This is our house plan, at least it was before we gave it to the builder (whydoesntmybuilderhaveawebsite) and he enlarged it and tweaked it.  We’re still tweaking, but its basically the same.  I love it. 

Marshall and I are arguing a bit over the roof - I must have the clay roof, or I’d rather change houses.  Just the beginning of the fun.  I remember building a fence with Marshall and building a deck with him too.  Its a wonder we came out of it alive.  Wonder how the house building will go? 

Im not sure how much of this I would be allowed by ePlans to show, so Ill give you the link in case you want to explore this house - maybe for your own use?  Its called Desert Oasis - sounds lovely too, eh?

Smoke-Free: 56 days, 5 hours, 1 minute and 58 seconds

Cigarettes NOT smoked: 1686

Money Saved: $378.00

SOMEBODY GIVE ME A PRIZE.

Im also aiming for 15 miles of walking/running a week, but coming closer to 11, but have only missed two days of walking since I started this madness at the end of January.  Go me.

I have cut all of the big carbs out of my life - pasta, potatoes, corn, peas, bread. 

My God, I have lost my mind. 

My goal is to be 105 pounds like Paris Hilton.   :)  Really my goal is 150.  I am an inch taller than her.  But It never hurts to aim big. 

Im going to start throwing up stuff about our house - we are getting ready to build and I want to be able to refer to some of these things wherever I go (Im going back to Knoxville to visit in a couple of weeks).  And might seek some opinion as well, since I am neither a home builder or an interior designer.  Did you know I did one semester of Interior Design at the University of Tennessee?  Blah.  Not up my alley.  Might need your help if you’re still hanging out here at all.  Thanks. 

Now, where is my prize?

Walked 11.2 miles

Average blood sugars – 149 mm/dl

Lost 4 pounds

Blood pressure average – 115/76

Smoke-Free: 46 days

I love my pajamas - I have sort of a jammie fetish I guess. I have tons of them, and I love them, and if no one outside of my family is going to see me for the rest of the night - why not? Although, my jammies are so great I secretly don't mind people coming over.

2008Snow21, originally uploaded by happycplntx.

Better get the No-man up here so he doesn’t feel gyped out of a starring role.

2008Snow02, originally uploaded by happycplntx.

And this is tonight - the kids are going to be sick as dogs in a day or two. But damn! We have snow!

2008Snow12, originally uploaded by happycplntx.

Winter has arrived in BCS! This is as much snow as I have seen in the 6 years I have lived here. Yesterday it was hot, I had the windows open and a fan blowing on me, and I was STILL. SWEATING.

IMG_0742, originally uploaded by happycplntx.

Donkeys in the back yard mean a fence is down! Or, as Cherie said, maybe they are trying to create a nativity scene!

IMG_0736, originally uploaded by happycplntx.

Most beautiful sunrise I have seen in quite a while!

I have been woefully neglectful of this blog for the last couple of months – this I know.  Im woefully neglectful of this blog anyway, huh?  Maybe I need to start running my Twitter feeds through it again, so at least you know where I am. 

So, whats been going on? 

• Im whoring myself out to get Christina Loves rolling – and its doing well.  And its tons of fun.  And its pretty!  3 for 3!  Guy Kawasaki and the fine folks at Alltop added me yesterday to their beauty page, so something is working for me.  I have joined Glam again, but am waiting waiting waiting patiently to get set up over there. 
• Marshall’s father is tremendously ill with encephalopathy, a side effect from liver failure.  It is unbelievably sad to see and the progression is so fast.  Ryan (my stepson and recent LSU graduate) has moved here to stay with Dr. Jones (Poppy, as he is affectionately known), as he needs 24 hour supervision as of the last couple of weeks.  Oy.  Thank God for Ryan.  Take care of yourselves – you need your liver to work.
• Survey crews have been here this week and staked off our property so we can get the deed and start bulldozing!  We live in an 80+ year old house on Nunn Jones Road that was built by – guess who – Nunn Jones.  Marshall’s grandfather.  And it is not only falling down, but it is a firetrap.  I was thinking last night that I bet a licensed electrician has never cast a shadow on this property.  The Jones’ are a family of men – my husband has two brothers, their father has two brothers, and I think there *might* have been a girl in the generation before, but Im not sure of that at all.  So these manly men can do it all themselves, and they have.  Here.  For 80+ years.  Do you have any concept of how much stuff I have plugged in here in my office?  Oy again.
• We had a hoppin’ Halloween party for Zoe’s friends on Halloween night.  They didn’t do much but lots of “he-ing and she-ing” (and some hilarious bobbing for apples) but seems like they had a good time.  No trouble other than one smoking kid (cigs, nothing illegal), and my Noah, who at 10 yrs old chose to stay at the party instead of go trick-or-treating, and lets just say he learned a lesson or two.  As did I.  Thank God for Rock Band – it sucked some of those high school kids in to play with him, so the night wasn’t a total wash.
• My new job is going fabulously.  For the first month or so I felt a little lost, and wasn’t really sure what to do with myself, but I now have a to-do list a mile long, and feel nice and cozy.  I think I work a lot better with a long to-do list.  I am easily distracted when I’m not on a mission.  Have I mentioned Beautyfix?  Check it out – it totally rocks.  And go sign up for the newsletters at Blush if you haven’t – once Beautyfix is going strong I’ll be working on getting Blush going.  Right now it is just newsletters, but before long it is going to be SO. MUCH. MORE.  I can’t wait!  This move was the best decision I have made in a very, very long time.  Probably since I decided to marry Marshall.  Someone was definitely watching over me on this one – the timing was almost too coincidental.
• We bought a snotty new Mercedes.  We had Mercedes’ when I was growing up – I have always really REALLY loved them.  Marshall and I both drive 10 year old SUV’s, and not only are his weekly trips to and from Texas City incredibly gas hoggy, but the risk of the Tahoe breaking down is getting worse and worse.  Especially since he SHOT it.  :P  Marshall doesn’t do stranded, so new car it is.  It’s a sedan – I am holding out for a vintage convertible.  And a VIP ticket to the next Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.  One can hope, right?  Me, I’m just thrilled we got a car loan in this crappy economy.  Cross your fingers for the home loan.  Did I mention I hate debt?  Well I do.  We have almost none now – shortly we are going to be up to our eyeballs.  Lovely!
• I am in the process of moving all of my websites over to Wired Tree.  Thanks to Joe for the fabulous recommend.  Siteground is officially oversold and telling tons of folks that they are over the CPU limits – even folks that don’t have anything but a regular old blog.  They have kicked 2 of my sites off now, and I am done and taking everything with me.  When I started with Siteground they were so nice and had such amazing customer service.  I loved their UI – they were fab.  Not so much anymore, and while it makes me sad, I am growing up and learning to manage my own server, slowly but surely.  Good stuff.

So I guess that is the long and short of what’s going on at the moment.  Not too much, but plenty just the same.  I am *so* not ready for the holidays.  It’s hard when its 85 degrees still.  Hope you have a great day!