Well, yeah, it's kinda like that...

Sunsets are my favorite. I don't understand why really. I'm a morning person, you'd think sunrises would be more likely my favorite, to no avail. Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset....hands down, I vote sunset.

And I'll let you in on a little secret. It's ridiculous to enjoy a sunset more than a sunrise when you have an inkling feeling of fear when it's dark. Just a little scared, not run through the woods, hysterically flapping my arms, thinking a monster will get me. Then again, we don't have many wooded areas to run through around our home, so maybe it is that kind of fear. But I love the evening sunsets. A wash of gold colors everything the sun reaches, homes become adorned marvelously, your skin glows, the sky-a most fantastic mural. Warmth fills the soul, fills it up and reminds all of the beauty God created for his children. A most perfect time for a gulp of fresh air, a pause to wonder and muse, happy thoughts filling a stressed mind, a burdened heart.

And you get home, take a load off, sit down on the couch and have the dog-child beg you for a little walk around the neighborhood.......
Oh, come on....HOW could anyone say no?

Bask in it, we only have each second of our day for a second.

Even when this same sweet dog-child keeps you up half the night by insisting on jumping into bed with you.....over and over and over again. Cries in her kennel, uses her manipulative puppy dog eyes to gain forgiveness, and it's all good again. Wipe the sleep from my eyes, and get on with life, each day I only have once to enjoy!

Card of the Week

Check out the cards of my week (or month, who's really counting?) over at Pile O Craft.

I say "jump"; You ask "how high?"

I've been researching and reading and getting good tips on healthy cooking, great substitutes for fattier content foods and finding great workouts.

Came across this little gem today:

"I had someone tell me in dead earnest today that Dr. Oz has the best weight loss advice because it really works! [This is what you do:]
-You can eat all the sugar you want as long as you drink grapefruit juice within 30 minutes afterwards because there are some kind of enzymes that eat the sugar.
-You should eat 30g of protein within 30 minutes of getting up.
-You should splurge once a week because it causes your hormones to eat fat."

Who's gonna play guinea pig for me? This I HAVE to see, but there's no way in tarnation I'll be caught dead gaining my weight back and increasing my blood pressure and cholesterol doing it.

What do I have to do? Give you a free scrapbook? Free dinners for a month? Of course I'll have a pitcher full of grapefruit juice for anything sugary served. Free breakfast for a week? I'll sausage you to death, I will!

I can't stop laughing. Dr. Oz IS as crazy as he looks on TV. Where does Oprah find these crazies? Guess it's not too hard when you're kinda a loose bolt yourself. I love Oprah's giveaways, the buck stops there. No offense Miss Oprah, we simply tend to agree to disagree on allot.

Taking applications now.

Well done pig, well done....

Yep, this little piggie is going hardcore. Okay, with the eating habits, yes; The working out, um, 2 workouts per week counts as "starting somewhere", doesn't it? I'm going to go with yes.

So I counted and it's been 9 weeks since I turned 28. What's the progress, you must ask? Going strong!

Scale says: 183.5 (not really what I expected, but my clothes are fitting better, so I'll let it slide)
Motivation: 10 for 10
Happiness: 10 for 10

My mom wins this one. She's always, ALWAYS said, "Life is 2% what happens and 98% how you react to it." And she's right. Not that I ever thought she was wrong. Wanting to publicly honor your mother's sage advice, well that's up at the tippity-top of most mother's dream lists, isn't it? At least, when I have kids, I, sure as the sun comes up each morning, want my kid's to idolize and commit to memory every little sage piece of advice I've got to give! Mom, here's to you!

One could speculate, 28 years to figure out Mom is always right seems a bit retarded in the "catching-on" department. I'll save you the speculation. It is. And she's always been right, she'll always be right and I'm paying homage. I should probably whip her up a batch of thank you cards right now and write my many thanks on a post it note inside one of those dolled up thank you cards. I really should, especially since I'm working on Jackie's batch of happy birthday cards. Okay, I've convinced myself, I'll do it.

And we're back. You know, to the attitude part of life. I have attitude, a certainty anyone who knows me would be hard-pressed to deny, even while undergoing waterboarding torture techniques. Yeah, it's that good bad unbelievable.

Attitude makes or breaks you. Attitude shows you who you can be and who you never thought you would be. Attitude is patience, attitude is anger. Attitude is a tremendous help mate, a sore loser. Attitude is everything and can make you nothing. How can it be?

Attitude is you. If you are angry, impatient and a sore loser, your attitude follows. How fantastic is it we all get to be leaders in our own lives, our attitudes quickly following wherever we roam?

Surely, we've all learned the hard way at one point or another in our journey of mortal life. With the weight issue, if I've got a horrible attitude, well, I DO look fat and ugly. If I keep my attitude happy and optimistic, well who cares that I'm carrying 70 extra pounds around? It has really helped me to be happy and on the days I don't feel like I'm happy, I fake it anyway and Mom was right, you really do end up with a decent day at the end of it all.

