Hump Day Hottie

This weeks Hump Day Hottie was born on February 21, 1946 in Hammersmith, London to a working class family. His father, an Irish Catholic factory worker died when he was eight leaving his mother, a Welsh homemaker alone to raise 4 children.

He attended Chelsea College of Art and made his way as a graphic artist in Soho. He received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) which he attended from 1972-1974 and won numerous awards while there.

Since then, he has been a constant presence on the British stage. and has appeared in productions including The Seagull, As You Like It and played the male lead in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. When the performance came to America, he received a Tony Award nomination.

In addition to appearing in numerous BBC television shows, he has also demonstrated considerable talent as a comedy actor is films such as Galaxy Quest, Dogma and, my personal favorite, Love Actually. He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his performance as Rasputin in 1996 and was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as Dr. Alfred Blalock in 2004's Something The Lord Made.

This weeks HDH has a vast and rich history of work but is best known for a role that he refuses to talk about as he feels that people are too interested in that role to pay attention to his other work and doesn't want to ruin the mystery of the character for the fans by talking about him. That most famous role would be as the mysterious potions professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series.

This weeks Hump Day Hottie is ~ Alan Rickman

Confessions of a Landlord

Yup, I am a landlord...sort of. My friends Rico and Don moved in yesterday. Due to some severe health and financial hits they decided that they needed to reduce their monthly expenses and we agreed that they could move into my house. I had a spare bedroom so it was no problem at all.

There are things that I am worried about. I have been on my own without a roommate for over 2 years so this will be a change. I enjoy living alone and I know that it will take some adjusting to get used to more people in my home, but Rico loves to cook and Don is really good at fixing things so in addition to the rent that they will be paying, they both have ways to contribute that makes my life easier.

Unfortunately (fortunately for me) they had some roommates when they had their own home that totally screwed them over. Didn't pay the rent that they were supposed to and broke many promises about helping out with things and just not being grateful or considerate. I know that I don't have to worry about them not paying their rent.

Devon loves "Uncle Rico" & "Uncle Don" and I think that it will be a positive for him to have male role models in the home. He respects Rico and Don and listens to them.

They have a dog, Phoebe, who will be living with us as well. That is the biggest worry for me. Don't get me wrong. Phoebe is a fantastic, very well behaved dog but I have two cats that haven't ever been around dogs since they were kittens. We have decided to crate Phoebe during the day and letting the cats free so that they can get used to the smell and the presence of a dog without feeling threatened. Then when we get home, Phoebe will be let out of her kennel for the rest of the evening until the cats and Phoebe get along. As long as she stays off of my couch once they get used to each other, Phoebe won't be crated during the day.

Devon is healing nicely. His follow-up appointment is tomorrow so we will see how things are going. I will probably be heading back to work after Labor Day. Although it has been nice to have this extra time with Devon, I am ready to go back to work and get back into the rhythm of normal life.

Hump Day Hottie

This weeks HDH was born in Grayshott, Hampshire, England on September 10, 1960 to Shirley, a comparative religion lecturer and David, a history lecturer.

He has one sister, Kate & a younger brother, Jonathan, who is also an actor.

His parents were born and raised in India as his grandparents (both sets) performed missionary work abroad.

He spent part of his childhood in Nigeria and lived in St. Louis, MO when he was 11.

In 1990 he and his current girlfriend, Meg Tilly, had son Will. He married Italian documentary filmmaker Livia Giuggioli in 1997 and has had two sons, Luca and Matteo.

It was the 1995 BBC television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that he gained wider renown and he became known as a heart-throb because of his role as Fitzwilliam Darcy.

He has starred in a number of "genuinely British" films and series including The English Patient, Fever Pitch, Shakespeare In Love, Bridget Jones's Diary, The Importance of Being Earnest, Love Actually, What a Girl Wants & Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. He has also appeared in recent television productions, Including Donovan Quick, Conspiracy and starred as Aishwarya Rai in The Last Legion.

In a 2006 interview he was asked "Who are the women in your life?" He replied "My mother, my wife and Jane Austen".

This weeks Hump Day Hottie is ~ Colin Firth

Back Home

Devon's surgery went fine and he was released to go home this afternoon. He is currently on the couch watching cartoons.

I can't express how brave Devon was about the entire situation. Not one tear. He had a lot of questions and was nervous, but everyone at the hospital was super and took the time to explain everything to him.

One funny thing did happen while we were there. On Thursday night when we were in the ER they did a CAT Scan. He came back into the room we were in and he was telling us how cool the CAT Scan was. Then he said, "I hope I get to see the pictures so that I can see my balls and innards look like."

Funny Girl was there with me and we looked at each other, burst out laughing while Devon was backpedaling and saying over and over that he didn't mean THOSE balls. We kept on laughing and the other group of people in the room heard the entire exchange and were laughing out loud too.

