Before Carson-After Carson

I did it again-messed up and have these pictures in opposite order from what I intended! Boy am I out of practice. My brother-in-law is an awesome drywall and carpenter man. He and Linda came up last week to do some much needed repairs to my house. First you see the AFTER Carson pictures. The picture above was given to me by my clinical group this summer-in honor of my spirituality and because they knew I liked Norman Rockwell pictures. It goes very nicely in the new room Carson finished for me. You can see that picture below. The Rockwell picture hangs above the table.

These are the pictures of what Carson had to work with...ugly closet where my furnance and hot water had sat before I moved them (I had to buy new) to my garage this summer. It is a wonder the paneling did not catch fire. You can see the holes in the floor (covered up) and in the ceiling that the furnace guys didn't fix. They told me when I questioned them that "we are not carpenters"! It would have been nice if they had told me that up front. I am sure they assumed I knew that. Carson tore out the paneling, the floor, the ceiling-all down to the studs and put up dry wall. It really looks great! You will have to come visit me sometime-of course, give me notice so I can be sure the place is clean....!!!!! My sister and I turned my house upside down cleaning while Carson did this job.

That's it for now folks! School started back with prep week today. Students start next Monday.

My goodness it has been a year...!

Since I have posted anything in the name of Lady J! Where has the time gone? Thanks Karen for having me on your list of bloggers because I had forgotten my signon...a blond moment.


I have messed this up royally since I forgot that I needed to post my pictures and then my script! So first you will see some of my favorite pictures from Cape May, NJ where my friends Sue and Genya, staff at AMSN, took me while I was out there last weekend.

This is The Southern Mansion, the original summer resort. Gorgeous place. I was intrigued by the outside winding stair case.

One of my favorite victorian homes in Cape May.

My friend Sue on the left and Genya in the middle. We had such good fellowship in the Lord and were blessed to have Charles (Genya's husband) to be our chauffeur for the day!

A neat little shopping area where I found a wonderful decoration for my house!

This summer break found me very busy. First I was off to NJ to write test items for the AMSN national medical-surgical nurses certification exam. While there I had one day of orientation as the new editor of the AMSN MedSurg Matters Newsletter which is published 6 times a year. My friends Sue and Genya took me to Cape May one day and I found something I couldn't leave without-a victorian looking doll sitting in a swing. Sue and Genya kindly mailed her to me so I wouldn't break her apart on the plane home. I had one idea of where I would hang her but as my sister and I were giving my bedroom a deep cleaning it hit me just where to let her swing! So here she (Barbara is supposed to be her name) is in all her glory.

Last but not least-the Beach! Nice white sand.

I have some more pictures to post but since I've messed this up so badly I think I will do another post.

Life is an adventure at times.

Life is definately an adventure at times-and sometimes it is not of your own making. I must prefer to plan and organize my own adventure. Saturday was a busy day with errands trying to make my pre-conference week a little easier. Lo and behold if I didn't rear end the car in front of me on US 31 northbound next to the Eastbrook Plaza! That person then rolled and hit the person in front of her. No one was hurt (except my pride) for which I am thankful. In addition to the planned errands I now had to find a rental car-everything was closed in Columbus, Franklin, Greenwood. I had to go to the Indy airport to get a car. Needless to say all my errands did not get done Saturday. Saturday night I didn't sleep well and overslept for SS and then didn't get ready in time for church. It was a mixed up day and a little painful in the neck area. Went to the MD today for medicine, the police station (don't forget they ONLY take CASH!), the insurance company, body shop....I sure wish we had gone hiking Saturday!

Faculty Retreat 2008

Today was the annual Ivy Tech Faculty Retreat day where we are supposed to have fun together and learn something to help us work together. The subject this year was Emotional Intellegience. I love talking about this kind of stuff so I actually had fun today. We met at the new Hilton Garden Inn at T/ville. That place is really nice and the food was great! At lunch time we were dismissed to do different activities according to the sticker on our name badge. I was in the first group and we were told to go play awhile. I made a beeline for the free chair massage. It was awesome! I had a few sore spots-I'm sure from hunching over a computer all day. It was at last year's retreat that I made the decision that it was time to loose weight. Thought I would add a picture from last year and the one a friend took of me this year.

When I got home from seeing Daddy I started working in the yard pulling up dead flowers, weeds, etc. I am running out of time and it is time to put the yard "to bed" for the winter. My neighbor John came over to show me his newest "pet". The squirrel came crawling down his tree and up his pants leg. John would put him back in the tree and it would climb down and go right back up his pants leg. The dogs went nuts so they were put in the house. John later tried to put the squirrel in the neighbors yard (not mine, though I offered) and it crawled right back through the fence so heput Buddy and Sophia (the dogs) in my yard.

This next week I will be busy getting ready to go to my annual medical surgical nursing conference. I can't wait! It is in Nashville TN and yes, I plan to go to the Grand Ole Opry!

Long awaited goal met!

40 weeks, 61.5 lbs and 74 inches later I am now entitled to enter the stabilization phase of my weight loss plan! FINALLY!!!!!! It seems it has taken forever to reach this point. Stabilization is for 6 weeks (and I can't cheat one tiny bit) and then maintenance phase! I now can add one starch 3 times a week at lunch for week 1. Not sure what happens week 2. Thanks everyone for all you love and support during this time. I should have some before/after pictures to post soon.

A Beautiful Day!

I know some of you may get tired of my hiking pictures but I on some beautiful trials at Turkey Run State Park today. The weather was gorgeous, the trails rugged and the companionship great! The food at the Inn wasn't bad either-especially the ice cream... As you can see we like the more rugged trails that have some challenges to them!

Next week you will see some before and after pictures of me!

Happy 90th Birthday Dad!

Linda and I gave Daddy a 90th birthday party Saturday at Silver Oaks-it was the perfect place for the party! Dad's birthday was actually August 26. I can't believe he is 90. He had a great time at the party-he was feeling good, clear mentally, and very jovial. Of course he loved all of the attention! Many friends and family came through out the 2 hours. By the end he was ready for a nap and they had to wake him up for supper. I am so thankful Linda and Carson were able to be here. He also received almost 40 birthday cards. He was excited about all of them and I taped them to his wall yesterday afternoon so he could enjoy looking at them. Here is a slide show of pictures I took at the party. My Dad is a wonderful man and I will miss him when he goes to Heaven.