Merry Christmas to all...from The Simpsons

All About Elizabeth

Let me tell you all about Elizabeth! She’s a wonder to behold and full of amazing talent. As an English teacher, you’re in for a treat. She loves to write, both essay and poetry. She is also an avid reader, as you will figure out within five minutes of meeting her. She’s really hoping to win the contest for the most pages read during the summer.

As mentioned before, Liz (as she sometimes likes to be called) is very talented. One area where she excels is in chorus and singing. She has a lovely singing voice and hopes to develop it further this year as she finally gets to take a chorus class for the first time. She loves to perform and enjoyed being in the school play, Aladdin last year. Yes, Elizabeth LOVES to perform, be it on stage, behind a microphone, reading her poetry or other written material to the class or playing the guitar as she sings you a birthday song she wrote herself.

While Liz is a fantastic writer, for her age, she still has a little ways to go where grammar, punctuation and structure are concerned. But don’t tell her that, she doesn’t want to hear it. Additionally, she hates being told what books she can or cannot read. She’d be reading 50 Shades of Gray if we let her, but instead, we monitor her books, giving her as much leeway as we can, while still keeping her focused on more age-appropriate materials.

Liz is fascinated by the movie Titanic and is now into reading books that dramatize the sinking of the famous ship. I encourage this as it was a personal interest of mine, too. Liz is also very athletic although she is currently without sport. We anticipate tennis lessons in her near future. There’s not a shy bone in her body and she’s very open and frank, perhaps a bit too much so. She talks first and thinks later, often leading to rude comments escaping uncensored from her mouth. When she thinks about it later, she’s sorry she’s said things, but posseses too much pride to apologize. It’s a character flaw she’s working on.

Well, that’s Liz/Elizabeth in a nutshell. She’s very loved, very talented and we expect great things out of her in the future. We hope you get to know her and appreciate her unique talents, just as we do.

Sincerely,

Gina Simpson

Thanksgiving is coming...eventually

On this blog entry, I wrote about my favorite topic, Thanksgiving.
http://www.starreviews.com/blog/ginasimpson/2010_09/thanksgiving_centerpiece.aspx'and then I also wrote this one about secretarial positions in the schools.
http://www.starreviews.com/blog/ginasimpson/2010_09/school_secretary.aspx

Good morning starshine, the earth says hello!

Well, we've been in OK for about 2 months now and things are doing much better. Still playing catch up on bills and the such, but our head is above water most of the time. The children are adjusting well, they seem to love school and are joining clubs left and right. John, my youngest, has joined the Boy Scouts, which makes the family happy. My dad and brother both made it to Eagle Scouts so they'd love to have someone in the family go far in scouts too.

We still have more boxes to unpack but there just seems to be so little time to put towards that when we could be having family time or I could be writing. I want to keep my blog going though as I'm not writing in a diary anymore. I've kept a diary since I was about 8 or so. I read a Judy Blume book where her character kept one and graded her days like a report card. I thought that was cool and started doing it. While I no longer grade my days, I still love reading back over posts. One thing I love about blogs is the ability to post pictures. I'm posting one that we took this weekend at a Boy Scout fall festival here in Broken Arrow.

My life has sooo changed in the almost YEAR since I last blogged. I don't know what happens with me, but sometimes I feel like a blog, sometimes I don't.
So, the family and I are in OKLAHOMA right now!!Wow, what a change our life has gone through. Dale has a really good job with a company called CNL Services out of Tulsa. They service HUD loans and Dale works in the IT department. I am writing for living now. I got let go from Pizza Hut for hanging up on a customer. It was a misunderstanding and I thought they had hung up first, but they let me go...so, I'm solely depending on my writing now. We're having a tough time of things now, trying to keep the house in Winder and renting this house in Broken Arrow.

Wish Us Luck.

climbing back

How many times have I said the words that I'm starting over? That this time it will be different? That I'll make it?

I don't know that to be true this time...but hey, it wasn't true before either. I know my health is at risk. My doctor left me a very urgent voice mail on Friday about my recent tests. But to be honest, they weren't a surprise. My cholesterol was a little high (about 223), but my blood sugar numbers were the worst. A1C of 10.7. To put it in perspective for you non-diabetics, it should be below 6. He's upped my meds and wants me to do a 2 week test on them before he ups them again.

So this morning, in all that pouring rain (cats and dogs !!) I got out of bed when the kids did (they are back to school today! whooo hooo) and this time I DIDN'T go back to bed. I immediately got dressed in my workout clothes and headed over to the Y after I dropped them off at school. There was almost noone at the gym and that made me feel good that I'd made it when few others did. But then again, few others probably needed it as much as I did.

