Williams Ugly Sweater Competition 2017

The Nice, The Naughty, The Ugly. 

The Happy Little Tree 

The Christmas Wizard

The Jerk Face Elf

The Clan

This is our story….We are the Williams Clan.

In the year of our Lord 2018 the tech became infected; the effect was devastating.  Some hung on to the new ways that had gotten us to this point; others reverted.  Reversion is how our little family survived.  Our area of this world is now as old fashioned as it gets.  We eat off the land, survive by our wits.  We take no more than what we need (and we need little); the land will provide if you’re kind to her.  We now crave all things simple.  Music brings joy and with it comes happiness. 

 Our family….


 Well there is my wife and I; Lynn and Mae are our Christian names.

                        
Ashley, our oldest, keeps food on the table while raising his little ones. 

Christopher, our middle son, is the keeper of the peace. Most are afraid of him (except for his wife) and cross the street if they even see his shadow.  He once stared down a bear that just wet its fur and died at the mere sight of him (the bear stew was good that winter).                                                                             Michael, our youngest, is the gambler, a trickster by trade; he makes his living off of other people’s chances.  He often leaves out of Vicksburg on a gambling boat and is gone for months at a time.  When he comes home, trouble often comes with him and we have to defend our way of life.  Last time he brought home a wife, city gal.  She don’t much cotton to our music or way of life. 

Me?  Well I run shine down to Alabam on occasion; mostly though I just live and get by.  The way I see it all I got to do is wait until it’s time for more music and joy; if the hard times get in the way of that I just wait it out.

If you're ever up our way stop by and see us; just make sure you holler a lot before ya get to the house.  We might just shoot first and ask who you was later.  That’s how Uncle John became tomato fertilizer last spring.  He dropped by for a surprise visit and the surprise was on him.  But don’t let that stop you; we would love to see you soon. 

Bye NOW!

For Evan

Well, here I am 70 pounds lighter.

 I have dreamed of losing weight for a long time now but life kept getting in the way. At least I can try and blame life but it was me; you see, no matter how much this modern day world wants to tell you all your problems are someone else’s fault, more times than not it’s yours. I’ve loved to eat all my life; I was a fat kid and a fat adult with a few years of skinniness now and again. I grew up in a time when being a big eater of all the wrong foods was no big deal. My parents went from living off the farm to the modern convenience of the grocery store. Ahhh, the grocery store where everything is lined up on shelves for you. That might be when things starting going downhill. For food to sit on a shelf it has to be preserved…hmmm. So what does man do but get out his chemist set and come up with all kinds of additives to make food stay fresh longer. We live in a world of convenience. We no longer have to gather and hunt, but we continue to eat like we are driving steel on the coast to coast railway. Our modern day life is one that we take for granted. We feel we need rewards and comfort; every whim should be satisfied. I fed all the bad days I had with food. Not enough money in the bank this week; let’s eat! Lost another job, another plant shut down; let’s eat! It feels so good to have a full tummy when you’re sad, depressed or mad. What’s wrong, little Buster, bad day at school, have a cookie. All food ever gave me was a moment of satisfaction and years of not being who I wanted and needed to be. So last July I watched a movie called “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.” The guy went on a juice fast for sixty days and lost around seventy pounds. He had doctors monitoring him the whole time and with all the mass ingesting of vegetables and fruits, he nourished his fat, sick body back to health. He now calls it a reboot. You can look up the movie and his reboot program on the web. So I said to myself, “What one man can do, another man can do.” So I bought a new juicer, stocked up on fruits and veggies and went for it. My first attempt was 29 days on nothing but juice and all fruit smoothies. The first four days were hell. After that I felt better, lighter and had more energy than I had in a long time. I lost 31 pounds. It was a good jump start. After that I ate and juiced (for the vitamins). I would eat on the weekends and juice fasted during the work week. I continued to lose until I got to a total of 55 pounds. Then came the holidays. I stayed true to my plan, but kept eating more and more until I knew I was getting off track and gaining back weight. Time for another reboot! On New Year’s Day I started another juice fast and went thirty days this time. Since being off it I have tried to only eat micronutrient-rich food as much as I can. What is that? Rule of thumb . . . if it only has one ingredient you’re good to go. Honestly, it’s fruits, veggies, nuts, beans and as little processed food as you can (hard to do in this in the over-processed food world we live in). So this has been my journey and how I got where I am and how I hope to get where I want to be.

