what a pretty pretty kitty! 

Momma and babies sitting outside, I could only get one in the pic. 

Daddy cat, Scrappy Doo. The most beat up cat, I've yet to meet! Needs a good loving home.  

One of the kittens, the bravest of the bunch and so far what I believe to be the prettiest. I don't get to see them that often. They are a bit skittish, just like their mom. 

School Starts

Started school last week. Online, and a little cumbersome. Just takes a little getting used to. However, I am really enjoying the classes. One is ECommerce, which is the sort of class I've wanted to take since I started school, two years ago. The best part is the text book refers to FedEx.com every few pages -and how we've led the industry in that capacity. ECommerce relies on companies such as ours to make it work. My desire is to work at this level, and I'm not having to make comparisons -it's spelled out in textbook form. Also, perks my Purple feathers. In the first two chapters, I've already gained a new level of comprehension. The other is a Research course -and I have a topic! I must use a topic with scientific knowledge to back it up. Great!, that happened just by coincidence. (See: being old, getting in shape.) I have bloodwork from the beginning -the books to reference, that coached my pattern of resolution. Tomorrow, bloodwork to provide a 6 week progress report. Since low carb dieting has been stated to reduce insulin and cholesterol, we'll see... Control those things-and lose weight...cool !! -and I'll have scientific evidence to prove such. Low carb controls my low blood sugar, which in itself, is half of my battle.

It is nice to come home, grab the laptop-get started on assignments, throw a load of laundry in -and be able to study without leaving home, thus getting behind on what needs to be done at home. There is another aspect... 'Open book' allows use of your resources (real-life)thereby not relying on memory to cram for testing. Memory is after all, ram, you go to sleep and lose most of what you gained, by rebooting as you awake in the a.m. Not to mention spending 5 hours in school several times a week takes away from everything your required to maintain your schedule. And, we all have 'those' schedules. This is the way to go -so far. Classmates all over the U.S. Intelligent, new acquaintances.

Did I mention going to the gym 4 to 5 times per week? Nice for stress levels and I've lost 19 lbs !! Love the Elliptical! (with online courses I don't have to forego the gym, in lieu of commute time.)
Lots of people from my work use the same gym, since it is across the street. Kind of the old line from a sitcom, you like to go where everyone knows your name. I love the neighborhood -it was my neighborhood in 1997 -which was one of my better summers-giving it a nostalgic feel. Remember Texas? friends getting signed with Sony records?... that was a good year. Tons of girlfriend time, and a lot of great memories.

Today was the TICA cat show at Hara. This was a lot of fun. We spent the morning having breakfast at Cracker Barrell. Then off to the show. We spent the entire afternoon, cuddling with cats, and watching the judging rings. Top left a real bobcat - ( see www.heavenscorner2003.com ) The other pics are winning cats. Top right is a friend from my last work location holding a $600 Burmese kitten. After we left Hara, we went to an interesting little Antique/Crafty type shop, in a barn setting and enjoyed time talking w/the owner. She had a lot of creative type things -I plan to go there again. It is great fun for me to go to a cat show that allows Bengals. Quite interesting -they have varied temperaments which do not allow them in the Cat Fanciers Association -which also leads to quite an entertaining cat show! (click the pictures for a larger view)  

Cisco asleep. What a cute, crashed position!  

Junior's girlfriend Aniko!  

The couch as a Kawasaki ! 

This is the gas grill I purchased. I'm doing a research study with face moisturizer. It pays $120 for six visits, of about 7 mins each time. The grill was $129! It assists me in nutrition, and cost 42 minutes of my time !! My first gas grill, I've only had charcoal before -this is sooo much easier !! I'm learning marinating techniques, and will try the briquets for flavor soon.  

Summer Kicks In

Whoa! It's hot outside !! Our community pool won't open for two more weeks, so either I suffer, or go to the public pool. I'm laying out in the sun to get my daily dose of Vitamin D! Plus maybe if I'm real quiet, the new stray kittens living under my house will come out. I think they are about 6 weeks old now. Gotta get them healthy and beautiful, so I can give them away. Yes we seem to be running a brothel here. Stray females visiting and the one big stud black cat donating his sperm for the cause. There were several pregnant females running around, and we were so blessed (joke) to have her decide to have her young within our surroundings. I love cats, especially kittens, so as long as I find homes -this is okay with me.

As of this week, I'm at a 17lbs weight loss. I go back to the dr next week to do the bloodwork, am anxious to see if the insulin levels have dropped-and the cholesterol... I'm sure they have. I've gone to the gym every working day, so the weightloss is terrific. I'm wearing all of my jeans comfortably, and I'm ready to take it down a size! I make the workout part of the work day, and this is working into my plan quite nicely. It seems to be the structured way to do it, and I need structure. I eat what I am allowed on my breaks and at lunch. The weekends are a little difficult. However, since purchasing the new gas grill, all meals are fairly easy. Last night I made a barbecued pork chop salad! That was delicious!! Celery, vidalia onions, tomato, yellow pepper, lettuce and a little bit of ranch! Like I said before, I can make some interesting salads. I sliced up Brats this week and made fake pizza. No crust! I used a low carb pizza sauce, brats, onions, peppers, etc.. That was sooo good.

School starts next Monday. I'm doing the at home courses. This will be my Bachelor's in Technical Project Management. I'm pretty darn excited! My books have shipped and should arrive any day now! The course of my day is long, with the gym, and a full day of work -so I am only taking two classes the first quarter to make sure I can get it all in. I will increase to full load -one more course, after Christmas. I'm too busy at Christmas, with the company I work for, to take much more than this. Plus my health is equally as important and I'm not going to quit going to the gym each work day. The gym is across the street from my job. That makes it very accomodating.

My yard is looking very nice, but we sure need the rain. I just purchased a sprinkler for my yard I've been wanting about two years! It is expensive, but I had gift certificates from Amazon, so I paid $3.99 for it !! yay!! OHHH that reminds me, I need to list my first book on Amazon to sell. My first best friend from Junior High School, tells me this is the way to do it. She made $46 on three books in one week. The time spent; was time to list them, and take them to the post office to mail. According to her it is great fun. Since I accumulate so many books -this will be great for me. It will justify my continued purchase of books I want, and give me a good outlet for getting them back out of my house! Plus everyone and their brother is doing some kind of online selling of personal items, I need to get on this bandwagon!

I'll list the book after I get back in from laying in the sun - will let you know how fast it sells, and how that is working for me. That said, I think I'll list my Dr Phil books. So I may list three. I'll keep the weight loss book to read over for some other motivating tricks. I don't feel like I need the motivation, but it may reinforce some of my thought patterns, and make them stronger. By the next time I head off to visit my Nashville friend, I want her to really notice the difference! We spend quality pool time together, now with her children -so I want her to say "WOW Way To Go!" We are firm believers in the power of Yoga, so we have similar interests in how to keep fit. I haven't done any yoga this go 'round. I've been doing mostly cardio and weight lifting. I'll get back into Yoga when I feel some burnout coming thru.

Okay, now I'm off of here, to the lawn chair in the bikini, with the Bose headphones! Hope your having a great day as well !!