Catching up and a WINNER!!!

Hello friends! I've been MIA the past few days! LOTS going on! :) I'll give you the short version!<br /><br />Thursday was my blogiversary...hard to believe 2 years ago I was in a much different place! If you missed my post make sure to go check it out <a href="http://weightloss-stories.blogspot.com/2010/11/2-year-blogiversary.html">here</a>!<br /><br />Friday was work like normal and then we spent the evening w/my family! Always love family time! :)<br /><br />Saturday was an unexpected road trip to Kansas City!! I packed my bags quick...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllURDDNxz0AU5UlIpuVXMZDCjjQfnFAKqNuNdgTKFqmpkw2MLAsYkC6feUHYMtreVjelgp1pw8BX6JbsNTcdQDApzX_YULUnUYneQ1m89fikS12qO9gmHrXvvyAF3NBIIX_cAlREkdUk_/s1600/DSC09285.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621209266599202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllURDDNxz0AU5UlIpuVXMZDCjjQfnFAKqNuNdgTKFqmpkw2MLAsYkC6feUHYMtreVjelgp1pw8BX6JbsNTcdQDApzX_YULUnUYneQ1m89fikS12qO9gmHrXvvyAF3NBIIX_cAlREkdUk_/s400/DSC09285.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Had some cereal in my favorite bowl...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVWqshzJZZ4Zhoarhb5XI7sbv_yb1UokhhF174QcgiHR3JPbpH6nmPkXlqkcOtbe8L7wEUERBDEf6EyvKEO0ZsEfpp_EV1lZz3VpJ4sEDNkW13po9e3yECPfm6Zfb_QAHPwjriLXjFvWJ/s1600/DSC09283.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621595534796290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVWqshzJZZ4Zhoarhb5XI7sbv_yb1UokhhF174QcgiHR3JPbpH6nmPkXlqkcOtbe8L7wEUERBDEf6EyvKEO0ZsEfpp_EV1lZz3VpJ4sEDNkW13po9e3yECPfm6Zfb_QAHPwjriLXjFvWJ/s400/DSC09283.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />And my sister, Mindi, and I hit the road!! She had a wedding to go to and I was going along for the ride & to surprise my friend who lives in KC!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFmUcyLlB4xHZXgo6wigx2Pq5TNtm2y8Y7AKPe0tHwTU6-C_eWeuH8IlBQXdRi2UqPPk5fWN38ifk-Ux5u_cj9qERMETK-OvldQCECvGUOYUdkC_vk6BjQ1tPWLoSrJLel3c6WKGBuBX6/s1600/DSC09298.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621315864290018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFmUcyLlB4xHZXgo6wigx2Pq5TNtm2y8Y7AKPe0tHwTU6-C_eWeuH8IlBQXdRi2UqPPk5fWN38ifk-Ux5u_cj9qERMETK-OvldQCECvGUOYUdkC_vk6BjQ1tPWLoSrJLel3c6WKGBuBX6/s400/DSC09298.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" /></a><br />We had a few snacks along the way...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfy54_Zoslffbk81LEP2sp2DXgqcgtMtvxFv4Y0J0-dURGBKJQ_kMZPhwLTxYtpOZwU8YWJgrjeBzj8sbxuPcKFBOdAi3bT3Vm4wiblX_6NViotu5TpqJhi-2MRvg6LEuqR77AjRJ5M2Jl/s1600/DSC09290.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621906779600386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfy54_Zoslffbk81LEP2sp2DXgqcgtMtvxFv4Y0J0-dURGBKJQ_kMZPhwLTxYtpOZwU8YWJgrjeBzj8sbxuPcKFBOdAi3bT3Vm4wiblX_6NViotu5TpqJhi-2MRvg6LEuqR77AjRJ5M2Jl/s400/DSC09290.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Some healthy...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjExmYPkk14HfYRWQb7UsP-qxMm-4QPuPvbIwjS1qdIoVaZcG2KsLwrH05m6zj2IH0o1SmtZAFQKZ07-OVLDoy4Ksx1ScQi0uY2Q7yPSzzSh0bg2htnvkeYUPj9fM1Fbe3AXlbSMpPJIbXj/s1600/DSC09287.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621896770004290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjExmYPkk14HfYRWQb7UsP-qxMm-4QPuPvbIwjS1qdIoVaZcG2KsLwrH05m6zj2IH0o1SmtZAFQKZ07-OVLDoy4Ksx1ScQi0uY2Q7yPSzzSh0bg2htnvkeYUPj9fM1Fbe3AXlbSMpPJIbXj/s400/DSC09287.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Some, not so much! But I counted out my serving! ;) The 4+ hour trip flew by, I always enjoy sister time!!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1N5oF_sZxaBqIev42i8QxNP5lYitL_BWn6J5yG84rtbEQRG2W3QBI_Nmk7zkPXhxVE3CPtMWBmZZS8putSddn7Y1pcGXsn6wlW-jXaHZ9Q9TIFKN0GV32Mjr3Gakbv2MkIjW0f8CWTk20/s1600/DSC09288.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621891137521618" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1N5oF_sZxaBqIev42i8QxNP5lYitL_BWn6J5yG84rtbEQRG2W3QBI_Nmk7zkPXhxVE3CPtMWBmZZS8putSddn7Y1pcGXsn6wlW-jXaHZ9Q9TIFKN0GV32Mjr3Gakbv2MkIjW0f8CWTk20/s400/DSC09288.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Our first stop was the Legends at Village West Outlet mall!!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMj2m-3Z6d_RRvhLteKV4jaYRsfKUD1NGX24NkRPIh_HhymVy22qTamUnbWqtHDQJpMx2RfdOpczYrk31HfMicqKAeLxgZynNYkzYMzjkZTddCboqIANNIre2ciSDVcyb9r_ayqpUXCedv/s1600/DSC09291.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621204686069154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMj2m-3Z6d_RRvhLteKV4jaYRsfKUD1NGX24NkRPIh_HhymVy22qTamUnbWqtHDQJpMx2RfdOpczYrk31HfMicqKAeLxgZynNYkzYMzjkZTddCboqIANNIre2ciSDVcyb9r_ayqpUXCedv/s400/DSC09291.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Mindi made friends with some "animals"!!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNuWhmCxux11PlaTIDdVMNXQTH6w1DCUOPV_3H9_6JQY-7yfg2awvkWZRpbRT4L7PxxEkFPISYofzHOUOStH5ebkhhC-tZZnIWgvliMRLyPCsOwoJp-x4ytsg5rvxoZqNtnxOoIJihE5zF/s1600/DSC09292.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621195396468770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNuWhmCxux11PlaTIDdVMNXQTH6w1DCUOPV_3H9_6JQY-7yfg2awvkWZRpbRT4L7PxxEkFPISYofzHOUOStH5ebkhhC-tZZnIWgvliMRLyPCsOwoJp-x4ytsg5rvxoZqNtnxOoIJihE5zF/s400/DSC09292.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />We couldn't shop on an empty stomachs though! We made a quick stop at Five Guys, a new try for me!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTj-7TJJ9M0Zv0-wK62OQadU2bq7E3VxZNg3FRZ8Cp9IHaypFbYO9VN9PqsAXEfS07oeGpsVlb6Ldcufafzuh8TMC_ashlPodL3tzLxdhAwitw6GdLlqjMv2WblHYSGa0SZNxtYSnphuF0/s1600/DSC09293.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621181761980402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTj-7TJJ9M0Zv0-wK62OQadU2bq7E3VxZNg3FRZ8Cp9IHaypFbYO9VN9PqsAXEfS07oeGpsVlb6Ldcufafzuh8TMC_ashlPodL3tzLxdhAwitw6GdLlqjMv2WblHYSGa0SZNxtYSnphuF0/s400/DSC09293.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />I got the "little" burger, but there wasn't much that was little about it! ;) But it was one good burger!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsWWuVNcOHxxbtcxpBcbKiOTIoCzPpAF1JGvSscXrSvic2b5Lu5qDMxDFqiLGMvQWeCF-dtgsEHRRNnC4p78zeHxTv73km6RpZU4ufNVNS_THishyKXlhYpN2qCsDTlOvNVwwhBduwqP3/s1600/DSC09295.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537621168889201442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsWWuVNcOHxxbtcxpBcbKiOTIoCzPpAF1JGvSscXrSvic2b5Lu5qDMxDFqiLGMvQWeCF-dtgsEHRRNnC4p78zeHxTv73km6RpZU4ufNVNS_THishyKXlhYpN2qCsDTlOvNVwwhBduwqP3/s400/DSC09295.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Mindi's got the little burger too...but went "all the way" with her toppings! <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPYi_I23onpPREGCnPJhzdkouM_46yw3CvuyHNOIW7zEy-2GX7EVk7J_p3TsN3KRu8rYlvv0Z4Kjm6usAaQN4XoAoHVzZ-AYrCkMMAUBz80AL8Bq6eM2fViiwCH6rFgaLmSos6lub6-xk/s1600/DSC09296.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537620739924947986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPYi_I23onpPREGCnPJhzdkouM_46yw3CvuyHNOIW7zEy-2GX7EVk7J_p3TsN3KRu8rYlvv0Z4Kjm6usAaQN4XoAoHVzZ-AYrCkMMAUBz80AL8Bq6eM2fViiwCH6rFgaLmSos6lub6-xk/s400/DSC09296.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Word the wise, if you go to Five Guys, get the regular fries! Our little container was overflowing. We barely made a dent in them!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjAg_mjEesri-WK2FyTlbiCshWw5NuEyUVTr2i0mgOtxz9EAyFpW0qjNYbgwJOkc4KELAaew1-IOttkmPH7lzyEwkvHoJk1hyeXidmJIObvEKcmvF-luBcNyw8biD3Ju2dfYmv29bAUffg/s1600/DSC09297.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537620732945088626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjAg_mjEesri-WK2FyTlbiCshWw5NuEyUVTr2i0mgOtxz9EAyFpW0qjNYbgwJOkc4KELAaew1-IOttkmPH7lzyEwkvHoJk1hyeXidmJIObvEKcmvF-luBcNyw8biD3Ju2dfYmv29bAUffg/s400/DSC09297.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />We shopped the afternoon away and I made a quick call to my friend, <a href="http://weightloss-stories.blogspot.com/2010/03/guest-post-2-jenna.html">Jenna</a>. She had NO idea I was in town and was TOTALLY surprised!! I love surprises!!!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj45zrQkRjrRFFCBygFqAPZs74g0Wh4eZXXnR5HYAyhUSHnKKKUzO6SncF_yt9203uZ57V2ak3m4BbToTEgsU4L_Oq0AnaKBo4Amq2fZxLUIVAMxaAaIemXkrMBuMWfLvkzfJqkwpkWStYJ/s1600/mejenna.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537624848874799730" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj45zrQkRjrRFFCBygFqAPZs74g0Wh4eZXXnR5HYAyhUSHnKKKUzO6SncF_yt9203uZ57V2ak3m4BbToTEgsU4L_Oq0AnaKBo4Amq2fZxLUIVAMxaAaIemXkrMBuMWfLvkzfJqkwpkWStYJ/s400/mejenna.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />We met up downtown at The Plaza for some more shopping. It was EXTRA fun to see her because she recently got ENGAGED!!! For supper we hit up one of my favorites, Cheddars!<br /><br />We had their homemade onion rings...LOVE these!!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5KVlYV6rHNYcOh64416iJzOGgUnCdPgrH1_bMZ6wAD_XofGI_EC8dF-Rov09gCHA-bWeITBhLf34VI24YSifBq-ikkqfwbWvh90sPfUhap3DIQGhu2-ptaPO8Z62TGAUn6w7hG0NTHUmM/s1600/DSC09299.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537620728552163698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5KVlYV6rHNYcOh64416iJzOGgUnCdPgrH1_bMZ6wAD_XofGI_EC8dF-Rov09gCHA-bWeITBhLf34VI24YSifBq-ikkqfwbWvh90sPfUhap3DIQGhu2-ptaPO8Z62TGAUn6w7hG0NTHUmM/s400/DSC09299.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />And I got the chicken tender wrapper! I think they changed something on it though 'cause it wasn't the same as past times. Why mess with a good thing?!?!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUHg-jXHJL_Szk-holHidclF4G_3AX9evwIlvvUnFKtPDPHcO3_3WANnRb6PH4-5X01ABejr7m5AZBkRudsIEJoWRCA-bIk8BxsydWwKbu9R5yenC2NITBjvXK65qbIKXUPG15yIDGc24/s1600/DSC09300.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537620719505982114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUHg-jXHJL_Szk-holHidclF4G_3AX9evwIlvvUnFKtPDPHcO3_3WANnRb6PH4-5X01ABejr7m5AZBkRudsIEJoWRCA-bIk8BxsydWwKbu9R5yenC2NITBjvXK65qbIKXUPG15yIDGc24/s400/DSC09300.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />We enjoyed supper and met up with my sister from Omaha, Stef, who was also in town for a wedding. It was a fun girls night! Oh and Jenna asked me to be a bridesmaid!!! Can't wait for your big day Jenna, you're going to make a gorgeous bride!!!<br /><br />Sunday involved sleeping in, more shopping, and Mindi & I made the drive home! We didn't get back till after midnight though! I was one tired girl!! It was worth it, such a fun weekend!<br /><br />Now on to some blog business!! My first giveaway ended yesterday and I used random.org to choose a winner. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUuy5XrhDvTpeEPLblW2EU5_v3siVGgGB22bz7o6oCnxxizbkUCIWeCd80d76WmUvh2FpmxCRPx2rg_jPA6lKfWhyphenhyphenaDhtdh_0pVVoRuth9LyoAt5Gr20tclmvqO9oNlV-vWY6-qWnCY4iG/s1600/random.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537619795044873378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUuy5XrhDvTpeEPLblW2EU5_v3siVGgGB22bz7o6oCnxxizbkUCIWeCd80d76WmUvh2FpmxCRPx2rg_jPA6lKfWhyphenhyphenaDhtdh_0pVVoRuth9LyoAt5Gr20tclmvqO9oNlV-vWY6-qWnCY4iG/s400/random.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 283px; height: 289px;" /></a><br />Comment #3, my good <span style="font-style:italic;">[blog]</span> friend & fellow Iowan Alyssa from over at <a href="http://ajourneytothin.blogspot.com/">A Journey to Thin</a> said:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkwLq5gx-Zx9PBpBCiIFu9u-yO98S5BJA4DsA5GxVomy1FuMLK2HCFF1yaEI3cKuW6__66XEOpi_LoXPmjYt4DIKwRym410eFAsq-qsspmdbw6Jshcl5aOj7k8R5xKnIL2AK0VobFjNdFb/s1600/maeflowers.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537626960827925714" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkwLq5gx-Zx9PBpBCiIFu9u-yO98S5BJA4DsA5GxVomy1FuMLK2HCFF1yaEI3cKuW6__66XEOpi_LoXPmjYt4DIKwRym410eFAsq-qsspmdbw6Jshcl5aOj7k8R5xKnIL2AK0VobFjNdFb/s400/maeflowers.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 192px;" /></a><br />Congrats Alyssa!!<br /><br />Ok, so question for you guys! <span style="font-weight:bold;">Do you enjoy last minute trips? Or are you a planner & don't like to change plans?</span> <span style="font-style:italic;">I'm usually a planner, but I didn't have a whole lot going on and figured "what the heck"!! Glad I did! :)</span>

