mda:re-boot

I started volunteering as a counselor for the Muscular Dystrophy Association summer camp back when I was 16. Let's see, that was the summer of 1996. WHOA! My cousin Lyle has a non-progressive type of muscular dystrophy called central core disease. There are over 40 different neuro muscular diseases...MD is just an umbrella term.

So, Lyle is an only child and so am I. We were born 2 days apart. So we just say we are siblings. Ever since I can  remember, he'd talk about how much fun he'd have at camp. He loved it. And as soon as I turned 16, it was time for me to join in the MDA summer camp family. So I did. It was a week of meeting long lasting friends and helping kids to have as much fun as possible!

MDA has made a lot of changes in the last few years. Our summer camp at Brandon Springs was moved, volunteers were not asked back, and even Jerry Lewis was not allowed to host the tel-a-thon this year.

The only thing that doesn't change is change itself. Even if we think it is bad.

When the going gets tough....the tough has a camp REUNION!!! That's exactly what we did the 1st weekend in August. About 25 of us showed up and it was a blast! We went up on a Friday and came back on Sunday.

Betty brought old camp pictures...good memories!

Companion dog doing one of its tricks. It was amazing.

Lunch time. The food wasn't too bad.

Old friends and lots of memories were shared.

My cousin/brother Lyle. Every time I am around Lyle and Kyle, I have hard time!!!  "Hey come here Lyle, I mean Kyle." See...it is hard!!

Joe Lee and his famous "tea pot" song and dance.

Camp is not camp without singing the YMCA at every meal. Here I am dancing with Dustin, one of my 1st campers....my has he grown!!!

I was so excited to show Lyle Kyle where I spent a week of my summers of over 10 years. (see, I'm doing it again!!!!)

Shawn, Kyle and I went on a tour of camp and saw some wildlife. Later, Kyle and I saw a skunk!! YIKES!

Pool time!

A camp tradition: singing "friends in low places."

we sang....

...and sang some more!

time for Kyle to be fish bait. just kidding!

Kevin and Kyle ready to catch some dinner.

J.R., you must cook it first!

Shawn has mad camera skills.

Joe Lee and Dustin caught a fish by talking to it...who knew!?

As always, Betty's candy stash. Some things never change!

we played apples to apples and I WON! we had a 16 person game going too.

And finally, Mrs. Norma....the lady that made camp happen for so many years. We love you!



It was so much fun to be back at camp, if only it was for the weekend.  Hopefully we can do a yearly reunion. I grew up at camp and I am so thankful to have the experience I did helping others and making friendships!

happy birthday mom!

Since my mom heard that we took my mother-in-law to Como Steakhouse, she decided she wanted to go there for her birthday. That means that I had Como 2 times within 6 days. I'm not complaining!

I had the same thing I did the week prior. Mom and dad loved it. It's worth the drive!

Happy Birthday Mom!

food for finance: tj and his dj

(healthy) food for finance is a column where we talk about how fitness and finance correlate with each other. join us on our journey to be both physically and financially fit.

It is so strange how things work out. How God acts in His mysterious ways. We're coming up on a year that we've really been tackling our financial plan to become completely debt-free. For the last few years, Kyle and I applied for part-time jobs. Nothing panned out. Nobody even called us in for an interview. We thought if we had part-time jobs, we could apply more money to our debt snowball. Right when we completed baby step 2, a part time job landed in Kyle's lap. How crazy is it that this happened after we were debt-free except the house?!

Meet your trivia jockey and disc jockey!

That's right! Kyle now hosts a live trivia show 2 nights a week. He's been doing this since last February. Basically, his old manager at his "day job" was moving and asked Kyle if he wanted to take over his shows (or maybe Kyle asked him) and voila!! Kyle works for a company called Challenge Entertainment where he gets all the questions for the shows.

Here is how it works in case you've never been to a live trivia show. Kyle reads a question, then plays a song while the team comes up with an answer. (This is where I come in. Every week I make the music playlists for the night.) You have to have your answer in before the song is over. He then reads the answer. Whoever has the most points at the end of the night wins! It is free to play and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners all get gift cards to the restaurant. Win-Win.  

Our friends have come out a couple of times to play. Team name: Shut the Front Door.  

