Oh...'tis the season

I went into town early today to get groceries. I just can't seem to get it done during the week these days and since I was up before everyone else, took advantage of the morning and headed out.

There is nothing that seems to usher in the holidays more than the ringing of the Salvation Army bell. Out side Wal-Mart, there is usually a bell ringer each Christmas season and sure enough, this morning was no exception. It brought a warm glow inside and a smile to my face.

Once I got home and got the groceries put away, Mike and I sat and had coffee while deciding what our plan was for the day. Yes, it still includes Christmas decorations. But after we all had our assigned duties, it dawned on me that the day after Thanksgiving is usually when I start playing Christmas music in the house and I was one day late!!! I ran and got my Christmas cd's and popped in The Carpenters Christmas. Karen is singing to me as I write. Oh, I LOVE this time of year!

"Unstuff"

Well, I sepnt two hours at the gym undoing what I did yesterday! Our "Unstuff" class went great and although I felt sluggish and lacked energy, I made it better than I thought I would. I have some FANTASTIC instructors who are so talented and energetic and give great work outs.

Speaking of yesterday, it was a change for us not to be in Memphis with Mike's parents. the kids said a couple of times that they felt like it wasn't Thanksgiving since we weren't at Mamaw and Papaw's. But we had a splendid day, none the less, with our friends, The Jones' and our family, The Scott Rays. The food was amazing, the kids had a great time all playing together (we brought a couplehome) and just hanging out for several hours and talking was good for the soul.

We'll do leftovers tonight, although not the same portion sizes! I have laundry to do, a grocery list to make, and I need to start working on the January schedule at the gym. I think I have convinced Mike to take me out to Starbuck's later for coffee. It makes me feel festive! And...I will do my best to get him geared up to put up the Christmas decorations tomorrow, too.

I am thankful for so much...

Thanksgiving Dinner Calorie overload!

I just took a little on line calorie test. I was to put a check in the box next to food that I plan to eat on Thanksgiving day. Not ALL the foods I plan to eat were on the list AND the serving sizes were much smaller than I plan to eat. Even so...the meager meal that I checked off on the test was already at an amazing 1200 calories! Yikes! An after dinner Thanksgiving walk might be in order.

Our gym is also having a fun class called "Unstuff". I have 4 different instructors taking a 20 minute segment and teaching something different like, step, turbo kick, weight training, stability abll, and I will end with stretching. So...I plan to eat all I want and not feel one bit guilty with the goal of working it all off the next couple of days AFTER Thanksgiving. Sweet Potato Calsserole, here I come!

It's been a while...again

Hopefully, I can keep up a little more these days. I should be mopping my kitchen floor right now but it should only take me about 30 minutes if I "turbo" vacuum and mop. Another great way to burn some more calories.

Since the last blog, Sam's team lost their first play off game. I won't go into detail but it was a heart breaker after they play so hard all night long. We all cried but are releived it's finally over. His leg should get to heal completely while we wait for track to start.

Grace, Jessie, and Mike, are all busy rehearsing their play at the Public Theatre. Opening night is Nov. 29th and I plan to be in the front row. Grace was sick three days last week with a pretty good sinus infection with fever and everything. I am hoping she'll get caught up during Thanksgiving break.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we are headed to our friends, the Jones'. We had planned on having Scott and the kids over but my friend, Virginia, invited us all out since it was only going to be her and her parents. Now, the parents aren't even going to be there so it will be 5 adults and 10 kids. It is supposed to rain but I hope to get the kids outside for alittle running around. We were going to go to Myrtle Beach to see my brother and his family but since we have a big trip to Orlando planned next month (Christmas at Disneyland-courtesy of Mike's parents) we felt we should try to save as many pennies as we could for that trip.

With the busyness of life, we don't get to hang out with people hardlya t all anymore and I am really looking froward to just "being" with people and not just passing by them, you know?

Anyway, I am excited about Personal Training in January and I am getting my Advanced Pilates certification in January as well. I am going to need to back off The Body SHop because I feel pulled in too many different directions and I just have to streamline my head. I want to hang onto it so that I can but the products we use, but not as a source of income.

We had a great service yesterday at church and it was a great reminder of keeping focused on the purpose of living a "missional life". We had a talk with the kids last night about being "missional" as they go to school each day, enter college, get jobs, etc. Not sure how much sunk in, but I told them that we would probably have this talk many more times before they leave the house. I know that I NEED to be reminded periodically, too.

Okay, so the kitchen floor needs to get done NOW. Blessings!