When Life Hands You Lemons...

We've all heard the saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."

Let's be frank: that's a load of crap.

When life handed me lemons today, I wanted to say, "Really, life? More lemons? Take them back. I've had enough."

Then my inner Madea said this:

Let's face facts: we don't want lemons in life. They are sour. On their own, they are not enjoyable. And sometimes, no matter what you do, there is no way that you can take those lemons and turn them into something good.

None of these are good options when receiving lemons...and I'm not sure how you start a fire with lemons.

Sometimes lemons are just lemons.

Instead of whining or complaining or trying to change those lemons into something better, we need to learn to accept that sometimes we just need to say, "Yep. These are lemons. They are my lemons. And eventually life is going to give me something other than lemons."

Not everything in life is great, but God is great. And He has great things planned for us. He tells that in his Word in Jeremiah 29:11.

Today, God taught me to accept the lemons. I said, "God, life has given me lemons again. I accept that. I cannot change the fact that they are lemons. I know that one day You're going to give me something truly great...but today is my day to get lemons. And that's OK."

Sometimes we work too hard to turn something bad into something good. But where is our faith if we feel that we must act to change those circumstances? God is faithful, and--if you're patient--God will give you the good stuff in His time. All we have to do is wait. (Granted, waiting is never fun or easy.) Making lemonade says that we don't have faith in God's provisions for our life. Sometimes God just wants us to hold the lemons until He's ready to give us something great.

So that's what I'm doing now: holding lemons. I'm not mad or bitter about it. It's just what God wants me to do right now...and who am I to complaining about that?

And if this doesn't convince you not to make lemonade with life's lemons, then maybe this last picture will:

The Weight Loss Results Are In!

It's been a long eight weeks since we started our friendly little weight loss challenge...and today was the final weigh-in!!!

I was really worried about the final weigh-in because we were out of town all weekend for my brother's wedding. And of course, being out of town means that eating good is so much harder.

Still can't believe my baby brother is old enough to be married. He'll always be a kid to me.

To make it even more challenging, Friday night's rehearsal dinner was catered by Dreamland. Now I can easily eat my weight in ribs... but I limited myself to only four. I savored every bite.

Watching "Friends"

The hotel where we stayed had a nice little gym, complete with a weight bench, two treadmills, and two ellipticals. The cardio equipment had TVs built in! They were awesome! The gym was also really hot--I'm talking like "It feels like this room isn't air conditioned" hot--and it made me sweat like it was going out of style! I did an hour the first night.

The day of the wedding, we ate breakfast at the hotel and had Arby's roast beef sandwiches for lunch. I knew the day was pretty much screwed at that point.

However, when I put my suit on, I could finally see the results of all my hard work. For the first time in years, I felt GREAT about the way that I looked.

And I'll humbly admit it: I made that suit look good. ;)

Man, I look good!

At the reception, we had Italian food, which was delicious. And I had a piece of both the wedding and groom's cake. (What can I say? When I fall off the bandwagon, I fall hard!)

Later that night, we were hanging out with my family at the hotel, and we all got hungry. Jackie and I went to get everyone some food. We'd decided on pizza, but after we drove into a questionable part of town, we realized that the Pizza Hut on the map was closed. Instead, we stopped at the world's smallest KFC and got the family meal.

At this point, my diet was going to Hell in a handbasket, so when we called it a night, I went back to the gym for another cardio session. Logged another 30 minutes.

Sunday morning, I woke up an hour early and went back and did 40 more minutes. I was hoping that it would help make up for all the bad eating the day before.

When we got home last night, I did another hour and 30 minutes.

This morning was the long-awaited final weigh-in. I got up an hour early, put on full sweats, and headed to the gym for a grueling two-hour cardio session. (This final workout had been my plan for weeks as a last chance effort to undo any wedding weekend damage.)  I did an hour on the elliptical and an hour on the treadmill. I burned more than 1,600 calories and was sweating like I was in the center of the sun. I was drenched by the time I left. Jackie was worried that I would pass out. "Don't kill yourself at the gym," she texted me while I was on the elliptical. "I'm not dead yet," I replied.

When I got home, I stepped up on the scale, and was shocked to see the final number:

Before and After

I had lost a whopping 34.8 pounds!!! I was so excited! I hadn't been in the 230s since before Jackie and I got married three years ago! I sent my picture of the scale to Jackie's cousin Beth, our official weight keeper, and anxiously awaited the final results. Would my numbers be enough for 2nd place? After weeks of being in 3rd, I really wanted to finish 2nd.

Hours later, Beth posted this on Facebook:

I had done it! 2nd place! The silver medal has never looked so good!

I couldn't have done it without the support of so many people: Jackie, my parents, Ryan Tallie, Chuck Fant, Keith & Ingrid Warren, and a lot of others.

I'm well on my way to my goal of being in the 200-215 range.

I know I can do it. I hope that my transformation also inspires others. If I can do it, so can you!

Welcome to Book Heaven

Welcome to Book Heaven

I love books. I've been an avid reader since I was little because my parents instilled a love for the written word in me at a young age. Being a book lover, I also love places where there are a lot of books... and that is one of the reasons that I love going to 2nd & Charles in Hoover.

It is like pre-read book Heaven! (I think "pre-read" sounds better than "used book.") There are rows and rows and rows of shelves packed with books. It's hit or miss what you'll find, but sometimes you might just stumble across a diamond in the rough.

This was the Star Trek section on my 1st 2nd&C visit. Nerd Nirvana!

I love their Star Trek section because, lets face it, if I can combine my love of books with my love of Star Trek, I'm going to think it's awesome!! The section used to be ginormous, but they've shrunk it down recently. (I'm hoping those books found good homes, and that they didn't just purge the non-sellers!) There are a bunch of older books that aren't available in e-format and that you just can't find at the bookstore.