I come to the shows some...depends on the week. This part-time job has helped us with baby step 3 or whatever unexpected emergency that comes up. And what a cool part time job! Much better than delivering pizzas or bagging groceries. Kyle really enjoys it and he has some serious teams that come out every week. They are hard core trivia players. He's met some pretty cool folks as well. It is something he enjoys doing week after week. Come on out if you're in the area! This job is another reason why it wasn't that hard for us to cut our cable. We're so busy now-a-days, especially with trivia. Any free time we have goes towards running. Did I mention Kyle is training for the St. Jude MARATHON?! Who has time for t.v? Well, maybe Kyle does on the weekends. It is football season after all.



food coma

Kyle's mom came to visit in July. When she comes, you better be rested. She is a go-getter! Kyle gets some of his energy from her! Friday night we went and saw Huey Lewis & the News at the Botanic Garden. I was not looking forward to the heat, but a shower came through and cooled it down a bit.

I asked a guy at the swag booth to take our picture. Then the guy said "I think I know you. Did you go to Skyview?" Yup, a guy in Kindergarten remembered me! My parents have a picture of him and I at Kindergarten graduation. Honestly, I didn't recognize him but I know I still have a baby face so I am not that surprised that he remembered me...I look the same!

We found a great place on the lawn and unpacked our picnic. We had a great time. Great music and great food. I wished Huey would've played longer because he did not get all of his songs in!

We got up the next morning and went to the farmers market. Then we picked up lunch at Frank's Deli. I took them to my new fancy downtown office for a tour and to eat our take-out.

The best club in town is at Frank's. It.Is.Amazing.



Action shot of Kyle enjoying his lunch.

We picked up some guacamole from Las Delicias. They are always at the farmers market. They truly have the best guac in town!

Next, we took a break at home then headed down to Tunica to to hit up the outlet malls. Time to eat again so we ended up at Como Steak house.

Como Steakhouse is the best steak in the South. It is about 45 minutes south of Memphis in Como, MS.

They grill their steaks on this open indoor grill. To the left of the grill is a freezer where you can see all the cuts of meat. 

Kyle got the 22 oz Ribeye. His mom got the fillet.

And I got the shish kabob....and my potato loaded! I had to get a dogie bag! Good stuff. I high recommend taking a trip there. They have other food besides steak. Do it! Your tummy will thank you!

To top off the weekend, my mother-in-law cooked a meal for us the next night.  Stewed squash, peas, onions and cucumbers soaked in vinegar, homemade corn bread (made in my Meme's iron skillet) covered with tomato gravy.

Now you see when my mother-in-laws comes to town, I need a week to recoop! A week to get over my food coma and rest from all the sight seeing. We covered 5 counties on Saturday alone. I want some of her energy! And I hope I have that much energy when I'm in my 50s! Can't wait until she comes back!

ckc: cardiac kids camp

I work with a great group of ladies.  They loaned me out for the week again so I could go work at Cardiac Kids Camp last month.  I went last year and had a blast.

Here is Dr. Goldberg's awesome drawing of the heart that he does every year. He is one of the heart surgeons at Le Bonheur.   

The saying goes "if all your friends jumped from a bridge would you?"  I sure would! I jumped out of this tree. Can you see the ladder at the bottom of the tree?  It is tiny compared to the tall 40 foot tree I climbed. Then look high....there is a platform that you sit on to get your harness changed and adjusted. The hippie guy that helped me at the top was my best friend. I clung to him like no other!

 

Then you jump. I thought the hardest part would be for me to climb the tree. Oh no. It was the jumping part. I told hippie guy to count to 3 or I'd never go. 1 2 3...

 These pictures don't even do it justice. After you free fall for about 5 seconds, you swing back and forth. It was the scariest thing I've done. The kids talked me into it. I was like "well, I'll go if we have time after all of you go." Then they all went. DARN! I had to go. But I did it! Peer pressure. 

I have tons of pics from camp but I can't post them due to HIPPA. Camp is a great time for cardiac kids to get together and share their fears and make friendships with others who have the same challenges. It is my favorite week of the summer and I am so glad I got to go back this year.  We did so many fun things. I loved making new friendships.  Jumping out of a tree was just a tiny part of the fun!

food for finance: budgets and beyond

(healthy) food for finance is a column where we talk about how fitness and finance correlate with each other. join us on our journey to be both physically and financially fit.

"He who fails to plan, plans to fail" -a proverb (and a quote from the Robbie McWilliam book for all my work friends!)

I had my 1st garage sale!!! I went to my friend Krista's house and had a grand time.

Here is just some of the trash treasures that I thought I could sell.

