Biggest Loser Princess and Tinker Bell 2011 and 2012 -- OLD please see NEW thread

[liesel]

Wow, I killed the thread by declaring myself a Broncos fan?! Next I'm going over to the other thread and confess I've never seen Glee!

 

[mikamah]

Wow, I killed the thread by declaring myself a Broncos fan?! Next I'm going over to the other thread and confess I've never seen Glee!

As long at the Pats won, I think you'll be ok.

Good morning ladies,

I got the day off, and plan to be very productive. Want to go through all I've bought after ds leaves for school, and then get out and finish my shopping. I need mostly gift cards for the older kids, and a few odds and ends. Then I'll hit the grocery store for the major stuff so I only have a few things to get thursday. And I want to wrap too, at least ds's stuff, and if I don't finish, he can help me with his cousins. when he gets home, i'll hit the basement. I haven't finished organizing everything like I wanted, but I am going to move what I haven't gone through and still make a good size play area for the kids by christmas eve. Michael's really looking forward to it, and I will be nice to have more space upstairs with the dog too.

Maria-Great idea to send the cookies for Ben's snack. I will surprise michael today with some gingerbread cookies in his snack. He'll be psyched. I try to pretend I'm healthy mom and usually only send healthy snacks. Hope you had a better sunday.

LisaR-Congrats on your 10k! It sounds like you did amazingly well, and had a fantastic time, considering the course. Does not sound easy. I had a big fear of slipping on ice last year during my training. I just could not afford to be out of work, and thinking back, at my slow pace it's a lot easier to miss the ice than those fast runners. So excited for you and the Tink.

LisaH-What can I say, you are amazing. I am so happy your training is going so well, and you are really getting fast!! I love that you had the BEST RUN EVER!! So exciting. THough I am thinking of spongebob and the best day ever episode. Thank you so much for Poko's gifts. She loves them both, especially the hedgehog. Though if I use my imagination, it looks like a potato with feet and a face. You are so sweet. Michael was as excited as Poko.

Rose-My friend who is divorced now didn't have the best of husbands. He had a lot of issues unfortunately. It's great that it was harder without Mike home for you, that says a lot about Mike and your relationship. He really is one of the good ones. That jcpenney lady was something else. I am sure your attorney will take good care of you. I have the same one.

Nancy -I don't like to see you posting on facebook at 2 am. I hope you did get some sleep last night.

Lindsay-Hope you had a good weekend, and Grammy is doing alright.

I hope everyone has gotten their ornaments. Tomorrow is the day!! I'm so excited.

Off to wake the boy. Have a great monday!! I wish you all got cancelled from work like I did.

 

[dumbo_buddy]

Listening to you and Nancy talk about your inlaws makes me realize, I probably couldn't handle being married with inlaws.

oh, you could handle in-laws. we got the worst ones on the planet so anyone else would be handle-able (yep, handle-able)

Nancy- I can't wait to read your facebook post cheering on the Pats.

well i couldn't possibly PUBLICLY declare that i wanted the pats to win - do you want me to get kicked out of my family?? at least SOMEONE i cheered for won though. it was a terrible day for NY football.

And big hugs on the husband issues. I remember when michael was a baby, my friend was telling me it was less stressful for me because when her kids were little, she added the stress of fighting with her husband over who was going to do what, or him pretending to sleep through a screaming baby and her being so frustrated. Where as it was hard to be alone and do it all, but it was what it was, and she and you probably do most of it anyway, but shouldn't need to. Hang in there, Nancy. It is not easy, but before you know it Thomas and Matthew will be the surly teens that Maria and Lisa are dealing with.

sheesh, people really are dumb, aren't they? and the thing is, this woman probably really thought she was being helpful with what she was saying. duh.

Off to take Poko for a playdate with her cousin dog, Tracey. Hope it goes well.

which of the dogs that you posted on facebook is tracey? looks like poko enjoyed herself! and she is so lucky to have you as her doggie mommy! she looks like a very happy little girl!

i'm really impressed with your cookie making abilities! i've never made cookies that aren't drop cookies. i don't even have a rolling pin! were they gingerbread cookies? and i LOVE the mickey ones! very cute!

enjoy your day off today! sounds like a lovely plan you have - coffee, computer, some wrapping, and cookie eating.

Good morning Princesses and Bells!

Lisa, congratulations on your 10K yesterday! Your time was super! There is no doubt in my mind that you will have lots of time in the Tink for pictures and just having a fabulous time!
yes! i agree! you BOTH are going to rock that race!

Maria,
But you, my friend, are absolutely wonderful just the way you are. You are smart, kind, funny, a great runner, wife and mother. I am proud to call you my friend. Plus you have outstanding taste in music.

yep! yep! and double yep!

