eliptical intervals

Got back to basics this morning. Too rainy to walk outside and haven't been on the eliptical probably since spring. I've been outside walking instead. This morning I strapped on the heart rate monitor and the ipod and went down for the eliptical. I decided to do intervals, and really enjoyed going between 3 different resistance levels and different speeds and watching the heart rate levels. Ended up going 1 mile in 36 minutes and burning 157calories. this is a much better workout than my normal walking/jogging intervals. Can really feel it in the legs. I enjoyed it and it felt good to get back to the machine. Guess its time to hit the shower and get ready for work though. figures now the sun is coming out. Have a great weekend everyone.

Happy Anniversary to us

4 years ago today we got married at Paradise Stream in the Pocono's. someday we are going back there for vacation, it is awesome!

West Virginia

I have always thought it strange that the past few years we have vacationed in W. Va. Growing up in Ohio, two of my best friends were from there. Virgie, whos real name was of course Virginia, and Cathy, who I know reads this blog occasionally. WE just got back from there this past week. We went to Wheeling and we do really enjoy it there.

This morning I received this email from our ministers wife, thought it appropriate. I don't think she knows we had been there.

"Some people in West Virginia have trouble with all those 'shalls' and 'shall not's' in the Ten commandments. Folks just aren't used to talking in those terms.. So, some folks in West Virginia got together and translated the 'King James' into 'County' language..... no joke, read on...
The Hillbilly's Ten Commandments (posted on the wall at First Baptist Church in Summersville, West Virginia)
(1) Just one God
(2) Put nothin' before God
(3) Watch yer mouth
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin'
(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa
(6) No killin'
(7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal
(8) Don't take what ain't yers
(9) No tellin' tales or gossipin'
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff "

The picture is of the summer home of the Oglebay family at Oglebay Park.

Awesome product

Am I the last person in the United States to know how awesome the swiffer sweeper vacs are? I have been wanting one of these for a while. We have all hard wood and linoleum floors with area rugs. Everytime I have looked at walmart for one they are out. I finally found one! I love it, absolutely love it. Can't use it on the area rugs of course but oh my! How awesome it is on the wood and the steps downstairs! I cannot even begin to tell you how amazed I was by this little inexpensive piece of rechargeable equipment. I will never be without one if I can help it. I have been reading some of the reviews done on this little powerful sweeper and looks like most people agree with me. how awesome it is! If you have hard wood, tile, linoleum, or other hard floors it is definatley something you will like having around.

Quote from Sparkpeople

Even if our efforts of attention seem for years to be producing no result, one day a light that is in exact proportion to them will flood the soul- Simone Weil

What we can learn about patience from a diamond.

Trying (but failing) to see your goals realized can be frustrating. Margaret Thatcher once said "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it," and she was absolutely right. You've got to believe that you will succeed! Never admit defeat as long as time and effort remain. Our greatest asset is patience; our greatest weakness is throwing in the towel. Banish discouragement and feelings of impossibility by working hard, doing more, and not giving in! A diamond was only made beautiful after millions of years as a lump of coal

I have learned patience, well somewhat anyways. Patience has never been a virtue of mine. I had none. However, it seems the older I get the more I have. Maybe it is a learned thing or maybe for me it just came with time. When buying the new car I took 3 weeks, made numerous trips to many different car dealers,narrowed it down to 2 cars at 3 dealers and took my time to get the best car for the least amount of $$$. I am very happy with my purchase.

Then comes the laptop. The new Dell XPS M1530, which isn't even 2 months old. It died last Sunday. After countless hours on the phone with Linksys and Dell they are sending a service technician out. She is to meet me at work today with a new part for it. A driver. Dell on call removed the old one and couldn't get a new one to install. I can use it but not as wireless. Thats what I bought the laptop for. Hopefully with any luck it will be back to wireless tonight after work. No way to check it at work but she said to replace that part is all that Dell has authorized her to do anyway. If it doesn't work it will be another phone call to Dell. This has been a real pain and I am not really impressed with dell at this point. Hopefully this corrects the problem though. Patience? I am trying hard to keep mine.

Two days off

I love it! I have two days off in a row. Doesn't happen very often but today and tomorrow are off. I am up early and going to get busy here getting things done. have a lot on my list. i want to install itunes on the laptop. Have been trying to get the time for a while now. Some housework in dire need of getting done also and of course my exercise time. I love exercise time. here is my new car! I think I made an excellent choice. Very pleased with it. I had it Simonized inside and out to prevent stains, etc.

Have decided?

Think I may have decided. Driving home from my moms today after taking her home I had time to think and realized that what I like best about the matrix is possibly the color? I stopped to look at the Equinox again and they do have a black metal flake. Both chevy garages are going to see if they can find me a black metal flake, with all wheel drive, moonroof, remote car starter and call me with a price. The Toyota dealer called again today also and I am taking my car back there on Friday to let them look at it one more time. He says the used car salesmen wasn't there and they want to be fair with me..yeah right.

Cast your vote.

