I joined Weight Watchers today.
Posted by: eblackwell on: July 10, 2009
- In: health| news
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I had to do something. I’ve put on so much weight and for a year and a half, if not longer, I said I would lose it. Instead, I keep putting on more. So many of my clothes don’t fit and the few that do look terrible because of the weight and fat/inches.
I needed to do something that would make me stay on target; spending even this little bit of money and knowing I’m held accountable each week is a great start. Hopefully, I will get my will power kick started again.
I once lost 40 pounds and looked fantastic. I made myself a promise that I would never return to that person that I was. But I did. It doesn’t matter why, what’s important is that I did this again to myself. I don’t feel good, not in my self-image or in health.
Now, I am climbing back on a path of treating myself better: eating better and working out again. Not being lazy or letting my activities interfere – using them as excuses of why I can’t do it right now. My mom had kids and a husband at home, worked full time, was a Scout leader with a full schedule, and did other things too, but she got on Weight Watchers when I was a kid and lost her weight. If she can do it with all the things in her life, I can too. My dad supported her in it and in later years, I would. It makes a difference; even so, it has to start in your own head.
I have to say that I’ve unofficially joined Weight Watchers. The woman who handles our group at work has put me off for 3 weeks now. At first, she had all her paperwork put away and asked me to come back after the holiday weekend. Today, she was out because of a death in the family and the other person forgot I was joining, so she didn’t have the right paperwork. I insisted on being weighed anyway so I can get going instead of saying “soon, soon, I’ll do something soon….”
I have to lose 25 pounds. And as the first hurdle, someone brought Munchkins to the office. Plus, I have a Christening party on Sunday, a birthday get together next week…
So here I go. Already wavering, but already sticking to it.
“Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!”
The truth about coffee (rated PG-13 for language)
Posted by: eblackwell on: July 9, 2009
- In: fun
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Someone had to say it. 
It’s a tragic day.
Posted by: eblackwell on: July 6, 2009
A young woman was killed in a car accident on Friday. She was the daughter of someone I work with. I can’t begin to fathom the pain he and his wife are going through right now. I have, unfortunately, seen it before: in the eyes of my sister and brother-in-law when my nephew Art died and in the eyes of one of my Mom’s friends when her daughter was killed in a car accident.
The 18 year old in her car was her cousin; imagine what that girl is going through…. her cousin dead…. being there in the accident…
The whole office is quiet. This girl had a beautiful singing voice and we had all heard her CD and marveled it was Paul’s daughter. He always talked about her in such glowing terms and now she’s gone, and her parents crippled with grief.
So sad….
Important notice on Women’s Health:
Posted by: eblackwell on: July 2, 2009
- In: fun
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Do you have feelings of inadequacy?
Do you suffer from shyness?
Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Margaritas.
Margaritas are the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions.
Margaritas can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you’re ready and willing to do just about anything.
You will notice the benefits of Margaritas almost immediately and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.
Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Margaritas.
Disclaimer: Margaritas may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Margaritas. However, women who wouldn’t mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.
Side effects may include: Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, Erotic lustfulness, Loss of motor control, Loss of clothing, Loss of money, Loss of virginity, Table dancing, Headache, Dehydration, Dry mouth, And a desire to sing Karaoke.
WARNING: The consumption of Margaritas may make you think you are whispering when you are not, may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them, may cause you to think you can sing, make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.
Please share this with other women who may need Margaritas.
Thank you.
It’s Monday, from Hoops & YoYo
Posted by: eblackwell on: June 29, 2009
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This summons up a lot of Mondays for me! I once sent this e-card to a few friends; Claudia wrote back, “I worry about you.”
Rough day? Time to look at photos!
Posted by: eblackwell on: June 29, 2009
- In: family
- 3 Comments
A friend got me a digital photo frame for my birthday. I really enjoy seeing the different photos go by, especially as it’s made me go through the last few years and pick out some. I haven’t looked at some of these in a long time.
Like this great one of my friend Kim D from our Girls Gone Wild weekend at WDW in August, 2003. (Kim can you believe this was six years ago?!!)
Kim at Orlando airport
That’s such a great picture of her! We had just landed in Orlando after a very long delay and we were so psyched to finally arrive and tackle our whirlwind weekend. I wish I had the pictures of us with the alligator/dragon statues outside Keystone Clothier where we laid like victims inside their mouths. What I really wish I had was the guy’s face as he came out of the store and saw us sprawled in their jaws!
I do have this one of me playing Rebel victim of the AT-AT walker:
Help me, ObiWan! You are my only hope of not getting squished!!
I have lots of John, of course. Great ones of him being on vacation or just on a day trip, laughing and smiling. Here’s one at Smithville, NJ with someone playing that very popular game show: What kind of dog is that? (About Morgan)
It's not nice to point, sir.
And this one of John being contemplative:
The Thinker
Probably thinking about how he can get the camera away from me.
I have action shots, like this one of me kicking butt with Kim Possible:
Booyah!
THIS one was an absolutely must-have!
Greetings from our house to yours!
Lots of both families — holidays, Ann’s wedding, trips, and just getting together:
Yo, dawg!
Pictures of Sophia, from theater, and more of our friends, including friends we made online and finally got to see face to face:
John, Deb, and I: July 19, 2007
I think I’ll go through the photo CDs, see what else I can find, and maybe scan a few of from the albums. But I’ll leave you with this image:
Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?