Lindsay, How is your grammy?

yes, how is grammy?

Nancy, sorry about the drama. Don't you feel like you are the only adult in a house full of babies.

I loved the pictures from the Christmas party and saw Thomas' pictures. I see more of a resemblance but really think Thomas looks mostly like himself. There was one baby picture where it was like a preview of how he looks now. And I don't know how you will ever top the "mini me" pose.

I would quote your smilie post but I'm always in trouble with the smilie police so let me just say .

which was the mini me pose? was that the one where i had him in his christening outfit?

the boys look very similar to me. then again, i'm staring at them all day long so they probably blur together after a while! lol!

I had the best run ever yesterday. I saw a shooting star while I was driving to the community center. My shoes are working great and I just had a few twinges that were probably more left over from the week-end before than anything else. I was doing 800m (1/2 mi) speedwork and actually did a 14:04 pace on the 7th interval. Then I started crying. Then I kept on going and did my 10th interval at a 12:18 pace just to show myself it wasn't a fluke, even if I know I couldn't sustain that kind of pace. I really have trouble digging deep at the end when I am so dang tired but I think I've finally turned the corner.

so awesome!! i'm so pumped for you! nothing like kicking it hard at the end! i remember i put the pedal to the medal at the end of the princess and i'm pretty sure i was still going the same speed - i was so tired!

i can't wait for your tink race. i wonder if some of us could get set up to track yours and lisaR's progress during the race? my friend was set up to receive text messages throughout the race. so was john. he was getting texts while he was in church saying where i was in the race. lol.

oh, and i think it's so great that you got choked up during your run. tears of joy while running?? i would love to get there someday!

I've mentioned this before, but I read this book during therapy--The Four Agreements--and it really, really helped me gain some perspective and helped me to control my reactions to some of the stuff. I've read the book probably 5 times and Mike has read it too. Just throwing that out there again.

maybe i should check it out.

So here's a funny story. I tried on these pants today at JC Penney and there was a security tag in the pocket that was open and the point/pin part scraped most of the way up my leg and left a nasty mark. Ok, fine. Things happen. When I told the salesperson about it she was concerned about which pants were probably stolen--cause where did the secuity tag come from....I looked at her and said, Um, I am not really concerned about your pants, I'm concerned because I have a big scrape on my leg and just wanted to point it out to you so it might not happen to someone else. I should have told her my attorney in Idaho would be contacting her concerning the emotional stress it caused me and I would definitely not ever be able to try on clothes again cause I was too traumatized....

Ok, I guess the foot is done icing. Time to get busy being productive!

you should right a letter to jcpenny! they got off easy. sheesh, around here if something happened like that it'd be all over the news! "vicious pants at jcpenny attack innocent shopper - nearly mauls women to death!"

Forgot to tell you all...maybe I said it on the holiday thread---can't remember??
Anyhow, Tom survived snow boarding. He said it was fun, but his bottom is killing him. As long as there were no broken bones or head injuries, I am good with it.

snowboarding is so fun and really great exercise. every muscle in your body hurts afterwards. you know, that's what i remember from doing it like 15 years ago!

So, the 10K. The course wasn't ideal, it was on a river trail. Some snow had melted on Friday and refroze overnight. There was ice in many places and a couple of runners were injured. We also ran through mud on the gravel trail and lots of goose droppings that I am just not hard core enough to run through. Two parts of the course were out and back. They didn't cone the trail, just asked everyone to stay to their side. You can imagine how well this worked, especially when I was going against the pack just before the second turnaround. The trail was still open to the public so there were also many large groups of cyclists. I told myself there may be large groups of women walking across the road at the Tink, but at least I won't have any cyclists or runners coming at me from the opposite direction! I forgot my Garmin so I am amazed that my pace was so spot on my current ability level. I paced myself a little the first couple of miles, there were only two groups of fast walkers behind me, one group was wearing shirts from various halves (including Space Coast!) they have done. At the first water station, I passed a lady who looked like she was in pain. I walked next to her for a while and found out that she is doing the Tink too! She fell and hurt her wrist but still finished. After that, I had a burst of motivation and decided to see how many people I could pass before the end of the race. I ended up passing 3 more people. I was so back of the pack, I saw the photographer at the 5 mile marker pack up before I reached him. So I don't think there will be many pictures of me to look at. On an uphill right before the end, someone passed me. Once I got to the top of the muddy snowy hill I decided to sprint to the finish. The guy behind me was gaining ground I was not going to let him pass me! He got faster, I got faster, and we had a little battle to the finish. I beat him by a second. The volunteer who took my chip said, "wow, way to finish strong!" I'm glad I still had a good kick at the end, but was fading a little nutrition wise after mile 5. I didn't use any sports drink (they had gatorade and I've been training with Powerade since that's what they'll have at the Tink) and I think I could have used some or a Cliff Block. I think that's the only thing I would have done differently, but otherwise a good race. I learned a little more about pacing myself for a longer race and I can't wait for the Tink!

