365 Day Photo Challenge 312/365 “Day 7”

Tags

, , , ,

https://tchphotography.smugmug.com/Birmingham/i-bjSDRmS/A

It’s been a gloomy and wet day here in the deep south.  It’s been raining ever since yesterday afternoon.  We need the rain but I’m getting a little tired of getting wet every time I have to go outside.

This is the second day that I haven’t got any treadmill time in.  My feet have been hurting a lot.  I may have overdone it, I’m not sure.  My goal is to get on there sometime tomorrow.

I was able to go to an event up the street where the high school jazz band was performing.  Being that one of my daughters plays the saxophone in the jazz band I went and recorded it.  They played for over an hour and my daughter did very well on all her solo’s.  After which my wife and girls went shopping and I went home and took a much needed nap. The weather reports claim more rain is in store for tomorrow.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 311/365 “Day 6”

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

20151106_200105

As I’m writing this there is a steady rain with a sound of thunder off in the distance.  I have always enjoyed the sound of rain especially when it’s hitting a tin roof.  I even enjoy an occasional thunderstorm when it’s not too strong.  I don’t care for the strong winds, lightning and the damage that is associated with sever storms.

Today was a continuation of yesterday.  I had already conceded the fact that no matter what happened today I would not let it bother me.  That lasted about an hour after I arrived.  Since I lost my temper yesterday most of my coworkers were keeping their distance and rightfully so.  My helper was afraid to work with me for fear of my biting his head off.  The truth of the matter is once I “explode”, I’m good.  I don’t let it eat at me like most people.  The explosion is simply a release of stress and frustration that’s been building up over the past few months.

I did not walk tonight.  The girls school has made the playoffs and tonight was the first round.  Because they won their game tonight they will go on to play in the second round. The rain started late in the fourth quarter and we all got soaked.  The team made it all the way to the final round last year and lost.  I’m not sure if they’ll go as far as that this  year but they’ll give it their best.

365 Day Photo Challenge 310/365 “Day 5”

Tags

, , , ,

Leaders Banquet

Leaders Banquet

Today started off better than yesterday as far as mood but as the day wore on the worse it got. Without boring everyone with the details; I work with a bunch of idiots.  About 2:30pm I had all I could take and I took the rest of the day off.

Tonight was our district’s leadership banquet.  I got home in time to make a Dutch Oven Cobbler.  Peach to be exact.  The leaders banquet is just a gathering once a year to recognize those leaders that have earned special awards throughout the year.  I’ve got several but I’ve been so busy lately that I failed to get mine in on time.  That’s fine with me because I’m not a leader that likes to be recognized, I’m a leader so that the boys can be recognized.

I did get some treadmill time in tonight after I got home from the banquet.  When I got done everyone had already gone to bed.  I took a shower and now I’m watching a little Perry Mason as I’m winding down before going to bed.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 309/365 “Day 4”

Tags

, , , , ,

2013-05-03 06.45.30

Today was a wild ride.  I had to make a trip to Montgomery today to work on an AC unit that had frozen up.  I was instructed to work on several other items while I waited for the unit to thaw out.  I wished it was as simple as that.

Going out of town takes me out of my comfort zone as far as my dieting goes.  Normally I can do better if I stay within a routine but with me going out of town it threw my routine out the window.  For breakfast I normally have a bowl of cereal with fat free milk.  Today we stopped at Chick Fil A.  I ordered a number 4 which was a spicy chicken biscuit with hash rounds and a medium coke.  I wished I had done better.  For lunch I normally fix a salad at the salad bar in our dining center.  Today we went to Baumhowers.  I had one pound of of hot chicken wings with french fries.  I wished now I had done better.  It wasn’t until I got home when I got back on track.  I had a baked pork chop with mac and cheese.  As you can see and has been noted earlier that my willpower is no good.  The silver lining to this is I did get back on track and didn’t continue to spiral downhill.  Another plus for me is that I didn’t have any sweets and I did get to get on my treadmill tonight and I did 2.25 miles at 3.2 mph.

One thing I have learned over the years of “dieting” is never to give up.  You may have bad days occasionally but don’t let it continue.  In the past I have made the statement after a meal that I have just botched that I might as well continue and start back on my “diet” again tomorrow.  The beauty of this is that you don’t have to wait until the next day, you can get back on track your very next meal.  Another fault that I have is that sometimes I think that it’s ok to eat whatever I want to eat as long as I do some exercise later that evening.  I know it’s wrong to think that and I’ve got to stop letting that thought enter my head.

There are other things I’ve learned over the years when it comes to my diabetes but I’ll save that for another story.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 308/365 “Day 3”

Tags

, , , , ,

DSC_5394-2

I got into an argument today with one of my cousins about the best way to lose weight.  At first it was a discussion and then it turned a little heated.

She is several years younger than I am and she is obese just as I am.  At one time she had gotten up to around 350 lbs. I nearly got there at 345 lbs.   She tried losing weight by taking pills, drinking shakes and these weird diets and she lost weight but she quickly gained it all back once she quit her diet.  About two years ago she had Gastric Bypass Surgery and for a while afterwards she did great.  So much so that I was even thinking about having it done.  I’ve known four people that have had the surgery.  Out of those four, one has kept the weight off.  The other three has gained all the weight back plus an extra twenty or thirty pounds.  My point is this.  Losing weight is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change.  My cousin has yet to understand this.  She’s gained not all but a lot of her weight back only because she does not exercise, she does not eat right; she’s convinced that all she needs to eat are weight loss shakes.

