MICHELLES 45TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

MICHELLES 45TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

so, i hadnt really had an enjoyable dinner for myself that i wanted just for me, even when its mothers day, i conceed to allow craig to have a steak, which forces me to go get some form of fish dinner, to minimize the caloric/fat/carb intake.

but THIS year, i wanted to have something i hadnt had in a LOOOONG time...totally against my diet on all accounts, but i had a craving, and my birthday was an upcoming event, and i deserved it.

i wanted to have PIZZA HUT PIZZA!
it had, literally been YEARS since i had my fav pizza last. and it was time, and i was due.

so, the quest came to find a dine-in pizza hut. believe it or not, theres one in my local area! ONE!
so when craig came home, we headed out.

we got there, seated ourselves. wasnt very busy, we were the third table with ppl at it, there was about 10 of us there, about.

took the waitress forever to get to us.

she asked what we wanted to drink, and we made our orders.

we each ordered our own pizza.
 i also ordered a salad. and wasnt told that the bowls were on the buffet, and i could go help myself.

eventually, i went and did it on my own. its my birthday after all, and i wanted a salad.

we enjoyed our pizzas.

 craig and daniel both had some sort of meat lovers pizza, with as much meat as you can pile on top of the pizza.

i had a super supreme because i like veggies on my pizza.

they ate about half of theirs before they were done. me? one slice!

i was DONE! finished! couldnt have put another peice in if i wanted too, i was STUFFED!

they had another meal, i had a weeks worth left over, lol

MICHELLE

IT JUST FELT LIKE A PONYTAIL KINDA DAY

Pics of me in ponytails.
ENJOY!
MICHELLE

PIC OF ME

MICHELLE

CRAIGS 49th BIRTHDAY

the man of the hour

Craig and Daniel

a Guest, seems to always be at these family events...*sigh*

craig enjoying his standard celebratory dinner, STEAK, with a side of APPLES and a POTATO

daniels standard dinner, a BURGER with BACON on it, and "no stuff" with a side of fries.

paris bought his own dinner. a BURGER, with allot of ranch...

my dinner: SEASONED TALAPIA with a side of  SEASONED VEGGIES and Steamed BROCCOLI.

daniel and paris having a conversation...

craig chose NOT to have deseet, mainly because he was filled with dinner...so he let daniel have the dessert hed have gotten, an APPLE something, topped with a scoop of VANILLA ICE CREAM and drizzled in CARAMEL

of course that meant that paris also HAD to have his own dessert, he opted for a cheesecake.
folks, let me tell you, that was the LARGEST slice of cheesecake i had ever seen, period! hard to tell in the pic, but it looked like it was an 8oz piece, seriously.

GIFT GIVING TIME! sorry about the bag they were in, it was what was handy at the moment, lol

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE..towel. this man LOVEs trains, so it was fitting for him to have this for a gift.

craig fancies himself a kind of HIPPIE, mostly just for the tie-died stuff, and the music...so when i found these towels, i HAD to get them for him..

MORE GIFTS!

PENS! the man NEVER goes WITHOUT making sure he has a pen in his pocket, a true nerd, except he DOESNT have the pocket protector...lol (im working on that one,,lol)

PURPLE (his fav color) NOT BOOKS the size of his pockets.
one of my pet peeves about my wonderful husband is, the fact he carries around a buch of loose papers torn to the size of his pocket to write notes on as he needs to. THATS not the pet peeve, its associated tho.
when craig bends over with that massive  bunch of papers in his pockets, they ALL fall out and...scatter, and it takes craig a minute or two to gather them all up...frustrates me.
so, this was a gift  out of frustration for watching the happles smess over and over and over again...
USE THEM HONEY! i dont want too see those silly loose papers falling and blowing and getting wet anymore...

mans an eagle scout, and he also, never goes without a flashlight in his pocket. PURPLE at that!

he also, can juggle! my hubby is versitaile, lol...
so, i found these  balls, thought, well he collects them, hers some more.
ENJOY HONEY!