Catching up and a WINNER!!!

Hello friends! I've been MIA the past few days! LOTS going on! :) I'll give you the short version! Thursday was my blogiversary...ha...

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14ème Semaine pour l’emploi des personnes handicapées

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyEZhXOQeS_v6vaT8cT8IpEpukba_pocMugL9PNBCRGo741F4WKS8cvxZUAFxjf6LBU7jQowthQBFr3Zy1pzHgLICzAh9YG6NBscXRqVmsB1LpbNM4tUV2KFzzKq4aTgSgU8HLoBJA-8G/s1600/10-seph-Affiche-40x60_0.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537874217602926834" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyEZhXOQeS_v6vaT8cT8IpEpukba_pocMugL9PNBCRGo741F4WKS8cvxZUAFxjf6LBU7jQowthQBFr3Zy1pzHgLICzAh9YG6NBscXRqVmsB1LpbNM4tUV2KFzzKq4aTgSgU8HLoBJA-8G/s320/10-seph-Affiche-40x60_0.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.handichat.fr/"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537873717382554978" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihT5LKLcP7geh957Jt5u3X5dI_cq0aCcyncKBJbyZ37WVwlt7LoX4CYb300rEo9mR15Uzqux-qPOksZ4XTtu-YcPMWPLD6njDhuFmN4REcQJpXigSdynGjB2i-ROm-c1ZaOyqB3zTr7C_3/s320/Agefiph_Bann_160x600_2010.gif" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 320px;" /></a><br />Du 15 au 21 novembre 2010, l’<a href="http://www.agefiph.fr/">AGEFIPH</a>, l’<a href="http://www.ladapt.net/">ADAPT</a> et le <a href="http://www.fiphfp.fr/">FIPHFP</a> s’associent pour l’organisation de la 14ème semaine pour l’emploi des personnes handicapées. Cette semaine a pour objectif de favoriser chaque année le recrutement des travailleurs handicapés dans les secteurs public et privé.<br /><br />Dans le cadre de cette semaine, l'opération <a href="http://www.handichat.fr">HandiChat </a> sera renouvelée. Chaque journée sera construite autour d’une thématique :<ul><br /><li>Lundi 15/11 : trouver un emploi<br /><li>Mardi 16/11 : Travailler dans la fonction publique avec le FIPHFP<br /><li>Mercredi 17/11 : S’orienter et se former<br /><li>Jeudi 18/11 : Conserver son emploi et évoluer professionnellement<br /><li>Vendredi 19/11 : Créer ou reprendre une entreprise.<br /><a href="http://www.handichat.fr/agenda.php">Programme complet</a></ul><br />Un <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2010/11/forum-emploi-et-handicap.html">Forum emploi handicap</a> aura lieu à Orléans le 16 novembre.<br /><BR>

14ème Semaine pour l’emploi des personnes handicapées

Du 15 au 21 novembre 2010, l’ AGEFIPH , l’ ADAPT et le FIPHFP s’associent pour l’organisation de la 14ème semaine pour l’emploi des person...

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I had a dream

It wasn't really a dream, more of a nightmare.<br /><br />Since I've been sleeping a lot more lately I've started dreaming again. Unfortunately, most of my dreams haven't been pleasant. The one I had Friday night has stayed with me through the weekend. I can't seem to let it go.<br /><br />Usually I dismiss dreams as just that...dreams. They don't really mean anything, just silly junk our brain comes up with while we try to sleep.<br /><br />This one was different. This one is was disturbingly a reflection of my life. <br /><br />I was inside of a building, standing on a very narrow ledge along a wall. The ledge was so narrow that only the balls of my feet were on the ledge and I was standing on my tiptoes. I was very high up, and there was a cement floor below me. I knew if I fell I would die.<br /><br />I was facing the wall with my hands and body pressed flat against the wall. I slowly inched along the narrow ledge sideways. I kept feeling like I was going to fall. When I looked down it was a long way to the floor. I was very frightened. I didn't know how I was going to get down.<br /><br />Finally, I called for my husband to quickly bring me a ladder. He came with a ladder but he held if about five feet from me. I tried to reach for the ladder but I couldn't reach it. Then I lost my balance. I fell.<br /><br />I didn't die (obviously), but in my dream when I fell I grabbed onto the very narrow ledge with my fingers. Then as I was hanging from the ledge with my fingers, and my legs were dangling, I realized my feet were almost touching the floor. I could let go and I wouldn't die. I was going to be okay.<br /><br />This could be a reflection of so many things in my life. My job, my marriage, my weight loss efforts. The failure at any or all of these things will not kill me. It might scare me, but I won't die.<br /><br />Or the dream could have been about the guy at work that was wearing moccasins last week. He told me they were like slippers. I asked him if they had arch support and he said no. I told him that would kill my feet because I have extremely high arches and had to have arch support in my shoes. He told me I needed to practice standing on a Bosu ball with one foot, barefooted. Just stand there grabbing the ball with my foot. That it would build up my arches. I told him I always fall off of those stupid Bosu balls. Yes, I bet that's what the dream was really all about. :)

dream I had a dream

It wasn't really a dream, more of a nightmare. Since I've been sleeping a lot more lately I've started dreaming again. Unfortuna...

