Roddy "Hot Rod" Truesdale

Rob and I are the proud parents of Roddy "Hot Rod" Truesdale. He is a nine week old miniature dachshund from SC Rosegarden Dachshunds that weighs 3 lbs 11oz. His mom is Cricket and his dad is named Slugger. He is a dapple with smooth black and tan coloring. He was born on MAy 17 and was the last one she delivered. We are very excited to have him in our family and cannot wait to give him the love he deserves. More pictures and of course updates on how he is doing will be added. If you have any tips for taking care of him just comment below :O)

A very PROUD mama!!!

J-Tru

I love fresh veggies....

Fresh veggies are awesome. I enjoy squash, zucchini, bell peppers, etc. So if you have any that you would like to send my way I would greatly appreciate them :O)

So weigh in was today and i was down .4 pounds!!! My total is now 53.2 pounds!! :O) WAHOOOO! I was very excited to see the loss.

I am going to keep on going and will meet my goal by November!!!

I love being a LOSER!!
J-Tru

Face Change

So I was browsing on Facebook and came across the top picture below. I was like, whoa, did my face really look that puffy....the truth hurts--yes it did!! Then I found a pic of me in June and I was shocked at the difference.....the top picture was taken December 29, 2010 and the bottom pic was June 2, 2011.

Love that my smile is the same :O)

J-Tru

I HIT 50!!!! :O)

So two weeks ago I told Joanie, my weight watcher leader, that when I come back to weigh in in two weeks I would have lost 50 pounds. I kept my word too!!! I lost 6 pounds in two weeks!!! Total lost is 52.8!!! Am I excited---YES! I have met my summer goal and now its time to set a new one. My new goal for weight loss is to lose 75 pounds by November. So that is my goal and also my challenge.

You can do anything you put your mind too. Its takes commitment and dedication but YOU can do it!!

Oh and the best comment ever to me was my mother in law calling me "skinny"!! LOVE IT!!

J-Tru

Fantastic Four(th)! :O)

Whew, after the wonderful Fourth of July we had this was one pooped little girl. Rob and I both had the day off and we planned to enjoy it to its highest potential. We have not been to the waterpark this year in o-burg so we decided to head out there today. It was not crowded at all and it was fantastic. We got our same two chairs as always under an umbrella and relaxed. We went down the water slide (yellow one) several times and played around in the wading pool. When I went to the pool area there was this little girl in there who said “no, no don’t come in here, I wanted it all to myself”. Well needless to stay stingy Sarah did not get her way. After a few minutes Rob joined me and he names this same little girl chatty Cathy b/c she was telling the lifeguard her entire life history….oh this was funny!! After invading her space for a good time, we did leave the pool and went down the slide again. We sat and just sun-bathed for few minutes and then had some nachos! YUM-O!! Soon it was time to head home to get ready and go to Lugoff for a cookout with the Dowey Clan.

The Cookout was fabulous! My dad, Aunt Dorothy, and others did a great job in getting everything together and making sure we all had a good time. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, fried pickles, boiled peanuts, baked beans, cole slaw, and any dessert you can name!!! The best desserts in my opinion were the homemade cobblers that were done in the cast iron pots with coals. Oh it makes my mouth water just typing it! They were fantastic…props to Uncle John and Charlie for those! Not only did we have homemade cobblers but also homemade ice cream. The family just talked and ate. G-ma wanted everyone to sign a piece of paper to see how many people were there. Total it was 86 ( a few were not “family” but we think of them as “family” anyway!!) G-ma’s brothers and sisters, their families, and on and on were there. It was perfect!! Rob of course is still amazed at how BIG my family is. He asked if this was everyone and I smiled and said NOPE! This was only the Dowey side of the family; the Moak’s are just as big! Here are a few pics of the festivities….

Hope you didnt get burned by fireworks!!!

J-Tru

"Unofficial" Weigh In

Since today was a holiday, we didn't have weigh in. I did weigh in at home though. If the scale is correct I have now lost 50.4 pounds!!!! So fingers crossed it becomes OFFICIAL on Monday!!! I will let you know Monday :O)

J-Tru

CAKE POPS!!!

My family is having a cookout for July 4th, so I had the bright idea to make cake pops for dessert. Here is how I did it....

I bought all the supplies I needed:
- cake mix
- cake icing
- candy melts
-lollipop sticks
- Styrofoam (so they candy coating can harden)
- wax paper

After getting everything I needed out for making the cake, I started mixing. I used my Kitchenaid mixer and LOVED it!!!

After mixing up the batter, I baked two 8 inch cakes and let them cool. After cooling, I crumbled them up using the mixer again....

Once the cakes were crumbled, it was time to add in one can of frosting...

The mixer of course does all the dirty work. So once it was completely mixed together it looked like this....

I then used a tablespoon measure and formed all the cake pops...

I rolled them all out and then put them in the fridge to let them harden some. After hardening I then put in the lollipop sticks...then back in the fridge again to harden more.

After being in the fridge for about 20 minutes, I decided to start melting the chocolate to dip them into. That was a feat in itself--I am not a fan of melting chocolate. So after I finally got it to melt and it was somewhat smooth and dippable ( i know its not a word) I started dipping all the cake pops into the chocolate and the end result was this....

Rob test tasted several because I wanted to make sure they were good. Also since I was mixing everything I got some on my hands and had to lick it off....it was a must. So yes I might have wasted a few points today on this baking feat but it was fun. It was super time intense and I am a perfectionist so of course I wasn't satisfied completely.

Overall, they are yummy!!!
J-Tru