Johanna got accepted!!!

Johanna got accepted into the nursing program this fall at her college! She is so excited and we are so very proud of her! It's a weight off her shoulders to know she's in, because I know it was a tight race and she was concerned.

Nick is slogging through these last couple weeks of the semester. I'm just concerned about what his final grades will be. Praying things will be okay. I think they will be.

The animal shelter has told us the vet will be coming tomorrow to see the pups. Because of their age, they are old enough to be spayed and neutered now, so our new pup will have her surgery tomorrow before we even bring her home. This means we won't be able to bring her home Friday, but most likely Saturday afternoon. I'm getting really anxious to bring her home! Everett and I are going to the store Saturday morning to get all the puppy accessories. We don't need much, but have to get some puppy food and a couple chew toys.

My weight loss journey took a detour last weekend when I ate like a trucker the entire weekend. Ugh. I gained two pounds back! Double ugh. Well, I stuck to the plan from Monday on and have lost one of them again, which is a good thing, and am determined to stay on track now. It isn't easy, especially on the weekends. This Sunday is our 23rd wedding anniversary and we will probably go out to eat. Sigh.

Soon to be newest member of the family

Isn't she a cutie? This is the puppy I think we will be bringing home next weekend. She is at the local no-kill animal shelter, along with her litter mates. They haven't seen the vet yet, and the shelter likes to have them checked over by a vet before they are adopted out. The vet may see her Thursday, so we are hoping to bring her home Friday. She is a Lab mix, probably with Husky. One of her litter mates has one brown eye and one blue eye, that's why we think Husky.

I think Ev and I could probably wait a while yet for a new pup, but Wrigley has done nothing but mope around here for the past couple weeks. Ev says he has watched her turn into an old dog overnight. Now that we have picked this puppy out, I'm getting excited about bringing her home. She will not replace Nakia, I know that. She will be well loved, though, just as all our pets are. We have picked out the name "Ivy" for her. Since we have Wrigley, named for Wrigley Field, we thought Ivy would be a good name. The ivy on the walls of the outfield at Wrigley is legendary. Now I'm not saying this pup is going to be legendary. But she has already won our hearts! We are gearing ourselves up for puppyness! It took Wrigley about 2 years to get out of the puppy stage, so we have a good idea of what we are in for!

Just monkeying around

Here's a picture of a sock monkey my friend Donna made. She is planning on making several of them for kids in her life. I was quite impressed with how big it was. Personally, I'm not a sock monkey person, but they are enjoying a revival since that one car commercial aired!

Wednesday Doctor Visits

Everett had his bi-annual appointment with the kidney specialist this morning. It's an hour drive to his office, so I like to ride along with him for company. I took the day off work and scheduled myself an appointment this afternoon that I needed to make with my own doc for a checkup.

He got a good report. Things are staying the same. We don't expect them to improve, and are extremely pleased when they don't decline. So this was a good visit.

Gram is not doing well in the nursing home. Yesterday she refused to take her medication and eat. She was combative with Mom when she visited her. Later in the evening, though, she did eat something at least.

Wrigley still looks around for Nakia. I do too. I think we are both healing but it's taking a lot longer than I thought it would. Even Ev is having difficulty with this. I think getting a pup will help Wrigs, but I'm just not ready yet. Maybe a couple more weeks, but that's even pretty soon. We will see.

I'm down to 190! Slow and steady wins the race...at least I keep telling myself that! It is getting a little easier to stay on track.

Back to business

It's slow going, but it's a little better today than yesterday. Went to work as usual, which helped some. Then after I got home from work and had made dinner, I took Wrigley out to the old lake for about 40 minutes. It was what we both needed, I think. She seemed to perk up a bit.

I did do a little sewing Saturday. I sewed some of the two and a half inch strips together for the last mystery. I really need to get moving because the next one is coming up in a few days! Well, the good thing is I can just save the directions. I actually can do it and not peek! ha ha.

Gram is still in the hospital but they are probably going to release her to the nursing home for rehab in a day or two. I don't know what's going to happen there.

Made spaghetti for dinner tonight. I really was full after I ate. I had a cup of cooked spaghetti, half a cup of jarred sauce (yeah, I cheated), and a cup of sauteed veggies like onion, zucchini, and mushrooms. I had a salad before the spaghetti, too.

