Month: May 2011

Another day is upon us, a short work week, and it is Freddy’s birthday! Happy Birthday Freddy, we are so happy that you are part of our lives. You are funny, smart and have an amazing heart; I hope your day is filled with happiness and great adventures.
So yesterday I decided I was going to cook something healthy, so I made chicken breasts with rice, asparagus and peas. The peas were for the Irishman, he doesn’t like asparagus. So anyway, the chicken was bland, the rice overcooked and asparagus a little, um, black on parts. The good news is I did not set off the smoke alarms, so yay me! If anyone can tell me how to get the chicken breasts tender I would greatly appreciate it. I have the rice thing figured out, how I overcooked it.
As of yesterday I have lost 7.5 pounds since beginning Weight Watchers, I started working out at the gym on Friday; I worked out Friday, Sunday and Monday. I skipped Saturday as I was chasing Tessa all over the place and that is a workout in itself. I will be going back today, to torture myself some more. I hate working out, people talk about those endorphins that are supposed to kick in. well they never do for me, never have, never will. I have a friend that she and I used to workout together, and they kicked in for her, and you could tell by looking in her eyes. Her eyes would get big and she looked a little high, but it was from the endorphins, and she was all like, let’s work out, it’s fun. And I was all like um no, it is not fun. But it was nice working out with her, we would talk the time away, it just flew by. Going by myself is kinda boring, no one to talk to, so I listen to my IPod on my IPhone, mostly the Bay City Rollers and Britney Spears, don’t judge.
I figure is muscle memory is not a myth it will take no time at all to look halfway decent. Well that’s all I got today folks, remember to send your chicken breast secrets to me!

Today is Memorial Day, a day we Americans have set aside for honoring our Veterans, men and women who have served or continue to serve in our armed forces. In the past I have spoken about each of the branches and my gratitude to everyone who served or serves. Today I wanted to focus on one man who served our nation and made a huge impact on my life in a personal way. So, today in Angie World I am honoring Great Grandpa Wells.
He was not my Great Grandpa, he was my children’s, and he was my ex-husbands grandfather who served in WWII. Not only did he serve but he gave a limb and some fingers to the cause as well. He came home as some would say not a whole man, those of us that were fortunate enough to know him, well we know that is a correct term because he came back twice the man most men are.
Like I said he was not my grandfather but my ex-husbands, I know you are thinking it is strange to write about an ex-in-law, however, this man was amazing. He was an ordinary man living an extraordinary life. I, of course did not know him before WWII, so I don’t know the man he was before, however, I know from experience, your core personality never changes. I believe before he went he was a man of integrity, honor and courage.
Great Grandpa Wells continued his dedication to serving when he returned from the war, he had a soft spot in particular for the Vietnam Vets, he made regular visits to the home for Veterans, ferrying the ones that needed it to doctor visits and also to the Veteran hospital. Of course he had the pre-requisite Cadillac that all older Americans seemed to love at that time, what a boat! But he also had a station wagon, that was what he used to carry the men (and it was mostly men those days) to their appointments. He said he could get quite a few in there and the back was roomy enough for ones that could not sit comfortably but had to lie down, he would put pillows and blankets down to make their ride comfortable.
He didn’t brag about doing these things, he just did them, he was unassuming in his greatness, he was humble in his dedication. He was simply a great man, a great example to his family in courage, honor and duty. I am so beyond proud that his DNA is part of my children’s genetic makeup, I can only hope those traits are passed down. Some of those things cannot be taught, but are innate, part of our genetic code.
So today, Great Grandpa Wells, I salute you, I remember you and all that you did, you had a profound effect on me and the way I see people. I thank you for your service, for your willingness to fight for the freedom of this country, to ensure that future generations had the same rights you enjoyed. Know that we all miss you and your quiet sense of humor, your kindness and your example.

