Getting the phone call

Well we got the phone call today.....

......the one that told us we were selected to compete in the Gourmet Pizza Contest at the Food Expo in Atlanta where first prize is $1000!!

After much deliberation, we have selected the Jamaican Jerk Chicken pizza to enter. We sampled a pizza similar to this on a past vacation and loved it. When we got home, we tweaked the recipe and came up with a wonderful version -- one that was 1000times better than the one we had sampled.



Of course the hardest part of this competition is the logistics of having to take our ingredients on the plane with us. It's not fun having to transport dough, cheese, fresh basil, chicken, etc. Shall be an interesting trip indeed.

Secondly on this topic -- I just have to give my husband a big standing ovation and thumbs up. When I was hesitant to get into this business stuff, he kept telling me not to worry. He said that he would make the best pizzas and everyone would come.

It's not that I doubted him......it's just that I was scared of jumping off the bridge. Scared of losing that "guaranteed" income that we had.

But after almost 12 years.....he was right! Well done Paul! He's done a wonderful job of making good food and making sure that we are always providing great service.

When I first started in this business I knew nothing. I now have to say that I am totally immersed in it myself. I read all the pizza magazines, articles, or talk to other operators and try to absorb all the information that I can. We will eat at other pizza restaurants and critique the store, the menu, the food, and their service. I think I am now a 100% full blooded pizza girl.

But I have to honestly say -- it really is fun working together with Paul. There are some days we have to sit and "pow wow" together and get ideas and then there are other days where he is out doing his things and I'm left at home tackling my own things. But this business is our life and we devote 24/7 to it.

I can't think of anyone else that I would rather spend my life with and be a business partner with and really and truly, even with all the crap we have to deal with and all the work there is -- we are really lucky to have a successful business and we should be proud of our achievements!



Now we need to win $1000!

Anticipation

I LOVE anticipation.

I think it's the one thing that keeps you going, keeps you plugging along, makes you excited about something.

The anticipation of being a little kid counting those days down until Christmas. Then it came, you opened presents, and then it was gone.



My personal favorite anticipation is the waiting up until going on a trip. You do the planning, the packing, the research and then it's finally here. But then, the first day of your trip has already begun the countdown for when it's over.

Then you get back and everything is ho hum......until you get that rush of excitement when you have another trip planned. Then the cycle begins all over.



Well that's where I'm at today. Fully loaded anticipation.

Knowing I have so much to do before we go, but excited at the idea of getting to go away with my husband. Seriously, this is the always the most restful, spontaneous, enjoyable think we ever do. We can just go and totally live in the moment and tune out everything going on back home (most of the time).

So in anticipation of this next big event.......I gotta go and get some of this stuff done.......only 17 more days!

You know you're old when......

....your oldest child turns 29!



So a big Happy 29th to the oldest son Cris. I can remember you being born and how excited I was to have you -- yet at the same time scared to death to have the responsibility to raise you.



You are the quiet one, the secretive one, the stealthy one, but always the first one to step up and volunteer to help me with anything.

You are the one that I count on to take care of things for me while we are out travelling -- because I know I can count on you to take care of everything



You are my painting buddy. The one that offers to roll the walls and do the ceilings for me -- you don't know how much I totally appreciate you helping me with all my painting projects.

You were my assistant gardener this year. Offering to come help me plant was fun and a quiet way for us to work together and have great discussions.



You are my "go to" handyman. I love your willingness and expertise to help with all the millions of projects that we have going on around here.

I love you and love to think back on all the memories of your growing up and how much fun we've had (not that we haven't had some bumpy rides along the way). Keep working hard and keeping your life on track -- there are good things that await you!

Enjoying our moment

Spent yesterday morning with the oldest child. It was part of his birthday present.

1. Go to Kohl's and pick you out a couple of new clothing items
2. Go to Walmart and help me pick out birthday present for one of the "adopted" grandkids.
3. Go to lunch at a restaurant of his choice

It was a fun morning and we enjoyed having lunch together and just catching up with everything that is going on.

Hard to believe he'll be 29 on his brithday. I still see "my little kid".

I went and did this with Aaron a couple of weeks ago before his birthday (except his choice of store was American Eagle)and I really enjoyed my time spent with him too.

I wonder if I look old too them. Do they still see me as a young hot mom or am I looking more like a granny these days?

Loving the little kids

Having the little "adopted" grandkids around here makes me want to have some little grandkiddies running around.


It's so much fun getting down on the floor and playing with them. Answering their neverending questions. Watching them entertain themselves with something so simple as rolling a coaster across the floor.