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Van Nest Polglase ~ Architect Of Cinematic Dreams, Part II

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQ5hzKKenNU9Q8zv2ix7KD0GcPgm89rNNzwmT3HZZ8TdZZ86uTK6g-xqsX-s3SqTVDIOclOneQniL-d8CnYfMKnbehGRNPRL4mkSZ-aGeFrUKn-2fk8OTxPjMV6Xr0288uYZar2JsJ_Jz/s1600/artdirectionTheInformer1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536896414924983106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQ5hzKKenNU9Q8zv2ix7KD0GcPgm89rNNzwmT3HZZ8TdZZ86uTK6g-xqsX-s3SqTVDIOclOneQniL-d8CnYfMKnbehGRNPRL4mkSZ-aGeFrUKn-2fk8OTxPjMV6Xr0288uYZar2JsJ_Jz/s320/artdirectionTheInformer1.jpg" style="float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 257px;" width="257" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>by guest contributor Whistlingypsy</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The emergence of those stylistic elements in American films later termed <i>noir </i>by critics is often debated and open to interpretation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Five years before the films that captivated French critics for their “dark” plots and visual style, John Ford directed an equally dark film for RKO Studios. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Informer</span> (1935) was based on the novel by Liam O’Flaherty and tells the story of an increasingly desperate man. <span lang="EN">Whether John Ford had the stylistic treatment of German expressionism in mind when</span><span lang="EN"> making the film seems unlikely, but </span>Gypo Nolan’s (Victor McLaglen) flight through Dublin’s fog wreathed streets suggests these atmospheric elements as an archetype of <i>noir</i> essentials. Through the effective use of black velvet drapery and fog, to disguise the minimal budget for art direction, Polglase and assistant art director Charles Kirk created an atmosphere that is alternately brooding and menacing, dark, claustrophobic and bleak. Setting the story over the course of one night gives immediacy to Nolan’s frantic race to outrun his conscience and his pursuers. <span lang="EN">This small film would proved an artistic triumph, surprising studio executives, and won four Academ</span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">y Awards, one for John Ford’s direction and Victor McLaglen’s portrayal of the lead character.</span></span><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;">Alfred Hitchcock, before he began directing films in 1925, was active as an art director. He entered the industry in 1919 when he was employed by the Islington studio location of Famous Players-Lasky and he worked as an art director on at least six films before moving on to directing. Hitchcock’s lifelong interest in production design has often been understood in light of his experi<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegK03W6KHP0AIIXY8PICgLOKNTygJImp0HUdDjESJKHZB1T2jte_qMHUXL9TOj3H1sKXG74ghqj10UBx0HKDDOed3bpsQNp9GlI2-y9nFV4GWxAG6Z1_-6NSzZEka53fSjT1L9zo9Xz1k/s1600/artdirectionSuspicion1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536893241127740146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegK03W6KHP0AIIXY8PICgLOKNTygJImp0HUdDjESJKHZB1T2jte_qMHUXL9TOj3H1sKXG74ghqj10UBx0HKDDOed3bpsQNp9GlI2-y9nFV4GWxAG6Z1_-6NSzZEka53fSjT1L9zo9Xz1k/s200/artdirectionSuspicion1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 150px;" /></a>ences at German studios both in Berlin and Munich and his exposure to German expressionism.</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;">Hitchcock’s first project for RKO Studios had been a comedy and with his next assignment he was given the opportunity to pursue a subject in keeping with his earlier darker films. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Suspicion</span> (1941) was notable for first introducing actor Cary Grant and director Hitchcock, and for using art d<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95S5fE57dHpHjWjcMNzBPmfN1Dkn65z07j_YP1wB65ymq-OfB6eK8KeOlohodtGX2DC00NKNjV9ewDK4hWbP2uc9ALDezkUNZr6h1lOCRI4Opcg_otgQsD3DTOzImVtnxZu1rF2aQ8dS4/s1600/artdirectionSuspicion2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536893545410650658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95S5fE57dHpHjWjcMNzBPmfN1Dkn65z07j_YP1wB65ymq-OfB6eK8KeOlohodtGX2DC00NKNjV9ewDK4hWbP2uc9ALDezkUNZr6h1lOCRI4Opcg_otgQsD3DTOzImVtnxZu1rF2aQ8dS4/s320/artdirectionSuspicion2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 257px;" /></a>irection as a psychological element in storytelling. The contrast between Lina’s (Joan Fontaine) reassuringly stuffy family home and the coldly menacing home she shares with husband Johnny (Grant) personifies the tension of her state of mind.</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;">The film’s art direction, supervised primarily by Carroll Clark, is also noteworthy for using the human form as an architectural element. The tall and solid form of Cary Grant balanced on the stairs is echoed in the equally tall and solid column at the foot of the stairs. The graceful line of the pinstripe in Grant’s suit is echoed, but altered, in the equally graceful lines of the treads and risers of the stairs. These lines are further mimicked in the lines falling across the wall and surrounding Grant’s head. The elements confirm and confuse by communicating both Grant’s guise of reliability and the shadow of suspicion regarding his motives, all combining to create one of the most emotionally menacing sequences in the film.</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Van Nest Polglase is credited with supervising art direction on what is considered the finest film ever made in America. However, the credit for most of the innovative art direction rightly belongs to Perry Ferguson. Many film scholars have written in depth on the making of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Citizen Kane</span> (1941), with a focus on cinematography and the use of lighting, but few focus on the contribution of art direction.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5GOH44SCXhWHTRlXsiIpWtedR2CJS1UW03i6sSieH8YP0LKGzuYWpNjpC8gky1E2vE787aTui_dy2KXCwo14wdLZ4yTldsRdTPeviAZ-GrfEXKvX583vcGG7gyHS7zbGtBO0KSL2dAdT/s1600/artdirectionCitizenKane.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536894085944090018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5GOH44SCXhWHTRlXsiIpWtedR2CJS1UW03i6sSieH8YP0LKGzuYWpNjpC8gky1E2vE787aTui_dy2KXCwo14wdLZ4yTldsRdTPeviAZ-GrfEXKvX583vcGG7gyHS7zbGtBO0KSL2dAdT/s320/artdirectionCitizenKane.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a>Pauline Kael, film critic and author of <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Citizen Kane Book</span>, mentions neither Polglase nor Ferguson. Orson Welles, in trade paper ads the day of the film’s Hollywood premiere, gave thanks “to everybody who gets screen credit for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Citizen Kane</span> and thanks to those who don’t.” Considering the risk involved in screening the film, this was a generous acknowledgment of the work of many creative individuals. Although Welles appears to have refused to acknowledge Polglase’s contributions, he praised Perry Ferguson’s historical details stopping short of giving Ferguson his due credit on the film.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ferguson’s use of revers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbVsxXHB8e6FMuT3tMYs3zJK5ko01VdFYDqbHjlwVb3QOPPQs5VaXx7BerOutSBrJYQw9lSG1oq3Pd77Ilf_6FBh_2yxmQN_tWyuArKx1U2C0OpHewZfbQY0D9kjhFGmnCEaDDccAkvvL/s1600/artdirectioncollage3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536894483708036914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbVsxXHB8e6FMuT3tMYs3zJK5ko01VdFYDqbHjlwVb3QOPPQs5VaXx7BerOutSBrJYQw9lSG1oq3Pd77Ilf_6FBh_2yxmQN_tWyuArKx1U2C0OpHewZfbQY0D9kjhFGmnCEaDDccAkvvL/s320/artdirectioncollage3.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 211px;" /></a>al of scale as Kane’s ambitions move from larger than life to dwarfing the man who created the illusion is one of the film’s benchmarks and an example of RKO’s sophisticated art direction. A comparison of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Citizen Kane</span> with a lesser film in production the same year proves the level of RKO’s emerging visual style.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stranger on the third Floor</span> (1940) was a minor B-film that caused no great stir at the time and could have easily disappeared to the dustbin. Some film historians claim the film contains the first examples of what would later be termed <span style="font-style: italic;">noirish</span> elements (but this is open to debate). Compare the two films for their remarkable similarities: the often dream-like quality, elaborate sets, oversized props and the exaggerated reversal of perspective found in both is significant. <span class="postbody1">The photos to the right show a scene from each film that again reveals a stylistic use of the human form in an architectural environment, and nearly duplicates the body language of the lead character poised at the top of the stairs. </span>Two different art directors created the design of these films, but the designs were produced under the guidance of Van Nest Polglase and RKO art direction.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="postbody1">Polglase left RKO Studios as head art director in 1942 and divided his time between freelance and studio projects before retiring fifteen years later. His film credits during this period include <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Fallen Sparrow</span> (1943); <span style="font-weight: bold;">A Song To Remember</span> (1945); <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gilda</span> (1946);<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Slightly Scarlet</span> (1956) and B-films directed by Allan Dwan.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In February of 2005, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Art Directors Guild</span> unveiled its new Hall of Fame and inducted the following legendary production designers at the ninth annual <span style="font-weight: bold;">Art Directors Guild Awards</span>: Wilfred Buckland, Richard Day, John DeCuir Sr., Anton Grot, Boris Leven, William Cameron Menzies and Van Nest Polglase.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="postbody1">A trend in film criticism seems to have developed regarding Polglase’s contributions to RKO’s art direction, dismissing them as negligible at best. An unfair appraisal of Polglase may be due to the assumption that he ran his department based on his experiences at and observations of M-G-M and Cedric Gibbons. Richard B. Jewell, film historian and author of <span style="font-weight: bold;">The RKO Story</span> states, </span>"The supreme irony of RKO's existence is that the studio earned a position of lasting importance in cinema history largely because of its extraordinarily unstable history. Since it was the weakling of Hollywood's 'majors,' RKO welcomed a diverse group of individualistic creators and provided them...with an extraordinary degree of freedom to express their artistic idiosyncrasies.... [I]t never became predictable and it never became a factory." </span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jewell’s assessment that RKO was a studio of artistic freedom did not preclude conflict over creative control. David O. Selznick, the man responsible for Polglase being made head of art direction, left the studio after a brief fifteen months. Polglase remained with the studio for ten years as an administrator and art director, successfully filling both roles with films that satisfied audience demand for inventive entertainment and studio executives’ demand for new revenue.<span class="postbody1"> A change of perspective from Polglase taking credit for work he did not do would result in his making possible the outstanding work of art directors Carroll Clark and Perry Ferguson.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="postbody1">There are many elements that form a link between architecture and art direction. </span>The difference between the two disciplines is where architecture “encompasses” space from without art direction “evokes” space from within, and the architecture of film works within cuts and edits, frames and openings. The architect designs a space with an eye to permanence while the art director designs a space with an eye to the ephemeral. This leaves the art director a greater sense of flexibility when creating his projects unfortunately; the <span class="postbody1">architect and the art director both depend on the efforts of preservation to maintain a permanent record of the artist’s original vision.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Scroll down to read Part I of Van Nest Polglase ~ Architect of Cinematic Dreams</i></span></div>

Alfred Hitchcock Carroll Clark Cary Grant Charles Kirk Film Noir John Ford Orson Welles Perry Ferguson RKO Studios Van Nest Polglase Victor McLaglen Whistlingypsy (author) Van Nest Polglase ~ Architect Of Cinematic Dreams, Part II

by guest contributor Whistlingypsy The emergence of those stylistic elements in American films later termed noir by critics is often debated...

