A Thanksgiving Recap

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend! The Family came to my house for dinner on Thursday and on Friday I did a little bit of shopping, mostly at Joann Fabric's. Most of The Son's presents are already purchased on-line so we're ahead of the game for holiday shopping.

I have a few pictures from our day...

My centerpiece that I threw together. We never keep it on the table when we're eating anyway but I did think it came out pretty cute, especially considering that most of the "fruit" was purchased at the GoodWill for $1!

The Son helped bake some brownies... did you know that you can lighten up any recipe by removing 1/2 of the oil and adding something else in it's place? I used baby food prunes for half the oil and saved 480 calories in the recipe... couldn't even tell! If I had had "egg beaters" I would have used those and saved about 100 more calories but I didn't so we just used regular eggs.

The Husband did a great job with the turkey... we brined it for three days and used a recipe from my favorite, "Eating Well" magazine. It was very good and I'm not a big fan of turkey.

My (fairly) healthy plate... (yes, I did have seconds of a few things)

The kids getting ready to eat...

Cute!

After dinner while the adults sat and chatted, the kids decided to play Hide and seek. The Niece hid here in the corner which we all thought wasn't much of a hiding place but the most hilarious part was that The Son could not find her! He was right by her a couple times and still didn't see her. I think he's in training to be a husband... you know they can't find anything, even if it's right in front of their eyes!

The Son and The Baby Niece... so sweet!

So, it irritates me, but somehow, I didn't get any pictures of the adults at this event. I don't know what I was thinking! I think I was too busy worrying about dinner and dessert and making this...
my homemade from scratch apple crumb pie. It was worth every high-fat, calorie-loaded bite and Boy, oh Boy was it good. I'll let you know how the scale likes me this Thursday...


And on that note... I'll say goodbye for now! I'm off to the gym after I put The Son on the bus and then I have lots and lots of things to do this week, I got a little crazy and decided I NEEDED to make myself an apron so I've been working on that, I also have to put together a basket for The Son's school fundraiser and I must start thinking about decorating for the holidays, good times people... good times...

Have a great Monday!

OH! I almost forgot! The Niece and Ziggy got along GREAT! She was so brave and he was SO good. There were moments when they even were alone and close together, I was so happy and proud of both of them! We were not able to get a picture of them together however... maybe next year!

A letter from Ziggy to Lily -- Re: Thanksgiving

I am taking a break from blogging today to allow our dog Ziggy to type out a quick note to The Niece, aka Lily who will be coming here for Thanksgiving this year. Lily is less than fond of dogs and Ziggy is a really sweet dog so we're hoping to help her get over this unnecessary fear. Ziggy doesn't want to spend his Thanksgiving in the basement, we really just want everyone to be happy. Rest assured that if Ziggy DID do something naughty or couldn't calm down, he'd be in the basement faster than you could say, "Please pass the turkey," but he is usually a very good dog and LOVES children. My sister will be sharing this post and pictures with Lily before she visits, we're hoping it helps a bit. So, without further adieu... here's Ziggy!


My dear Cousin Lily:
How are you today? I hear you just had a birthday... happy birthday! I wanted to come to your party but Mommy said, "no" because I tend to have "issues" in the car and it's kind of a long drive. I know you're four now, that means you're almost three years older than me! Wow! I knew I looked up to you for a reason! What a big girl you are!

Hey Lily, do you know that when you and your family come to my house, I get really excited? I love to have visitors and so I run around a little bit and want to sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff. As soon as I say hello to everyone and get all my sniffing in, I'm fine to just hang out and leave you guys alone. Just ask your cousin, he loves to hang out with me. I'm really excited to meet your little sister, I hear she's really cute and babies always have extra good (and bad) things to sniff. Did you know that doggies especially like what humans think are the "bad" smells. I know. We're kind of gross sometimes.