Cheers to good attitudes and healthy lifestyle living. I've changed my diet, I'm not on a diet. I've picked up weights and lifted them as I've watched one of my favorite TV shows, instead of grabbing a handful of M&M's and vegging out. Portions are in check and I'm feeling great.

My body thanks you for the support and help! As does my heart, literally and spiritually.

Thanks for helping me keep my attitude in check and my weight loss motivation going. That's about all I've been up to lately, but head over to Pile o craft to check out our Wedding editions. And I'll have cards posted soon ;) also!

One month down...

And plenty to go.

Scale says: Hmmmm, I haven't checked lately. I've been busy making stuff :)
Motivation: 9 out out of 10 (I've pre-decided- more like pre-meditated, if I HAPPEN across a peice of fudge, I will not tell it no. But I won't make it, so that ought to help.)
Happiness: 11 out of 10 ( I told you, I've been making stuff, I can't possibly get any happier!)

My pants fit about the same, but I am going to do a boot camp starting the first week of January....YAY!!!! I like it when people yell at me to keep going, strange, I know. Very, very, very strange. But it makes me feel like I have no other alternative, and well, I'm a shallow people pleaser. Pros and cons, we'll focus on that some other time.

Christmas time is fast becoming a crazy time of year for us. I got all worked up and excited to do some Christmas crafting and then I got sick. Which worked out great! I needed to stay home, so I rested and crafted. Poor Juan, he felt like a caged bird probably. And this caged bird, she was happy as a lark. Besides the hacking cough in her songer.

Head over to Pile 'o Craft to check out some of the fun.

I'm a craft nerd, and I like it!

Day 15

Hard to believe it's only been about two weeks since I turned 28.

I've felt so good and credit the portion control and Nazi Calorie Regime. Yes, I do mean regime, not regimen. Because ruling the caloric intake is absolutely necessary. Dominating and conquering make the list as well, but we all know a dictatorship is most successful when brought in teensy amounts and a year down the road, naughty calories will look up and wonder where all their control went to. Mwauh-ha-ha-ha.

Scale says: 185.5 (that means only 67 pounds to go by next Christmas)
Motivation level: 10 out of 10
Happiness level: 10 out of 10

I'm dead set on never being that miserable, crazy, raving lunatic I was on my birthday. It was not pretty at all. So I'm moving on and getting on with life :).

Whether I am technically obese or not, I can still be happy. And while this extra weight definitely takes it's toll, it's coming off, slowly and surely and staying off! So maybe be next winter we'll be ready for babies. My body will be healthy and Juan will be 1 year away from the school finish line! WOO HOO!

In more exciting news, we headed down in Honda (nope, still no decision on a name yet) to Katy this past weekend to see Jake bless his little baby girl, Elizabeth. What a blessing it was! He said just the right things, but when he mentioned boys, Lizzie did start to cry a little, guess she's not quite ready for that step yet. What a precious baby she is! Congrats Jake and Hil on a beautiful baby girl, we are so very happy for you.

Not much else to report. I have been avoiding the P90X......as usual. It scares the living daylights out of me! So I do a few sit ups and push ups in the morning and have been eyeing the P90X box suspiciously for the past few days. I know it's not going to kill me, I don't want to fail! But I guess we can't succeed if we don't try, so once again, wish me luck on this P90X endeavor. I've told myself I'll do it tonight if it's the last thing I do....so I probably should keep that promise to myself. I'll let you know how it goes!

Ooooo, and I am going to make some cards this week, so keep an eye out for those on our crafty site: http://www.pileocraft.blogspot.com/

18 days til Christmas! We are going to have our first official Christmas alone this year and while it's kinda sad not to see all your family, it's exciting to make your own traditions too!

In my 6th day of 28

We did something crazy, but necessary. And we even kept our cool about it. We both have urged one another at some
point in time to consider a new ( to us anyway) car. First, I begged Juan and then a year later he was begging me. Three years down the road and we were both ready! We test drove a few, and they were NICE! A little too nice, they were our reality check. No possible way we can afford an Infiniti right now. But we found a good, hardy little Honda and she fits right in with our budget, not to mention, fleet of black vehicles, so she's a keeper! We are trying to get a good name for her.
Hailey
Henrietta
Perdita
Hulu
Ada
Arla
The list goes on and on, suggest a few too and we'll announce her name soon. You know, along with her birth weight and all.

Speaking of birth weight, Jane Madelyn Packard is here!!! She ALMOST made it for my birthday, but not quite. Born November 23, 5:00 pm CST, a healthy 8.8 lbs! Way to go Packards! Can't wait to see that little girl!

Oh, and we got a dining table able to seat 10, Thanksgiving dinner at my house next year!

And in other exciting news:
Happiness level: 10 of 10
Motivation level:10 of 10
Scale says (cursory drumroll here): 186.5
I knew it would work, portion control, I'm putty in your hands, mold me into a slim person by next Christmas please! ;)

So two pounds down, 68 to go! Now, I get to the good stuff on Monday------p90x! Good luck and craziness required all at the same time!