MERRY CHRISTMAS

From our family to yours - we hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

-- The Hughes Family

New family picture

Hope everyone likes the new family picture!!

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful wife and two VERY handsome boys! :)

Jeffrey

Tire, sore, & a tummy ache...

Well we took the kids to the fair this evening and I can tell I'm not a "kid" anymore. I recall growing up that I wanted to spend all the time I could at the fair riding all the rides and playing the games. Well today when I went the family had fun but I didn't feel too hot. I am not sure if it is from losing weight and not eating the "greasy" things any more and having to smell that at the fair that made my leave with a tummy ache or something else. Cayden did come away with a Tom Cat (from Tom & Jerry). Tom is bigger than he is but at least it was only $5. Cayden and I make a great team squirting water at a target! ;) I must say thought that as much fun as it was I am glad to be at home.

Now tomorrow we are going to see the Nashville Predators!!!!!!!!! :) That will be a blast!

The fair is in town...

Well I didn't make it to enter any pictures in the fair this year - just did not get around to going through all the pictures I have taken for the past year and selecting the 'best' ones out. I think we are going to take the kids Friday night so they can suck the bank account dry. There's nothing cheap about the fair. It's about $5 a person to get in and then armbands are $18 a head then you have drinks and food on top of that. Now I know why my parents always complained about fair week - it's not cheap at all. I am sure the kids will have a good time though. :)

4 MORE pounds lighter

Wow - what can I say? I got on the scales today to see I had made a new level!!! When I say new level I mean I go down into a different set of numbers. Such as last week I was 282.6 and this week I was 278.8. Anytime I roll over into a 'new' set of numbers it's great - it really shows me that I am making progress. I have been doing this since May 17th and have lost 38 pounds so far! My goal is to get down to around 210 pounds, which would be a total loss of 107 pounds. I am over 1/3 of the way there and it's exciting. I really appreciate everyone's encouragement through out this life style change and I hope that I can continue to do well!

Gas & People

Ok ok - we all know that Hurricane Ike is getting ready to make landfall around the Texas coastline. I have gotten more calls / text today about gas being over $5/gallon in Loretto and Florence. Well instead of believing them (because I didn't) I took the time to call a few gas stations and wouldn't you know - gas is only $3.79. I recall my high school and college Economics classes and we dicussed supply and demand as well as the "market" of a commodity. Even with a Hurricane coming in and with the 'possibility' of rigs having to be shut down it would be very hard to believe that gas would go up OVER $1.00 overnight. It now appears that Ike is not going to go right through the middle of the refineries and the storm is not expected to keep the rigs offline long. What will cause prices to rise is EVERYONE going out and getting gas right away because the demand is going to shoot up and the supply is going to reamin the same or slighlty lower. So it's not the Hurricane that is going to raise the prices right now - it is us! Maybe I am totally wrong about this but that is my thoughts on this.

My Little Brother...

In case you haven't heard my brother, Patrick, will be leaving in the next couple of months to go to Iraq for a year. While we believe he will be in a somewhat safe place one can never know for sure. If you want his contact info please send me a message and I will give it to you! :) Thanks for everyone that is keeping the family in prayers.

So Proud of Cayden

While Cayden is not quite 5 years old yet (will be next Thursday) he is such a big boy!! Last week Jenifer asked him if he would like to give some of his toys to kids who do not have any. Cayden has way too many toys in his room and we thought this would be a great way to get him involved in selecting which ones were given away. Well not only did he get rid of a few toys he filled up a HUGE lawn trashbag full of toys. I took them to "A Kids Place" this morning and they were very appreciative of all the toys. I was very pround of him for getting rid of some of his toys - he did not even throw a fit about it because he understood that the toys were going to children who do not have any toys.

What a day...

Have you ever had one of those days when you working so hard and think you are almost done with a project then something happens? Well that happened to me today. I am working on an audit for an organization I belong to right now and I just knew I would finish it today. Well needless to say my brain got a work out because of all the thinking that I had to do to 'fix' the problem. It was a very productive day though! :)

Now I am off to read the over 200 discussion board post in the online Business Policy class that I am helping with (teacher assistant).