The treadmills that the Y uses have a television built into them and I was watching The Today Show and they featured a lady who'd lost 212 pounds! I really needed to see that today! She'd had an aha moment (to borrow the phrase from Oprah) while watching Phantom of the Opera. Never seen it....But if it worked for her, great. She looked wonderful...And you can only imagine the benefits to her health. Like I said, I NEEDED to see that clip today.

So, bottom line, I got on the treadmill this morning, walked 45 minutes, burned 304 calories and walked 2.23 miles. I'm not looking to increase on that yet. If I can keep that steady for a week, we'll see about increasing it. I came home, fixed a good low carb breakfast that will be good for my blood sugars, drank 2 cups of water...so I'm off to a good start. Wish me luck.

goodmorning! As they say in the children's rhyme, rain rain go away.....and it has. The sun is shinning today and it's a beautiful day. May take the kids to the park this morning and hope it's dried enough for them to play.

Went to IKEA yesterday (during the rain). I love that store. It's like a giant playground for adults. I bought all kinds of STUFF.







just to name a few!

Still goin'

So bad bad headache today. Don't know if it's blood sugars, sinuses or what. But I've had 8 adviil and two extra strength excederin to no avail.

Eating well plan is going well on day two. Had oatmeal for breakfast and a black bean burger salad for lunch that this picture just doesnt do justice. I was so full after it that I couldnt eat the soup I fixed to go with it. (will save it for later).



Worked most of the morning so that's good too. $$$$. Right now, I'm using all my work money for the Yellow Daisy Festival that's coming up. After that, who knows! lol.

First day on healthy eating in a LONG time. Worked this morning and had scrambled eggs and turkey link sausage for breakfast. Had a delicious chicken breast for lunch that i cooked in beef broth and various spices. Served it with steamed veggies I had in freezer and Navy Beans. Fitday is saying those navy beans had 444 calories...There's NO WAY. I bet i have the wrapper still on top of trash. I'm going to go check it out.



Anyway, I'm optimistic today. Feel like I can do it...But as we all know, the first day is usually the easiest.

Just had a hot bath and about to go pick up the kids. All For now.

Snow Hits Home

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Getting Healthy

So next to losing weight, the step to getting healthy is to get my butt back to the doctor. So this week I pulled up my insurance provider website and made myself an appointment for today with what I hope will become my permenant doctor. I dont know what it is with me, but I rarely stick with one doctor for very long. And this is not a good thing. This doctor, while stuck in an office out of 1979, was relatively young and knowledgeable and NICE. He didnt chastise me for being so long seeing a doctor or going un-treated. He didnt say ONE WORD about my weight. If anything, I brought it up along with the fact I'd lost about 35 pounds and was doing weight watchers.

So, now I'm back on Glucotrol and I was excited to find out that it's on Walmart's list of $4 drugs. Whoo hoo. Funny thing is I rarely buy my "drugs" at Walmart but CVS...but they charge me the full copay of $10. So hopefully we'll be seeing my bloodsugars coming on down.

feelin fine in 2009

2008 wasnt such a great year. I dont want to dwell on it, just want to move on to a better healthier new year. So my concentration on this blog for the current year shall be my health etc. My continuing saga on weight loss and getting my blood sugars down.

I'm at approx 260 pounds today. My blood sugars after exercising were 289! UGH. I'm doing Weight Watchers but am not going to the meetings anymore to save money. So I am doing it online. It's really not a major sacrifice as I'd been going for ages and feel like I know the program inside out.

I'm posting a picture of the lunch I made today. I want to see myself eating a variety of different types of food although todays wasn't so "different"

Today, I had a chicken breast w/cheese & bacon bits on it, green beans, and 0 point southwestern vegetable progresso soup. Total points - 8.

So many Topics, So little time

As the title says, so much to discuss!! I never even did my Halloween post and we really had a great time last Friday night trick or treating. Had a great time picking out a pumpkin and carving it (that in and of it's self was worth an entry...I've NEVER carved a pumpkin before so that was a treat indeed!...Word to the wise, invest in a pumpkin carving kit. My knives just weren't cut out for it! (no pun intended!) )

Here's a pic from Halloween



Then there's the BIG news...The election of Barack Obama. Wow. What a night. I voted for him. I was glued to the tv watching the returns come in. Listening to John McCain's really heartfelt speech...the part where he took the full blame of the defeat on himself was sad to hear. It wasnt a loss...it wasn't his 'fault' so to speak....It was just a different direction that country needs to go in. Something new to try and put the country back on the road to prosperity. He shouldnt blame himself in my opinion. Then the acceptance speech by Obama....it truly gave me goosebumps. I hope the country can make a turn around and that Dale & I can continue to make a difference in ours and our children's lives. I've never felt like the president really made a difference in my life personally. Still dont although I continue to vote each year. I think that it's up to us as individuals to make our own differences in our life and to encourage and prosper the best we can. But I wish nothing but the best for the Obamas.

