My Life

This is not working

2009-08-13T13:49:00.000-04:00

I made a new blog site up and its now gone! Ugh!

Not Happy

2009-07-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

So, I just wrote the post below and I got annoyed with uploading pictures so I started a new blog here: http://vmac.blog.com

Catching Up

2009-07-20T11:03:00.014-04:00

It's been awhile since I wrote anything so I figured I'd try and catch up.

Baseball season was great. It went by fast this year. Dan made it to the All Star game which was awesome! Here is him coming out of the dugout being introduced:

Then, he was asked to play on the Travel team for a weekend as some of the kids had a soccer tournament to attend to. He did awesome!

Dan and I helped with Ryan and his football camps this year. Dan had a ball and helped out on the field wherever they needed him. I did registration and lunch. Long days! We helped 4 out of the 5 camps. One night, I actually slept overnight at Temple so I could help him finish everything up before his last camp. We went to bed at 2:30 and woke up at 4:30 - yeah, I was tired by the end of the day on Sunday. After football camp was over, we were so looking forward with Ryan having some time off!

July 4th was a blast! Dan was in the parade this year with his soccer team (his baseball team was in it too). Here is a picture:

And this is us watching - the dog had fun of course.

We went to a ton of picnics which was a blast! Just a great holiday :)

Then starts the carnivals (well, they were right before July 4th) and we had a ball!

July 6th was mine and Ry's 2nd anniversary and it was so sweet - Ry came to my work with flowers and balloons. After last year's fiasco, I swore to never plan an anniversary again. So, Ryan took me to P.F. Chang's - I really love that place!

We decided to do Hershey again this year and then three days down the shore. It was perfect! We had a blast at Hershey and the shore was so relaxing. We ate everything under the sun of course!

This was also the time for baby season! My friend's, Desiree and Dana, both had beautiful baby boys! We saw them both in the hospital. Tyler P. was born July 3rd and Braden P. (I'm an aunt!) was born July 13th. Poor Dana suffered being two weeks late but they both did beautifully!

This leads us to this past weekend.
Saturday, I offered to help Ryan clean out his office - his papers were piled high!! So we took Mya, Dan and a friend down to Temple and we cleaned all day. The kids and dog had a blast (it wiped Mya out for 2 days!). We got 80% of Ryan's room done and it looks awesome. Of course, I'm going to be on him all season to keeping it clean and organized so we'll see.

Dan ended up sleeping over his friend's house after that so we were free Sunday night. We went foodshopping - yay! :) We ate chinese food for dinner and watched Friends DVDs - loved it.

Sunday, we got up, ate a delicious breakfast made by Ryan and went to look at a house. Total handyman's special. It was bad though - the floor sunk through one whole side of the house. That was the first one I saw though that I could see it having tons of potential. The yard was great but unfortunatley, we're not that handy to fix it up like that so it was a no go. After that, we went to Dana's house to visit. Braden is so unbelievably cute and I was so happy to hold him. Dana is doing very well and so is Ken. Dana and I ran out to the store so she can get out and pick up a few things. We did end up staying awhile which was fine but we weren't able to go visit Ry's grandfather who was in the hospital.

After that, we went home to relax for a bit and then went to Dan's hockey game - All Stars :)
He did great!

I was so happy to lay my head down on my pillow last night for sure. It was a long weekend.

The Hangover

2009-06-09T08:26:00.005-04:00

I saw previews for this movie and it looked hilarious! I was listening to the radio one morning and the preview came on and I had a flashback from when I was a kid. I then thought about my 20s and how they are forever gone and now I'm in my 30s and wondering what the hell can I do to make this decade memorable? Since Dan is 10, I'm considered old I guess. Not to mentioned I've really let myself go and weigh more now than I ever have (finally got motivation to start up again) so that is depressing me. What can I do? What do people in their 30s do?

Well, so far, it's been a blast with weddings, hanging out with friends, I've been drinking a lot, etc. Since we are dead broke I refuse to think about the fact that we can literally not do any overnight vacations (we have one for soccer but that's it). I like to do an amusement park and the shore for a day. What else?? I refuse to let money ruin me and I am determined to still have fun.

Oh, we've finally have gone to PBJ's and spaghetti (did I mention that already?). It's very good (probably why I packed on the pounds).

Right now, I feel overwhelmed (and that is the reason why this post is truly all over the place!). My mind gets like that and that is why I have a very bad memory - too much to think about. I was elected as soccer mom for the team (yeah, missed that practice) and am in the middle of finding hotels for the team in NY in July! Ugh! Of course all last minute stuff and barely anything is left - nightmare and of course, expensive.

This past weekend, Dan had a fantastic baseball game despite the fact that he literally got railroaded by this huge kid and stung by a bee. Here is a few pics I got:

Then, after baseball, Ryan and him went to the McNabb camp! Awesome. He met the Eagles' players again and we got all their autographs again. Then we went to a graduation party - that time of year!
Sunday was nice. I also got to watch two movies over the weekend - Love & Basketball and Narnia 2.

Last night, my mom watched Mya for us while we were at soccer practice. My did was setting up their pool and yep, Mya jumped in three times. oy!
Sorry this is all over the place!