Sometimes I bark and I sound a little scary. I don't mean to, it's just that I'm a big guy so my voice is deep, kind of like your Daddy. When I bark it's because I love my people and I think that I'm a watch dog. I want to bark to warn anyone outside that I'm guarding the house and taking care of my family, I guess you could say, I think it's my job to keep any bad guys away and barking is how I do that.


Last but not least, when you start to cry about me being here, I feel bad Lily. I really like kids and when they cry, I get worried and have to investigate, it's just in my breed, we German Shorthair Pointers are what they like to call "family" dogs and we don't like it when kids are upset because we really want kids to be happy so if you don't want me coming around you, it's probably a good idea to try not to cry and make squeaky sounds when I'm around, it just makes me all the more curious and concerned. I would never hurt a kid. NEVER! I love kids.

Do you think you can handle all that Lil'? I do, Mommy tells me you're a really good girl and we're all so excited that you're coming to our house on Thursday. I can't wait to see you and get my sniff on! Remember that time you said I had "fancy legs?" That made me feel SO good because I like my fancy speckled legs and I know how you like fancy stuff (like Fancy Nancy) so I guess that means you like me! I'll be a good boy Lily. I promise!

See you soon! Woof!
Love, your Canine Cousin, Ziggy

edited to add... Be sure to check out the comments on this post as it's intended recipient has left her own comment. Thanks Lil!

Did you wonder where I went?

Sorry! I disappeared for a couple days. I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving which I'll be cooking at my house. In fact, this will be the first Thanksgiving EVER that I've had at someone's home... at least that I can remember. My family usually goes out to a restaurant, this year, we decided to switch things up and I'm really looking forward to a more traditional type of Thanksgiving this year, at least according to other people's standards.

Well, if you are interested in my food journal, I decided to start a new blog. It's called HungryMomma/HealthyMomma and eventually, I would like it to be my healthy living blog, right now, it's truly just a food journal because I have lots of other things to do but I wanted to continue a more public food journal for those who were interested. I've had a couple people mention to me that they were enjoying reading about my food choices and got some ideas from it and it's always helpful for me so I want to keep it up in a more public way. I see it becoming a place where I can talk about my lifestyle, my food choices, yummy products and all other things healthy. That way I can keep my regular blog separate. I'm finding that I am getting confused and unfocused with so many topics on my regular blog. Give me a few weeks and it will be much more organized, until then, let's just consider it a food journal extension of this blog.

Speaking of living healthy... I lost another pound last week and this is not generally a week in which I thought I'd lose. (Ladies, you know what I mean) So, I'm down over 78 pounds now! Unreal! Fantastic! Thrilling!

I've got a busy weekend ahead of me as I'm sure many of you do. Stay healthy and enjoy your weekend!

A Tutu Tutorial!

I know I mentioned about a week back that I was going to give you a tutu tutorial. The Niece turned four at the beginning of this month and we celebrated on the same day that The Sister had her new baby's christening. I was SO excited to give The Niece her present because she requested "dress up stuff and Fancy Nancy stuff." My dad gave her a cute chest full of glittery, sparkly things just right for any little girl and I added a few more things that she could put in the chest as well. Three different tutus, a hula skirt and lei and a couple tiaras/veils to complete any well-dressed preschool young lady's wardrobe. (We also gave her a copy of "Fancy Nancy" because you know this former classroom teacher loves to give children's books as gifts.)

The tutu I'm featuring for you today is a filled tutu, I saw something similar on "The Martha Stewart Show" for Halloween and I made it work for The Niece. I am thrilled with the way it came out. It's very easy to do. The following directions make a tutu that would fit your average 2 to 6 year old but it would be very easy to do to make it smaller or bigger as you see fit.

Supplies:
Tulle
1.5 inch wide ribbon (I used grosgrain)
stuff to fill your tutu
thread, pins and other sewing paraphernalia.