Deep Thought Questions.

Found this on a friend's blog and borrowed it because I thought it would make for interesting converstion

[1] Would you do meth if it was legalized?

No, not today, tomorrow or ever.

[2] Abortion: for or against it?

Golly...in my lifetime I've gone back and forth on this one. My husband has a very compelling argument on it that I'd like to share. He says he's against it. He feels only God knows when the fetus becomes a human and why test God on this point. So when the final day of judgement comes, does he want to be guilty of Murder or thwarting free will??? Hmmmm....

But to answer the question on my own....For me it's wrong. I think Adoption is ALWAYS the better option. But I am not going to tell someone else what they should do. That's for them to decide. If they ask, I'll give my opinion. But I do believe it should be legal.

[3] Do you think the world would fail with a female president?

No. I think the right woman...just as the right man would bring a new perspective on the position. Not all women would make a good president anymore than just any man would make a good president.

[4] Do you believe in the death penalty?

I'm a fence sitter on this one. I see both sides...I think there should have to be certain types of irrefutible evidence in the guilty decree before the Death Penalty should be allowed.

[5] Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?

I think marijuana is no more harmful than alcohol...But do I want my children doing it? NO. But do i want them drinking either? no. I think like cigarettes and alcohol it should be legalized at certain ages.


[6] Are you for or against premarital sex?
I think sex is a vital part of any good marriage. If there are problems in the sexual arena, it's better to know before you commit to each other. To quote the sin scale above...which sin would I rather answer for? Divorce due to incompatibility or pre-marital sex....



[7] Do you believe in God?

Yes, yes yes.

[8] Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?

I think civil unions should be legal. So that couples that have chosen to live together can share in all the benefits of marriage...ie taxes, insurance coverage etc. But as I read in my friend's blog, I feel a CHURCH shouldn't be legally required to perform a marriage since that kind of marriage goes against it's doctrines. But a civil ceremony shouldnt be a problem.



[9] Do you think it's wrong that so many aliens (of race, not ETs) are illegally moving to the USA?

Yes, i soooo think it's wrong. I think that there are legal ways to come into our country. Go thru them. I'm sorry your country is not what you want it to be...sometimes the USA isnt either, but you dont see me taking off for Montreal either do you? Work to make your own country better or come to another country the legal way.
[10] A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?

No. A 12 year old is a sister, not a mother. She can't drive, cant vote, can't MOTHER a child. Even if she gives birth to it. It needs to be given up to someone else...her parents if they're willing? adopted? Not aborted, but re-assigned.

[11] Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?
As long as the voting age and the draft age is 18, yes.

[12] Should the war in Iraq be called off?
Yes, we've outstayed our welcome. The Iraqi govt needs to govern it's self at this point. We've got toooo many domestic issues to handle. Let the Iraquis handle theirs now.

[13] Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree?
No.
There are situations where it's the most humane thing that can be done. God granted us free will. Like abortion, the government should not be interferring with our wishes in this area.
[14] Do you believe in spanking your children?

Yes. Time outs work sometimes. Writing Sentences work sometimes. and sometimes, its a spanking that works. It should never be the sole form of punishment. But sometimes, it's the one thing that gets thru to a child or emphasizes how dangerous or wrong an action they made was.

[15] Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?

publicly, no. I would burn one in private for a million bucks, then I would make amends somehow. Possibly by donating a significant amount to a patriotic charity etc.

[16] Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama?

Obama..

[17] Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?

Obviously I'm not afraid of it...or I wouldnt have posted it on my blog.

This & That

Yes, I'm at the library right now enjoying me time on the computer. Not that I cant get on the computer at home, but the imps are usually right over my shoulder. So they have this arts & crafts day at the local Auburn library that I bring them to and let them "create" and I play on the computer.

Work is going pretty well...I've been having trouble with my ISP and so my % that drives my call volume had dropped low. Well it's back over the demarkation point so I'm receiving more calls. Yay.

Weight Watchers isnt going as well. Christine is dropping out for now...for various reasons...financial and results based. I'm not doing any better, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet. Gotta find my motivation again.

