In Memory

In memory of my little pepper who lost his fight with a heart valve problem yesterday 10/21/09.

waging a war!!

Ok...so a little background before I go into my huge tirade about WHY I am waging a personal war.
The back yard USED to be a beautiful greenbelt area....deer ( a lot of them) wandered around in there and there were no privacy issues. It was part of what made the house so awesome!


Fast forward to the last few months: The deer have mostly been trapped and removed, the news that the new Boerne library was going in that lot surfaced, AND last but not least, The aforementioned greenbelt has become the holding ground for heavy equipment and large cement..."THINGS" for a road crew that is working down on main street.

It is bad enough that the land now looks like a muddy parking lot for bulldozers and cranes and whatnot, but I could actually live with that. The reason I wage my personal war is the fact that they have decided that the middle of the night is a GREAT TIME to move said equipment, and work on the road, to avoid the hassle of daily traffic on main street.

Picture if you will: It is 1:45am..you are sleeping soundly, its a beautiful night, so you have a window open....BEEP BEEP BEEP *CRASH CRASH* BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!! Yes, thats right...back up signals and headlights and heavy machinary in your back yard, waking you up....30 minutes of the racket!!!
Finally you drift off again...a bit cranky but too tired to care at this point.....5:37am and again.....BEEP BEEP CRASH BANG CRASH BEEP BEEP!!!! At this point, bleary eyed, cranky, and lacking the majority of that nights sleep, you stumble in to prepare for an extra busy day at work.
Night falls and by 8 you are so tired you are glad to just fall into bed.....and again...night two, it begins again!!

This has been an ongoing problem for several months now, and it will happen for a few nights (till someone complains) then stop for a few nights, then resume yet again.

I have complained to the city, who tells me its a private company contracted through TX DOT....so I called TX DOT this morning and basically was told "too bad!". and this my friends is where the battle begins!!

Step one of said battle: hand out flyers to the entire neighborhood with the name and number and contact information of who to call to complain.
Step two: find out if TXDOT really can ignore city sound ordinances, as they say they can, or if they are yankin my chain

Stay posted!!!

Spokane part 2

OK, first of all let me thank my wonderful sister and her hubby for putting up with almost the whole fam-damily!! You guys are amazing hosts and I love you so much!



Spokane was beautiful. I think the hottest day hit 77*, which was nice considering the 103*+
we have had here!! Although I think I have acclimated some to Texas, because at night it hit the 50's and I had to turn on a space heater and get out blankets!!



On my next to last day there, we had a lovely girlie day and went to the park.....THERE WAS WATER IN THE RIVER!!! (foreign concept for us drought ridden folk in Boerne.) to prove it I took pictures.

Now..on to other Spokane excitement. My mom and I were driving and we passed a business establishment that made me do a double (and then triple) take....in fact I was so taken with the name of the business, I had to be taken back so I could take pictures of it.

Does anyone else see a problem with the name of this establishment?? The first thought though my head is "that picture seriously is being sent to http://www.failblog.org/ !! I will leave further comments alone for now. =)

Spokane part 1

Well, here are a few of the pictures from PJ's 1 year birthday party today. I cant figure out my sisters photo program or I would share more.....so Gran, be patient...more are incomming!!!

Spokane is beautiful, but it sure is cold!! 55* yesterday with rain!! Big change from the 101-105* it was when I left San Antonio.

My biggest regret for my trip.....I didnt get to meet Amy L. =(
This makes me sad!!

Anyway, more about my Spokane trip when I get home.


PJ getting his birthday cake rinsed off.

Mom and Nate enjoying the day.

Nate and Rebecca with Maiden and Cricket.

My new tattoo!

I know I know...some of you are freaking out by the title of this blog...(take a breath mom and gran!!)

I decided quite some time ago, that if I had to have a huge ugly scar down the middle of my chest, I was going to decorate it pretty.

I have pondered numerous designs and patterns...Ivy vines, zippers, dragons, geckos....anything to blend in the big pink scar I know I am going to be sporting post surgery.
Finally a friend of mine (yes Steve, I consider you a friend!!) said he would send me some of his glyphs.
Now...to be honest I had no idea what a glyph was, but he knew I was looking at different Celtic/tribal patterns so he sorta had an idea what I was leaning towards.
He said in his Email and I quote "none of these will probably be what you are looking for, but possibly can make one that is"

He was SO wrong!!!

As I was looking through the patterns he sent me, my eye was immediately drawn to a particular one...I love its "yin and yang gone modern" look!!!
With his permission, I have posted it here for you all to see.
I think its the perfect way to blend in my scar to kind of "hide" it.