You start with the standard tulle that you'll find at any fabric store, I am not sure of the width but it's all pretty much the same, You'll need 1.5 yards or more if you want it really puffy. You're going to fold it in half and then in half again. Sew up the shorter sides, keep the fold at the bottom and leave the top, open.

After you complete that you should have a two-layered pocket with a large opening at the top. Use that opening to fill your tutu with any kind of cute, glittery, girly stuff you want. I used white flowers and multi-colored sequins.


Cut yourself a length of ribbon about 22 inches long. This will be the inside of your waistband. I folded in the edges on the side before I pinned the tulle to the ribbon band. Find the middle of your tulle, leaving the opening at the top. Pin the middle of the tulle to the middle of the waistband and pin the edges of the tulle to the edges of the ribbon. Pleat/gather the tulle and pin it evenly along the ribbon waist band.


It should look something like this:


Stitch the tulle to the ribbon. Remember, this is going to be the inside of the waist band so don't worry if it's not totally neat. Next, cut yourself a length of ribbon approximately 65" long. Find the center and pin the center of that ribbon to the center of the portion you already sewed, sandwiching the tulle between the two ribbons. Pin and stitch these together, you'll want this to be neater since this will be the side that shows. I did a seam along the top and bottom of the ribbon. It wasn't perfectly neat but it's a dress-up tutu so I didn't freak about non-neatness.


That pretty much sums it up... Here is the finished product, modeled prettily by a beautiful four-year-old girl.

I also made this one with the same method but didn't fill it with anything, it already has metallic, rainbow colored stars on it and any one who knows fashion knows that metallic, rainbow stars stand on their own just fine.

Pretty huh? Yeah, the skirts are cute too!


Have a great day everyone!

Food for Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Breakfast (not as "hearty" as usual, I'm heading to the gym early today)
Fiber One Blueberry Muffin 170
1/2 c. Raisin Bran 120
1/2 c. skim plus milk 50
Breakfast Total 240

Snack
5 oz.watermelon 45
1 oz. TJ's crunchy curls potato and lentil snack 130
Snack Total 175

Lunch
1 cup TJ's LSO roasted red pepper tomato soup 100
2 Wasa 70
1 laughing cow cheese wedge 35
1 can No sugar added peaches. 60
1 TJ's chipoltle skewer 130
1 TJ's European style yogurt 130
Lunch Total 525

Dinner/Dessert
6 oz. Pork tenderloin 279
1/2 c. brown sprouted rice 135
1/4 c. TJ's Black beluga lentils 50
Roasted Veggies 75
1 c. Breyer's Chocolate Chocolate chip ice cream 280
1 Vita top muffin 100
Dinner/Dessert Total 919

Total 1859

Exercise
3.25 miles on treadmill 420 calories
"Leg Day" weights approx 150
570 burned (approx)

Yeah. I'm a "Joe Ho."

I'll readily admit that my food journal this week is not my shining moment as a blogger. Not at all, I get really bored when people post excessive pictures of their food choices along with the calories etc. but I'm doing it to help keep myself accountable to what I eat and to help out my friend Melissa who wants a few suggestions on things she can eat. I will not be doing it after this week, at least not for a little while.

Since I've been doing it in such a "public" forum, I've realized something. I am a Trader Joe's ADDICT! Have you noticed that? I affectionately call myself a "Joe Ho." Their foods are SO good and many of them are really healthy. Do you have access to a Trader Joe's? There is so much there to try but you will need to spend some time reading labels. There are many choices that are not so healthy too. A couple of the things I've really enjoyed so far are:

Mushroom Risotto in the freezer section, it cooked up really quickly in the microwave and I served it with some kind of lean protein which I've already forgotten about. It was good whatever it was. I believe this was about 170 calories per 1 cup serving and my pictures are flipped the correct way in my photos on my computer but Blogger is flipping them for some reason, does anyone know how to fix that?