WOW we could fit 2 SUVs full of stuff. And I still had more I could've sold but it was last minute. So we dropped off our stuff then Kyle and I had a dinner date at Golden India.

Since the whole world knows that Kyle and I are in the middle of doing Dave Ramsey's plan, I feel the need to talk about our budget! A common question I get, "so can you go out to eat?"  or "Will Dave Ramsey let you eat?"  and you know where this is going.  Keep the jokes coming! 

All a budget is.....is you telling your money what to do. Rather than the opposite.  Just like I choose what kind of food I want to eat. I can choose to eat healthy food OR I can choose to eat unhealthy food.  If I pick eating unhealthy food all the time, my health would suffer. If I choose not to have a budget, my finances will suffer. So I choose to have a budget!!!

Oh the dreaded B word!!!!  I never had one until Kyle and I were married!  People think being on a budget is like tying yourself to your house and never leaving.  I've always been a frugal person to an extent.  My Aunt Connie says I get that from my Daddy Bob (my grandfather).  I like to buy things on sale, I HATE owing people money, and so on. When Kyle and I sat down and added up our monthly income and did the budget, I discovered something!!! We have more money than I thought....IF we stuck to our budget. Kyle used to eat out for lunch a lot. So if he and I both brought our lunch to work, we could save "X" amount. Brilliant! Then I started to car pool with a friend from work.  Wow, more money we are saving. Then we decided on a set amount for groceries. When it's gone, it's gone.  No more impulse buying for me on the Kroger mark down aisle! You know you've done it too.  This girl has to eat! Don't mess with my food! I might eat pretty healthy, but I do EAT! 

Basically, anything we spend goes on the budget. I, however, hate doing the budget. That is one reason Kyle and I are great for each other. He loves it! I just review it about every 2 weeks.  But it is an open conservation between the both of us, all the time. So when birthdays come, we have to tell each other how much we are spending or give each other a limit. Keeps us accountable so one of us doesn't commit financial infidelity (which is very common now-a-days.) 

We have an entertainment part of the budget. It is a budget MUST! We'd be crazy if we didn't have fun! To make it extend even further, we like to find "half off" things to do (or free).  That is how we ended up at Golden India.  My mom gave me a coupon book for Christmas with a lot restaurants, things to do, etc. Anyone that knows me, knows I would much rather eat at a hole in the wall place than a chain place.  So the coupon book my mom gave me was perfect!  They have mostly local eateries with usually "buy one get one free" coupons.

Now... back to Golden India. I had Indian food when I spent a summer in England and it was YUM! Then Kyle 1st had it at an Indian reception we went to for the Shah wedding. It was time for us to try it again! And for half off!

 Kyle asked for medium heat. We know how Indian food is. Medium to him equals spicy in Indian-land! He was sweating just eating the medium.

 I don't remember what I got but it was GOOD! I told the waiter I wanted mine "negative mild." In Angie language that means NOT A HINT OF SPICY!! There were 4 Indian guys that were sitting 2 tables behind us. They ordered "very spicy" and when they brought out the food, we all coughed! It was that strong. Even the smell from the steam got to Kyle and I. Then I hear one of the guys say "yeah, that might be too spicy for me." Even the Indian guy couldn't take the heat.  Affirmation that we made the right spice choice!



The next day was the garage sale. And it was in the July heat. I made a total of.............

....180-something dollars!!! This was all I had left! My trash was someone else's treasure! Success! You ask where my money went? To baby step 3 of course!

i like big butts

Kyle and 3 of his friends are starting up a BBQ team. Forth of July weekend was really "experimental weekend" and I was one of the taste testers! Their first competition is in October so there is a lot of cooking to be had!

There was also a lot of time to kill waiting on the food so the boys played washers.

Greg is a pro.

The set up.

 They are entering in the ribs contest. Don't they look great?

The rib huddle!

Each of the boys did different seasonings.

Here was the fun part. They had each of the ribs on separate plates with numbers on them. We did not know who cooked what. We scored the ribs and the sauces. I was in hog heaven. Pun intended!

Greg explaining the judging process!

It was intense...

...and a very hard job!

Kyle enjoying his hard work.

I really liked the BBQ team name "We like big butts" however, I think they are going with another name. It is still up in the air. Last weekend we did another trial run and they actually did smoke a butt. I ate way too much and had to lay down. I was in a BBQ induced coma. But I came out if it and even had dessert! Special thanks to Katie and Greg for hosting and to Katie for taking the pictures above!  I can't wait for more taste testings!