A much needed new wardrobe

The scale is fickle everyday, but for all intents and purposes, I have lost, let's say, nearly 40 lbs. Yesterday it was 39.5 lbs, and today it is 39, and tomorrow it may be 40. That's the way it is for a woman, and I expect it can be the same for a man. At any rate, I am within 6 pounds of my goal. Over the weekend, I gave away 3 large bags of clothes, and I was left with very little. I decided not to hold on to them (the bigger-sized clothes), because I have no intention of going back to weighing what I did. To hold onto them would only be like a security blanket. I was afraid that somewhere in the back of my mind I would be telling myself, "You may need them again one day." So I got rid of them. It was a catharsis.
I did a little shopping this morning. Got a few things, but I am in need of more. I am very excited to go shopping again, and soon. I can't go too overboard, because I really am not quite done losing weight. I think I am safe buying shirts and tops, but I have to show some restraint on pants and the like, because I don't want to invest a buttload only to have them not fit in 4 or 6 weeks. It was very nice to have tried on a pair of size 10 Dockers, and realized that an 8 would probably fit, and then try on the 8 and hello! The 8 fit. I am still a 10 in some jeans, but I haven't been a 10 in a long time, and a ten is a fine size. When all is said and done I don't know for sure what size I will be --I would like to fall somewhere around a 6 or an 8. And as fine as a size as a 10 is, a 6 or an 8 is better.

conflicting schedules

I am pressed for time, but it has been so long since my last post, that I wanted to write something. Dave and I saw "I Am Legend" on New Years Day. I really enjoyed it. I think Will Smith's performance made the movie. He was amazing. There are so many films out right now that I want to see: No Country For Old Men; Sweeney Todd; National Treasure Pt. 2; and in a couple of weeks, Cloverfield. We just don't get to go as often as I would like.
There is actually a lot I would like to write about, but I don't have the time right now, and also some of it shouldn't be on a public blog, because one never knows if it could reach the eyes of someone it isn't suppose to (no matter how slim the chance may be), and so I can't really say anything. I can see the wisdom in making it necessary for people need my approval before being able to read my blog. Suffice it to say that recently I was treated rather nastily by someone who I have never given cause to treat me in such a manner. It was, for me, the proverbial "straw", and this person is now on my shit list.
I have to work tonight, and that is another source of trouble for me. I still really like my job, but with Dave working so much overtime (and hopefully will be doing so until March - I only say hopefully because we both know how much we need the money--the downside is not seeing one another) it is getting very difficult to juggle the kids and my work schedule. I am always relying on my folks, and it isn't fair to them. My mom will be going to Florida in a few weeks, and I don't know what I'll do. I guess I need to tell work to give as many of my hours during that time to someone else because I just won't be available. Yikes!! Confrontation. If they can't/won't work with me on that I'll be in a real pickle. I'll still need my job when Dave's overtime ends, but for now it is not working out so well.

Mixed tapes

Ah, I long for the days of mixed tapes. If you gave a mixed tape to someone, then that person really meant something to you..be it a boy/girlfriend or a best friend. I now make people mixed Cd's, and that's cool, but they are so much easier to make. Man, think about it, the mixed tape was a labor of love, and that is why it meant so much to make and give one to someone. It took a long time to do...you had to put each tape into one deck on your stereo, and first find the song you wanted by ff or rewinding, and then you had to find the exact starting and stopping place for recording. If you let it go too far, you had to rewind the mix tape a little to record over the song you just let it play into, and that really pissed you off because you knew you were compromising just slightly the sound of the next song that would then go on the mix tape (i.e., whenever you recorded over something the sound was never quite as good). And heaven help you if you were recording a song off the radio to put on the mixed tape. You might wait 3 hours to catch a song on the radio, and the d.j. always talked over the beginning of the song, and that really burned your ass. Also, there were no convenient play lists to print off of itunes to place in the tape cover, so you had to hand write the name of every song and artist, and if you really had a wild hair, you tried to make a creative cover for the tape. Jesus, the person receiving it really knew they were special. Maybe , I don't long so much for those days, because that was a lot of work. I guess I long for the feeling I got when giving or receiving one of those tapes, because it was better than getting a Hallmark card. You really were caring enough to give the best...the best of your time, and creativity, I suppose.

Ready for Santa

The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care. We put up the tree and decorated it, and put out the rest of our holiday decorations. The living room looks festive and cozy. Ethan has declared it our finest Christmas tree ever (but we say that every year about each tree). I did this a little earlier than usual this year, because I love to enjoy the tree, and I wanted to do so for as long as possible. By the time Christmas day rolls around the tree will be dry as a bone, but oh, well.
Today is a snow day for the boys. Ohio County cancelled school. I, on the other hand, have to work this evening. Bummer dude. I just hope the roads out this way are cleared for when I have to leave.
Dave and I spent the past three evenings watching a Sci-fi production called Tin Man, which was a modern-day take on the Wizard of Oz. While we were entertained, and drawn in to it enough to keep watching, we are sure that there are several scenes that will be making The Soup this week. There were some really cheesy scenes, as well as some really awkward and poorly produced special effects. Also, I don't feel that the people at Sci-fi put too much effort into the name of the mini series. They called it the Tin Man, but really it's as if they said, "Well, there is a tin man in the original and a tin man in this one, and so that will be good enough." Neither movie's main focus is the character of the tin man. They knew they couldn't get away with passing it off as a complete remake of the original (that would have been blasphemous), and thus couldn't call it The Wizard of Oz. So, they might have just said Tin Man will do in the absence of something better.
I saw Beowulf with Kristen this past Sunday. They took some liberties with it, but I expected that. The 3D made for a cool viewing experience. I am looking forward to more 3D movies that we saw in the previews. Namely, Neil Gaiman's book Coraline is being made into a 3D movie, and also a remake of Journey to the Center of the Earth is coming out in 3D. I love going to the movies, and I don't get to go nearly as much as I'd like. Dave and I really want to see I Am Legend. I hope we get to go.