And the best part is the price. Most of them are under $3! I could buy them all...but Jackie would kill me I don't have enough bookshelves.

Here's one of the Animorphs books.

So where do they get all of these books? You can sell them your pre-read books! (You can also cash in on old electronics, video games, records, and movies.) I found a box of old books that I had in middle school, so I took them up there Friday. The books were the Animorph series. (It was about a bunch of teenagers that get the ability to morph into any animal that they touch... and they fought aliens.) I had more than 40 of the books!

When you take your items in to sell, they give you a number and you have to wait while they evaluate what you brought in. Then, when your number pops up on the screen, they'll tell you how much they'll give you and if there were any books that they wouldn't take. The girl at the counter said they could give me $16 and some change if I wanted the cash, but if I wanted store credit, I'd get almost $29! Hello, store credit!

I'm sure you're asking yourself how Jackie and I spent our windfall. Well, I picked a Star Trek book (just 1) and 2 Hallmark Christmas ornaments that were on clearance for $1 (they are never that cheap--NEVER! My Hallmark Christmas ornament obsession is worthy of its own blog post. Maybe next Christmas, since I've already packed them away this year.) Jackie wanted to get some Golden Books. Even though we don't have kids (or any on the way), we want to go ahead and start building a library for any Future Finkleas that may come along. We picked out a ton of Golden Books that were in great condition. (Some had never been opened; you could tell because the spines were so stiff.) Jackie keeps a list of our growing library in her phone so we don't buy the same book twice.

Even with all of our books and my 2 ornaments, we only spent $24. (That means I've still got a little store credit left so I can buy more Star Trek books to buy Golden Books with.)

On our way back to the car, we stopped by the free bins outside. (Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that there are free books in bins on the sidewalk outside! Free, I tell you! Free!) We dropped in a few random books that we had that we tried to sell with my impressive Animorphs collection, and we poked around to see if there were any good books that the book vultures (I've had people wait and watch me unload books from my car; they were old text books from our department) hadn't picked over already. And there, in all of its current-news-cycle relevancy, was a sad, sad book looking up at me:

Sorry, Lance.

Ever since my co-authored text book went on sale last year, I've wondered what it must be like for an author to see their book in the bargain bin at Walmart...but to be in the free bin on the sidewalk outside of a pre-read book store--that was a low I never imagined.

So, dear readers, if you're ever at the 2nd and Charles in Hoover and you see a copy of Fundamentals of Media Effects (2nd edition) in the free book bin, please pick it up and take it home. Spare me the pain of seeing it myself. (Of course, if you do find a copy, be sure to read the last four chapters. They're the ones I wrote all by myself. You'll love them!) If you would like to own your own copy of our book (and you can't find one in the free bin) you can purchase it online: click here! As of this writing, Amazon says it has 3 left in stock--and you can get it gift wrapped! ;)

What great books have you read lately, readers? Hit the comments to let me know!

Highly Illogical

Sips n Strokes

Jackie and I have been in desperate need for an escape from the drama and craziness that's been going on lately. Luckily, one of Jackie's coworkers suggested getting a group together to go to Sips n Strokes. So they picked out a painting that everyone liked (a cute little holiday elf), and we signed up.

I was really looking forward to going. I'd been telling Jackie for a while that I wanted to find an artistic outlet. (I still think I'm going to start drawing again. I used to love it so much!)

When we stopped for dinner before our class, I told Jackie that I was really nervous. What if my painting looked awful? What if the kids there painted better than I did?

I decided that if it was a monumental disaster, I would say I was just channeling Picasso or Pollock.

Ready to paint!

We got to the place and waited in line to pay. I was looking at the artwork on the wall, and they have an entire section of nothing but naked women. I asked Jackie why we didn't sign up for one of those classes...

Anyway, we got our canvasses and our pallets and walked into the studio, where you get your paint. They already have it labeled so you know how much to get. One pump of red, two pumps of green, and so on.

We got our aprons and found our seats. We also had our drinks with us: Zaxby's sweet tea!

Wendy LoVoy, the founder of Sips n Strokes, ended up being our teacher! She told us that she'd seen a bunch of folks jack up their paintings, but they never let anyone go home with an ugly one. That made me feel better!

We started by outlining our elf in yellow paint; then we made a granny apple green for his hat, mixed up his face color ("a dot of red, a scoop of yellow, and a whole lotta white!"), and painted in his clothes. We also added dots and spots to his hat and the background.

A work in progress

The hardest part was the darn holly leaf on his hat, but it turned out OK. We practiced painting the leaves on the table. (You can see my practice leaf on the table in the picture below.)

Throughout the class, we all held up our paintings so Wendy could check them out. She sent her assistant around to help the folks that needed it. She told us that we were the best elf painters she thought she'd ever had!

The finished product!!!

When it was all said and done, I felt so proud of myself. It was so cool to watch my blank, white canvas transform into a unique, one-of-a-kind piece of art. Wendy was such a wonderful teacher! She explained every step and had a great sense of humor. She was so much fun!

I had a great time painting and spending time with Jackie's coworkers. We totally plan to go back! It's a great opportunity for couples to spend time together and try something new!

Some Friday Funnies...

So I just got done with a mad dash round of cleaning before Jackie gets home from St. Louis.

I don't know about all of y'all, but I need a break from all of the craziness that is going on. I'm sure each of us has someone somewhere somehow causing drama in your life. So please take this second to forget about all of that and just enjoy some pictures:

I can see the family resemblance.

Amen!

So very true! Can't wait to watch this movie!!!

Nothing says Christmas like "the soft glow of electric sex in the window."

Never thought about it that way...but I guess it's right!

I hope you have a great weekend and a fantastic holiday!