Men’s brains and Women’s brains: totally different critters
Posted by: eblackwell on: June 26, 2009
- In: fun
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It’s not gender bashing in either direction. It’s just the truth, whether it’s because women get 2 xx’s while a guy mixes it up with an xy combo when it all begins, or whether it’s societies roles teaching us before we decide for ourselves how to think and feel…. I dunno. I just know there’s a difference.
And it can be VERY funny! As this guy shows us. I never heard of Mark Gungor before, but I wish I had! In fact, while some people may be turned off by the commercial for the DVD on this clip, I ran to check it out because it made me want to see more. Unfortunately, it timed out. Maybe this clip is circulating quite a bit (I originally got it in email) and is taxing the servers. I just hope the site becomes available again because I want more!
I nodded in agreement as much as I laughed! I can’t tell you how many times John and I have had these discussions:
- If I bring up something from before: “How can you remember that, Erin?! It was 10 years ago!”
- If I discuss something that I think is related to the subject: “We’re not talking about that, Erin. We’re talking about this. They’re not connected!” at which point I point out how they are.
- And when I ask John what he’s thinking about and he answers, “Nothing.”, I think that’s my “Nothing”, meaning, “Please ask me to tell you what I’m thinking. I need the nudging.” But he just says more emphatically, “I said nothing.” To which I reply, “How can you think about NOTHING?”
Now I know.
Really funny. And you got to love that he crosses himself before discussing women’s minds. 
New York City survived my family!
Posted by: eblackwell on: June 23, 2009
- In: family
- 2 Comments
It even survived me singing You say it’s your birthday by the Beatles’ on the steps of the Lincoln Center.
My aunt and I at the Lincoln Center
We took the train into the city, each of us coming in at different stations, and finding the others. Cathi, as a joke, said we would wear a single red rose so they’d recognize us. She gave me one and everybody cracked up that we actually did it. All of my sisters came on this trip except for Mary.
We met this great group of women who got on when we did; they were going shopping for the day in NYC. We even ran into them on the train going home.
My friend Laura sent me a treasure chest of Disneyland goodies, including a pin that said it was my birthday. I wore it on Saturday, and not only did people wish me happy birthday (I forgot I had the pin on and would be so surprised when people knew until I remembered the button), but a waiter, obviously trying to get into opera, sang in Italian to me at dinner with everyone stopping to listen. AND! When I saw a pewter figurine from Wicked for sale, the artist knocked money off the price for my birthday. (Terry, Cathi, and Gerry bought it for me.)
My niece, Jennifer, was supposed to go but couldn’t get off from her second job. My aunt decided she’d rather give the ticket away for free rather than it go unused. We announced to the cafe where we had lunch that we were giving it away, and met this wonderful woman Sandra. She couldn’t believe her good luck, but I assured her we were telling the truth and just made her day.
DeeDee (our nickname for our aunt) picked South Pacific because she saw it when it first ever opened and starred Mary Martin. She heard good things about this revival, and I have to agree: this isn’t a favorite of mine but I really enjoyed what they did with the production, modernizing it while keeping the themes alive. I could still do without singing about are we in love, yes we are, no we’re not every minute. I preferred the other numbers.
The musical is based on James Michener’s book, Tales from the South Pacific, from his service there in WWII. This revival started with a scrim that filled the entire stage and looked like a page of the book with the first 5 paragraphs. The end of the show had the last page. Since my family are also Micheners, and my grandmother (Marion Michener) was good friends with Jim Michener, we were especially glad to see they did this.
I forgot how it dealt with race relations, with how Americans or other whites were pushed out of our society if they married the non-white Polynesians. It struck a real chord with me since James Michener himself went through this prejudice with his Asian wife, and I’ve met Chinese and other Asians who have to go through this too.
The book was on sale around the theater; I wanted a family picture with it, but we lost Terry in the crowd, so I got a quick photo with it and then we did the group outside with our Playbills.
From left to right: Terry, Cheryl, me, Gerry, DeeDee, and Cathi
We had dinner at Cafe Fiorello’s across from the theater. Very nice place and that’s where the waiter sang to me.
Of course, you can see, Cathi doesn’t have the date set right on her camera!
So nice day! Our aunt was so extraordinarily generous to do this for us.
I’m headed for New York today.
Posted by: eblackwell on: June 20, 2009
My aunt wanted to thank me, Terry, and Cathi for everything we did for her when she had heart surgery last year. So she’s treating us to a show in NY. By coincidence, the first tickets she could get was for today. So it’s a nice distraction. I’ve been more focused that today is the trip, not my birthday. Even though, originally, this trip was supposed to be with my mom too, something DeeDee wanted to do last year in October, but lots of things interfered.
Still, put a few members of my family together, especially louder ones…. actually, I don’t think we have any quiet ones… and we’ll be a great distraction!
And people have been so nice about my Mom and also about my birthday that I’ve been feeling better about today.
So brace yourself, New York! Here we come!
A whole new direction for Precious Moments
Posted by: eblackwell on: June 16, 2009
- In: fun
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A whole new BAD direction! 
For the guy making his bones in your life
Reading Playboy to Pooh
Sad to say, it took me a little bit to realize what he’s reading. I kept looking at Pooh and Piglet and thinking, I don’t see anything wrong…
Foreclosure
Of course, if you had a foreclosure, could you afford the figurine?
I know people who could have this one
This needs a companion piece: the friends ragging him about it!
Despite rumors, this is NOT how I worked my way through college
If I did work like that, I’d probably have more money now. Where was that booth on Career Day?
