It was a pretty darned good weekend.

My parents came over on Saturday, so we could celebrate Father's Day with my Dad. Saturday was just easier for everybody, since I lead worship in our church, and my parents would have been really tired if they had gone to their services and then driven to our house.

We ate at our new favorite restaurant, Fogata's. They have excellent "table-side guacamole." And the rest of their food is pretty good, too, especially their chicken enchiladas! And the owners are very nice. The act all excited when we come in. That kind of greeting always makes you want to come back to a place.

Then we went back home and sat around talking for a while. Our oldest daughter and her husband had come over, as well, so it was a big, happy family event. After my parents left, we let Rachel and Justin get caught up on the last several episodes of "Glee," which we had saved on our DVR for them.

Sunday, we had a good worship service, and our pastor had a very good message for fathers, along with some very poignant video clips that he had found. Then the pastor's family, our youth minister, his girlfriend, one of our youth, and we all went to Golden Corral for lunch. That's a buffet place, so I had to make some wiser choices than I would have in the past.

You see, I've been working on losing weight for the past couple months. Back in February, I joined up with this web site called Sparkpeople, which is a totally free motivation community for people who are wanting to get into a healthier lifestyle. It's not all about weight and diet. In fact, they don't even like the word "diet" that much. But you can track nutrition, fitness, you can blog, there are member forums on just about anything you can imagine (there's even a "Red Sox Nation" forum!) and, like I said, it's totally free!

I bought the book by the guy that designed it all, called The Spark, and I'm almost through reading it. I didn't start seriously working on the healthier lifestyle until around the middle of May (close to the time I knew I would be losing my job), and I have now lost 17 pounds. Very exciting. I've been cooking almost every night since I've been unemployed, which my wife is enjoying immensely.

Anyway, so, back to Golden Corral. I didn't want to shipwreck my weight loss, but I also wanted to have fun and it WAS Father,s Day. So I compromised. I had some of their "cooked to order" sirloin steak, a couple of boneless pork ribs, and a bit of pot roast. I did get two plates, but both times, half my plate was filled with vegetables (green beans, peppers and onions). And I did NOT go over my calorie goal for the day.

This morning, I got up, and I had lost over a pound! Woot!

Christi and I finished out the day by watching the Rangers come back and sweep the Astros, then we watch an episode of CSI: Miami. After that, we played Guitar Hero for a while. Then we had a light supper while watching the Red Sox squeak by the Dodgers for a sweep against them. As one of my Red Sox friends commented later, at least ONE Boston team can beat L.A. Hahaha...

So, it's back to Monday, and I'm back on the job hunt. I also have to plan the week's dinners and go to the grocery store, as well as take Stephanie to her therapist this morning.

Speaking of Stephanie, she did very well all last week after that Sonic Blast, so she got another one yesterday.

Good times.

TTFN, y'all!

Missed anything?
The Beatles--Abbey Road/Alice Cooper--Killer - July 04, 2012
The Beatles Eponymous Album - June 26, 2012
Autism's False Prophets - February 12, 2011
Santana--Guitar God? - November 11, 2010
Tribute To the Red Sox - September 29, 2010