Child #3???

Ok so Jenifer and I have always wanted three little ones - yeah I know we are crazy. Well the other night she tells me that she wants #3 before Jayse is 4 and would like to have him/her in November / December. So this would mean Nov / Dev 2009. While I am not sure I am ready I guess I do agree that we don't want all our children to be 4 years apart. Cayden, for the most part, has been a great helper with Jayse though! :) Now that Jayse is a little older they do fight a lot more, but hey what else are brothers for. ;) I guess we will see how the next few months go before any 'final' decisions are made...

Weigh In

Well last week was my birthday so I ate out at Lunch on Thursday, Dinner on Thursday, Dinner on Friday, as well as cake through out. I also forgot my walking DVD at work so I did not get to walk on Thursday & Friday. So after missing 8 miles of walking last week and the extra food intake I did gain 1/2 pound. 1/2 pound is not bad though considering the eating out and cake. :) I hope to make it all up this week since there is no birthdays or going out to eat.

New walking DVD

Since I was at Walmart last night I decided to buy a new walking DVD so that my body would not be use to the "same" walk everyday. This one is called the 4 mile fast walk and it wasn't lying. I would not recommend this to anyone who is just starting out but if you have been walking for over a month (2 miles or more a day) you should be fine. I really enjoyed it and could tell that it got my heart rate up. It did the 'intervals' so that you would walk a a fast pace for 3 minutes and then it would boost up to a jog for 2 minutes. It did 5 sets of these through out the walk. I weigh in later today and I am hoping for another 1 or 2 pounds to be gone! :)

1 more pound gone

Since I started trying to lose weight a little over 3 months ago I really have been good about not eating "junk" food or just 'pigging' out. Well this past week I ate a whole pack of reduced fat Oreo's (over the week), a whole large pizza on Thursday night, as well as some birthday cake this weekend. I did make a goal to increase my walking this past week so I did. Instead of walking 15-20 miles I walked 25 miles. I was really nervous when I got on the scales today because I just knew that the arrow was going to go up instead of down. Well believe it or not I actually lost ONE pound! :) So I have now lost 33 pounds since I began dieting. I am hoping for a much better week this week!! :) I just had a bad week last week; however, I am not going to let that get to me as it was a fluke week as I call it. ;)

Teaching Assistant

It seems that I will be helping to Teacher Assist again this Fall with the Graduate Business Policy class at UNA. I know there were some that thought I was a tough grader last semester but after all this is a GRADUATE class. I don't expect papers to be 1 page in length with no 'defending' of the answers given. I really enjoyed this in the Summer and can't wait to get started again. It is a great experience even for me as there are always things to be learned in life! :)

Lawrence County, TN Citizens may be at risk!!!

When a person calls 911 they expect help will promptly be on the way. Well after the County Commissioners have their way that may no longer be the case. In case you are not aware the county is proposing to cut 6 positions from the Lawrence County Ambulance Service as well to make deep cuts into the budget for the Lawrence County Volunteer Fire Departments. While no volunteer firefighter is paid for his/her service, there are costs involved with maintaining trucks/buildings, keeping gear in good condition, training, utility cost, etc. With the County planning on cutting into YOUR Emergency Responders Budget it could be your life they are putting at risk. Volunteer Fire Departments respond to fires, wrecks, road blockage, EMS assistance calls, fire alarm calls, etc. If the County cuts our budget in half it will be nearly impossible for the 12 volunteer fire departments to operate and serve the community that they are suppose to be protecting. I am urging every Lawrence County citizen to contact his/her county commissioners regarding this issue.