Random

2009-06-05T08:57:00.005-04:00

.

What a shitty day!! Baseball was canceled last night and I'm going to assume soccer is canceled tonight as well. At least I can get some more stuff done I guess.

Truth be told, I think the weather makes me feel so incredibly crappy and down. I am feeling so lazy and I'm just sad. Maybe it's figuring out how to keep the grocery bill this week below $50 or maybe it's because I miss my husband (who slept over at Temple again last night) or maybe it's the dog who won't stop barking unless I run the flashlight for her for two freakin hours or having to have to drag her everywhere with me just to give her exercise - she's my mascot.

I actually worked out last night. I decided I just needed to get a workout in. If only I can just get up in the morning. I truly don't have time at night to workout at all. I topped it off with ice cream and then wine later - yeah, I felt better.

Dan is anxiously waiting for school to be out. He tells me there is only a week. Try two weeks. lol. He went over a friends to finish a school project and thankfully it got done (which was due today). Who seriously would've thought that I would give birth to a procrastinator. Total opposite of me and honestly, it drives me up the wall!

Here are some pics of Dan recently (I should really start adding more):

This is his 10th b'day

Recent baseball game

Why do others...

2009-06-02T08:29:00.002-04:00

Why do others think that marriage is all blissful and really shouldn't fight that much? I can honestly say I've divorced Ryan 5 times the first year. The second year started out pretty good and up until recently, has gone a bit sour. It's hard being the only one communicating. His job takes him away from us and I get that and understand that - hell, I push him to stay overnight and get work done. I just wish he was in it at least 25% but he never saw a real marriage growing up with his parents and he thinks I want a marriage like the movies. Yeah....still trying to merge together.

Ticks! Ticks! Ticks!

2009-05-29T11:46:00.001-04:00

I guess it's that season but there are sooo many! Dan had one Monday, I found one on my head this morning - I still feel icky!!! Thankfully, they were not deer ticks and no lyme disease but yuckers.

I better put more stuff on my dog!

Ten Years Ago Yesterday

2009-05-29T08:25:00.001-04:00

I had my son. I cannot believe how time flies. I mean, I know we try and enjoy every moment but it just goes so fast.

Worry.

2009-05-27T16:02:00.002-04:00

I have to decided to try and not to worry as much as I do. Yes, we are in way over our heads with debt and are cutting down to PBJ every day for lunches and spaghetti for dinner but I hate worrying. I feel like I'm wasting my life away with all the worry I do.
Oh and I need to start working out.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-26T09:39:00.004-04:00

This is a fantastic day to remember our troops as well and to thank them for serving our country.

I also associate this holiday with Dan's birthday - it falls around the same time. This year, Memorial Day came early. We basically celebrated all weekend.

The kids were great on Sat. night. Since the weather was fantastic, they were outside the whole time and they all actually fell asleep by 1 a.m.

Dana's Shower on Sunday was great - hot - but great. And the bbq on Monday went over really well. It was a great weekend that we all enjoyed. I also loved that Ryan was home all weekend. Other than him getting a huge hole in his leg from playing horse shoes, he had a good time relaxing.

Oh and Dan's b'day is yet to come still (Thursday!).

Kids' Birthdays

2009-05-20T14:11:00.002-04:00

So, Dan's birthday is next Thursday and we're having this whole weekend basically for him. Sat. night there will be 7 kids sleeping over; I will kick them out early Sunday so I can head on over to my friend's baby shower but then another friend of Dan's will be spending the night Sunday night as well; then on Monday, we will be having a family party bbq. Pray for no rain this weekend. It actually worked out perfectly because I thought he had a soccer tournament and its so incredibly hard to schedule anything because our lives are all about the sports. We are sport-free this weekend!

In comes the stress. There is, with any part of course, just so much to do and so little time. I make list after list after list to make me feel better. There's the cleaning, food shopping and tiring out the dog! I already started with the cleaning. I got the kitchen and breakfast bar done. I stopped there and figured I'd finish Thursday night. For now, I have to put baby shower favors together which are so cute! I got hershey kisses from oriental trading company and they included stickers you put on the bottom of the kisses that say "Dana's Baby Shower; date". Perfect. Then I got organza bags and two trinkets. Then I printed out a little saying. I then realized that the kisses won't be enough so tried to order more and they were sold out - great. I found blue wrapped kisses on hershey.com and they had the tag "it's a boy" coming from them - so cute and so expensive. Is $100 crazy for favors or what! Anyway, I am putting them together and they are turning out great and I love the blue and silver wraps. Almost done with them.

Oh, this week, Dan started his soccer training with soccer. I swear, this kid is sucking us dry! $500 for this 10 week camp. Now, if I just say that, I'm crazy to do this. However, Dan has been a part of this premier league for a very long time now and the whole team was invited to do this. It's pretty incredible and he'll get more goalkeeper training which is what he needs. They practice twice a week and they have four tournaments (one in NY, one in AC, NJ, one in Reading and last one in Lancaster) within a 10 week period. Ok. Just waiting for a fundraiser to start so I can get some money back!

