weighing in

She rushes from work to her weekly weight loss meeting. Everyone is so friendly and supportive there, calling out to her as she arrives. "Are you ready to weigh in?"

"Not yet," she tells them.

She heads for the restroom (did you know that water weighs 8 pounds a gallon?). While there she shucks off her work clothes and dons her short shorts and tank top. Back in the meeting room she hears, "Ready now?"

"Not quite."

She sets down her purse which now looks like a laundry basket and takes off her shoes before stepping up to the scale.

"Wait!"

Back to the purse - off with the watch and rings and earrings. She seemed to be consulting a mental check list - glasses came off, pockets checked. Back again to the scale, foot poised to step up and...

"Wait!"

Whoosh goes the gum into the wastebasket.

"Ok, ready now."

The scale tells no lie, all of her hard work preparing for the scale (I mean dieting) has paid off, the announcement is made:

"Weight loss! 1/10 of a pound! Woohoo!" An atta-girl sticker for her!

She finds a seat and starts putting things back on, exhausted by the ordeal - hey maybe the stress of weighing in will shed a few ounces? Since she has not eaten all day in preparation for this weigh-in, she is starving so she searches her purse for that emergency Snickers bar.

Next in comes Bob, one of the few men who come to these meetings, here only 6 weeks and lost 30 pounds already - geesh! Straight in from work with heavy boots and jeans and a big ol' wad of keys dangling from his belt, he walks right up and onto the scale.

"Another 5 pounds! Great Job! Everyone give Bob a hand."

Underneath the lackluster applause could be heard the collective groan of a roomful of women - grrrr.

As the leader starts in on this week's message on portion control or keeping a food journal or eating out tips, her mind drifts - what to do before next week's weigh-in? Maybe she could get a hair cut... Hey, there's a blood drive this weekend... mmmm what about organ donation...

one more time around

Sometimes life is like a turntable
Going round and round
Eat, sleep, work, day in and day out
SSDD

Sometimes life is like a broken record
Skipping over the good parts
Maybe stomping the floor will help
To get things back on track

Sometimes life is like a record player
Set on the wrong speed
Either flying along at 78
Or just a mellow 33, what will today be

Sometimes life is like a warped record
With bumps along the way
It could make for a fun ride
If you have a warped attitude

Sometimes life is like a scratched record
Watch out for those little glitches
Maybe a stack of pennies
On my head will fix this one

Sometimes life is like a turntable
Going round and round
Eat, sleep, work, day in and day out
SSDD

~Susan Tidwell 2008


~I was recently reading a list of obsolete things (like vinyl records) and was reminded of these thoughts from April 2008 so here it is, one more time around...

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

cool it down

Spent the hot weekend putting together a book of our Canada trip pictures, a great way to cool off by looking at all that snow!







I know, it's been 2 years and I probably don't remember the names of most of these places, but better late than never, right?

Since we took over 1000 pictures, it takes a lot of time to sort and crop and pick and choose. Blurb has lots of travel books featured, so getting lots of ideas about format, style, etc. A project!

break time

Just a break in the regularly scheduled day for a 'granma' moment - flowers and quilts and teddy bears, oh my!

it's a mystery 13

In mysteries, the reader doesn’t know who the killer is until the end. In thrillers, the reader knows who the bad guy is from the beginning. The only question is how much damage he’s going to do before he gets caught. ~J. A. Jance

Crime novels have been popular in every culture everywhere in the world. The second story ever told was a murder mystery - you know, the first story ever told was Adam and Eve, a love story. The second story, Cain and Abel. ~ Rene Balcer, executive producer of Law and Order.

I think if you can create something and make something from week to week that the whole world enjoys every second of every day, it's pretty special, and sends the right message that if you commit a crime, we're gonna catch you. That's the bottom line - justice. ~Anthony E. Zuiker creator of television show CSI

Mysteries work as stories with the require beginnings, middles and ends. Those ends usually entail the bad guy getting caught and/or punished. That is the rule. If the bad guy doesn’t get it in the end, you may be dealing with literature, and that’s another kettle of fish entirely. ~ J. A. Jance

Some of my favorite mystery/thriller authors/characters:

1. Sue Grafton - Kinsey Millhone, PI - Grafton's alphabet mystery series has gone from A to U so far, what will she do when the letters run out?
2. Lee Child - Jack Reacher, former MP, tough guy who doesn't mess around, Reacher always gets it done.
3. Robert Parker - Spenser PI, Jesse Stone small town police chief, Parker's death earlier this year left a finite number of great crime novels out there, would like to read them all.
4. Janet Evanovich - Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter in the 'burg' NJ. In addition to her sometimes comedic exploits at bounty hunting, her family offers quite a few smiles as well, especially grandma!
5. John Grisham - Former attorney turned writer, his legal thrillers are meticulous and gritty and always good to the last page.
6. Scott Turow - Practicing lawyer and writer, more gritty courtroom legal thrillers, the latest just out - Innocent - sequel to the 1987 Presumed Innocent which I loved, looking forward to this one.
7. J. A. Jance - Joanna Brady, Arizona county sheriff in addition to being a wife and mother, she works around the 'good old boy' network and gets the job done her way.
8. Nevada Barr - Anna Pigeon, National Park ranger - When reading about park rangers I would expect to hear about wild animals etc, but am always surprised to find the biggest problem the rangers have is with the 2 legged kind, and Anna handles both kinds courageously.
9. C. J. Box - Joe Pickett, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett (like Anna Pigeon park ranger) finds more than he bargains for in the Wyoming back country and has a knack for finding trouble.
10. Stephen White - Dr. Alan Gregory, psychologist. White uses his experience as a psychologist to create some great story lines and characters.
11. Stuart Woods - Stone Barrington, former NYPD cop turned PI, usually has a grand adventure with the bad guys getting caught in the end.
12. Stephen King - More thought of as a writer of horror, but there are lots of mysterious and thrilling things in a King story, always a good read.
13. _____ looking for my next favorite author, any suggestions?

What is your favorite genre?

Do you like books that stand alone or have recurring characters, sequels, or series?

What is on your nightstand?

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. ~ Sir Richard Steele

more lists here at Thursday 13

green tea

I found the health benefits of green tea listed here one morning whilst perusing Yahoo:

fat fighter
targets belly fat
keeps energy stable
may be helpful against lung cancer
may halt colorectal cancer
appears to cause prostate cancer cells to commit suicide
may prevent skin damage and wrinkling
kills free radicals
tastes good

I'll admit the name conjured up some not-so-appetizing images, but decided to try it - and guess what - it is not green at all, go figure.

I can use all those benefits listed (well except for the prostate cancer one) and it really does taste good. I admit I have a pitcher of lemonade at all times in the fridge and mix some into my glass of tea.

So I am going green - tea that is!

sunshine on my shoulders

When you live just a few miles from a beautiful state park it is easy to take it for granted, traveling miles away to other parks instead. Last week I scooted over to Amicalola Falls to pick up an annual park pass (yes, that is what he wanted for Father's Day), and I didn't even drive up to the top for the view, did not see the waterfalls, did not hike on any of the trails or climb the 604 steps. Just a quick trip into the visitor center for my business.

Speaking of the visitor center, what is up with all those snakes? They are on display right in the center of the building between the door and the info desk, you have to walk around them. Usually it is easy to avert your eyes or pretend they are not there because most of the time they are sleeping, but not this time. They were performing for all the tourists, slithering and climbing around in their glass cages, good grief!

So I got out of there as quickly as possible and because of the oppressive heat and humidity (a.k.a. summer in Georgia) headed for my air conditioned car, but to get there had to pass through these beautiful flowers at the visitor center. At least something is thriving out in this hot weather!

The showers in April might get the May flowers started, but the hot June sun makes them grow tall and strong and brings out the vivid colors - the daisies were almost waist-high! You can almost see them smiling and shhhh, is that them singing... sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy...


~photos 17 June 2010 Amicalola Falls State Park

trip to the big city

Spent the afternoon yesterday in Hotlanta and boy was it HOT!

The girls treated us for Father's Day to breakfast at IHOP and Braves Baseball, it was a beautiful day, everyone had a good time, and the Braves won! Of course when visiting Atlanta a stop at the Varsity is a given.



Sunshine, Braves baseball, Varsity dogs, family, what else could you ask for? Life is good...

Ocoee River Hike

A good day for a hike - along the Old Copper Road trail alongside the Ocoee River in Tennessee, whitewater rafters, wildflowers, fresh air and lots of sunshine!

More pictures here

yes, deer

hey, that lady is looking at me

wait, she is pointing something at me

I remember what mom said - Run!


~photos 17 June 2010 in the yard

half way there

Congrats to local girl Collin who is hiking the AT - yesterday she made the "psychological" 1/2 way point at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, the above picture at the ATC visitor's center, a tradition for the official through-hiker photo album.

Follow Collin's adventures on her blog, keep up with the tales of Marge and Lefty (her feet and sometimes her biggest problems) , Big Agnes (her sleeping pad with the perpetual hole), the endless quest for food, and all the critters (2 legged and 4 legged) she meets along the way.

Collin is such an inspiration. I have never accomplished anything remotely like this {sigh}. Wait, I take that back, I am actually very good at doing things halfway...