Thank you –

Jeff Hughes
Secretary
Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department

3 more pounds lighter

I lost 3 more pounds this week. I have lost a total of 32 pounds now!!!! :) :) :)

Weight Loss

Sorry guys that I have not been on here lately. Things have been crazy!! I did want to let everyone know that I am currently walking between 10 - 20 miles a week and have lost 29 pounds so far!! :) I am currently on my way. My doctor wanted me to lose at least 24 pounds by November so if nothing happens I have met that goal! :) Thanks to everyone that has been there supporting me through out this!

Wedding

I got a phone call the other day to take pictures for a wedding in September. While this will only be my second wedding to do I am looking forward to it. I got a new camera a couple of months ago and I can't wait to try it out in September. I hope to take the kids to the park soon and shot some pictures with it. Also - anyone that has seen my Disneyworld pictures - those were taken with the new camera. I love it!

Kids

I can't believe that Jayse is already 17 months old and that in less than 2 months Cayden will be 5. It just doesn't seem possible. Jayse fell out of the front door yesterday. He was playing with the wooden door and leaned against the screen door and it popped open. We had his head checked out and he is ok. :) We also took Cayden to the doctor yesterday because he has been waking up every night crying for the past couple of months. The doctor told us to try taking a flash light around the room before going to bed because that will run all the monsters out of there. Well we tried this last night and it WORKED!! It was so nice to be able to sleep all night long! ;) Cayden will start school soon - just so hard to believe how fast time flies by.

Vacation

Sorry I haven't posted anything in the last 2 weeks. I took the wife and kids to Orlando to go to Universal Studios as well as Disney World. We had a blast!!! If you want to see any of the pics just let me know. I have over 400 pictures from our trip. The kids were great and really enjoyed themselves!

Thank you!!

Thanks to everyone that votes for Jayse in the Frogs and Faeries Photography Cutest Baby Contest. With almost 500 votes he won!! Of course I have always known him to be cute - now you just helped prove it! :D :D :D

This week...

Well the class that I am helping to TA this summer just got underway. There is about 130 students in the online class and 20 in the campus class. So I am looking at helping about 150 students over the course of 9 weeks. So far things are going well though!! :)

I am doing well with my weight loss - I have lost 17 pounds total so far. I have also power walked 12 miles this week!

Jenifer and I are getting away this Friday night to celebrate our anniversary. I know - we were married in May. We just did not have a free weekend until this one. We are just staying the night in Nashville.

Lastly - we're going to ORLANDO!! I am taking the wife and children later this month - I can't wait!! I really love going there, it is so much fun!!

17 pounds gone!!

Well since Sunday's are my weigh in days I stepped on the scales last night. To my surprise I have lost 17 pounds in the past 3 weeks. I am now UNDER 300 pounds for the first time in over a year or so. I would like to lose around 80 more pounds to get myself down to around 220. :)

4 MORE pounds lighter

I weighed in today and lost 4 more pounds which is a total loss of 9 pounds now. I am so excited!! :)

2 miles

I have now started the 2 mile walk. Want to talk about a difference. It is INTENSE!! :) I hope to pick up more days and start walking 4 - 5 times a week for at least 7 - 10 miles. Just keep me motivated people!! :)

5 pounds lighter

Well I got on the scales this morning and I have lost a little over 5 pounds since last Friday!! :) I am so excited!! I actually got Jenifer to do the 'walking' exercise with me last night plus we worked in the yard for the most part of yesterday - so at least I was able to burn some calories!! ;)

Hopefully this next week will let me see close to the same results. Right now I am targeting 10% of my weight which means I need to lose 31.7 pounds before I move on to my next goal. :)

Moving on...

Well yesterday was not a great day for dieting. Cayden had 2 pizza parties - 1 at lunch and 1 at supper. So I guess I can say that yesterday was a 'flop' day. However, I will make sure to increase my exercise for tonight to help burn some of those extra calories! :) I did get on the scales yesterday and I have lost about 2.5 pounds in the past 2 weeks. So while I'm just getting started I hope I can average 2 - 3 pounds a week. :)

Also - thank you to those that are clicking on the advertisements!! :) I have earned $12 so far...While I'm averaging less than $1/day at least it's some money I can put towards my student loans!!

