Back to Fasting!!

I have a work friend, Marie, who has been diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer. While telling someone else about my fasting for my former pastor's wife Margaret, it occurred to me that I should fast for Marie as well.

Margaret, by the way, during her last blood test, was pronounced cancer free!!! Wooo Hooooo!! She will wait until after the Christmas holidays and then have a stem cell transplant to ensure (the doctors say) that the cancer won't come back! I believe that she was healed in the name of Jesus!

So for Marie, I am trying a bigger fast. Marie and I aren't really friends outside of work so I am not sure what her prayer network looks like. She told me in an email the other day that she believes that several miracles have taken place already!! I am glad that she believes in miracles and all it takes for her to be healed is one person who prays and believes! I have already prayed it and I believe that she is healed in the name of Jesus! I prayed specifically for healing and that she get her strength back quickly. She remarked in an email that she believes that 85% of her strength is back and almost all her symptoms are gone! Woooo Hoooo!!

My bigger fast will includes prayers of thanks and no chocolate for a month - through the whole Christmas season!! This is day two and I am trying not to have any accidental chocolate!

So when you read my post, will you add your prayers to mine? Pray that Marie be healed, believe she is healed (it's so simple) and then thank our gracious God that she is healed!!

Thanks so much and if I don't get back here again before Christmas, God Bless You All!!

Merry Christmas!!

A Weekend at the Beach!!

In the first pic, that is the state pier still in pieces. The beach is deserted too! There should be some houses or high rise condo's there!

In the second pic, I got a great pic with my Rebel of some shells left on a fence bordering a walkway down to the beach!!

The third pic shows my Dad and Judy, me and George.

The forth pic is a shot of the awesome clouds and sun there on Saturday afternoon. Look how small the people are on the beach!!

We left Dallas to head for Gulf Shores, AL early Nov 9. We knew the trip would take at least 12 hours and the time seemed to really just fly by (except for the part between Hattisburg and Mobile) and then we were there!! Wooo Hooo!!

George and I had not been to Gulf Shores in 6 to 7 years. I don't know why it took us so long to go back but I just got an urge to see a beach a few months ago and nothing here in Texas is even worth the drive so we headed to the Redneck Riveria, aka Gulf Shores, Al.

Hurricane Ivan hit Gulf Shores dead center a few years ago and it's amazing to see all the trees that were killed still standing, all the blank spots where the houses and buildings used to stand and I think the greatest toll for me was to see the former state pier in pieces. The state pier was 825 ft long and went way out into the Gulf of Mexico and there used to be a big parking lot near the pier and the state convention center used to be right new door. That convention center was an eye sore anyway but I still missed seeing it. When we drove down East Beach looking for the turn in to the pier, it wasn't even there anymore. I wonder if the sand that goes across the road was put there intentionally or if it's still there from the hurricane? I suppose the state doesn't want people on the road near the pier or there would be lots of people just looking - I know I would have gone if I could get down there!

The devastation made your heart hurt but it was good to see that buildings were going up again!! We met my Dad and step-mom there Friday night and we ate at Mikee's seafood. What a rip-off! I suppose they can do a good business from all the tourists who see them now from Highway 59 but the food was absolutely bland. My step-mom mentioned it to the waitress and she just blew us off. No more Mikee's for us!

Saturday, George spent the day on the beach fishing and Dad, Judy and I drove around looking for old places we had visited over the years. We rode around in Orange Beach, we drove down the intra coastal waterway and we found the new shortcut to get to the beach from Foley! I don't think I will ever use the short cut, I like looking at everything that SHOULD still be there too much!! Oh, Judy and I found a Christmas on the Gulf sale put on by the local Junior League at the convention center and had to take some time for shopping! I sure got a few Christmas gift and Judy got some things too and Dad napped in the big red truck while we shopped!

Dad and Judy left around lunch time on Sunday so George went and picked up some Hooters Wings and we ate them out on the balcony at the condo, then went down to what we call the cut at Big Lagoon and walked on the beach, then went back to the condo to watch the Cowboys!

