Perfect Weekend

Hey there, Amanda,

On the east coast it's evening, and I'm winding down from an excellent weekend...

My birthday was nothing special but I really wanted to play it by ear and not have to be any place special at any certain time, so it was my choice to be low key. I went out for my weekly steak, then over L and D's (it's been forever!) to hang out on the deck, and was home safe and sound by 10. Saturday I hung out by the pool but only for about an hour (I start in small doses). Later I had dinner with M and the kids, which was very nice. Yesterday my cousin D came over with her daughter P and we had a great day. We were by the pool for about three hours I guess before coming in for dinner. Since I had been up at 6:30 am and was doing laundry by 7:30, I was exhausted when they left at 7. After a shower I was spent and ready for bed by 9. Of course the best part of the weekend was having another day...

I went to the the gym this morning and had my Sunday breakfast--a day late--before heading poolside.I was so relaxed and in my element, I could have stayed out all day, but limited myself to three hours again, so as not to fry. I thought about going out for dinner once I came in, but after my shower opted for soft sweats and a BLT with bacon leftover from this morning. My AC is still on and I'm that comfy kind of chilly after a day in the sun, as tired as a kid after a long day at the beach.

It was a perfect weekend in many ways. Perfect for me anyway...And now I'm ready for vacation. For two months of this kind of living. Fortunately I don't have many days left to count down before I'm there.

Wonder if you are en route from your camping weekend, or home safe and sound. Hope it, too, was perfect!

Love,
Barb

Inspired

Hey, Barb.
Thank you so much for the great phone conversation yesterday - fun, inspiring, almost like having a real cup of coffee together.  It set the tone for my writing today, but in the end I never had a spare minute to do it. Until now, of course, when it's 9:40 and C is about to walk in the door with a friend, shortly followed by M and a friend, and my house will be full of kids (JJ and his camping partner are already in bed). I had such a busy day, getting ready for our trip, but I thought about writing all day and wasn't even disappointed that I couldn't get to the page. It felt good to be inspired.

I did get everything done today, though, which is a fabulous place to be the night before leaving, with the intent of getting out of town by noon. I have breakfast burritos all ready to make up in the morning for everyone, and that's all I have left to do.  Yahoo! Even if I have to get up early to have some p&q, I'm good with that.

Yup...the kids are all here, all of a sudden.  Signing off with good wishes for a relaxing long weekend...talk to you Monday!

Love you, A

Good Luck

Sending you white light for D's treatment and wishing you all a good visit together, even under the worst of circumstances.  Love you!  - A

Off again

Hey, there,

Just a quick hello before I disappear for a couple of days... I'm picking D up this evening and we're headed to sleep over at L's so we can be a little closer to the hospital in the morning for her chemo treatment tomorrow. Looking forward to her company, as always, but wish it could be just for the heck of it...

I'll touch base with you (and respond to your post) when I'm back and before you leave on Friday...my big 4-5....

Love you,
Barb

I just said "no" to a Ding Dong

Hey, you.

Quick hello before I turn in early for the night.  I really hope your weekend was full of sun and relaxation, and that the whole incident with N left you alone.  Still wondering if you responded to him?

We had a very busy weekend, after all.  I completely forgot that this was the neighborhood garage sale and that T&S were selling some stuff for us. Friday night we all had dinner together and priced things (ok, I priced two things) and then Saturday everyone was up early facing the crowd...and I'm not kidding. I stayed over there most of the morning, until we had to go to JJ's game.

Unfortunately, they lost, and were eliminated from the playoffs at Game One!! Bummer for the boys, but I'm not all that sad.  Later that afternoon, JJ's friend B came over to spend the night.  T & S finished up the garage sale and brought K over for dinner (R is out of town).  I made a huge pot of spaghetti, because, unlike you, we had freezing cold (hail included) sideways windy RAIN pretty much the entire weekend.  (I have to admit, though, the sun came out right when the baseball game started and the rain started (no kidding) the minute it ended.  God was showing us a little grace while we lost!)  Even though I didn't have any of the spaghetti, it was a big hit and we had a nice catch-up visit with K.  I think I told you she's working on finishing her AA online, and we hardly see her anymore.

