Photo Contest

Now is one of those times I wish I had kept up on my blog and had thousands of readers to encourage to vote for Janay's photo on Facebook. I wish it were a true photo contest, but unfortunately it isn't because the winner will be based on popular vote and not the actual quality of the photo. You do need a Facebook account to vote. Voting runs through January 3rd and you can vote once every 24 hours. Below is the photo we entered.

Facebook Photo Contest

Writer's Block

It appears the case of writer's block I developed lasted over one year. Maybe it's time to come out of hiding and speak what's on my mind....nah....no one wants to listen to that.

Cruise Life

I could really get used to the cruise life. We had an awesome time floating in the Caribbean. We met some wonderful people, saw some beautiful places and ate some wonderful food. I could go on and on about everything we did, but I won't bore you. A cruise vacation allows us to literally forget about all of our responsibilites and enjoy the moment. That's what vacation is all about. I love being on deck to see the sun rise. Seeing other parts of the world makes you realize just what a big God we serve. He created all of this and yet He still cares about even the smallest detail in my life? Simply amazing. We are once again refreshed and ready for the real world. Time to start planning the next one!

Sunrise Over St. Thomas



Janay Pondering Life



Our Ship - MS Eurodam

Vacation Time

Once again the blog has been ignored. The photography business has kept me very busy and now it's time for a little break. Janay and I will be cruising the beautiful waters of the Eastern Caribbean next week. Some think we've become cruise junkies; maybe so. It has more to do with the fact that cruises just "work" for us. Vacations in a wheelchair can be difficult. Wheelchairs and sand don't mix. Wheelchairs and mountains don't work. Cruises allow us to escape the real world and forget about our responsibilties. Janay knows that anywhere I go on the ship there will be someone to help me if I need it. I feel completely independent again, even if I'm really not. I don't really care where the ship goes. Just put me on it and raise the anchor!

My Crazy Wife

Janay went skydiving on October 4th. I think she's crazier than I am! Just one more thing she can check off her "Things To Do" list.

July

Looks like I completely missed blogging in the month of July. I'm happy to report that everyone in the crash in my last entry is healing well. Kyle got his jaw unwired a couple weeks ago. He lost around 30lbs from his liquid diet. Mom's arm and head have healed well. She's still having some short-term memory issues, but I believe she will continue to improve with time. The accident was only two months ago and it's amazing to see how well she's doing. I thank God she is still with us and know He will continue to see her through. She returns to work part-time next week. Kayla is doing well too. She just recently got behind the wheel for the first time since the accident and did a great job. I'm proud of the way she has rebounded.

Janay got a new car on July 11th. I traded my Vette in on a Kia Soul. It's a cool little car that Janay picked out all by herself. I never thought I would own a Kia and I tried to find every reason not to buy it, but it met every requirement I threw at it, so we bought it. I enjoyed the Vette for the short time I had it, but in the end it just wasn't me. Seeing Janay so happy with her new car brought me more joy than the Vette ever did.

Accident

As most of you know, my mom, my niece Kayla and my nephew Kyle were in a terrible car accident on June 6th. My niece was driving my mom's car with my mom in the passnger seat and my nephew in the back seat behind the passenger. According to the police report, my niece got onto the shoulder of the road and overcorrected three times before hitting a telephone pole on the passenger side.

I'm not going to go into long details, but it is only by the grace of God no one was hurt any worse than they were. The thought of losing any or all of them turns my stomach. Accidents can happen so fast to anyone. You hear daily reports on the news about serious accidents and I have to admit that many times I don't give it a second thought. Everything changes when you get a phone call that your family is in the accident.

The short ending to this is, everyone is going to heal. I appreciate all of my family a little more now than before the accident. That might be hard to understand unless you've been through something like this. Please continue to pray for total healing for everyone.

The link below is to some photos of the car, Kyle's injuries and mom's injuries. I will warn you that some of the photos are graphic.

Crash Photos

The Joys of a Long-Haired Cat

Sprockett hates getting brushed. I swear he has a split personality that kicks in when the brush comes out. As you can see, he needed it. Blood was shed during this session too....my blood, not his.



Sara Lee watching the madness. I think she's laughing inside.

Rainy Day Post

The rainy weather has forced us to postpone our trip to King's Island, so I thought I would post a few photos from a couple of late season senior photography sessions. The photography business has been very slow so far this year. The first quarter is always a slow time, but this has been even more so. Is it a result of a slow economy? I don't know. Business will pick up before long and I will be wishing my weekends weren't so hectic, so I'll enjoy the quiet while it lasts.

Steven

Kyle

They Made It!

On Saturday, May 2nd, Janay and her sister Stacey completed the 33rd running of the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. They walked and ran the 13.1 mile course that starts in downtown Indy, winds through the west side of town, makes a lap around the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and finally ends back in downtown. I'm proud of them both for doing so well. Great job and I love you both!!

Thanks Don for taking photos while I was still sleeping!

Stimulating the Economy

Janay and I are doing our part to pull this country out of the recession. October can't get here soon enough! Anyone else want to join us? After all, it is for the good of our country.