I am about to divulge a horrible secret that no one warns you about when you are younger. If you are under the age of 25 I suggest you stop reading, what I am about to share will scare the living daylights out of you.
Aging is pure unadulterated hell, there I said it, that is the truth of the matter, you will never in your entire life look better than you did in your 20’s, unless you are horribly and tragically scared and completely ugly. Your skin loses elasticity and it does not come back, no matter how many beauty products you use. Oh trust me when I tell you that I thank God every single day for Mary Kay skin care because without it I know I would look a whole lot worse.
Your body begins to change as well, you don’t lose weight as easily, you can’t stay up until 2 in the morning then get up at 6 and go to work and be full of energy. No matter how much coffee you drink, you will never have as much energy as you did when you were in your 20’s. Your body begins to betray you, for those of you with those real cute tattoos on your backside and on your breasts, well those will eventually be to your knees, yes both sides, front and back. No matter how many lunges you do, sit-ups, bench presses, to your knees.
The only way to get rid of the lines and the sagginess altogether is to go under the knife, yes plastic surgery. I have often said it, I want it, I need it, I must have it, I cannot afford it. Right now. But eventually I will be able to. But the thing is, even with the plastic surgery, I will never ever look like I did in my 20’s. I was cute, hot even; I didn’t appreciate it, at all! If I could go back, understanding how pretty I was, I would rule the world.
Ok under 25’s you can begin reading now, enjoy your cuteness, your elastic skin and everything else for as long as you can.
Back in 2003 I began a journey to lose weight, I lost over 100 lbs, I recently faced the fact I have put 30 of those pounds back on. So on Monday as many of you know I joined Weight Watchers, I honestly had no clue how many bad things I was putting into my body. You just don’t realize until you have to keep track of it. My eating habits are changing, I am going through junk food withdrawal, I am not liking it, however we all have to make sacrifices if we want to look good and feel good. I can already tell a difference. I started working out on Friday, yesterday did not go to the gym, instead chased Tessa, and today went back to the gym. I hate, I will not deny this, no matter how much I work out those endorphins never kick in with me. However I will continue to go back for my daily torture because there is no way on this earth I am going back to the person I was before the weight loss.

Correction on @tobraavery she has 4 children! I guess I did not pay as close attention to her tweets as I thought!
So I watched the 2nd episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, I am still not a fan of Melissa and Joey, they are immature for their station in life and just seem intent on blaming the whole feud on Theresa and Joe. I am sure there is plenty of blame to go all the way around. I hope they can resolve this, family is family, and in the end they will be the ones there for you. I am fortunate, my friends are my family.
How rockin’ was Caroline? She handled that nonsense at the Brownstone with a firm hand, dishing out common sense and let the other ladies (used loosely here) know she would have none of that in her house. That was her husband’s place of business, he has worked hard for his successes and she would not have his reputation sullied. I am such a huge fan of Caroline Manzo, I think everyone should be.
I am on day 4 of Weight Watchers, man do I miss puffy cheetos, however I am eating much much better these days. More fruit, which is free food, I use no points eating that, drinking more water and I don’t have that bloated, full feeling at the end of the day. I actually feel great! After just 4 days. I wonder what I will feel like at the end of next week. I will let you all know.
I have been thinking about my funeral a lot lately, I have my songs picked out, I want Green day and the Bay City Rollers for sure, also P Diddy’s song, I’m Coming Home. I love that song, especially the part where it says “Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday I know my kingdom awaits and they’ve forgiven my mistakes I’m coming home”. So powerful, so simple, I want that one for sure. I know I want a purple casket with a disco ball on it. I want to be remembered for loving my children, for being there for them and for the people in my life. I want my epitaph to read “Angie isn’t here, she went home”. I’ll probably change that a lot, I am going to live until I am 100+, the women in my family tend to do that. I just want to be prepared and have all of my funeral arrangements down. I don’t want my children to have to worry about planning anything. It will all be done for them.
I hope everyone has a great, safe Thursday, I, myself have a lot of errands after work, it is supposed to be sunny and great!

As some of you know I am a huge fan of Twitter, it is a medium that is more conducive to following or being followed by total strangers. I don’t even know how people find me to follow but they do. There is a woman on there @tobraavery that began following me after I began following my hometown church. I of course began following her. I don’t know her, if I passed her on the street in Owasso I would not know who she is. I am totally fascinated by her. The things I have learned while following her on twitter is amazing. I have found she is not only witty, smart and at time irreverent, she is also a woman of integrity, she is a faithful Christian who does not claim perfection, she is a mother of two and her husband is a volunteer police officer in a K9 unit. Here is one of the things I find completely fascinating, she is part of a blended family, there are two children in the family, I don’t know whose they are biologically. Hers or her husbands, she never says, she just brags on the children or recounts something funny they said. I find this amazing; she is by all accounts a truly remarkable woman, who is part of a remarkable family. Her husband not only volunteers as a police officer in the community, he also recently went to Joplin, Missouri to help in the aftermath of the tornado that hit.
I hope one day I meet @tobraavery, I think we would be friends in real life, at least I hope so. Part of me wonders if I do know her in a round about way, I wonder if she knows some of my family that lives in Owasso and goes to church at Rejoice. I wonder if she knows that my family was one of the founding families of the church. I wonder how she ended up in Owasso, how she met her husband and how she became a photographer. So many questions, I imagine a lot of them will go unanswered as twitter is 140 characters or less per posting. Life is funny these days, with technology you can become friends with someone you have never met in person, you can follow someone’s life, a window into their world in a way that we have never been able to before. I don’t know if this is an entirely good thing, but I do know that I am enamored with it.

