Gettin' My Workout On

So last night I started back to my workout regimen at the gym.  I was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  I'm not sure if I was scared I was going to hurt myself or if I was afraid to see how bad out of shape I had gotten in the two months I had missed.  I felt like this lovely lady below.  Very unattractive and fleshy!  HaHa!

As it turned out, everything went just fine.  I did what's called Body Pump.  It's a class that you use weights and work out most all of your muscle groups.  It's always been one of my favorite classes.  My favorite being spin, and it's going to be a little while longer before I can attempt that one.  I was so sore today and was moving rather slowly.  By the end of the afternoon, it hurt to sit on the toilet.  My thighs were screaming!  It hurt so good, though.  

Tonight I thought I'd try another class.  This one is called Body Combat.  It's loosely based off of mixed martial arts.  I lasted 40 minutes.  Before surgery, I could do the entire class and possibly Body Pump before or after that.  It's just going to take some time to get my stamina built back up, and I'm actually okay with that.  I'm trying to love my body, because it's been through a lot, and has done a lot these last two months.  

Anyway, Ross gave me this really neat watch/heart monitor for Christmas.  I couldn't wait to get back to working out so that I could try it.  Well, I think I'm going to need to find a rocket scientist to help me figure it out.  Whoa, is it 

com-pli-ca-ted!  I thought I figured it out today, but that thing was sounding all kinds of alarms while I was exercising tonight.  Maybe I can find a You Tube Video or something to help me get it figured out.  

Tomorrow night I will attempt yoga.  I feel like that one I'll be able to do fairly well.  And then hopefully, we can hike the mountain later on in the week or over the weekend.  I think this pea soup weather will be better by then.  I actually read today that Lake Lanier was at its highest level since November.  That's a good sign.  I know we need the rain, but geez.  When it rains for days on end, A Girl Named Kelly Kelly gets the rainy day blues.

So till next time...

Jean's 86th birthday

Saturday night we celebrated my mother-in-law, Jean's, 86th birthday.  Jeff grilled these amazing filet mignons.  We had 16 steaks and he cooked them perfectly.  

It was a beautiful night for a cookout.  Who would've thought that in January you could actually grill out in shorts?  We lit our outdoor fire pit and sat outside on the deck by the fire after we ate.  It was a great party and so much better than going out to eat like we usually do.

This is Mee Maw, a/k/a Jean, with Scott, her oldest grandson.  Scott moved to South Africa two years ago and he came home for Christmas to spend a month.  

 It was pretty chaotic and I didn't get very many good pictures to share.  But here are just a few.

                            Jeff and Ronnie discussing the grilling method.

                                        The birthday cookie cake.

                                Me and Nan doing what we do; being silly!

So thankful for the wonderful mother-in-law that Jean is to me.  I have learned a lot about mother-in-lawing from her.  She really is a blessing.  She kept my babies so that I could work one day a week.  She cooked supper for us that one day and I'd get to her houses to pick up the boys, and she'd have supper on the table ready for us to eat.  I cherish those memories, I truly do.  She has been very active the entire time I've known her.  She golfed, she bowled, she shopped, and she was the fastest walker you've ever seen.  She's slowed down quite a bit these days.  She's still in good health, but as they say, time stands still for no man.  Age eventually catches up with even the best of us.

Tonight I start back at the gym.  I have been out for two months since I had my surgery on November 20th.  I think it'll be tough, but I hiked Stone Mountain one night last week with Jeff and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be.  So maybe, just maybe, the gym won't be either.  Half of the battle is getting there, that is for sure.

My mom is on the Internet now.  She got a tablet for Christmas and is reading a few blogs, so my hope is to blog more so that she will have something fascinating to read.  Ha!

Till next time...

Busy Days

October is such a busy, busy month. It's almost as busy as November and December. I guess it gets us ready for all the craziness of the holidays.