So, they started the training and what a great/funny bunch of boys! It's just amazing of how great these kids get along with one another and the parents are awesome. We really have a great time when we get together! Last night, they were doing drills and the kids looked funny at points doing some of them and we were laughing! lol. So, this is held at Plymouth Whitemarsh H.S. - not bad of a drive and it's from 6:30-8. I'm just worried about homework and all. Thank goodness school is almost done. Oh and thankfully one of the other dads with a MINI-VAN is driving Dan this Thursday. We're supposed to carpool but I can only hold 2 more kids so he might drive the whole time for us because there are 4 total. Definitely will get a gift for him if he does this. I need a mini-van. So, that leaves Thurs. night to clean. Tonight Dan has a baseball game.

Friday, I hope to get Mya to the dog park for like a half hour and then I go foodshopping. My feet always hurt after all of that! Oh, and make two cakes for the weekend. :)

Ahhh, marriage

2009-05-18T12:13:00.002-04:00

I must admit, this past weekend was not our better weekends. All weekend we were not on the same page. No, wait, there was about an hour and a half on Sat. evening where we took Dan to a party in the park, Ryan and I stayed and we walked around; that was nice and definitely a date. After that, the weekend involved me yelling a lot for some reason. My patience was way short.

Here we are on a Monday.

I see a picture of myself from not that long ago and Yikes! I so need to start working out again. That is my inspiration right now.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

2009-04-28T12:40:00.003-04:00

For April, there has been some serious weird weather going on. It's been 90+ degrees for a few days. Tomorrow will go back down to 60 though - what a difference! Dan keeps asking for my mom's pool to go up. lol.

Well, my trek with P90X came to a halt again. I need to read something to get me to wake up again tomorrow morning. Maybe I should stop drinking wine the night before so I can actually get up.

Last night I took Mya to the vet for her allergies. So, the vet gives her a shot and puts her on 3 pills a day of 4 mg each (antihistamine). I say ok, thinking Jesus, I just had her on 50 mg the night before. Anyway, before bed, i gave her a pill. This morning, she just looked so lathargic and sad. She gets bursts of energy but it doesn't last long at all. I felt so bad for her. Sneezing away still. Our air is on to help but it'll be off tomorrow. We'll have to see how she does.

Ryan had another late one. Now, over the weekend I sort of had enough. It isn't football season and I know he's doing a shitload of things but I was tired of never seeing him during the weeknight at all. I told him he should try really hard to get up as early as possible to get to work and come home by 7/8. Monday morning comes and he is up later! Ugh. This morning, he was out by 5 I believe so time will tell on what time he'll be coming home.

Ok, I must workout tomorrow morning!

Monday Mornings

2009-04-27T10:16:00.003-04:00

Well, writing what I wrote yesterday must've helped. I got like a second burst of energy. I feel better about not being on top of the house stuff. It's just that for awhile, I have no problem telling myself that I'll get to things or it will get done but after so long, I totally freak out. I guess since I cleaned the breakfast bar and our front door last night, I feel better and can clean some more tonight.

So, I totally didn't get up for my workout this morning. I chose sleep. Bad news for me. Either I force myself to do it tonight or skip it. Skipping it would suck - I'm starting not to like following programs. We'll see what happens. I called the vet and they want to see Mya tonight at 6. Ugh. We gave her benadryl last night and she seemed better - knocked her out of course - but I have no clue about allergies. I just hope this doesn't cost a ton of money.

Ryan didn't get up early either which he's supposed to be working on. We'll see - I guess it'll be a work in progress type thing.

It is only 10:19 a.m. and I am starving. I guess I better snack on something.

I hope to report back tomorrow with exercising news.

A so-called "break"

2009-04-26T18:52:00.003-04:00

It is now Sunday night. Where has the weekend gone? I am overwhelmed with how tired I am. Is this normal? Why am I this tired? Some say I do too much. Do I? I thought what I do is normal. I also wonder how people get anything done. I really want to know what I'm doing wrong. I watch minutes tick by, hours fly past my eyes. Why don't I have more time in the day to get things done? Am I the only one feeling like this?

Friday - I had a wedding to attend in the evening. I went to work and earlier in the week I was going to leave from work and rush around and make it. Well, I changed my mind and actually decided to leave early - it was tough but I do prefer Friday weddings over Saturdays. Anyway, I got ready and a friend picked me up. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and the bride and groom were stunning. It was so amazing to hang out with friends and let loose! Dan, stayed overnight at my mom's as well as Mya.

Saturday - I really wanted to start as early as possible, even with a workout. Workout never happened and unfortunately I got up at 9 - ugh, my day is almost over already! So, I got ready and went food shopping. I believe this is the fastest time I've ever gone food shopping. Done in an hour - went to Sam's and Walmart - sweet! After I unpack at home, I go pick up Mya at my mom's (Dan went to the zoo with my mom). I take Mya to the dog park to let loose a bit. We were there for about an hour and a half. Now get this, for about a week now, Mya has just been sneezing non-stop and licking her paws over and over again. The best thing at the dog park is that you can find out information sometimes (hopefully true). Now with Mya sneezing, I knew she must have allergies but seriously, dogs with allergies. It was crazy for me to think of this. Apparently, it's true and common. Someone I talked to said benedryl - again, what? But it was info to ask the vet. I was grateful for that.

