Happy Monday : The Dayquil Edition

It took up residence in my face on Friday morning and shows no signs of leaving.

My head is going to crack with all the sinus pressure.

The plan is to pretend I don't have a cold.

Perhaps it will get annoyed without my undivided attention and just leave.

Today needs to end.

I am tired.

My daily ration of patience is used up.

I'm declaring it bedtime.

I love my children, but I want to love them while they are asleep and not longer talking, fighting or whining.

Nicole snapped a ligiment in her index finger, chipping the bone in the process. This would be the same hand that she broke last year and required surgery with 3 pins. This time because it's the finger and not the hand she just has two weeks in a metal splint, then a week taped to the finger next to it.

We spent the afternoon at SWINE FLU headquarters to see the doctor, get the x ray and then back to the doctor so he could read the . I wanted to BATHE in antibacterial spray by the time we got out of there.

Highlight of the evening was Christopher's game. He made his first touchdown! Yeah, go Cud!

During the game Tony from Christopher's team was hit in the back of the neck at the end of a play. He did not move the entire time he was on the field. Last we heard, he was headed from Concord to Dartmouth for better xrays of his neck and back. I hope he's ok.

Today needs to end to FRIDAY can begin, so I'm going to sleep.

Goodnight.

It's the Final Countdown..

It's our 5th year. It's tradition.

We leave in 52 days.

Every year a kid grows up and we are down a person.

They went and got all grown up and are off saving the world, one math problem at a time.

No offense to my other Nephews.. But DAMMIT KURTIS, I'm going to MISS YOU.

But I have grand plans for this year.

I'm trying to incorporate the deadline/countdown as a ticker for weight loss. My goal is to lose 10 pounds before we leave for Florida.

It's not totally out of reach. My plan is to use Weight Watchers point system and doing the 30 Day Shred at least one if not two times a day. 

As it is right now, my days are broken up into 2 hour increments. Drive here-wait 2 hours. Drive there-wait 2 hours. It's not "Inconceivable" to think that a 20 minute workout could be completed twice.

Today I managed to squeeze in the Shred twice and came in under my points for WW.

I'm happy and tired. I think I'll go to bed before I start feeling like a snack.

I have returned..

I fell off the SHRED and POSTING wagon.

They seem to be linked in a weird, I HAVE to tell the world that I exercised, kind of way.

Last Wed. I hurt myself trying to use 5 pound weights.

IT REALLY HURT.

So Thursday I did an ab only work out, then Friday I did NOTHING because I suck, and then took the weekend off to consume mass quantities of SUGAR, BUTTER and anything else I could cram in my mouth.

MONDAY was to be my NEW DAY. I was going back to weight watchers and was going to shred and OMIGOD I was gonna be soo skinny by FRIDAY.  Whatever. That lasted till 8:30AM when I look down and realized I was eating an OATMEAL COOKIE. ? So of corse I blew the whole day off.

So THANK GOD IT'S TUESDAY.

I went to Weight Watchers and weighed in, I'm up 2 pounds since July.

I'm HAPPY bout that to tell you the truth.

I thought it was going to be more, because even tho I was exercising  every day, it seemed I ate more (Ice cream, sugar, cake). I was getting physcially stronger, but not losing any weight.

SO.

Back on the WAGON.

Counting Points + Shred and I will hopefully be able to lose those last 15 pounds..By November when we go to Disney! I shredded tonight, back to level 2 and did really well. I mixed up my IPOD songs so I don't have to hear Jillian and the reps go by WAY quicker. I think we shall call this DAY 1.

ANYWAY!

My new favorite picture.

Coley has that smirk and Emily has those eyes that just make you laugh.

September 11, 2001

Today is 9/11.

For the last seven years on this date we all remember where we were when we heard the news.

I remember.

I was sick with a head cold and almost didn't go into work. Somehow I managed to pull it together and get there.

My mom ALWAYS watched Good Morning America. I was working at an insurance agency and @ 8:30ish had just got to work when she called.

She told me that she couldn't really talk, but wanted to tell me 2 things:

1.) her Morning Glories had blossomed.

2.) Something had crashed into one of the towers at the world trade center.

I asked Marybeth who was in the cubicle behind me if she had heard anything, but she hadn't. She was working with an a import credit company that was in one of the towers, and she tried to call, but couldn't get thru. I tried to get on CNN Website, the page came up for a few seconds then the site crashed.

A few people went into the conference room where we there was a TV and were watching when the second plane hit the towers, they started yelling and the rest of us went in to check out what was going on.

We watched all those fire fighters and police go into the buildings. We saw the people running to get out. The TV footage made it so real, the people falling/jumping, we saw it as it happened. Hoping that they were ok and that they had made it to safety. (I think we kind of knew it was impossible.)

Then the first tower fell.

Nobody saw it coming. It was so unexpected. It was such a huge building.

We all yelled a little OMIGOD, NO.

Then the second tower.

It all started to sink in.

That all those people that we had just watched run INTO the buildings, were most likely dead.

Nobody said anything. A few were crying.

We were given the option to either go home or stay, our boss had a brother who was in one of the smaller towers and he was going home to be with his family till he heard any news.