The Gnocci Alla Sorrentina, also in the frozen section, I think it was also about 170 calories for a one cup serving. I served this with TJ's Chicken sun-dried tomato sausage which is 110 calories a piece. We also had some roasted veggies.

And probably my most favorite item at TJ's EVER, their steel cut oatmeal that you can find in the freezer section as well. It's two servings per package and each pack is only $1.59! It comes frozen in giant oatmeal hockey pucks that you just microwave. I add 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries and 1/2 cup of frozen berries, also from Trader Joe's I then add two packs of Splenda and a ton of cinnamon after it's all heated up. It's so delicious and easy and yummy and comforting and...


Anyway. Try it. If you're an oatmeal lover like I am, you'll like it for sure.

I'm also LOVING the TJ's Low-Sodium Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup but if you check that out, make sure you get the LOW-SODIUM as the regular, (like most soups) is high in sodium and we don't want water retention now, do we? You'll want to check the sodium content on many of the foods since prepared foods tend to be higher in sodium but you can keep in mind that the recommended intake of sodium a day is 2400 mg or less.

Have a great day everyone! I just looked at the time and realized that I have to get The Son ready for school and myself ready for a hopefully "grueling" workout with my trainer. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Food for Monday, November 16, 2009

Breakfast (same as yesterday, yeah, I'm boring...)
Trader Joe's Steel Cut Oatmeal 150
1/4 cup fresh cranberries 15
1/4 cup frozen berries 35
High Fiber English Muffin 100
1 T. Light Butter 50
Breakfast total 350

Lunch
1 packet Garlic and herb tuna (would not buy this again... not as good as hickory smoked) 200
1 cup TJ's LSO tomato and roasted red pepper soup 100
1can pineapple 140
2 Wasa crackers 70
Laughing Cow cheese wedge 35
Light coffee yogurt 90
2 TJ's mini-chocolates 60
Lunch total 695

Dinner and dessert
2 TJ's Chipoltle chicken skewers 260
A lot of roasted potatoes (w/horseradish and mustard) 180
Roasted veggies (eggplant, onion, carrot and red pepper) 75
1 Vita top chocolate muffin 100
1c. Breyer's Chocolate Chocolate chip ice cream 280
Dinner Total 895

Total 1940

Exercise
Treadmill 5K 410 cal
Workout with trainer approx 200 cal.
burned 610

Food for Sunday, November 15, 2009

Breakfast (same as yesterday)
Trader Joe's Steel Cut Oatmeal 150
1/4 cup fresh cranberries 15
1/4 cup frozen berries 35
High Fiber English Muffin 100
1 T. Light Butter 50
Breakfast total 350

Snack
banana 87
1 c. Skim plus milk (Over the Moon Brand) 100
Snack total 187

Lunch
1 cup Trader Joe's Low-Sodium Organic Tomato soup 100
2 Wasa Crackers 70
laughing cow cheese wedge 35
Trader Joe's European Mocha yogurt 130
2 TJ's mini chocolates 50
Lunch total 385

Total 922

Dinner... Ok, we went out to dinner again... twice in one weekend is a rare occurrence but it's been such a busy weekend and we all just wanted to have a little time to hang out and be together. We went to a little local Italian place where I had a small caesar salad (bad. I know.) and a meatball stromboli. I took TONS of cheese out of the stromboli and I only ate about half of it. It was good, probably not the healthiest choice but I was SO in the mood for it. Considering I had over 1100 calories left for the day, I should be fine. Also, I'm working out with my trainer tomorrow.

I had a cup of Breyer's light ice cream (280) and then a bowl of Raisin bran later tonight (180 + 100) so yeah. I was hungry. I'll be back on track with full force for the rest of the week. After a 3.5 pound loss last week, all I really hope for at this point is to stay the same, any loss is just gravy... or the icing on the cake... no pun intended. ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Foods for Saturday, November 14, 2009

If you missed yesterday's post, I mentioned that I will be journaling my foods on the blog this week partly to keep me accountable and partly because I've had some friends ask what I eat each day. I do realize it might not be that interesting but I'll still be blogging about other things too if the mood strikes me.

