Okay, so now I really have to get serious about posting on this blog or give it up entirely!  It's been a very long time since I have posted.

There have been so many changes since I last posted, I will try to bring you all up to speed.  I had posted that my daughter and son-in-law had informed us that we were going to be grandparents again.  We became instant grandparents when they got married as our son-in-law has a son from a previous marriage and what a joy it is having Kyle as part of our family.  Just a few weeks after that, my son and daughter-in-law came to visit and announced that we were going to be grandparents again.  The two babies were due within a month or so of each other.  Dominick was born on August 8, 2011, and Quentin was born on September 7, 2011.  Both babies precious and healthy.  Time has flown by and the boys are 8 months and 9 months old.  Both so very different, but both so adorable.  Quentin's newest trick is that he learned how to wave.  Dominick has learned to clap.  I am definitely a proud grandma!  How blessed we are.

Last weekend we were all together as we were attending our future daughter-in-law's graduation ceremony at Illinois State University.  Congrats to her on a job well done.  And yes, you did notice that I said future daughter-in-law!  My youngest son proposed about two weeks ago and everyone is so excited for them.  They are planning an October 2013 wedding date.

Another thing I had posted last time was that we had joined the YMCA and were working on getting healthier and losing weight.  Well, that didn't go so well.  In the midst of the excitement of both girls being pregnant and us working out at the Y, I found a weird spot on my forehead which kept getting bigger day after day.  It started out looking like the ugliest zit ever and over a few days grew about to the size of a nickel with somewhat of a bulls eye look to it. Time to see a doctor to figure out what was going on.  One doctor thought it was MRSA and another thought it was possibly shingles.  Either way, I missed a few days of work until I had been on antibiotics for a few days and hopefully couldn't pass whatever it was on to anyone else.  I couldn't see either of the mommies to be either and that was very sad and also a little scary as I had been with them both the weekend before the spot appeared.  After several hundred dollars, tests proved to be inconclusive, but both doctors thought it may have been something I picked up off a piece of equipment at the Y and advised that I wipe down any surface of the equipment I may touch BEFORE I used it since there are so many who don't take the time to wipe down after they're finished.  I quickly lost my enthusiasm for working out.

Fast forward to the end of September 2011 and at a checkup with my doctor I was informed that I was no longer borderline diabetic, but was now full blown Type II and needed medication.  After being borderline for a few years and taking no action to really improve the situation, I was still shocked to the core and burst into tears.  There was no way I wanted to be taking yet another medication!!!!  Consider this my "come to Jesus" moment.  If I didn't make changes, I was going to live out the rest of my life getting heavier and heavier and sicker and sicker.  I had two new grandsons to think of now.  After trying to convince the doctor I was serious about taking charge of my health, the doctor agreed to give me one more chance to prove it and told me to come back in three months for a recheck.  I still wasn't motivated enough to really work at my health, though.  In November I had to take stock of where I was and the fact that through almost two months of trying to lose weight and eat healthier, I had only managed to lose about 10 pounds and was starting to put that back on.  It was time to face the fact that I was not making progress on my own.

I had noticed a coworker had lost weight and was looking really great and asked her how she was doing it.  She filled me in on the program she has been following through a doctor in our area.  Since he happened to also be my gyne, when I was in his office for a checkup, I asked about his weight loss program and he didn't even give me a chance to hesitate, but had his nurse making my first appointment for an assessment.  I had that first appointment on November 9, 2011.  It did start with a greatly restricted calorie intake.  Oh my God, 1000 calories a day!  I was also given a prescription for an appetite suppressant.  I know, I know, many people don't believe in taking a "diet drug" but yet will secretly spend big money trying every supplement known to man in an attempt to have a magic prescription to lose weight.  The first three weeks of this plan were terribly hard and very depressing.  Trying to figure out what I could eat by trying to limit carbs and trying hard not to go too heavy with protein was the hardest chore ever.  I remember going in for a weigh-in and starting to cry with the realization that I will have to watch what I eat for the rest of my life.  But I will have to say that when I went back to my general practitioner right before Christmas, I was down almost 20 pounds from where I had been in September.  The best surprise ever was finding out that my blood sugar had returned to normal and not in need of medication!!!!

I have been following this plan under my doctor's supervision and to date have lost 56 pounds!  Did you see that????  """"56"""" pounds!!  I have dropped 3-4 pants sizes and am feeling ever so much healthier.  I do still have about 15 more pounds my doctor would like to see me lose and I admit I've been pretty much at a standstill for about 2 months now.  Time to get motivated again to get that last 15 pounds off.

I also have a new love in my life!  Quilting!  More specifically, I have discovered a love of fabric and am trying to teach myself to quilt.  I will expand on my quilting experience more in future posts and maybe even get up the nerve to share some pictures of projects I've been working on.

I think I've bored everyone enough today, but did want to catch you up with my life.  I will be back again soon and hope to get in the habit to post shorter and more frequent comments.  My intent is that you will get it all, the good, the bad and the ugly.  After all, the title of this is "Rants, raves and musings", so I have to give you some of that to read.

It's a beautiful day folks, so off to do a little quilting and then some work in the yard.  Pictures later!!  Have a great day!

Wow - long time, no post.

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted anything on this site. All I can say is there are big changes I'm hoping to make in 2011. It's time to get moving on my projects for this year.

