Weight Watchers

What a name - Weight Watchers - so is that what we all do? Watch our weight? Well, if you are me the answers is yes. I have been watching my weight go up and up ever so slowly for years now. If I was lucky it would go down - a pound or two - and then go right back up. And to be honest it hasn't gone down in over a year. Time to do something.

Now my daughter Cristy is a dietitian. She has been trying to "teach" me how to eat for years. I have been fighting her - why? - because I love fat. It tastes good. Oh, the thought of an Oreo Ice cream sundae just makes my mouth water - and the seams to my pants scream. So I have finally reached the point where I know I must do something about my eating habits. I love my daughter but she is not always available to answer all my questions about food - so I have joined weight watchers. They teach the same stuff Cris has been trying to get me to do for years only their stuff is easier to look up.

I am amazed how bad my diet really was. I never realized how much I ate out. I hope I can stick to a healthier diet now - for the rest of my life.

Now that is not to say that I haven't splurged now and then. When in D.C. I took everyone to "Uno's" a very good Chicago Pizza Restaurant. I would be safe to say that one piece of pizza was my allotted calories for the day. But I haven't been able to eat at Uno's in years. It was great!!! Well, almost great - wasn't quite what I remembered - but it was still good. I felt lousy that night but it was still good. OK - OK - OK - I have learned that when you splurge you do that small also. But Ice cream is another story.

I have also learned something about myself. I am no longer a young woman who can burn off a pizza just by thinking about exercise - I must actually do it!! Aging is just cruel. I used to be able to do so much - now.... well, to give an example. Last week my Father bought 2 and half yards of top soil. For those of you who don't know - a yard of soil is two scoops of soil with a front loader (tractor) . So Dad had the dirt dropped on my front lawn since most of that dirt was for my front yard. That meant that Dad and I had to shovel the dirt into a wheel barrow and then wheel the dirt to the place in the yard we wanted it and dump it. IN 85 DEGREE WEATHER. Not that that made a difference. My Father is 84 years old and he worked circles around me. I kept coming up with excuses - "Dad - time to drink some water" "Dad - let me barrow that rake for a second" "Dad - I'm going to die now, just put the rest of that dirt on top of me"

So, I'm trying to ride my bike again - the weather is co-operating and I've been going out at least 4 times a week. Mandy and I are walking too - when it isn't so hot. Matt and I walk on the week-ends also. I'm getting off the couch.

Oh - just in case you where wondering I have lost 9 pounds so far. Nothing to sneeze at but it is a start. Matt is doing this with me and yes he has lost more than me. Maybe by Christmas we won't mind the kids posting pictures of us on their blogs.

Wish us luck!!!

Troy, Hallie and Washinton DC

I got to go meet Troy. My seventh grand child and a happy one at that. I was lucky enough to be there when he figured out how to smile. He does it very well, especially in the morning.

The first week was just hanging out with some shopping thrown in there. Cris was able to figure out how she wanted to decorate the nursery and we got some material and wooden letters to spell out Troy for the wall. It was just great to be able to get to know little Troy and to spend time with my oldest daughter. Cristy later realized that we had not spent much time together - just the two of us - in many years - I would guess, a good 10 years. Time well spent.
Cristy was a good sport and let her aging Mother have fun. When you have a grandson with so much hair you just have to play. It has been a long time since I have played with my Barbie and Ken dolls - but when you have a real doll - you just have to play. I think the above picture shows Troy a little nervous to what is about to happen to him.
Look out for this bad boy.
But this Moreira has Idaho blood running through his veins. He is one smart boy.
And he enjoys a good joke - or this is when he was getting even with us and he just filled his diaper.
After the first week Papa Matt came and Troy was happy to have one more adult to love him.

Now it was time to show Troy and Papa Matt some of the sights of Washington D.C.
So this is some garden by some museum. I wanted to just show pictures of Troy and say this is Troy at the Air and space Museum and this is Troy outside the White House and so forth but I never really took any pictures while we where acting all touristy.
Then Hallie came. And she brought with her Grant and Liz.
Hallie is a very happy baby. It was great to see Grant and Liz again.
The cousins had a great time too.
Then I had one of those moments when you realize you are turning into one of your parents. This is me realizing that I am becoming my Mother because this is what I saw as everyone walked so much faster than I. We went and saw the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. This was after a dinner at Uno's . Yummy, Chicago Pizza.
Then it was time for Troy to be blessed. A sharp looking boy - all dressed up in his borrowed tux from Georgey and Grayam. The blessing was great - of course - only Nathaniel forgot to press record on the tape recorder - and since he was recording it non of us took notes. But because Grant has an amazing memory along with a few other memories from the rest of us I think they where able to get the blessing written down.
All of us who where there - family that is - the rest of the ward wouldn't co-operate and get in the picture.
Another one of Hallie - cause she is so stinking cute.
The reason for the trip.

The next day was C&N 2nd wedding anniversary - so Matt and I let them go to dinner alone. We watched Troy and well....

I guess the last two weeks caught up with me.

Matt and I left the next day and that was a very hard good-by.

