Laid Back Saturday

Today has been a very laid back Saturday, which is just what the doctor ordered!  I've felt just so exhausted the last couple of weeks!  It was so nice to sleep in until afternoon today!  After a late rising time, Tegan Marie and I had some tea, coffee and an energy bar and just lounged around on the couch for a few hours watching NASCAR and surfing around online.

Finally, after a few hours of couch time we started to get somewhat hungry, so I chopped up some tri-colored peppers and onions to put into some omelets: 

Tri-color Peppers and Onion for Omelets

Next, I sauteed the peppers and onion until tender and then added a little bit of diced ham the last few minutes:

Pepper, Onion and Ham Saute

Then I put 1/2 cup of Egg Beaters into each side of an omelet pan and added and equal amount of the sauteed peppers, onion and ham to each side:

Low Fat Western Omelet

Then I added 1/4 cup of 2% shredded sharp cheddar cheese, dividing it up on each side of the pan and Voila, a low fat western omelet!  I then made another one for Tegan.

We then popped some Low Fat Eggo Nutri-Grain Waffles into the toaster and then sat down for a wonderful post V-Day Lunch/Dinner (Linner or Dunch?).

Here's everything laid out on the table right before we ate:

Post V-Day Lunch/Dinner

We sprayed the waffles with some "I Can't Believe it's not Butter" spray and put on a dab of Hungry Jack Lite Syrup.  Then sat down and said some grace to thank God for our blessings and pray for the health of our family members.  Then we dug in!  The meal was delicious and totaled 392 calories.  Not bad for a filling and satisfying meal!

We need to have more laid back Saturdays like this one!

V-Day 2014

Our original plans for V-Day 2014 were to fly out to Atlanta to take care of some business.  However, Mother Nature had other plans and we had to reschedule our trip due to Winter Storm Pax, which pushed two rounds of wintry weather across the South from 10 to 13 February.  The second round produced the heaviest amounts of freezing rain, sleet and snow across the region late 11 February to early 13 February.  My kids in Maryland ended up with over two feet of snow to contend with there!

Since our plans were curtailed, I ended up working a full day yesterday, which resulted in an unexpected but very pleasant encounter!  I was sitting at my desk during the early afternoon, concentrating intently on some work when somebody walked up and started talking to me. When I turned around to reply, I noted that it was one of our customers.  He dropped by my desk to give me a shout out on some work that I'd done, saying that it had really helped his team!  That really made me feel great to have a customer like my work and go out of their way to tell me about it!

After work I headed home and Tegan Marie and I had our customary tea and chat. Here are our pretty Valentine's Day cards and flowers:

V-Day Flowers and Cards

 
Here's Tegan Marie posing by the flowers:

Tegan Marie with Flowers

 Here's a picture of Tegan Marie modeling her Pandora bracelet:

Tegan Marie with her Pandora Bracelet

We set up a special table for Valentines Day.  Here's how it looked:

V-Day 2014 Table

 We even had a V-Day Scentsy, which smelled so great!

V-Day Scentsy

We hung around the house for a while and chatted, then headed out for some V-Day Dinner at Carrabbas. Although we got there around 6:15 PM, the place was packed to the gills with a 1-1/2 hour wait!  We didn't feel like waiting and decided that we'd try for some seats by the kitchen.  About two minutes after we decided to do that, two people got up and we grabbed their seats!  We were in that packed restaurant less than 5 minutes on V-Day and we got seats, which was fabulous! 

Our waiter was a very nice young man named John and he took good care of us. Since we're both on a diet, we chose the lower calorie version of Chicken Parmesan.  I got it with the mixed zucchini, cauliflower and peppers and Tegan got the sauteed garlic spinach.  We both got the side salad with light balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  It was delicious!

Here's a picture of us sitting in our seats near the kitchen:

Mae and Tegan Marie at Carrabbas

We finished our meal and then went home and watched a movie and ate some NutriChocolates for Dessert since we've been on the Nutrisystem diet.  Here's a picture of what the NutriChocolates look like:

NutriChocolates

They're quite a bit smaller in actuality, but they tasted good!  I'm very proud of us that we stayed on our diet!

