Let the Countdown Begin!!!!!

Mild Bill's now has an official North Texas home!!! We agreed on a lease/purchase yesterday evening for the Old Ennis Meat Market at 113 W. Knox Street in Downtown Ennis!!! We will officially move in August 1st and the spices and inventory will be there soon after that! I am beyond excited and cannot wait to open our doors and have everyone over for an official Mild Bill's Ellis County Party! I've got lots to do between now and then (so does Gary!!) and I can't wait to get it fixed up exactly the way I want it. I'll need to contact my favorite painter (WR...you reading this??) to please paint the name and logo on the front window. It's going to be sooooooo awesome.

So I lost 4.8 lbs last week - yay me!!! I'm back on the Jenny Craig and I have vowed not to flake out and flunk out like last time! I also made a promise not to drink (unless I'm on a toob in the Guadalupe) until I'm halfway to my goal weight. Let me know when you stop laughing.....

But, yes...I'm going to lay off the wine for the next few months while I focus on getting this weight off. I know a lot of people will roll their eyes and say, "whatever", but I know I can do it. I laid off the wine for 3 months with pancreatitis...so I know I can lay off to lose weight. I guess I finally felt so beat down by my weight that I knew it was time. I'm 37 years old...and I don't want to be some overweight 40 year old when I know I don't have to be :) I'm too cute to be this heavy!!! My sister is doing it with me and we've been a great support system for one another. Only she can understand my need for Joe T Garcia's tacos. And my love of the Sonic chili cheese fries...or Carne Guisada from El Taquito. And only Courtney can watch Food Porn with me for hours on end and never be bored.....LOL!!!

My little Nervous Nelly is not handling this crazy weather very well. One afternoon last week, we came home and someones house or septic alarm was going off. The sky was dark, so she immediately assumed it was the weather sirens. I could not convince her that it was something completely unrelated to the weather and she had no need to worry. Nope, she was not buying it. She's been in two tornadic situations, one at school when the sirens were going off and there was a tornado on the ground and then with me last month. I guess chasing that tornado with her wasn't such a bright idea now that I look back on it. Anytime there is any type of bad weather, she immediately assumes that there will be a tornado and I just can't get her to believe me when I tell her that sometimes we just have rain and thunder without the tornadoes. It's gotten bad enough that I won't let her watch the news or the weather because if she sees it coming towards our house, she freaks out. If she sees that it's near Gammy's, she freaks out. I'm not trying to sound mean and insensitive - not in the least. I understand her worry and know that it is completely normal for a little one to be scared. I just don't want her to have any unnecessary fears every time the weather is bad and that is what's going on now. Poor Juicy.

I just want to say a general, "Thank you God for answered prayers."

Most of my morning was spent jacking with my friggin computer when I got into the office. The storms from last night caused all kinds of problems and it took forever to get back on the network, etc. I thought I was going to go Office Space on our router and server.

Gary is still waffling on boarding the babies. He cracks me up with those dogs. They were so excited to see their daddy when he got home yesterday afternoon. They're spoiled little bastards, that's for sure.

I've got some gorgeous zucchini and squash to saute tonight. I think they'd be great with a sliced onion. Or, I could grill them, too. I've also got a ton of greens from my garden. I love to saute them with olive oil and garlic....mmmm...delish!

Thank you again to those of you who have tried my pinto bean seasoning. I'm mixing a batch tonight with a few of the tweaks that were suggested to me. If any of your are up to the task of testing this new batch out, I'd be very, very grateful for your help!

I'm going to get back to work. It's a dirty, nasty job, but I have to do it. And now that I have a real, see it and believe it end date, I've got a lot to get done. August 1st will be here before I know it!!!

Keep it real,

K