It's nice that my two kids have friends with little ones who will bring them by and let me play with them. But I really wish I had some of my own little grandbabies to snuggle, love, and spoil.


Oh well......in the meantime, I'll just enjoy these little cute little bundles of energy.

Oh and I really miss having this little guy hanging out with us too.

In development: Gainor Gym

We've really tried hard to motivate ourselves to get the exercise that we desperately need. In fact, one of us is way much better than the other one about getting their butt out the door and doing 60 minutes of brisk walking (not me). But, it's just not enough and we're always making excuses about why we can't go walking.


So....my brilliant husband came up with the perfect idea. Instead of spending money on a monthly gym membership (which is really something I have resisted for years), let's turn that big old empty ex-office into a workout room! Absolutely brilliant!!


So now we are going to get the rest of that room cleaned up and rearranged and make the nicest home gym that anyone could ever want (within our budget). This way there will be no excuses -- we will have a private large room where we can exercise to our heart's content and won't be able to complain that "it's too hot outside" or "I don't feel like driving anywhere".


Here's on the "must have" list:

Can't wait......excited to finally be motivated and get rid of all this extra weight that I seem to have gained recently.

But just maybe, I might also need this piece of equipment to help speed up the weight losing process:

A treadmill desk!

We'll definitely post the pics once we have our grand finale (both of the room and of our skinny healthy selves) .

My only public psoriasis pity party

I'm so tired of it and I just need to vent about it.....just once (maybe).

I've suffered with this crap called psoriasis for almost 28 years. Some years worse than others, but always a problem with it somewhere on my body.

I'm tired of the embarrassement of having to hide my hands when I have to get change, write a check, shake hands, or do something where my hands have to be visible.

I'm tired of always having to either wear plastic gloves or watch to make sure that my hands aren't cracking and bleeding.

I'm tired of my fat sausage fingers that are always swollen and won't work anymore because of the psoriatic arthritis. I'm tired of having to look at these "claws" in the morning that won't open up because they are stiff.

I'm tired of all the skin I leave behind. It's a constant flaking, itching, peeling mess.

I'm tired of the cracks and mess on the bottom of my feet. I'm tired of hobbling along because they hurt so bad and there are times that I can barely walk on them because they are so cracked and dry.

I hate that I am not able to enjoy the feminine luxury of getting a manicure or a pedicure. Who in the world would want to touch this nasty mess?

I hate this disease. I hate that I have had to have it all these years and that we haven't found anything that can stop it.

Why did I have to be stuck with this?

Okay....I'm done now.

Wordless Wednesday: Team Nerd!

Murphy is in charge this week

We've been waiting.....and waiting......and waiting.......


We've missed the palm trees. We've missed the warm sunny weather. We've missed the Jai Alai.

And finally......when the tickets were on a last minute fare for a great price.........along comes this:

Ladies and Gentlemen....meet Irene:




So you guessed it....the Murphy is the same one as in Murphy's Law and HE'S the one that decided we would not be going to Miami this weekend (that and a million other things that would have probably prevented it from happening anyways.....but it sounded like a good story to blame it on Irene!)

So to end this story there's just one thing left to say (or sing if you know the words).........

Irene Good Night, Irene Good Night

Good Night Irene, Good Night Irene

I'll see you in my dreams!

My new words to live by

I don't know what the future holds.....
but I know who holds the future

My new mantra. The new words that motivate me. The new words that make me want to reach my goals.

It's not anyone's job to make you happy.

It's your job to make yourself happy.

It's not anyone's job to take care of you.

It's your job to take care of yourself.

If you want a great and successful future......it's up to you to make that happen.

We are on our way.

My new hangout

Well it's been about a couple of months since I moved out of my old cave office and moved into my new office.

It's nice being out in the middle of the house again and I really LOVE having a window to see what's going on.

Here's the before and after shots of the magical transformation. For the record: my new office is actually the dining room in this house, but we have never used it for that. We're not the fancy dining room kind of people. My older son even took down that chandellier that we were always knocking the glass globes off of (we should have replaced that thing YEARS ago) and installed a brand new ceiling fan and light for me......awesome!

....the before







.....and the after







Hopefully my new room will stimulate some motivation in me!

Seriously.....you're kidding me right?

Husband: We are going to get away on a short trip before we go to Atlanta right?

Wife: You're kidding......right?

P.S. Only if the clouds open up and drop millions of dollars upon us and along with that the world's PERFECT manager to oversee all your jobs and the world's PERFECT secretary/CFO to oversee all my jobs.