 The “For Evan” part? Well these first 70 pounds I dedicate to him. I have three boys who grew up to be fine men. Angie (my wife) raised these boys on a very healthy diet. They were all lean and trim all their growing up years. Until they got jobs and money of their own and they, like their dear old dad, love to eat and drown their troubles with food. You see, whenever their mom went out of town or we boys went on a man trip I would treat the boys to all kinds of goodies. Double stuff Oreos dipped in chocolate, M&M’s, pizza galore and all kind of naughty food stuff. I taught them “Hey, we all deserve a break today. We need to fill our sweet tooth. While mom’s away let me teach you how to eat badly.” Food + good time = winning combination? No; it was wrong message sent. So I imprinted a lust for food on their little brains and when they were let off their mom’s food chain they went at the world of processed food like they were starving. Of all my kids I guess mine and Evan’s food addiction are about the same. We love food and we’re never full. He learned that from me. So am I to blame? No more than my parents are to blame for the choices I made. All parents can lead, show and teach their kids all they want and that will stay with them, but later on they have to make the choice. I made bad choices when it came to how I ate. No one is to blame but me. I can whine about all the bad stuff that happened and go on about how it’s God’s, my parents or the universe’s fault or I can learn from it and move on. I wish I had never been fat, but maybe I needed that pain to get where I am now. Evan has started his weight loss journey and writes a very witty and very good blog about his journey. Evan is in the middle of two very dynamic brother’s. I know he felt at times he did not get the attention he deserved; but I know now he understands my wife and I were just trying to survive raising three very strong willed boys. I have given the other two their accolades through the years; now it’s Evan’s turn. To define Evan I would say he is a Godly man; he avoids confrontation, but stands up for what he believes; he is the family peacekeeper and just wants everyone to get along. There is so much he wants to do, but like me he lets his weight and food addictions keep him from being who he wants to be. But I know without a doubt he has the will & faith to do anything he puts his mind to. He is my hero as I hope to be his someday when I finally reach my goal and I look in the mirror and see just me and not fat me. A father never forgets a disappointed look in his child’s eyes. I can name many through the years, but one that I want to mention here is this little story. A few years back Evan went to England. He wanted to bring us back gifts and asked what we wanted. My request was a black shirt from Hard Rock (I had bought one in Hawaii and wore it until it was threadbare). He came back with his gifts and proudly gave them to us. When he gave mine to me I noticed it was a XL (and was cut small at that) I was wearing an XXL and sometimes larger at the time. I knew it would not fit, but I tried it on anyway and, of course, I looked like sausage meat stuffed in an intestine tube. I’ll never forget the look in Evan’s eyes and how I disappointed him (not that he was disappointed in me; he’s not like that) because I could not enjoy the gift he went to so much trouble to get. “It was the biggest one they had, dad. I’m sorry,” still echoes in my ears. The shirt has hung in my closet since then. It stayed there because every time I looked at it I would say….someday. So Evan this is for you.

                                  Today is SOMEDAY! 

 Sorry for the pose. I was just trying to stand up straight. I’m such a slouch.

I’m still a big guy and I’m not where I need to be. According to my height I still have another 50 or more pounds to lose; depressing if you think about it. Depressing that I let myself get that big. Depressing that I have to fight for every pound lost. Depressing that I have to isolate myself from the social aspects of eating. But my wonderful wife has taught me that if you focus on the positives of life, the negatives will melt away. There is life after food addiction. A wonderful life. I will always be an addict just like anyone that tries to get away from the harmful things in this life. But my prayer this time is that I go all the way so I can enjoy life with my skinny wife and not look like the Hardy to her Laurel.

Things I have learned so far:
1. You would be surprised how little it takes to nourish your body. The rest just feeds fat.

