I Remember....

Yesterday I got some really sad news. A friend of mine that I have known since childhood but have not talked to in about 10 years has passed away. She is only 36. She has one son who is about 18. The day turned into a feeding frenzy of phone calls to old friends to share the news and dig for any information about why she passed. Her mom, who is friends with my mom could barely get the words out that she had passed...on March 16th....and has already been burried. WHY? That was the big question..we were only told that it was under investigation.
Well, this morning I finally found out....suicide. She took her own life. What could she have been going through to decide this was it. I just don't know and will probably never know. But instead of tearing myself up about the why I decided to do this blog entry and write all the great things I remember about her and our friendship.

Janell....

She was my very absolute without a doubt best friend, BFF, sister, pal, confident and secret confider from about the age of 7-14. We spent the night numerous times at each others homes, swam in each others pools, watched the Thriller video every 15 minutes for about 3 hours while eating Doritos and Dr. Pepper, played soft ball together, went on field trips, girl scouts, trick or treating, birthday parties, hours of roller skating, rode bikes, did bike car washes, got the same rainbow shirts and knickers, visited her dad at the grocery store he managed and got a behind the scenes tour of the store, played Monopoly, vistited her grandparents, went to movies together, church and youth group, six grade camp, slumber parties, school dances, boyfriends, cheerleading, football games, jr. high graduation dresses, her collection of horses, her big sparklets jug of change that her dad would fill for her, telephone calls, sticker books, Hello Kitty, trips to the mall, when she got chicken pox she only got three and they all left scars...one above her eye, sweet 16, millions of notes letters and cards and oh so much more.
We kinda drifted in high school and soon after graduation she met a guy who would later become the father of her child and husband. I attended her dental school graduation cermony, exchanged Christmas cards for a few years and then we just lost touch. I would get updates every now and then via my mom from her mom. There are three other friends from that original "group" that I am still in touch with and we tried to get in contact with her about a year ago to go to a group dinner reunion. I wish we would have tried harder.
So, if you have made it through this email....go run to your phone or address book quickly and look up those old friends that you keep saying you should call sometime and just do it. You never know what is really going on in someone elses life and just knowing that there is someone else out there that loves you and remembers the fun times like I have listed above is all it would take to keep that friendship alive.

One of my friends, Kim and I are getting together on Monday to go and lay flowers on her gravesite and plan to go to coffee afterwards to talk about the good old days.

I will remember Janell as the sweet childhood friend that I was blessed with knowing.

Going Digital

Years ago when I did weight watchers I bought a food scale.



Kinda like this one where it has a removable dish so you can weigh the food directly on the scale or in the bowl. The problem was that it just wasn't very accurate. You could manually reset the dial depending if you used the bowl or not.
This time around I don't want any errors...I am really trying to follow the plan well and accuracy is important when it comes to weighing food and making sure the portion sizes are right.

So, I bought a digital scale. I love it.



This is not the exact one I bought but pretty close. It is well worth the $30 it cost. I have used it for lots of things such as meat, pretzels and just this morning cream cheese. I highly suggest getting one if you are just starting out or like me trying to tighten up any areas of slippage.

Vanished

So, just wrote this big ol' post and then lost my internet connection...poof!!

Anyway, just wanted to drop in to say that I did not go to my weigh in on Saturday because we were at Legoland for Buddy's birthday. We had a great time, the weather was perfect and he had fun. The best part was that my dad was able to get these radio promo tickets for only $7.00 a person. So the whole family got in for $35.00 intead of about $200.00. We were so stoked!

I also wrote about how amazing Homer is and that he went from not exercising at all to being able to run on our new treadmill. RUN!! It is just amazing to me. I can barely walk 3.4 mph and he's running. True, he has more experience as a runner. He has done a couple marathons but he hasn't run in probably more than a year. Damn, I wish it was that easy for me.

We are having a garage sale this Saturday so I am hoping to go to my WW meeting on Friday instead. I will be happy to be even from my last WI. Currently I am showing a small gain mostly due to all the birthdays we have had in the last month (4) and a few too many treats!

A Random Meme.....

So, I am going to attempt this meme that I snatched from "It Coulda Been Worse". I will do my best!