On my way back home, Dan says they are on their way home. I come home, grab a bite to eat and run out the door to get Dan. We then proceed to a communion party. Ok, so I relaxed a little there but at the same time giving myself a headache thinking of what is awaiting for me at home. Oh, and it's like a million degrees outside! I mean, I love it and all but unusual for April.

So, we're at the party, I watch the Flyers lose and Dan asks if he can sleep over. I say ok. So, at least I got to see him for a few hours :). I leave the party and head home. Ryan is at work today as well.

As I enter my home and look around, I cringe - where do I start?! I go upstairs to finish what I started in Dan's room. Twice a year (when I change the clothes for the season) I do major guttage to his room. I throw-out and donate basically everything. I had 4 garbage bags and 5 donation bags. I finished his room at 9:30 completely with clothes neatly away in all drawers. I give this about a week before I start yelling again. For now, everything actually has a place - who would've thought?! Ryan comes home shortly after and we just veg out till about 11 and we stumble into bed.

Sunday - I get up around 8 and get ready for the day. I start cleaning immediately. I did the upstairs closet as it was getting on my nerves. Then as I started the kitchen, Ry went to pick up Dan. Before I knew it, it was time to leave for a soccer game. At least I got the kitchen done. So, we trek up to Warrington. They win 4-0 with Dan in goalie - nice shut-out. They are playing up as well. I am amazed of how good this team is. Anyway, while at the game, I talk to another mom about how Mya has allergies and she said her dog did as well and she gave her benadryl. She even told me that her dog used to lick her paws raw! Great...so i'm really worried about that. After we left, we do pick up benadryl.

There was a tad dispute in the car at this point (Ryan did have off today) as it was about 2:45 and no one was really hungry but I knew I wasn't cooking so we either go out with my parents or we have spaghetti. He gave in and we went to Hong Kong Buffet. I really like that place for some reason. After dinner, my parents drop us off and we immediately leave to take Mya to the dog park again (she's got soo much energy). She did ok. The heat wasn't helping her. We leave about 5:45. I'm driving home and my eyes are a little blurry. Can I pass out now?

We get home and I start cleaning the breakfast bar to just finish it. Then I thought it would be a great idea to clean our front door to get all that mud off of it that Mya put on there. As I type this, I still have to go clean the screen and window sitting in the tub. Dan was in the shower so I make lunches. Ryan got off the computer and I take the opportunity to type my weekend's events on here. The Sixers are on right now. I have to finish cleaning and figure out when to go to bed to get up early and workout. Oh yea, missed my workout yesterday. Can't do it all, right? I still have to finish cleaning the house for my major spring cleaning. I'm thinking two days off from work?

Week 2, Day 11 (Turbo Jam) - Thursday

2009-04-23T15:38:00.004-04:00

I am just dragging ass anymore. It was sooo hard to get up this morning. Yesterday morning as I was doing Plyo, I couldn't keep my balance to save my life! Thank goodness today's substituted workout is a short one. I finally rolled out at 5:30 and got the workout in. I had a peanut butter egg today though - oops. I have no willpower. I did, then it left me.

Anyway, I still feel blah and bloated. I really want to lose in my thighs, lovehandles and stomach. I just want to lean out. I wonder when that will happen. I guess Peanut Butter eggs don't help that much. lol.

Week 2, Day 10 (Legs & Back) - Wednesday

2009-04-22T14:09:00.002-04:00

Ryan didn't get home till really late and whenever that happens, I don't sleep very well. I didn't get to bed till right after 11 anyway :( So, trying to get up in the morning sucked big time. I finally rolled out at 10. I have to say this week is going much better than last because I'm getting up in the morning more. Anyway, as I put the legs & back dvd in and started the workout, I decided I wanted to change it and do the scheduled workout (arms & something - remember, i'm mixing up the dvd's a bit). Well, it was too late at that point. Now, I was just worried about finishing the workout to be ready for work.

So, I started the workout, going fast at some points to speed things up a bit and skipping one whole exercise. My legs hurt! I guess from plyo yesterday didn't help. Well, I got through the workout and did the Ab Ripper. I'm getting used to them again but it still hurt.

I am in work and it's about 2:30 and I'm sooo tired! I need to go to bed early tonight - no matter what!
Oh, eating wasn't bad however I am now eating a Friendly's ice cream - oops!

Week 2, Day 9 (Plyometrics) - Tuesday

2009-04-21T08:24:00.002-04:00

I had to get up even earlier to workout because Dan had Environmental meeting this morning. And of course, I get up later at 5:20. But I still get up and get my workout in (just almost finished it) and get ready for work/school. I drop Dan off at 7:45 and already had a mini-candy fish and it's only 8:30. I'm about to eat some breakfast though - oatmeal. I am so incredibly tired so I will probably get some green tea as well.

Week 2, Day 8 (Chest and Back and Ab Ripper X) - Monday

2009-04-21T08:03:00.001-04:00

Can you believe I got up - on a Monday!! Well I did and today was a brand new day to workout and eat better rather than crappy stuff. I did ok and then nighttime fell. Yeah, had my ice cream with jimmies and oreo cookies. And a glass of wine. Good news is that there is no more ice cream but there is plenty of wine!

