Finally Friday

Finally Friday. I arrived at work early today at 7:00 am because I have a ton of work to do. I've had my hot tea and I just popped in some George Michael (Ladies and Gentleman...) which should get me through the morning. I cannot believe he's gone from American radio. He is still extremely popular in the U.K. and the rest of Europe. Like I always say, "There's nothing that a little George Michael cannot fix."

Andviums, this one's for you.......cause the benefit gang are gonna pay!

Friends

Ok, maybe I do have something to say. I'm feeling sad tonight. It seems that the ups and downs of my friends greatly affect my mood. I have a very close, old friend, who is not feeling well lately. I know she is going through an extremely hard time and I hope that things work out for her soon. It makes me sad to think of how she is feeling right now.

I've got another close friend who had been down for awhile, a couple of blows had really set her back, but she made it through. Things are turning around for her and things are starting to look better. I feel with her the hope she has for the future.

Yet, another old friend of mine is having the time of her life. She has always been happy with what she has had and never complained about her life. Now, she's having all kinds of new experiences and I am so happy and excited for her.

The few I mention above are kind of the extremes right now, but I have learned that life is a rotating circle. Things go in cycles and nobody has a perfect life all of the time. We all have ups and downs. I want to thank all of my friends who have been there for me over the past 25 years through the good times (new job, marriage, baby) and the bad times (bad boyfriends, health issues, baby). I appreciated you all whether I said it or not. I don't know what I would have done through all that time without all of you. I drew strength, courage, and a few laughs from all of you at one point or another.

Hope all my friends out there have a peaceful night tonight.

Nothing to Say...

I worked extremely hard today at work, it seems that I cannot catch up with all that is coming into my inbox, it sure does make the day go by quicker.

Ran out to Walmart at lunch hour to stock up on baby food and buy a 9 volt battery for the scale Jen brought into work. After my powder and water lunch, we weighed ourselves. I lost 9 lbs. in 10 days on this diet. It helps reaffirm that the sacrifices that I am making are going to be worth it.

Tonight, I met my friend Denise for dinner. We were going to the Grillsmith at 90 & 306 but she got there first and it was out of business. Alternate plan, we go to Redhawk at 90 & 44. I get there first and they are closed for remodeling. Plan C: Panini's at the new Gristmill Center at 90 & 44. No matter what Panini's you go to, all Panini's taste exactly the same. Which in my case, is a good thing. The steak salad with italian dressing was a perfect way to finish the day.

Larry's team had their first outdoor track meet tonight and I am waiting for him to come. Coincidentally, he had Panini's in Euclid for dinner tonight with the other track coaches. If the American Idol cast off is tonight, we'll watch that. I predict that Chris Bligh (spelling?) will be the next to go home. If AI is not on tonight, we'll watch last night's house and fall asleep by 10:00 pm.

PS...I saw on tv tonight that Dr. Perper (of Anna Nicole Smith fame) was dropped on his head as a child and the blood clot to his head caused his skull to harden. That is why he has that huge bump on his head. Not sure if that is accurate, I heard it on Access Hollywood.

Thanks Easter Bunny!

This past Saturday was the Egg Hunt in our development. It was foggy and rainy, but hundreds of kids showed up for the 3,000 hidden eggs. I volunteered to run one of the age groups and since Timmy cannot stand up, he sat out this year. The photo is Timmy with the Easter bunny next to what looks like one crazy girl.

Today is Monday and Timmy had a fever last night of 102. This morning, after feeding him and showering him, I set him down to play as I dried my hair. When I came out of the bathroom, he was fast asleep. This was at 6:15 am. Since he never falls back to sleep in the morning, I decided to keep him home today to rest.

It is 8:00 am and he is still sleeping! I have a bit of a sore throat myself so it will be good for the both of us to stay home and rest today. I do plan to do some laundry and a little vaccuming, as well as pulling out some bigger clothes for the boy.

Diff'rent Strokes

On the way home from work today, I flipped off the Mike Trivisonno talk show to see what was on and passed by Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. The song always brings to mind the video with all the crazy girls with wild hair and cool outfits on, so 80s. I wonder if Cyndi came out with that song now, how would it be received? This thought led my mind wandering to all those crazy songs of the 80s that I loved so much. How weird were they? I mean, the fact that I owned Menudo, Joan Jett and Wham! reminds me of how funny (and good) that time of my life was.

I had the two best friends in the world and of course my sister. The worries we had back then were: whether there was a crazy person in the woods near Edison School where we road our bikes, we worried that we'd be late for Bob Ungar's tennis lesson, or worse, get yelled at for making too much noise on the tennis court, and we worred about the Schaub boys coming after us. Oh, those were the days.

