Oil painting

I decided I would force the issue of starting up my oil painting
again. It's been so many years. I have ignored the artistic part of my
character. Creative people have to give themselves an outlet for thair
art if they are to be happy. So, I started today and showed Liz how to
oil paint as well. I usually do landscapes. This tim I just painted
from my head, thinking of nebulas and storms. Liz said it looks like a
satellite photo of a huricane and I suppose it does!

Connie with Zack and Liz

The Beautiful California Coast

Home Sweet Home

Finally home. Our whole family and Mom spent a week with my sister
Robin in Watsonville, CA. We relaxed a lot and mostly just stayed home
and did family stuff. Sister Mary gave us this awesome Cribbage board
she made from stone. I'll post a photo of it later.

Yesterday Connie and I took our kids to Carmel and went on the 17 Mile
Drive. It was a gorgeous day as you can see in the photo.

It's always good to get home, though. Connie and were both very
fortunate to get to see our sisters Carol, Cathy and Robin this last
month. We are blessed.

Christmas cookies

Connie had Elizabeth & nephew Tyler making cookies after the pumpkin
pie.

Since We Aren't Moving...

Since we gave up on moving we have begun to work on our house. The first step was to enlarge the concrete areas of our back yard. Since we have a pool the surrounding vegetation made little sense. Therefore, we pulled it all out and today we had the concrete laid. It looks great, though it cost a lot. The next step will be to put in a huge storage shed so we can empty the garage and build me an office.

A Spiritual Giant

We have high hopes for Elizabeth. She is excited about attending Biola
when she graduates. This is a favorite mural of mine on one of their
buildings

My mom the pirate

Mom had cataract surgery on Monday. She is doing great.

Sack is Home!

He's home!

Zack came in late last night. Liz made him a pancake breakfast then
off we went. We've got a ton of things to do this weekend with him for
fun and to get him ready for school.

Waiting for big brother

A Big Night

The whole family is pretty excited. Tonight we are picking up Zachary
from the airport. He has finished bootcamp and will now be home from
the Army Reserves. He gets to now finish high school,12 grade, and
then go on to college I hope. He got quite a bit from the army for
college.

We should be moving very soon. Everything is pretty much wrapped up
and we are really looking forward to our new home. Once we get settled
in well start inviting church, friends and family over to see it. Glad
Zack will be here for the move. He seems to be glad about that too. I
can only imagine he came back with lots more muscles. LOL.

I'll post a photo of him in uniform as soon as I can scan one. He'll
be in his dress uniform on Sunday morning. Well be off and about with
him this weekend, so we may be hard to get a hold of for a bit but I'm
sure you understand.

The Circus Comes to Town

Our new house was tented for termites this week. All houses in La Mirada have termites. It's a given and everyone has to have their house treated for them when they sell their house. But this is a very good sign. Tenting your house is about the last thing one does before moving.

We are having our house tented this coming week as well. So, I'm pretty excited to be moving along at this pace, finally. I'm hoping and praying we can be moved by Labor Day weekend. It will be close, but I start my Adult School job that week and I really want everything finished before I have to go back to work. Well, we'll see, I guess. Moving in will require the obvious labor etc., but we are also going to put in new carpeting upstairs in the master bedroom. It's a huge room but it has blue shag carpeting. Yuck. I remember when I liked that stuff, though, so I should behave myself. So, our plans are to put in new carpeting, do some painting, not sure how much, and some tile in the bathroom.





My nephew is a designer, so he's helping us with colors etc. We went Sunday to pick out carpeting and paint. He's going for a Tuscan look upstairs and if we like it enough, we may go for it throughout the house. We'll have to see. I like the earth colors and I think the house lends itself towards that look on the inside. The outside of the house has to be lightened up a lot. The dark green trim is too overbearing. If we replace the garage doors with generic white garage doors, it will really make the house look more modern. They still have the old wooden, spring type doors. When we take the big tree out front out, you'll actually be able to see the house! It really hides everything right now.

New pool

Well, the pool in our new house has been totally rebuilt. I was hoping
they would do a bit more to the deck, but they just fixed the edges
which were very bad. Eventually, I hope to resurface the decline and
surround it with a fence.

GOD AND SOLZHENITSYN

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. (Psalm 53:1)

When Alexander Solzhenitsyn died last weekend, I was reminded how this brilliant man of letters explained so simply and accurately how it was that 60 million perished following the Bolshevik revolution in his country.

"I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God' - that's why all this happened."

He continued: "All attempts to find a way out of the plight of today's world are fruitless unless we redirect our consciousness, in repentance, to the Creator of all: Without this, no exit will be illumined, and we shall seek it in vain."

These words are etched indelibly on my heart and soul.

Filling the pool

It's pretty hot today and Elizabeth was tired of of so I told her to
ahead and go in even though we are filling it back up. Just got done
washing it down yesterday.

Moving Day is Coming

Well, things are looking up. Our sellers are planning to move out on the 15th of this month. Faster than I expected, but very good for me because I need to move before school starts. Got so much to do now. Got to find a mover for one. I'll be so glad once we are finally moved. Mary has worked very hard on this for us. She's been great. Let me know if you ever need a good realtor in the So. Cal area.

Bob's Big Boy

I was reading in the newspaper that Bob's Big Boy was going to be coming back into California. Right now there are a few here, but it once was one of the reigning diners in California. I of course always liked it because I was a Bob and a big one at that. :-) As I read the article, I all of a sudden had a rush of sadness come over me because in all the many break-ins we've had at my school recently, I didn't remember my Bob's Big Boy bank being in my office anymore. It didn't have much money in it, but it had a lot of sentimental value to it. Some 20 or 30 years ago one of my youth, Denise Montoya, gave it to me. She bought it for me while we were eating there after church one night. I used to frequently take the kids there after church. They had great Sundays and burgers too. Now it is gone. Might even have been collectible, being so old. I liked his big happy face and he kids liked it when they came into my office as it sat on my bookcase. No more Bob's Big Boy bank. Maybe I can find one on ebay.