George watched the Cowboys and I took a well deserved nap! Then George went fishing at the seawall down on Perdido Key and I went along for the ride! Boy was it cool outside! Actually, nobody was catching anything so we only stayed a few hours!

Then it was back to the condo to catch a few Z's and we drove home on Monday!! We did stop in Vicksburg at the Ameristar and the biggest thing I hit was a thousand nickles on a video poker machine!! Now that was a long trip home!! We left GS at 7:30 and got home close to midnight!!

As soon as we got home, we started talking about early retirement and life at the Gulf, somewhere on the water. I figure we can do it in 10 years if we plan well!! We shall see!!

Freak of the Week!!

I made Freak of the Week over at Scrapfreak!!

Wooo Hoooo!!




I get to keep my blinkie for a week but it's forever preserved over here!!

Monday is Weigh In

Today, I am back!! Woo Hoo!!




I found this cute little ticker over at Scrapfreak on Julie's siggy!!

I am almost through a 5th of my weight loss goal!!

Woo Hoo!!

No luck this week!!

My Tiny cat died on October 19 and because hubs was out of town, I had to handle the burial. Luckily, my oldest DD helped me. It was awful!! It's not something I ever want to go through again!!

So, there is still lots of sadness here because we lost our sweet cat that lived with us for 12 years. Last night, I changed the water for my beta fish, Tie Dye, and he died within 30 minutes of me changing the water. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I got Tie Dye for a Mother's Day gift and he was so cute!! He would just dance everytime you walked into the kitchen and he saw you!! I always have used bottled water for him but I cleaned his container with tap water...I hope that is not what killed him. He defintely freaked out everytime I cleaned his water...maybe it was his heart!

I need a vacation!!

No more pets?

That's what George says everytime we talk about getting another cat or dog!! I keep telling him "so that's what YOU say"!!

That's always been funny up until today!!

Today, we are watching our beautiful Tiny cat die slowly. Several weeks ago he stopped eating and went anorexic on us. The vet said that he has lipidosis...it happens when a cat stops eating and their fatty acids build up in their liver. The prognosis wasn't good. He stayed at the vet for a day or two and they force fed him and hydrated him and he came home. The vet doesn't know why he stopped eating. Tiny has always been our cat with emotional problems...pulling his hair out, pooping and not covering and marking his territory when we had a female cat because he hated her - although he was fixed!!

When he came home, we were expected to force feed him. That didn't work well from the get go!! I thought after a few tries at force feeding that we should let him go!!

So today, we are on a death watch. His paws and his ears are cold and his second eye covers half of his eyes. I wanted him to die at home so we could bury him in the back yard but I may not be able to wait that long.

So I decided that if he is still alive tomorrow morning when the vet opens, I will take him and have him put out of his misery!! The vet can send him to Tooth Acres and they will cremate him and spread his ashes on the grounds. He would join Topper, the female we had to put to sleep last year with FL.

Blech!! Not sure I ever want another pet at this point! Two cats down, one to go!!

Pray for me!

Up and Going

Hey there! Just wanted to stop by and talk about the new life change. Two weeks into the new life strategy and I have lost a little over 5 pounds!!

Who knew I had so much will power?

I am not sure what finally clicked this time but I keep thinking that since I am 48 now and they say that losing weight gets harder as you are older, I should start now!

So, for the last two weeks, I have been analyzing EVERTHING that goes into my mouth! I have even been looking up the calories on food to see what would be a better choice....unfortunately some of them have been whether a cheeseburger or a Filet O Fish would have more calories! So....I am not going to turn into one of those all natural, low fat, no fat, no taste types of people!

I would rather eat smaller portions of what I want versus food that doesn't taste good! That is my story and I am sticking to it!

I guess the hardest part is the lack of soda and Chocolate. I love Chocolate...with soda! So far, I have been able to get by with small sips of the soda (I love the carbonation) and miniture chocolate bars. All things in moderation they say!

So, onward and upward!! I still have lots of weight to lose! See ya!!

Rowdy