Breakfast
Trader Joe's Steel Cut Oatmeal 150
1/4 cup fresh cranberries 15
1/4 cup frozen berries 35
High Fiber English Muffin 100
1 T. Light Butter 50

Breakfast total 350

Lunch
Trader Joe's Low-Sodium Organic butternut squash soup 70
Sundried tomato tuna with 6 crackers 200
Light string cheese 60
banana 75
Coffee yogurt 90
2 pieces Trader Joe's chocolate 50
Lunch total 495

Snack
Trader Joe's Crunchy Curls Lentil and Potato Snack 130

Dinner
Trader Joe's Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina 1 cup 170
1 piece Trader Joe's Sundried tomato chicken sausage 110
1 cup roasted vegetables 75
Great Harvest bread Company whole wheat bread 175
1T. Light butter 50
Dinner total 580

Dessert
1 Vita top chocolate muffin 100
1 c. Bryer's chocolate chocolate chip ice cream 280

Daily Total 1985

Exercise
Treadmill 5K 425 calories
1/2 hour weights. approx 200 calories.
625 burned!

Weight removed...

I am thrilled to say that I got rid of another 3.5 pounds this week. I guess buckling down and really working on it really worked. Notice I didn't say "lost" weight, lost implies that I want to find it again and we all know I don't! ;) So, my grand total is now 77.2 pounds! I only have 17 more to lose to reach a "healthy" BMI and 23 more to reach my goal of 100 pounds. I may reevaluate after I reach the 100 but that remains to be seen.

Last week, I had the "traveling journal" for our group. It's a book in which we journal our foods for the week and then pass it on to another person after the week is over. It's also thought to be magical and guarantee a weight loss. I lost 3.5 pounds the last time I had it so I have to agree.

Truly though, it just makes us be more honest and mindful of what we eat because you know someone else is going to be looking at it. It holds us accountable. So, this week, I am going to remain accountable by posting my food choices along with the calories on this blog. I know that's not exactly exciting (and in fact may be quite boring) but I do have one friend (Hi Melissa!) who is asking to see what I eat so she can get some choices and this way, I'll kill two birds with one stone. I may post other stuff in between as well. I also don't expect to have another huge loss next week like I did this past week, I think that's nearly impossible two weeks in a row at this stage of the game but I'll be happy with any kind of loss!

So, my food journal for today... (I'll add on as the day goes on)

Friday, November 13, 2009

1 cup Raisin Bran 180
.5 cup Fiber One 60
1 cup skim plus milk 110
1 Trader Joe's Pumpkin waffle 65
Breakfast total 415

1 package Hickory smoked tuna 200
3 Wasa crisp and light 60
Laughing cow cheese 35
1 c. Trader Joe's Butternut Squash organic low-sodium soup 70
banana 75
Trader Joe's European Style Mocha yogurt 130
Lunch total 570
Total 985

Exercise, 5 miles-treadmill, 610 calories

So, The Husband I were able to go out to dinner last night because The Son had his first sleepover at a friend's house. I don't really have any way to know exactly how many calories I ate, rest assured, it was a lot and probably easily equaled 1,115 that I had remaining. That being said, I also ran five miles yesterday and burned 610 calories so I should be just fine. Here's my list for dinner:

5 buffalo wings w/bleu cheese and celery
Roasted pork with red peppers and spinach topped with pomegranate seeds and served with broccoli rabe and roasted potatoes (DELICIOUS!)
A bunch of The Husband's fries
Half a molten chocolate cake and half a piece of Kentucky pie. (FANTASTIC)
Stoli Gimlet on the rocks
2 glasses of Malbec

Yes, it was a splurging night but because I don't get weighed until next Thursday and I will get right back on my healthy eating plan today, I will be fine and might even have another loss this week... I'll keep you posted!