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It doesn't make it all better

After looking at my stats from last year that I posted yesterday, I started pondering why I just gave up and gained 21 pounds. I was near goal, at least the Weight Watcher goal of 155. At 158 pounds I was so close to goal that I could almost feel it. I remember being happy and proud of myself. <br /><br />So what happened? Why did I just give up? Don't I want to reach goal? It appears that I don't really care anymore, that I gave up giving it my all and I'm just floating along, staying in the 170's, not really giving my weight loss much attention. <br /><br />A few weeks ago a friend that I walk with on occasion asked me, "Isn't your life a lot better since you lost so much weight?" My immediate response was "No! It's not." Then I told her some things were better, I can breathe easier and my knees don't hurt. I don't get tired as quickly. I have a little more self-confidence. However, overall, I still have the same problems I had at 240 pounds, and I still had those same problems when I was down to 152 last year. <br /><br />My job is still a job that I don't exactly look forward to each day, but it is a job. My marital problems are still here. My husband still gets grouchy when he's tired and he's tired a lot. I'm still afraid of the same things, becoming one of the morbidly obese and being homeless. I still don't think I'm smart or pretty. In a nutshell, I'm still the same person just in a healthier body. <br /><br />My friend was shocked that my weight loss didn't solve all my problems. I was only telling her the truth, even though she's trying to lose a hundred pounds and this was disheartening to hear. <br /><br />Maybe because I know it won't solve all my problems I've made reaching goal not as important to me as it was last year. I still want to reach goal, but for different reasons now. Now that I know it won't fix everything I need to look at in an entirely different light. <br /><br />I want to lose weight so I can comfortably wear all the size 10 clothes in my closet. I'm back in a size 12. I want to lose weight so I can remain healthy and continue to be active in my old age. I have no intention of moving into an assisted living home in my 80's. I want to travel and not be in a wheelchair. <br /><br />The reasons for getting to goal are different now. I know it won't make my job more fun or less stressful. I know it won't make my husband happier or my marriage better. I can't control these things, but I can control me. I can control how I handle things, what I put in my mouth, my health. <br /><br />I think <a href="http://msbitchcakes.blogspot.com/2010/10/emotional-effects-of-reaching-goal.html">Sheryl</a> said it best in her post last week when she wrote about her struggles at being at goal. The last few paragraphs really hit home for me. <br /><br />I suspect this is why so many people gain back all their weight and then some more, just like I've done many times in my life. I expected a different outcome when I lost a lot of weight. I expected life to be wonderful and everyone around me to be as happy for me as I was for myself. It just doesn't work that way.<br /><br />The bottom line is that reaching goal doesn't make it <strong>ALL</strong> better. It makes some things better, but a lot of things stay the same or only get slightly  better. That's okay, small positive changes in life are still good. I just have to expect less, accept that this isn't really a life-altering event to weight 155 versus 175 or 135 versus 175. My life will still be pretty much the same, just a thinner, healthier version of me. <br /><br />So it doesn't make it all better, but it's a little better and sometimes, a lot better. That's still a good thing.<br /><br /><em>An afterthought:  After I posted this I realized some people might think that what I'm saying is that losing weight isn't worth it. That since it doesn't fix <u>everything</u> then why bother? That's not what I meant. </em><br /><br /><em>It fixes a lot of things, but basically you'll still come out on the other side the same person with a lot of the same problems. Some things will be better, some will go away, and you might even have an entirely new set of problems. It's still a very good thing to lose weight. </em><br /><br /><em>The other thing you might think is that I'm seeking compliments when I say I'm not smart or pretty. I know what I am. I'm average intelligence, average looks. It's okay, I've accepted it. Somehow I thought losing weight would make me better in all areas of my life. Obviously, I was wrong on that account, but again, I've accepted it.</em>

reaching goal weight It doesn't make it all better

After looking at my stats from last year that I posted yesterday, I started pondering why I just gave up and gained 21 pounds. I was near go...

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Planning de la semaine du 08 au 12 novembre 2010

<BR><br /><h2><strong><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 113%;color:#005c9b;" >Permanences<br /></span></strong></h2><ul><br /><li>Le <strong>Conseil Général du Loiret</strong> sera présent dans les locaux de la Maison de l'Emploi du bassin d'Orléans<br />- le lundi 08 novembre de 9h à 12h30,<br />- le mardi 09 novembre de 9h à 12h30 et de 13h30 à 17h,<br />- le mercredi 10 novembre de 13h30 à 17h,<br />- le vendredi 12 novembre de 13h30 à 17h.<br /><br /><li><span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2009/01/egee-nouveau-partenaire-la-maison-de.html">EGEE</a></span> - lundi 08 novembre de 13h30 à 17h (sur rendez-vous)<br /><br /><li><strong><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2007/11/boutique-de-gestion.html">Boutique de Gestion</a></strong> - vendredi 12 novembre de 09h à 12h30 (sur rendez-vous)</ul><br /><h2><strong><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 113%;color:#005c9b;" >Ateliers</span></strong><br /></h2><br /><ul><li><strong>CV</strong> - mardi 09 novembre de 9h à 12h30 et mercredi 10 novembre de 13h30 à 17h<br /><br /><li><strong>Lettre de Motivation</strong> - mardi 09 novembre de 13h30 à 17h<br /><br /><li><strong>Pôle-emploi.fr</strong> - vendredi 12 novembre de 10h à 11h30<br /><br /><li><strong><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2009/07/atelier-situtilises-tu-trouves.html">Sit'Utilises tu trouves</a></strong> - vendredi 12 novembre de 14h à 16h</ul>

Planning de la semaine du 08 au 12 novembre 2010

Permanences Le Conseil Général du Loiret sera présent dans les locaux de la Maison de l'Emploi du bassin d'Orléans - le lundi 08 no...

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It's in the water

In spite of the Halloween candy incident last weekend and the brownies I made one night this week I still had a good weighin today. <br /><br />About the brownies, well, I had an argument with my husband, he went to bed mad at me. I felt sad so I made brownies, but...I only ate two and put the rest down the garbage disposal. The funny/sad thing is that I don't even really like brownies. Obviously, I still have a long way to go to overcome my emotional eating.<br /><br />However, even though I wasn't perfect this week, I did a few things right:<br /><ul><li>I ate good, healthy food 90% of the time, in moderate portions.</li><li>I tracked my food four of the seven days.</li><li>I drank a <strong>LOT</strong> of water thanks to this <a href="http://almostgastricbypass.blogspot.com/">guy</a>. This really helped.</li><li>I worked out like a maniac seven days in a row.</li><li>I slept eight to nine hours a night. <---this one is amazing for me.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;">Weight today, November 6:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">174.6</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Week loss:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">-3.6</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Total loss:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">-64.6</span></div><div align="left" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;">There are eight weeks left in 2010. The holidays. The weeks where people skip their Weight Watcher meeting, and indulge at the parties. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Check out my stats from last year, around this time:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ipDVjDtwnsdOv0Qx9arjPmahSCbooa8h1HNERKQcJpahk8To3WomhIYxG7e1JzjL6zMNBG__oMDhQYAvrGSd7_pjnhrLLajviIeVDt5J8WK0YtRIJxxhDKQVLpaK6PucCZRfmhGkMPWo/s1600/chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ipDVjDtwnsdOv0Qx9arjPmahSCbooa8h1HNERKQcJpahk8To3WomhIYxG7e1JzjL6zMNBG__oMDhQYAvrGSd7_pjnhrLLajviIeVDt5J8WK0YtRIJxxhDKQVLpaK6PucCZRfmhGkMPWo/s1600/chart.jpg" /></a></div><br />In four months I gained 21.6 pounds.  I was traveling a lot during that time, but it's been a year. I still haven't lost the weight I gained last fall. <br /><br />My goals for the remaining eight weeks of 2010:<br /><br /><ol><li>Don't skip Weight Watcher meetings!</li><li>Track my food <u>seven</u> days a week, aiming for 25 Points/day.</li><li>Continue with my seven days a week workouts. Thirty minutes cardio, forty minutes strength.</li><li>Water, tons and tons of water. I haven't caluclated exactly how much I need to be drinking, but currently I'm at 104 ounces of pure water a day (not counting tea, coffee, milk...I don't drink soda).</li><li>Aim for a 1.5 pound/week loss. Eight weeks, 12 pounds. </li><li>January 1, 2011 goal weight: <strong> 162.6</strong></li></ol>I still can't believe 2010 is almost over and February 2011 marks three years I've been blogging and following Weight Watchers. Obviously, not perfectly or I'd be at goal. :)<br /><div align="left"></div>

It's in the water

In spite of the Halloween candy incident last weekend and the brownies I made one night this week I still had a good weighin today. About th...

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Forum Emploi et Handicap

<BR><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfzu8Y6bMvJgPLtyc-6mHqZJfR_wRm93vVkYB0l1NIQeVHRNUK12-1wdMW39-KEHL28C9ig35Sg6TUGbjkQZ9g-5ny7Kb_eX_bwIJSYkj1vFoniCAsVRm2GLcFoY6hJzXgJjszGG4GiYr/s1600-h/au+centre+de+l%27emploi.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382819620292507314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfzu8Y6bMvJgPLtyc-6mHqZJfR_wRm93vVkYB0l1NIQeVHRNUK12-1wdMW39-KEHL28C9ig35Sg6TUGbjkQZ9g-5ny7Kb_eX_bwIJSYkj1vFoniCAsVRm2GLcFoY6hJzXgJjszGG4GiYr/s320/au+centre+de+l%27emploi.gif" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 75px;" /></a><br />Un Forum Emploi et Handicap aura lieu :<ul><br /><li>le <span style="font-weight:bold;">mardi 16 novembre 2010</span> de 9h30 à 12h30 et de 14h à 17h30<br /><li>au <span style="font-weight:bold;">Zénith d'Orléans</span> - 1 rue du Président Schuman - 45000 Orléans.</ul><br />La Maison de l'Emploi du bassin d'Orléans sera présente sur ce forum organisé en partenariat par Pôle emploi, la Mairie d’Orléans, Cap Emploi et l’AGEFIPH.<br /><BR>

Forum Emploi et Handicap

Un Forum Emploi et Handicap aura lieu : le mardi 16 novembre 2010 de 9h30 à 12h30 et de 14h à 17h30 au Zénith d'Orléans - 1 rue du Pré...

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2 Year Blogiversary!!!