great job on the race! and it sounds like you learned some things for the tink too which is great! i went into the princess without much knowledge - didn't know how to deal with a water stop, kept skipping them b/c i wasn't thirsty, didn't eat anything, didn't do any intervals so wound up walking a bit at the end, etc. now that i know about those things i hope my next races will be better. that is cool that you met someone doing the tink during the race. i hope her wrist was ok! there will definitely not be any ice at that race!

when do you think you'd eat the cliff block? after the first 5k?

you are going to kill it at the tink! can't wait to hear all about it!!

Wow, I killed the thread by declaring myself a Broncos fan?! Next I'm going over to the other thread and confess I've never seen Glee!

lol! no you didn't kill the thread. i didn't get a chance to get back on yesterday or else i would have posted

*********************************

lindsay - how was your weekend? how is grammy?

good morning lovelies. had a pretty decent night last night. the day on the other hand was a little stressful but eh, not too bad. baby was pretty fussy. john had thomas at soccer in the morning and as soon as i sat to relax matthew was up and ready to eat and fuss. then he finally fell asleep right before they returned. thomas played a little and i gave him lunch and he went to nap. and then the baby was up! lather, rinse, repeat. as soon as one naps, the other is up!

john took thomas after his nap to his brother and sister in law's in brooklyn for their kid connor's birthday. it wasn't a party, just them and john's crazy sister were there. i didn't go - i JUST saw them last weekend! i have a newborn! why do i need to schlep around brooklyn to sit around and listen to all of them complain about their parents (which is priceless b/c they all complain about how crazy MIL when both billy and kathleen -john's brother and sister - are on big time crazy pills and have soooo many issues).

as my uncle once said about the cullens - they take the "fun" out of dysfunctional it is so true. maria - i totally feel your pain.

i have mommy and me today and am solo as the teacher my fellow teacher's daughter has her pre-school christmas play so she can't make it. it should be interesting trying to set everything up and teach it by myself. luckily this is the good class so i'm sure most of the moms/grandmas will help me during the class.

yesterday i made a chicken casserole and a lasagna (lean meat, whole wheat noodles, low fat cheese). feeling good for preparing at least a few meals for the week! i need to get on the ball with that. if meals are already made we won't go ordering chinese and pizza like we've been doing for the last THREE weeks.

off to make some oatmeal. xoxo

 

[lisah0711]

Good morning Princesses and Bells!

I would have been crying too! Isn't that feeling of digging deep awesome. I love the rubber legged, I'm going to fall over and die, but I ran really, really fast at the end feeling.

I like that digging deep feeling, too, Rose. But I have to confess the falling over and dying feeling is one that I try to avoid, which might be why I'm too slow!

Sorry about the pants thing. Maybe an email to customer service would get you at least a gift card or something? There is no question that should have been handled differently -- really salesperson, you don't know that the customer is more important than the pants? Glad that you are okay.

Lisa, back of the pack is where it's at! I'm so glad that you had a great race and really at that pace, you won't be at the back of the pack at the Tink.

Wow, I killed the thread by declaring myself a Broncos fan?! Next I'm going over to the other thread and confess I've never seen Glee!

Takes a lot more than that to kill off our thread for sure!

Kathy, enjoy your day off! When does school get out? Do Michael go back on 1/3?

That little hedgehog is similar to one that Sadie had -- it lasted almost a whole year, which is a record for big labrador mouth. Sounds like Poko is a full fledged family member now.

so awesome!! i'm so pumped for you! nothing like kicking it hard at the end! i remember i put the pedal to the medal at the end of the princess and i'm pretty sure i was still going the same speed - i was so tired!

i can't wait for your tink race. i wonder if some of us could get set up to track yours and lisaR's progress during the race? my friend was set up to receive text messages throughout the race. so was john. he was getting texts while he was in church saying where i was in the race. lol.

oh, and i think it's so great that you got choked up during your run. tears of joy while running?? i would love to get there someday!

Usually I just keep getting slower and slower, too, Nancy. They are supposed to give us our bib numbers shortly so we will share them. I hope they have runner tracking like they usually do. But I also have very vivid memories of Maria's chip malfuntioning at the Donald last year and worrying about her and how she was doing. I think it was before I had her number or I would have texted her. It was all good, of course!

Hello to Maria and Lindsay!

