Salt Fork State Park

We finally got to use our pop-up camper at Salt Fork State Park this past weekend. This is the only time that we've had the chance to use it this summer and I'm SO glad that we did. School starts tomorrow!

Carly loving on her babies at the dog park at Salt Fork

Wow! Looks like Robert is really enjoying his watermelon...lol!

Hey Mom! I want to be outside too!

Our little hill billy haven! Love it!

I'm back!

Yeah, I know! I'm the worst blogger in the world. I haven't posted anything since last November - EEK! What can I say? Life does get in the way. Things seem to be happening all at one time here lately, but I've made a new commitment to start posting here on a regular basis so YAY!

To recap some things that have happened this year:

I started a new job at a residential treatment facility for troubled youth working as a teacher/counselor.

Then, I had to quit my job to have surgery because I hadn't been there long enough to take FMLA.

I had to have a hysterectomy and posterior repair. I'm only two weeks out from surgery, so I'm still in the healing mode.

Then, the week before last I lost my favorite aunt. Her husband had just passed away in April of this year. She was the one that I would escape to in the summers to get a break from my own crazy house. I love her so much and she was so influential in my life. I'll miss her dearly and I know that everyone else will as well.

Learah got pregnant and had one puppy, whom we named Rocket. Believe me, he is really living up to his name. Now, she is pregnant again and due in about three weeks so we're gearing up for delivery again.

I'm really going to be focusing on my writing in the next few months. I plan to start a new website to offer my ghostwriting services and to have another site to house my plr offerings. I'm also batting around a few fiction ideas to commit to paper.

In a few weeks I will begin working on my history degree through American Public University online. I'm really excited about this! I look forward to using my coursework to help me with the novels that I have planned.

I'm going to be super busy trying to get my writing business off the ground and taking on the new studies, but I'm also very stoked about it. Until next time! No, I won't wait another 10 months before posting again!

Black Friday Drama

Okay, I'm excited to hear about all of the Black Friday drama that everyone had. I guess the only real drama I got to be involved in was when my car lost power on Rt. 2 and I had to coast into JP Henry's parking lot. Bummer! I guess there was trash in the gas line or something. This car (Sonata) did this once before a couple of years ago and all I had to do was put a bottle of the gas line cleaner in it. Unfortunately I had to be at work at 4:30 a.m. to feed all of those Black Friday shoppers. I called bf and he hurried down and carted me to work and then came and got me at 8:30. Have a mentioned how much I love that man??? All in all I think that everyone was fairly courteous today, although there were a few that made me wonder why they had gotten out of bed. On second though, maybe they were the ones that hadn't gone to bed at all the previous night. Yeah, we'll chalk it up to that!

I've bombed...

Ugh! I've bombed miserably trying to do this low carb one day and high carb the next. I'm back to induction on Atkins. Maybe after I get some of this weight off I can try to do the Jay Robb plan. To me the lc one day and hc the next is like offering a shot glass of liquor to an alcoholic. I'm not able to control myself with the carbs. I guess I'm just carb-sensitive, if there is such a thing. I do, however, LOVE the Jay Robb high protein shake mix and I just had one for breakfast mixed with Kroger's lc vanilla yogurt. The shake mix is his dreamsicle. I put about 4 ounces of water and 4 ice cube in it and OMG! it was incredible! He has the best protein powder I've ever tasted. Needless to say I did not make my 10 lb. mini goal by November 7, but I'm not going to get discouraged, I'm still in for the 20 pound goal by December 7. I'll re-evaluate at that time and see how things are going. I seem to be holding fluids in my tissues a lot right now so I'm going to Mother Earth Foods to try and find some dandelion to take. It's supposed to be as good as lasix for getting rid of excess fluid. I'll let you know how that works out. Later!

Gonna Try Jay Robb

I bought Jay Robb's book The Fat Burning Diet - Accessing Unlimited Energy for a Lifetime and I'm going to do his plan. I've read a bunch of lengthy reviews on Amazon and I'm going to go for it. Everything that he says in the book so far makes sense and I'm not even finished with chapter 1. He's a certified nutritionist and he has helped a bunch of people, including bodybuilders. This one guy says in his review that he worked out like a dog trying to see his six pack and it wasn't until he went on Jay Robb's eating plan that the fat finally started melting off and his stomach muscles are well defined now. I'm not saying I'm gonna have a six pack stomach or anything guys, but hopefully I can get rid of some of this gut and these bat wings. The diet basically consists of cycling carbs, eating low carbs on some days and loading carbs on others. I'll come back and let you know how it's going for me after I finish the book and actually get a few weeks into the program. Wish me luck!