Thanksgiving in Solomons Island Maryland

My three sons...Paul, Matthew and Jimmy

Thanksgiving holiday this year was nice to have us all together.  This is the first year that we have three away at college.  Sarah, Kevin's daughter is a junior at Peace College in Raleigh NC.  Jimmy is a Freshman at West Virginia University in Morgantown.  Paul is a sophmore at MICA in Baltimore (Maryland Institute College of Art).  Having them home is great because they have been gone off to college and of course I have missed them.  Matthew is a sophmore in our local high school and he is the only left at home now.  He was glad to see his brothers home for the holidays. 

Last year granddad refused to leave his home for Thanksgiving dinner and therefore missed the event.  This year, we were not going to let that happen, so we took dinner to him!  The Drum Point Beach club is a wonderful property on the water in Solomons Island.  My granddad built his home on the water and this is the community private club house.

Sarah and the boys

Sarah with her daddy....hubby Kevin

Raw oysters is a tradition in our family.

My boys enjoying the raw oysters.

How funny is this....Molly doesn't like the raw oysters but

feels obligated to assist granddaddy!  Love it! 

My cousin Molly has her own blog....I doubt she will put these

pictures on HER BLOG! 

Mom with my brother JAY and his wife Heather

My mom (the oldest) and Uncle Kelly (her brother, the baby)

Aunt Grier (her sister), Granddaddy (her Dad)

 and Aunt Beth (her youngest sister)

Table for many!

Appetizers

I was caught eating....thanks Matt!

Dinner is served...

My cousin Marybeth and sister Amy

Me and Kevin

Paul, Matthew and Jimmy enjoying dnner

Sarah and Kevin

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

GOD bless you.

Wednesday Weigh-In Week 27 ~ Down 350 lbs!

Welcome to Wednesday Weigh-In Week 27

All are welcome to join the fun!

OVER 350 POUNDS LOST BY OUR GROUP!

Our group has lost a total of 350 lbs in 26 weeks!

Here are the results this week's weight loss and the running totals:

(updated as comments arrive)

Me -1 lb; -16 lbs total
Kevin -2 lbs; -21 lbs total
Chris -14.2 lbs total
JulieQ -1 lb; -11 lbs total
Deanna -0 lbs; -18 lbs total
Pat -10 lbs total
Cathy -6.5 lbs total
Helen -10.7 lbs total
Kim D -9.2 lbs total
Barb -14.2 lbs total
Jamie K -4.5 lbs total
Linda B -5.5 lbs total
Katie Q -3.5 lbs total
Tonya -6 lbs total
Barb (DD) -1 lb total
Marianne -22.5 lbs total
Diane -13.4 lbs total
Judy -4 lbs total
Linda P -10 lbs total
Bunny -8.5 lb total
Laura -7 lbs total
Nicole -3 lbs; -8 lbs total
Susan -2 lbs total
Rita -8.5 lbs total
Steph D -1 lb; -31.6 lbs total
Pamela (Keeb.) - 11 lbs total
Pamela K -0 lbs; -5.5 lbs
Pamela E -4 lbs
Janice -2 lbs; -24 lbs total
Becky +2 lbs; -5 lbs total
Suzanne (my mom) -3 lbs; -11 lbs

This member has reached their weight loss goal:
Micki -30.5 lbs total!

Let me know your weekly totals and I will update the post with this weeks numbers.

So far we have lost a total of 13 lbs this week and 363 lbs in 26 weeks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 My mom has joined our weight loss group and she is adding in her totals from her weight loss over the last few weeks!  Hospitalization does that to you!  She is doing great and I am so proud of her. 

Composition Book or Bag?

Is this a composition book or a purse that looks like one?

How cute is this?  Perfect gift for a teacher!

Close up view

It is small, measures only 8 " x 6"

It will fit nicely inside a work bag.

Nice and colorful inside to match the zipper

Mom has been busy helping me with... 

my raw edge quilt!

Since she is staying with us to recover from her recent hospitalization, she has been bored and needing something to work on.  She has been busy embellishing beads, buttons, embroidery etc onto the quilt top.

I think it is ready to be quilted! What do you think?

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

A Scrabble Night

Jimmy, Kevin, Matt, Mom and me enjoy a night of scrabble. 

Matt and my mom

My husband Kevin laughing at our made up words! 

Matthew, my youngest son

Jimmy watching to see if I am peeking.

He got back late last night from WVU for his college break.

One of my favorite words! 

The scores prove it!

I won and that doesn't happen that often!

Mom moves in

My mom Suzanne

Mom is finally settled into our home.  She moved in for a temporary but hopefully permanent visit.  After two hospitalizations in a row and not getting stronger, she has moved in for some much needed TLC.  Since she can't do stairs yet, we moved the bed from her bedroom down to the first floor and our dining room became her bedroom.  She is happy to be all on the same level.  Today she sat at the kitchen table and helped me cook.  She cut up all the fixings for some chicken salad and split pea soup.  A great helper with all the cooking talent to share with me. 

Raw edge quilting

As you can see in the picture of mom, she is working on my postage stamp quilt.  She is embellishing it for me, giving her something constructive to do!  She is missing her sewing machine and mine is downstairs.  This hand work is good for her. 