It is day 2 of Weight Watchers, I have survived thus far, I will keep you updated. It was not too terribly bad the first day, there is an app (of course) that I downloaded and was able to add up everything that I ate. It is a little tedious to keep track of everything; however it makes you painfully aware of what you are putting in your mouth. You definitely think twice when you have to record what you are doing.
I think I am getting sick, the past two days I have woken up congested, maybe it is just allergies, the weather is crazy right now. Speaking of weather, I believe we all know what happened in Joplin Missouri Sunday evening. I want to give a huge shout out to the Owasso Police Department, yes; Owasso, Oklahoma sent their specially trained officers and their canine counterparts to Joplin to help. Once again Oklahoma does not disappoint in the helping hand department. I have never been prouder to be an Oklahoman than I am right now.
I am embarrassed to live in Texas right now seeing all of the unsportsmanlike comments on Facebook concerning a basketball game. Shame on the Texas fans, you are poor winners, that’s right, I said it, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Comments like “suck that Oklahoma”, “they can’t even cheer right, stupid Oklahoma fans”. Interesting, this is how you choose to win? What do you say if you lose? I am not going to trade insults with you Texas fans, I myself am a Dallas Mavericks fan, however, I don’t slam the fans of other teams. It’s embarrassing, it is like being back at my sons sporting events and when some of the parents would scream and “coach” their children. Ugh. That is all I have to say, Ugh.

Two reasons I am in love with Starz right now, Camelot and the upcoming Torchwood, I think I am nerd heaven. Camelot is getting good, I am loving the evilness of Morgan, or Morgana as we all know her, and this one is just fun evil, taking the form of Arthur’s mother to infiltrate Camelot, a brilliant use of magical power. But then things turn ugly when she accidently kills a boy right after spending the day with him and Merlin. And how perfect is Merlin? Wow, conflicted about his powers, and he even kills, we see him kill purposely once then accidently a second time. This show just gets better and better.
Torchwood starts this summer and I cannot wait! Loved the BBC version cannot wait to see where it goes on Starz. They seem to be doing things right over there.
Speaking of cable shows, Game of Thrones, wow, amazing, did not see last night’s episode, so don’t spoil it for me. Jane Esponson wrote it, we all know her from Buffy and Angel fame. One of the great writers of those series; can’t wait to see what she did with this one. I also will need to watch the season ender of the Borgia’s, the show is good, don’t get me wrong, but every time Jeremy Irons speaks I just keep hearing Scar. I have got to get that out of my head and concentrate because he does a really good job as the head of the Borgia clan. They were “family” before it was defined as such. A more ruthless head of household did not exist at the time, ambitious, self-serving and completely oblivious to the pain he was causing everyone. Jeremy Irons is perfection in the part; I just wish I could get the Disney character out of my head.
My heart is heavy today waking to the news of Joplin, Missouri, all of those poor people, the whole town decimated. The world didn’t end on Saturday night, but Sunday night brought devastation to that town. Growing up in Oklahoma, you always knew someone who had relatives in Joplin or the surrounding area; my prayers are with all of the people there. Whatever we can do to help them will not be enough, the pictures look like a war zone. However, knowing Missourians, I know they will not only rebuild, they will come out of the other side of this stronger, they are a resilient people. Already tons of Oklahomans are pouring in to help. You are not alone, we are here, and the whole country is holding you in our hearts right now.
That’s all I have right now, I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe, Monday!