Robert is off school and will be sleeping in late. We will take turns coming home early. In case any of you ever need to know how many texts it takes to set up a movie outing with three boys and two girls, the answer is 221!

I'm enjoying a relaxing morning but better start getting ready for work. Have a great day ladies!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Rose- I have to let you know...when I am feeling moody about something lately I think of you and your comments of I am choosing to be happy. It makes me smile and then I choose to do the same. thank goodness time made it safely off the mountain. I am really really not looking forward to those days. oh and thank goodness you are poor too and he can only afford to go one time. I hope you are continuing to get excited for your trip now that most of the shopping is done. I can imagine that being stressful. And a big yahoo for the running. glad you got through it without too much pain. So happy for you!

Maria- What a horrible comment. You have every right to be upset by that. Its a hard thing to do but you have to realize you can not control how other people think or speak. You are a much better person than she is because you take other peoples feelings into account. A person like that does not deserve your tears. You are a beautiful and strong women and do not let anyone ever make you feel like anything different. Im so sorry you had to deal with that.

Kathy- I hope you get lots of stuff done today on your day off. I am jealous. Glad poko had a fun playdate. I hope you are feeling better too. Do you think you could have fall/early winter allergies that trigger the wheezing. If it happened last year around the same time it could be a possibility. Next year you may want to start the flonase and inhalers a week or so before the season. Just a thought.

LisaH- Wow what an amazing run....good for you and I am so so proud of how hard you have worked over the past year. You are one amazing lady. I hope those boys straightend up yesterday. I guess the whole santa thing doesnt work after a certain age.

Liesel- Wow you kept pace with all those distractions/obstacles. You go girl. Glad you did it and made it successful. You are going to be awesome for the tink!

Nancy- Good luck at the class today. Your dinners sound yummy. Its always good to prepare ahead when you have some time. It is way too easy to order out. I think we did the same for months after having the boys too. Its very hard to break the cycle but you can do it.

**********************************************************

Thank you all for continuing to ask about my grammy. She is doing the same. I still have not gone to visit her. I am having internal battles with it but my dad keeps telling me not to worry because she has no idea whats going on anymore. He said he would rather me remember her as she was and not as she is now. Still I feel horrible and I know that most of my angst is that I have so much to do and not enough time and that is bothering me even more. uggh.

I have so much to do this week to prepare for the holiday and I cant tell its going to come down to the wire. I so bad want everything to be done by xmas eve so I can relax that whole day.

Funny story- Yesterday I was making xmas cookies- Mike is doing a cookie exchange at work and wanted me to make something different. I decided to try a mint chocolate chip cookie. I had opened the bottle of wine I got as I was cleaning up and preparing to make the cookies. I only had 1 1/2 glasses by the time I started. I mixed together the butter and brown sugar. Then in a seperate bowl I had to mix the dry ingredients. I started to blend them all together and then I realized I forgot to mix the eggs with the butter. It wasnt looking right at all so I ended up throwing it all away. I started again from scratch. This time I remembered the eggs but than stared to mix in the dry ingredients before I even beat together the butter mixture. Fortunately it still worked out and they tasted good. I was laughing at myself. I now have realized that I should drink and bake.

Have a great day everyone!!!!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Good Afternoon (ok, Morning for some of you!) and !

PSA -- If anyone has not received an ornament, please let me know and I will contact your Fairy Godmother to see if her coach got mired in the primordial sludge of Shrek's swamp....

I am mostly back to myself today, so time to chat with my buddies while I digest my lunch and start to think about my meeting this afternoon...

Before I start, please let me say that I have taken the comments to heart from each and every one of you, and I really feel like there were some incredible nuggets of wisdom there. Thank you so much for your caring and support. It does mean the world to me, you guys are the BESTEST!

Lindsay -- I know it is so hard with your Grammy. It is hard to know what to do, sometimes it's ok to listen to your parents. Your Dad is speaking to you as your parent when he's telling you not to go -- he's taking good care of you, and perhaps you should allow him to do so.

Lisah -- You made my heart smile when you were speaking about your spectacular run! I am so proud of you, and so happy that everything is coming together so beautifully, you are going to have the race of your life at the Tink! Ben is in school until Friday. He has grade-determining finals and presentations all week. I feel bad for him -- but on the bright side they assign very little homework over the break, the philosophy is that breaks should really be a break. This is a nice departure from his last school, when Break = Tedious and Involved Project Student Couldn't Possibly Complete Without Intense Parental Participation Good luck with the movies, Ben hasn't asked to do anything like that and I'm not bringing it up

Nancy -- Great job cooking! Has the gassiness settled? I would think that healthy and delicious diet would help the littlest guy. Good Luck with Mommy and Me! I know you don't want to teach by yourself with your newborn and his big brother, but I have faith it will all work out Yes, my outlaws absolutely take the "fun" out of dysfunctional -- I mean, most families are on some level so it's to be expected, but I think we have reached new heights