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBNNXunoESwTPEzTfKLvniZtQpdK7oaOC4EiKeOGEDk4WjyHpFmCOIcTVLxuixLoQ_YoXnd8c1etvrOmcM-2uFBNTV3_LVqEK_KhrIpRPufj-LNSq6e_q8hLKuxpLMgvDmBri0-ttZu1I/s1600/202lbs+oct+2008.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535411040881125794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBNNXunoESwTPEzTfKLvniZtQpdK7oaOC4EiKeOGEDk4WjyHpFmCOIcTVLxuixLoQ_YoXnd8c1etvrOmcM-2uFBNTV3_LVqEK_KhrIpRPufj-LNSq6e_q8hLKuxpLMgvDmBri0-ttZu1I/s200/202lbs+oct+2008.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 87px; height: 200px;" /></a>Two years ago today I was in a much different place. I had just had a long “life talk” (family, finances, health, etc) with Kyle, my husband. I realized I wasn’t happy with the place I had let myself get to and needed to make a change. That very next day I got back to counting points and exercising!<br /><br />I started a blog to document my eats and I’ve gotten SO much more from it! I’ve been inspired by your support, love the inspiration the blog world offers, and I’ve learned SO much from my fellow blog friends & this community.<br /><br />I have had a few ups & downs since, but I’m committed to this journey! I know that the support of my husband, family, friends, and YOU (my readers) have helped me to be successful! And for that, I cannot say thank you enough!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcH-L9FfYo44cG4HQsrt1GXrOrCc7OjK8QCtUaWwLYYneSygC5ZtbaLueyd8MX7Mc0uvM1sm3ETVt9x-x57ydLjEGZpA4_m_iQFCo_ZArA_7ep5zxqSnudR3jCYEnv-jdvTrtewrmF4ki/s1600/applefest.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535398491869811282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcH-L9FfYo44cG4HQsrt1GXrOrCc7OjK8QCtUaWwLYYneSygC5ZtbaLueyd8MX7Mc0uvM1sm3ETVt9x-x57ydLjEGZpA4_m_iQFCo_ZArA_7ep5zxqSnudR3jCYEnv-jdvTrtewrmF4ki/s400/applefest.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 301px;" /></a><br />I have gone from being able to run less than 1 mile to running a half marathon, something I would have thought would never be possible! I have a new outlook on life, food, fitness, the scale, and the list could go on & on! I know that it is not the number on the scale that determines if I’m successful, but what I’ve accomplished. <br /><br />Today I’m a stronger, smaller, happier, committed woman! I can’t wait to see what the next year holds! ;)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXl_u7ha7rZlmQStmrUES3zqDlm9SWXIOZ7iHziLPFhIw3e6eV3qt29vnorrN_tXJ4mEYq5IyrmmvRnpmX8QzDaI4DH08cICu8hLso9dwtKMrCVy64_YGBuRzIira2T_8WSVUZ9QpB8Cr1/s1600/n210200185_30942311_6312893.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535399553113749522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXl_u7ha7rZlmQStmrUES3zqDlm9SWXIOZ7iHziLPFhIw3e6eV3qt29vnorrN_tXJ4mEYq5IyrmmvRnpmX8QzDaI4DH08cICu8hLso9dwtKMrCVy64_YGBuRzIira2T_8WSVUZ9QpB8Cr1/s400/n210200185_30942311_6312893.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Just for fun I’ve I thought I break a few things down when it comes to the how long, how many, etc! I do have an accounting degree, you know! <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">351</span> - The number of published posts to date <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1971</span> - The number of comments I’ve amassed from you, my lovely readers<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">357</span> - Most blog page views I’ve received in a single day according to Blogger (thank you amazing readers!)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6,355</span> - Total number of blog hits I received last month, all time high! (thanks again amazing readers!)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">16,810</span> - Total blog hits to date (did I mention that you’re amazing?)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">14</span> - Average number of posts per month<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">202</span> – My weight on 11.4.08<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">40</span> – The number of pounds I’ve lost since my first post<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">8</span> – Abby’s weight ;)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8al3FuxgrDk7I1gefw99hr-gLlZI3JF_GjunXl4SNi0M4_8swJC-nA82h7TjUFouc9MEXjwbMTegW-zdJtc9NpHF-_4JGP1JCFarO2rRHuOiJgaNXXuj-qmswd90GhHnA_Tll8apwITH/s1600/abby.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535398237438134450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8al3FuxgrDk7I1gefw99hr-gLlZI3JF_GjunXl4SNi0M4_8swJC-nA82h7TjUFouc9MEXjwbMTegW-zdJtc9NpHF-_4JGP1JCFarO2rRHuOiJgaNXXuj-qmswd90GhHnA_Tll8apwITH/s400/abby.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 400px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">13.1</span> - The furthest distance (in miles) I’ve ran<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6</span> – The number of races I’ve completed (Hope to greatly increase that number next year!)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">7</span> - The number of running shorts I own, one for each day of the week! <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">86</span> – The number of days I had a blogging hiatus (GOAL: get that lower next year!)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">97</span> – The average number in ounces of water I drink per day <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">7</span> - The number of weeks ago my sweet nephew, Hayden, was born <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zOTZvl-MHvAi7ngRdXb54OsBehAbtYUERI1i0CdX2LNEmdrNpRa4z8JbLS2E0n4B2-abzNcBmgUQJ6SDrboh8ZOFgTR6Mlzs43KJMYhpvHA2abEPbTRBjmUK1Efs6RJeT6gqzK2yV0sC/s1600/66637_535003259123_210201033_31378659_1855120_n.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535398086981685810" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zOTZvl-MHvAi7ngRdXb54OsBehAbtYUERI1i0CdX2LNEmdrNpRa4z8JbLS2E0n4B2-abzNcBmgUQJ6SDrboh8ZOFgTR6Mlzs43KJMYhpvHA2abEPbTRBjmUK1Efs6RJeT6gqzK2yV0sC/s400/66637_535003259123_210201033_31378659_1855120_n.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />So there you have it! I proud of my numbers! :D<br /><br />My hope for the blog going forward is to give back as much appreciation, love, and inspiration as I get from blogging!<br /><br />As a small token of my appreciation, I am going to do my <strong>FIRST </strong>giveaway! It includes a few of my <strong>favorites</strong>: a Hungry Girl cookbook, an Iowa magnetic chip clip, Larabars, $15 Subway giftcard, and an Envirosax resuable shopping bag!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNwnq7JDXWLdB0UcpOyL_AQvw3rTKUeiSVrIEhd45fyRDhOedkBrDeYY5qMnL6IwJ6oDkZkRbqScPyH4BkLzwX3OxCnfsT1WjygCnaUaO6Y9yzsfMmYoJTu_6SyJ75d9URnSUi_N_WJ6D/s1600/DSC09282.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535495617744894962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNwnq7JDXWLdB0UcpOyL_AQvw3rTKUeiSVrIEhd45fyRDhOedkBrDeYY5qMnL6IwJ6oDkZkRbqScPyH4BkLzwX3OxCnfsT1WjygCnaUaO6Y9yzsfMmYoJTu_6SyJ75d9URnSUi_N_WJ6D/s400/DSC09282.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 388px;" /></a><br /><strong>How to enter:</strong><br />1. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Comment!</span> - Leave a comment telling me what inspires YOU!<br />2. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Tweet!</span> - @darcibangert is hosting a Blogiversary giveaway over at weightloss-stories.blogspot.com – Leave a [separate] comment telling me you did so.<br />3. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Follow!</span> – Become a follower or let me know if you already are. Leave a [separate] comment telling me you did so.<br />4. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Blog!</span> – Put a link on your blog post “Check out Darci’s Blogiversary post for a great giveaway over at http://weightloss-stories.blogspot.com” - Leave a [separate] comment telling me you did so.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Deadline is Monday November 8th</span>. Good luck!

2 Year Blogiversary!!!

Two years ago today I was in a much different place. I had just had a long “life talk” (family, finances, health, etc) with Kyle, my husband...

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Free Supper

Happy Hump day my friends! We're half way to Friday, hooray!!!<br /><br />Here's a quick recap on my Tuesday eats. I had 1 lonely leftover <span style="font-weight:bold;">pancake </span>from this <a href="http://weightloss-stories.blogspot.com/2010/11/trick-or-treat.html">Sunday </a>with some <span style="font-weight:bold;">cool whip</span> & a <span style="font-weight:bold;">banana </span>for<span style="font-weight:bold;"> 6 points</span>.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6TfcmYcF1vzKWuO8JkDwke5YIvkdN-h2Vj1C7iexqNJxOn3wevFD8crF27oPFjiwKlJal0De2LySqO_ONdsUfZLU7KRW53oONT_S1xWwI7pEATAjKNGfYUY2zgfEMDanW0S80LwH04Bf/s1600/DSC09273.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535367673174863986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6TfcmYcF1vzKWuO8JkDwke5YIvkdN-h2Vj1C7iexqNJxOn3wevFD8crF27oPFjiwKlJal0De2LySqO_ONdsUfZLU7KRW53oONT_S1xWwI7pEATAjKNGfYUY2zgfEMDanW0S80LwH04Bf/s400/DSC09273.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Mid morning I sliced up an <span style="font-weight:bold;">apple </span>for a <span style="font-weight:bold;">1 point </span>snack.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh-f6K21mM3XBthwhCOjde7yO9TmiHEHSQuKxeaL52JFa1QX14l_LGrwfM0tlsKDvw8Uq_RzLsaYJTwZOTeXgFTVev84lePE3gBjPqv26b9C1UBoASupOHgu4Rv18Uyn5PGrQRuuv8W_WH/s1600/DSC09274.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535367661859292082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh-f6K21mM3XBthwhCOjde7yO9TmiHEHSQuKxeaL52JFa1QX14l_LGrwfM0tlsKDvw8Uq_RzLsaYJTwZOTeXgFTVev84lePE3gBjPqv26b9C1UBoASupOHgu4Rv18Uyn5PGrQRuuv8W_WH/s400/DSC09274.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Kyle and I had an errand to run on our lunch break, so we were squished for time. I had <span style="font-weight:bold;">1/2c cottage cheese</span> for <span style="font-weight:bold;">2 points</span>...didn't eat the cantaloupe, it was <a href="http://weightloss-stories.blogspot.com/2010/10/blown-away.html">still hard</a>!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHx3jIKXLKgSX3wk5IdJeQEl9gMMUxRj3tmnuWGL43W6KgT7mCnB95bqTWxsEFi5ZVEryJsirer90Muv8zr7CvmfnrCEKfGIFA73pJAd4x9ZQ9iaqoF_2RX4nzUcgH9lxbFBw1N0KU-Rp/s1600/DSC09275.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535367657509633762" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHx3jIKXLKgSX3wk5IdJeQEl9gMMUxRj3tmnuWGL43W6KgT7mCnB95bqTWxsEFi5ZVEryJsirer90Muv8zr7CvmfnrCEKfGIFA73pJAd4x9ZQ9iaqoF_2RX4nzUcgH9lxbFBw1N0KU-Rp/s400/DSC09275.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Because of our time crunch my main course for lunch was a <span style="font-weight:bold;">Smart Ones </span>for <span style="font-weight:bold;">4 points</span>. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dvTIppXEPdxr7D2Uj7QDy34xgEMcxY3_fIJTompGKWGZjn-lSjPPFPxN91iCFSLZQdFSml5wrleAo9oaj6p7gDc25HmiF7dgAJhkuvmSU5hnNdlvls-giSG3UXxzSYU8cTpx0HlCfuOS/s1600/DSC09030_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535367643072515634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dvTIppXEPdxr7D2Uj7QDy34xgEMcxY3_fIJTompGKWGZjn-lSjPPFPxN91iCFSLZQdFSml5wrleAo9oaj6p7gDc25HmiF7dgAJhkuvmSU5hnNdlvls-giSG3UXxzSYU8cTpx0HlCfuOS/s400/DSC09030_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 301px;" /></a><br />After work Kyle got busy on homework and I made a quick Target run. I <span style="font-weight:bold;">LOVE </span>that store! Somehow a bag of <span style="font-weight:bold;">Reeses </span>snuck into my cart. I had 1 serving of those little guys which is 5 for <span style="font-weight:bold;">5 points</span>. Darn clearance Halloween candy! ;)<br /><br />Supper was FREE! We got a coupon in the paper for <a href="http://www.kfc.com/">KFC's</a> newest <span style="font-weight:bold;">chicken sandwich</span>. I order it <span style="font-weight:bold;">grilled </span>and only ate 1/2 the bun for an estimate of <span style="font-weight:bold;">6 points</span>. I love their little song on commercials, <span style="font-weight:bold;">'G' double 'O' 'D', GOOD</span>!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0iaHhJWMHeNPmKdl8Q_hWmL2oEFyo7Fpey2VfOE7LTWsclHqjtfF2Ip2nBYpNX24NXSPpbkzCnfww9LqVQpoHzsVyMeSKGlzWlh-iQExtUlDnVSPAmkgWVaxSo47Ukc3YfrbjVq_fCsm-/s1600/DSC09276.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535367638220801330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0iaHhJWMHeNPmKdl8Q_hWmL2oEFyo7Fpey2VfOE7LTWsclHqjtfF2Ip2nBYpNX24NXSPpbkzCnfww9LqVQpoHzsVyMeSKGlzWlh-iQExtUlDnVSPAmkgWVaxSo47Ukc3YfrbjVq_fCsm-/s400/DSC09276.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">TUESDAY’S STATS</span><br />POINTS = 24/23<br />WEEKLY ALLOWANCE POINTS = 1 used/34 remaining<br />ACTIVITY POINTS EARNED = 0 today/0 week<br />H2O = 104 oz<br />EXERCISE = none<br /><br />Just so you know, you <span style="font-weight:bold;">MUST </span>stop back tomorrow for a FUN post!!! That's all I can now though! ;)