I am in no way a diet expert but I have been doing it long enough to know what will for my body.  I have found that if I don’t eat right ALL THE TIME and exercise ALL THE TiME I will gain all the weight back that I had previously lost.  The fact is that you have to find a “lifestyle” that is right for you.  It just so happens that shakes and diet pills do not work for me.

My cousin is back on these diet shakes which I think is only a money making scheme.  Sort of like those pyramids that were popular back a few years ago.  She’s got my brother hooked and is trying to get me hooked but I refuse to listen to her sales pitch in which this is where this whole argument got started.

I know I can loose the weight by doing exactly what I’m doing now.  By eating right and exercising on a regular basis I had lost down to 265 two years ago.  But, like I said, once I quit eating right and exercising I gained a lot of the weight back.  This morning I weighed in at 294, down six pounds from last week, so I know I can do this.  Just a little will power and a little help from the good Lord.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 307/365 “Day Two”

Tags

, , , ,

_1TH9248

Day two consisted of two miles at 3.2 mph and about 40 minutes on the treadmill.  That was this morning and I had every intention of doing it again when I returned home but I had other things that needed to get done.  What I’d like to do is get up around 4:30 in the morning and do about an hour before I have to start getting ready for work but I like to stay up too late to be able to get up that early.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 306/365 “Day 1?

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

_1TH9233

Today is the first day of thirty days of a treadmill exercise program.  This evening I just did a little over thirty minutes and 1.56 miles.  I know it’s not much but each day I will try to increase both the time and the milage.  Two years ago I had gotten up to an hour and a half and up to a little over five miles before I got burnt out and quit.  Maybe I can work up to that again before the month is over with.

The above picture is of the chicken pot pie that I made yesterday. It went over very well and was loved by everyone that had some.  I’ll post some pictures tomorrow of some of the mayhem that went on during the trick or treating.  It was crazy.

Other than doing the treadmill this evening I haven’t done much of anything but edit a few pictures and watch some football with my son before he had to leave for college. Tomorrow I continue with my hellish job at least for another 34 more months.  I can only hope and pray that it gets better.

“Life Goes On”

365 Day Photo Challenge 305/365 “What a Day!!”

Tags

, , , ,

12065593_10153242171398946_2911063520525005922_n

My daughter woke up a little better than when she went to bed last night.  Wife told me she would call the doctor when they opened and get her an appointment when they opened.  I had their blessing to go on to the cookout without them.

The weather cooperated for the most part throughout the day.Although it did sprinkle at times it didn’t last long.  The park was to close all the roads inside the park at 9am and would not allow any vehicles to enter or exit the park unless it was an emergency.  Also at 9am was the start time for the Fairyland Festival for the younger kids.  Do driving through there either.  So I wanted to get there before they closed the roads and unload my truck and then move my truck to a designated parking area.

At about 11am we started cooking the chicken pot pie and two different types of apple cobbler.  One was my recipe and the other is a recipe that was found in one of my cookbooks.  Where we were located we were in direct view of everyone that came down our little road.  I can’t tell you how many times we were asked what’s for supper.  We was told that you could smell the aroma over into the next campground.

There were about fifteen people that I cooked for today.  One of my smaller groups. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and went back for seconds and even thirds.

By 2:30 there was an estimated 10,000 people enter the park to trick or treat.  I’ve never seen so many ghost and goblins in all my days.  I was really impressed with all the imagination on the outfits.  Although, I do have to question a couple of them on their legality.  Some of them showed way too much and left nothing for the imagination.

Around 6pm the rains came and was heavy and furious.  For the most part the rain stopped the trick or treating.  Once the rains settled in the festivities ended rather abruptly.

I did hear back from my wife about my daughters doctor’s visit.  There is a small chance the has Salmonella or other gastric issue.  We won’t know for another 48 hours.  Doctor’s told her to rest and not go anywhere this weekend.

The rain came in around 5pm or so and when it decided to rain, it poured.  I had not loaded anything in the truck and I along with all my cast iron got soaked doing so.  I guess I’ll be spending some time tomorrow making sure all my cast iron is dry before putting everything is.

All in all I had a wonderful day today.  Although my family was not able to join me I had fun cooking for the folks as well as watching all those ghosts and goblins.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 304/365 “The Long Awaited Weekend”

Tags

, , , , , ,

https://tchphotography.smugmug.com/Botanical-Gardens/i-QqsKXFW/A

It’s going to be a wet weekend but I’m going to make the best of it.  I’m cooking for a small group for a pre halloween party.  I’ve got to get up early so that I get set up before they close the campground down to traffic.  The whole family was going until moments ago when one of my daughters decides to get sick.  My wife may be going to take her to the doctor in the morning if she’s not any better.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 303/365 “She Misses Her Girls”

Tags

, , , , , ,

005

I know I’ve posted this picture before but this one fits tonight’s topic so well.  Every time my girls leave the house, whether it’s going to school, to church or just going out to the store with their mom, Sophie will either sit by the door or sit on the back of the couch looking outside waiting on her girls to come home.  Most of the day while the girls are away at school both of our cats will stay on the foot of my bed but when it gets close to the time for the girls to get home Sophie will take her place on the back of the couch and wait for her girls to come home.  Once the girls are home she stays by their side until they go to bed.  I’ve never owned a cat that was so dedicated to any of my kids as she is.  The other cat is just happy that we feed him and keep his food dish completely ful.

“Life Goes On!”