Splash Again!

It's Thursday so I'm at Splash letting the girls have a fun day.
They'll go to the library after that for their weekly kids program. My
back is much better today, but I'm still being very careful. This is
the worst it has been in many years.

Right now we are still waiting to hear if the sellers of our house
have got the house they made an offer on. It's scary how we all get
coonected and dependent upon each other in this process. One house
gets in trouble and we are all affected.

I'll be surprised at this point if we get moved in August. I sure hope
so. Two of the families involved have teachers who have to go back to
work in September.

Our new house is redoing the swimming pool. It will be finished in the
middle of August. That will make quite a difference in the backyard.

Alaskan Wildflowers

One thing I really enjoyed about Alaska was the hanging baskets of
flowers everywhere we went. I heard folks were encouraged to use
hanging baskets to keep nonnative plants from taking over. Seems to
work.

I was just looking thru some old photos and came across this one I
took with my iPhone.

Aviary

This is the aviary. It's not much to look at, but they've raised a lot
of parakeets here. There are probably 30 birds left. We'll have to get
rid of them. I really don't want to bother with them. We will turn
this into a large dog kennel to keep the dogs in when we have company
or leave for a while. We'll have to see how they interact with the
chickens first of all.

Chickens

This is the chicken coop. It's fair sized. It goes farther back than
it appears in this photo. There's a second pen for chicks too. Baby
chickens that is. LOL

The have one Plymouth rock hen, three white leghorn hens, and two
Americanas, one of which is the rooster. The rooster is about 7 years
old. He's outlived all the other chickens by far.

Pool

The pool on the house we are buying is being completly restored
because the owner left it empty for a couple of monthes and it cracked
quite a bit. They take a jackhammer to it and that is the stage of
restoration that it is now.

I've never left my pool empty more than a day of two. They can
actually pop out of the ground if left empty. Wouldn't that be fun?

Chicken

I brought out some clay and made a chicken. Seemed like a good thing
to do while my back was bad

Back Out

Arghh, I helped someone move some stuff and I threw out my back big time. It was horrible trying to get to church this morning and do the service. I never take medicine before I speak, but I had to this morning and I could really feel the affect of it. Anyway, we skipped going out to lunch and went straight home and I stayed in my lounge chair all day with heating pads and meds. I'm starting to get a bit more flexible. Hope another day's rest will take care of it.

Connie is going to work a bit late tomorrow to make sure I get off to a good start and then Nurse Elizabeth will take care of daddy. She really can. She can cook pretty well and so my meals are covered. Elizabeth has always had a very nurturing side to her and she really shines when someone needs help.

Almost time to turn in. I think I'll go read a book until I fall asleep.

Are chickens better bird-pets than parrots?

Wow, this ought to tick off Corky big time!

Are chickens better bird-pets than parrots? Let's hear from you. I'll get you started:

1. Chickens can be kept outside unlike parrots, which are tropical birds that are usually kept indoors.
2. Chickens can be kept outside or inside! You can get bantams that grow to be about the size of a parrot, and can keep them in a cage the size of a rabbit hutch.
3. Chickens are omnivorous and can eat whatever you eat; parrots can't.
4. Chickens lay eggs which you can eat; parrots don't do that.
5. Parrots have very loud voices and shrieks; chickens don't.
6. Neither chickens nor parrots can be potty-trained very well, but chickens produce enough poop to be used in your garden.
7. Parrots are expensive to buy; chickens start at $1.99 per chick.
8. Parrots can bite really really hard! Chickens can only peck, and they can't hold on with their beaks like parrots can. 9. Chickens will even perch on your arm, just like a parrot.

Send in your other ideas. No offense to parrots! All in good fun.

Splash Scooters

I'm at Splash with Liz & Mayra today. I'm trying to take them every
Thursday because that is the day our La Mirada library has their Kids
program. We think today is a magic show. The library is next to Splash
so we save gas too! I like that.

Anyway, the city has these neat scooters that the police use to go
around the grounds and keep a nice safe presence here. Splash is a
very family orriented place. Since Splash is in the same area as our
police station, they have immediate access thru a side gate. You don't
see any bad types of influences here. As usual, the city planned this
out very carefully.

iPhone screenshots

The iPhone finally does screenshots. Here are some of my new apps I've
downloaded.

Chicken barn

Found this today at a local feed store. Might get it when we move. The
one there is probably not worth trying to fix up. This will hold 6
hens. Thought we were going to see some chicks but they were all out
of them. Getting more on Friday. Liz wants to see some.

Fruit Trees

We got to take my mom, sisters and family to see the house we bought
today. While they went through the house, the owner of the house took
me on a tour of the outside, especially the 27 fruit trees. I'll do
my best to remember what they were.

Several different types of

avocados

Lemons

Limes

Cherimoyas from Hawaii

Navel oranges

Figs

Several types of guavas

Loquats

Kumquats

Both types of persimmons

Bananas

Apricots

Plums

Apples

I think that was it. We will be doing a lot of canning, baking and
drying of fruit I think.

Bob Rockhill

Sent from my iPhone.

IPhone 2.0

Finally got my DSL fixed. Earthlink has the worst tech help and
service I have ever seen.

So once I was back online I upgraded my iphone to 2.0. I installed a
lot of free apps and a couple of games for Elizabeth. The games are
incredible. They look better than a DS game. Unfortunately, with my
Menieres Syndrome I can't play racing games. I get nauseated almost
immediately. I'm impressed by the firs apps to come out. Can't wait to
see what's coming.