Free Supper

Happy Hump day my friends! We're half way to Friday, hooray!!! Here's a quick recap on my Tuesday eats. I had 1 lonely leftover panc...

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Van Nest Polglase ~ Architect Of Cinematic Dreams, Part I

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fKuLNpex1jwHYBdjS8KrRsPV_la-fLsfQs5NtafmCUrw2c3xa81CaU7SgeWVGe-PLuTos12-9i0VaOTmxjUaqEUDR-Lx3dOZGdLjFZnTkrPezj7n6z3xPoxm8Xy6OGhePEBoV7XE_qeD/s1600/artdirectionTheMan.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534727802972294098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fKuLNpex1jwHYBdjS8KrRsPV_la-fLsfQs5NtafmCUrw2c3xa81CaU7SgeWVGe-PLuTos12-9i0VaOTmxjUaqEUDR-Lx3dOZGdLjFZnTkrPezj7n6z3xPoxm8Xy6OGhePEBoV7XE_qeD/s320/artdirectionTheMan.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 248px;" /></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>by guest contributor Whistlingypsy</i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">The artistry of classic films reveals a cinematic alchemy in melding talent both before and behind the camera. The actor/actress and director are the two most visibly recogn</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">izable artists who created the image on screen. A careful viewer can also learn to recognize the names of the creative individuals who labored beh</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ind the scenes. Van Nest Polglase was one of these individuals who created the world in which our favorite characters move and have their lives.</span><br /><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Despite his elegant and intriguing name, his nearly decade-long tenure as RKO Studios’ art director and over 300 films to his credit, Polglase remains something of a</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">n enigma. In the absence of a definitive biography on the man’s life and career, much of what has been written is often contradictory and filled with errors (he was not mar</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ried to actress Dolores Del Rio as one source claims). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Van Nest Polglase was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 25, 18</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">98, and his unique name is a result of his family’s Cornish heritage. His education included the study of both architecture and interior design, but this is where the two paths of his life story diverge.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Some sources claim that Polglase finished </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">school an</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">d was employed </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">by Berg and Orchard, a New York architectural firm. He is also credited with work on the Presidential Palace under constru</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ction in Havana, Cuba. The likelihood that he was involved in the Cuban project is remote, the architects of record were Cuban born Carlos M</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">aruri and Belgian born Paul Belau, and some sources claim that Polglase actually dropped out of school before receiving a degree in architecture.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">However, in 1919, at the age of 21, Polglase was working for Famous Players-Lasky (today known as Paramount Studios) at their New York studio facilities. He made the move to the studio’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Hollywood location when financial constraints forced the</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> closing of the locations in New York and Europe. He remained with Paramount Studios for a decade before mov</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ing to M-G-M where he wo</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">rked under Cedric Gibbon’s leadership.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">During his first decade alone, advances in architectural design and filmmaking technology forced Polglase frequently to reevaluate his style and expand his visual vocabulary of art dire</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ction. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">He came to filmmaking at a time when the first sets </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">were built to resemble a theater stage to give audiences a reference point, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">and the</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> category of “settings” covere</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">d everything</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> from art direction to set design. The practice of group</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ing t</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">h</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">e </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy7BFPGO57d1vAwNWwIZQLvlkQqcgenj81hf-xn4gWkjHNuuZrFp3kWk7zbtS75i9sRyymp6y0kDywZmWDL-fDrddwYfbIiFad22bAI7hX6anFMXSsCCAXVeSdOdDvW6iw9s_O26MuhhOP/s1600/artdirectioncollage1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-weight: bold;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535049549163415026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy7BFPGO57d1vAwNWwIZQLvlkQqcgenj81hf-xn4gWkjHNuuZrFp3kWk7zbtS75i9sRyymp6y0kDywZmWDL-fDrddwYfbIiFad22bAI7hX6anFMXSsCCAXVeSdOdDvW6iw9s_O26MuhhOP/s320/artdirectioncollage1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 162px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 321px;" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">different disciplines into o</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ne category, as well as crediting an individual for a department’s</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> work, makes it difficult to track Polglase’s work during his early career. However, the AFI Catalog of Motion </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Pictu</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">res lists <b>Stage Struck</b> (1925, Paramount) and <b>Untamed</b> (1929, M-G-M) among his</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> early titles.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Stage Struck</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> proved a challenge for Polglase to create a design suitable </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">for Gloria Swanson, who had distinguished herself as a design and style icon through her previous films in partnership with Cecil B. De Mille. <b>Untamed</b> was set in three distinctly different locations requiring equally distinct design sensibilities and featured Joan Craw</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ford in her first sound picture, which came with the adde</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">d challenge of incorporating the new technology into the set design.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">RKO Studios was formed when the KAO (Keith-Albee-Orpheum) theater chain an</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">d FB</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">O (Film Booking Offices Of America) were brought together under the control of RCA (Radio </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">C</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">orpor</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6JkJReYnJsdsINP5375IJz0xj5Y1nB-XuLtAKzkGbrIVTY04HYJk1RhBLhAQfkaD08gUUt1tk0g-thmxP42FX5XDGKr_ZM9gXzoyvZk7yZG2LIlOLIPJN6hq8SZYMVBpo5RiWxXrtpNM/s1600/artdirectionRKOlogo.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535050296022427442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6JkJReYnJsdsINP5375IJz0xj5Y1nB-XuLtAKzkGbrIVTY04HYJk1RhBLhAQfkaD08gUUt1tk0g-thmxP42FX5XDGKr_ZM9gXzoyvZk7yZG2LIlOLIPJN6hq8SZYMVBpo5RiWxXrtpNM/s320/artdirectionRKOlogo.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 214px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">ation of America). David O. Selznick was hired in 1931 and in his new role as p</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">roduction </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">chief, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">he recruited producer/director Merian</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> C. Cooper, director George Cukor, actress Katharine </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">H</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">epburn and art director Van </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Nest Polglase. One of Polglase’s first projects as art director was to redesign the studio logo to incorporate the blinking radio tower at the heart of RKO’s business ties with the RCA Corporation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The image most frequently associated with RKO’s art direction is the series of films that paired Fred Astaire and Gingers Rogers. The films were charming fantasy confections, but the art direction was equally roote</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wFxfzY9Smn2mlXpR3AUmuwwfGhvwt7lVBhgQv57EqCyXTmAHy-fV5HKJfffJV3NXAH3GHoR7_dHEQUhJh2UI5-f1AHtjqz7G-2NgxIRXZwv60q2f2pGfk72LoylZgyqm3d63mpD-2yyU/s1600/artdirectionFlyingDownToRio.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535050739205614562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wFxfzY9Smn2mlXpR3AUmuwwfGhvwt7lVBhgQv57EqCyXTmAHy-fV5HKJfffJV3NXAH3GHoR7_dHEQUhJh2UI5-f1AHtjqz7G-2NgxIRXZwv60q2f2pGfk72LoylZgyqm3d63mpD-2yyU/s200/artdirectionFlyingDownToRio.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 151px;" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">d in the c</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">oncepts of architecture. The art direction is ideally suite</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">d to the dancers with both personifying the streamlined and elegant, witty</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">, athletic and sexy ideals of art deco architecture.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The fantasy version of Venice in <b>Top Hat</b> (1934), which combines streamlined modernism a</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPo0MlW_9odu_xGBmKc6E6Qrm2LKJJDQgfSdYhVMyVXMBVnRg876ZifBQhrodMv1OpeYVnzf9K2ZtfN_UbjmHr-lPLjlbebISdnPkuKHByX7aj9Uf9YvCRUYRsQCixEzB7gPq9W-Ryv5Ru/s1600/artdirectionGayDivorcee.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535051088026491762" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPo0MlW_9odu_xGBmKc6E6Qrm2LKJJDQgfSdYhVMyVXMBVnRg876ZifBQhrodMv1OpeYVnzf9K2ZtfN_UbjmHr-lPLjlbebISdnPkuKHByX7aj9Uf9YvCRUYRsQCixEzB7gPq9W-Ryv5Ru/s200/artdirectionGayDivorcee.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">nd neo-classical references, displays an architectural style both immediately recognizable and equally unfamiliar to movie audiences. The result is tied neither to the past nor the </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">present, but freely evokes the glamorous lifestyle of theatergoers’ dreams, transporting weary Depression era audiences out of their all too grim present and allowing them to hop</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">e for a better future. The popularity of the Astaire and Rogers films allowed the studio to pursue projects set in a wide variety of eras with equally varied plotlines.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A glimpse at Katharine Hepburn’s filmography during the perio</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">d reveals the careful attention to detail in the Civil War era design of <b>Little Women</b> (1933); the modified art deco chic of Adolphe Menjou’s apartment in <b>Morning</b></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2ZbgsmJudjIbxsHOHbISiheakQWavrZMESV1kiixG8QLumxqmDJpAWUrqKn4rDFtyx4XPGiXxjY3qbYWGfO_R8fpgt5ZtdYEK6R5cOjqldJ2sTl-D__PjDb_mgyR7R9as_1k2I9l5wuz/s1600/artdirectionGrantandHepburn.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535051969093367570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2ZbgsmJudjIbxsHOHbISiheakQWavrZMESV1kiixG8QLumxqmDJpAWUrqKn4rDFtyx4XPGiXxjY3qbYWGfO_R8fpgt5ZtdYEK6R5cOjqldJ2sTl-D__PjDb_mgyR7R9as_1k2I9l5wuz/s320/artdirectionGrantandHepburn.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 246px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b> Glory</b> (1934); the us</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">e of a Victorian era Arts and Crafts design blend in the boarding house of <b>Stage Door</b> (1937) to communicate homey comfort; the all for fun eccentric design of <b>Bringing Up Baby</b> (1938) from the jail cell to the museum display.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In 1939, RKO undertook the ambitious remake of <b>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</b>, a film that had been an enormous success for Universal Pictures d</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">uring the silent era. The challenge was to create a new version that would exceed the expectations of those who could remember the original and make new fans of younger moviegoers. The film proved a showcase for Polglase’s attention to detail, and his perfectionism gave the historical sets an element of accuracy not found in the creations of the larger studios.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Paris of the RKO version features extravagant sets, immense staircases and oversized doors; the attention to detail is evident in the massive bells (Gabrielle, Big Marie and the rest) and a whole cow roasting on a spit (a prop that seems to have traveled to <b>Citizen</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b> Kane</b> for a picnic), the garden party lit by paper lanterns and the grand spaces within Notre Dame, from Clophin’s (Thomas Mitchell) court of miracles to Quasimodo’s (Charles Laughton) sanctuary in the clouds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizey410aTpvP9rOiuv3t5H7hK_y3BJ04dObUeN1i8HPilAWo8aBEXazbV9YmNGDBlOuhTVIIGLJ7ONJeX8lfSCUcV_bJTCbXZ4QqobqNPSoug7UBiVdr204WfBcd_A6HuibnbTOB3mHM_9/s1600/artdirectioncollage2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535051352448946946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizey410aTpvP9rOiuv3t5H7hK_y3BJ04dObUeN1i8HPilAWo8aBEXazbV9YmNGDBlOuhTVIIGLJ7ONJeX8lfSCUcV_bJTCbXZ4QqobqNPSoug7UBiVdr204WfBcd_A6HuibnbTOB3mHM_9/s400/artdirectioncollage2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 177px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A fundamental point to keep in mind is the emergence during this period of an RKO-specific visual style, and while the stylistic elements of art direction are the product of a talented art director, other factors contribute to this development. The influence of German expressionism in <i>film noir </i>is widely acknowledged and can be observed in films made by German expatriates in Hollywood during the silent era. The creative individuals of RKO’s art direction were working between the influence of expressionism and the emergence of <span style="font-style: italic;">film noir</span>, and the challenges of the studio system; reduced budgets and relatively modest sets provided the genesis of a new genre. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">During Polglase’s tenure at RKO, the studio faced continued economic challenges and numerous changes at the executive level. One such change in management philosophy led the studio to distribute films for independent producers, with Walt Disney’s earliest feature length titles among these films. The artistic vision of any RKO film bore Van Nest Polglase’s name, but he was not solely responsible for realizing this vision. Polglase relied heavily on his department and especially on the talents of Carroll Clark, Perry Ferguson and Charles Kirk. The question regarding artistic vision is additionally problematic when such independent directors as Ford, Hitchcock and Welles are behind the camera. Did these directors have cooperative relationships with Polglase, working to bring their visions to the screen, or was an art director entirely secondary to their vision? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Part II will follow soon...</i></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Thank you Lady Eve for your gracious invitation to contribute to your blog site, and thank you filmguy24 for your invaluable insights into the world of architecture as it relates to art direction.</i></span></div>