Steve told me when the time comes, he will make it as big or small as I want it, and be able to "reshape" it some to fit where and how I want it to fit.

THANK YOU SO MUCH STEVE!!! (since I know you read this)

Feel free to give me your input, but please don't bother trying to talk me out of it. It is going to happen.

4th of July

Well, Mom and I decided to wander out to Luckenbach, TX to see the goings on for the 4th of July. We had a great lunch, there was some good music, and mom met a man!


Miss Olivia, I know you wanted her to find a cowboy, but there weren't too many there, so here is mom and her hot Texas man!!


There were lots of people out enjoying the music, beer and lots of shade!

Here is the old barn that is the gift shop and beer counter

Snail Creek Hat Co. sits on grounds as well...we checked out the hats and boots, but didnt see anything we couldnt live without!

After Luckenbach, we went to Fredericksburg for a quick dash into a gift shop mom had found on her last trip there, and stopped at a little produce stand for some fresh peach ice cream along the way. It was a great day!! Even though it was sooo hot (about 102*) for this time of year, Mom and I managed to stay cool!!

Boot Kickin for Health Walk

Enchanted Springs Ranch

This weekend, mom and I went to a 5k walk to benefit the Hill Country Mission for Health. The mission for health is a medical clinic that sees adults who have no insurance and are low income. They run completely on donations and volunteers.
http://missionforhealth.org/

It was a great cause, and a fun day! The walk was held at Enchanted Springs Ranch, which was featured on Oprah.com http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/relationships/family/20090220_orig_family-attractions-parks/5

Here is mom all wind blown on the tractor ride around the grounds.

awwww a wallaby! He liked me a lot...kept following me up and down the fenceline!

A view from along the walking path

Mom and Elizabeth ready to start walking.

Open heart surgery and me

Ok....so, Yesterday at the cardiologist, I really didnt hear what I wanted to hear about my heart. He has been tracking it for about 4 years, due to an aortic stenosis.

Yesterday his first words were "well, you need to start getting mentally prepared, because we are looking at surgery in a matter of months."

WOW!

Seriously...how do you "mentally prepare" for having someone saw your chest open, break your rib cage and play with your heart?? I havent figured out quite how to do that, but will let you know when I do.

I was born with a Bicuspid aortic valve. This means that the little flap that pumps oxegenated blood from my heart into the rest of my body. I have two problems with said valve:

regurgitation: The valve(s) does not close completely, causing the blood to flow backward instead of forward through the valve.

stenosis: The valve(s) opening becomes narrowed or valves become damaged or scarred (stiff), inhibiting the flow of blood out of the ventricles or atria. The heart is forced to pump blood with increased force in order to move blood through the narrowed or stiff (stenotic) valve(s).

So, here is some information on why and all that stuff, for those of you who have asked what it is and why i got it. Basically, there is NOTHING that I could have done to prevent it, keep it at bay, or to prevent surgery....it moves at it's own pace and when it's ready, it's ready. Mine is almost ready.

This is from wikipedia and has a link to bicuspid aortic valves.

Major causes and predisposing conditions of aortic stenosis include acute rheumatic fever and bicuspid aortic valve. As individuals age, calcification of the aortic valve may occur and result in stenosis. This is especially likely to occur in people with a bicuspid aortic valve, but also occurs in the setting of perfectly normal valves as a result of age-induced 'wear and tear'. Typically, aortic stenosis due to calcification of a bicuspid valve occurs in the 4th or 5th decade of life, whereas that due to calcification of a normal valve tends to occur later - around the 7th or 8th decade.

This is a link to mayo clinic and its really easy to understand and stuff. http://mayoclinic.com/health/aortic-valve-stenosis/DS00418

My little cabana

For those of you who were worried about my "tool shed" "back yard shack" and other various names I have heard....relax!!!
Here are some pictures, and I think if I might say so myself, mom and I did a darn fine job!! The room isnt done quite yet, but you can see its pretty cute and definately livable!!!
The pics of the inside are taken almost in a circle of the entire room.

Oregon weekend

Ok, so I am back from a VERY quick trip to Oregon to hang out with my mom, sister, gran, best friend and my GORGEOUS WONDERFUL SUPER AWESOME nephew, PJ!!!

My poor sister got food poisoning the last day, which really sucked bad, and I was sorry that we sorta missed out on a few precious hours together, but I am so greatful I got to spend the time with my family.

Here are some pictures of our trip.

11 pounds

Ok, so I weighed myself this morning and it appears I have lost 11 pounds!! :)

I know week 1 loss is usually much better then week two, so I am thinking I wont weigh myself for a couple weeks (not to mention my trip to Oregon in the middle of this week!)

