I HEART basketball and football!

I’ve loved basketball since I was the 7th grade when Mississippi Valley State and Duke played in the NCAA tournament (that was 1983)!. I watched that game with my Mom and Dad (um, yeah……my Mom is a sports junkie, too……..don’t let the smooth act fool you!). So, today, I am doing okay. This is the first time I’ve been HOME for more than 8 hours to just sleep in a while. I’ve been in my jammies all day, doing some cleaning up, etc……

BUT, back to the game………did I hear Georgetown’s pep band playing Young Joc’s It’s going down? Lemme find out…..

I am pulling for Georgetown to take it all. I have been an Indiana, Georgetown, UNC fan for YEARS (yeah, I said Indiana! BITE ME)! I have the Indiana love, honestly…..it’s where I was born (down to the town). I even have an infant-sized white, IU sweatshirt with my name ironed on the back in VELVET letters (tell me that ain’t OLD SCHOOL)! I doubt I wore that long as an infant, seeing that I was the size of a three-month old when I was BORN! So, Georgetown and UNC were due to my “initiation” basketball years in the mid 80s. I even lived in North Carolina for 6 years. Graduated from a tobacco row school (not UNC) for one of my graduate degrees. Lived in the HEART of a tobacco row for 6 years. It was lovely!

Where I am originally, from, though, FOOTBALL RULES! Aw, yeah! The SWAC and SEC RUN the deep south in football. There is NOTHING LIKE it. NO other conferences can compare to the tailgating, the DEEP-rooted rivalries, the halftime shows, and the SMACK-talking for months before the season starts (like, it starts NOW).
So, today is a good sports day! GO, HOYAS!!!

Shopped at TJ Maxx and Marshall’s lately with a credit card?

Computer breach hits 45.7M T.J. Maxx customer credit accounts
In a minute, we’ll all be using our fingerprints as ID. Then, again, I am sure someone will find a way to copy it! Geez……..

Maryland should take note of this

Oh, can you say, you and your child at the wrong/non-zoned school have officially been put on BLAST in two school districts in Mississippi?! I LOVE IT! Read the article here.

WHY do I love it? I am a taxpaying citizen of Maryland and I have MAJOR issues with non-Maryland non-tax-paying folks using Maryland resources on my dime, be it health care, schools, etc.

Maybe some other school districts in our area should take note and put their violaters on BLAST, too. Hmmmmm.

Thoughts, comments, etc.?

Tuskegee Airmen to receive the Congressional Gold Medal

Article in today’s Washington Post.

This is a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong overdue award to these men! I’ve had the honor of meeting a few of them 2 years ago. They are so full of stories and history. Made me even MORE proud!

For more information, click on Tuskegee Airmen

Tuskegee Airmen Facts

Get ‘ta movin’!

So, my HoneyBear and I have this little “bet” thing going on. We are going to lose 10 pounds per month for a year. Well, he calls me this evening to tell me he hit the track and walked 3 miles. Meanwhile, I am at work until almost 9pm! Hmph……I’ll hit the treadmill in the morning for 4 miles (about an hour’s time).

The Gulf Coast 18 months later

Well, I was able to go home to Mississippi this past weekend. My HoneyBear and I traveled to New Orleans for the day to attend the NBA game between the Hornets and the Lakers, where he had to work. We left early that morning so that we could take our time getting down there (which is only a 2.5 hour drive) and spend some time together. I also was VERY nervous about the trip as I had not been south of Jackson since Hurricane Katrina hit the area.

As we traveled south on Hwy 49 and I-59, my anger and sadness from Hurricane Katrina just boiled back up, again. Leaning trees, uprooted trees, debris being gathered to be disposed of, etc., along with trucks traveling up and down the highway. There were other things that made my blood boil……you know, like my taxpayer dollars CONTINUING to be WASTED on these 1000’s of FEMA trailers, NEVER USED and just sitting on ACRES and ACRES of land. Oh, yeah…..didn’t FEMA just kick folks OUT the trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi a couple of weeks ago? So, what are they doing with THESE trailers, since they’ve NEVER been used?! The FLEECING OF AMERICA continues……

Wanna know what FEMA stands for? This sums it up, WELL….

As we got closer to New Orleans, my sadness and anger turned me silent. I think that it’s SICK that this country can deliver food, water, shelter, bridges, etc., in countries 1000s of miles away, in a day’s notice, but PUNKED OUT when it came to delivering goods and services to New Orleans during a MAJOR disaster that was caused by NATURE.