It was an early evening, but on this diet I am dead tired by 9:00 most nights, so that was a good thing.  This morning I had to get up early to get B home, then drop JJ off at a friend's house for a day of Paintball.  J and I took the time to do all of our shopping for the upcoming annual camping trip (we leave this Friday); we hit Costco, Fred Meyer and the new Winco and managed to get everything done.  It was nice to spend the day, just the two of us kicking around.  I already need new bras, so we did a little shopping too. By the time we got home tonight and picked up JJ, there was a ton of laundry to do, homework to finish and yada yada yada.  I wrote a little and am now ready to call it a day.

On another note: I told you I was going to start the Hcg hormone diet, right? I'm not sure if I told you I actually started it ten days ago.  I passed the 10 lb mark this morning and I am really happy with this program.  I feel like this is it. I want to find success with this, and I was so afraid it was going to be like everything else I've tried. I was afraid I'd get to Day Three or Four, then attack a Big Mac like a beauty pageant contestant.  But so far, honestly, I have had no real desire to eat anything I'm not supposed to.  On occasion, I wish I could eat a "normal" meal, but I am definitely not hungry and I don't really have any cravings.  I mean, in 9 days, not once have I veered from the strict diet and it hasn't been even a little bit of a challenge.  Sure, dinner looked and smelled great last night.  J bought Ding Dongs for camping today and I eyed them a little. I miss popcorn more than anything (weird, eh?)  But I don't fight any of it.  It's like I don't even have to try not eating it.  I think about it for a few minutes, then the desire just goes away.  It's such a strange thing for me, and very hard to explain.  I'm not used to thinking about food, then deciding not to eat it.  Particularly without tremendous effort.  I'm so happy with the way this is going.  Tomorrow is my first checkup - I weigh in and get measured again with MC2.  I'm pretty excited about it, feeling as good as I do.  I'll keep you posted.

I have an appointment after that which will put me out for most of the rest of the day, Tuesday & Wednesday I work, Thursday get the trailer ready, pack, etc. and Friday we're out of here for four days.  I can't WAIT to get out of Dodge for a few days and sit around a campfire with nothing better to do.  I don't even care if it rains the entire time!!

Wishing you a good week ~ sorry we never caught up on the phone but I will try to touch base before we leave.
Love you,
A

Ready!

Hey there, Amanda.

Thanks for being in touch and checking in on me. As it turns out the week ended well--especially given how it started. But Wednesday we had our big induction ceremony, which went very well;  Thursday I was off for a leisurely day before being weighed and splayed (which meant I missed being given accolades for my work with the honor society at the faculty meeting I missed); and yesterday, of course, it was Friday. Even the worst Friday is Friday, which is always followed by Saturday.

Last night I went to see the kids before prom. The town in which I teach has a tradition of getting together at the town green for pictures. Lots of people turn out, including some teachers and alums, to see the kids in their dresses and tuxes, posing in their finery in the beautiful gazebo. I haven't been "to the green" as they call it in years, but decided it was in line with having a good year with my students, and something else to offset the administrative nightmares we've been having. In any case, I'm glad I went. And I'm glad the kids had good weather.

It's actually hot this weekend--July-like, but I can't really enjoy the sun properly until next weekend. But trust me, next weekend I will be enjoying every bit of sunshine, poolside as much as possible. As if I even need to tell you that. As for this weekend I don't have anything going on really. I had my weekly steak after going to the green last night, and today ran errands. I also tried a new sushi place (where my friends from OB go) and it was great. I'm glad to have a place close by...but have a feeling it may be dangerous. On the other hand, take out is cheaper than eating out and sushi is pretty easy on waist, no? Whatever. I like it. It's light yet filling. When I have sushi I feel full without feeling gross--and that'll be a nice option this summer when I don't feel like cooking, or getting dressed to be in public...

God, I can't wait!! I am a different person in the summer, as you know. And I'm more than ready for my transformation...

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Love you,
Barb

Just Hello

Good morning, Barb.

I hope Friday finds you in a better place. Wondering how you have dealt with N this week...?

I'm teaching middle school today and have to start getting ready here in a minute, but I wanted to check in since I got my computer back last night. I still don't have email, so hopefully I will get that fixed this afternoon.  Baseball tonight and tomorrow and maybe a quiet, non-drinking BLU dinner one night.  Quiet weekend other than that.

Maybe we can catch up by phone? I'll be around more or less.

Love,
A

Bad Days - Contagious?