To date I have lost 27 pounds. Today I hit 193. I have 50 more pounds to lose to get to my goal. I did make an appointment with the doctor next week to go over my test results from a couple weeks ago (even though I know they were good) and I want to talk to him about these dizzy spells. I really think it's from my meds. Sure would be nice if I could get off them completely.

Sad day

This morning, after a terrible night, we took Nakia to the vet to be put to sleep. She was almost 16 years old and had been the best dog in the world to us for all of her years. Never did I worry about the kids being home alone when Nakia was there. She was a fantastic watchdog. We gave her dignity in death, by not letting her suffer. By the time morning was here, she could no longer stand up or walk, and couldn't even keep water down. Right now, she is out of pain and I choose to believe that she is running and jumping and chasing squirrels and rabbits. I will miss her beyond belief. Already do.

Sick pooch

Our 16 year old dog is pretty sick. She is disoriented and can't stand well. She is drinking a lot of water, and is also throwing it up. Of course it's Sunday and the vet isn't in. We will see how she makes it through the night. No more words right now because I just can't.

First bar-b-que of the season

Even though the calendar doesn't say it's summer, the first bar-b-que of the season says it's not too far off. Everett grilled a couple of hamburgers for himself and a couple turkey burgers for me. His burgers looked amazing and my burgers were amazing! My hubby knows his way around a grill, that's for sure!

Lori and I went shopping this morning. We stopped for breakfast. I had quite a few points for breakfast, so I just had a bowl of soup for lunch. Then had a decent dinner. Along with the burgers we had salad and baked fries.

I really have to say, to anyone considering losing weight for their health, it is so worth it! I'm still riding high on knowing how my cholesterol and blood sugar numbers went down. From 215 to 157 for the cholesterol and from 110 to 102 for the blood sugar. That still needs to come down a bit, but I know as I lose weight, it will fall into line. I'm at a 26 pound loss with 51 more to go. In my mind, that means in about a year I will be at my goal weight. Hopefully!

Today I took chubby Wrigley for a 40 minute walk. Our fat Labrador isn't used to that kind of exercise and I think she is still recovering! I really should walk her more because she needs the exercise more than I do! ha ha.

Cutting fabric in the morning

I was bound and determined to get some fabric cut today. This morning, before I went to work, I grabbed the cutting mat and accessories and a chunk of fabric I need to cut into strips. Set it on the only clear work space in the kitchen - the top of the freezer - and cut several strips. I feel like I at least accomplished something.

We did not stay for dinner at my dad's yesterday. I stuck to my guns on this and will continue to do so. There were, of course, snide remarks from the other side of the family, to which I just smiled and ignored while there.

We had some really windy weather last night and again this afternoon. There was hail, but no real damage, thankfully. I'm not fond of tornado season, and it makes me especially nervous at night. When I was pregnant with Nick and Johanna was less than a year old, we had a tornado in the town I lived in. It was terrifying. I was in the basement, praying, and watching the rain going in circles sideways!

I love our new windows! Can't wait to get the rest of them done! It will be a while, but we will do it as soon as possible. It feels good to be able to put money back into the house, finally.

I'm not going to go places I don't want to go

Tomorrow is Easter. For years my family has been going to my Dad's for the holiday for dinner and to hunt eggs. Recently his wife has decided to invite her brother and sisters and their entire family to every dinner we go to there. My father's sister and her family have not been invited. I'm done. She wins. It's quarter to six in the morning and I've been up for almost two hours agonizing over this. I don't like those people and I refuse to waste any more time doing things I don't like (except going to work for a paycheck, that's a whole different scenario!). My husband is not happy with my decision because he wants to keep the peace. The problem is that the so called peace has been tenuous at best and there has been a lot of pent up anger doing a slow burn under the surface for a long time.

I am going to tell my Dad that we will stop by before dinner but won't be staying because my kids are both working and I'm making dinner at home at 3. It will be good enough.

I am sorry for those quilting readers that I haven't had much to say about quilts lately. There just seems to be too much going on and I haven't been able to sew. I'm hoping today something I can at least cut some strips for the mystery quilt's four patch units.

Finished with forms....finally!

If I don't see a fill-in-the-blank form again for a while, it will be just fine with me! We got the car today, a little later in the week than first anticipated. It took a little organizing to get all of us together at once, then the salesman had chest pains and was off a couple days, so it kept getting moved back. The main thing is, she has her car and I have my car back! I washed it, inside and out today.

Still doing good on my diet. Walked for an hour yesterday. That is really helping me, and I know it. I still have to motivate myself to get moving.