Bob Rockhill

Sent from my iPhone.

I'm in chicken mode

Yesterday I took Elizabeth out to lunch. On the way back we went to a
local craft store and saw so much chicken stuff, I started laughing
because we kept calling our new house the chicken house because it has
a chicken coop. Saw this hen and thot I'd try to make. Ceramic one.

We got it!

Well, our agent met with their agent and then there was a conference
call and tonight I signed the papers for the new house. I'm told it is
now official.

We first looked at this house in May, but it was quite a bit out of
our range. They dropped the price about $50,000. They are paying our
closing costs and they are replastering the pool and putting in a new
deck as well as a new fence. Those the main reasons we didn't up for
the house in the beginning. Now all our objections have been taken
care of.

There's an aviary we will turn into a kennel. That will keep the dogs
from destroying the yard when we are away. We will keep the chickens.
There are about 6 of them according to Liz. I only saw 4. This should
be fun. Looking forward to the changes.

Bob Rockhill

Sent from my iPhone.

Front yard

Side of house

Over 25 fruit trees

Greenacres

We like having chickens

Pool

Backyard

Hrass area and aviary in the back

Sun room looking into kitchen

The house is large and airy. Lots of windows everywhere. It really is
designed to catch the breezes we so enjoy in la mirada.

Big livingroom windows

Looking downstairs

Attic storage

Other kid bedroom

Upstairs bedroom for kids

Upstairs hallway

Balcony of latest house

The Chicken House

Well, we made another offer on a house today. I think this is the 5th offer we've made. This is by far the largest house we've looked at. It is huge with a 3 car garage, 5 bedrooms, 2 on the bottom floor. It has a sun room, attic storage, large rooms, huge windows with great cross ventilation and A/C as well. The house is traditional, not as fancy and modern as most we've been looking at, but we just haven't been able to get into any of these. This house is by far the best investment as its size alone will send it way up once the market turns around. We'd never even be able to think about a house like this if the market weren't so awful right now.

This house is a La Mirada, zoned for horses area. These few houses that can have horses have huge backyards. They are much more rustic, meant for animals. This house only has chickens, which we personally really like. I had chickens when I was a kid and so did Connie. It's nice having those fresh eggs every morning. The house also has an aviary for parakeets. We aren't very interested in having that, but we might turn it into a large dog kennel. It is plenty big, certainly bigger than the kennels and dog runs we've thought about in every other place. Also nothing for the dogs to bark at here! It's so big.

In the back yard there is a pool that needs some work. And a few other things, mostly some cleaning up. But it will be great for having a vegetable garden. It has over 25 fruit trees! Yum. So, at least the grocery bill will go down.We made a serious offer today. Hoping they will take it.

Fireworks Get Us Again

We had our annual fight with fireworks and Aslan last night. He did
better than usual. Didn't destroy the bathroom like before. We know
better now. However, eventhough we drugged him pretty well, he broke
the gate to his kennel. I think this is # 3 for him. Guess we'll be
shopping for a new one today. They don't seem to make any that are
stronger than him.

4th of July

We are at the park getting ready to eat. Connie, Liz and her friend
Mayra walked off to buy some grub. Lots of local non-profits sell food
here. I should check into how our church or school could do it next
year. They must make good money I imagine.

La Mirada does such a good job at community events. There are thossnds
here but the park is 91 acres, so it isn't crowded. They have police
patrolling on horseback, segways, and bikes. There's a very good live
band as well. They have games set up for the kids like 3 legged races,
wiffle ball, and sack races. Then, of Cousy will be a great fireworks
show. It's always good. I don't think La Mirada does anything that
isn't good, sometimes. They plan so well.

Elizabeth at park

I took Elizabeth to a park near the house we are currently looking at
buying. She was happy because it has swings. It has two play areas,
one for toddlers and one for bigger kids. It is .3 miles from the new
house.

Kitchen

I like the kitchen. It has the stove in the middle. Connie liked the
double oven. Lots of counter space! Finally I can use my green thumb.

Front of latest house

This house has a 3 car garage. I could have one section for a ceramics
studio. Yes! It has 220 in the garage somewhere so I can fire up the
kiln.

The house is 5 bedroom, so we have a place for mom if she ever needs
it. That bedroom has an attached bathroom, which she'll like.

It has a gorgeous backyard with a gazeebo with built in barbeque and
sound system. Also a balcony off the master bedroom.

It has a good sized room I'll use as an office. The kitchen has the
widest counters I've ever seen. Its a good sized living room with a
formal dining room on one side and a kitchen eating space on the other
side.

Almost no grass so I can cut the lawn myself. Mostly just plants along
the side. Has one lemon tree and I think an orange tree.

View from home

Still looking for a new home. This is the fanciest yet, but also the
most beautiful. Has a view of Catalina island on a clear day. Once a
year. LOL

He's Off!

The eagle has begun to soar. Zack left at about 2:30 yesterday with Sargent Torres. They were off to do his run, his last qualifying event-an 8 minute mile- and then they were going to the Raddison for the night and he will ship out today or tomorrow. The hardest part is that we will have no contact with him in boot camp. He can write us letters but that is all for a few weeks and then he'll be allowed a 5 minute call on Sundays, but I don't think every Sunday.

Zack seemed mostly excited and a bit nervous. He was excited about the physical part, but then he saw some stuff on TV about the Marines and got cold feet for a while, but I think he'll be fine. He is pretty much into competition. Much more so than I was. I think that will give him extra umphh. He always does great if there is a contest of some kind and usually will win.

So, no news on him for a while I guess. Pretty quiet here now. We'll keep you posted.