Week 1, Day 5 (Shoulders & Arms) - Friday

2009-04-20T09:21:00.005-04:00

I woke up early to do this. :) I'm just happy about that. My eating habits are still not there.

Week 1, Day 6 (Turbo Jam) - Saturday

2009-04-20T09:21:00.004-04:00

I substituted Kenpo for Turbo Jam. I feel I get more cardio out of this. Since this is my last Week 1 exercise, I decided to start eating better this upcoming week. cross your fingers!

Week 1, Day 4 (Boost Metabolism) - Thursday

2009-04-17T12:15:00.004-04:00

I suck at yoga. The P90X program has a very long and difficult Yoga workout that I cannot do (tried 4 times). So, I'm swapping out. I went to "On Demand" and found Boost Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. Ok, liking it so far. It's an hour long.

That workout was hard for me to do! Hopefully a few more times and it'll be easier.

Week 1, Day 3 (Legs & Back) - Wednesday

2009-04-17T12:11:00.003-04:00

So, I got another headache and I didn't get out of bed. My headaches are a concern for me and there are a few reasons why I may get them. When I did the P90X for 60 days before, I was really good with my diet and cut out a lot of sugar and didn't drink a glass of wine at night so my headaches went away. So, it's either the sugar, wine, or lack of exercise. We'll see.

I had to workout at my parents which started to possibly be a problem since there is a lot of weights and equipment I'd have to lug around (Dan has PREP and that is close to my parents house). I did it anyway and lugged 3, 5 and 8 pound weights along with the pull-up bar, bands and the dog. I got my workout in (except the Ab Ripper) but did good.

My eating habits this week are really bad. We have so much food leftover and in the freezer we need to empty so hopefully after two weeks, I'll have changed my diet yet again.

Week 1, Day 2 (Plyometrics) - Tuesday

2009-04-14T09:26:00.005-04:00

Oh boy! What a morning. So, it's still chilly and it's raining today. I so did not want to get up this morning. And of course, the 2 glasses of wine and going to bed at 11:30 did not help at all! But, I managed to get up at 5:30 and workout. I am still dragging butt though.

So, I get up and do the Plyo workout. So happy I made it through. I'm in work now exhausted but I did have some coffee and I have half a day left. I must go to bed early tonight.

My eating habits are still not the best. I so wish I had a personal chef. I mean, wouldn't that be so nice?!

Week 1, Day 1 (Chest and Back and Ab Ripper X) - Monday

2009-04-13T11:45:00.003-04:00

Monday - back in the swing of things. Got up early at 5:00 and started my workout. Doing weights again felt good. I am hoping to get a jog/walk in this evening with the dog to get some cardio. I did take pictures but will have to post when I lose all the pounds :)

Eating-wise, this is going to be very difficult this week. We have to clean out our freezer and eat all the left-over food so my goal this week will be portions.

Starting Weight: 141.8
Goal Fitness Weight: 120/125
Currently Size 10

And So It Begins (again)

2009-04-13T11:41:00.002-04:00

I am a sucker for infomercials - especially exercise programs. So, on comes P90X. OMG - have to have it! So, I started this out as my New Years Resolution. I did well for 60 days. I was on hiatus and decided to start it back up again.

P90X is a program that Beachbody and Tony Horton put out. It is supposed to be extreme fitness program and "confuses" muscles. There are three programs: Lean, Classic and Double. Second time around, I am doing the classic again. The only thing I didn't like the first time I did it was I didn't think there was enough cardio so I'm sort of revamping it this time around. I will try and post my progress and if I'm brave enough...post pics.

What Luck!

2009-03-19T15:01:00.002-04:00

Sometimes luck will eventually find me.
So, back in November, I got my 2 year upgrade with Verizon and a new phone. I go to the store and look for something that I would like. I pick the Glyde. I love the touch screen and it flips to a full keyboard making my texting capabilities so much easier.

Now, a few monts later, I want to run it over with my car and then back up on it. I HATE this phone. I truly didn't research the reviews on this phone before I picked - too bad for me. The touchscreen is extremely finicky. There are times when I can't call out or answer a phone call! That is the most frustrating. Say if I want the menu, I'll touch "menu" way up top and the bottom bar will get pushed and then go back and forth to that and the back key. What?! Oh how I HATE this phone.

So, finally today, I called Verizon and the techy lady is telling me to take the battery out and put it back in. I did such that and I informed her that this is not an all the time occurrence. I told her that I've sometimes held the phone up to a heater so I can actually use it. I thought it was heat sensitive. Anyway, all they can do is send me the same phone. Ok, fine...maybe this new one will work and if not, I'll just get a cheapy $20 one.

A few minutes later, I get a call back saying they are out of the Glyde - ah man! :)
Then they were going to send the Vu or something and are out of that. So basically, I can pick my phone - sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph! I never get that lucky. So, I opted for the ENV2 or something. The front of the phone has a smaller screen but buttons on the bottom (I officially need buttons now on every phone) and it flips up for a full keyboard - loving this! So, I should be recieving the package Monday. I cannot wait!