It sickens me to see that New Orleans East and the lower 9th look like a third world country with it’s dilapidated houses (if standing at all), silent streets, and little sign of clean-up or repair. This is something that we should NEVER see in America, but we did as we rode through the streets. You heard a few saws and saw a few backhoes working, but not enough.

But here is a kicker for you, WHY, 18 months after the storm, aren’t these homes rebuilt and WHY are FEMA trailers still needed? Oh yeah, forgot…..the whack insurance industry PUNKED OUT, too, and won’t grant the people who have paid insurance money to them for YEARS their FULL CLAIM money. Like Chris Rock said, insurance is some “just in case” money that we may every month for crap that never happens. Well, crap happened and the full-pocket insurance companies that have fleeced America all of these years need to MAN UP and PAY UP, IN FULL!!!

I was told that pictures and the news served NO justice to the conditions that Hurricane Katrina left behind. With all of the technology with digital images, digital camera feeds, etc., I thought that I had a clear picture of what happened from the web and news. I was wrong. Click here to view my pictures.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, I was GLUED to the television and computer every day. I have NEVER, in all the days of my life, cried as much as I did that single week. It was to the point that my Mom told me that I need to shut the television off or I was going to drive myself crazy. But that’s just it, I am in my right mind and wasn’t in New Orleans or Mississippi (my home state) when Katrina hit. But those that were in those locations are probably going to need mental therapy for years to come. From what I saw with my own eyes last week, 18 months AFTER the storm hit, there is much work to be done, physically and mentally.

I felt bad that I had nothing to physically deliver to help out when I went down. I was able to collect over $3000 from friends the week that the storm hit. I was able to purchase NEW items for all ages and sizes (clothing, toiletries, business attire, etc.) as well as send clothing that I owned. The items were shipped to Dallas, Tupelo, Jackson, Galveston and Birmingham. This past week, I was empty handed and felt really bad about that, especially since I see that little to NOTHING has been done.

Maybe my pictures will give another view/eye of what is still needed in the areas of the gulf coast, including my HOME STATE of Mississippi, which was even MORE devastated by the storm. I still plan on going back home to the gulf coast area and helping out. I think that with continued communication and individual support, the affected families may be able to get back on their feet…..I pray daily that that is the case…

Pattern Sale at Hancock Fabrics…

Post moved to magnoliastitches.blogspot.com

It’s on…4 pounds down and 138 to go!

Oh, yeah, ya’ll!!! My boyfriend and I have a challenge that we are going to lose 10 pounds a month for 12 months, starting TOMORROW…..we’ll, unintentionally, I lost 4 pounds last week!!! I know it’s mostly water weight, but it’s a START!!! GO, MAGNOLIADIVA!!! I am not a bad eater (I eat smaller meals throughout the day, NEVER have a problem drinking water, watch my fat and sodium intake, etc.), but I have the metabolism where I HAVE to exercise!

I was on steroids (prednisone) for about a year and a half, off and on, and that BALLOONED by weight to levels where they’d never been before. Before I was put on the prednisone, I had lost 16 pounds. Once I started taking the meds, I gained the 16 pounds PLUS 45 pounds in 6 months! Yes, I was exercising and eating right! Well, to make a long story short, I finally came off of the meds and could NOT lose weight for the longest. Then, about a year ago, I was able to start losing weight. Well, I was doing fine until work REALLY picked up and I began working 10-14 hour days…..not cool. Gained 10 pounds.

Oh, before then, when I was in college, I gained 20 pounds a year for the last 3 of my 5 years and then gained 20 pounds my first year in grad school……then slowly, gained 10 pounds over the next few years. Never lost the weight during that time UNTIL the end of 2002…..then, the P-WORD happened to me…..

Well, it’s the beginning of March and I don’t care WHAT takes place now……I am walking 5-6 days a week for AT LEAST 30 minutes (um, I have a treadmill in my house…..yeah, I know)….going to do push ups, lunges, squats, and sit-ups, every other day (yeah, I have a fitness ball, barbells and a bar w/weights…..yeah, I know….. no excuse, really)…

I have a few things that I’d like to get back into (my size 14 jeans from freshman year of college and my cheerleader skirt from high school)! Yeah, I still have them for that REASON!!! 🙂

So, I am SO happy that this is a start! It’s ON, NOW!!! WHOO HOO!!!

So, what are your healthy habits, goals, success stories, etc.? I’d love to hear about them!

Stress and it’s effects on your body……

I am posting this because I tend to hold things in when they bother me. No, I don’t feel like I am SUPERWOMAN, but I don’t like “bothering” others with my issues. Well, for the last week, I’ve had acid reflux, off and on (feels just it did when I had to take prednisone off and on for a year and half). Last night, I couldn’t get to sleep until 4am (yeah, you read that right…I literally was up for 23 straight hours)…

When I finally feel asleep, I slept for about 6 hours. My head starting hurting early afternoon and the acid reflux came back.