Bob

Summer vacation week one

First week of vacation has been all over the place. Took Elizabeth and Tyler to Splash on Tuesday. Mayra was a no show. Then Mayra took Liz on Thursday with Jacqueline. Zack has been busy looking at army stuff. He can’t seem to break an 8 minute mile, which is a requirement. He’s passed everything else. Says this will stop the whole thing if he can’t do it. sigh. Taking Aslan to get meds for fireworks. He goes nuts. Don’t think Sheba will be a problem though unless she decides to copy Aslan.


House is not going to so well. I really like the one on Olive Branch. Probably my favorite. Now, it looks like we’ve lost it because the son got a hold of it and redid the whole stinking contract. So, we’re looking at another on Grovehill, right across the street from the one we liked so much in the beginning. It looks very well kept up, but a lot plainer. But we won’t know until we get inside. Backyard borders the tennis courts, which my daughter will love. Might make for a less private backyard though. Have to see if we are on a hill or something so they can’t look at our backyard. Imagine the dogs would be a real pain about it though.


We’ll see it tonight. Probably see Wall-Eee tomorrow. Have no idea how it is spelled. Should be fun. Zack is supposed to leave on Tuesday afternoon.

Graduation

Well, this is the last week before the school graduation. Lots of work to do. I went and paid for the tickets for the event. Our school rents a very nice facility called The Ritz Gardens. They cater the entire event, decorate, and provide a very nice room. I'm really looking forward to it, but there's so much work to be done, yet. I have to make all the certificates still and come up with our final numbers on honor roll, GPA etc.

But it sounds like it will go well. We have over 110 going to the event, so that's a pretty good crowd for our little school.

It's June

Well, I haven't written in a while. I had a series of birthdays and events and I cheated too much and gained back about 4 pounds. Now, I find myself back to at a 43-44 pound loss. I keep wavering in between, but haven't broken that barrier yet. I've hit the point where I'm just so tired of the HMR meals. I like the shakes and the protein bars and even the soup and breakfast. Those are all fine, but the meals themselves have become so repetitious it's hard for me to get them down. I only like one of them, the stew. The lasagna is ok, the rest really aren't things I care for very much. So, I started cheating a bit by having the lowest calorie Lean Cuisines for dinner. They are much better tasting, incredibly so, so that's my reward. Most of them are only just 40 more calories, at least the ones I've tried. But at least they aren't tomato based. My stomach just doesn't do well with all that tomato. Just too much acid for me.

So I've sinned by going out of the box. I just wish there was a bigger variety. I see the other companies that have so many choices you don't repeat anything in once month. I'd do better that way. After months on the diet I just say "ugh" when I pull another one out to eat. The next 2 weeks are very stressful for me because of getting ready for our school's graduation and my other job at the adult school is having an accreditation type review next week, adding more requirements for that week. Then it's over and maybe I can be better at all of this.

I still think HMR is a very effective diet, I just don't have the time to augment it with more variety to change the taste of the entrées.

Thanks for the comment Janet. Let me know how you are doing. Are you blogging about your HMR experience. I hope you are doing better than I with the meals.

Jicama Salad Recipe | Simply Recipes

I found this recipe that sounds good and should fit in the HMR diet. I love Jicama and it has hardly any calories. You have to zip it up with something, though. I like it with a dash of lime and a light sprinkle of red pepper. Gives it a nice zing.

<cite>Jicama Salad Recipe | Simply Recipes</cite>: "

* 1 large jicama (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, then julienned or cubed (easiest to work with if you cut the jicama in half first) * 1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced * 1/2 yellow bell pepper, finely diced * 1/2 green bell pepper, finely diced * 1/2 cup chopped red onion * 1/2 a large cucumber, seeded, chopped * 1 navel orange, peel cut away, sliced crosswise, then each round quartered * 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro * 1/3 cup lime juice * Pinch of cayenne * Pinch of paprika * SaltOptional * 1/2 avocado chopped * 2 Tbsp olive oilMethod1 Toss together the jicama, bell peppers, red onion, cucumber, orange, and cilantro in a large serving bowl. Pour lime juice over all. Sprinkle with a pinch of cayenne and paprika. Season generously with salt.2 Let sit a half an hour before serving.Serves 4.

"

Dr. Visit

Went to my regular MD today. I've lost 42 pounds. He was astonished. You should have seen his face. I hadn't been there in a while. He was very happy and excited. He said,"If you knew how hard I have to work to get some people to lose just 2 pounds, you'd know how happy I am about your weight loss."

That made me feel pretty great. He was very encouraging. He is a big believer in HMR and was glad I was doing it. (I went thru a different doctor than my regular MD for HMR, so this was the first he knew about it.)

I left feeling pretty good, but knowing I still have a long way to go.

I Broke 40 pounds!

4 bags of potatoes! Where did all those lumps go? I lost 41 pounds. That was a big goal to get over for me. Now I head towards 50. Went to Home Town Buffet yesterday and ate all their salads and veggies. They have a no fat/no sugar ice cream soft swirl, so I had that for dessert. Didn't seem to be too dangerous and I lost 2 more pounds. Of course, I don't really feel like eating in this hot weather. It was in the high 90s yesterday. :-( Hooray for me!

HMR Works!

Well, I told you all about my doctor visit and how pleased he is. Well, this morning I weighed myself and I lost 39 pounds now! That's exciting because I really want to break 40 pounds. I never get past 30 pound weight loss on other diets. So, now I have no pants that fit me!

Connie Fell

Oops, we had a big boo boo yesterday. My wife, Connie, fell while moving stuff downstairs. She was carrying down some blinds with Zack, they are really long ones, and she missed the last step. She had on flip flops and so she had no support on her food. She twisted it when she fell and sort of landed on it that way. Our friend Mary was here at the house, so she watched the kids and I took Connie to the Urgent Care. Turned out to be a bad sprain. They wrapped her up and she has to stay off of it a couple of days at least. We got ice on it right away, there goes my bag of peas and onions. :-)
So, there wasn't much swelling.

