How Life Changes - Family, Part 1

Family.

We all have them - to one extreme or another. It's amazing the impact these "family members" have on our lives.

Here's the stats of my family as I was growing up:
Dad
Mom
Oldest sister
Brother
Other older sister
Me
Two grandmothers
One grandfather
Lots of aunts and uncles
Tons, and I mean TONS, of cousins. I counted them a while back and I have 72 first cousins. 72!!! The scariest part is that about 60 of them lived within 10 miles of my house, making family reunions, Christmas, weddings, funerals, more like our modern day-after-Thanksgiving-sale with tons of pushing, shoving, comparing. To say my extended family took the phrase, "be fruitful and multiply" to heart is an understatement.

It was wonderful!

Dad was a great parent. He was raised in the depression era by Dutch immigrants in a large family. I loved hearing stories of his growing up years. My Dad's family lived on a farm until not being able to pay the taxes during the depression left them homeless. Being hard workers, they soon rented a farm and life continued. My Dad was the youngest son and a bit of a prankster who got away with almost everything.

While my sisters and brother all strongly resemble my Mom's side, I looked just like my Dad. We were both blonds with blue eyes in a family of brunettes. I loved the gift of looking like him. I was a tag-a-long - and followed Dad all the time. I remember waiting for Dad on the corner of our street for him to come home at night and running home as fast as I could after him. He'd walk in the house, kiss my Mom and say, "Hello beautiful!" and my Mom would laugh. It was a great laugh.

We'd eat dinner as a family and afterward the "girls" would wash the dishes and Dad would read his paper and watch the news. Dad and I would watch "Hee Haw, Green Valley Jamboree, and Lawrence Welk," together. Talk about opposites! Maybe that's why I don't like country music to this day. Sunday nights, after church, Mom would make popcorn and we'd watch Bonanza. Such great memories.

My Dad died way too young from renal failure brought on by bone cancer. He was only 61 - I was 29. There isn't a day I don't miss him. Mom says I am SO like my Dad and she loves that. I still look like him, think like him, love to drive (he was a truck driver), have his temperament (for good or for bad), love Lawrence Welk and Bonanza.

Such great memories.

A Do-Over!

It is time to start fresh - like a do-over. First, an update . . . Life with the Siamese is with just Carly Sue. Camille was really sick and had to be put to sleep. I would love to get another Siamese and am looking but also taking my time to be sure she is the "right" Siamese to fit in with Carly. Due to the fact that Carly is front declawed, we would need to have another front declawed Siamese. Carly is going on 12 years-old so she wouldn't mind having a friend around. I'm on a new journey with a few friends and the support of my DH and kids. I am going to the gym and working out 4 - 5 times a week, sometimes as early as 4:10 a.m. One of the not-so-nice "benefits" of being in my late 50's is I apparently don't need sleep. I argue with my body frequently that it's wrong and decided that if I'm going to be awake that early, I might as well go to the gym. My hope was that after a few weeks of that, my body would go back to sleeping until 5:30 a.m. Nope - didn't happen. Oh well, at least I'm doing something worth while. Along with the "2014 Fitness Challenge" I'm on a weight loss journey as well. To date I've lost 40.2 pounds with 24.8 pounds to go. I've sorted through my closet at least three times now and have some serious sewing to do or people at work are going to start seeing a lot of repeats. Oh for the days of working in a hospital again. I did love wearing uniforms. I'm down three sizes and figure I'll loose one more size for sure before getting into the maintenance routine. I somewhat dread the maintenance part of dieting as it is by far the most difficult. BUT with 25 pounds to go, it will be a while. I've been working on cleaning out my kitchen as well as my closets and trying to eat healthier. I found a 14-week plan to healthy, no processed, eating and have been slowly putting it into practice. My DH is dragging his heels though as he is the king of un-healthy eating. I'll keep you posted as I go. If you have any recipes to pass along, I'd love to see them. Onward and forward I go. Have a great day.