1. What time did you get up this morning? The alarm went off originally at 6:25 am but I actually got out of bed at 7 am.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Night at the Museum
4. What is your favorite TV show? Amazing Race, Survivor, The Hills and any other reality show.
5. What did you have for breakfast? I had a granola bar and two strawberries
6. What is your middle name?Anne
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Mexican
8. What foods do you dislike?Indian food or sushi
9. What are your favorite chips? Probably pretzels
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Jessie McCartney, Carrie Underwood and Lonestar.
11. What kind of car do you drive? Nissan Altima
12. Favorite sandwich? Turkey, Avocado, sprouts, cheese on a french roll
13. What are characteristics you can’t stand? Snottyness
14. What are your favorite clothes? comfy.....lounge
15. If you could go anywhere on vacation where would you go? europe
Where is sixteen?
17. Where would you want to retire? Close to family and hopefully grandchildren
18. Favorite time of day?evenings, after all the work is done and you can just relax
19. Where were you born?Burbank, Ca
20. What is your favorite sport to watch? Football, grew up watching it.
21. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke....seriously addicted
22. Beavers or ducks? Excuse me?
23. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night Owl
24. Pedicure or manicure? Neither, after I heard about people getting weird fungis from the tools used in shops I don't go. I used a thick lotion on my feet and cover in socks at night sometimes though.
25. What did you want to be when you were little? A teacher and then later a psychologist or family therapist.....would still like to do the latter.
26. What is your best childhood memory? Family trips to Lake Tahoe and Christmas mornings
27. Ever been to Africa? No.
28. Ever been toilet papering? Oh yeah.
29. Been in a car accident?Yes, a couple very small ones. Never while I was driving though.
30. Favorite day of the week? Fridays, the week is done and the weekend is coming
31. Favorite restaurant? Love Acapolcos (Mexican) and good ol' McDonalds
32. Favorite flower? tulips and poppies....think spring
33. Favorite ice-cream? Not a huge ice cream person but do enjoy Phish Food from Ben and Jerry's
34. Favorite fast food restaurant? Mickey D's.
35. How many times did you fail your driver’s test? 0
36. From whom did you get your last e-mail? Anna, my friend and neighbor
37. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Target
38. Last person you went to dinner with? my family and my parents to the Corvette diner (see previous post)
39. What are you listening to right now? The Regis and Kelly show
40. What is your favorite color? red/pink
41. How many tattoos do you have?one, a sun on my back
42. How many are you sending this Email to? Blogging.
43. What time did you finish this e-mail blog entry? 9:35 am.
44. Favorite magazine: Used to be People but they started focusing too much on celebrities..now I like Real Simple, Parents, Weight Watchers
45. Coffee or tea? Coffee.
46. Do you tan easily or burn easily? Burn.
47. Do you color your hair? If so, how often?I get it highlighted every once in a while..just so damn exspensive!!
48. What was the first car you ever purchased without the help of your parents? My Nissan Altima
49. What is your most dreaded household chore? The floor around the toilets
50 Who do you tag to complete this meme? I tag anyone who reads this and would like to participate....come on its fun!!
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Happy Birthday to me!

Do you like the new look of my blog. I love it. My hubby did it for me as a birthday gift. My b-day was on the 16th.

Today was a great day. Besides St. Patty's day we celebrated Homers, Buddies and my birthday. Homers was last week and buddies is on monday. Yes, three birthdays within a weeks time. We went to the Corvette Diner in Hillcrest. It was such a cute place. It like a scene from Grease. The girls all wear poodle skirts and the guys look like greasers. They dance and interact with the guests. The kids had a ball. At the end, the waitress threw about 20 pieces of bazooka bubble gum on our table. Afterwards we drove to Sea Port Village, an outdoor touristy place with stores and restaurants right by the harbor. We walked around, went to a bookstore, got some coffee and then took the kids to the candy shop. Overall, a great time was had by all.

I went to my WW meeting on Friday morning and had a small loss this week. Only -.6. Not as good as I was hoping for but it was a loss. Our treadmill is coming on Tuesday. I can't wait. I will post a picture of it soon.

Have a great week and let me know what you think of the new look.

-4.2

Yeah!! My first official WI and I lost 4.2 lbs!! I really thought I had only lost a pound or two. My scale was way off! I am sure that next week won't be as great but I am hoping to reach my 5 lb. loss!

So, as usual on WI days today was a food fest. First off, I had to go shopping after my meeting and since I had not had breakfast yet I was starvin Marvin so I went to McDonalds and got a hash brown...no sandwich. Then, since today was my hubbies birthday we got sub sandwiches and went to a local park/lake and had a picnic and went walking for 40 minutes. We were supposed to go out for dinner but since I now have a cold and Boo Boo has a low fever we decided to lay low. I ran out and got McDonalds (yes twice in one day) and that was that. I have used all my daily points and abouut half of my weekly 35 flex points. Oh well, I am definitely not going to stress cause that's what they are for.