I have been having a blast. As you may know I am looking at new cars. I have it narrowed down to two. My first choice as of this minute is the Toyota Matrix, check it out here. http://www.toyota.com/matrix/index.html My second choice right now is the Chevy Equinox which you can check out here http://www.chevrolet.com/equinox/

I have never in my life been a patient person, I have never bought a car this way and I am quite enjoying it. I have been looking for about two weeks now. Yesterday one of the two Chevy garages called and left me a message to call them, today the other one called and offered me an additonal $800 off the Equinox. I am looking forward to hearing from the Toyota garage within the next day or two. The salesperson there had been on vacation monday and Tuesday of this week. I like some of the features of the Equinox better, the one I am looking at has a remote car starter and the back seats actually slide back and forth for more leg room or more storage room. The Matrix and Equinox both have moon roofs.

My daughter says I like ugly cars and I suppose that could be true, after all I bought an Aztek. Hard to believe that was over 5 years ago. If that had all wheel drive I wouldn't be looking for a new one now. Both the Equinox and Matrix have all wheel drive. Course keep in my mind my daughter drives an orange, yes, orange Mustang. I suppose that someday soon I will decide what I want. For now, I have a sale sign on the Aztek, if I can sell it for more than the trade in value it would be awesome.

So, tell me which one you think is the coolest? or the ugliest?

Been a while

Has sure been a while since I have posted. Things have been a bit different around here lately. My kids had been home for a week and it sure was wonderful having them home. WE had a great time and loved having them home. They night before they left, my mom had a mini stroke and has been in the hospital ever since. A week yesterday now. She is doing fantastic and if you ddin't know you would never suspect. I have been there quite often when I am off work so just haven't taken time to post. Wanted to catch everyone up on the news though and post a picture from the party we had while the kids were here. This one is my mother and my daughter. More will follow.

Thank God my mom is doing so well and will home soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOLLY!

Today is my darling daughters birthday. She is 28 years old and I find myself wondering where those years have gone. Looking back it seems like only yesterday. Although some times while she was growing up the days seemed to last forever. She was so smart and such a bull head and she surely loved to argue with me. I am fortunate to have both my son and daughter home this week and have had a bit of time to just enjoy them being here. We had a family cookout on Wed and that was nice, and a lot of fun. Friends and family came from all over and I think everyone enjoyed the day.

Michelle and Bo went to Ohio today to spend the day with Mikes family. I believe they had a small memorial service for him and Michelle called a while ago. Her and Bo are on their way home. I had thought they were spending the night out there but she wanted to come home.

I'm glad cause I'm off tomorrow and I miss her and the little doggy. Last night I slept on the couch with Zoey until about 3:30 am. the kids had all gone out for Michelles birthday and I didn't want the dog barking and whining and keeping us up all night. Tonight i came home from work and no one was here, no dog here either and it sure was quiet. I'm going to miss them all when they go home.

No sleep tonight!

Doubt I'll sleep much tonight. My kids leave Vegas at 1:00 am to come home for the week. They will be landing in Pitts at 11:30 and be here before I get home from work. Tried to get a half days vacation but there are only a few of us working tomorrow. Sharan is working at the other store, Scott is on vacation and Bev is off. No luck getting a half day off. Darn it.

The heron is back at the big pond. I have been trying to scare him away but he always comes back. Think we are going to put the net up again. Hate to have to do that but sure don't want him eating my fish.

I went grocery shopping today, the first time in about 4 years. John always does it, but I wanted all kinds of different things to do all the different salads for the cookout on Wed. It sure was weird being in the store, went to Shop and Save, took me a while to find everything. Hope I have all I need and really wonder what I am going to do with everything tomorrow night until Wed once its all cooked. Not enough room in the fridge.

Looking forward to the cookout though, hope the weather is gorgeous and its supposed to be, even with Howie being home.

Got it

Have no idea why this wouldn't come through sooner. Maybe blogger has a problem and not me? Here is the stone Gary is doing for us. He says its 3 by 3 and I sure hope it is cause it looks small here.

I hope next Wed is as beautiful as today. Next Wed my kids, Bo and Anton will be here and we are having a large cookout. I am actually looking forward to it. Even the cooking part..YUCK

today is sunny, warm and a bit humid but would sure be nice to just be sitting around visiting with everyone and eating and drinking.

Stone

Well, for some reason I cannot add pictures to the blog from the laptop. They come up with just that stupid x in a box thingy. Going to have to look into that but not now. Maybe Michelle knows when she gets here.

Gary emailed a picture of the stone for our yard. I thought it was to small and emailed him that. He wrote back that it is about 3' x 3' and as big as he handles so I told him to go ahead. Its a real nice looking rock. Wanted to put the picture on here but can't figure out why it won't work.

Kids will be here a week from yesterday. I am getting so excited. We are having a cookout on Wed and I will have to figure out the picture thing for the blog so I can get them posted. How frustrating to not know how to do something.

I hope Gary hurries and gets that stone done.

Relay notes

Total raised so far by all teams is over $54,000. That is awesome!

We got rained out and most everyone packed up and went home. I got home about 2:15. Figuring Cher did about 3 am. Not as many teams this year and alot of people left even before the rain came. I like to stay the entire 24 hours but sure didn't want to in a storm.

We are already discussing options for next year. ARe we doing it again? More than likely I think.

Cher won the Miller Brothers furniture card. Kind of ironic and I won a real nice gift basket from gourmet kitchen which includes all kind of tea. thats actually kind of ironic too, it has a lot of green tea and I had been reading where that is so healthy to help fight cancer. I drink at least two cups a day and had been pushing it on Mike and Michelle that past year.

It was so nice having Paul and Nikki there. Enjoyed the heck out of that and hope they don't get mad but here is a picture..or maybe two.