Day 2

Well I started my dieting and exercise yesterday. Since I am in a hotel room 3 nights a week I decided to buy a Walking DVD. So I have been walking a mile each day so far. I hope that by next week I can increase to the 2 mile program. I don't have scales in the hotel so I will probably weigh myself every Friday morning. :) Hopefully progress will be seen soon. BTW - I have been soda free for 2 days as well!!

80 pounds to go...(more if I can)

Ok so I went to the doctor Friday and I have really gained some weight. In August 2005 I only weighed 244 (yes that is still to much) - now I weigh 317. My goal is to loose at LEAST 80 pounds - if I can average 2 pounds a week that will take me 40 weeks. I would like to loose 110 pounds though if I can.

I did much better with eating today. I only had a 6" sub at lunch (usually eat a footlong) and I ate baked chips and drank water. For supper I had a grilled chicken salad (fat free ranch) and a water. The only snack I had today was some pretzels. I also bought a Walking DVD that I can do when I'm in the hotel room each week - so tonight I also walked a mile, boy did it burn.

I hope that I can keep things going - I just seem to loose my motivation easily so hopefully I won't give up on myself. I know that I really need to do this to get my blood pressure down, weight off my back and knees, and my HDL higher!!!

I made the walk / sad news...

I made the walk across the stage for a second time in my college life. I completed my MBA in Management from UNA with a 3.82 GPA. While it was a wonderful day, it did not end that way today. One of my Aunt's has been battling lung cancer and she passed away this evening. Please keep the family in your prayers over the next couple of days. God Bless - Jeffrey

1st Hair Cut

Jayse got his first hair cut yesterday - doesn't he look handsome?!?! He is also walking now! :)

Advertisments

In case anyone was wondering why I have the advertisements at the bottom right of my blog it's because its' a way to earn money!! I get about 8 cents each time a person clicks on a link - that's all you have to do is click (don't have to buy anything, fill forms out or anything). I thought this would be a good way to earn some money towards my student loans. I know 8 cents doesn't sound like much but if I could get 50 clicks a day that is $4/day or $120/month that I could put towards loans. So if you feel like clicking - go for it!! You can click a link - come back to my blog and click another one (you can do this as many times as you would like)! :)

Training

Well I had 2 more days of training this week and I must say they were enjoyable. It always helps when you have a great speaker! :) There isn't much going on this week - I graduate Saturday - YEAH!!! Only after 21 years of going to school am I done (well for now). :) Hope everyone is having a great week!

Camera

Well for graduation I got me a Sony a350 camera. It is NICE!! I just now have to figure out how to use it. ;) This camera is a 14.2 megapixel which will allow me to have pictures blown up to bigger than a 30x20. I think it will be great to catch great shots of the kids with!! ;)

I made it!!

Well other than my throat hurting and my stomach being a little upset I survived the surgery!! I can already tell a difference in my hearing levels so hopefully this will help.

Well I'm off to watch Cayden play some soccer!

Finished with School!!

Well it's about 10:30 at night and I just finished my LAST final of my MBA program - that's right, I am DONE!! While I do not have my grades yet I feel that I did pretty good. So come May 10th I can walk down the aisle and pick up a certificate that sames I'm smart!! (I know you are laughing). ;) Considering that I have surgery in the morning I guess I should be going to bed now...

Training

Well I have spent the last 2 days in training and have training tomorrow as well as next Monday & Tuesday. What I love about these trainings is all the different things one can learn. Believe it or not we do not always learn about new ways to audit or new auditing laws - there are many other things to be taught to us as well. Today one of our lessons was called "taking care of people" - I thought this lesson was great. The lesson was unique in presentation; however, the items the speaker covered will help me to make sure that I treat others with respect as as a "human" - after all people are any company's most precious asset!!