That was a time when I didn't care what people thought of me. I marched to the beat of a different drummer, I knew it, but I didn't care. I wore neon clothes, flowered pants and leggings in public. I wore my Cleveland Force hat for good luck when taking my midterms at high school, and I danced around in a circle with my friends, singing Harry Belafonte tunes.

What's the point of my rambling? I am trying to get some of that back....the part where I didn't care what people thought of me. I did what I enjoyed and loved every minute of it, never thinking for one minute what anyone else thought.

I don't have an answer for how I am going to get over this need to "please" and/or "fit in" with others. Just writing what I am thinking about lately.

Thanks for reading. As Simon Cowell would say, "That was very self-indulgent, wasn't it."

PS. Looking back on the beginning of this entry, I was going to talk about how lucky I was to be a child/tween/teen in the 80's. I guess I'll save that for another day.

These Feet Were Made for Walking

This past Monday, I stated a serious diet. I'm not ready to discuss the diet yet, but I am going to discuss the exercise portion. Two of my co-workers and I have started tracking our food intake daily and we have started walking inside the office as well. There are 2 walk paths in the building. Both are 1 mile treks, but one is all flat ground and the other includes stairs in the mile. We have completed 3 days of walking of food monitoring and walking a mile each day. It is definitely easier to follow a plan when others are motivated as well. We'll see how long we'll be able to keep it up.

Walking/Exercise is going to visit someone in the hospital (and other things) . You don't want to go, you don't look forward to it, but once you do go, you feel much better. Still, you don't want to do it again tomorrow.

Upper Case Living

A friend of mine referred me to this website: http://www.uppercaseliving.com/OurProducts/InspirationalIdeas/

I love these (the one above is what I want) and they are sold like tupperware at parties with a demonstrator. Would any anyone reading this be interested if I had a demonstrator come to the house?

Bright, Bright, Sunshiney Day

A couple of weeks ago, this was the view from the top of the stairs in our development's beach. Looks like the stairway to the abyss, doesn't it?? Brrrr. Cold! Funny how a few days can change things dramatically. Today, the sun is shining and there is not a cloud in the sky. It is 56 degrees right now. Tonight, we're going to take Timmy on a walk and see the neighbors. I am sure they will all be out tonight as the first signs of Spring arrive.

Friday

Finally Friday, the end of a very busy week. We managed to put up a curtain rod and deep purple curtains in our bedroom and it makes a huge difference. We put up a small white shelf with 4 hooks in our laundry room for our coats and we bought the chocolate paint that will go above our mantel on the "feature wall". Slowly, but surely, I'll bargain shop my way to a beautifully decorated home.

We're looking at putting up a shed on the far end of the property and I have asked my cousin Mark to draw the diagram that I will have to submit to the homeowner's assoc for approval. The shed and the yard are this summer's main goals.

Mid Week Catch Up

On Sunday, I sold my first item on Ebay for $9.99, it was a collectible Baby Einstein item so it was a good candidate
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On Monday, I was walking out to my car which is parked in the 4 building mega-complex at my work. I noticed a huge tow truck approaching me and asked me, "Is this 300 N. Main Blvd?" and I said, yes, the whole complex is that address and I asked him who he was looking for. He gave me the woman's name who I did not know so I advised him to go into the receptionist and he could call her to meet him. He said, "Oh no, I'm the repo man, I'll keep on going up and down the rows." I thought to myself, "Someone is having a bad day and they don't even know it yet. ...........................................................................................................
We're having 2 of Larry's friends from college (and their wives) up this weekend for the Wlby Brew and to play poker so am getting the house cleaned for their stay...........................................
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Save A Lot Review

In the News-Herald on Wednesday, there was an article about the Painesville Save-a-Lot on Mentor Ave. just past Kohl's plaza. Larry and I and TK went to see the re-organized store with fresh paint, brand new coolers and freezers to see for ourselves.

We went on a Thursday night @ 7:00 and the place was not busy. It was very clean and everything looked new--a very pleasant shopping environment. Of course, you still have to put a quarter in the slot to get a cart (you get it back after you shop).

The food. There was lots of food. That being said, there is not alot that is low fat, low cal or sugar free. They do have a Light and Fit line, but not for a lot of products. The freezer section was amply stocked with tons of items. They do have milk for $1.75 a gallon, a big cheese section, fruits and vegs. They also had Sylvania soft white 75 watt light bulbs for $2.69, Pringles were $.89 a can. They had bottles of wine and Easter candy. And, they had St. Patrick's Day cookie dough by an off brand maker : )

Would I shop there frequently? I'd shop if I was having a party and needed lot of food and the fat/calories did not matter. They are good for frozen food, baking supplies (morsels were 99 cents and they had chocolate bark for melting) and cheap laundry detergent which was $1.99.

At this point, I am leaning toward Save a Lot because they carry baby food and more brands that I am used to seeing, but we'll see as time goes on.