Dr. Visit

Well, I went to the doc today and got a good report. Blood pressure down, sugars down, weight down, my spirits up!

However, we've found that my kidney stones have nothing to do with the parathyroid. Instead, I have the basic kind caused by calcium. Doc had no advice to give me on this. Each doc says different things. Do drink milk, don't drink milk. Very frustrating. But, this diet is eliminating other problems like salt intake. My ears are doing better, the ringing has gone away a lot. So, maybe they'll help control the calcium intake as well. Cuts the fat down to hardly anything, so I guess there will be many other benefits. We'll see.

He strongly pushed me to stay on the HMR diet. He was very excited to see what it had done for me in all areas. Wants me to lose at least 100 pounds, though I figure 125 is more like it. He has just started up the HMR program in our local hospital. I beat him to the punch and started without him, saving myself a bundle. Hey, I can read!

He thinks I will be non diabetic soon because my numbers fell so much already. And cholesteral is dropping too. Nice to get the boost from him on this. Now, if he would just pay for new clothes. I had just spent a bunch on new dress pants before starting this diet. I guess I'm going to a tailor to have them taken in. Should be cheaper than buying new pants. I had spend $600.00 on them! I never do that. Sheesh.

Going Forward

I'm mostly blogging on my diet because that's what things are all about right now. A friend gave me a ton of fruit and veggies the other day. I've got to figure out what to do with the eggplant. All I've ever done with Eggplant was Eggplant Parmigiana. I suppose I could get away with tomato sauce spiced up since that's a vegetable. But I don't know what I could do about the cheese. Boy, I miss cheese the most of everything, I think. But I also got pineapple, cucumbers, squash, broccoli and much more. Got to eat it fast.

I've now lost 37 pounds. I'm pretty excited about that. I've strayed out of the box a few times for special occasions. I know I'm not supposed to, but I still feel pretty dumb taking my little food packets to a barbecue. So I ate some great Tri-Tip. When I break 40, I'll be very happy. I don't think I've done that before. When I break 50, that will be really big. Cake and Ice Cream to celebrate! Yeah!

HMR Secrets I Don't Know Yet

Well, I've started looking for other people who are blogging about their HMR diets. I've found a few and they were interesting reading for me. One posted this recipe on her blog:


Anyway, to make pumpkins bars, I mix 2 vanilla packets, 1 tablespoon of cheesecake sugar free instant pudding, 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 2 tablespoons of the pumpkin syrup and 3 tablespoons of cold water. Then I bake them in a muffin tin (I make 6) at 375 for 13 minutes. You can eat them warm from the oven or chilled.

I don't know where you get pumpkin syrup though. Hope Barbara stops by and lets me know.

I also read about her making chicken soup crackers, lemon bars and chocolate cookies using HMR stuff. I'm missing out here. But I don't take the classes, so maybe that's why. I'll go look at the recipe book again, but I don't remember seeing any of those type of things. Would love to try making them. I'm a good cook and Connie is a great baker if I can get her the recipes.

The Little HMR Tricks I have found

Ok, here are my secrets to share with anyone on HMR. I hope some more HMR people will find my blog so we can interact more. That would be fun.

Strawberry Dip: I take some nonfat sour cream and put Splenda in it until it gets sweet. It's wonderful on Strawberries. I dip them in it. Sort of like yogurt. By the way, is nonfat yogurt allowed? You can also make some of this up and put berries in it. That's very good as well.


Strawberry/Banana Shake: Ok, so not too orginal, but sure is good. Just add frozen strawberries and half a banana to the vanilla HMR 120 Shake. Oh, so very good and thick!

Zesty Salad: Take a green salad. Add onions, fresh mushrooms, bell pepper strips and whatever other veggies you like. Top with Trader Joe's peach salsa for a real zip. Use instead of a dressing. Mighty good stuff. There's also a pineapple salsa that is great.


My original HMR counselor told me I could have air popped popcorn, so I bought one of those microwave types. I make my popcorn, spray with the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray that has no calories per spray, though I use this lightly, and then I add garlic powder to it and mix. Pretty good.

Forgive me HMR, for I have sinned!

Well, taking my Doctor's advice, I took my wife out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants in town, Clearman's Northwest Inn. They have the best filet mignon I've ever had with a big old baked potato and salad and rice stuff I actually like. (Not a big rice lover.) So, wife didn't want to go because it would force me off my diet. However, my doctor told me, my regular MD, that I should not let a diet deprive me from celebrations like that, so I ate the whole meal. Good news, I didn't gain any weight! Yea for me! I'm now down 33 lbs. It's slowing down, but that's expected. I am still losing 2-3 lbs a week and that's pretty good. In a few years I will disappear all together!

I appreciate Barbara's posts because I'm not involved in the meetings. I'm doing this all on my own. They won't counsel me on phone because I'm a diabetic. There aren't any classes in my area, but there will be soon. But, they aren't at a convenient time for me. But I don't really think it would make a big difference to me. I mean, this isn't very hard to follow. Eat the stuff in the box. Well, that's the diet! Not too hard. The fruit and veggies is what gives you your fun and change you need to keep going.

