't have the interweb at home, so we gotta do the blawg thing at The Office.

Anywho, with the kiddos, we just thought we had a final list. And just like teenage girls who change boyfriends more often than I change underwear, they've changed their minds about a few of the things.

C's not doing her monologue. She took it with her when she went on the spring break trip with the SVHS band, started working on it on the way down but got motion-sick and put it away. She said they had NO down time the whole trip, and that she would've worked on it on the way home, but they left FL at about 10:30pm to come home. 13-ish hours later, they were home - and she went to bed. She did say that she'd do it for the Ladies Fellowship Brunch the day before Mother's Day. That makes me happy.

SG may or may not be doing her sax solo. We did most everything else last night for the adults in the sanctuary, and this wasn't something that got done. She's really scared. The "solo" thing isn't for everybody. Her mom can't understand why she can play at school by herself but can't at church. I'm praying that she can "get over the scared" and play on Saturday. I also talked with her mom last night after church - she said she'd find out if she's going to really play or if she thinks she might freeze again. We'll see, but I don't want her to "get burned" by this experience. With some, it's like it leaves a "bad taste" - and they never want to touch any of it again.

M (Mr. Zyor) isn't going to be able to go this weekend, but E (one of the brothers) wrote some poetry. That's going to be a good substitution.

E (the girl) may or may not be entering her photography. I'll be calling her later this evening to check. It needs to be in the binder by tomorrow. And right now, there's no time to be able to print any pics off - unless she gives me pics tonight, and I just don't see that happening. We'll see...

As I mentioned somewhere before, the kiddos did all their stuff for the adults last night at church. They did the whole service. I was impressed that they'd be given the whole service, but sometimes Pastor surprises me - just like I surprised him last night.

I read the 2 poetry entries (cause they were too chicken to read them for themselves - CHICKEN!!!! It was really rather awful the amount of chicken that was oozing from their direction.). E did her solo. It was beautiful. I'm not sure how many people had heard the second song in her medley, but there was a wonderful reaction. E, M, & C did their sign language to "I Can Only Imagine". It tore the place up. You could feel the adults gettin' their worship on. Oh yes ma'am, you could - and it was spine-tingling. The whole group got in the puppet stage to do their skit and song.

On a side note, Pastor and Deacons 1, 2, & 3 didn't know that I was making puppets to look like them. So when the puppets came up for the song, the whole place erupted in laughter.

Then, the whole group went over to the piano and sang "How Great is Our God", "Word of God, Speak", and "Jesus Will Still Be There", and the adults were back to the tears. It was a wonderful evening.

I'm so very proud of these kids. They've done a total 180 in the last 6 months. They've also decided to re-name themselves. They are no longer the Prince of Peace Youth Group. They are now, Revolution.

I think they just might cause a revolution...

I'm in a rut...

I need a vacation. Really.

I've not had a real vacation in 3 years. At least.

We do take trips throughout the year, but they're always to do something - not that there's anything wrong with that, but once in a while, you just need a break.

In May, we take the Thursday and Friday after Memorial Day off and go to Pigeon Forge, TN. It's for a bible conference. We video the sessions. I really enjoy it, but I'm really tired by the end of the
conference. It's just a looooooooong 2 days.

The conference is excellent. They have wonderful speakers that bring the Word to life and do a great job at applying it to the spirit of the meeting. The music is great. Some of the best you'll ever hear.

Then, the other trip we take is in November. The day after Thanksgiving. We go to Charlotte, NC to work in the OCC processing center. We work real hard for 2 days. You meet wonderful people there. The project is worth while. You're helping reach the world for Jesus.

In the midst of all that, coupled with weekly youth activities, 40 hour work weeks, being married and trying to keep your house in order, I think you can lose yourself. I'm just in a "burned out" stage right now. I've had no paid-time off at work for 3 years (the first 2 were working for Kelly Services - the last was working at The Office after being hired from Kelly payroll). So, every day I've taken off for the last 3 years has been unpaid. That's hard when you live on a shoestring budget. It used to be that C's paycheck paid the bills and if I didn't work, we didn't eat or put gas in the cars. No pressure there, huh?

All I'm saying is that I'm tired. I just need to get away. I'm not thinking clearly. The "girly" doc changed my bc - so I'm a little crazy while adjusting to 9 straight weeks of "active"pills. I am finally sleeping a little better (C got transferred back to "graveyard" shift - I love him deeply, but sleeping with him is like sleeping with an octopus). I'm not happy with my quiet time - I need more of it (don't we all).

Basically, I'm tired. I just need some rest. Right now, I'm not getting any. It's more mental than anything, but mental burn out leads to physical burn out. And you never know where that will lead.

I'm off to another youth meeting tonight. Pray that I can get some things accomplished. We only have 8 weeks (from tonight) before the State Competition. I need to whip them into shape in 8 weeks. "Please Lord, help me...."