This past weekend Jeff and I took a little road trip to Dublin, Georgia to spend the night and go watch my mom's old high school football team play. They're number 2 in the state in their classification, so we knew it'd be a good game.

It was such a good time. We bumped into two of my uncles that live in Twin City, and one of them I haven't seen in quite a while. I was so happy to see him. He has battled leukemia and is in remission. He looked great! Looking forward to seeing him again very soon.


The game was at the home field of legendary Georgia bulldog, Herschel Walker.


We stayed at the LaQuinta Inn in Dublin. What a great experience it was. When I stay in strange places, I'm very picky. I'm inspecting for things like hair that doesn't belong there, bugs, etc. This hotel was IMMACULATE! Funny thing, though, Dublin is out in the country. This was the view from our room. I actually loved it! I love South Georgia!



I made 40 trick or treat bags for tonight. We will probably have more like four trick or treaters. I overly prepare sometimes. It's a Howell thing.



I made some pumpkin pudding chocolate chip cookies Sunday night to take to my mom and dad's for after the Haunted House. They were very good. I got the recipe off Pinterest. Next time I'm using white chocolate chips.



Pumpkin cream cheese spread with Ginger Snaps. The kids used the other cookies to dip/shovel in the spread instead of the Ginger Snaps. I made the eyes, nose, mouth and stem from chocolate Laffy Taffy. I thought it was pretty cute.



Sunday night we all went to the pumpkin patch and haunted house about five miles from here. It was extremely windy and cold, which was perfect.

Suz and I posed with This tall, dark and handsome character.


The crazy kids in line for the haunted house.


Me, Crystal and Suz getting photo bombed by Joseph.


The grownups.


The kids.


It was a wonderful, busy weekend! Now I'm headed to Buford to spend Halloween with Suz and her family. Eli is our only little kid now, so I'm looking forward to trick or treating with him. Jeff is going to stay home and give out candy to the four trick or treaters we'll probably have.

Happy Halloween, peeps!

Till next time...

Top Ten Thursday

So I want to share my Top Ten favorites this week.

Jeff got me this very special bracelet. It has the 23rd Psalm engraved on it.


It's got such a unique design. I absolutely love it! It's one of my favorite birthday gifts he's ever given me. Whenever I'm sad, I look at it and find comfort in the words on my bracelet.


Ross and Missye gave me this opal bracelet. The stones are so pretty.


Cam and Alicia gave me this cross necklace. The cross lies on the side of my neck. It's so dainty and pretty.


Can you believe Suz painted this canvas for me? I love it. I have it hanging in my bedroom and I can see it while I'm in my bed. I see it and am reminded that I am loved.



Loving pumpkin EVERYTHING! Suz found me a recipe that was a copycat Starbucks pumpkin bread recipe. It was good, but not quite Starbucks good. I think with some tweaking it could be, though. I doubled the recipe and made mini loaves to share.



I love that Saturday I got to watch Eli play football. I'm so proud to say that I was lucky enough to see all my nephews and my niece do their thing this fall! And I enjoyed every second. My family is the world to me.


Still loving my roses. They are open and HUGE!


I got two boxes of Milk Duds for my birthday. So yummy, but so hard for someone with teeth like mine to eat.



Every day the leaves are changing just a little more. I hope they change quickly because a lot of them are already falling off.


And the last thing I'm loving this week is my bed. Is it bad that my favorite time of the day is after I've had my bath and get in my bed? That time just relaxing watching mindless TV is something I look forward to every day.

What are y'all loving this week?

Till next time...

It Was My Birthday

Ross and Missye carved their pumpkins tonight. Theirs are the two on the left. Cam and Alicia's is the one on the right. All three are so cute. I must admit that I don't miss carving pumpkins. Jeff used to carve them with the boys when they were little. He would carve them elaborate designs. They were always so good. They're too messy for me. But I sure do love a carved pumpkin with a candle inside.



