College Bound

James and I are now enrolled in Barstow Community College (home of the Vikings!). We have both registered for our Spring 2008 classes. I took 13 units and James signed up for 12. We start January 14th. I have often talked about going back to school; that's usually as far as it went - talk. This time I did it. I want my nursing degree and I am going to get it! I transferred in (have already completed) 52 units, and James has his Associate Of Arts degree. He is going for his second and a transfer to a 4 year; I just want my Associate Of Science in Nursing (for now, maybe a bachelor's degree later?). I have several classes I need, so I will have to go Summer and Fall before I can apply to the program at Victor Valley College (Barstow's sister college 30 miles away). In January I am taking Microbiology (5 units), Developmental Psychology (3 units), Elementary Algebra (4 units), and an Adaptive PE class (they teach you how to strengthen a disabled body!) (1 unit). Wow! I was not sure about going full time, but oh well. I can't remember James' classes, I will post them later. Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Bela!

Today is the 125th birthday of Bela Lugosi. I am an ardent vampire fan and Bela was a childhood idol. He was immensely proud of his roles as Dracula. He even requested to be buried in his vampire cape! Happy Birthday Bela, the undead can keep celebrating year after year!

Our New Car!!

We did it! We bought a new car yesterday. This is our new 2006 Mustang! We love it. We had been searching for several months for the exact car we wanted. We had already allowed two cars to be sold out from underneath us. I wanted a large down payment, but thanks to the government, I have not received my back pay yet. I wanted specific things on the car (Grey, blue, light green or black color, v6, manual transmission, leather interior, Shaker 500 stereo system, an MP3 player jack, low mileage and a reasonable price) Over the last two months, I have found 2 cars that have had all or most of these things within Southern California. I had already been approved for a loan, but I wanted to put something down. Well, those other two cars came and went. When I found this one (It has all the things I wanted except the mp3 jack) I could not wait any longer. So we bought it! We got it for almost $4,000 less than they wanted and it is great. We are very happy. I have always wanted a Mustang and here it is!!

One Month Report

It has been a little over one month since we started this new eating habit. I started out at 216 (one week before my first post, I started to diet), and James started out at 223. The results are in! Steve weighed in at 196 this morning. That's a cool 20 lbs. James weighed in at 205, a very respectable 18 pounds. We owe it all to the South Beach Diet and our new love of walking (Thanx Laura and Gordon!). We have reached a happy medium on the walks, twice a day 2.0 and 1 1/2 miles respectively. I did not have time to do a third. My goal is 31 more pounds, I know I can do it.

Carolyn & Kristin Visit

Our dear friends from San Francisco, Carolyn and Kristin paid us a visit. They were on their way to Las Vegas last week and were travelling through Barstow. Luckily for us, they arraigned to meet us. We were so happy they were coming! We had such a great visit. I had not seen them in almost 10 years. We had actually lost touch until I saw Carolyn's email address on a piece of mail someone else sent me! I took a chance and asked if the owner of the address was her, and bingo! I found my friend.

They stayed a week in Vegas, having a great time I'm sure! When they were here in Barstow I was telling them how hard it was to get specialty items for our diet. We do not like fish so we substitute tofu for any seafood. Well, you just can't get many soy products in Bartstow! Anyway, they were so sweet, they took it upon themselves to pick up some of these products in Vegas and deliver them to us on their way back through. I could not believe it! How nice is that? Now we are eating soy daily, even shelling those wonderful Edamame. Thanks CAROLYN & KRISTIN!! We also got to spend several more hours talking over dinner before they had to leave for the 7 hour trip back to San
Francisco. We really enjoyed our visit and can't wait to see them again!