Kathy -- You could totally handle in-laws, most are not evil. My real MIL was amazing -- could not have been nicer or more welcoming to me. She even made my maternity wardrobe. Mine aren't actually evil, just terminally stupid. Plus, with luck you wouldn't have to see them all that often. That's one of the nice things about being the wife, your dh is usually smart enough to realize making you interact with his crazy relatives too much is not conducive to his happy life Your baking sounds wonderful! I am eager to get back to doing some tonight. I didn't end up making the choc chip cookies yesterday, so those are up tonight. I really hope you enjoy your day off, how wonderful to take care of some chores, do some relaxing, and appreciate your newest family member, who I know will want to spend every moment with her Mommy!

Lisa -- I loved your race report, and let me second the Back of the Pack is where all the fun happens! It sounds like overall it was a good experience, and will be helpful in preparing for Tink. I am terrified of ice, you did a great job! I recommend experimenting with clif bloks (if you plan to use them) before the race. I have finally figured out that if I have three every three miles, it's the perfect interval and ratio for me. Everyone is different, though. You are definitely allowed to be a Broncos fan! (Ok, it helps the Pats won...and I was also cheering for Lindsay's Eagles -- sorry Nancy!) It takes more than football fandom to stop our little engine that could!

Rose -- I ordered The Four Agreements from the library. I also noticed it has a workbook, which I will buy and do if the book "speaks" to me, which I suspect it will...I am such a "words" person, I really appreciate this suggestion and I'm sure it will be very helpful. Thank you so much for sharing your own experiences. I know this sounds crazy, but it helps me feel like I'm not "alone", or the only one who has experienced this. I realize that of course that's not true, but it does help. I the plans for your trip, and of course we expect a mini-TR when you return! You must be getting so excited, I am really starting to think we may have to plan a trip to the World not too far out for Christmas. Maybe 2013...Assuming the world doesn't end before next Christmas The pants incident was just wrong! They are lucky you are a nice person. You could have given the manager an earful, and at the very least you should have received an apology!

Ok, no run for me this morning. I did not sleep well. I can't run tomorrow because I have an early appt. for work, so the plan is to run Wednesday. My eating has improved today. My usual eggs for breakfast, soup, veggies and jello for lunch, and more veggies, almonds and a babybel for my snack later. We're having shake 'n bake with veggies for dinner, and I'll limit myself on the pre-bed sweet treats.

Ok, I've put this off as long as I can, time to get ready to beard the dragon in her den...seriously, everyone is afraid of this woman because she's so harsh. One of my former colleagues said interviewing with her was the most demeaning and insulting experience of her life (and no, she didn't get the job...). Just what I need after my weekend! I am going to have to grow a tougher skin

Maria

 

[Rose&Mike]

I had a crazy day at work! And tomorrow will be crazy too! Ick! Why is getting ready to go on vacation so stressful! The good news--we are mostly packed. Mike is taking a half day tomorrow, so hopefully he'll finish up most of it.

I don't even know if I have time to open my ornament tomorrow! Are we posting pictures to facebook? That's probably easier than photobucket and disboards, though I am up for whatever.

Ok, I woke up at 3:30 this morning, so I'm going to do a couple more things and then I'm going to bed! Hoping to have time for replies tomorrow.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I guess maybe we need some ornament parameters...how about we post photos to FB (mostly 'cause I know how to do that ), and are we opening at the beginning or end of the day, or whenever? I know we're all on different schedules with some different time zones -- should we just open and post at our discretion, with the agreement that before the end of the day tomorrow we will do our best to get a photo up?

I have not heard from anyone they did not receive their ornament yet, so I assume they all arrived

I am really excited to open a present tomorrow, this is going to be so much fun!

Maria

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Rose- Getting ready to go is always so stressful although it is eustress which isnt as bad as distress, so you should be ok. It will all be over soon and you shall return to your happy place.

Maria- I am so glad you are feeling better. I hope this other lady didnt poo poo on your parade. gosh there are some really crazy people in this world. Im so glad were all normal.

I will be opening my present bright and early before work tomorrow because it has just been killing me to have it here and not open it. I will post the pic on facebook. I think that is fine and is very easy too.

I have no motivation to work this week. I think because I have so much at home to do. Today I pretty much read trip reports to pass the time.
I read one about the 3d disney dream cruise and now it has me thinking about that.