Hope you are having a great week -

Jeff

Teaching Assistant

I got a phone call from one of my professors at UNA asking if I would like to be a teaching assistant this summer for his Business Policy class. Of course I said yes! :) This does mean I get to read research papers and actually grade them. Hopefully I won't be too harsh on people. ;)

Pre-Op / School

The Pre-op went well for my surgery today. I have to be there at 8:30 next Thursday for what should be a quick and simple procedure. :)

I am finished with school other than taking 2 finals - then I'll have my MBA in Management! I'm so excited!! Been in school since 1987 (wow 21 years now). I would love to get a PhD but that will have to be put on the back burner for now - maybe in a few years. :)

Jayse

Jenifer took Jayse to the doctor today and he has strep throat. He hasn't felt good for a couple of days now. Hopefully after being on the medicine for a couple of days he will be feeling much better.

L'Burg City Charter Changes Die In State Senate

I'm so excited!! The bill that I did not want to pass doesn't look like it will. :)

The Lawrenceburg Mayor and City Commission will not be able to extend their terms in office without an election, after all. State Sen. Doug Jackson said he would not even introduce the private act to the state as it was submitted by the city. "I told the Lawrenceburg Mayor (Keith Durham) that I wasn't comfortable with a private act that added to present office holder's terms," Sen. Jackson also discussed the issue with State Rep. Joey Hensley. The city commission had voted to amend its charter to move city elections to align them with state and federal November elections "to save money". While doing so they added 18 months to their own terms of office. "A new private act will be written in Nashville by my staff and it will be introduced into the State House and State Legislature today," said Sen. Jackson. "They can move the city elections but it must come after their terms are over and another election is held," said Jackson. "That's the responsible thing," the Senator said.

One Person Can Make a Difference

Ok - so most of you know I love politics! Well the City of Lawrenceburg wanted to change their charter so that the election of the mayor and council was at the same time as the Presidential election in order to save money. Well anything to save money is great but instead of this going into effect the next time we ELECT people - they wanted to extend their OWN term. This is a big no no in my book. Well all City Charter changes must pass both the House & Senate. These bills are typically put on the consent calendar were they are always approved. However, our Representative took the bill off consent and put in on the regular calendar - REQUIRING a vote on the bill. I am please that after contacting all 99 Representatives this happened. Hopefully now the bill is killed Thursday and the City will have to rethink what they want to do!! :)

I have also now finished all my homework - two finals to take next week and I'll have a MBA in Management!! :)

Almost over

I'm so excited!! This is the last week of my MBA at UNA. I have a couple of short papers to write this week and then 2 finals to take and I'll be finished!! I graduate May 10th and you better believe I'm walking. He pays all that money for an MBA not to walk down the aisle? ;) I would love to get my PhD; however, there aren't any programs close enough to me right now so I guess I'll have to wait on that...

Surgery

The doctor's office called back today and my surgery is Thursday May 1st - just in time for finals! :) The surgery should only take about 10 - 15 minutes and then I'll be home later that evening. Fun Fun! :)

Predators Hockey Game

Well Jenifer and I went to the game in Nashville today (Game 6). We were there but I'm not sure where the Predators were. I have never seen them play as bad as they did today - as you can tell they did not win. Detroit will advance leaving the Predators to try again next year. They have done really well the past 3 - 4 years; however, they just can't seem to make it past the first round in the playoff series.

Ear Surgery

I had to go to the ENT Friday for a checkup - well it wasn't the best of news. My hearing test was poor - I had a low hearing loss already but this time I did not do well at all. I have a set of permanent tubes in my ears now (3rd set of tubes) and the doctor says there is a buildup around the tubes that is causing them not to work like they should so next month he is going to replace them. It looks like my surgery will either be May 1st or May 22nd.

Blogging

Now that I have created the site I just have to take the time to add to it!! Being that it is already almost 10:30 at night and I still am working on a 150 page report I won't have time tonight to get this started. Jenifer and I are going to the Predators game tomorrow!! GO PREDS!

Till next time -

Jeffrey