Semi Vaca

I'm on a semi-vacation. Dr. Stern is taking his family on vaca stopping at FL to visit family then on a cruise 4/1-4/11. While I'll still be going to work my hours will be as flexibale as I want them to be and I'll be able to sleep, get stuff done around the house. This'll give me time to purge a lot of crap that I don't use thats just in my way ticking me off.

Catchup not Ketchup : )

I haven't posted much the last week. Usually by the time I got home at night I was dead tired and forgot anything I wanted to post.

Quick catchup - not ketchup : ) - of what I remember:

I've lost a total of 10 pounds since I started my non-diet and work out, slowy-heathly-and surely. friends and family say I've lost it in my face mostly which I'm more then fine with : ) GO ME!!

Got my taxes done, exciting stuff - NOT

Jimmy is doing really good on the potty training, I think he's almost there. And hes an awesome swimmer! He does have an ear infection right now though, said his ear was itchining and kept sticking his finger in his ear, its a sure sign.

That's bout it for now :)

Swimmin' in the Snow

And Yet MORE snow, although it was barely anything. It started to snow at midnight through about 9 or 10 this morning, it didn't really stick and the snow flakes were HUGE! I don't remember ever seeing any that big before. I can't believe how many school closing and delays there were today, the roads were absolutely fine. I went to work from 9-2:30 today then ran some errands and picked up James from school and took him to his swim lesson.

He started his lessons June 2003 as a "pike," I think hes been through 2-3 sessions as a pike. He did so well they said he was ready to move forward, I'm so happy to hear that. It helps that I've taken James to the pool every summer since he was a baby. Now hes been upgraded to the next level of "eel." Today was the first day of the new session, he's the youngest one in the class. I haven't been able to bring him to his classes in the past because they were Monday at 4 or 4:30 ? and I work till 6 so Bob always took him. The new classes are now Fridays at 4:15 which works out great for me cause I work till 1pm so now I can take him and watch him - its so cool to see my lil' man swimmin'!

Bob registered him for the classes, so he told me his class starts at 4:45pm we got there at 4:30pm and the lesson was already going, so I rushed to change him and he had about 15mins of lesson today because class begins at 4:15 not 4:45. Bob called to tell me of his mistake while I was watching Jimmy swim. Oh well, next week we'll be there at 4pm : )

It's snowing in Jersey - again

Damn this Weather!! It was really nice last week in the 60's, then yesterday it was snowing when I woke up I went to work feeling the onset of my "seasonal sickness." Seasonal Sickness= Whenever there's a drastic change in the weather, I get sick - a head cold more or less. It happens all year round ex. In the summer if ,I enter a house with the air conditioning freezing, I get sick.
[remember Wilkins : )]

I get totally stuffed and I can't breathe and it makes me insane, which causes me to breathe from my mouth, which causes a soar throat. I'm already hoarse, lovely.

Kidnapped for Ransom!

Spent the day cleaning the house a bit. Lisa came over and "took me" out to lunch, yet I paid?? : ) Then she kidnapped me she wouldn't take me home! she kidnapped me to Staten Island to visit a friend of ours I haven't seen in a while so it was a good kidnapping, it was nice to see her again. We got back at 8pm I ran and picked up James from Bob's and now were home, ate dinner and are getting ready for bed, I think, we'll see how long he fights me : )

Jimmy's Birthday!...

Is coming up next month. Can you beleive he's going to be 4 April 12th !!!

I took James to a party store the other day to ask him what theme he wanted for his party, which will probably be the 17th. We walked the isles I pointed out all the stuff, Buzz Light Year, Sponge Bob, Spiderman, Power Rangers, Scooby Doo and ETC! there was a ton. James decided he wanted the Incrediable Hulk GRRRRRRRRR! : ). So we picked up the invitations and a couple other things. I was looking for a Hulk mask for James to wear at his party, then he spied the whole costume next to it and wanted it. So at Jimmy's birthday party he'll be running around dressed as the hulk - you'll get a link to the pic afterwards.

Ok so my question to you : Cake or Ice Cream Cake ?
I think the kids will eat more of the ice cream cake then a regular cake.
I stopped at Carvel last night to see if they can do it, they had one drawing of the hulk that was ok, but they can do any pic I bring in. I also stopped at ShopRite they have a Hulk cake, its nice but I'm undecided. I think I'm leaning towards Ice Cream Cake and then baking a few cupcakes - so I can have fun decorating them. : )

Money Money Money Money Money MO_NEY! sing it!