Anyway than of course at 415p I rushed out of work and the craziness began. Pick up Ryan, quick supper, quick changing, stop at CVS to pick up xmas cards. Get to bball practice, write out cards while ryan played. Rush home to drop off the kids with mike. Grabbed the MP3 players I had bought for the kids because I decided to return them for an IPOD shuffle for Ryan. I just was having the worst time trying to download mp3's. got to toys R us for the return. Waited for 25 min then went to the electronic section and they only had pink ipods. Drove to best buy...they dont sell the shuffle anymore. Drove to target, got the ipod, found nick another gift to replace the cheap mp3 i was going to give him. Stopped at the atm. Got home and downloaded some songs and charged the ipod so ryan can use it right away. Now I am catching up with you all and going to bed. tomorrow will be another long day. I need to buy mike 1 more gift and get 2 gift cards and also do the grocery shopping. Probably should wrap at somepoint too.

Well tis the season to be merry!

 

[mikamah]

Merry Christmas!!! PrincessesAnd Belles!!!!

I just opened my gift, and it is absolutely beautiful. I'll post a pic on facebook before I go to work at ten. Maria-Thank you so very much. You went above and beyond, and are so sweet and thoughtful. I love it.

Have fun opening your ornaments!!

I am so grateful to have you all in my life. I so hope we all will meet again. Hopefully in disney for a race.

And a huge CONGRATULATIONS
to LISA H. The biggest loser for the final week of the challenge!!! YOU ROCK!!!!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I am also the proud new owner of a beautiful ornament! I will post a photo later tonight, after work. LisaR really outdid herself, it is truly lovely!

and now we have yet more proof our Lisah is rockin' it! I can't think of anyone who deserves the title of BL more, you are doing it!

Gotta run, I have site visits with the state all morning and I have to take the subway for an hour ride to get to the first one...

Maria

 

[dumbo_buddy]

aw, merry christmas kathy! can't wait to see what maria came up with - sending something from boston to a boston gal was probably better than lindsay or i winding up with a patriots ornament!

good morning everyone!

lindsay - how ANNOYING having to drive around all those places for a stinking ipod shuffle. glad you didn't get the pink one though - i doubt the boys would have been happy with that. and that's so smart to put the music on there BEFORE they open it up on christmas! way to think ahead mama!

rose - i remember the days at work leading up to vacation were always the pits. trying to anticipate what will need to be done while you're gone is such a pain. and yet, don't you find that many people aren't too keen on doing the same before they go away. grr! it's almost time for you to go to DISNEY!!! we need a whoooolllle bunch of pics, ok???

maria - let me know what you think about rose's book. i meant to look it up yesterday to see if it's available as an e-book but forgot. how was the scary meeting???

lisaH - 221 texts?? sheesh. just think how much easier it would have been to smooth out the details if someone picked up the phone instead! but GASP! we can't talk on the phone anymore!

lisaR - tell us about your accident!! you poor thing, i hope you're ok. nothing like a $500 whammy to start off the christmas week right, huh? hugs!

**************************

good morning everyone! last night should have been a good night but because of my own fault i couldn't sleep. i must have eaten at least 6000 calories yesterday. i've been on this crazy binge and i just can't seem to cool it. i had such a belly ache last night and couldn't sleep. i woke up today still full. that's gross.

here's my daily husband rant: john is seriously going to lose his happy home if he doesn't start using his brain and helping out. last night i had matthew in my arms trying to calm him down and thomas on the other side of me being a real pain refusing to read a book with me before bed. there was HALF a bad of laundry sitting at john's feet. and instead of either taking one of the kids or folding the HALF a bag of laundry, he sat in his chair on his laptop. GRRRRRR!!!! the laundry sat there until this morning. john was again sitting on his computer with the bag still there at 6am. i plopped the baby in his arms and started folding. HELLO!!! do something!!!

i'm pretty sure john is getting me a garmin GPS watch for christmas so i'll let him hang around til i get that this weekend.

good news and bad news really going on up there. yesterday i found out that my friend's father-in-law died suddenly of a heart attack. he lived next door to my aunt and uncle (the ones who bought my grandpa's house after he passed) about a block and a half away. i knew him very well and he was a great guy. ugh. i feel so sad for my friend and her hubby and their two little ones. HE was the GREATEST in-law! i used to always ask him to be my FIL.

but here is some fun news!!! quick back story: my aunt and uncle (same ones as above) have friends that live in silver beach that we are friendly with now too. for the throgs neck st. patrick's day parade each year they have a big party (silver beach is a big party neighborhood!) before the parade. two years ago a couple that was there noticed our disney tag on our diaper bag and we struck up an awesome conversation about disney. we are equally big disney freaks! the guy is a retired cop and the wife is a court officer. they have college aged kids. yadda yadda, we've been keeping in touch and saw them last st. patty's day at the same party and that's when i told them i was going to run the WDW marathon. they decided they would go down then and cheer me on. well, of course the following week i found out i was pregnant. they are still going in january anyway and have promised to come the following year to cheer me on. we chatted the other day and i told them we're staying at the treehouses in may and casually said they should join us. well, for two or three nights, they ARE! we have plenty of room and it's going to be really fun! it'll be just the two of them and they are the same kind of disney people as we are.

yay

ok, thomas is up "mommmmmmieeeeeeeeeeee!! mommy! mommy! help me down!" - guess i have to get him

 

[lisah0711]

Good morning Princesses and Bells!

