Eventful Weekend

Here I am, sitting up in Troutville, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Justin and Chris, even though I know they have not yet left NJ...I miss my J-boo, I haven't seen him since Thursday night! But I know he has had a great time with his grandparents and cousin Julia - I have some great pictures that they sent me to prove it, and he loves his Maggie & Pop! They should be here around 11:30pm...

This weekend was the annual summer party. It was fun, as usual, but quieter this year - a much smaller crowd. Some of us have new babies, some had to work, some were sent halfway around the world on a second tour in Iraq, some have moved away - life is interfering with our partying!!! And so was Mother Nature - a huge summer storm struck mid-afternoon on Saturday, with an amazing thunder and lightning show, which knocked down trees and powerlines and stole all the power from our remote mountain neighborhood. Now, no power is usually not that big of a deal, but when the power controls your water pump - that is a pretty big inconvenience! You have a house full of people who have been drinking lots of beer and eating larger amounts of not-so-healthy food than normal, and then tell them they can't use the bathroom because the toilets don't flush! Even though we had a house, we were actually "roughing it" more than we did when we were camping! All of the food had to be moved from the fridge out into coolers, dishes had to be wiped down with paper towels and soap and bottled water so the dried food wouldn't reek the next morning...But, we lit candles and built a fire and cooked on the propane-fueled grille and still sat on the deck and drank and enjoyed each other's company. And we hugged goodbye on Sunday morning and as I watched them drive away, I prepared myself for the last "real" week of summer...

I also read a book this weekend written by a guy I knew in high school - I was pretty impressed! (It was really a memoir of his cross-country travels). It was fun to read about someone I knew, and especially enjoyable when there were places I knew of and other people I knew mentioned in the book. It was not a quick read - it was very descriptive (the author told me today that he was "high on pot" most of the time he was writing which he feels helped him with the descriptiveness). But I did truly enjoy reading it, and it definitely makes me want to do something about my wish to one day drive cross-country and see this land of ours. But while setting up a tent under one of those seven famous covered bridges in Iowa sounds romantic, I'd probably stay at a bed and breakfast down the road. Hey, I'm just being honest.

Tomorrow I have to get back on track with diet and exercise - before we left I got close to my next goal - I was down 39.2 pounds - only 8/10ths of a pound to go before I could say I lost an impressive 40 pounds. However, I'm sure after the lack of exercising for the past 3 days, and the increased consumption of food and alcohol, that elusive four-o is probably a bit farther away. So tomorrow it begins again! Last weekend I managed to run 2.2 miles with at least 5 huge hills included - that's amazing for me, someone who has ran outside less than 10 times in her life. I hope to be able to do it again sometime this week.

That's all for today folks!