So, with this good luck, does that mean I may get some bad luck soon? I hope not!

Happy Turkey Day!

2008-11-28T19:42:00.003-05:00

I love Thanksgiving. It is truly my favorite holiday. The one reason why I love it is so you can be thankful for everything you have. The second is that there is no mad rushes for out of control gifts. With that said, I had an awesome Turkey Day! I got up, worked out, straightened up my house for bit and was at my mom's by 11. I started right away. My mom and I worked in the kitchen straight through 2:30. The reason we ate at that time was because we were lucky enough that Ryan was able to come home from 1-3:15 to enjoy some time with us! We made it in time.

Dinner was delicious (as always) and just so filling. I don't remember eating so much. After we cleaned up and I said goodbye to Ryan, we had dessert. I made cheesecake the night before and my Aunt Gail brought a chocolate cake. Both (yes, I had both) were soooo good! We were so lucky to have so much food and our bellies were full. I felt so thankful to have my family and just be able to spend time with them.

We left my mom's and got home about 7:30. I cleaned up a bit and crashed right to bed. We had a very long and busy day Friday (Black Friday).

Every year on Black Friday, my mom, Dan and I go downtown. My mom and I have been going since I was young - 5 maybe - so about 25 years. We see the light show, santa, A Christmas Carol (Dickens) see the big tree they put up in City Hall, and eat lunch. Over the years, things changed. Way back when, the store started out as Wannamakers. They had lego land and a huge train that travelled around the store - so cool! After Wannamakers, I think it changed to Lord and Taylor's and I think another store until it is now Macy's today. Our sightseeing priorities have also changed. Well, because this year we were going to see Temple play at 1, we had to start really early and skip a few things in order to get to the game on time.

Friday morning comes and I'm up at 5 and everyone else is up by 5:30. Nonna comes at 6 and we're all running out the door to catch the 6:22 train. I don't ever remember going down in the dark. Usually we leave about 7:30ish. We get downtown about 7:30 and we walk right through City Hall. Perfect...first stop...pictures at the Christmas tree. Ryan was still with us so I was able to get a few shots with him. He went his separate way and Nonna, Dan and I went towards Macy's. We got the times for the lightshow and Dickens to start which wasn't for another 2 hours so we decided to head down Market Street to Kmart and do some shopping. No luck there. We head back to Macy's within an hour and the light show started (an hour earlier than the lady told us) - what luck! It is now 9 and Dickens starts at 10 so this is just perfect.

The lightshow was great this year. They changed all their bulbs to LED lights so it was brighter and they added back the huge Christmas Tree. I have pictures and I'll post them later. After the light show, we walk around a bit before we go stand in line for the start of Dickens. We had lots of time to kill. Dan was starting to get really antsy but did fairly well. We get through Dickens and head to eat lunch. We skipped out on seeing Sanata this year as we can go to the mall near us if we wanted. We go to the Reading Terminal and I get a hoagie. OH MY GOD!! It was incredible. I was stuffed again. I seriously have to workout to get all this food off! So, we finish our lunches and head to the EL. We take the EL and then hop on the subway to get off of Pattison. Pretty neat to be on three different types of transportation in one day.

We get to the Linc about 12:15 so we have 45 minutes to rest. I get a beer, sit on the couch and just relax. The game was about to start so we decided to go out. Ummm...it was freezing! It was supposed to be 53 degrees and it felt like 30! One thing I must say about this day is that it is the hardest day to dress. Your outside and in all day so your hot and cold. The game didn't help because we didn't have many layers. oh well.

And Temple won their last game of the year!!! It was incredible and it is no 8 at night and I am exhausted!

Neat & Organized

2008-11-20T16:02:00.001-05:00

I used to be really neat and organized. I am the type of person that likes everything in its place and things to be in order. I'm also one of those people that knows you can't tell the future but some type of plan would be good for me to know. I wish I could just have no plans. I worry too much :)

Anyway, I can get carried away with clutter just a bit. I did some major cleaning recently. We just had stuff everywhere and it's so easy to just throw things around and everything gets cluttery. So, I threw stuff out, put things away so everything had a place, etc. I just needed our house to look more organized and clean-cut. I am finding my roots again. The house looks great and I've managed to keep it pretty clean so far. I even put all our CD's in a CD book and threw out all the cases to make more room on our shelves. We had a ton of CD's. I have a few more things to do and then I think I'll be happy. I actually had a list at the beginning of football season to keep me busy. Turns out, I didn't have time for the list!

The Tournament Weekend

2008-11-10T15:33:00.002-05:00

Well, we had a long busy sports weekend planned. Started out Friday night with a hockey game. Dan got two goals - woohoo! My friend surprised me by coming to the game that night too. It was great to hang out with her and her husband after the game.

On Saturday, we had to get up early to start the soccer weekend. He had a game in Philly at 9 and from there we had a tournament with one of his other soccer teams. Unfortunately, Dan was not feeling well at all. He played the first game, we drove to the tournament fields and another team forfeited our first game. So, we all went to a joint to rest and get some food before our second game. At that point, Dan decided he need to go home and rest. So, we went home and watched Star Wars the rest of the time. He fell asleep at some point to get some rest. I did hear from another mom and the team did well their last two games and won; so, we move on to Sunday with two games left. Ryan and I ordered Chinese for dinner - love it! and then I headed off for some Christmas shopping. I got a few good gifts. I got home about 10 and we all went to bed.