I see the BL superstar list is populated again with Princesses! Congratulations to Kathy and Maria, too, for making the list! And, of course, I am about being the BL for the final week. You get to wear the clippie an extra week, too, so that should help me hang in there until the next challenge.

Rose, sorry it is stressful at work but soon instead of feeling like this little bits of will fall upon you and you will travel to a magical place with the two men who love you the most and have a wonderful Christmas. (With a few thousand other people.) Talk about magical!

I can't wait to hear all about your safari so please take tons of pictures.

Lindsay, I haven't finished all my Christmas stuff either so don't worry. It will all get done somehow. Did you find some pjs?

Your poor family. Grammy is heading to a better place but the stress is hard for everyone else, especially this time of year. I think that you should listen to your Dad and remember her the way she was. Maybe take a few minutes and look at some old pictures and think about her. She knows that you are thinking of her and the way that she is now, she may be gone and I sometimes think it's just her body hanging around, KWIM?

Eustress does sound better than distress!

Maria, glad that you were feeling better yesterday. I was thinking after your week-end a meeting with dragon lady would be like a walk in the park.

Thank you so much for organizing our ornament exchange. It is so fun! Can't wait to see all the ornaments. I've been keeping my ornament at work so it can be opened but left it behind yesterday so will open it as soon as I get to work. Might be going to work early today.

The movie thing went fine. After the 200 plus texts, they saw the movie, and there were a couple of texts after and now nada. I've heard there might be another movie next week. It's not too bad. You get to practice your deep breathing and be thankful middle school romance is so fleeting.

Good luck to Ben with his big test and presentation week. That was last week for us and we all managed to survive. No homework here either and it is nice!

I am so grateful to have you all in my life. I so hope we all will meet again. Hopefully in disney for a race.

Aww, love you, too, Kathy. Keep that January 2013 date in your mind!

Edited to add Lisa, so glad that you are all okay after your accident yesterday. Was the storm really bad?

I will post pictures of my ornament when I get to work this morning. Can't wait to see it! Have to wait a bit though since some crazy person thought it would be a good idea to have a few neighbors over for happy hour tonight (me) so I have to finish getting ready for that. Luckily it's only for a couple of hours and I'm getting pretty good at refusing to clean longer than the time for the event -- plus we can dim the lights.

Have a wonderful day Princesses!

 

[Rose&Mike]

Thank you Lisah! The ornament looks lovely on my tree! It really brightened my day to open it this morning!

I am a little nervous about my ornament that I sent. There is some unforeseen irony in it which I will explain later today.

Woohoo to all you big Losers!

Ok, gotta get to work!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Boy it was like christmas morning. I have to let you all know I went right down stairs to open the package even before I got in the shower. I am such a kid sometimes.

Thank you so much Kathy! The ornament is so cute and I got quite a laugh out of the pats ornament. Nancy did you see that pic. My husband was like "your not hanging that one on the tree, right?"

That was so much fun and a big thanks to Maria for the great idea and for the coordination of it all.

Nancy- so sad about your friends FIL. Im glad your friends are going to join you in WDW for a few days. Its always great to vacation with others that you enjoy being around. and for the record Mike and I are constantly bickering over who is doing or not doing something. I think it is just normal in a marriage when you have kids and a million things going on. Hang in there. And try to be merry at least until you get the present you want.

**********************************************************

Ok I guess I need to actually do some work today. Talk to you all later!

 

[liesel]

No time right now, just a quick note to say I'm here, I read all the replies and now I've got to go bake some cookies with a very anxiously awaiting daughter. I'm good after the accident (but I'm starting to get sick) and I will give the gory details later. I am proud to say that I unwound last night with a nice bubble bath instead of a bag of cookies. Both kids are sick and DD is just well enough now to be bored and wants to be constantly entertained. DS is just sacked out on the couch with a fever and watching a movie.

Rose I love the oranament and don't worry about the unintended irony! I actually do like snow, its just the possible 10 months out of the year thing I'm sick of. Have a wonderful vacation if I don't get the chance to reply again before you leave!

Maria I'm glad you liked the oranament!