One of my favorite shows is back!!! Welcome back Real Housewives of New Jersey, oh how I have missed you. I really wondered if there would be enough drama to keep us all interested after Danielle left the show. Well, I should not have worried, the producers have found Melissa, she makes one say Danielle who. Melissa is Teresa’s sister-in-law and she is just, well, a mixture of ignorance, vindictiveness, and crazy. She peppers all conversation with “Praise Jesus”, and while I am a conservative Christian who loves Jesus with my whole heart, hearing the sentence “I was taught to be a cook in the kitchen a lady in the parlor and a whore in the bedroom, Praise Jesus”, actually caused me to do a spit take. Sorry Jess, you got beat this week.
If you have not watched this show, this season is the one to watch, right out of the gate there is a huge fight at a baby’s christening, mother/daughter drama, and a mom letting go of her children. I have to say hats off to Caroline, you and Albert raised amazing, independent, intelligent and funny children. It is hard letting go and you are doing so with class. Love, love, love you. To quote one of your cast mates.
The Irishman is not feeling well, all stuffy, sore throat and fever, I really hope I don’t get it. I woke up this morning not feeling that great, but after a nice hot shower, I was right as rain. And after my morning coffee, I was better than that! Today is Thursday which we all know is the gateway to Friday that makes me happy. Tomorrow I get to sleep in, although I will be at work until 7:30 as I traded with Jose, his son has a game, I am not sure what kind of game, I think soccer but I don’t know he wanted to go, so I traded with him. I know, I am incredibly magnanimous, I know you were thinking it so I said it. I will probably pass out on the drive home tomorrow evening! Someone check on me about 8pm please, make sure I made it home!

I am extremely sad today; Wonder Woman is not coming back to television. NBC passed on the pilot; I would really love to see it, to see what is so wrong with it they passed on it. I certainly hope it was not to bring more reality TV to the small screen. I cannot stand reality TV.
My new IPhone has been shipped; hopefully I will get it today, if not today then definitely tomorrow. I am excited and sad all at the same time. I was really waiting for the new one to come out in August, but no, clumsy me, I had to drop mine in the parking lot and shatter the glass. I am so mad at myself, but me being clumsy is nothing new. I have been that way all of my life. I know without a doubt I am going to be one of those old people that breaks their hip all the time.
I am trying to think if I have anything to do this coming weekend, I honestly don’t know, I don’t remember. How bad is that? I seriously think I may be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, I can’t remember a lot of stuff, like yesterday; I could not find the TV changer to save my life. And I was the last one who had it; I looked everywhere, even in the fridge. The bathroom, the dishwasher, under the sofa, the sofa cushions, literally everywhere. It ended up being on the table, in my defense under a magazine. But still. I don’t know what is happening to me. I play word games to keep my mind sharp, but it doesn’t seem to be working. If anyone has any ideas please tell me.

Music is such an interwoven part of American life, its history, apart of our story. There are certain types of music that are uniquely American, country music, bluegrass, Jazz, R&B, Rap, Gospel (both types), hard hitting rock and roll, and it is woven into our lives, our history.
The old slave gospels told them how to make their escape, Wade in the Water is a prime example, giving instructions to wade in the water so the dogs could not pick up their scent. These songs have lasted throughout the years, as a testament to the human spirit, the ability to not only survive, but overcome and thrive.
Country music tells the story of everyday people, storytelling at its best, I am not talking about today’s country music, like Taylor Swift, I am talking about Tennessee Ernie Ford, his song “16 Tons” was a story of how the major companies took advantage of their workers. Never allowing them to get ahead. As Americans we have a unique voice in that area, Loretta Lynne, Conway Twitty, Patsy Cline, Earl Scruggs, names that shaped country music. They gave us something that we could call our own.
Jazz, so uniquely American, another down South creation, New Orleans, it still influences other genres of music. Jazz had a huge influence on Rock n Roll. When you look back over the evolution of music in America you see that it is as diverse and independent as the inhabitants of this great land. Our diversity and adaptability is what makes us great. In all areas.
I didn’t forget the television theme song arena, now that is just total greatness, short snippets of music that can invoke memories of family time, a time of being swept up in a story, from Davy Crocket to the A-Team, the theme songs are unique and show driven.
Let’s not forget the symphony, I am talking John Williams, his music is the type where you open your arms and allow it to flow through your soul.
Whatever you listen to, sing to, rock out in the car to, know that you are not alone; you have a whole country of music lovers.
I myself love it all; I listen to anything from rap to bluegrass, rock n roll, disco, symphony, classical, pop, jazz, R&B and yes some country. Oh and let’s not forget I am a huge fan of television show theme songs.
Enjoy a good song today, remember its origins and know here, in America, you are free to listen to whatever you want, whatever makes your soul soar.