Wednesday Weigh-In Week 26

Welcome to Wednesday Weigh-In Week 26

All are welcome to join the fun!

OVER  300 POUNDS LOST BY OUR GROUP!

Our group has lost a total of 336.7 lbs in 25 weeks!

Here are the results this week's weight loss and the running totals:
(updated as comments arrive)

Me -0 lbs; -15 lbs total
Kevin -1 lb; -19 lbs total
Chris -14.2 lbs total
JulieQ -2 lbs; -10 lbs total
Deanna -1 lb; -18 lbs total
Pat -10 lbs total
Cathy -6.5 lbs total
Helen -10.7 lbs total
Kim D -9.2 lbs total
Barb -14.2 lbs total
Jamie K -4.5 lbs total
Linda B -5.5 lbs total
Katie Q -3.5 lbs total
Tonya -6 lbs total
Barb (DD) -1 lb total
Marianne -22.5 lbs total
Diane -13.4 lbs total
Judy -4 lbs total
Linda P -10 lbs total
Bunny -8.5 lb total
Laura -7 lbs total
Nicole -5 lbs total
Susan -2 lbs total
Rita -8.5 lbs total
Steph D -30.6 lbs total
Pamela (Keeb.) - 11 lbs total
Pamela K -5.5 lbs
Pamela E -4 lbs
Janice -2 lbs; -22 lbs total
Becky -7 lbs total

This member has reached their weight loss goal:
Micki -30.5 lbs total!

Let me know your weekly totals and I will update the post with this weeks numbers.
So far we have lost a total of 6 lbs this week and 339 lbs in 24 weeks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hopefully you are missing my smiling face!  This week has been busy.  Mom is recovering from a resistent form of pneumonia and is moving in to our home after having been hospitalized for about 3 weeks.  She is too weak to take care of herself and with my encouragement, she agreed to move in until she is stronger.  I really hope she decides to stay but for now it is temporary.  I brought her home from the hospital yesterday and she is getting settled.  I have off work now until this Sunday and my plan is to get some sewing time in with her.  Everyone have a great holiday couple of weeks!  I am very much looking forward to the kids coming home from college this weekend.  I will have all of them here for Thanksgiving! 

Wednesday Weigh-In Week 25 ~ Down 323 pounds!

Welcome to Wednesday Weigh-In Week 25

All are welcome to join the fun!

OVER 300 POUNDS LOST BY OUR GROUP!
Our group has lost a total of 323 lbs in 24 weeks!

Here are the results this week's weight loss and the running totals:
(updated as comments arrive)

Me -3 lbs; -15 lbs total
Kevin -2 lbs; -18 lbs total
Chris -2 lbs; -14.8 lbs total
JulieQ -8 lbs total
Deanna -17 lbs total
Pat -10 lbs total
Cathy -6.5 lbs total
Helen -10.7 lbs total
Kim D -9.2 lbs total
Barb -14.2 lbs total
Jamie K -4.5 lbs total
Linda B -5.5 lbs total
Katie Q -3.5 lbs total
Tonya -6 lbs total
Barb (DD) -1 lb total
Marianne -22.5 lbs total
Diane -13.4 lbs total
Judy -4 lbs total
Linda P -10 lbs total
Bunny -8.5 lb total
Laura -7 lbs total
Nicole -5 lbs total
Susan -2 lbs total
Rita -8.5 lbs total
Steph D -4.2 lbs; -32.8 lbs total
Pamela (Keeb.) - 11 lbs total
Pamela K -1.5 lbs; -6.5 lbs
Pamela E -4 lbs
Janice -1 lb; -20 lbs total
Becky -7 lbs total

This member has reached their weight loss goal:
Micki -30.5 lbs total!
Let me know your weekly totals and I will update the post with this weeks numbers.
So far we have lost a total of 13.7 lbs this week and 336.7 lbs in 24 weeks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was so excited to lose the pound I gained last week plus two more for a total of 3 pounds.  I have been doing nothing more than going to work and to the hospital to visit my mom who is now in rehab.  The weight loss has a lot to do with not eathing out.  Kevin and I are making a conscious decision to not eat out in restaurants except for special occasions.  This alone is what has made both of us drop a few pounds.  We are trying to save money for our trip in January and with three kids in college it gets pretty expensive.  I guess the benefit of not eating out will be some weight loss.  Hope everyone had a great week and here's to a great week ahead of weight loss.  Wish I had more time to enter some words of wisdom but maybe next week.

Sewing lessons

Nicole, my friend from work is working on her first quilt.  She has never used a sewing machine before.  Today I taught her how to sew a straight seam, line up seams and make her first quilt top.  She did a great job.  I was surprised to see the fabric she selected.  I had just used some of this fabric in my snowball quilt.  We both have good taste. 

Teaching her how to lay out the design.

Visited mom at the hospital today after the sewing session.  She is getting stronger and she is getting her sense of humor back.  Unfortunately she is still in the ICU and on drips but the antibiotics are making her feel better.  I covered up the central line dressing because it looked pretty clinical.  Thanks for everyone's well wishes and prayers.  Have a great weekend!