Fitness Deal.......

I AM EXCITED.....Cardinal Fitness offered a great deal for the month of October. It was $20 to join instead of the normal $99, plus the $20 processing fee and $19.95 a month. Since Jen & I joined on Tuesday, my husband & my aunt joined. My boss and 2 other girls in my office went and joined. We now have enough people to workout with if someone decides that they can't make it a night, we won't have to go alone.

My really good friend Jennifer and I joined Cardinal Fitness last night. We both have been working out on our own. We do alot of walking, but with the weather starting to turn colder, we both have found that we are talking ourselves out of walking every night. Having someone to work out with is motivation to stay on track with our workouts. I really enjoyed having someone to chat with.
My goal is to live a more healthy lifesytle. If I can lose a few pounds that will be great but I will do it slowly. I am not going to resort to fad diets anymore. The up and down of dieting has not ever resulted in long term weight loss for me. More importantly, Jen & I are both hoping to be able to lower our cholesterol and blood pressure enough to be able to stop taking pills.

My husband works 3rd shift. He leaves for work around 9:00 pm. Last night I was in bed watching TV when he left for work. He called me to tell me to look outside. This was the view from my front door. The snow was coming down in BIG flakes. It just seems to early for snow. It does get me in the mood to Christmas shop.

JT has had a difficult time speaking clearly. It was very hard to understand what he was saying most of the time. This really upset him when we didn't understand what he wanted. He has had a speech therapist working with him for the last 3 weeks. I am amazed at his progress. I can understand him over the phone. I actually thought he was Mercy when I was talking to him because I could understand him. He is very proud of himself and you can tell how happy he is to be understood when he talks.

Last month our company took part in the Business Expo at the Century Center. For the past several years we have had Tony Rice sign autographs for the people who visit our booth. For those of you are not Notre Dame fans, Tony was on the 1988 Notre Dame Championship football team, so he is pretty much a "big" deal in these parts. Here is a picture of the owner of our company, Bill Wilkinson with Tony. I have to tell you Bill is a southern gentleman, and is a delight to work for.

The little boy is her friend Max.

Mercy and I had a wonderful grandparents day at school. The pre-K through 6th graders did a program. Then we spend the morning in our grandchild's class room. She was so happy to have me there. Here are a couple of pics.

2 months and counting

It has been 2 months to the day since I quit smoking. For those of you who have ever smoked, you will understand when I say I miss it. I smoked for 33 years. I wish I could be one of those social smokers who smoke only when they are drinking at a bar or party. I know that if I took even one puff I would start smoking again. I can't give in. I am starting to get addicted to exercise. I guess we just replace one addiction for another. At least exercising is good for me. At least that is what I am telling myself.

Busy Weekend.....Again

It will be another fun filled, action packed weekend for the Towles. Well, maybe not action packed, but enough to keep me from vegging on the couch.

I took Friday off to attend Grandparents Day at Mercy's school. She attends Elkhart Christian Academy. This is a PreK through 12th grade school.
They will have breakfast for the grandparents, then we will see a program the little kids will preform, and then we will spend some time with them in their class. The children will be dismissed at 11:40 and Mercy and I will "do" lunch and then some shopping. We should have a great day. I will post some pictures of our day next week.

Saturday my cousin is getting married. Cheryl and her groom live in Tennessee, so I don't get to see very much of her anymore. The only down side is the wedding in in Elkhart and the reception is in Middlebury. Don't ask me why it is so far, no one but JT and Kelly live in Elkhart County. It will be nice to see my extended family for a happy occasion for once.

Sunday will be busy with all my chores that I didn't get done on Friday or Saturday. I am hoping that I will be able to fit some workout time in somewhere.

The Battle goes on.......

My battle of the bulge continues. I was so depressed this past week , no matter how much I exercised, it was not showing up on the scale. This morning I weighted myself and much to my relief, I had dropped 5 lbs since last week. I can feel the difference in my clothes, but I need to see it on the scale. I want lower numbers. I have several pieces of nice clothing that's just hanging in my closet waiting on me to lose some weight.
I am getting to the point that I love my walk/jog in the evening. Louie and I enjoy the alone time after dinner. He helps to motivate me to go another lap, without ever saying a word. When I am by myself and my legs are aching, I can talk myself out of that extra lap every time.

What The Heck????

Have you ever received something in the mail that made you wonder, "What the heck"? Yesterday after work, I get home and stroll out to the mailbox to pick up the mail. As I am walking back to the house, I am going through the mail. I notice an envelope that kind of looks like a check. We get junk mail that looks like checks all the time, but it is always some kind of gimmick to get you to switch phone service or something like that.
I open it and it is a $40 check from the Indiana State Auditor. I am thinking, what is this for? Then I notice in small print on the stub. Payee: Melody Holycross (my maiden name) and Payer: John E Lee (JT's Dad). THIS IS A CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENT!! I have not had a child support payment since 2001 when JT turned 18 and graduated from high school. I haven't spoken to John since Mercy was born in 2004.
I can only assume it was a payment that must have gotten lost in the mail and they just received it. With today's economy, I can't even get a tank of gas, but I was broke this week, so oh well, I am cashing it.

Play time

Not a weekend goes by that my granddaughter doesn't call to see what I am doing and if I can come to her house and play.
She called on Saturday to inform me that she and her brother got 2 real bunny rabbits. Her bunnie's name is Tinker Bell, and JT's bunny is named (we could guess) Wall-E. Of course she wanted us to come over and see the new additions to the family.
When we got there they were bubbling over with excitement. They took my hand and lead me to the garage. In the cage was 2 adorable bunnies. I notice a few scratchs on both Mercy & JT.
It was then time to go to Mercy's room to play school. She is the teacher every time. When JT painted her room he painted a small square of chalkbroad and framed it on her wall. She is a very bossy teacher. I got in trouble for laughing in her class and Little JT got in trouble for kissing me in her class. She would stomp her foot and yell "NO LAUGHING OR KISSING IN MY CLASS. Grandma Great only got in trouble if I made her laugh. I wish I had a video camera with me. It was priceless.

Lunch with My Son

I had a very nice surprise yesterday. JT called me and asked me how to get to the new So. Bend Community School Corporation building. He needed to get some transcripts for his college classes. I explained where it was at. He then asked me to lunch. It has been a very, very long time since I have had time alone with my son. We had a nice lunch. He told me he was in the Elkhart Truth again yesterday. He had to rescue a man that was crushed between a dock and a semi. I think I need to start a scrap book for his firefighting achievements. The best part of my day was spending time with my favorite person in the whole world. Whenever I see him, I think just how lucky I am to be his mom.