Keeping On

An update on the HMR diet is about due by now. I had cake and ice cream for our 1 celebration of 4 events, Liz's birthday, mom's birthday, Becky's birthday and Connie and my anniversary. So, I only cheated once for all of those! Anyhow, I survived it and didn't gain any weight. Pheewww. But I seem to have plateaued a bit at 32 pounds lost. Not that I'm complaining. But I've been there a few days now. But, I usually have trouble passing the 30 lb. weight loss area. But I shall persevere. :-)

So, I'm trying to find ways to help this diet along. A few things make a big difference to me. One that I have read and heard about the most is the magic of Trader Joe's. They have the most incredible salsas around. I've bought a pineapple, peach, bean and the best - a CORN salsa that is out of this world. If you add these to plain beans, on top of a salad instead of dressing, you've got a great meal. I spice up my meals with the veggies for the most part instead of the en trees themselves. Though I'm going to start working on that.

The other nice surprise is making my own Hummus. Just take a can of chickpeas (Garbanzo beans) and drain them. Put them in a food processor and let 'er rip! When it's about the consistency of mashed potatoes, add some flavor you like. I used a Green Onion dip, but I've also tried Garlic powder. Probably some of those salsas would be great too. I use this as a dip or put it on my more bland foods. Sliced cucumbers have become my green "chips" for snacks. The hummus is very low calories. It's just beans, but smack full of protein. Give it a try even if you aren't on a diet.

HMR Diet

Well, some of you may know by now that I've started on the HMR diet. It's a serious weight loss diet for people who need to drop 100 lbs. or so. Whooopee! Well, it works sort of like Jenny Craig or Nutrasystem, but it's more medically oriented. You buy meals, shakes, protein bars etc. from them. You only eat what they make except for fresh fruit and veggies. The food is not very good, I must say. Everything they make is tomato based, probably because that's the lowest calorie count sauce, but I'm very tired of tomatoes by now. But, it really works. I've lost 27 lbs. so far, 15 on this diet in the last 3 weeks. It's forcing you to eat very filling, but small portions. Whenever you get hungry you can have anything they make. While the meals are pretty crummy, the drinks are really good as are the protein bars. So, I'm in this for the long haul. The cost is high, so that's an incentive to stick to it as well.

I'll keep posting my progress here.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter today. We had a good service this morning with a lot of involvement from our Youth department. Lots of special music, that's always nice. And we ended it all with an Easter Egg Hunt in the front lawn of the church. Kids were happy as could be.

I'm struggling with allergies. Been with it since Friday. Hoping to feel better for the upcoming week as we are on vacation from school. I can use some rest.

Bob

Where Have I Been?

I haven't blogged for a very long time. It's not intentional, but there's been a lot going on. I've been very involved in Mike Huckabee's campaign for President. I've become a moderator on his forums, www.hucksarmy.com as well as working some in his grassroots campaign. I've convinced a lot of people to support Huckabee. Why do I like him so much? Well, he's a conservative Christian for one. He's a former pastor in addition to being a very successful governor of Arkansas. Time magazine named him one of the top 5 governors in the country. He's also got a lot of unique ideas.

He's for the Fair Tax, which is a consumption tax. You'd pay when you buy something new at the retail level. The IRS would be eliminated. :-) You would no longer be penalized for saving or investing your money. Plus he just has the greatest personality. He's very funny and he's a great speaker.

If you'd like to know more, leave me a comment with an email address. But you can also find me on Hucksarmy. Also, Mike has a great website found at www.mikehuckabee.com

If you go there you can read his position papers, see his videos and much more. Take a look. On Hucksarmy you will find me by the name bobrocky.

well,we got through the wedding yesterday. It was on the roof of a recreation center. At rehearsal it was very cold and windy and most of us thought it wasn'tgoing to work, but on the day of the wedding it was bright and sunny and not windy. So the view was gorgeous. It was a huge park.

I thought the ceremony went well. They had a guitarist formusic and he was excellent. The reception was downstairs and was very good BBQ beef and chicken with all the trimmings. It was so great to see Paul and get toknow Heidi. I got to spend a lotog time with my old friend, Priscilla, Paul's mom. Her 5 sisters were there as well, making it quite the family reunion.
I always referred to Paul and his sisters as my kids because we spent so much time together. Yesterday, Elizabeth said I was a grandpa with 4 grandkids now! Holy smokes! To quote Heidi. :-)

our trip to Alaska

We havehsd a great trip so far. We first went to Fairbanks where we took a great paddleboat ride down the Chena River and toured an Alaskan Village and saw how the natives made their homes, clothes and food. We saw the Susan Butcher family. She was the champion Iditerad runner for many years. She recently passed away at age 51. We bought a signed book about her favorite sled dog, Granite.

Then we took a trip to where they dredged for gold at a gold mine. The fun part was panning for gold. We all found a bit in our pans.

We then took the train down to Denali. We toured the park and saw moose, carribou, eagles,Dall sheep and Grizzly bears!

Now we are in Anchorage to see the Hurleys and do Paul's wedding.