We made a chocolate cake but since boo boo fell asleep we are going to wait and have it tomorrow. There goes the rest of my flex points!

We still don't have the new treadmill. I am really hoping it comes this week. My birthday is on Friday and it would be great to have it by then.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

This and That

I took a peek at the scale this morning and I am down 1.6 from last Saturday. Now, I weighed myself in my skivvies. Do you think they would notice if I walked into a WW meeting in my unders? My official weigh in (WI) is this Saturday. I definitely feel better already, just adding the water and taking out the mindless snacking. Also, I am really really trying to not eat past 8 pm. It's really tough because on nights that I work I go in at 5 pm (too early for dinner) and get home at 9:30 which is obviously past the 8 pm cut off. What I have been doing is eating a Luna bar on my break and this seems to help but I just hate replacing meals with bars but not sure what else to do. Any suggestions?

My dd Pookie has been sick since last friday. I sent her to school yesterday with a very low temp (99.4) on some Motrin and she was in the nurses office by 12:30 with a 100.8 temp and had to come home. I think she just has the flu....tummy ache, fever, poop issues etc. I kept her home again today only because you have to be fever free for 24 hours before sending kids back to school.

My dh's birthday is Saturday. Not sure what we will be doing yet. I told him it was up to him to pick something. Living in San Diego is great because there are so many options. He is leaning towards going to a park for a picnic and going hiking. Sounds like lots of fun as long as the weather is good.

Happy Thursday and thanks for stopping by.

Yeah...I have friends

As a SAHM I often feel like I have no friends. I know there are ways to get them, moms groups, library, parks etc. I just have a hard time walking up to people I don't know. I have never been good at it. That's why this blogging thing is perfect for me. I can tell you what I would tell my closest friends without going through the getting to know you stage. I was so excited to get so many comments from people at my first ever blog party and hope to keep you coming back for more.

So, this weekend I rejoined Weight Watchers for the millionth time. I won't post my starting weight here but will tell you it starts with a 2. I wasn't surprised. I have been in a funk for the last couple months and think that reading other moms blogs has really helped me realize that I am not alone. It has also made me realize that things could be so much worse!! So, my official day that I weigh in is on Saturdays now so I will be updating you then instead of on Wednesday like in the past. I fell pretty good about things and determined once again. A neighbor friend may start going to meetings with me too which will help with being accountable! I am really excited about it.

Other than that my weekend was pretty bland. We ordered a treadmill from Costco on Sunday. I am still a bit in denial that we actually ordered it. I have been wanting a treadmill for at least three years now. We have an exercise bike but I just don't feel like I get a real "workout" from it. The one we ordered comes highly recommended and was on sale which is always nice. It should be here in about 2-3 weeks. I can't wait!!

Party Time

5 Minutes for mom is hosting The Ultimate Blog party! Thanks for coming by.

Since most of you have never been by here before...let me tell you a bit about myself. I am 35, a mom of three and married almost 10 years. I was born and raised in California and currently live in San Diego. I love it and feel so blessed that I can raise my family here. My husband works as a marketing analyst and I work part time (20 hours) at a Whole Foods Market as a cashier. My kids are 9, 5 and 3. I am able to stay home all day with them and work at night.

Some things that make me smile are music (all kinds except rap), special coffee drinks (mochas, lattes etc.), the beach, the computer, family and snacks. The last one just a bit too much!!

I am very new to the blogging world and think I have had three visitors so far. I love reading other moms blogs and hearing that I am not so crazy! We all are....ha !

I am glad you stopped by. Please leave me a comment so that I know that you came and tell me three things about you so that I can get to know you. I also want to come visit you at your party too.

What is the world coming to.....

So, last night a poor lady was mugged outside the store I work at. She was this petite little lady maybe in her 50's and was putting her groceries in her car when a big truck pulled up next to her, a passenger jumped out, she grabbed her purse like a football, he grabbed the purse and off they went. It was so sad, we were just closing and she was screaming and running towards the store saying Help Me and rattling off the license plate number. The next hour was spent with the cops trying to fill out paper work, getting as much info as possible. So, now this lady is completely tramatized, will probably never be able to go out at night alone again without thinking about it and for what. A lousy $70.00, a cell phone and other odds and ends. People are just assholes I swear!!

Anyway, it's raining today which is much needed here in San Diego. I actually love the rain (as long as I don't have to go anywhere in it). They say Californians dont know how to drive in the rain but I think it's just because we don't get any time to practice. Who knows.