March Results

The weight didn't come off as fast this month as it did last month, but I expected that. The important thing is that it did continue to come off. The proof is in the numbers. The purpose of these posts are to keep myself encouraged and stay focused. My trainer hasn't pushed me hard enough to stick with the workout routine. I think I can count the number of workout sessions for the month on one hand. Maybe this month my trainer will push me more :)

Monday of Week 5


Thursday of Week 5


Monday of Week 6 (Ouch....eating Mexican twice showed!!)


Thursday of Week 6


Monday of Week 7


Thursday of Week 7


Monday of Week 8


Thursday of Week 8

March Plan

So the plan for March is to incorporate some excercise into my routine. I've got the diet working, down 16lbs for February, so let's see what kind of results I can get adding excercise in. I've fired up the treadmill and cranked it to a blazing 0.5 mph to get the heart pumping. I wore the wrong shoes the first time on it and only lasted 5 minutes. The comfy shoes were slipped on the next time and the 10 minute mark was reached. Baby steps, people.....baby steps.

Janay pulled the weight bench into my "studio" along with various weights for my lifting pleasure. My arms are aching as I type this. My trainer pushed me to limits I never thought was possible. With his help, the transformation has begun. The best part is.....he only accepts treats as payment. The photo below was taken during our initial consultation.

Proud and Inspired

Watching Janay and her dad compete in a fitness competition recently left me with a sense of pride and inspiration that I haven't felt in quite a while. I'm always proud to tell others that Janay is my wife, but this was different. This was the first time Janay had ever competed in any sporting event. I knew she was well prepared, but I was still nervous for her. Regardless of how she finished I would have been proud of her, but she kicked the competition to the curb and finished second.....second in her first competition. Rock on!



Her dad, Jerry, was competing against guys 35 years younger than him. Watching what he can do at 58 inspired me to make myself better at 37. It was neat to watch others watch him compete because you could see the same feelings of inspiration come over them. No one will ever know how many people he has inspired, either by watching him at the competition or seeing the hours he puts in at the gym, but I would be willing to bet you would need to do a whole lot more than take off your shoes to count them all. One thing I do know is that he can add me to the list of those he has inspired. Thank you Jerry!

I'm Fat

Sound harsh? Well, maybe it is, but maybe that's what I need. I've gained about 20lbs. since I was burned in April of '06. I spent much of 2006 and 2007 sitting or laying with my foot elevated dealing with the injury.....waiting for the healing. The doctors told me to keep eating because my body needed the vitamins and nutrients to heal itself. I forget a lot of stuff, but I clearly remembered those words from the doctor and reminded Janay often. The healing finally arrived in December of '07.....the weight arrived before that. 2008 was a year of celebration....celebrating the healing of my leg and having those days behind us. 2008 brought us two cruises......with them came lots of great memories and.....some more pounds. 2009 is here and it's time to get serious. I passed on the typical January 1st resolution. I've never been a believer in them. I had my eye on February.

Last fall before our cruise my mom told me about a diet a coworker told her about, the 3 Day Cardiac Diet. I tried the diet, and it worked as promised, but I didn't stick with it. I decided to stick with it through all of February and see what kind of results I could get. I thought photos of the scale showing my weight on weigh-in day would be a good way to track my weight. Then I thought about blogging about it telling my friends and family to hold me accountable, but I chickened out, most likely from fear of failure. The photos below tell the story. I suppose you've figured out by now the diet was successful for me or you wouldn't be reading this. I'm down sixteen pounds through diet only. My original plan was to get some weight off first, then incorporate some exercise in. I'm anxious to see what the scales say at the end of March.

Monday of Week 1


Thursday of Week 1


Monday of Week 2


Thursday of Week 2


Monday of Week 3


Thursday of Week 3


Monday of Week 4


Thursday of Week 4

Correction......

......someone very dear to me is not happy about my previous post, so please disregard the previous post consider it to be false rumors. Do not, I repeat, do not harass to postee about all of the goofy stuff she said/did on vacation :)

Love you Mom!!

Return from Vacation

I wish I just returned from vacation, but the truth is the blog has been ignored lately. I had someone tell me yesterday to put something....ANYTHING....new on my blog, so here I am. I guess a little vacation recap is in order.


We had a wonderful time on the cruise. There are so many funny stories that I don't know where to start. Maybe I'll start with when we got off the plane in Tampa and mom's pants are covered with coffee. Mom pointed at Aunt Cindy as the spiller. Aunt Cindy pointed at mom. Whoever spilled it, there was no doubt where it landed. Or maybe the true story of mom collecting aluminum cans to bring home while walking at the hotel in Tampa. Seriously....no lie! How about mom telling the waiter on the cruise ship she would like her check separate from ours. I'm starting to see a pattern here in my stories.


There are many, many more, but most of them are those "you had to be there" type of laughs. I am truly blesses to be able to go on vacation with family and enjoy every moment together.

Almost Time

I had a friend tell me he noticed my Corvette had taken over my blog. I couldn't argue too much since the last two entries were about Janay's new car, but my blog hasn't been getting much attention period. Life has been keeping me busy, but that will change in thre weeks. Oh yeah!! It's almost time for the cruise. Buffet time, baby!

Some New Photos

The blog has been on the backburner lately. The busy season for my photography business is in full swing. I did manage to take some good photos of the new toy. A week ago I spent about 12 hours polishing and sealing the paint. It sounds like a lot of work, but I enjoyed every minute of it.