To Cristy and Nathaniel - thank -you for letting us disrupt your lives for two weeks - tell Cesar and Susan thanks for the great dinner - thank-you to Grant and Liz for driving 9 hours so that we could see you and Hallie. Love you all.

Family time is the greatest time!!!

Schools out !!!!

Schools out - schools out - teachers let the monkeys out.......how does that rhyme go? Anyway today was our last day till Sept. 6 or so. Now maybe I can catch up on the yard, the house and my sewing and changing the pictures on the wall and.....why am I glad schools out? Oh yea, no getting up at 5:45 a.m.

So I took Mom and Dad over to meet great grandson number 18. They have 3 more coming this year. For those of you who do not know - Nikki is due in July - Elizabeth is due in September and Claire is due in December. The update on the folks is they are hanging in there. Mom's new hearing aid is working - yea!!!! Dad is going through a weird thing with his right eye - sudden blurry for close vision. We are checking things out Monday - could use your prayers on this one - prayers are always a good thing. Of course Dad is in seventh heaven now that summer is upon us. He gets to be on the lawn mower!!!! He has even been a sweetheart and kept my lawn mowed since I have been busy with work. Too bad that is going to stop.

Otherwise, I have just been bugging Mandy and George - got to see my little Gibson. Of course, in the process I get to play Star Wars with Georgey and Grayam in the process. Great times.

In case you where wondering why all the pink? Thought I would off set all these boys coming into the family - give a little plug in for us girls. Don't worry I'll play later and change things again. It's summer - I can do that now :)

Number 8

My number 8Th grandchild is here!!! Coming into the world at 9:17 am on May 30. A rather fast delivery with Mandy's water breaking at 3:30 am (or so - sometime around there) They went to the hospital around 6 am. I got to the hospital at 9:17 and got to hear his beautiful cry all the way down the hall. He was a fussy baby the first hour but then after a couple of good nurses he settled into a great long nap.



George gets to hold his son. Less than an hour old here.


Such a cute little pout - He really didn't fuss much while the nurse was weighing him and checking everything they have to - he didn't like one of his shots but who does?

Doesn't Mandy look great for just having a baby an hour ago?

Big brothers get to come and see the baby. Wow - the baby is no longer in Mommy's tummy - little - baby very little.

First family picture.

At this point we don't know what little boy Poteet's name is - that information will be coming shortly - I'll edit this post as soon as we know!! Here is my edit --Gibson Anthony is this little guys name - very nice!

So 3 down and one more to go. That is - three grandchildren have come in the last 6 and a half months and one more coming in July. What a great year this is :)

New Family Rule

I am calling in all the authority that I can. I mean I am the Mom - right? I should have some say in what goes on in my family - shouldn't I? I realize that all my children are grown adults now and they might bristle a little in the fact that I am trying to impose this rule on them but tuff - I am the MOM. And besides its Mothers Day - who would dare say "noway Mom" on Mothers day - right?

So here goes the new rule - Anyone who has chosen to live farther than 100 miles from me cannot have a baby unless that baby is born in June, July or the first part of August. This rule stands until I retire, which won't happen for another 14 years or so. And while I am making rules I would like to impose a part B to this rule - If more than one baby is to be born in this time frame than I need to be told of the coming event as soon as you know. No more waiting until the third month - I need time to save up for tickets - I'm not a rich person.!!

So there - now if you expect to obey all the commandments - you know, Honor your Father and MOTHER - than I expect you to honor my wishes.

Why? Because my Cristy has just given birth to a most adorable little boy - little Troy!! I cannot go and see him for another few weeks and this is driving me crazy!!Is he not the cutest little guy ever? Now if you don't know - he had a hard time coming into this world. Cristy had to have an emergency C-section and Troy here has been in NICU for the first two days of his life. He is hooked up here to a few things - I believe and IV and a drainage tube. If I am wrong it is because I was not there. Now this little guy is doing great and so is Cristy.

OK - so maybe my little rule is a tad bit unrealistic - and it may sound like the ramblings of a crazy old woman - (watch what you are thinking right now - you might be braking another commandment) and in reality I totally support all my children in going after their dreams and working hard and having incredible jobs in this economy. I really, really am proud of all of them.

OK - I take it all back - not the proud stuff - just the rule thing...... maybe I'll keep the part B in - I still need the time to save!

Only bragging rights

Local road-e-o time. This is just our district - Lakeland school dist. 272. Seven drivers competing to see who is the best driver for 2010. Why? Because we are crazy. That is really the only reason I can come up with since there will most likely not be any state competition. That's right folks - all the budget cuts has cut out our road-e-o.

Anyway - out of seven drivers - I came in first!!! :) A shocker to say the least. I didn't have time to practice. But the real reason was, I wasn't nervous. I just had fun.

So after talking to my kids - I am suppose to brag in this manner - Since there won't be a State competition and there probably wasn't any other district that had a road-e-o - that would make me number one in the state for 2010!!!

I'm suppose to call this -"My wonderful Hubby"

I am upstairs in the dinning room, just finished dinner - corn beef and cabbage - (Dads' favorite) and Matthew calls from down in the dungeon - "Sue - where did all this water come from?"