Sunday morning came and Dan comes running into my room at 7 letting me know he's all better and he can play! I said "great...now go downstairs and watch tv till I wake up in another hour". :)

An hour goes by and we started our day. We went to 9:00 mass, ran to food shopping, I quickly worked out and we were out the door for the last two games. The team played great and they won the tournament - they were so excited!

I also experimented with the black and white option on my camera so here are a few pictures:

After the tournament we went to my mom's for a dinner she made for my aunt's b'day. It was delish! Then we went home to sadly watch the Eagles - they lost. :(

Now about Ryan

2008-11-07T14:04:00.003-05:00

I mainly write a lot about Dan and I (and the dog) so now I'll tell you a little bit about Ryan. We met in Aug. 2002. At that time he was a Physical Education teacher at an elementary school is Philadelphia. Dan was 3 at the time. They clicked and got along great! Ryan was (and is) terrific with Dan.

After that school year of 2002, Ryan decided to get back into coaching football - this is his passion and dream. He will always love coaching and he just loves this job. He warned me of many, many, MANY things that come along with him coaching. I heard what he said and we jumped right in. He got a job at Gettysburg and we did the long distance relationship. I'm not fond of it but we got through it. He was there a year and then moved onto Villanova for a few years and is now at Temple. After we got married in July of 2007, he adopted Dan in November of 2007. Truly a joyous day for all of us.

Just for only being in the coaching job for about 8 years, we've gone through a lot and have learned a lot. Ryan is and will always be my rock. Even though he cannot always be there for everything, he is always thinking about us. He does what he can whenever he can. He is a hard worker and is always pushed to his limits. My favorite thing about him is that he never complains and helps me when he can.

Ryan is an amazing husband and phenomenal father.

Realization

2008-11-06T15:55:00.002-05:00

I've come to realize that not only do you have to be dedicated for football but all your family and friends are too (in a good way of course). I can't even count how many times my family and friends have been there for me (us) if I was getting pulled in another direction or needed something. Especially my parents who have been a huge help to me and is always there at the drop of a hat. I've ben really lucky that way!

Seriously though, it is really hard to understand that you cannot always count on your husband (or wife). Granted, this year has been better than before where we see Ryan a little more at night than we ever have (which is fantastic!) but he still misses taking Dan to practices and watching his games. We have been eating dinner together more often though.

If I can't make it to something, I always rely on my parents. There are also sports parents who are always willing to help as well. So, the dedication for me, married to a football coach goes beyond just us - it really involves a lot of family and friends :)

I'm sure this is the same for people with multiple kids, or people married to doctors or military families, etc. I'd like to think most of us are in the same boat sometimes and we all are so very understanding.

Election Day

2008-11-05T20:17:00.002-05:00

Well, the day has arrived. I've been waiting for this for awhile. This is the most historical day in election history. And Obama won! I just hope he can get this country moving again like he says he can.

Well, Tuesday was my day to take the kids. I had four kids all day and they were great. I took them to vote with me earlier in the day and then they played for awhile, I fed them lunch and we went to do some errands. I had to take Mya to the vet as she has an ear infection. I also had a chip put in her. I was excited about that. Oh, I also held a newborn baby today. I did get major baby fever for the first time. So, all in all, it was a great day!

Wednesday was back to work. It was a regular day - nothing major happened. We came home and I took Dan to Prep. I was able to workout again tonight though. My goal is to lose 20 pounds - we'll see if I stick to it this time. I think I really need to get my eating habits down really.

I still love Tuesdays

2008-10-29T14:57:00.002-04:00

As posted, it snowed. I loved the fact that we had nowhere to go. I got my sweats on and we took our time. Of course, Dan still went out and played in the rain for a bit.

We had a little trouble with homework. I am completely perplexed at some of the homework that is given out. I was stumped on a math paper Dan had to do. He did forget his math textbook which didn't help matters. I even called my mom and she was stumped. I miss the way things were taught when we were young.

For dinner, I was very laid back. I made Dan grill cheese and I was going to make tacos but Ryan came strolling in at 11 so I decided to have wine and chips. I don't know if Ryan ate. I was able to catch up on Samantha Who and House. Great episodes!!

Now, the Phillies continue game 5 tonight. I'm so excited and hope they win!

Very odd weather day

2008-10-28T14:57:00.002-04:00

Today, a day in October, it snowed. I'm sure it has before but I don't remember any times it has snowed in October. It felt weird. Like a January day or something. Well, schools didn't freak out and close or anything so that is good. The Phillies had to suspend their game last night due to rain and was scheduled for tonight but that now has been pushed back. Another day of waiting for a championship.

Dan had soccer last night so I decided to use the crockpot. I made a very good meal: chicken breasts, taco seasoning, cream of mushroom and salsa. I thought it would have a bit of kick to it, but it really didn't. It was still good though. I guess the cream of mushroom took it away.

