There has been a change or three around here.  Good ones, for sure. I have lost 40 lbs.  Cara and Joshey are doing well.  She is excelling in her nursing program, and they start back with classes the last week of August.  I can't wait for her to finish and pass her boards and be a real, walkin-talkin RN!!  So proud.  

Joe is here with me, he is doing much better than he has in years, also very proud.  Tim and Co are having bad times and grandie may have an extended sleep over at Gramma's.  hinthint. 

Tiffany and her guy Joe the Naptizer are ok and they now live upstairs from me.  So far so good. 

Hope u are well too.

Weight Watchers points plus plan is the best option for me, and works wonderfully!  As of now, I've been on for 16 weeks, and I've lost over 30 lbs.  Also, because of getting rid of the white sugar/flour stuff, I feel alot better and have started jogging using the Couch to 5K program I got online for free.  I am more than half way thru that and loving it, LOVING IT!!!  Hope all is well out there in blogger land!

this month I proved something to myself. 


When I eliminate most of the white flour, rice, sugar from my diet, I am 100% better for it.    No dips in energy, no crazy negative moods, no cravings for more white flour, rice, sugar... you get the picture.   Food no longer has any power over me.  Seriously, it works.  Also, by getting rid of cable tv, I enjoy what ever tv watching I choose to do.  Worlds of difference around here, seriously. Try it some time.

also, I am nearly finished with the first ever jelly roll quilt.  it's not bad at all.

record heat and flowers love it

record heat and flowers love it, a photo by pam-agramaglobulin on Flickr.

what a difference a few years make... we will have to make it a priority this spring

REALLY sad how my property was so pretty, with lots of purple and pink flowers and roses the first year we lived here.  Now it's boarding on squalor.  Seriously.   I need to just man up and pay someone to haul away the garbage.  Grr but I hate spending money on that.

About once a month the Polish Club is renting out it's hall to the 'Ravers' who keep the music blasting until 2 am.  Now, I get that it's Saturday, but the place is closely packed in amongst about 20 or so private homes. 

There has got to be something we can do about this.

Got thru first week of WW, not bad at all.  I gotta think that having the WW website on my laptop has somehow made this easier. 

What did I learn this week?  Well, for one thing, quilters have a habit of giving food related nicknames to things:  jelly roll, layer cake, honey bun.. 

I guess I am  thankful that my biggest problem is that there is an abundance of food, rather than the opposite.

A super long time ago, I was introduced to Body For Life, the book, and I started that journey with hopes to win some competition.  I did eventually lose 85 lbs and went from size 22 to size 8.  The food was ok, but when I was very slim, I found I had to eat very little food, and exercise alot to maintain, and well.. it was crappy.  My back and knees hurt, and I was always starving. 

Very slowly I gained and gained and eventually stopped exercising totally.

Then.. I was watching world news on tv and saw an old man walking in the mountains on snowy paths, with no shoes.  It may have been Afghanistan, but regardless, it hit me hard.  Feeling like such a spoiled usless lump of turd I knew that I had to change my ways.   And so I joined weight watchers and did the 'core' program and lost 50 lbs.   But with core program, you can eat until you are full.  So I soon realized I was eating to the point of discomfort, every day, and I wasn't actually able to change the basic attitude that got me into this mess.

So, again, I slowly gained all of it back, and was at a size 22 in a few years. Then I remember when I turned 46 it didn't matter to me at all what I looked like.  I didn't have a mirror, aside from the small one above the bathroom sink.  And every so often I didn't feel so great.   Then it was discovered that I had high blood pressure.  A few years later, and my doc has told me to go on a 'no concentrated sweets' diet.  So I guess the fasting blood sugar test was a little high. 

Well, all in all one would think that I would be joining weight watchers again because of my size.  Or to just avoid a stroke.  But believe it or not, I have started a new hobby that has given me a new attitude.

So, havng accepted that sometimes I can feel hungry during the day and it just isn't all that agonizing, and after eating anything and everything I wanted for almost 8 years, I guess I'm over it.  On to the next phase of life, where I will live at peace with food, and 'some' will be more than enough.

sorry, been really busy with my dog, grand daughter, sewing, and collecting/fixing old sewing machines.

I am following Craftsy and it's block of the month program, but I have a small problem. So far I don't really care for the block of January.  Not gonna make it.  So now what?  How does that look when I am already a block behind everyone else from the very start. Ugh.

When I shut off the cable and switched to just HULUplus and high speed cable, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

The old lazy way of plopping into the recliner and watching cable is gone.  Now I selectively sit down and watch some very choice programming IE Diary of a Foodie by PBS.

What of your beloved Weather Channel marathons, you ask... So I just check the website and then get up and do something constructive.  AND now I even watch and e n j o y a football game once in a while. Who'da thunk it?


I am so totally pumped about this that I can see big changes in my future, all because I dropped cable tv.  Could this be the year that I actually do run in an WDW half marathon?   Maaaaaaaybeeee.

alzheimers quilt project

I found a use for a small art quilt I started, so it's going to be bound and sent off to the Alzheimers Quilt Project and sold, proceeds going to help research.  Yay!