Why it's nice to have my husband

As we approach our 15 year anniversary of meeting each other (September 4th), I just want to pay tribute to the man I love more than any other on this earth. The person that makes my life interesting, different, and spontaneous. My partner in life and my partner in business.

And these are just a few of the reasons why:

1. He loves me no matter what I look like when I wake up in the morning, when it's 100+ degrees outside, or when I get out of the shower naked.

2. He and I enjoy doing all the "nerdy" things and we really truly enjoy doing them goether.

3. He works so hard to make sure that everything is perfect when running our business. He tries really hard to make sure that it is successful and that our customers are taken care of.

4. Because he LOVES to travel (the same as me) and we love to talk about all the places we have yet to go. I love it that it wants to go from early in the morning until late at night cramming in every bit of sightseeing that we can get crammed into one day.

5. Because he has been such a good step-father to my kids and making sure that we always had fun places to go, food on the table, and a nice place to live.

6. Because he treats me like a princess and I know that every single day I wake up that he loves me and we are truly partners in this game called life.

I love you baby!



P.S. Can't wait until I can start posting the "skinny" pictures. I must remember to "suck in" the neck muscles when taking pictures :-)

NO DISTRACTION Friday

Today I will not allow myself to be distracted.

Today I will be totally focused on the tasks at hand.

By the end of the day -- this will be done:


All the stacks of paperwork on this desk will be gone and task completed.

By the end of the day -- this will be done:


All the mail on this counter and all the laundry on this table will be opened and put in it's proper place.

By the end of the day -- this will be done:


All the boxes in this old office will be cleaned up and properly filed and gathered up and put in their proper location.

Uh.......no........THAT is not happening by the end of today. Hopefully this task will be completed by the end of the year, but doubtful that it will be happening by the end of today.

Seriously, I gotta go. I'm distracting myself by being here.

A Ho-Hum kind of day

You know those days I'm talking about. You're going to be doing the usual things, the usual way, at the usual time, in the usual way.

The demon staring me in the face today is: PAYROLL!!!

But first I need to catch up the daily paperwork so that I actually know how many hours I am paying people for......or I could guess :)

Actually, all this paperwork has become a mundane task. I don't even really look at the numbers anymore. I just assemble, staple, enter, enter, file. It has become so routine.

I just need some excitement, something different, something to motivate me.

I think part of my problem is that everything is my life is half done. Practically every single room in my house is "half done" in one form or another. My yards are "half done". Projects are sitting around "half done". Maybe if everything was "done" I would feel complete.

So now if I can just call that magic little genie that is going to magically transform me into a whirlwind of energy and motivation and get all this stuff done -- I might have a little better outlook.

Okay....starting now -- get off the computer and let's get this payroll done!

Lost Romance

1 Year Ago Today......at this very spot..........



a young man asked a young lady if she would like to be in a relationship together and a first kiss was shared



1 Year Ago Today.....the young man comes back to this same place alone



But during that 1 year, the young man has learned so much and has grown up into a great man



Love you Aaron. Hope some day that this spot won't be such a sad reminder to you and you'll be able to smile and think about the happy memory that was shared there.

And we're leaving.....on a jet plane

....don't know when we'll be back again......



Actually, we do know exactly when we are leaving on that Delta jet plane and when we are coming back. September 17-20 and we are going to.......ATLANTA!!



Woo hoo.....didn't have to be home very long before the next opportunity for travel arose. However, I would like to point out that this trip is strictly business....just business....with a little bit of fun thrown in there.

We will be attending the SoFo Foods Expo on Sunday and part of Monday, but the rest of the time is ours!

This is where we'll be staying - The Crowne Plaza



In between the seminars, ALL the food sampling, talking to vendors, competing in the gourmet pizza competition, and partying at their Expo party here are a few of the things that are MUST see for us in Atlanta.

Number 7 on the Presidential Library Tour. The Jimmy Carter Library and Presidential Museum.



Learning about the Civil War and perhaps getting the opportunity to visit a museum or a famous Civil War site.



Or maybe even taking a tour of this place:



But of course we must remember, we are here to do this:

A-dawgs special day

25 years ago today I gave birth to him and what a delight he has been to raise.

Here's the way you could describe him:

Crazy --



Loves to be the center of attention --



Really loves being with his family --



Is very loving and has a caring heart --



Is my baby and always will be.
Happy Birthday Aaron -- I am really proud of you!

Wordless Wednesday: Things that make me smile...

......or even crack me up



......or fill me with peace (see the shadow on church wall at end of the street. You can click on photo to enlarge)



......or fill me with love



.....or fill me with family