Alfred Hitchcock Cedric Gibbons Charles Laughton David O. Selznick Gloria Swanson John Ford Katharine Hepburn Orson Welles RKO Studios Van Nest Polglase Whistlingypsy (author) Van Nest Polglase ~ Architect Of Cinematic Dreams, Part I

by guest contributor Whistlingypsy The artistry of classic films reveals a cinematic alchemy in melding talent both before and behind the ca...

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It's going to be a good day

I've been up since 3 a.m. checking on my software release. Everything looks good. It went out to all locations (120+) at 2:33 a.m. I completed a couple very basic smoke tests on two machines in two cities and I think it's going to be okay. Hallelujah!<br /><br />It's 4:30 a.m. now so I guess it's off to the gym. Honestly, I'm so tired I could easily go back to sleep but I need to leave work early today so I can work on my Toastmaster speech for tomorrow. Ugh! The title is "The Fountain of Youth" and it's about the importance of exercise to the slow down the aging process. <br /><br />I'm going to make a room of 20 people listen to me praise the benefits of exercise for seven minutes. They're a trapped audience and have to listen. Did I ever mention how much I hate public speaking? I'm getting better and Toastmasters is a huge help, but it's not something I would normally volunteer to do for fun. It's one of those things that if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger.<br /><br />Oddly, I'm starving this morning. Normally I don't eat before my workout but I feel like I'm running on zero energy this morning and my stomach is actually growling at me. I didn't have any snacks late last night other than a small Honeycrisp apple at 8pm, and I stayed within my 21 Points yesterday (not easy!). I'm cutting back on eating my earned exercise Points, especially since my candy lapse on Sunday. <br /><br />I'm also trying to cut back on junk, aka "diet" ice cream and frozen fruit bars. Since I have difficulty eating just one of anything that I think tastes good, I've stopped buying them. Even though the frozen fruit bars are only 70 calories each, if I eat three in one sitting that's 210 calories and a lot of sugar. So they're not on the list anymore.<br /><br />On <a href="http://bbubblyb.blogspot.com/">Dawn's</a> recommendation I bought a box of sugar-free fudgsicles. There's not much chance I'd eat more than one of those at a time, or two at the absolute max. They're 40 calories each and not exactly what I would call delicious, but they're better than nothing if you're really dying for a junk food sort of treat. Last night I actually decided I'd prefer an organic apple over the fudgesicles. An interesting concept. Something wholesome and healthy over something artificial (although sometimes, I'd pick the artificial treat). <br /><br />I really have to get to the gym now and stop stalling. Row machine for 20, Stair Master for 20 and upper body weights for 40. Fun times.

It's going to be a good day

I've been up since 3 a.m. checking on my software release. Everything looks good. It went out to all locations (120+) at 2:33 a.m. I com...

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Yes, she's a little bit crazy

Lately I've been a little bit nuts in my postings. I'm here, there and everywhere on how I'm trying to lose weight. One week I'm quitting Weight Watchers and Geneen Roth is my magic bullet. The next week I'm back at Weight Watchers, then I'm doing Geneen Roth's plan and Weight Watchers, then I'm binging. If you're wondering what the hell I'm doing, well, get in line because I'm not sure myself anymore.<br /><br />The only thing I know is that I'm not giving up. If it's not working for me, I'll try something else and I'll keep trying different things until I get this figured out. <br /><br />Now a word about therapy for people that have food issues. Obviously, I have issues. Anyone that gains 100 pounds and doesn't have a medical reason for the gain, most likely has some mental issues that contributed to the weight gain.<br /><br />I remember the very first time someone told me I needed to go to therapy for my issues with food. It was in 1992, the person was my Jenny Craig "counselor". After going from 192 to 135 pounds, and still wanting to lose another ten pounds, I lost control one week and ate six bananas in one sitting. I don't know much about the program these days, but in 1992 you were only allowed one or two bananas a week, maximum.<br /><br />I had a few more encounters with food similar to the banana incident over a period of several weeks. When I told my very thin Jenny Craig counselor about my binges, she was appalled. I think she'd lost 25 pounds on Jenny Craig before she was qualified to become a "counselor". She told me there wasn't anything she could do to help me, that I was wasting my money at Jenny Craig, and I needed to go into therapy.<br /><br />She was right, but at this point in my life, I'm just not willing to spend the time and effort for therapy. Perhaps that's a bad idea, but it's where I am right now. <br /><br /><strong>The food and exercise</strong><br />Today was a very good food day. I forgot to take the leftover candy to work, but I put it in the trunk of my car tonight, and I feel safe. Crazy isn't it? That I feel "safe" from food. It's not like it's going to attack me. <br /><br />My workout was great today, I love that old slider rowing machine. I did my thirty minutes on the crossramp and then fifteen minutes rowing. I found some <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbaKM0nhNSk&feature=channel">videos</a> on how to use the rowing machine (and if your back hurts, you're doing it wrong). <br /><br />There are several great instructional videos available on YouTube. It turns out it's a good upper body workout, as well as good for your core. It's not really meant to get your heart rate up high (although it does if you do it too fast), it's more to strengthen your upper body. Who knew? I was doing it super fast to burn calories, but after watching the videos I'm going to slow it down a bit for more strengthening.<br /><br />Now the crazy lady is going to bed. Tomorrow at 2am is out big software release to production. I'm not expecting good things. I hope I'm wrong.

Yes, she's a little bit crazy

Lately I've been a little bit nuts in my postings. I'm here, there and everywhere on how I'm trying to lose weight. One week I&#...

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Children Blessed To Be At St. Barts/ St. Bart's Blessed By Children