I didn’t eat anything this morning because I was just not hungry (I know that isn’t good, but I didn’t have an appetite). Well, I am trying to figure out if it’s stress. I was a little burned out late this week at work due to some longer than normal hours and amounts of work, but I didn’t think that it was that major!

I need to go walking on the treadmill and clear my head…. time to kick on the IPOD music and get to walking……….

Here are is an article I pulled from the web about stress. From http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/stress.htm

How does stress affect my body and my health?

Everyone has stress. We have short-term stress, like getting lost while driving or missing the bus. Even everyday events, such as planning a meal or making time for errands, can be stressful. This kind of stress can make us feel worried or anxious.

Other times, we face long-term stress, such as racial discrimination, a life-threatening illness, or divorce. These stressful events also affect your health on many levels. Long-term stress is real and can increase your risk for some health problems, like depression.

Both short and long-term stress can have effects on your body. Research is starting to show the serious effects of stress on our bodies. Stress triggers changes in our bodies and makes us more likely to get sick. It can also make problems we already have worse. It can play a part in these problems:

* trouble sleeping <———– hmmmm
* headaches <———– hmmmm
* constipation
* diarrhea
* irritability
* lack of energy
* lack of concentration <———– hmmmm
* eating too much or not at all <———– hmmmm
* anger
* stomach cramping
* stomach bloating
* depression
* anxiety
* weight gain or loss
* heart problems
* high blood pressure
* irritable bowel syndrome <———– hmmmm
* diabetes
* neck and/or back pain

My morning METRO rant for the day….

Some “observations” that I’ve made since I moved here in 2001….

1. If you see that someone is “a little larger, when sitting, than 1 metro seat” (i.e., I am not the smallest person, but I’m not the largest, but 2 of ME can’t share a METRO 2-seat row!) and you, too, are that size or bigger, WE CAN’T SHARE A SEAT!!! WHY, WHY, WHY do people do this to me when there are empty seats, ALL AROUND!!??

2. If I am reading something and are writing while reading and am NOT looking up (i.e., studying, reading a small paper making notations, reading WORK-RELATED items, etc.), GET FROM OVER MY SHOULDER!! If I don’t make eye contact with you while you are reading over my arm, shoulder, in a PLEASANT way, um, BOUNCE from my reading!!!

3. I understand that we’d all like to drown out the sounds of others and the METRO announcers, but other riders on the car REALLY don’t want to hear YOUR music. If you choose to go deaf, that is on you, but not at everyone else’s expense!!! We REALLY don’t want to hear your music as if it were coming through the announcement speakers!! I should not be able to hear EVERY WORD and note of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Biggie, Garth Brooks, etc., when you have on EAR PODS/Headphones!!!!

4. You see other people have to get on the train and we all know that you are only riding for one stop, but MOVE YOUR TAILFEATHER TO THE MIDDLE AND LET OTHERS IN!! Dang it!! How hard could that be!! SIDE NOTE: METRO doors aren’t like the MARTA in Atlanta or the trains that are in Atlanta’s Airport…..THESE BOYS DO NOT REOPEN or BOUNCE BACK if they hit you!! GET ON THE DANG TRAIN!!! Oh, but see, those STANDING IN THE DOORWAY could facilitate that if they’d MOVE to the middle of the train when coming to a PACKED stop!!!

5. If you are standing in front of people and you feel as if you aren’t on the floor anymore and you feel something under your foot, THAT IS MY TOE or SOMEONE else’s!! DANG!! I had a lady who KEPT stepping on my toe, back and forth, and I finally said, “How many times are you going to step on my toe and not say excuse me or move over???” Geez………

6. If you and ALL of your 9 friends ride the train together, could you NOT carry on conversations over 5 rows???!!! COME ooooooooooooooooon!!! Again, there are just some things that we REALLY don’t want to hear……

7. No, it isn’t written, but STAND to the right and walk/run on the left, when it comes to the escalators!! You have received fair warning. Don’t act all new when someone tells you to MOVE when you are standing on the left…..

8. Oh, and the end of the line…….ya’ll……if you see someone sleep who isn’t moving off the train, tap them on the shoulder or something! Leaving them on the train is just a FOUL MOVE!! LOL….come on. We are all tired and are allowed to fall asleep on the train, but LEAVING SOMEONE ON THE TRAIN that is still sleep at the end of the line is just wrong!

That is my morning rant for METRO riders in the Washington, DC METRO area for the morning…. CHAO!!!