Barb,

Seriously???!!! I'd be seething! I don't blame you for being pissed.  And I'm more than a little impressed that you're holding yourself back from the computer while drinking. :) What a dick. How is that motivating? What's his f***ing problem? I'm so sorry that this happened...21 days, indeed.

I'm sitting here at the public library since JJ had some internet research to do and I'm not getting my computer back until sometime tomorrow.  It's not exactly relaxing, or even comfortable, since the chairs/keyboards/etc. are not adjustable. Nor can I have my decaf Keurig by my side...but at least I can catch you up a little.

I had a really hard day today too, and am only now starting to recover from finding marijuana pariphenalia in M's room for the second or third time.  I am tired of talking to him about it, and I'm tired of how my brain always does the Columbine Leap - OMG, I found a pipe - he's going to be a complete and total loser like his dad his entire life!  He's probably already got JJ trying it! What kind of role model is that?

Of course this irritates J to no end (my brain), and it ends up with us fighting too.  Fortunately I had an appt. with MC this afternoon and managed to melt down in there, instead of at work. I'm just tired; I'm tired of worrying all the time, more than anything.  Why can't he just grow up and be ok and I can stop freaking out about every little thing?

On a much lighter (no pun intended) note, I am on Day 6 of the Hcg program and I am LOVING IT.  No kidding, I have lost 7.2 lbs and I feel awesome. I'm not hungry at all, even though I did struggle a little today with emotional food cravings.  I knew it wasn't hunger, though; I was actually able to tell the difference.  My body feels a thousand times cleaner and lighter than it did a week ago and, even though I pretty much wanted to suck down an entire pizza with a bottle of cab, I didn't.  I didn't want to ruin it...I have been so successful so far.  I haven't felt this good in so long; maybe that's why I handled the eating today better. I didn't already feel like crap, so there was something to lose if I binged on junk food.  At any rate, I'm pretty excited about this whole thing, and kind of amazed that I've been able to keep at it for six days.  I know, the program lasts for 40 days, but for me, six is probably a personal best.  Fingers crossed.

Other than that, nothing much going on here.  JJ hits the Tournament of Champions this weekend for Little League, so we have practice three nights this week.  Game One is Saturday and it's Lose/Eliminate, so we may or may not have a game again Monday, and/or Wednesday for the Title.  Kind of exciting, even if we did have a crap season and our coach sucked.  I'm kind of glad the season is coming to an end...just time-wise, but I will miss all my bleacher buddies and the fun we've had together for two years.  The end of LL, however, does mean the beginning of summer, so that makes up for everything!

I think I'll try to post a little elsewhere since JJ has about a half hour left here.  I'm trying to finish the book "Sarah's Key" (love it) but it's not very reading-comfy in here, so I think I'll give it a miss tonight.

I really hope your week improves from here. I would love to hear how you choose to respond to this, and what ensues.  Good luck; I know you will handle it professionally and with grace, as always.

Love you!
Amanda

Little Insults

No dear diary today, Amanda…


My boss is an asshole. A miniature, yet giant, asshole. The little man who can’t make a subject and a verb agree to save his life and who had me—out of the goodness of my heart—editing every email, memo and newsletter that he wrote for the first two or three years of his administration had the nerve to write in an email to me that my end-of-the-year reflection was shallow, and that I’d expect more out of a lab report from my students. In fact, he said, we expect more from our sophomores in order to be scored proficient on a single written response on the standardized state achievement test.

Seriously.

This from the man who doesn’t give a shit that morale is in the shitter or who doesn’t give a big enough shit to find out that morale is low. Every day lately, at least once a day, someone will ask, does he have any clue or does he just not care?

I thought I had gotten over the hump last week, that from here on I could wear a happy face because the end is so near, but I was wrong. I hadn’t thought that I could be so assaulted. I hadn’t prepared myself for that sort of disrespect. So for today I’m not-so-happy. Instead I’m stewing, wondering how to handle this, knowing that I should let a little time pass before I make a decision on how to proceed. Certainly the last thing I should do is send an email from home after a cocktail (or two…there may be a third…then ice water before bed).

At least my weekend was good. And there’s only 21 school days left, and less than two weeks until my pool opens.

Hope your day was better than mine.

Love,
Barb

Another Week Down

Hey there, Amanda.

You must be very busy and/or not in the mood to write...

One more week done, one week closer to vacation. Amen. I had a migraine earlier in the week that lasted two days, and did myself the disservice of too many lemon drops last night so my head was killing again today, too. It's better now but I think at this point I just need to grab the hair of the dog that bit me and follow that up with a little nap. After my nap a steak will be in order and I'll feel normal again.