V-Day 2014 turned out to be a very lovely day!  I hope that V-Day 2015 will be just as good!

Rest in Peace, Eric Evans

I heard a few weeks ago that a very nice young gentlemen that I knew at my last work assignment had fallen seriously ill with the H1N1 - Swine Flu Virus and was in an induced coma in the hospital as a result. I was very sorry to hear this and when I asked his best friend for an update on his condition last week, it seemed that he was showing some signs of improvement.

Unfortunately, his improvement didn't continue.  When I got into my email this morning, I was very sad to learn that Eric had passed away on Friday, 7 February.

Here's a picture of Eric which looked like it might have been taken during his time in the Army:

Eric Evans

Here's his obituary from the Rest Haven Funeral Home:

Eric Evans

Born:  Saturday, August 9, 1980
Died:  Friday, February 7, 2014

Eric Evans, age 33 of Rockwall, TX, passed away February 7, 2014.   He was born August 9, 1980, in Hollywood, FL, to Gerald Chester and Rebecca (Harper) Evans. He served his country in the U.S. Army.

Eric is survived by his wife: Brandi Evans of Rockwall, TX; brother: Jimmy Williams of Ossisspee, NC; sister: Amanda Torres and husband William of Lorain, OH; parents: Jerry and Rebecca Evans of Rockwall.

A memorial service will be held 2:00pm Thursday, February 13, 2014, at Rest Haven Funeral Home-Rockwall Chapel with Pastor Rick Donaho officiating.

It's ironic that the people who usually succumb to the H1N1 Virus are either very young, ill or elderly.  It's so tragic that he had to die so young!  Rest in Peace, Eric!  You will be missed, but not forgotten!

Farewell, Sweet Sheila!

Farewell, Sweet Sheila!

We said goodbye to Sheila for the very last time today at the Breckenridge Park Animal Hospital.  They were waiting for us when we arrived and ushered us into a very nice private sitting room with some soft blankets on the floor for Sheila.  They gave her a few shots to make her feel comfortable and then she curled up on the blanket and we spent some final moments with her. Here's a picture of her and Tegan Marie saying their last goodbyes on the blanket:

The Last Goodbye

Sheila had a stubborn bladder infection since Summer and had been through several rounds of antibiotics.  We thought that she was okay until she started having pee accidents again and then she starting acting sick. Last week her condition deteriorated rapidly and she ended up spending last weekend at Breckenridge Park Animal Hospital.  The Vet there released her from the hospital with antibiotics on Monday and informed us that she wasn't responding to the treatment.  We spent time with her during the week at home and gave her tender loving care with hopes that she would rally.

Unfortunately, today was a very bad day for her,  Tegan Marie called me at work mid-morning to say that Sheila couldn't walk and that she had a seizure, but that she was resting quietly.  Later on in the afternoon she called me again and asked that I go home immediately.  Sheila was howling in pain and running around the house madly, trying to drive her head through the drywall in the corners.  

As soon as I got home, we headed over the the hospital.  Once the vet gave her the final shot, she quietly passed away within a few minutes.  It was strange, but right after she passed away I could feel a good energy presence in the room and am betting that it was her.  She looked so peaceful lying there curled up in her blanket.

Tegan Marie and I both agreed that the folks at the Breckenridge Park did a wonderful job making Sheila and us comfortable during her last moments!

We will miss her terribly, but have very fond memories of her!  One of these memories is how she used to do a sneaky Army crawl to try to get over near the table when we were eating Supper so that she could get some table scraps.  

Here's an animated picture of her doing her Army crawl.  We call it "The Sheila Dance". 

The Sheila Dance

She was so cute!  She looked like a little bandit with her eye markings, LOL!

Rest in Peace, sweet Sheila!  We will never forget you!