Sunday night I celebrated my birthday with my parents, in laws, my sisters and their families. We had the traditional weinee roast.

All of my family, including my dad and father-in-law, came. I was afraid that those two might not be able to come. They've had a rough time this year healthwise.

Love my monogrammed coozie from my sweet aunt Theresa.


And my BIG umbrella.


Aren't my birthday roses so pretty? Cam and Alicia brought them to the party to decorate the table. They were a gorgeous shade of orange. They've open up and are huge.


This was the card with my gift from Theresa.


The roaring fire. Jeff was an outstanding firemaster this year. It was a great fire with hardly any smoke.


But there was too smoke for Eli. I grabbed him some big sunglasses and a bandana. He was good to go after that. He's making popcorn here.


All my gifts. What you can't see in the white wrapping is a hand painted canvas Suz painted for me. I'll take a picture and post it, maybe tomorrow. I wanted to remember that and the pretty, meaningful gifts Jeff and the boys gave me, so I'll take a picture of those, too.




All the kids were in awe of Eli. Ross tied him up in many positions and Eli could escape from any one of them. Kids can be easily entertained.


This Friday is Alicia's birthday. We celebrated her birthday Sunday night, too. Cam brought her a tiramisu. Everyone loved it.


Suz made my birthday cake and my mom made my traditional sweet potato pie.


I think Crystal and Suz took many more pictures. I hope they got more variety than I did. I was busy being the hostess with the mostest and the birthday girl, so my variety stinks

I highly recommend celebrating your birthday for at least two weeks. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN and so far, 47 hasn't been too shabby.

Till next time...

My Girls

Oftentimes I've written about Ross and Cam. Since this is my diary, I wanted to write about their lovely girls.

Ross and Missye have been together for a little over a year. She's a sweet, kindhearted and beautiful girl. She brings out the soft side of Ross at times. I love her and I love that she loves my boy!



Cam has known Alicia for almost a year. They met at school, and she SWEPT him off of his feet. He proposed to her on July 4th. I joke that they look like Barbie and Ken, agree? She is a beautiful and thoughtful girl. She loves my youngest one, and I love her.


Most important of all, is that they are Godly young women I am so thankful for these two sweet two young ladies. And I'm thankful my boys have chosen them.


Till next time...

Top Ten Thursday

I think that each Thursday I will do a Top Ten List of things I'm loving that week. If I can figure out how to do a Linky thing, I will start doing that. I'm curious what everyone else is loving on.

As always, in no particular order.

Our scarecrow couple. I LOVE how they turned out this year. Jeff helped me and I couldn't have done nearly as good a job without him. They've already withstood two rain storms and weren't even phased!



Loved this picture Suz sent me of Eli, the wolf. She got out her Halloween stuff and she said he had so much fun. This picture made me happy! Reminded me of the days my boys still got excited over Halloween decorations and costumes.



Got a mani/pedi yesterday. I loved the polish I bought. It's Essie. The shade is Bordeaux. My new fall favorite color.


I've been in love with Bath & Body Works Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. It smells of fall, and just brings back lots of fall memories since its an old favorite. As you can see, I'm almost out.



I finally decided to get a real pair of eyeglasses. My near vision has been bad for a while now, but recently my far vision seemed like it wasn't as good either. I went to the eye doctor and got a prescription for glasses with progressive lenses. I love my glasses. Now if I could just get used to them.



Rat poison. Not really. It's Butter Snap Pretzels with candy corn. OMGoodness. So tasty. Loving those. Maybe a little too much! Ha!



My goodie bags I made for my birthday wiener roast! They turned out cute and they're filled with lots of good candy.



Love my Halloween decorations on my foyer table. See Ross's plaster hand? He made that in about the 4th grade.


Love my mantle decorations, too. I made the banner. So easy!


And lastly, I love my mailbox magnet that I ordered and got this week.


So that's what I'm loving this Thursday. What are you loving this week?

Till next time...