2010 was a pretty good year. There were a few rough spots, but overall I think the good outweighed the bad. After my oldest son was laid off in the fall of 2009, he finally found a great job in 2010. He also passed all portions of his architectural licensing exam and is now a licensed architect. Yeah!! We're all so proud of him. After spending almost 10 years with a company, they laid him off after he'd passed the first couple of his tests. I know the economy hit the skids, but seriously. They cut him first because he'd been there the longest in the office and they knew he'd want more money when he was licensed. I could go on and on in that vein, but since he's happier in his new job than he ever was in the old one, I'll let it go.

Another great thing this year was my daughter getting married in October. It was a great wedding. We all had such a great time and it's wonderful to see them so happy together. The only negative was her husband (at the time her fiance) was laid off for six months prior to the wedding and started a new job right after their honeymoon. Unfortunately, the pay is about half what he was making before and he's driving into Chicago. We're all praying he finds something else very soon. Rumors are that he will be laid off from this new job in April, also.

The greatest news of the year was on Christmas morning when my daughter and her new husband made the announcement that they're expecting their first baby and our first grandchild. Everyone is very excited!! Projected due date is August 15th. My oldest son and I both have August birthdays, so we're more than happy to welcome a little one to our club.

So, as far as the changes I mentioned, I have two new projects going right now.

Project #1 - My husband and I went on Saturday and joined the local YMCA. He is a great, and I mean really great, cook and we've both definitely put on weight since we got married almost 4 years ago. I am at the heaviest I have ever been even weighing more than I did the morning I delivered my youngest son. At that time, that was the heaviest I had ever been. I did lose all the baby weight at one point, but over the years the weight has crept up little by little. I am going to try to look at this as a new lifestyle rather than a diet. I've been on almost every diet imaginable and haven't stuck with any of them long enough to accomplish anything. Now that we're going to be grandparents, it's time to get in shape and get active. I don't want my grandchildren remembering me because we sat and watched tv all the time. I want them to remember me as being fun and active, spending time doing things with them.

Project #2 - I signed up to take a beginning quilting class which starts tomorrow night. I have made a few quilts for people and think they were pretty good for a beginner. I definitely had fun making them. I finished a quilt for my daughter for her 29th birthday, which also happened to be her wedding day. I then finished quilts for my daughter-in-law and my youngest son's girlfriend for Christmas. I'm currently in the process of making a baby quilt for my first grandchild. I spend tons of time on a quilting board looking at pictures of quilts made by other people and reading tips and hints. I definitely fit into a beginner category after seeing the works of art on that site. There are a few areas where I struggle with my quilting and I signed up for this class for some help with those areas.

I will try very hard to come back more often and post my progress with my new healthier lifestyle and with my quilting progress. Maybe I'll even get brave and post a few pictures of the quilts. Hope you're all having a great year so far. That's really funny since I don't even have any followers. Do I want followers? I'm not sure. Not used to putting myself out there, but maybe it's good for a few laughs now and then. Have a great night!!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving!! There were twelve of us for dinner this year, my oldest son and his wife, my daughter and her fiance and his son, my youngest son and his girlfriend, my brother and his two children and my husband and me. Not a big group by some standards, but about all this little house could hold. Dinner was excellent. Desserts were over the top wonderful. Conversations were spirited with the usual teasing and joking. It is so wonderful to look down the table and see how very blessed I am with such a wonderful group beside me. I look at my children interacting together and can only pray that they stay close forever. So much love in the room. What a wonderful day.

Very bittersweet to realize that my siblings are so divided that there are not even phone calls exchanged to wish each other a Happy Thanksgiving. What happens that splits families to the point where they can no longer even get together at holiday time? Why can some families remain united and work through disagreements without building walls between each other? Were we not taught respect for each other while growing up? Were we not encouraged to work out our differences or were we encouraged to keep everything inside and let it fester and grow until there was no path back to common ground? I do not know the answers, but I do know that my heart is heavy and pray for healing for our family. This Christmas one sister has invited everyone to her home for a family gathering. I am very hopeful. After all, isn't Christmas a magical time of reconciliation?

Today was a really long day. New puppy to the vet for her second set of shots, new sleeper sofa delivered and then the baseball game. The baseball game was part of a benefit for the husband of one of the women I work with. Less than four months ago he was playing baseball with the team and had yet to be diagnosed with cancer. He passed away yesterday and today was his benefit. He left behind his wife and two children. He was only 46. This is the second coworker who has lost a spouse in the last two months. The wife of another coworker passed away in October. She was only 26 and they had just gotten married in June. Sometimes things don't always go the way you hope they will, but when people you know suffer such loss you are brought up short and you realize how selfish you've been with your own pity parties. There was an absolutely huge turnout for the benefit. Lots going on with a pig roast, band, raffles, 50-50 drawings and Jarrett Payton as a speaker. There was hardly room to move and I'm sure we exceeded the occupancy limits by 4 times the limit at least. Unbelievable how strong his family was. I wish them peace over the next few days. I know that he is in a better place and that his suffering has come to an end, but they will be saying goodbye to a great father, husband, son, brother, uncle, friend, coach, and coworker and have to begin the reality of life without him. I know that as time goes on the thoughts of his illness and pain will lessen as the happy memories come more easily to mind. As I lay down to sleep tonight help me to remember those who are grieving and to say a prayer. Let me never forget to tell my loved ones how much they mean to me. Let me tell them every day that I love them very much. Life can change in an instant. Let us never forget. God bless and good night.