The children’s Sunday School at St. Bartholomew’s in Ely is my idea of important news. It isn’t overflowing like St. Mary’s, Nixon or Epiphany, Henderson – both wonderful too. But they definitely have something good going in Ely. <br /> <br /> Of course they have had children’s Sunday School before but part of small church life is the demographic blips. Every few years, the Sunday School declines or even dies for want to children. It is as natural as the seasons. The rebirth of the Sunday School, however, does not happen so spontaneously. That takes initiative. Kim, a relatively new member of St. Bart’s, has taken the initiative.<br /> <br /> Last Sunday, there were 4 children. Sometimes they have 5. Having no Sunday School room, they gather in a corner of the Fellowship Hall while the grownups are engrossed in the Liturgy of the Word upstairs. The kids sit on the floor for now, but Kim and Fr. Red are planning to get a rug or a carpet remnant for them to sit on. Such a thing makes a big difference. It welcomes the group into a defined space, holds them there and focuses attention – far less wandering off.<br /><br /> There is a board on which they have the words for their simple song – “Jesus in the morning” – one of my favorites. Then Kim converses with the children about one point from the Gospel lesson. Colored construction paper chains hang under each child’s name on the bulletin board. Every Sunday when the child attend Sunday School and learns a new lesson, they put a new link on their paper chain. The paper chains make visible their growth in spiritual intelligence. They also encourage and reward attendance, which judging by the paper chains is pretty good.<br /><br /> The point of this week’s Gospel lesson (Zacchaeus up the sycamore tree) was generosity. For their craft, the children created basketfuls of ghost treats. They hooded lollipops, with tissues, tied around the neck, and faces painted on the tissues with magic markers, thereby making ghosts. The kids then came upstairs to join their parents for the Liturgy of the Table. As people were leaving the nave, the children formed a receiving line giving away the ghostly lollipops to the grownups. After everyone else had left the nave, Kim gathered the children to make sure they got the connection between the Gospel lesson and their exercise of generosity in giving away the lollipops. The children also made large pin-on name tags for themselves and for the adults to wear – big help to the visiting bishop.<br /><br /> There are bigger, better-equipped Sunday Schools, but that isn’t an option for St. Bart’s. It may be just as well that it isn’t. As Professor Susannah Singer told us at Convention, Christian formation depends on context, context, context. I cannot imagine any Sunday School program working better in this context. They are doing what works for them – and from my conversation with the children, it is definitely working. They get it. What’s more, Kim is making the children and their activities visible to the adults, as with the ghost candy and the name tags. Children are mysteriously invisible to adults in church. The Rev. Kathy Hopner tells me she has talked with congregations who explain they do not have a Sunday School because they do not have children. She then points at children running about and says “What are those?” When the kids are the receiving line, they are harder to ignore.<br /><br /> Children’s ministry at St. Bart’s is not limited to the offspring of adult members. The Girl Scouts are reactivating in Ely as well, and guess where they meet? Most every Tuesday night, there’s a Girl Scout Meeting in our Fellowship Hall. That is an outreach ministry to the community and a soft evangelism in that it keeps us on the radar screen of Ely’s awareness.<br /><br /> But it isn’t all for children at St. Bart’s. They are soon revving up the new course using the Marcus Borg video on an Adult Faith, facilitated by MDIT (Ministry Developer In Training) Norma Engberg. The course used a workbook to structure people’s reflections on what they have seen and heard. This same program is being used at St. Martin’s, Pahrump and is, I think, available for Church Publishing Co. They are an alert, thinking congregation at St. Bart’s. I just did a sermon there that most preachers would not dare try – too theologically sophisticated. But the folks at St. Bart’s got it right off. Our people are plenty smart enough to deal with challenging material. They want to be challenged because that’s where the growth happens. I am very pleased that St. Bart’s, along with St. Martin’s, is undertaking this study.<br /><br /> Then there are softer spoken kinds of formation going on too. I noticed this year’s poster for Episcopal Relief and Development on a bulletin board too – a visible reminder of the world’s need and the Episcopal Church’s response. That too is soul shaping, consciousness raising, awareness instilling symbolism. I would be so glad to see that poser up in all our churches. Thank God and the people of St. Bart’s for remembering.

Children Blessed To Be At St. Barts/ St. Bart's Blessed By Children

The children’s Sunday School at St. Bartholomew’s in Ely is my idea of important news. It isn’t overflowing like St. Mary’s, Nixon or Epipha...

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Trick Or Treat

Happy Monday <span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">AND </span></span>November friends!! Hard to believe there are only 2 months of 2010 left! They will be a fun filled 2 months though! ;)<br /><br />Despite the urge to sleep in on Sunday Kyle and I got up for church! After wards I sliced up a <span style="font-weight:bold;">pear </span>to tide me over for <span style="font-weight:bold;">1 point</span>. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4usHkKEJJvvZ3fSwbBwbYLQycJo7CmkYWVRPhoe1oJlraAtewcnUrwVEiNpNalQ6TsrxKck8K71x4PPe6K9LO0U2cfhQKuTe9tPteeHMS3GQFPYziQpWUvMCyR9VaRdP9TCZyYdCpOgd1/s1600/DSC09254.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534628627118934018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4usHkKEJJvvZ3fSwbBwbYLQycJo7CmkYWVRPhoe1oJlraAtewcnUrwVEiNpNalQ6TsrxKck8K71x4PPe6K9LO0U2cfhQKuTe9tPteeHMS3GQFPYziQpWUvMCyR9VaRdP9TCZyYdCpOgd1/s400/DSC09254.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Wendi & Hayden came up to hang out for the day!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXCCNI6UzqCnHKI0eakb0WH82h8vgdl7GwQO9F-1250EFHVt02bs5xYlFORGrdpjiluwZ-wwsk8c4TeKn766Awtv8S1xxwX73aledKwbApCtiWhyphenhyphen1xDsvuHWpmq-R-btJLbY-EjeBQnXz9/s1600/DSC09267.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534628613363159378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXCCNI6UzqCnHKI0eakb0WH82h8vgdl7GwQO9F-1250EFHVt02bs5xYlFORGrdpjiluwZ-wwsk8c4TeKn766Awtv8S1xxwX73aledKwbApCtiWhyphenhyphen1xDsvuHWpmq-R-btJLbY-EjeBQnXz9/s400/DSC09267.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />We made brunch, <span style="font-weight:bold;">chocolate chip pancakes</span> & <span style="font-weight:bold;">turkey sausage</span>! I had <span style="font-weight:bold;">2 pancakes</span> with <span style="font-weight:bold;">peanut butter</span> on one & <span style="font-weight:bold;">cool whip</span> on the other for <span style="font-weight:bold;">9 points</span>! MMMM, good!!!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisncwQspnVbVti4k63WLubFKKlJBNnxcjxTmn5cSAZ5yxfIV1iTsaPEBi9omECYyqLB5Afdbg7CnPOXN_VjqZPi8Mjjwt5BcOwSkD-HdlMFnv22TxMqIy9CkZcz1Dgpqp122yHOtojCFyt/s1600/DSC09255.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534628620963420626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisncwQspnVbVti4k63WLubFKKlJBNnxcjxTmn5cSAZ5yxfIV1iTsaPEBi9omECYyqLB5Afdbg7CnPOXN_VjqZPi8Mjjwt5BcOwSkD-HdlMFnv22TxMqIy9CkZcz1Dgpqp122yHOtojCFyt/s400/DSC09255.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Isn't he the cutest lil monkey?!?!?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguFEjDe2cKEApTPq4cWJD_gQFEfHNJp9_Bbx00ZEPHyqkoMkR2oHsw5QJcvmwPYdy0xkk5RpPy9ac-3UXS0HE74y7Qw4vaj24TUyBdQDj_LsXDlZUpnWtBcIsX-eieS4xu7PFPkrJTIMqm/s1600/DSC09265.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534628411262611938" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguFEjDe2cKEApTPq4cWJD_gQFEfHNJp9_Bbx00ZEPHyqkoMkR2oHsw5QJcvmwPYdy0xkk5RpPy9ac-3UXS0HE74y7Qw4vaj24TUyBdQDj_LsXDlZUpnWtBcIsX-eieS4xu7PFPkrJTIMqm/s400/DSC09265.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" /></a><br />I had a big bowl full of <span style="font-weight:bold;">candy </span>ready for trick or treat-ers! Unfortunately I wasn't as strong as I hoped and had some...I'm estimating <span style="font-weight:bold;">9 points</span>. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Wb3SDnZcX-_YshAvNqiPtzm5tz4lDKaYgns-572kaAXu8bchwd06BrHXKHi-tNK-empkPpszeF6uI9CDMTymh0kLK6PwVY_b2XnqGz4MNQB748ZBe80JAqpHXOIyckaPzYX3C3Z2pk-E/s1600/DSC09268.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534628401183277474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Wb3SDnZcX-_YshAvNqiPtzm5tz4lDKaYgns-572kaAXu8bchwd06BrHXKHi-tNK-empkPpszeF6uI9CDMTymh0kLK6PwVY_b2XnqGz4MNQB748ZBe80JAqpHXOIyckaPzYX3C3Z2pk-E/s400/DSC09268.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />Hayden was a good help passing out candy! ;) I love seeing the neighborhood kids all dressed up! I think my favorite were the little Iowa Hawkeye football player & cheerleader! ;)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi50wW41Y7cYgpmyiZkt7N6ZLzWm-2IYCb15aIPuS5qXg_qYyrmJ3g0RVdJzSjRAgNRKwJ2C5o5m4Op-WBKuXfk-cRYLRMe1TU9bO3jOS_RaTrV1OZ6ETF4Rv-y84QIX-dBRgknSzq55cro/s1600/DSC09272.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534628387095248210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi50wW41Y7cYgpmyiZkt7N6ZLzWm-2IYCb15aIPuS5qXg_qYyrmJ3g0RVdJzSjRAgNRKwJ2C5o5m4Op-WBKuXfk-cRYLRMe1TU9bO3jOS_RaTrV1OZ6ETF4Rv-y84QIX-dBRgknSzq55cro/s400/DSC09272.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />We had <span style="font-weight:bold;">chili </span>for supper! I had <span style="font-weight:bold;">1 c</span> with <span style="font-weight:bold;">cheese </span>& <span style="font-weight:bold;">crackers </span>for <span style="font-weight:bold;">10 points</span>.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_72UR0CP97YbG7BJNk438Au36ufmmwuUSISrvmUDlVhf7YC2aRPCwSWEb1ROt81SyXGXIb2gUicqXRBwV4u3b0Pzk0yh6pnAsOdvRWCqzdoIbd9uH45y8O5ABeKpvxvCGsT4mBHkqOwWo/s1600/DSC09269.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534628380229229826" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_72UR0CP97YbG7BJNk438Au36ufmmwuUSISrvmUDlVhf7YC2aRPCwSWEb1ROt81SyXGXIb2gUicqXRBwV4u3b0Pzk0yh6pnAsOdvRWCqzdoIbd9uH45y8O5ABeKpvxvCGsT4mBHkqOwWo/s400/DSC09269.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />And a meal with chili is never complete without <span style="font-weight:bold;">cinnamon rolls</span>! Reminds of school lunches! These were reduced fat, so only <span style="font-weight:bold;">2 points</span> each!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXyFyfA4WN8j_6tDXm9ewI5_EUspMUOGUbcqH_pbbk2Ws3ID0lMVWgMDeHfmIKqtIPsN0Gg9sdfT0MXXC2vbmVfIYZkGiXQ6RnrwuvL2kT9grtpBGJ-J5vg-b95629o79yzpFsKdBJ2w96/s1600/DSC09270.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534628375834151138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXyFyfA4WN8j_6tDXm9ewI5_EUspMUOGUbcqH_pbbk2Ws3ID0lMVWgMDeHfmIKqtIPsN0Gg9sdfT0MXXC2vbmVfIYZkGiXQ6RnrwuvL2kT9grtpBGJ-J5vg-b95629o79yzpFsKdBJ2w96/s400/DSC09270.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SUNDAY’S STATS</span><br />POINTS = 31/23<br />WEEKLY ALLOWANCE POINTS = 35 used/0 remaining<br />ACTIVITY POINTS EARNED = 0 today/1 week<br />H2O = 68 oz<br />EXERCISE = none

Trick Or Treat

Happy Monday AND November friends!! Hard to believe there are only 2 months of 2010 left! They will be a fun filled 2 months though! ;) Desp...

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