Regrets...I've Had a Few

And they are...in no particular order...pecan pie, ribs, Butterfinger blizzard (even though it was a mini-size), cranberry sauce, Wendy's burger and fries, Jumbo Jack...heavy sigh...back to better eating tomorrow. Do not get on the scale. Do. not. get. on. the. scale.

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving? ~Erma Bombeck, "No One Diets on Thanksgiving," 26 November 1981

Some things I enjoyed on Thanksgiving:

1. As far as food goes...sweet potato casserole, pecan pie, ribs, broccoli salad

2. A wonderful visit with my brother, John, and his kids

3. Being entertained by Katherine's college stories

4. Sending two of my girls off to watch the 10:30 p.m. showing of Harry Potter -- FINALLY! and then letting them stay out with Aunt Amy to go shopping at Wal-Mart at 5:00 a.m. for Black Friday

5. The cold front coming in this evening

6. My mother-in-law's Mac for me to blog on (and check Facebook)

7. Having the Aggies beat the Longhorns -- Whoop!

8. Downtime, with absolutely nothing I have to do

Hope your day was filled with lots of great things, too!

Cake Times Three

Since I've had so much time on my hands (hah!) I managed to make three cakes in one week. Before you are too impressed, they are small, six inches across and don't even use a full cake mix. This is a good thing for my family because I use the remaining batter to make cupcakes.

The first cake was for Rebecca. She has been driving me crazy to eat wedding cake, white cake with white icing. I finally broke down and made her one -- just because.

This cake was for my friend, Lisa's birthday. She loves chocolate so the optimal choice was chocolate cake with chocolate icing.

This cake was for Rebecca's discipleship leader, Michele. Rebecca really loves her, so the heart made a perfect little gift for her birthday. An icing debacle due to poor color choice and bad consistency led me to a little disaster when doing this cake. I had to scrape off the flowers on top of the cake leaving me with smears and a mess about 10:30 one night. I begged Abigail to help me think of some way to salvage it. "Do you have chocolate chips?" she asked. And, thus this little cake received a different treatment than I've done before. Not bad, huh?

And in Other Sports News

After several months' wait, Rebecca finally received her letter jacket that she was awarded in the spring at the track banquet. She was so excited to pick it up and thankfully it was very cold the next day so she could wear it to school. I do believe she would have worn it if it had been 80 degrees though! She has one patch on it so far: District 4x400 Meter Relay. She informs me there will be many more patches to come this year. Stay tuned.

It's That Time Again!

We survived another volleyball season and have jumped in with gusto to basketball. Both the girls are sporting #12 this year, which is exciting because their Dad's number was 12 in high school; however, they weren't thrilled to be wearing each other's number. Go figure.

Abigail gets lots of playing time on the 8th grade team. Rebecca is a starter on the JV Team and a sub on the Varsity Team. We've enjoyed watching the girls and seeing how much they've improved since last year.

Not to wish away the time, but won't it be nice next year when they are on the same schedule and we have two nights of games instead of four? Yea...liking the sound of that.

Oh Yes!

Five pounds! And, no, I won't make a habit of this.

Just Some Things I Want to Say...

First of all...

Dear Kroger, When I bought your "All Natural" Frozen Cut Okra I didn't realize that "All Natural" meant that 1/3 of the package would be the tops of the okra. Please fix that. Thank you.

On a positive cooking note, I am loving Mrs. Dash Tomato/Basil/Herb seasoning. It is simply delish.

On another positive note, I've lost 4 1/2 pounds. Hoping I have the willpower to stay the course this time. After much analysis I realized that I cannot stick with any (healthy eating) plan because I am too easily bored. For instance, Weight Watchers? Tired of counting points. Flat Belly Diet? Tired of trying to schedule eating every four hours, which never coincides with times my family is eating. South Beach? Tired of eggs and salads.

Of course here is where most people would say, "You just need to exercise more." You know what? I'm not listening to you. (fingers in ears) I know it, ok? And, I have been walking around my neighborhood for a brief walk the last couple weeks. Guess what? I'm starting to get bored with that, too. Why can't there be a Scrapbooker's Diet? Let me lay it out for you...

Meal One: Eat a delicious breakfast of big, fat buttery cinnamon rolls with a huge cup of coffee. Pour a second cup of coffee to take to your scrapbook table. Make sure both cups of coffee have plenty of cream and real sugar. Scrapbook for four hours.

Meal Two: Have delivered to your scrapbook room a delicious mushroom/swiss cheese burger with seasoned fries, lots of ketchup and a Diet Coke. (The thought here being that the Diet Coke will offset the fries.) Continue scrapbooking after washing hands. Gotta watch those greasy hands on your paper.

Snack: A delivery of a fresh Diet Coke along with a bowl of popcorn, and possibly a piece of dark chocolate and some almonds will be just the things to tide you over until your evening meal. Continue working on your albums after this small snack break.

Meal Three: Ribeye Steak, Baked Potato (loaded, but no chives please) and a Caesar salad will be your final "big" meal of the day. How about some Crystal Light to drink with that? After all, you should try to cut calories where you can. Not really ready for dessert after that steak, so will reserve it for a late evening "pick me up" snack. Wow! Getting lots of work done on my albums today.

Dessert: How about a nice cup of hot tea and some peach cobbler with Bluebell Vanilla Ice Cream? A couple more hours on the scrapbook and then time for bed...

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another letter to write. I'll be asking NBC for a chance to star in next year's "The Biggest Loser." And it's all thanks to my Scrapbooker's Diet -- the only eating plan I managed to stick with for an entire year!

From My Nightstand I Recommend...

I've read three books lately that I have absolutely loved and thought, "Who doesn't want a good book recommendation?" Two are fiction and one non-fiction. I know! I actually read a non-fiction book.

"Never the Bride" was humorous and touching, the story of a girl who

desperately wants to be married, but God wants her love for Him to be first.

One of the best books I've read recently due to the dialogue.

(reminded me of Dee Henderson's dialogue --

Dee, where are you? why aren't you writing?)

The story of a reporter who spends time with the Amish and

how it changes her perspective on her own life.

This one was hard. I literally cried through most of it.

The tragedy of the death of your child caused by another

of your children is just too much to think about.

But, Mary Beth Chapman is living through it and the book is amazing.

Let me know if you enjoy one of these great books. I'm off to read the sequel to "Plain Jayne," which is entitled "Simply Sara."

Not Much Halloween Here

On any given year I really would just pass up Halloween as a celebration. I do enjoy the fun of putting costumes together, but no one in my house usually wants to dress up. Abigail went to a friend's house and Rebecca decided to hang out in Grand Prairie with a few of her friends from school.

She dressed as a scientist. I tried to hard to get

her to have ratty hair and be a mad scientist. No go.

Gorgeous sunset at the site of the trunk or treat

with FBC Grand Prairie

Some of the sophomore class from Grace Prep

Best friends, Amanda and Rebecca

Of course overshadowing us was the fact that the Rangers were in the World Series and we not getting to watch the game. We did watch for a bit while the kids went trick or treating, and then on the way home....

This is taken out the car window. The blur in the upper left

is the Goodyear Blimp. The bright white lights are the stadium lights.

So, we were close to the game if not able to watch.

Rebecca didn't get much candy for all our efforts, so even that was kinda blah. I just comforted myself with the fact of how many calories I saved!