Mom's Fire

Well, I had a scare yesterday. Around 4:00 p.m. my mom called me to tell me she had an oven fire. I was having a hard time getting the details. She kept saying there was a big fire in her oven that wouldn't go out. Her roommate was broiling some steaks and the oven went up in flames. I figured it to be a grease fire from the meat drippings or something, but mom kept saying it was plastic melting all over the oven.
Since the story wasn't real easy to clarify, I told mom to call the fire dept. But her roommate kept shouting in the background, "No, no, it will be so embarrassing!" I was getting a bit ticked that they were arguing about this so I rather DEMANDED that mom call the fire dept. and said I'd be right over. I only live about 5 minutes away, so I figured I could get there before they stopped arguing about what to do.
I got in my car and headed over there as fast as I could. As I got on Santa Gertrudes, the main street between my house and my mom's house, I saw police cars pulling out in front of me from everywhere, lights flashing and going oh so ever fast. I prayed they were going to Mom's, but I didn't know. By the time I got to the turn off into Mom's neighborhood, I could see no police cars. When I turned the corner to where I would be able to view Mom's house, there were about 6 police cars and 4 large hook and ladders. I couldn't even find a place to park and of course there were neighbors everywhere. Mom has lived in that house since 1963 and everyone knows her.
I got to the house and mom and her new roommate were standing outside by the garage with policemen standing with her and talking to her. Well, here's the low down. When I hung up, my mom did call the fire dept. and got the process in order. They must have gotten there almost immediately because I couldn't have taken more than 4 minutes to get there. The police took Mom and her roommate outside and wouldn't let them back in. (They were staring at the stove) The fire dept. got there next and got the fire out, put up fans to clear out the smoke and removed the grills, which were very hot. Turns out that someone had taken a plastic cover for the Microwave and put it in the top of the oven to get it out of the way. But, of course, didn't remember to remove it later. That's what caught fire and the plastic was in flames, dropping through the oven into the grill.
It was all over pretty quickly. I was ever so grateful for the police and fire dept. to get there so fast and they were all so nice and helpful. A police woman was there and she helped calm Mom. I'm glad La Mirada is small because it makes response time so fast and they are adding a new fire station on the other side of the city, giving our little place two fire stations. It should never take more than 5 minutes for them to reach anyone's house in La Mirada when that is finished.
So, I'm glad it wasn't anything more serious. Good to see the community support and know my mom is in good hands in an emergency.

Corky and I in Iraq

I didn't have anything to do today, so I took Corky with me on a trip to Iraq. We had a ball. What a fun place!

I didn't have anything to do today, so I took Corky with me on a trip to Iraq. We had a ball. What a fun place!

Chula Vista Here I come!

I haven't posted in way too long. Sorry, you've all probably given up on me. Well, my summer hasn't been very productive. I'm home most days watching the kids. Zack got a weekend job, but it only lasted for 2 weekends. Not sure if they'll use him anymore. He was one of those sign holders with the big arrow. Got the job for Verizon by our house. The pay was good, at least.

I'm off to Chula Vista tomorrow. Taking Zack and Liz with me. Connie will have a peaceful night. It's for a school training program on our new upgrade of software. It's good to see what is new. Remembering it all is the problem. We're staying in a motel and the kids always think that is neat. So, at least they'll get to go swimming, like they don't do that at home very day. Well, that's about it for now. In a couple of weeks we'll be off for Alaska! Can't wait.

Alaska or Bust!

In 1991 a family moved next door to me. The next time I went in my back yard three little heads popped up and said hi. They were Paul, Katrina and Emily. They were Eskimos! The second time I saw them, Emily asked me if I would be her dad. But we were very close and eventually they attended my church and school. There was no dad. The parents were divorced and dad stayed in Alaska. It had a very harsh effect on the children, especially Paul.

I took Paul under my wing and he truly was like a son to me. We did everything together. I took him on vacations with me, even to go up north and see Connie! Paul was one of my groomsmen in my wedding.

Well, after I married Connie, the family moved back to Alaska. I recently heard from Paul and he's getting married. He's marrying a gal who won $240,000.00 on Deal or No Deal. Not bad, eh? They've asked me to officiate the wedding.

I probably should have gone alone and come right back because of expenses, but we've decided to hock our lives and go for it, so the whole family is going on a 12 day trip to Fairbanks Alaska. While in Fairbanks we'll go on an 8-hour tour. See the city sights of Fairbanks, visit Gold Dredge No. 8 and cruise on an authentic sternwheeler riverboat. Includes a miner's lunch. Then we're taking the train down to Anchorage where the wedding will be. We're taking the Denali Star Train

We'll be on a relaxing trip to Denali National Park, on the the Denali Star. The scenery and small-town history along the way will bring you back to a different place in time. The best way to see Alaska is on the Railroad with award-winning service, comfortable seating, and knowledgeable tour guides are part of the fabulous rail experience. The scenery is world-class. (from travel agent)

We'll be at the National park there and see it all and then continue down on the train to Anchorage. Somewhere in there we are also going to go on a Steamboat paddle boat Sounds like too much fun to me. The timing stinks because my income drops in half during the summer, but we'll make it somehow. We always do.

I found out last night that neither Cingular or Verizon work in Alaska, so we'll be cellphoneless®. But, I just found out that the hotel has wireless so my iphone should work just fine! Yea!

Bees, Bees, Bees!

Speaking of bees, this morning after church was over, someone came to me telling me I had to go outside immediately. There, right in front of the church in a small tree, was a very lively bunch of bees swarming around a new hive. We've had a few since I've been there. Unfortunately, this one is very low. Any child could reach it with a stick and a teenager could just touch it easily. So, church is over for us, but I've got the Cambodian church coming in next in a few minutes. I find Pastor Tuy and take him over to the hive and tell him to make sure none of their kids get near the hive. So, he tells everyone to stay away and of course they all go right to it to look. But lookings ok. The bees were friendly enough. It's the touching I'm worried about.

So tomorrow, we have to cut the yard space in half to keep our precious kids away from the hive. I'll try to take some pictures. But, I was happy that so many of my congregation were aware of the recent bee problems we've been discussing. Someone gave me a number for a beekeeper who will simply relocate the hive instead of destroy it. I would have done that anyway, being a bee/honey lover. Maybe I should be paid for the hive instead of being charged for taking it away. I think it was about $100.00 last time we had to do this. It was neat to be so close, however. I've never been very scared of bees. We used to catch them all the time when I was a kid.