I have nothing going on this weekend and I'm good with that. The last couple of weeks I've had family functions, and while they've been fun and it's been nice to socialize, I'm ready to hang out by myself this weekend and tackle a few more projects. I have a closet that I use as a dumping ground and I'd like to get rid of some of the sh*t that I don't really need to hang on to so that I can use it more appropriately--like for my pool chairs, which I usually just prop in the entry hall...which I know is not good feng shui. Anyway--that's the goal for this weekend. Not very exciting, I know, but I've got a well stocked bar to keep me motivated.

Hope you had a good week...22 days and counting...

Love,
Barb

(Un)seasonable

Of course the gorgeous weather didn't last, Amanda. It is New England after all! Saturday was stormy and since then it's been windy and unseasonably cold. (After weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures. Gotta wonder, what's seasonable? It's a bit like dysfunctional family, you know? If it's all dysfunctional, isn't it the norm, and therefore functional? If it's all unseasonable weather but we've had nothing seasonable, well...) It still looks nice when I look outside today because it's bright and sunny, and it's green again, even though it's too cold to open the window. And sunny weather makes me smile.

I had a family party Saturday (a cousin's kid's communion) and saw my mother in the morning yesterday for breakfast for Mother's Day, but then had the rest of the day to myself. It wasn't relaxing but it was productive, and that works too. Now that I'm not hibernating for entire weekends, it means that when I'm not out and about socializing if possible, I need to get stuff done.

I'm so glad to hear things are going well all around, that you had a good weekend, and especially a good Mother's Day. I'm sure this is one you'll remember for a while. A long while.

You have a good week too!
Love,
Barb

Happy "Only Six Weeks Left" Monday!

ey you,

Just thought I'd wish you a good week ahead...I can't believe it's already the second week of May.  That beach bag is inching closer and closer....

We had a good weekend, including great weather.  A baseball game, some gardening, a birthday party/bbq Friday and a BLU dinner Saturday night, Iron Man 2 today, some shopping (two new shirts) and a fabulous steak dinner, complete with mozzarella and fresh tomatoes in balsamic, prepared and served by all my boys, tonight.  Then I got presents! M bought me a gorgeous magenta Calla Lily for my yard, but his smiling face and the sentiment in his card were the best gifts of all.

I was also treated to a massage, and, although J did try to get me a Pandora charm, he opted for my Keurig coffee maker instead.  I am sooooo okay with that, since I have been wanting one like crazy since discovering it at a friend's awhile ago.  After my little java debacle last week, the timing's great too!

 
This week is pretty busy - doctors' appointments and the second & third meetings at the tech high school with M. I am also starting my Hcg injections this week, so gearing up for that. I have a going away party this Friday for a friend from PTA last year who is moving to California, but the rest of the weekend looks pretty open. For now. I am going to try to work two days in addition to my two days of tutoring, but we'll just see how that works out; at this point we are so broke I'm down to not really being able to be picky.

Everything's going well in general...no complaints.  Hope the same is true for you,

Love, A

P.S. Pictures of the kids were terrific.  Seriously, J is a major hottie!

Checking In

Hey there.

I am soooooo jealous of your beautiful weather! It is wet and cold here, not even a hint of sun for part of the day...just rainy gray.  Ugh. How nice to celebrate Cinco de Mayo outside! Since it wasn't nice here, and we had a baseball game, we skipped the margaritas in favor of extra blankets and early to bed.

I had a crappy start to my day this morning with a messy coffee spill and a fight with JJ, but I'm down 2lbs on my Hcg program so all is not lost. Plus, I sort of had to laugh it all away when I made a second cup of coffee, after cleaning up the entire nightmare of the first one, and spilled that one too.  I was so pissed I just dumped the whole thing in the sink, then burst out laughing.  What else could I do?

Followed that with a visit to the endo for a checkup on my root canal - may have to have another surgery in August but we'll wait and see if this fixes itself. I'm not in pain - in fact, didn't even know anything was wrong - so I'm not too worried about it. I did call K and S afterwards though to beg for a coffee date, having not had any yet, so I'm off now to meet them.  Lunch today with KB, then camping group for dinner tonight to plan our menus for our Memorial Day trip.