 

[lisah0711]

Thank you, Nancy, so much for my two beautiful ornaments!

I need Kathy or some other FB savvy person to show me how to display the ornament pictures side by side instead of one behind the other.

I so suck at FB that I just sent the exactly the same message to both Princess Jude and Princess Jen. Yes, I did apologize.

Thank you Lisah! The ornament looks lovely on my tree! It really brightened my day to open it this morning!

I am a little nervous about my ornament that I sent. There is some unforeseen irony in it which I will explain later today.

Can't wait to hear the story!

Glad you liked the ornament. It said "Rose" to me. Not to mention that we never could find a sparkly potato.

Boy it was like christmas morning. I have to let you all know I went right down stairs to open the package even before I got in the shower. I am such a kid sometimes.

Thank you so much Kathy! The ornament is so cute and I got quite a laugh out of the pats ornament. Nancy did you see that pic. My husband was like "your not hanging that one on the tree, right?"

That was so much fun and a big thanks to Maria for the great idea and for the coordination of it all.

Lindsay, too funny that Kathy got DH with the ornament!

ITA on the marriage thing. Men just don't think the same way that we do. John would probably not even remember that there was laundry sitting there if you told him about it. I will just pick two things that need to be done and ask which one DH wants to do -- even though it still steams me that only one of us needs direction at home.

Rose, safe travels if I don't get back on before you leave. Can't wait to see those updates!

Maria, thank you so much for organizing the ornament exchange! It was a blast!

I loved Ben's picture, too, much better than a more formal picture for sure!

Lisa, you poor thing! Glad that everyone is okay and so, so sorry that you all are getting a bug. That stinks. But thank goodness you are getting all this stuff behind you before the Tink. It's a short run for you this week-end, isn't it? So it's all good!

Have a great day ladies!

 

[Rose&Mike]

So could you all see the ornament that Lisa sent me on FB? I had trouble finding the post. If no one can see it I will repost it.

So, by now you all should have figured out the tiny bit of irony in that I sent Lisa an ornament that said "Let it snow" and she opened it right after her accident and commented about how much "fun" winter has been this year. Just look at it this way Lisa--when you move to CA away from all that snow, the ornament will be your reminder that it snows too much in Colorado!

Lindsay--I felt the same way this morning. I was very excited to open my box. Thanks Maria, for suggesting this!

Lisah--I hope happy hour with the neighbors was fun!

Kathy--how was phone shopping?

Nancy--I'm sorry about your friend. You will love your garmin! So make sure you don't kick John to the curb too soon!

Maria--I hope you like the book. Of the four agreements, I can only consistently remember the first two. (Too much brain fog I guess). Anyhow, it really helped me to deal with my wacky family and Mike's too!

****
Work was CRAZY! But it's done. I didn't get everything done, but that's ok. I think we are pretty much ready to go. Our plane leaves at 6:00am, so we will be getting up early. We are only 15 min from the airport--so that's good!

I plan to do a trip report, but not sure if will I post it until we get home.

I will probably get back on sometime this week, but if I don't please know that I love you all to pieces. I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing, stress free holiday.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Merry Christmas, Rose! We will miss you, have a Wonderful, Splendiforous Christmas at the World!

More posting tomorrow afternoon, I promise! Last big scary meeting tomorrow morning, and then I can eat lunch and relax -- here's hoping I don't get assigned any fun chores from the meeting

Maria

 

[mikamah]

The ornament exchange was so fun, and I loved going on and checking out everyone's ornaments. Thank you Maria, for the great idea.

Well, I got my new phone, it's a basic samsung with a slide out keyboard, and I tortured a few people with texts last night, but somehow hit quick reply and sent my sil that I was in a meeting. I know I will like it, and it's about time. No more confusing banners with bears.

Gotta head out for my walk now. The week seems to be going by a little too fast. If I can, I'll take tomorrow off to get ready. I wasn't feeling stressed til the phone broke and it was one more thing to do, but I did get over it.

Lisa-I don't know for sure, but i think if you post pics as an album, then 3 will show up side by side.

Maria-Good luck at the meeting today.

Rose -I'm sure you're ready or boarding the plane right now. A very merry Christmas and Vacation to you, Mike, and Tom!

LisaR_Glad you werren't hurt in the accident. So stressful though at this time of year to be without a car.

Nancy-Loved the bronx zoo ornaments. Perfect. So sorry to hear about your friends fil. So very sad. My heart goes out to them, and to you.

Lindsay-Ryan's so cute without his front teeth.

Pamela-It's been a busy week, and I miss you. I haven't even been reading on the alumni thread. I hope work is quiet so I can catch up with you over there.

Dona-Hi there!!

Hello to any other lurkers out there.

Have a great day all!