An Evening at the Theater

My wife got to use her nursing skills tonight. We went out to the theater to see a play called Greater Tuna. While we were in the lobby awaiting the play to begin and elderly lady collapsed and was having a very hard time breathing. She turned gray and began perspiring and couldn't catch her breath. Connie took her pulse, which was 110, not good. It appeared she might be having a heart attack. Unfortunately, she wouldn't answer Connie's questions, wanting everyone to leave her alone, but her friends who brought her and the theater management certainly did want her around until the Paramedics showed up. They got there quite quickly and took over. I was really proud of the job Connie did taking care of this lady in very difficult circumstances.

Technorati: Connie theater

Quick Scare

When we drove home today from church we saw that the doors to the house and garage were wide open! I did what any Maclectite would do and rushed to my office to see if my Mac was there. It was. That's how I tell if we've been robbed or not. Anyway, nothing was gone, but the door and screen door were both wide open. The garage door, the small, not the large door, was open too, but nothing gone that I can tell. We finally decided it was just the wind and the doors must not have been closed all the way when we left. It's been VERY windy here the last week. I'm thankful everything was all right.

Connie Home and Doing Fine

Forgive me for taking so long to get this up. I have been pretty busy taking care of Connie and trying to take care of the school/church stuff at the same time. Anyway, Connie is doing great. Thanks for all your prayers. The Dr. removed a mass about the size of a soup spoon ladle. It had nerves wrapped around the mass, which he had to peel off. Doing that caused some numbness to Connie's right side of her face. She can't complete a smile or raise her eyebrow on that side, but that will come back as the nerves reattach themselves to whatever they attach themselves too.

There's not too much pain. The worst part is that Connie can't move her head from side to side for 2 weeks. We don't want her to tear open anything. The Dr. gave her permission to go to church on Easter Sunday. Originally he said no to any travel in the car. So, she has to promise not to hug anyone! That will be hard for my wife. She hugs everyone at church.

We thank you for your prayers. We have seen some spectacular healings in the last couple of weeks. God is good.

Different Perspectives

Yesterday Elizabeth came into the house from the backyard all upset. "What's wrong?"I asked her.

"There's something in the pool moving around!" she cried.

Of course, I already knew what it would be. She had found some mosquito larvae in the pool. (Hmmm, who's not putting enough chlorine in?)

But my mind raced back to when I was a boy. Finding mosquito larvae was great stuff! I could usually talk myself and any other boy into believing they were baby tadpoles. Or I'd get a fish net and grab a bunch of them to feed to my tropical fish. A jar made a new wiggler aquarium. They were so fun. Boys and girls, never the twain shall meet.

Connie's Surgery

As many of you know, Connie will be having surgery on Monday, April 2. She has a growth in front of her ear that needs to be removed. She has had a biopsy on it and was told it was benign. She'll be going in for surgery around 9:30 a.m. I'll be taking off from the school for at least 2 days and we'll see how it goes from there. Mom will be watching the kids for us. Don't know what we'd do without her. Pray it all goes smoothly. They say it will take 4-5 hours for the surgery.

Bob

Puppy in the Pantry

My friend, Stephanie, has a Bull Mastiff. I think this is such a cute picture of him hiding in her pantry that I wanted to share it with you all. Hope you enjoy.

Many Faces of Bob Video

Well, my friends should get a kick out of this. An admin on my website, Maclectic.com, made this up. Quite a surprise and a lot of silly fun. Take a look.

Deanne's Birthday

Today was a very special day at church. Deanne Schenk celebrated her 85th birthday. Her granddaughter, Colleen, decorated the fellowship hall so beautifully and prepared a luncheon celebration following the church service. It was a great time.

Sammy the Wrestler

One of our teachers, Mrs. Stephanie, bought a puppy recently. It's a Bull Mastiff, so it's going to get very big. I love this picture. He's on their trampoline wrestling a wrestler doll.

Elizaabeth Trying to Put Aslan to Bed

I seemed to have lost the sound to this on the upload, but it's still pretty funny.

The Big Button

The big silver button is just an experiment I'm working on. Just ignore it if you wish. If you click on it and view it I make a few cents.

Bob

Boy Marks Powerbook with Sharpie

Connie's Health

Most of you know by now that Connie had quite a scare recently. She called me at home as I was getting ready to take the kids to school. She had something happen to her that seemed like a mini-stroke. She became very dizzy and her face went numb. Her co-worker immediately got her into ER (She was already at work when it happened.) Well, she seems to have recovered that and there haven't really been any other episodes, but when the did the MRI and the Cat Scans, they found some growths in her neck and on her thyroid. Tomorrow she will be getting a biopsy on her neck. There's a lump on her gland, right behind her ear. You can feel the lump with your finger. What's on the thyroid, we have no idea. They'll be doing an ultrasound for that. The biopsy is tomorrow morning, Monday, Jan. 29.

Your thoughts and prayers, mostly your prayers, are coveted at this time.

Thanks. We love you!

Bob

Oregon vacation

Hi everyone. I'm on vacation in Oregon. If you'd like to read about our trip, go to this URL. (Sorry, you'll have to copy and paste it into your browser. Blogger seems to have eliminated the ability to place clickable URLS for some reason.

http://maclectic.com/trip/


Enjoy,

Bob

Elfin' Bob

Okay, some of us need some cheering up. If this doesn't do it, I don't know what will!

Take a look and see

http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=91e4c17c6f3513d53c337c1G06121614

Connie in the Hospital and Back Home

Most of you know by now that Connie was admitted into ER last Friday morning. I received a phone call that morning from Connie that she was in ER and had a horrible headache and half her face was numb. I rushed to the hospital and stayed the day and night there. After CAT scans, EKG, and MRI tests, they found nothing. They think it might have been what they call a TIA, which is a very small stroke. The doctor did say she had slurred speech as well.

She has made a complete recovery and seems fine. Her boss gave her the week off, so she's resting. We go on vacation soon, so we're hoping she's up to it by then.