Have a great day everyone!

Watch your mouth!

A few weeks ago, The Son and I were watching "Oprah" when the Black Eyed Peas were on and they sang "I Gotta Feeling" and the audience did the mob dance. It was cool, really cool. The Son enjoyed it a lot. If you haven't seen it, give it a "google" you'll find it easily. The Son had also heard the song "Boom Boom Pow" by the BEP and really liked that as well. They both seemed appropriate and innocent enough to me, so while at Target the other day, we saw their CD and I bought it for The Son and myself to listen to in the car. Many of the CDs at Target had parental advisory labels on them, "The END" by the BEP did not.

Imagine my surprise (or perhaps I should say naivete) when we started playing our new CD in the car and I clearly heard the "S" word multiple times, we scanned through that song. As I kept listening, it was clear that this CD was not going to be acceptable for The Son to listen to, at least not according to my standards. It looks like we spent over $11 for two songs (one of which also has the "S" word in it briefly) that we can actually listen to.

This brings me to something that I've been thinking about a lot lately as The Son grows up and is now interested in TV shows and movies beyond "Sprout" and "Noggin." Why is there so much bad language on TV and how do we, as parents, explain inappropriate usage of words to our children when they see them on TV or hear them in our music all the time? I know when I was growing up, my parents didn't curse, didn't use words like hell and damn and now they're commonplace on most TV shows. The other day, The Son was watching a "Lassie" movie with The Husband and they used the word "faggot," this movie was rated G! G? Really? Bakugan, which my son LOVES, constantly uses the phrase, "What the...?" leaving the watcher to fill in the blank. So not attractive when your kid comes out with, "What the heck?" or worse!

After talking about this all with The Husband last night, we came to the conclusion that a parent's job has changed over the years. Whereas when we were children, it was our parent's job to pretty much shield us from "bad" words now, The Husband and I feel that is close to impossible, it's now become our job to teach our children about "bad" words and to teach them why it's not acceptable to use them even though everyone else does. It's quite a challenge. The Son is constantly asking me, "Momma, can I say _____________" and I have to explain why or why not when I answer him. It's not only a challenge, it's exhausting!

I also hear so many children using the phrase, "Oh my God" (which I think I've written about before). I find it so inappropriate and unattractive and I am not the least bit religious. The Son hears this all. the. time. at school, on TV, even at our beloved YMCA... just about everywhere. Fortunately, he is still young enough that he listens to his Momma and Daddy and does work to self-edit his language and word choices.

So, am I over-reacting? Is it now acceptable for kids to say, "Oh my God!" "What the heck/hell?" or "Damn" or "Shit?" is it going to be a couple years before we also allow the "F" word on TV? We already allow "freaking" and "friggin" don't even get me started on that! I think that sounds terrible too! I don't know, I'm interested in hearing what others think about this topic and I'm really only talking about kids here, I am no prude, I use my fair share of "colorful language" when The Son is not around, it's not like I never do, it's just that I'm finding it a challenge to teach all this to The Son. What do you think? Leave me a freaking comment why don't you? ;)

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Buckling down...

I'm not sure I have any readers left... I've been so busy and not had lots of time to blog. I know blah, blah, blah... I say that way too often. Not that many of you leave comments anyway... (hint, hint)

I've come to realize that when people say, "I don't have time to work out," it's probably true. That is of course if they want a clean house, folded laundry and/or time to relax. You know I love to work out, so it goes with out saying that my house isn't clean, my laundry isn't folded and I haven't relaxed very much at all. That's Ok though. Right? RIGHT!

Today I managed to get to the gym in the morning while The Husband was still home with The Son, I came home and then walked the dog around the neighborhood after we took The Son to the bus so I've logged a good 4.5 miles today alone! Now, I'm looking forward to some quiet time here at home while The Son is at school, quiet time that will involve cleaning a closet and doing laundry. Jealous?