Happy Turkey Day

I just want to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone (but judging from who leaves comments for me here at my blog, I think I am solely wishing Happy Thanksgiving to Matt, and that's OK because you are one of my favorite people). Anyway, it will be a day of feasting, but for me this year it will be a day of feasting in moderation. I will be having a slice of pie, for sure. However, to bring a balance to the day so that I don't fall off the South Beach wagon, I am going to forgo the mashed potatoes (opt for the yams instead 'cause believe it or not they are more kosher to the diet than regular potatoes), and I won't be having any rolls (maybe just one bite, but definitely not an entire roll). I need to remember to launch a preemptive strike against the temptation to over-indulge/over-eat. I need to take along to my parent's house some mixed nuts and a cheese stick or two. They satisfy me, and help me to not over-eat. At Thanksgivings of yore, my plan would be to skip breakfast so that I would be primed for the big meal. But after 4 1/2 months on this diet I know that when I eat a nice size breakfast I can avoid temptation throughout the rest of the day. There are many things to be thankful for on that famous day, but this year I can add that I am thankful for the 30 lbs. I have shed since the beginning of July.

Ethan's time machine

Ethan has a big, inquisitive, and philosophical brain. Sometimes he can't remember to close the door behind him, and other times he floors us with a thought he has. This morning he got out a pencil and a notebook, and he told me the notebook would henceforth contain his inventions. Invention number one is a time machine. He drew a crude sketch, and then wrote out very specific instructions as to whom the time machine would be handed over to -"to the army for emergency uses only". Maybe a little naive, but he knows he doesn't want any "bad guys" getting a hold of it. So, the time machine has a power source, a generator, some knobs, and a few other things, and I said to him, "Well, bud, you know you need a mechanism that actually makes time travel possible (I was thinking of the "flux capacitor" from "Back to the Future")."
I told him that he will need to study lots of math and physics in order to one day see his plans for a time machine come to fruition. He said to me, "I believe someone can make anything they want to if they want it enough, even if everyone else says it's impossible." I said, "I think you are right." The we talked a little more about the specifics of what would be needed to make his time machine work. He said that in order to go back in time in his machine you would have to take with you an object that was from the time period to which you wanted to travel. I said something like, "So, if you wanted to go back to 5 Christmas's ago you would need, for example, a Christmas ornament that we used on our tree that year." He said that was correct. I said that it wouldn't work if I tried to use something that had just been made because it wasn't around from that time, and he said I was right. We were on the same page. Then, he said he hadn't yet figured out how to travel to the future, because if you needed an object from the past to travel there, how do you acquire an object from the future to travel there? I was standing at the kitchen sink thinking about his statement when, after a pause, he answered his own question. This is the part where I was just very impressed by my 8 year old's mind..He said, "You would need to use something that would grow in the future, like a plant." I was taken aback at his logic. He had reasoned it out way before I did. I said, a wee bit excitedly, "Yeah, so if you had a sapling, and of course one day it would probably grown into a big tree, you could use part of it to place in the time machine to take you to a future point in time!" See, I probably know only a fraction more about time travel than Ethan does, and what I know has to do with some of the theoretical problems associated with it; ie, can you kill your own grandfather if you travel to the past (without undoing your own future); can you travel back further than the time when your time machine was created; and can you travel back in time before you were born, and what happens if you die in the past? Anyway, so here is my eight year old child figuring that you need an object to actually link you to a point of time in the past, and then figuring out that the reciprocal of that is needing an object from the future, and solving it in a matter of seconds with the possibility of using something organic like a plant that is sure to grow in the future. Never mind that a person is technically an object that can be from a certain point in the past or future, he knows that some objects have been around for a long time, and some objects will exist into the future for quite some time. See, he didn't just have an idea and see it as boundless, he saw possible problems and came up with solutions to those problems. I don't care how rudimentary his notions may be, I see a real genius in it. I could be biased, and I am sure I am, but I believe if anyone is going to grow up and finally solve the problem of space/time travel, and successfully build a time machine it is going to be Ethan. Perhaps it is my belief in his potential that is also a necessary component to making his time machine work.

My myspace page

I have spent my free-time over the past few days customizing and tweaking my new myspace page. It has been kind of fun. I have run into a few technical problems, but I worked them out. I think navigating the set-up here on blogspot was easier, but it's no biggie. I am interested to see who I may reconnect with by having a page on there. Maybe no one will find me, maybe it will take a while or maybe I'll hear from someone quickly. Who knows? Anyway, I originally put my name in as "Becky McFadden-Cantrell", but I soon realized that you can't do a search and find me if you use just my first and maiden name. It appears it would have to be the entire "Becky McFadden-Cantrell". So, since anyone who knows me now knows my married name and my maiden name, I am switching to just Becky McFadden because old acquaintances will only know to search for me under Becky McFadden.
Not too much new to report. I had a store meeting at 7:00 am this morning, which required me to get up at 5:00 am in order to look good and be there on time. After that I met Dave and the boys at Ethan's hockey practice and then the 4 of us went to Bob Evans for breakfast. Well, that was a lapse in judgement on my and Dave's part 'cause Owen was ill mannered most of the time. I sometimes feel as if he is never going to mature.
Well, I have a few more things to do on myspace and then I am going to call it a day. Btw, I am going to keep my blog on here, and not myspace. I like what I've got here.