11 pounds doesnt sound like much when you have SOOO MUCH to lose, but then I started putting it in perspective.

11 pounds is a bag of potatoes and a container of butter.
11 pounds is a gallon and a half of milk.
11 pounds is bigger then my chihuahua!

so...again, baby steps!!

One other note: I JOGGED TODAY!!! yes it was only 5 minutes (twice) but its a start!!!
also watched the P90X workout and B...that crap is HARD!!!! :) I am going to start doing some of the stuff in my morning excercise!!!

And a personal note to my sister Sara: I love you more then I can tell you and your support has been sooo invaluable to me. Stick with your boot camp and I will stick with my dancing and maybe in a year or so we can bawl our way through a marathon together.....or a half of one!

tiny victories!

Ok. Here it is.....day 6...or 7...I have quit counting because in order for this to work, its going to be my new lifestyle not a diet. Diets fail for me, and I have proved it over and over again.
I can remember clear back to when I was about 6 years old, being "so cute, if you'd just lose that 10 pounds"
My entire life has been a series of bribery, offers, deals and pleas. I always tried to do what I needed to do, but have found that in the long run I need to do this for me.
I have spent so many years taking care of everyone else, that I have not taken care of myself. So, this is my attempt to love me, take care of me, and do whats right for me.
I have taken delight in tiny victories this week.
From going out to eat and making better choices AND
having them bring a "to go" container so I could put half the meal in it before I even took my first bite,
to going shopping and buying a few new things that are healthier choices (and making it through the store with the biggest "junk food" item being a bag of low fat tortilla chips!).
I am going to eat more tofu...I like it but always cook it the same way, so figured I would try a few new recipes I found. I am going to try eating sweet potatoes (not covered in butter, marshmallows and brown sugar), and since I like veggie burgers, I bought some for those days I just DONT want to cook.
Those things may not sound like much to you, but for me, they are all tiny steps in the right direction. They are all the way I want my life to be.
I can list the junk food I ate on one hand this week, it was the exception not the rule...and it feels good.
I danced 4 days this week, which is 4 days more then the week before. Next week I will be happy with 4 but will shoot for 5!!!

Day 2

woke up again at 6:30 to dance my way to good health I feel kind of silly standing in the livingroom dancing like a fool, but it feels good too.

My horoscope today was as follows:

Your horoscope for January 8, 2009
"Inspiration" is the keyword for today. An optimistic and enthusiastic attitude could lead to powerful imaginings, which may take solid form in your mind as plans for future projects. These could be artistic, or business-oriented, or centered around your home in some way. Whatever they are, amy, this is a good day to put those plans into motion. All signs indicate success on any project begun or completed.

That boosted my hopes! LOL
Anyway, yesterday I did pretty good food-wise. I did eat a piece of birthday cake in celebration of Marie's Birthday but had them cut it in half....so I didnt even feel too guilty there!!!

I have decided one way to keep things cheap and healthier is rice and frozen veggies! I also think when the weather is nicer I am going to start riding my bike on the trails here in town. Maybe mom can join me when she gets here!! I think having her here will be good, as she likes to go and do and I like to go with her.

Thanks all for the comments guys!! I appreciate the support!!!

Diary of a fat girl

Ok...so I have decided that my life is out of control and I seriously need to do something about it, so I figured "where better place to put my struggles, feelings, and victories then my Blog for all the world to see?" *facepalm*
I figure if I document my progress and kept honest here, it would be easier.
For those of you who read this (my family and friends) please dont chastise every bite i stick in my mouth or rag about my working out....just be quietly supportive and be there when I need a boost of self confidence!
Recently two special men in my life have motivated me and made me want to better myself, so I want to thank you Brion and Corbett for your support, quiet encouragement and lesson by example.
Corbett, I might not say it enough, but you motivate me so much, and talking with you about your struggles to lose weight, set backs and "getting back on track" really really do make me think that this time I can do it. Even our conversations about what spices help make food taste better. =)
Brion....your workouts and lifechanging habits in the face of much adversity and negativity make me convinced that I can do this, even on a shoestring budget. I dont need a fancy gym, just the motivation to move!!!
Anyway, I am not going to put my weight on here but I will post some pictures for a "before and after" thing so I can look at them and see the changes....its hard when you see it every day, to see where you are making progress.
My habit changes are going to be in two parts: 1- portion control and 2-excersize. I figure any change i can make in these two areas are positive ones, so I will start slow and grow from there.
Day 1: Got up 30 minutes early and danced till I sweat. I figure to start a healthy routine, I should do something I like...and I love to dance, so dancing it is!! I even used resistance bands part of the time. Really feel great today! Might even throw in some excersize tonight when I get home.