I added a little list on the side of this blog to track my mileage since the Race for Hope that we participated in at the beginning of November. Last week I ran 22 miles! It's really amazing to me that I can do that and actually love it. I hesitate to make this declaration but I am seriously thinking of training for the Philadelphia Broad Street Run. It's not until May and it's 10 miles. I think I can do it... stay tuned for an "official" announcement soon...

So I titled this post "Buckling Down" because I am in the final stretch for reaching my weight loss goals. I've lost 74 pounds and want to lose 26 more for a grand total of 100! I would like to do it by the time I turn 40 but since that is a mere 57 days away, I don't think it's going to be possible. Nevertheless, I need to buckle down and get the rest of this weight off. It's easy to be complacent when I feel so good and fit into a size 12 not a 22! So the next weeks will be spent eating healthy, JOURNALING what I eat, and working on my fitness. Sounds like fun to me and no, I'm not being sarcastic. I'll let you know how it goes... I'm hoping for a good loss this week.

Enjoy your Monday everyone. I have some cute pictures to post this week along with a tutorial on how to make a super cute tutu... a Tutu tutorial of sorts! Stay healthy!

Race for Hope 2009 -- Philadelphia Part TWO!

Yesterday I started telling you about the Race for Hope in Philadelphia that my family and friends participated in on Sunday. Today, we pick up where we left off...

After having our group photo taken, we headed over to the "Wall of Hope," here, people could post memorials to loved ones who lost their battles to brain cancer OR they could post tributes to survivors who did beat this vicious disease. It's especially difficult to see the pictures of children, as hard as it is to have lost my mom, I think the photos of children are even more hard to look at. The grandchildren posed for a quick picture in front of the wall.

Here's a closer detail of the picture that The Sister made and sent in.


We stood around and chatted by the Wall of Hope for a bit when all of a sudden, we heard them play the theme from the movie "Rocky." My cousin and I looked at each other and at our friend Cherie and decided we had to do it... we ran up the stairs as the Rocky theme played. It's a must do when in the City of Brotherly Love and believe it or not, I had never done it! It's not every day that you get to do it while accompanied by the actual theme song. Mommy would have laughed...

We did it! Not that difficult but I can see how Rocky would have gotten a good work out by doing it over and over and over... Notice The Son in front of me, he had no idea why he was doing this but enjoyed it nonetheless.

The Baby Niece was not impressed...

After the race, we headed out to a local restaurant for brunch. Here's the Technological Twosome on their Daddy's iphones. Honestly, I'm not sure if this is good or bad... either way, it's pretty funny.
Me and The Sister and The Baby Niece, again she's not exactly impressed.


Lastly, I promised you our times and I'm sure you're all waiting with baited breath. I had the best race I've ever had and everyone else did a really awesome job! I'm so impressed with all of their times.

The BIL 22:56
Friend M 25:03
Cherie 26:44
Friend C 26:59
Chrissy 'Cuz 27:52
The Sister 29:53

ME - CityMomma/CountryMomma 31:15! I knew I'd be the slowest on our team but I finished right in the middle of 800 runners so I feel pretty good about that. My average on the treadmill is around 33 minutes and my last timed race was 35:30 so I'm thrilled with my time! THRILLED! I'm seriously considering training for the Broad Street Run which is a ten-miler held in May... what do you think?

So that's our final race report. It's not too late to donate to this fantastic cause so if you'd like to do that, or, if you'd just like to see a nicer picture of our beloved Mommy, click here.

Have a great day everyone!

Race for Hope 2009 -- Philadelphia!

Hello All!

Yesterday I mentioned that I had a special event this past weekend. Well, it was a 5K race in honor of my beloved Mommy. If you're a reader of this blog, you know that my mother passed away nearly two years ago (rather suddenly) from a brain tumor. She is very, very missed. It's still difficult without her and I know the others in my family, namely my sister and my Dad, feel exactly the same way.