Other than the Dear Diary stuff, things are going ok here.  M seems to be doing well; yesterday I took him over to one of the technical colleges for an orientation session in their Audio/Sound production program.  He wants to get into music production; he has no intention of going to a four-year, so we found this program through Running Start. Unfortunately, he doesn't qualify for that, but we did discover another good option.  They have their own technical highschool on campus there, and they offer the same idea as RS, but as a student of the college, finishing HS credits.  It's only a 19 credit diploma, but it's legit - not a GED. It just wouldn't get him into a four year if he did want to go; it's not a big deal. If he changes his mind he can make up the credits. At this point, he so desperately wants out of highschool that I think this might be a good alternative for him.  Plus, it's almost free, and he's got money from his dad to pay for it.  What it means in the end is that, two years from now, he will have both his HS diploma and an Associates in Technology degree in sound production.

I've gotta run - just looked at the clock - but will catch up later if I can. Love you!
-A

Perfect Day

It is a perfect day here! San Diego weather even. What better way to spend it than at an outdoor café…so C and I are headed to one after school for a belated birthday celebration. Her birthday was last week but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for celebration while awaiting results on my dad, so we rescheduled for today. Nothing Mexican-inspired, just a favorite place to kick back and enjoy the nice weather and company.

Twenty-nine days left until I enjoy an entire day like this by the pool…Only three more weeks until I can enjoy afternoons and weekends there.

Hope your week is going well.

xo
Barb

Hot and Humid here

Hey, A.

Giving tests today made for a busy Friday last week, but today I get to take it easy. No lectures or facilitating activities. Instead I get a little quiet time at my computer.

The party was fun, although my hot mess sister appeared to be under the influence, and it put a bit of a damper on things for me and L, wondering just what the hell was going on, but not confronting her so as not to ruin S’s time, or my parents’, and on and on. L confronted her the next morning over the phone and after 2 denials, she admitted it.

Aside from that, we had fun. L and J and D, who wasn’t sure how long she could last at the party, and I stayed up until after 1 am outside on the deck by the fire. We had a nice (late) Sunday breakfast (sans mimosas, unfortunately) and then sat outside in the sun on the deck. We left around 3. Really, a great time.

After this weekend’s summer weather (complete with humidity), I am ready for the real deal--happy to have made the transition from staying home and hibernating on the weekend to wanting to be out and about with people, enjoying the outdoors.

Have a good day!
Love,
Barb

PS I love Gerber daisies! I have some good looking fakes from Michael's in my newest vase. Will take a picture and share.

Sunday Slow Down

Hey, B.

Winding down here on Sunday night and have just now logged in to read blogs. Unfortunately, I've got a headache that's been lingering for the past few days (not helped, I might add, by Friday night's little soiree) so I'm contemplating just going to bed early instead.  I'd love to stay and get caught up with everyone, but part of this is allergies and I know it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Ok, whining out of the way...thanks for the long chat yesterday.  It was nice to catch up "live" and I hope you enjoyed the rest of your weekend, too.  I hope D was glad she went; she's so lucky to have all of you taking care of her. And ... awesome news that she's responding well to the chemo.

Nothing new here since we talked...it rained and it was pretty cold here today, but we worked in the garden anyway.  I had bell peppers, tomatoes and some herbs (basil & cilantro, for now) to get planted that I bought  two weeks ago; like playing baseball, if we didn't do it in the rain, it would never get done.  It wasn't too bad, really, and I have new cool pots on the deck for my peppers, which I love. Oh wait, let me go take a picture! Of course you can't see the peppers in them, since they're only tiny little starts. One pot for each color: green, red, yellow.

Last night, we went to that FD dinner, which was boring, but ... necessary.  They usually have really good door prizes and centerpieces; I won a cool hoodie for M and, since it was a 60's theme, took a bunch of table decorations, like smiley face key chains, tye-dye sticky notes, hippie sunglasses, etc, for JJ. Then I snagged this little bouquet of daisies and they have had me in a good mood all day, enjoying them!  I even saw the starts for them at the nursery this afternoon and thought about buying a plant or two...but got my pots instead.

And thats's about it around here. I have a pretty quiet week ahead; appointments tomorrow, work Tues and Thus, not sure about Wednesday, and sub Friday probably.  The weekend is open so far, for which I'm grateful.  Wishing you a good, if busy week and looking forward to reading about your trip to L's.

Love you!

A