For the past 2-3 maybe 4 weeks, I've been in a bad mood with the upcoming date of my mothers passing. My bad mood was emphasized by work and I think I had a bit of an attitude problem (me ??). This past weekend I typed up a request for a raise and put it on my bosses desk on Monday. I hadn't heard anything from him all week, I was going to ask him about it today but I forgot because I was so busy. After our half day of work, my boss took me to lunch meeting. I have to say I have a great boss, very easy going and converses as a peer, not a superior. When our lunch arrived he told me I was getting my raise so I'm happy now : ).

On a different note...
You'll remember my "Punk'd out Scooby" post about having my hair highlighted and it being quite bright, well it just never turned into the color I thought it was going to be. So today after lunch I went to have my hair fixed. I am LOVING my color! It's nearly my natural color (dark brown/black) but with a hint of purple/plum, which shows more in the light. But it looks really nice now. Giulia (pronounced= Julia) took off 2 more inches so now its about as short as I'll go and still like it : ).

Book Signing

On one of my trips to B&N I picked up their events flyer and the following caught my interest "Meredith Gould, Ph.D., The Catholic Home: Traditions and Celebrations. The beauty and mystery of Catholic tradition has inspired the faithful for centuries. Meredith Gould guides us to fully understand, honor and celebrate this heritage. Her joy, impeccable research and unique sense of humor will inspire you. Visit her website at www.meredithgould.com."

So since I want to start doing some new things for fun and my own interests/education I went tonight to "Meet the Author" and listen. It was very interesting to find out that she converted to Catholicism from Judaism. Very interesting perspective and it obvious that she loves this religion. I think the converts cherish their religion more then those of us who are born into it, "Cradle Catholics" as shes calls it, and continue within the religion which we were brought up with, then those who chose to change to follow another.

After the discussion I did buy her book (had her sign it since I was there) since I do want to re-connect with the Church and give my son his religion at home. I also picked up one of her other books Deliberate Acts of Kindness as I would like to do some kind of volunteering and this will give me some ideas.

My Mom

It'll be a year tomorrow since my Mom passed away. It's a weird feeling, I can't believe she's been gone a year?? It still doesn't seem real. Sometimes, I still expect to see her somewhere. In the beginning I felt a very strong presence of her around me, I don't feel it in the same way now but shes in my thoughts constantly. This year has been very difficult they say the first year is the hardest because you have to get through all the birthdays and holidays without them and it was, all the day's felt empty.

I lived my life normally this past year and indulged in a large and small vacations. Yes it was stressful taking care of my mother while she was sick, but most importantly, as we are all aware but I saw first hand, life is short and you never know what is in store for you. While I will always work hard I will never forget to play hard, do what I want to do, and not let people make you feel guilty for "living" and taking those vacations.

Philosphy

I took a Philosophy class while I was still in College - Logic - and enjoyed it very much. When the class ended I lent my book to someone and they never returned it - which ticked me off because I wanted to keep it and continue to study it. So, I picked up Basic Questions of Philosophey at B&N yesterday so I could read up on it again.

Look out world - I'm adding to my fire : )

Lazy Saturday

James & I lazed around the house today, did some cleaning, some reading, some TV watching. We got bored so we took a drive to B&N in the early evening so we both got a couple of new books. Jimmy got 2 dinosaur books and 2 Scooby Doo books, I got The Great Gatsby (they had it in hardcopy - yea!!) & Before Gatsby - The First 26 Stories. I loved reading Gatsby in English class, and I love the movie (Robert Redford was so cute when he was younger ; ) - not so much anymore) so, I figured I'd grab this book that combines Fitzgerald's other works.

As I'm writing this, I'm realizing the times I received my best grades in English classes in school was when we read a book or play. To read the book as an assignment in class for a week or two have quizzes here and there and hand in a paper at the end of the book on out thoughts, feelings etc.

Every once in a while in the mailings I get there's an offer to start a leather bound book collection of the classics which I think I may start to buy as I want to start reading more - re-reading what I've already read and the books I haven't read. Not to mention, they'll be a beautiful collection and hopefully will inspire James and it'll aid him in becoming super smart by having access to these books at a younger age then they may be presented in school. I have been looking around B&N for the leather bound classics, this is something they don't carry - leather bound books. They have the classics, but in paperback, I definitely want them in hardcover so they'll last a good long time.