Where's Kim????

In Hawaii that's where!!!!

I am off for a two week cruise to Hawaii......my much needed vacation.

I have wonderful kids that will staying with mom and watching my condo while I try to leave the stress of the last year behind, even if it is only for a couple weeks.

I will miss all of you....I love reading your blogs and learning about your lives.

But I will be back with a vengeance and a reading frenzy when I return.

Update on my Weight Watchers journey......

I have been living the Weight Watchers life since January 3rd. Unfortunately with all the stress of the past year I had gained weight and I decided it was time to take control again and stop the unhealthy eating and binging on candy and chocolate and cake and and and ......... I was using my stress, sadness and grief as an excuse!!!

So I made yet another "lose weight, eat healthy" New Year's Resolution!!!

I sucked it up, got on the scale, GASPED, and went to a Weight Watchers meeting. I have been a WW off and on for 20 years, but I need to stop the yo-yoing on my weight.

I watched the struggles my grandfather had due to diabetes, and my mom has been living with the consequences of that horrible disease for over 10 years.

And both of my parents have dealt with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other issues related to years of unhealthy lifestyles.

So, if I do NOT want to head down that same path, I needed to get back at eating healthy and exercising. (OK, so the exercise part needs to come still, but it will I PROMISE).

So on to the update. I have lost 15 pounds since January and am back in the clothes I have not been able to wear in WAY over a year.

So now, I have clothes to wear on my cruise without buying too many new things.... hey I wanna spend my money DURING the vacation. :o) HMMM, maybe I will buy a COUPLE new things. :o)

So for once I have stuck with a resolution....you have no idea how rare that is for me. Doing the happy dance here in Ohio!!!

Did you have a resolution this year???? Have you stuck with it or was it abandoned weeks ago?????

Until next time....

Monday's Music Motivation

Be sure to click on the PLAY button and then on the video and click SHOW VIDEO.... the lyrics are included on the video!

A beautiful song for this season of Lent leading up to the GLORIOUS DAY!!!



Create a playlist at MixPod.com

Sunday Morning.......

I am sitting here watching the morning news while enjoying my only quiet time of the day.

I am ending this past week (or is it starting the new week) with another busy day.

But all this crazyness and busyness is worth it because...... 

I am gearing up for a much needed and much anticipated 2 week cruise to Hawaii, so some of the busyness today includes ironing and packing and getting ready for that. I leave on Friday and CAN NOT WAIT!!!!

My kids will be handling the mom sitting and all that entails while I am gone, and I KNOW What a blessing it is that I have 2 young adult children wanting to step up so that I can get away for some R & R.

So on this Sunday morning, I pray you have a calm, quiet, and peaceful day!!! And don't forget to remember ALL the blessings, big and small, in your life.

Until next time.....

Busy Busy Busy

Life seems to have gotten busier around here if that is even possible.

Mom is still in rehab with hopes of getting out early next week.

So this week finds me running back and forth between home and rehab, hanging with the 3 dogs and making a wedding cake for this weekend.

MY FIRST PAYING WEDDING GIG!!!!

I am not sure I charged NEAR enough for all the stress it is causing me.

I will share pics when it is finished.......

But that is what is keeping me busy this week, and causing me to neglect family, friends and obligations........

So bear with me, I will check in next week, if not before!!!

Cleaning out the Financial Cobwebs......

My dear bloggy friend Janet over at Janet's Journal got me a thinkin......

She talked about a financial plan!!!!

REALLY??? You mean people really do that??

Hmm, better get working on that huh????

I mean, I do have a 401K and a couple other small pension thingy's and also will hopefully get retirement benefits from my current company.... 

.....not sure I can count on Social Security tho...

.....but I do have a long list of excuses why my proverbial financial house ain't in the best shape. I won't bore you with that information. Believe me it would be TMI!!!

THEN I saw Suze Orman on The Today Show with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford and Suze brought up the parallel between your wallet and the way you handle your finances. 

Neat and tidy wallet = finances neat and tidy too.

Messy and junky wallet = messy and junky finances. 

OUCH.... 

Well, let me tell you, they showed Hoda's wallet and she should be ashamed of herself.....I mean it was a MESS.....

NO WAIT....

people in glass houses shouldn't cast the first stone right?????

OK, OK, I will admit that mine is in about the same shape as one they showed on TV.

FULL of OLD receipts and movie stubs and gum wrappers..... ICK!!!

But NO MORE!!!

I took charge of my wallet.....

And thanks to Janet's spark, I am going to get this financial house in order.

I am a little scared but here I go.......

GERONIMO!!!!!

Motivation Monday.......

A friend sent this devotion last week, tho I am not sure what the source of it was. :o(

Restoration for Your Soul
“For in my inner being I delight in God’s law” Rom 7:22 

Are you facing a time of intense pressure? If so, you may wonder how you will get through it. Christ has the answer. When the storms of life hit, you can retain a strong sense of peace and calm by meditating on the fact that god is in control, and He has nothing but good in mind for your life. He wants you to be victorious spiritually.