MICHELLE

FATHERS DAY 2011

This was craigs FIRST official fathers day as a DAD and not a step dad.
he Earned it too!
glad you managed to survive most of these tough teen years, honey! i know ill be glad when they are over with. lol

i enjoy holidays. most of them, anyway.
and i enjoy when i can share something creative with someone on one of them. it gives me the excuse to shower them with creativity.
this year, because i had found a white tie and told craig id tie-dye it for him for a gift, i decided to have daniel get a tad creative, cause hes as good an artists as i am (runs in the family, my mom drew pretty well as well), i ask (then demanded at the last minute, lol) to have him create a one of a kind tie for craig hed like and enjoy.


so, daniel put his mind to work
came up with something of a collage of craig likes.
put them on the tie.

came out pretty good.

Penfold (from Danger Mouse Cartoons) and The Tick (from The Tick, Cartoons)

Craigs a PC guy, who likes Linux over windows, so daniel drew  windows logo and crossed it out with a red bar, lol, also added CTRL, ALT, DELETE buttons for a keyboard since it is mainly the device craig uses for his PC work, job, and fun

A turtle, the LINUX name, and its logo, the penguin. 

i really like this tie. i wish daniel made me one.
craig actually wore this tie to church that day. what a great dad!

we went out to eat, of course, lol
we will always go where craig can have HIS dinner on those days set aside for him.
happens to be LOGANS ROADHOUSE (because the kid doesnt enjoy mexican)

we all usually get the exact same dinner every time. and because im restrivted on what i can have, i always try for the highest in protein, lowest in fat and carbs.

i had a salad
with a vinegrette dressing

and also had a fish dinner. with a side of seasoned veggies on a skewer. i give craig the tomato, i cant stand them, yuck!

the guys get the same dinner each time,
craig gets a steak with a side of potato, with butter, and a side of apple something (baked im thinking)

daniel gets some BBQ burger with bacon.
side is fries.

i cant eat all my dinner anymore since my gastric surgery, so i always end up taking it home, for an additional meal the next day.

after some time to eat, came the fun part. GIFTS!
i so enjoy this part, i dont think ill ever get tired of seeing people open gifts around me, as well as myself ever opening them.
but this was craigs day...so HE got the honor of all those gifts. (including that awesome tie that was hand made)

CHEESEY POOFS! craigs a HUUUGE fan of cheesy puffs... when i saw this at walmart i HAD to get it.
wasnt a bad investment either. craig told me it took him about 6 weeks to put this all away at work!

a fake turtle. he collects them, cause he loves them, stems from the time he found that baby turtle in the woods and when he went off to college, his mom "did something to it" (im guessing let it free), but he has had a love ever since. so he collects them.

picture of that turtle he got.

along with the love of turltes comes a love for lizards. so, you can never go wrong when you get anything turtle or lizard.

and the tie....AHHH! save the best for last! i really think this was the best gift, besides the person who made it, himself.
HAPPY FATHERS DAY CRAIG!


oh yes, i was there too, but i dont get as many photo op, because im ususally taking them, i do however request that a pic or 2 be taken of me.

MICHELLE

STEAK N SHAKE PICS

when these pics were taken i was still trying to figure out how much i could eat, and had no idea about calorie allotment, in all the preperation up to my surgery, discussion about calorie intake had never happened.

i was still VERY highly in tune with the idea that i had to have as much protein as possible.

so at steak n shake they have (or had) a burger that was 2 patties, of chopped beef (very heavy with fat, you can tell) and an egg on the top of it.
i had decided to try my hardest to NOT consume any Carbs since my surgery. so i asked for this to be ...bunless.

and it came that way.
oh, AND bacon, just that much more protein.

i have since been back to my bariatirc facility and been enlightened and told my caloric intake should be between 800- 1000 cals for a day.  pretty sure this bad boy has over half of that allotment. but is it ever good!


i also had the unique chance to have a husband take some pics of me.

ENJOY!
MICHELLE