Success on a trip to Fayetteville

Total weight loss: 7 pounds.


We had a great time on our trip to see the Hogs this weekend even though they lost the basketball game. The Razorback game was the reason for our trip, but we also got to stay at Big Cedar Lodge this weekend thanks to our friends Brad and Susan. Big Cedar is such a wonderful place and so much fun to visit. So we had a very good time with very good friends this weekend.

Anytime you go on a vacation dieting is very difficult because you can't stay true to your schedule. This trip was no exception. I think I did very good even though we ate at odd times. I did eat out at several restaurants, but made very good choices along the way. I had roasted chicken at one meal, grilled shrimp at another and steak and green chilies at my meal on Sunday. Pretty good I think.

Today being back at work and trying to get back to the diet routine was actually harder than the weekend was. I am not going to work tomorrow because of the ice storm so I will be at home and be able to have a good day with Darah and my diet.

Check back often to see how I am doing.

Weight Loss Journal

Once again I am trying to lose weight. This makes the umpteenth time I have tried to do this. Those of you that are overweight know what I mean. I have tried every kind of diet imaginable. I have tried Weight Watchers, Sue's new energy, Fitness Bootcamp, neutrasystem, and my own diet plan. None have been successful. It is not the diets fault. It is mine. Every diet works. I just don't do diets well. I am embarking on a new diet this week and I will be posting how I am doing so the whole world will know when I succeed. I want everybody to follow my progress on this new venture and encourage me along the way. I figure that the more people that know I am on a diet, the more I will try to stick to it.

I realize that dieting is not the answer. I have to change my way of thinking. I have to feel better about myself. I have to realize why I overeat. I will have to work hard at this. There are various reasons why I have gotten to the weight that I am at. I will not go into that on here right now. I now what they are and I am working on them. I have reached a point in my life where I think I can deal with those issues successfully and conquer the weight problem.

The diet I am trying now is called HMR. It is through the local hospital. The food comes prepackaged right to your door. No more guessing on what to eat. I just eat what is in the box. I am trying something new with this diet. I have asked several of my friends to keep me honest on this diet. They will ask me regularly how I am doing and whether I have been cheating on the diet or not. I expect them to keep tabs on me regularly and pester me about it.

In my first week I lost 6 pounds. I was also sick during this week so that may have bumped the number up a bit.

Headed to Fayetteville today to see the Hogs play so I will be tested with the diet this weekend. Check back next week to see how I did.

CRA Class of 1987

Wow it is hard to believe that it has been 20 years since I graduated from high school. This past Saturday a group of 15 of my former classmates gathered in Memphis at a Redbirds game in order to celebrate the two decade milestone. We had a great time. The Redbirds have party decks that you can buy tickets to and there they serve all the food you can eat while providing you with a pretty cool place for a party.

It was a lot of fun catching up on what everybody has been doing. I see some of my classmates on a somewhat regular basis but we don't just sit down and have a good talk. Like I said I really enjoyed it. I do wish that some of the ones that didn't come would have been able to make it.

They had to run us out of the stadium after the game was over. We then took the party to the world renown Memphis eating establishment known as Denny's. (I think that would be a good restaurant to franchise.) Oh wait, you mean they do? We stayed at Denny's way to late and got home even later, but it was worth it.

Oh by the way, the Redbirds lost. I hardly even knew that there was a game being played.

Mt. View

This week Darah and I wanted to take a short vacation, we just couldn't decide where. After much deliberation we decided to just go to Cherokee Village and then on to Lake Norfork. We spent the 4th of July on the lake and had a great time with some of her family. The next day we got up and I decided on a whim to drive to Mt. View.

I had not been to Mt. View in over 25 years. The only expectations I had were from faded memories of a childhood visit and a recent article I read in National Geographic Adventure. The magazine writer said that Mt. View was a nice little place tucked in the middle of Arkansas worth visiting. Wow, was the author correct. We had a great time there.

When we travel we try to each lunch at a local place to get a feel for the town or area. Yesterday we ate at Wood's Pharmacy and Soda Fountain, a throwback to the old days of an ice cream shop in a pharmacy. We had sandwiches that were great. We didn't try the ice cream. We will have to go back to do that.

The town center is a square of shops with an old courthouse in the middle. There are some very nice gift shops such as: A Timeless Touch, The CornerStone Shoppe, Stone County Ironworks and other artisan shops. One of our favorite places was a fudge shop called Candy Bouquet & Stonebrook Fudge Factory. All of there fudge is homemade and great. I got chocolate and peanut butter fudge, Darah got chocolate and strawberry fudge. She also got a very good lemonade there. We also visited a old country store and bought boiled peanuts. Yum.

Surrounding the square are nice bed and breakfast establishments if you are inclined to stay in the area over night. We were just spending the day there, but we will be going back in the fall. We can't wait.

Art

As I was growing up I had no real appreciation for art. (No not Art Smith, I do appreciate him.) You know the kind that is hanging in museums and such. I saw no real purpose for it. Over time I have begun to not only enjoy art, but also to create art myself. I now see things in a whole new light. I think my love for art grew as my love for photography grew. Where once I only took pictures to record history, I now take pictures to create something artistic. How many times have you taken a picture of something and then see pictures that someone more artistic has taken of the exact same thing and said to yourself, wow I didn't see that there. I now strive to be the one who takes the "wow" picture.

Aside from photography I have now been dabbling in graphic art design. I take a mixture of photography, computer design, fonts and other things to turn out art on my computer. Recently I had one of my digital art files printed on canvas to display in my home. It looks great. It is the first in a 3 part series. I had the first one printed so I can see how it looks on canvas. I am very happy. When I finish the other two parts I will put them on here for people to see.

Art is an expression that comes from inside of you. Sometimes I have a hard time getting it out and thus become frustrated. I feel creativity swelling up inside of me waiting to burst out. It just doesn't come on a time schedule. That is frustrating.

Changes

I am not the greatest at blogging. I am not a very good writer and I am a worse speller. That makes blogging a little hard. I do like to look back and see what I was doing at different times in my life and that is why I like the idea of blogging.

Things have been hectic over the past two months for me. We (the church at Bono) finally moved into out beautiful new building. We have had huge numbers in both class and worship. God is truly working in peoples lives and we are witnessing it firsthand. We also hired a new preacher, Richard Akins. Richard and his wife will be joining us April 1. We look forward to working with them in the future.

I have recently started a class on Sunday morning based on the book by Max Lucado Facing Your Giants. I think that it will be a great help to everybody. We will be studying it for the next 12-14 weeks.

On a different note. The Crowley's Ridge Academy Falcons won their first round game in the state basketball tournament yesterday in Danville. They will play again on Thursday at 8:30.

Christmas Time

It has been a very long time since I have blogged. I will try to do better.

It is that time of year when we do not have enough time to get everything done and still be able to be in the Christmas spirit. Tonight we had our second Christmas party in as many days. I enjoy seeing family that you only see once a year or so. I just get tired from all of the running around.

This is a picture of me and my wife's family from tonights party.