2. Doing something like a fast teaches you that denying one’s self builds you up; giving in to every whim and pleasure will only pull you down. That is why there are all these don’ts in the Bible. Our flesh anchors us to this earth, but our spirit desires freedom. The more you keep feeding your fleshly desire then the more this world will pull you down.

3. Your mind and body may tell you you’re starving, but they lie. Wait until you’re truly hungry to eat and feed your body, not your brain, and for sure not your fat.

4. Know what full feels like and stop.

 5. The Juice Fast took away my desire for all the bad stuff, but it did not take long to reacquire it. So I will have to be forever vigilant and reboot whenever I go too far away from the good foods in this world.

6. Its okay to treat yourself but it needs to be the rare exception and not the everyday rule! Rewarding yourself with bad food is not a reward at all, but punishment directed towards your body.

So this is my story. I have gained and lost a lot over the last 20 or so years and have always gained more after losing a little. If you have not gone through this you may not understand why we fatties are fat. We all have our addictions; mine showed on the outside, yours may not. But don’t judge lest ye be judged. From what I can remember, I have weighed as much as 335 and as little as 265 in the past 15 years. I was at 317 when I started the first fast. Now I’m at 247. This is the least I’ve weighed in a long time. My hope is to get under 200 and be close to the weight I was when Angie and I got married. Maybe then we will renew our vows if she will have me for another 32+ years. When that day comes I will ask her. Until then I have something to look forward to. What do you say Angie? I’m thinking a barefoot wedding on the beach at Tybee. You’re all invited if and when we set a date : )

One More Try to be a Loser Once and for All

My Life of fat began at an early age. I was a fat baby, a plump kid, and a portly teenager. When I was a senior in high school I lost weight and had maybe five to six normal size years. When I got married my mother-in-law was a great cook and I was a great eater a match made in heaven. My home life when I was a kid was a life filled with food and it looked like my married life would be the same. When we had no money we would buy the cheapest food which is not always good for you. We always tried to do better and there were times it would take. I lost a good bit of weight when I turned thirty; but then I lost a job and was out of work for six months. Depression and comfort food took me right back to a bigger size than I was before. Since then it has been a race to 300 pounds and beyond. I moved to Savannah and tried to turn over a new leaf it took for a while and then in one weekend of bad behavior I would be right back where I started. So during the fourth of July I watched movie called “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”. The juice fast (they did in the movie) got me to thinking about when I had tried juicing before and lost weight, but I never just juiced I always ate at least one meal during the day. But I decided it was time to do something and I have fasted (for religious reasons) in the past for a few days at a time. So as long as I got good nourishment I was going to try fasting long term; to maybe reboot my food habits. So below is a video journal of my progress so far.

This is dedicated to my Wife who has always been the true leader in our family (although we never listened most of the time when she tried to help us make good food choices). And my three amazing sons to whom I was a bad example when it came to healthy eating.

Click on the links below to see the video journals; but be warned they are extremely boring.


Day 2….blah, blah, blah

Day 8….more talk but ten pounds lighter.

Day 16 The Process….or how many times I can say process in one video.

Day 24 Clean up….my shirt is wet because juicing is a messy….dare I say…PROCESS!


Day 29 The End? We will see…. Sunday afternoon was extremely tough. I had two smoothies, grapefruit juice and could not bring myself to juice any veggies. Late in the afternoon after talking to Angie at great length I ended my fast. 29 days of nothing but liquids. I wanted to go on but my brain fog, boredom and the longing to end that empty feeling led me to conclude my body wanted me to stop. As I told Angie I was afraid once I started back eating I would not stop and be right back gaining again. I had a goal of going as long as 40 days and even up until the Labor Day weekend, which would have been 47 days. But I did not make it. What did I eat….well I have been craving pizza so we ordered a veggie pizza from a local place called Upper Crust (not to be confused with my one and only best pizza place ever; it’s nothing like it); they do make a very good, all the veggies you can get on a pizza, veggie pizza. The first taste was disappointing…..had my taste buds left me??? But I ate nonetheless and when I felt full I stopped. I did taste, however, a few of the things I’ve seen Angie fix and/or eat in the last 29 days that I had been lusting after. But it was just a few tastes here and there. This morning, which would have been my thirtieth day, I have not eaten anything so far; I do not feel the need. I drank some left over grapefruit juice and plan on juicing this afternoon and taking it with me for lunch at work. Will I continue to juice and fast some more…..we will see. As I said at the beginning I would take it one day at a time. But I hope I have changed….I want to change. I have come to embrace that empty light feeling that comes with a hungry stomach…..strange, huh. Let's see if it lasts; let’s just see : )