When the burden you are carrying becomes too heavy, give it to God. He is your source of strength.

Prayer: Lord I give all doubt and fear to You. For me, they are insurmountable roadblocks, but in Your hands, they are nothing.

GIVE ME AN S!!!!!

GIVE ME A P!!!! GIVE ME AN R!!!!!!

So you get the picture right????

I am DREAMING of Spring.

Wishing and hoping for the little flowers poking their heads up thru the barren icky wet ground to try to find some of the Spring sunshine they expect.....





Emails, Newsletters, Magazines.....

They are all hinting at how wonderful it will be to plant colorful annuals to keep color in our world all summer long!!!

What is YOUR favorite spring flower????

Is it the crocus, the tulips, the tiny grape hyacinths????

I would love to hear.

Oh, and by the way....

.....my fave has always been the crocus.

 The tiny little buds that sometimes peek thru a dusting of snow always make me smile.

Until next time....

Music and Motivation Monday.....

This new song by Rascal Flatts may have been meant to be a love song between lovers but it is a different kind of love song to me. I think it speaks to what God is saying to us each and everyday.

If only we will just listen!!!!

I Won't Let Go

Rascal Flatts

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

Sunday Morning.....

I woke up to a beautiful dusting of snow here in Ohio. Just enuf to add sparkle to ground that is very soggy from 2 solid days of rain. Don't worry, I am as tired of snow as you are if you are in any of the snow slammed areas of the country.

But SNOW!!!! It always amazes me how beautiful it is.

I can't remember where I first saw this anowy cupcake :o)

Part of the Emmaus share group I attend is to mention the moment that we felt closest to Christ during the week. It is a joke with my share partner that I am KNOWN for nature being a FREQUENT part of my moments.

It always amazes be the wonder of God's creation.

The soft colors of a rainbow.

The new life all around me in the spring.....

.....budding trees and flowers.....

......tiny baby ducks at the local pond.

And yes!!!!

SNOW!!!!

Enjoy your Sunday.......

Wanna know.....

.... what I am going to be doing this weekend????

CHECK

IT

OUT

!!!!

AHHHHHH another successful trip to

Barnes and Noble....

PRICELESS!!!!

What has been going on????

Some of you know the events of this past week with my mom. If you have been reading from the beginning, you know my father died in October and mom is now living with me.

She had a fall a week ago and it has been determined that she has aortic stenosis which is just a fancy way of saying she has a bad aortic valve which probably caused her to pass out, ending in a fall. She was in the hospital a few days and is now in a rehab center for about a week to get stronger before coming back home.

 I see her slipping in so many ways, but I also see the wonderful, kind, generous woman that is still in there.

Ever since her stroke 10 years ago, the loss of her voice, the loss of some of her mobility, has all made me sad, but this song by Colin Raye always brings me a little bit of joy.

If you would like to hear the song, listen to it here. I searched and searched and this was the only way I could find to share it with you on here. It is a beautiful tribute video.

For now tho, here are the lyrics.

She's Gonna Fly

This is the woman who had all the answers

The one I would lean on for comfort and strength

She's never forgotten one grandchild's birthday

Now she can't remember my name

And it makes me so angry

I shake my fist

and cry out to the Heavenly one

Why would You play

Such a cold hearted trick

I thought your job was to love

and the answer came down from above....

She's gonna fly

When her time here is through

First she'll have to let go

Of some things she can't use

Cause people and places, memories and faces

Are just to heavy it seems

To carry on angel's wings

This is the woman

Who saw things so clearly

The one who could pick out

one crumb on the floor

She saw through a white lie

She saw me through love's eyes

She hardly can see anymore

And it makes me so sad

And it just isn't fair

Why should so much be taken away

But when I cry out

For all that she's lost

I silently hear someone say

She's gonna fly

When her time here is through

First she'll have to let go

Of some things she can't use

Cause people and places, memories and faces

Are just to heavy it seems

To carry on angel's wings

And OH the wonders she'll see

And I know she'll remember to watch over me

Sisters.....

OK, my dear friends, I rarely forward emails....even if they tell me that bad things will happen if I hold onto them and don't share....

But this one was hard to keep to myself. It is how I feel about all the people out there thinking of my mom and I, praying for us.....

This includes sorority sisters I have not seen for 30 years, my Been There Done That pals from the Weight Watchers message board (who I have never met), and all of my bloggy friends (who I have also never met).

You are all my sisters on this journey and I wanted to pass this on as this is how I feel about all of you.

Time passes.

Life happens.

Distance separates.

Children grow up.

Jobs come and go.

Love waxes and wanes.

Men don't do what they're supposed to do.

Hearts break.

Parents die..

Colleagues forget favors.

Careers end.

BUT.........

Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girl friend is never

farther away than needing her can reach. When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end.

Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you....Or come in and carry you out.

Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, Mothers, Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended family: all bless our life!

The world wouldn't be the same without women, and neither would I. When we began this adventure called

womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other. Every day, we need each other still.