A Sweetie comes to Connecticut

My new best buddy is here. Sweetie is an 8 year old beagle/basset hound rescue dog.


She came from Tenn. to Ct. on the w/e of March 13th in that horrible rain/wind storm. We met the delivery van at 6 am, and the weather was so nasty. The man who drove her van helped her out into the cold and said "well, Sweetie, welcome to the North."

For the first few days she was very timid and nervous. Now she has gotten to the point that she seems more relaxed. She still has not barked yet, but that's fine for now. We are having good times together, and I'm so glad she's come along.

so many crafts so little time

in reality, that's not exactly true. in the last three weeks i've been to work 2 days. one was a double on saturday and another was last monday and tuesday. so i've been home since tuesday, i go back to work on tuesday and have wednesday off.

the state is at work so i'm glad this is my light week. it sucks that i'm still not 100% but then again 100% is something i don't believe i will ever see again.

coming to grips with how my life is turning out, and it's not all a bowl of cherries.

feb/march in new england is killing me this year

bad cold, body acheing and coughing for nearly a week. i've been fortunate enough to call in a favor from a friend and she will cover my shifts tonight and tomorrow. i pray i am better by Sunday, since i have to work that day.

THE STATE auditors are at my facility so everyone is freaking out. personally i don't let them get to me b/c i do my job like the state is around every day, therefore it's not hard to perform well when they are watching me.

the gardening springtime bug has bitten. there are bleeding hearts and hostas and columbine plants waiting to get into the ground. my seedlings have started sprouting. can't wait!

been a while..

well, I am currently addicted to www.ravelry.com and games on www.facebook.com including Fishville Farmville Farmtown and Island Paradise. I just like to play, nothing too competative, and I don't need to be at the top levels any time soon. It's amazing how seriously people take these things.

there is so much to do in a day I can't really devote alot of it to any one thing. between normal chores, work, helping my Mom, helping the kids, bible study, and then crafts, i just can't be on my lap top for hours planting and selling and feeding and watering.

that's why I'm starting a REAL outdoor garden this year. haha. because i have so little time! however, the truth is I can't afford this mortgage and the repairs that want to get done so it's worth it to give up some tv and free time to grow as much produce as possible.

cuz dang tomatoes are expensive!

also, I'm going to do the wdw Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon in disney this October. Registration is 135.00 and then I will have the other costs for the trip so I need to 'dig up' 600 bucks for that. the Couch to 5K program is helping me get from a couch potato to someone who can actually run for short distances, which is technically all you need to get through the 13 miles and not be swept off the course for lagging behind.

here we go. 2010 is going to be gooooooood!

purplebr hollywood studios

purplebr hollywood studios
Originally uploaded by VeniVidiVknitty

here is the base for my hollywood studios style bedroom.


when I was deciding what color for the bedroom, I wanted gold, then no dark pink, then a trendy, chic grey/tan, and then I finally just thought, 'what color do you want to wake up to and have to look at first thing every morning for a couple of years at least?"

I grabbed a handfull of purple paint chips and wandered over to the houseware area in Walmart and started holding them up to dark red pillows and yellow curtins and then different pieces of art and decided on this one.

The Kilz One Coat guarantee was a crock, though. Still gonna need 2 coats, for some reason. I even stopped painting and drove to Home Depot to get different paint rollers, but it was not a case of equipment problems. From smooth to medium/rough finish rollers, the paint was streaky as can be. Good thing I'm only doing one room!

I really love it!

Why I don't have time to go to SNB groups

It would be cool, ya know? One of my all time fav things to do was 'hang out with friends' back when I was much MUCH younger. But then my list of responsibilities was like this:

Clean room, homework, um yea.

Then I had my first child at 18, and it grew to:

Care for baby, clean room, do laundry, argue with my Mom.

Then... well the kids came and I had a house and 4 children and eventually went to nursing school and any time 'hanging out with friends' dwindled down to literally twice a year.

Now the kids are grown. I bought this 2 family and fixed up the apartment upstairs to be habitable again. It looks very nice. My doctor even gave me a high five when I told him that I put in a working sink that doesn't even leak! Yessss! So, after all that, it turns out that my son and his girl are going to move in up their. See, they're having a baby. I will finally be a grandma.

So it looks like I have a shorter list again:

Play with grandchild, clean my room, work, argue with my Mom. But despite being shorter, I don't see any time in there for sitting at a coffee shop with strangers and knitting.

Sunrise @ Mont Blanc

Sunrise @ Mont Blanc
Originally uploaded by teo de pap

Where does one have to be to get a shot like this?

Khayal : Stressed out

Khayal : Stressed out
Originally uploaded by KhayaL

There isn't 'too much' going on right now. I traded my rent for my mortgage payment. I dabble in remodel when I have time, but there hasn't been hard deadlines. No new relationship stuff to speak of.

So why did I lose my temper at work? The day was like any other day. Same place, same people, same problems. But for some reason I snapped on September 28 2009.

One more stone for the bucket of life. Actually, this is the second in a matter of a few months. Regarding that other incident I didn't snap, but I did indeed do something I would love to take back.

The song lyric 'we're only human after all' keeps running through my head today. But that's not enough to make me have peace with it. I guess I just wish I knew why.