Day 2.2 How to Smoothie

Update: I have decided to go back incognito with my weight loss journey. I hope I have put enough info up for you to decided if you want to make a change. Will power and state of mind are paramount to any change you want to make in your life. I have tried to live by the fact that “all things a possible if you can believe”…the problem is can we believe? I looked at the movie I have talked about and said “what one man can do, so can another man do as well”. I have done 29 day’s I wanted to go longer; but this is not the end so I will not stress on a number I put in my head. The point was to change and that will be seen only in the future. For the last week I have ate some and I have just drank juice for a few days and then eat some more. I’m now just going to try and do what I feel needs to be done to lose down to a comfortable weight for my age and the lifestyle I desire for me and my partner so we can enjoy the time we have left to serve on this earth.

So to whomever is reading I will let you know as I lose weight but other than that you get the idea of how I started the journey; when I reach my goal you will be the first to know. The worst part of any journey is taking the first step the rest is an adventure and we all need a little adventure.

Easter, birthdays and other reasons to get together….

Well as I predicted, the time off and the long weekend with the family went by faster than a taco bell burrito granda through to bowels of and overweight fast food loving redneck on vacation at Disney land with the bathroom on the other side of the park. It never fails time moves fast when you’re enjoying the day and slows down when you’re at work and need to get away.

I always loved the way Frank & Sara came up with ways to celebrate every mundane holiday an any reason to give a gift. They passed this on to their daughter whom I love; all she needs is and excuse and she will find a way to buy a gift or give something to someone. I wish more could be this way; on my side we looked for reason not to put effort into gift giving. My Dad……jezz I could never buy him anything that he liked or acted like he liked. An mom was no better; no emotion just a gift; making sure everyone was there and on time was more important to her. Nothing was meant by it, just the way they were. I do the same thing; barely show emotion just a grunt if you’re lucky that shows I like what I got. Now give a gift to Angie and you will get the whole works and cavalcade of emotion showing she loves her gift. “AWWWWWW, OOOOOHHH, Look its crap on a stick!!!! How did you know it’s just what I wanted!!!!” Yes I’m exaggerating……or am I. Enough picking on Angie.

I enjoyed the time we had together and look forward to the next....

I love you just the way you are; so stop changing!!!

My Mama like hers before her had a lot of sayings. Words of wisdom passed on in little sayings that most would over look or consider nonsensical. One such saying that hit me at just the right time, it was a time when I first started dating and found most girls to be a conundrum. The saying; here it is; “pretty is as pretty does”. True enough I thought because most of the girls I knew although pretty on the outside did not do very pretty, reveling that the inside (or hart) of the person was far from pretty. This set my standard for the person I wanted to share my life with. I would find the one that was pretty and did pretty. The pearl among women as the bible calls it.

And so I found her; the one girl that was just as pretty on the inside as she was on the outside; I married her and we had three children and have shared 32 years together. So in this blog I want to share with you the girl of my dreams and our history together.

Angie is natural beauty.

In this picture she is wearing the same dress she wore on our first date. I could not take enough pictures of her in this dress. The purple ribbons and flowers in the material highlighted her complexion and brown eyes. I fell in love with her at first sight (by the way she made this dress).

In our first apartment we made a home and got to know each other. She was the same as the girl I dated. Kind, loving and generous to a fault; below is a picture I took of her in a rocker I bought our first Christmas together.

Boy; am I a lucky guy or what!!

I could share a multitude of picture with you that showcase her beauty, but this blog is not long enough and some of the pictures I do not have with me (these first pictures are pictures of pictures so forgive the quality). But you get the idea.