So, I started marking down my points again for Weight Watchers. I am basically a lifer. I went to my first meeting when I was about 16 and revisit it every couple years. I will have my Wednesday Weigh in tomorrow but warn you now that it won't be pretty. I actually rode the exercise bike yesterday for about 35 minutes and plan to do it again today.
Ok, so now this post is rambling so I will go for now...see you again tomorrow.

Oh for the love of hermit crabs...

Pookie is going to be 9 next week so we went shopping yesterday for birthday gifts. We had to make a quick stop at the pet store to get a filter for our fish tank. This pet store doesn't really have "pets" there to purchase. Just hamsters, fish, lizards and you guessed it....hermit crabs. Pookie has wanted one since the bizzare kiosks selling them started showing up at malls everywhere. I must have been half asleep still because I started considering one. I figured, how bad could they be, it would teach her about responsibility, they seem fairly easy to manage and care for...so why not. Well, $70.00 later she is the proud parent of two crabs. $70.00. The basic break down goes as the following....tank $10.00, tank lid (because I will be damned if those things will be crawling around the house while I sleep softly at night) 7.00, hiding spot (they like to hide apparently) half coconut shell $7.00, gravel $5.99, sand $5.00, food $4.99, cookies (don't even ask) $3.99, fake plant $4.00, water bowl $3.00, food bowl $3.oo, sponge that sits in water bowl (apparently they like to suck on it) $2.00, mister spray bottle $3.00 and the rest goes to the cost of the crabs themselves. All I know is that they better live a long time so I can get my money's worth!

The good news is that my daughter is so happy and completely in love with them. She has named them Will and Elizabeth from Pirates of The Carribean.

Hermit crabs...what was I thinking????

Love is in the air....

Not! It's almost Valentines Day and you might as well call me the grinch of V. Day. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and my kids very very much but it's just such a....hard thing for me to get into. I have always been like this. First of all, homer asked what I wanted to V day. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of things being spontaneous and from the heart. First I told him not to get me anything and realized that wasn't really fair to him if he wanted to get me something. So then I told him to just go to Target and look around and whatever screamed out to him as something I would love get it. Be it naughty lingerie, heart shaped anythings or a new pan. Really, I dont care. I have not bought him anything and I told him so to kind of prepare him for the let down. I do feel bad and will probably be at the store tomorrow with all the other losers who succomb to this dumb day.

Ok, I am done being a Valentine grinch, go kiss your sweetie and pray that cupids arrow hits me soon.

The Cutest Thing

Buddy is only three years old but already is fully aware of all that is Star Wars. Homer, who is also a SW fan got the new Lego Star Wars PS2 game for Christmas and just about every day Buddy begs Homer to play it so he can watch. That in itself is cute but what is cuter is that he calls those little robot characters R2 and the Gold Man (R2D2 and C3PO). So about every oh lets say 15 seconds Buddy is saying "Hey there's R2 and the Gold Man" at quite an excited pitch. I don' t even know how Homer can concentrate on playing because it is sooooo distracting! How can something be so darn cute but so darn annoying at the same time!

Sore throats and stuff

Well, sorry I haven't been around. For the last two weeks there has been at least one person at this house sick. First the kids, then Homer and now me. Always the last to get it. It has been increasingly harder to wake up the last few mornings but today was by far the hardest. I woke up in the the wee hours and discovered a 102 fever and throat so sore that I could not swallow my water! Thankfully I do not have to work tonight and homer was able to get the kids ready for school. He even brought me some breakfast in bed!

I didn't report here on Wednesday. Just forgot actually. I am actually up .2. I am hardly concerned. I just want to get through this cold or whatever it is and get back on track.

We are supposed to have a movie night with our neighbors across the street but I think I may cancel. No need to pass my germs on to someone elses family. The superbowl is this weekend too and my parents are planing on coming over for that.

Another One Bites The Dust

Yeah, I made it another week. I lost another 1.4 for a total loss of 3 lbs. I managed to do all of the baby steps except the exercise. In fact I think I only did it once. Not sure why. Just busy and tired. I worked a lot last week and have just wanted to veg out most mornings.

As you know I have set a date goal of October 4th. This is my 10 year wedding anniversary! I can't even believe it has been 10 years. So, we are hoping to do something to celebrate and right now we are hoping to go to Vegas. I have started looking around at all of the different hotels and getting ideas. We stayed at the Rio which is nice. We usually stay at the Excalibur which is ok but not NICE if you know what I mean. I got prices for the Bellagio, New York, Paris, Caesars Palace, MGM, Mirage, Treasure Island and The Palms. It looks like for four nights the average cost will be about $1000.00. The hard part will be picking a hotel. So, if you have been to Vegas lately please let me know where you have stayed and why you loved/hated it. We need your help!