Last year, we planned to do the race but I badly sprained my ankle the day before and The Sister was pregnant so she just walked it. I was not in shape at all to run it anyway. We vowed that this year, we would give it our all and give it our all we did!

It started off not looking like a very nice day. I was worried about running in the rain. I am particular about my running conditions and didn't think I would fare very well on a cold and rainy day. It was also very early for me and I am not a morning gal. Thank Goodness we turned the clocks back the night before. That "extra" hour was appreciated. (Thank you Ben Franklin)

The Son was excited. He's in the back seat next to my cousin Chrissy and her friend Cherie who drove down from Connecticut to participate in the race with us. They DID manage to do the race last year so it was nice to have them here again this year.

Yeah... it's grey and dreary...

Almost there...


We had planned to meet the rest of our team at the port-a-potties. Not the most glamorous meeting place I'll admit but it was convenient since you couldn't really not find them. It was busy over 800 runners and thousands of walkers. That's the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the background, remember "Rocky" running up the steps... well, that's coming up later...


The BIL finishing...

Me finishing... not a very flattering picture...

Team Joycie's Kids... the team raised over $500 for the cause of brain cancer research. I must give The Sister and all her friends credit for that, she managed to send out the team link to her whole e-mail list and had quite a few generous people who donated in honor of our mom. Thanks everyone!
Tomorrow, I'll show you a few more pictures and tell you our final times... this post is getting a little long... see you then! Enjoy your Tuesday!

"Boo!" from the Fun Mommy!

We're a day late with this year's Halloween post but I had a very busy yesterday so I wasn't able to get it posted. I'll be posting about my busy day, later this week. Early last week, I gave you a brief explanation of Bakugan, The Son's latest obsession. This year he wanted to dress as Dan Kuso, the leader of the Bakugan Brawlers. There was a pre-made costume out there that could be purchased but The Son took one look at that in the catalog and said, "Momma, I think you could make a better one." Challenge accepted Son.

I had difficulty coming up with exactly what I would do. I am more of a costume "put-er togetherer" than I am a costume maker. I don't like patterns, I don't like traditional sewing, I like creativity and piecing stuff together to make a complete outfit. I've had some successes in the past. I'd like to think this year was no exception. I now present... The Son as...DAN KUSO!





We purchased the pants in the girls' department at Wal*Mart. The Son was not originally happy with this but every pair of red pants in any boys' department had stripes on the sides and were usually the wrong color red. When I explained that they would NOT look like girl pants, he acquiesced and agreed that Momma could turn them into pants that no one would notice were girl pants. Do you know how difficult it is to find a plain yellow t-shirt? Well, it's hard. I had to buy a sponge bob top that he wore backwards. I got the belt from the girls' department too which interestingly enough, didn't bother him. The jacket is where I ran into a little trouble. I ended up getting a mens' sweatshirt in a size small that I cut down, trimmed up and added a giant collar to. It wasn't perfect but it came out pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. He was thrilled. We added the sunglasses on the head and some biking fingerless gloves that he already had and he was all set.

Here he is at the Y's Halloween party last week.

With some friends...

And on Saturday/Halloween night...



And please don't think that The Son is the only one who got in on the Halloween fun. My cousin is visiting to participate in the event we had today and I casually mentioned to her that perhaps we should dress up as something. She went out to the dollar store and bought witch hats, brooms, necklaces and cute checkered tights. Her friend Cherie is here with her too and we all decided to become the Three Wicked Witches! I asked The Son if he would be embarrassed that I was one of the only moms dressing up for trick-or-treating and he said, "NO Momma! It's the fun Moms that dress up." Let me tell you... I loved that. Fun it was...



Yeah, we're dorks but you know what? We were dorks who had a fun time! Hope you had a nice Halloween too. BOO!