In the picture below is how she looked after three children born very close to each other. Yes I made her pull the top down a little to show off her shoulders and she will probably kill me for showing this picture; but my point is this. She has always tried to look her best; she has taken what nature blessed her with and highlighted it. Not in a vain way (to say she is vain is to show you do not know her at all); but to make herself look her best for me and for herself. She has always told me if it makes you feel better about yourself then you should do it; you should feel good about yourself no matter what others think.

She is so humble about the way she looks that she will not take a complement very well and has often passed them off, that is just the way she is. The one reason I love the above picture and wanted to show it to you is this, if you look close you can see the humility in her eyes as if to say "why is he taking another picture of me, why does he think I'm pretty". Because you are baby, you've always been the prettiest girl in the world to me

And so after thirty years of marriage; I took this picture and put it up at my desk at work.

I start noticing a lot of guys hanging around my desk staring at this picture. One finely got up the courage to ask… Is this your daughter? No I said (proudly); it’s my wife! What!! (He said) Did you rob the cradle; she has to be in her early thirties. No; I said (now perturbed) she is a year younger than me. I had this same conversation with many that looked at this picture. One even said; boy Randy’s been hiding her from us, who knew he was this lucky.

Yes my mom had it right; pretty is as pretty does. I also believe that pretty inside will manifest it’s self on the outside as well. And I believe Angie is living proof of that. After all these years to me she looks the same as the girl I met in the door way at her parent’s house and took out on our first date together and in other ways she has changed and redefined herself. And I’m still blinded by her beauty.

Now recently she has lost a good bit of weight. She, like I have always had to fight the issue of gaining and losing weight. But unlike me she has never let it define who she is or how she feels about herself. And also unlike I she has always (since the first day we met) ate right; she eats light and hardly ever overeats anything. She also tried to pass on good eating habits to our sons, who up until they could buy their own food were thin and healthy. But I ashamed to say “I” was a bad influence on them….sorry guys.

Back to Angie…

Okay now we’re all concerned about Angie “oh my God…she’s too thin”; we must have an intervention. So she had to have her gallbladder taken out and it changed her eating habits and the way her stomach works. So she can’t eat fried foods, she’s lacteous intolerant and now she is mostly a vegetarian. Aren’t those supposed to be good things? We have been told for years to cut out the fried stuff and too much dairy will make you fat. I was concern to at first because it is a shock and she has lost it fast. But I can not begrudge her for achieving something at age 53 that she has deserved all her life. Trust me she may eat light; but she is eating right. So let’s be happy for her. She has done all this without once making a big announcement (HEY I’M GOING ON A DIET!!); or telling everyone how much weight she has lost. I have never known how much she has ever weighed and I guess I will go to my grave never knowing. And what does it matter because her sprite has always been as light as a feather and you know an angels feet never touch the earth.

If you’re overweight you will be judge and looked upon differently; it is the one last acceptably prejudice. Women are thought to be less beautiful somehow (and saying she has a pretty face dose not let you off the hook). Men will snub their nose at the girl with a few extra pounds as they stand there with a gut hanging over their belts. Men are thought to be lazy and dumb and have no will power all because of being overweight. A few extra pounds does not change the person you are on the inside unless you let it. I still want to be the great adventure I feel like I am. But I have let my weight hold me back.

Once again Angie is my example; while I stumble around having a hard time with my knees; she is out walking me, doing yoga and not letting anyone hold her back (as we all saw when she ran off and left us in down town Savannah with Emaline in her arms all because she did not want to be late for our reservations).

Angie; after thirty two years you’re still changing and rocking my world; you have always been the person I long to be; how could I love you more; how could I be so lucky. Of all the wrong I’ve done, knowing and loving you is the one thing right in my life.

I once overheard someone say this about me and I quote; "if you know anything about Randy, you know he loves his wife". If that one thing defines me, then I'm proud it does. When God answers your prayers and fulfills your dreams how can you help but be thankful.

Alone again…Naturally

It was a great week with my wife and feeling normal for awhile; like I was complete once again. And with everyone else rolling into town my life was full and there was more to life than just going to work and coming home. But now the week has ended and the loneliness will come. But I will have memories and I will hold on to them……for awhile.