Weigh In Wednesday!! #1

Hello, today is my official first WI. Basically the last week has been full of stress and boredom eating. The only healthy thing I had was a few salads. Homer did fix the exercise bike for me and I was able to do 20 minutes on it without it breaking again. That being said..I am down 1.6 lbs!! Yeah me. I watched the Oprah from Monday with Bob Greene and his new diet book. After watching it I realized that maybe I should start some baby steps (he calls it revving up to lose weight). I have come up with the next 4 baby steps that I plan to do for the next month before adding a new one. Here they are

1. Water Water Water!! For every soda (diet) I have to have one water too! I have a big water bottle that I will need to finish by the end of each day.
2. Healthy Breakfast...no more pancakes or peanut butter toast. Some ideas for this are smoothies (which I had today), eggs or oatmeal.
3. Multi Vitamin..nothing to explain here.
4. exercise...my plan is that on mon-fri to ride the exercise bike while watching the first 1/2 hour of The View. I will take the weekends off. I can also add in some free weights here and there.

That's it. Nothing scientific...pretty straight forward. Wish me luck!!

Week 1 -1.6
Left until goal 38.4

Yeah for fridays and not having to work

As I have mentioned before, my first job is SAHM to three rugrats. Back in September I started working part time at a local health food store (kinda like Whole Foods) that just opened about 2 miles from home. It's actually just perfect. Her are all the pro's:
* Close to home
* Brand new store so everything is pretty and shiny
* Customers are cool in a sorta hippy/granola way
* The store closes at 9 so I am home early enough to still see husband before bedtime
* Extra money is helping us get by a bit easier

ok, with every pro's there are cons:
* Standing up for hours at a time
* Touching packages of raw meat....not just chicken either...tongue, buffalo, liver, fish heads etc.
* Annoying high school baggers gossip about boyfriends and sneaking out at night
* Weirdo customers

So, we have a few customers that are just so....shall we say...unique. There is one lady who we have nick named the Ice Cream Lady. She will come in almost on a daily basis (which in itself is a bit odd since we are a specialty store...it would be like going to Bed Bath and Beyond everyday...weird) and she buys....you guessed it...ice cream. But not just a container of ice cream but several containers of ice cream...everyday. So, you may say that she needs a weight watchers intervention...not so...she is skin and bone. That is the part that just baffles us all. What does she do with it? Wash her hair, use it to paint, give it out as party favors..or....(your guess here). She is just one out of many of our favorites. What did you think cashiers did between customers...we gossip about you. I am sure I will tell you about many more in the future. Something for you to look forward to....oh boy...bet you can't wait. Yeah, I'm a loser.

38 Weeks....week one

ok, so in 38 weeks it will be my 10 year wedding anniversary. I have decided to combine that along with the desire to get rid of some of this fat to set a goal for myself. It will be an easy goal since I can never seem to meet any of the other ones I have set....My goal is to lose 40 lbs. by Oct. 4th. From this day forward Wednesday here will be Weigh In Wednesday for me. I am really excited by this and hope that having to report it here it will keep me honest! Not sure if I am going to list my starting weight or not. Lets just say that it's more than Kirstey Alleys starting weight!! If she can do it so can I!
I will be following the Weight Watchers plan and will be riding my exercise bike, walking or doing The Firm. If you have any tips or words of encouragement please leave me a comment! I am off to go take my official weigh in. Wish me luck!!

Learning

Introducing the children....here is buddy. He is three going on four in March.



Here are boo boo and pookie...we were at my parents house for a holiday tea party. It was so much fun. My mom did a great job and we plan to do it every year.

Well, tonight my husband taught me a few new blog tricks like posting pictures and linking other sites etc. In my world this is big. It's nice when you learn how to do something that you always thought was so difficult only to say....wow, that was easy! Like that lame commercial "That was easy".

It's late, I'm tired, goodnight!

Barf-o-rama

Here is what buddy looks like today.

In the last two weeks all three of my kids have had random barfings. The kind where they wake up in the middle of the night....proceed to barf all over, then go to the bathroom and barf some more....then I come in and have to change all their barfy bedding (at 3 am mind you) and get them back to bed. By then I can't get back to sleep because I am on pins and needles listening for "THAT" sound when you know more barf is coming. They never get sick again, you've been up all night and it's time to get up and get the rest of the family breakfast! UGH!! I hate barf!
Have a nice day!