Explination for my abscence.

For those of you wondering where I have been. I am temorarially between homes. I was renting form a gentleman who never turned my $ over to the land owner. Because of this I am currently staying with family while I look for a new home. There are very few times when I can get online here, hense the lack of my pressense here. I'll be back as soon as possible.
If anyone happens to know of a 4 bedroom home in the Gibsonton/Riverview area for $1200 or less. Please e-mail me at freedomgriner@yahoo.com. Much love to all.
Freedom

Diet notes

O.k. So far the hardest part of this whole new weightloss program seems to be remembering to write in my food diary and here.
I lost 3 lbs last week and 4.5 this week. Last week I did let some of the heavie exerscises slide while I did my healing. But I'm right back on track. Instead of a food diary I have a check list that I keep next to the fridge. I made up a chart of each food group with little boxes for eack serving I can have. It's easier to check things off as I get it then writing everything out and then doing the math. Plus being next to the fridge makes it much easier to remember.
We also have a new puppy so I now add a half mile walk to my daily activities. :)
That's all for now folks.

Diet update

Woo Hoo ! As of 10:00 a.m. my new wieght is 217 lbs. The best news though is my blood pressure. When I started this whole thing it was staying around 146 over 92 not good numbers yesterday it was 124 over 81 dang near perfect.
I have made a few discoveries that I'd like to share.
#1 I keep my food diary right next to the fridge. When it was on my desk I often forgot to write things down.
#2Streching before weight training can be dangerous. There's the risk of over streching the muscles then you pull things. Streching after feels sooooo good.
#3 KNOW YOUR LIMIT. Or as I like to call it... if you've been a house wife for 4 years keep your out of shape tush off the extreme bike trails. No matter how much fun it looks like. I am a giant bruise from the falls, and was totally embarassed when the 14 year old blew past me laughing his @ss off. ( new goal: beat that trail by the end of summer )
Anyways....
Thanks to everyone that gave me all thier wonderful support last week. It really ment the world to me. That's it for now.
Later beautiful people! :)

Coming out of the FAT closet

I have a confession. THe picture in my profile is outdated and not a true represintation of what I look like any more. In the past I have always had to fight with my weight but ussualy won. Then I left my very active job in road construction to become a stay at home mom. This was not a good thing! I didn't want to admit that I had put on that much weight until I saw the picture I'm inluding with this post.
I now have to not only face the truth but am going to do somthing about it.
My goal is to get down to 130 lbs by this date next year, and to give myself incentive I have agreed to should I fail there will be no Burning Man for me.
For those of you wondering why I would post something so personal for the whole world to see....
another form of incentive ( who wants to fail while in the public eye ) and maybe insiration for anyone else out there trying to lose a large amount of weight.
I will be posting updates everyweek, and notes one what I am doing to lose the weight.
Any advice will be welcome. This is also an open invite to anyone who could use a friend while they try to lose weight. Message me.
If you are wondering what my starting weight is it's ( gulp ) 225.
This is what I started with...
I went to www.mypyramid.gov/ and got my personalised food pyramid to follow. To make it easier to track what I eat I've also started a food diary.
Excersise...
My daughter Crystal has volunteered to be my bike buddy. We ride at least 1 mile a night ( our neighborhood road twice ) if not more. Today we did 2 miles :)
I have a 30 min aerobic routine for mon. wed. and fri. My husband will be spotting my on the weights on tues. and thurs. sat is dance ( no not in a club or class) at home 2 hours what ever music I'm in the mood for. And yes us big girls can dance. Sun. is family bike ride day we do any where between 5 - 12 miles depending on the difficulty of the trail.
So there it is out in the open. I got fat! Nothing to do now but fix it. Crosses fingers .

My little triumph

I am an artist through and through. Mostly I love to create things that are beautiful and useful. Unfortunately I have never really been able to master the whole sewing thing ... till now.
I made my first Burning Man hat! I didn't have a pattern or a single clue as to where to start but somehow it turned out.
I even got the measurements from a mixing bowl I found that fit my head. HeeHee!
I'm going to try a jacket next. If only I could find a cooking utensil for that.
Here's a pic of the outside the inside is in my album, somehow it became reversible. I even made a scarf to match. 8^)

The cutest little invader.

Yesterday our nieghbors ( a retired petting zoo ) lost a few of their goats. This little one wandered in to our yard and decided that our kids looked like good playmates. After an hour or so the neighbors came and rounded them up. End of story or so I thought.
Around 9:00 p.m. I heard what I thought was our kitten scratching at the door and told my 7 year old to let her in. Surprise! Little Mr. Billy had broken out of his pen agian and into our house. It took 10 min to get him back out side. Where he spent the entire night on our porch.
I think he likes us :)

Burners are everywhere.

This Sunday I took my family ( including nephew ) to the Florida State Strawberry Festival. Must admit that almost the entire experience was dissapointing. Everything costs sooo much. $100 only got us in and 1 ride and 1 game per kid (they shared a funnel cake ). I was about ready to write the whole trip off as a wash, then I was offered a free ride to join my youngest son. Cool by its self. Getting off the gentleman that let me on smiled at me, touched my burning man necklace, and told me too keep the spirit all year round. A burner carney! The rest off the day just seemed so much better and on the way out the gate I gave the last of our tickets ( there weren't enough to split evenly amoung the kids ) to a lady exoplaining to her grandkids that they were out of $ for tickets.
I've yet to make it to the playa but have felt like it was home ever since I heard about it, and running into that man felt like meeting a long lost member of my family. I know I sound crazy but I still had to share.
Keep the spirit alive!

Who is this guy?

I am asking for the help of the great minds of Tribe.
My Dad found this plastic doll that my Mom swears is Tobo Gigo from the Ed Sullivan Show. Here's the problem, I googled Tobo Gigo and found almost no info and not a single pic. The only clue I have is a hand written note on his feet that reads " My name is Phil 7/9/66 Indian Lake ".
There are more pics in my albumn.
My Dad and I would really appreciate any info you could share with us.
Thanks in advance :)
Freedom

In Loving Memory of Granny

My dear friend and adopted Granny, Pearl Peel, passed away on Jan. 16,2007 at 69 years of age.
She was a mother of 7, grandmother of 24, and great grandmother to over 30. This is not including the countless nieces and nephews and those of us she cared for as family.
She was loved by everyone that ever had the great fortune of meeting her and will be greatly missed.
So look to the heavens tonight there has been a new star added. You'll know hers it'll shine just a little bit brighter than the rest, just as she did in life.

God speed Granny, We Love You.

To all of my friends

I know this time of year I don't get much chanse to write to each of you. So I want to take this chance to say Merry Christmas, and to let you know that I am always thinking of you. If I call you friend then you are held close to my heart.

So here's a HUG for each of you, and I'll be in touch soon.