Now just to let you know - these are not words you really want to hear. But before I continue maybe I should give a little background information first. First the dungeon is our food storage room directly under our kitchen in the basement. We call it the dungeon because it is cooler and darker than the rest of the basement. Next it is Sunday night at about 4:45 p.m. We have just finished our Irish dinner, my parents are over and Matt is getting ready to go off to work at 5. Now back to my story.

I leave the table and tell my folks to wait a second - I have to help Matt. I go down to the dungeon and there is water on the floor. Matt is checking out the floor on the other side of the wall - the furnish is there and I look up. There is water dripping from the top shelf and the box that was on that shelf is allot darker than it should be - the next shelf is also wet and so is the next shelf. Ugh!!! Something is leaking from the ceiling!!

Matt says "What? The only thing up there is the drain pipe from the kitchen sink" He remembers that he was just doing some of the dirty dishes from dinner and goes up to run water in the kitchen sink. It takes two seconds before I scream "Turn off the water" The drain pipe has an eighteen inch split - lengthwise - and water is spraying out like we where at a water park.
I go and get every rag we have and throw them on the floor to mop up all the water and start moving the food to a dryer place. Matt comes and looks at his watch and says - "well, can you do without a kitchen sink until Saturday?" I look at him and say , threw gritted teeth , "If I have to" Then he says the words that win him the title of this blog - "I guess I can go to work later" - We look things over and decide to cut out about eight feet of the pipe and replace it. For those of you who know my house - on the other side of the wall of the dungeon is a closet of sorts - making it impossible to reach this pipe - then there is a two foot space above the electrical box - then the downstairs bathroom. The only place you can reach this pipe other than the dungeon is over the electrical box. So one cut before the split in the dungeon and one cut over the electrical box.

Question? What is in a drain pipe coming from the kitchen sink, equipped with a garbage disposal?
So I threw some more towels down as water started to pour out the pipe - then I yelled for the electricity to be turned off (being the water was pouring out above the box) - then this is what I found when I found the flashlight. Ground whatever - from dinner and lunch and ??? Gross!!

Matt goes to Lowes and gets a new pipe and in 30 minutes we are all set. Wait - that is only one trip to the hardware store. The experts say that it takes an average of three trips. What do they know.

Matt goes up to the kitchen to turn on the water to just make sure. Things are looking good and Matt says - "I think I'll still go to work now" and starts to get ready.

"Maaaattt!" I call out. "There is water leaking out of this part of the pipe"

Yes, folks - we didn't get everything - there is another split and this time it isn't easy to cut the pipe. We have to make a cut between the floor Joice's. A saw won't fit - we try my Dremel but the blades keep breaking. So now Matt gets the air compressor out of the shop - it needs to be plugged into a 220 plug and the only one we have is in the front of the house by the porch. So we take out the window of the spare bedroom and run the air hose to the dungeon to run the air saw that will fit between the floor supports.Window out - good thing it was good weather!!


Tight spot - but the right saw does the work.


Matt with the correct saw and the next piece of pipe to get replaced.

So off to Lowes for trip number two. Now when Matt took out that last pipe some nuclear waste fell out of it on to the floor.I never put grease down my drain and this stuff was nothing but grease and oil. Where it came from - I only know the answer to be the pipe but????? So while Matt was at the hardware store for the second time -I cleaned up some of the mess - load number one of towels was done and ready for the dryer and load two went into the wash.

Matt home and once again the pipes where replaced. This time it was my turn to go upstairs to run the water in the kitchen. I did and well the water didn't go down the drain. The sink just filled up. "MAAAAAT" I called out.

Now this didn't make any sense. The water always went down the drain and it looked like what should have plugged the pipe was already on the floor of the dungeon. We tried plunging the drain for awhile but nothing. We took the drain apart and checked the trap.
More water all over the place. The dry towels from the dryer are now on the wet kitchen floor. Doesn't matter cause the trap is clear. We get a snake and nothing - we take apart what was done downstairs and snake the pipe up to the kitchen - nothing!! Matt puts everything back together and we use the plunger again - nothing.

Trip number three to the store - for Draino!!! We couldn't think of anything else. Matt pours a whole bottle down the drain and we wait. Fifteen minutes is a long time to wait. I put another load of towels into to washer another into the dryer and use a few more from the dryer to mop up more water. Time is up and we turn on the hot water - nothing. We use the plunger again and this time it works - the plug is broken and water drains. Now we can check to see if the pipe Matt replaced works or leaks.

It works - YEA!!!!!! But now I have all the cleaning to do. It is past 9p.m. now - I clean up all the standing water and the really gross stuff. It is too late to continue , we both have to work the next day and well , at our age we need our sleep. Don't worry I did finish cleaning Monday after work.

Matt has to get up at 3 a.m. to go off to work now - why couldn't things have happened Friday night or Saturday? But then I am very thankful it didn't happen 20 minutes later when Matt was already off to work. What could have been a very expensive repair from a plumber - my terrific hubby fixed it all for less than $50. Way to go Matt - you are wonderful.

Through all of this - I just kept saying - oh good - now I have something to blog about!!