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!

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.

My Son as a Father

I watched as he played at the play ground running around full of life; nothing could stop him as he ran and ran and grew up before my eyes. Now I sit beside him as he watches his son and daughter run an play as if they would never get tired.

My son will be a better father than I ever was; he is patience; kind and giving of himself to their every need. He worries if he will watch them as good as his wife does and consults with her often to make sure he does no wrong. He smiles often as they smile at him and plays with them as they play. He will be young with them and grow with them as well.

My Dad was a good father; I tried to be better; maybe it’s like this….like father like son, only better if you can. I know Ryan will do his best to be better than I.