As much as I have many difficulties with Devon's dad, he was there on Thursday until Midnight and then left as he had to get up at 4 AM to go to work. I called him around 1 AM with the diagnosis and he was surprised. I was too. I thought it might have been gas or cramps because the pain kept coming and going.

He was back the next morning around 9 AM and stayed until Devon was out of surgery and in recovery. Before Devon went in for surgery, Devon, his dad and I played a couple of games of UNO Spin. We were very cordial to each other and didn't have one problem. We were actually adults for once around each other and put our differences aside and focused on our son. He was also there this morning for about 30 minutes until he had to go to work. I think that it was really nice for Devon to see us get along and be in the same room for more than 10 minutes and actually talking civilly. It doesn't happen. Especially when his wife is around. She never once came to the hospital.

I also have to give MAJOR props to my friends Funny Girl and Rico. Funny Girl stayed up at the hospital with me overnight both nights even though it was not the most comfortable sleeping in one of those portable sleeping chairs. She brought me Taco Bell 2 nights in a row and basically did anything that I asked her to do. Rico came up on his lunch hour to see Devon, came back that night and then was at my house today before Devon was even discharged so that he could take care of me & Devon since I am basically a walking zombie today.

I blew my WW to crap while I was there but am back on track today. If I gain or maintain I will be fine with it. It was more important for me to be there with my son, eating hospital food than worrying about points or going somewhere else to get food.

Thank you everyone who sent prayers and well wishes our way. They are VERY appreciated and I felt at peace most of the time so I know that they worked.

You all ROCK!!!!

I Get Another Vacation ~ Sort Of

Devon is currently in the hospital with Appendicitis and will be having surgery today to remove his Appendix.

I will be off work until he is recovered, which I am told will be 1-2 weeks.

Not quite the type of vacation I would have chosen, but thank God for FMLA and that I am blessed to be able to stay home and care for him until he is recovered.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Potpourri

I am back!!! I didn't die in a fiery plane crash, nor did I get stuck in the perma-gridlock that seems to define the Seattle-Tacoma area nowadays.

I was lucky to be able to see everyone that I wanted to see including my friend Lisa that I had lost touch with years ago. She is now happily married with a 1 year old daughter, MacKenzie. I wrote about our friendship a few months ago and am thrilled to get back in touch with her.

I also spent time with my friend Jade, who is pregnant with baby #5. Crazy, I know. I don't know how she does it and still works full time. The worst part is that her house is cleaner than mine and I only have one kid. We went and got our hair done while I was there. We went to Jade's stylist because I knew that if Jade trusted her I would have no problems. Jade is REALLY picky about her hair but we convinced her to cut about 10 inches off. It was down to the crack of her butt so even with 10 inches off, it was still below her bra. It looked incredible. Very Fergalicious.

I got to see my brother and my sister as well. My brother is doing fine and nothing has really changed with him but my sister is moving to Texas at the end of this month. She will be renting a lovely house and I hope that she finds a wonderful circle of friends down there. Having fantastic friends is the only thing that kept me sane when I moved so far away from home.

Visiting my dad, aunt and uncle was a lot of fun and for the first time, Devon, my dad and I had family portraits taken. We haven't gotten them back yet but as soon as I can, I will post them for your enjoyment.

My mom had a big BBQ while I was there and almost all of my step-brothers and sisters attended. The one that didn't show up is the one that no one wants to be around because she is a liar and a thief. Oh, and she wasn't invited.

It was really wonderful to see everyone and their masses of kids. One of my step-brothers has 14 kids. You would think that he is Catholic, but he isn't. It is a Yours, Mine & Ours situation but they seem to have blended their families fantastically.

I made sure to go to my Weight Watchers meetings while on vacation. The first week I lost 3.8 pounds but the next week I gained 2.6 pounds. I am sure that it had something to do with the BBQ pork ribs that I ate while visiting my brother. Yeah, that's right. Cause I wasn't bad at ANY other time.... heh heh.

The good news is that I weighed in last night and about fell off the scale. I lost a whopping 6.8 pounds in one week. That is my second largest loss in the 10 weeks that I have been on the program. I am down 21.2 pounds total. I am almost to my first 10% goal which is a loss of 28 pounds. I want to lose a total of approximately 140 pounds so I am already 1/6 on the way to my total goal.

My clothes still fit fine. They actually fit now rather than being a bit tight. I was starting to grow out of the clothing that I was wearing but refused to buy a larger size. Now, they are starting to get a smidge loose even. Not that I am minding in the least bit.

I did miss everyone while I was gone but am still having a hard time getting to the blogs and commenting. Life seem so busy right now. But I still think of everyone and do check in every so often.

Love you all!!!!