Still missing my mom. Dreading/anticipating Christmas and her not being in it.

House is coming along well. Our yard has improved 100% with the addition of lime and some more grass seed. Next year I hope to attack the back yard. We had family over for a cookout last weekend and I really noticed how bad the back yard looks because the builder didnt sod it. And there are soooo many rocks in it. Growls.

What else is going on in my life? Sharon is still living with us. I think we've found us a house mate! LOL. Dale and I put our names in to become foster parents but we haven't heard back from the DFACs yet. Hopefully, we'll hear soon when the orientation class is. Of course Dale's done this before, but I'm still new to it all. I'm very anxious about it tho...I just love the idea we could really make a difference in some children's lives (not that we arn't with ours already...but you know what i mean!) I think I'd like to have a baby but then think how much effort that would be. We're open to the possibility of adoption but plan on fostering and if a situation just falls into our lives, then so beit. But otherwise, we still plan on one day retiring to Florida (lol)

All for now...

Sunday Stuff

Pre family days, I used to love Sundays. They were my relaxing day. The day to sit back, watch football, go to craft festivals, etc. Then I became a part of this family and Sundays became a dreaded thing. A day when we had to do the unnecessary visit with Dale's ex. She has it in her mind that the kids NEED to see her. Yeah right. ANYWAY.

But today, we declined her offer of a visit and enjoyed a morning at home...i worked a bit this morning then went downstairs to make pancakes for breakfast. For some reason, pancakes put me in a good mood. Then we just kinda hung around the house, I worked some more, the kids colored and watched tv. Then after lunch, we took the kids to the indoor swimming pool over in Lawrenceville. It was a treat since we havn't been swimming since Labor Day or so. We came home and brought Pizza Hut pasta & pizza to eat for supper...the kids got to eat "picnic" style on the floor in front of tv (a rarity) and Dale and I got to take ours upstairs to watch in front of the football games.

Now, I'm working some more..

So as you can see, it wasnt an exciting day. Just a fun one in my book. Getting ready for Josh's birthday ...we're doing a skating birthday party which I think every kid has at some point in his or her life. All for now.

My Quiz from QuizYourFriends.com

So, You think you know Gina? 1) If Gina could spend the day doing anything, what would it be? Garage Saleing Swimming Good Book and Bag of M&M's & Diet Coke & Giant Garden Tub Six Flags

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Happy Birthday to ME

So today is my birthday...41 this year. I had a huge party last year and I'm so glad I did. Granted, it was expensive and we really couldnt afford it at the time...but so many people came...including my mom. and my dad. See they divorced after 30 odd years of marriage...and it made me feel so good that they both came to my party.

This year my family has been wonderful to me today. Went out to breakfast at McDonalds...the kids and nieces all made me wonderful cards that I adore. I'll scan some of them in later...on the new printer/scanner/fax machine that Dale gave me...while sitting on my new desk chair he also gave me. Then we took the birthday money that Grandmother King, Siler & AM (her's was house warming money) gave me and bought me a new desk. Pictures of that to follow after Dale puts it together.

But the one thing that keeps hurting me is the absence of my mom. Every birthday, she'd be the first one on the phone to me to sing Happy Birthday..or to sing it to my answering machine. And re-tell the story of how late I was...how hot it was that summer of '67. How my grandmother Siler couldnt believe she wasn't going to spell Gina with a J instead so that my mom and I would have the same initials. How it was a Saturday morning around 10am when I was born. Noone can tell it quite like a Mom.
I sooo miss her.

Orange Beach, AL

Another day in paradise. That's what my dad's wife says about Orange Beach, AL. We've been coming here for years and my mom & dad moved down here some time in the late 80s/early 90s...I've forgotten the exact year. So we made our journey southward to here yesterday and today has been wonderful.

We're staying in a condo on the bay called the Moorings. It's GORGEOUS. I really can't emphasize to you how nice it is....and if it were on the beach, it'd be un-affordable for us. But since it's NOT, we can afford it. Today we spent mostly at the pool...got a good start on a tan...Lynne (Dad's wife) came over to do some sun grazing with us and we had fun. We're alternating eating out and staying in to try to keep this vacation affordable. Today is an eating in day so I'm about to get up and whip up some rotini alfredo with chicken. Easy to do and few ingredients (I'm lazy and brought canned chicken)

All for now.

Elizabeth gets a haircut

Like most young girls, Elizabeth hates brushing tangles out of her hair...So today we went for the annual summer haircut. I think it came out cute. What do you think?