I headed home, crawled into bed with some cold medicine and watched the news. There was footage and live reports on EVERY channel for the next 5 days.

I can't belive it was 8 years ago.

All day today there were memorials and tributes and watched them all thinking of that day and how the world has changed since then. We all talked about how we found out, and where we were that day. I wanted to make sure I wrote it down so 8 years from now I never forget.

Preschool First Day: 9/9/09

Preschool First Day, originally uploaded by Michelle.Dan.

It's 09/09/09.. How awesome is that?

Aiden's second year at preschool began today. I tried to recreate the picture from last year, as you can see by the look on his face, he has NO IDEA what I'm asking him to do.

I was late picking him up. FOR THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.

He was upset.. I felt horrid.

Moving on..

We had a HUGELY busy day, school for all three, open house, soccer game and Open Cheer Gym. Since I was on my own today and I'm the only one who DRIVES, I was responsible for all activities.

It's 10:16pm on 9/9/09, my day started at 5:30AM and I'm exhausted.

_______________________________________________________

Day 9 of the shred, went better than I thought it would. The plank is killing my left shoulder, so I kind of babied it. But but the end of the workout I felt SO MUCH better than before.

the Sisters three..

  

At the wedding last weekend, my camera failed me.
98% of my pictures were blurry (like this one) or too dark or too light.

I played with all my settings, I increased the light and slowed the aperture, I did the exact opposite. None of my pictures came out.

I'm pissed.

As a group, we rarely are all gussied up like this. We had everything tucked in, glued up and wrapped tightly. We wore shoes that hurt our feet, fought with stockings that DID NOT FIT, obsessed about arm fat and worried if our hair was FIRZZY.

In other words.

It takes a lot of work for us to get all gorgeous.

I would have like more than ONE BLURRY picture as evidence that on occasion, we can pull it together and look pretty freaking good.

I'm hoping that of all the pictures taken at the wedding someone got good shots of my sweetie on the dance floor playing his AIR GUITAR. ( yes, for real, that did happen).
______________________________________________________
Day 8: We are going to fricken hell.

Yesterday Nicole and I ate more FAIR food than thought humanly possible.

Then we shredded. And it HURT. and it SHOULD.

Declarations were made! Promises were promised!

NO MORE JUNK FOOD.

We all decided to make a better effort to eat right.

Tonight I made Turkey Joe's with whole wheat rolls.Baked Sweet Potato and Brown Rice. *THIS IS A HEALTHY MEAL*

THEN:

We went to Aiden's soccer game after dinner , where BECAUSE WE WERE BORED, we ate M&M's.. and when that wasn't enough, we topped it off with ICE CREAM.

we shredded tonight.

Everyone's belly hurt( because it was full of CRAP), we were all in a lot of pain by the end, ( AND WE DESERVE IT).

Babies and Big kids..

Babies and Big kids.., originally uploaded by Michelle.Dan.

We went to the Hopkinton Fair today. We worked this fair for many years but it's different to go just as a "patron", not running back to the stand while trying to watch the kids see the Cow Barn and Horses.

This fair is fun with ALL KINDS of animals and food. The best part is seeing the people we used to work with and catch up on what everyone had been up to since last year.

This year involved a trip to First Aid for Prince Aiden. He smacked his head while in the "tube" jungle gym and an egg appeared, then it rose a few inches off his head. He kept telling people about his egg. And to make sure he got his point across, he'd try and point to it, but end up smacking himself ON THE EGG. Just painful to watch..

______________________________________________________
Day 7.. We are all still in it. Dan owes one make up Shred from yesterday, but he worked 18 hours straight, so we made an exception. I'm still working on form. We moved over to Level 2 and its all bout the form. I'm stronger, but not strong enough.
A work in progress..

Happily Ever After..

The wedding was beautiful..

The lighting was a little off? All my church pictures came out COLORIZED. Reception pictures didn't come out at all.

My Cannon Point and Shoot couldn't keep up. The flash which insisted on going off took forever to RECHARGE.

Most of my pictures came out blurry and a little orangeish, and those that we are able to see, everyone is BLINDED by the flash.

We had a great time, partied like it was 1999.

I wore 4 inch heels and lived to tell the tale.

Stayed up WAY past my bedtime.

And we all lived happily ever after.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Day 6 of the Shred.

I didn't have time to post yesterday, but I ended up shredding at 8:00AM. We were going to take the day off, but Dan had his heart set on 2 pieces of cake, so we shredded. Coley's still in too.

Tonight wasn't my best night. Lack of sleep and perhaps a slight hangoverish feeling dominated this evenings workout. I'll do better tomorrow..

Wedding Days..

 

It's been ages since we attended a wedding together.

There was a period a few years ago when we went to weddings all the time. All of our friends and family were getting married.

I always felt weddings were more romantic for those not in the spotlight than the ACTUAL bride and groom.

Together we will attend my cousin's wedding tomorrow and I'm excited, because it will be romantic and I will be with my husband.

____________________________________________________

Day 4 and we are still going strong.. I must need more protein or something, my arms gave out half way thru. I had no strength left.
Not sure how we are going to Shred tomorrow, we may have to Shred twice on Sunday.