Catching up

2008-10-27T12:58:00.002-04:00

The idea of this was to write everyday. I thought I could do it...I was wrong. So now I must catch up.

I mentioned last week Dan has three half days - thank goodness they are over. However, I loved being at home the second half of the day. Maybe in another lifetime that will happen where I can work part-time.

Dan's sports have been going well. They won hockey and two soccer games over the weekend. He had another sax lesson Friday and learned a note. He's actually pretty good and has been keeping up with it.

The Phillies are just ONE game away from winning the World Series...it's been forever!!

Ryan had a bit of a slow weekend due to a game being last Tuesday night and the next one isn't until this Sat. at Navy. I'm being recruited to go. Who knows. Last Tuesday, Temple won their third game of the season. Due to stats, they are actually in 2nd for their division - pretty incredible. It was also the night of the Komen game. I was decked out in pink. I had nothing pink on Dan though. It was a fun night but we had to leave at the start of the 3rd quarter.

Since Ryan had sort of a down weekend and the Flyers, Eagles and Phillies were playing this weekend, I decided to bake his cheesecake for his b'day. This was the first one attempted and I have to say...it was good! I hope to make more.

I met with a friend last Wednesday night and it was so incredibly great to catch up with her - it's been awhile. My other friend who was in Germany for military has now officially moved back home. I am so happy she's here and only about 5 minutes from my house. I went over there on Sunday to see the new rugs and paint and my son walks around back and was so elated that 1. she has a hot tub and 2. can see and walk to a mall that is practically in her back yard. That'll be great on black friday!!

Speaking of Black Friday - have you started shopping? It seriously just occurred to me how close Christmas is. Maybe I'm wrapped up more in Temple this year or what. Luckily, I got a lot done so far but it's like 2 months away! I'm an early bird so I like things done.

3 days!!!

2008-10-21T10:29:00.002-04:00

Dan's school has the brilliant idea to have three half days for conferences. Not just half days but they get out at 11:20. So, to find arrangments and to leave work is just a nightmare. If they maybe had 1 day off, that is doable but why 3?? Don't most parents work anyway and can only meet in the morning or late afternoon? Very frustrating.

Day 1, left work to pick up Dan and brought him into work till about 3. I guess it's easier that he's older becuase I just put him on a computer and he played for a few hours. We left work and went home and I was able to switch his winter clothes. He had practice that night so I dropped him off and I went to my mom's to exercise Mya. I also did my exercises. I am in the process of trying to lose weight. I'd like to do this and still eat what I want. My diet isn't the best but I do eat a salad every day - that's good enough.

So, I bought this 30 Day Shred video. It has three levels (I guess you do each level for 10 days each). I did level 1 for 8 days. It was a great workout. I just switched to level 2 - OMG!!! The exercises touched on muscles I didn't know existed. It was a great workout though and I'm excited to keep it up. I am happy to say that I've lost about 6 pounds since June and i hope to lose 15 more.

Something did happen to me yesterday though....I LOST my calendar. This is the bible to me. I keep everything in there. I am so lost without it! I remember having it Sat. but after that, it's all a blur. I guess I have to go out and get another one. I am so sad by this. :(

The first cold weekend

2008-10-20T12:43:00.003-04:00

If you know me, I HATE the cold. I hate being cold, I hate being out in the cold. I am the type of person that can never get warm. 60 is too cold for me. I think I'm destined to live in FL in my latter years of life - who knows! This was the first weekend I had to bundle up for Dan's soccer games. He had three of them. One was Sat. morning at 9. Not enough time to warm up. Next one was at 11, not too bad but if the wind wasn't there, it would've been better. The game on Sat. wasn't too awful but still cold. Mya came with us for the game on Sunday. It definitely tired her out. On that note, I ended up breaking down and I put the heat on Sunday night. It helped get the chill out of the air.

Sunday was Ryan's 31st birthday. Holy Cow! Just getting older. Well, he's older than me so it's good. He had to work this weekend - surprise - but he was able to come home at 9 on Sat. so we can go out to eat. I do not want to write this restaurant's name because we love going there but it was awful - service and food. I called the next day to let them know and they were thankful that I said something and is sending a gift card! Good because I really love going there and would hate to not go on one bad experience. Sunday night, I was able to make Ryan a cake and we sang happy birthday :) Next weekend, I'll attempt to make a strawberry cheesecake. It's his bye week next week and I hope he'll be around a little more so we can do something.

Another fantastic thing that happened this weekend is the fact that the Komen 3-day walk was this weekend. Ryan and temple football players were there on Sat. and Sun. helping out with whatever needed to be done. Such a rewarding experience. I wish I was there with him. (I also did think of the brave soles out in the cold sleeping at night - God Bless Em!).

It is now Monday and I just realized I lost my bible - my calendar. I write everything in there and I'm having trouble breathing a bit and am seriously unfocused. I must find it. I know I had it Friday but Sat. and Sun. are questionable. I think I'll cry if I don't find it. So pray.

2008 Election

2008-10-17T09:56:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure if I just haven't been paying this much attention to prior year's elections or if this is the most hyped one. I'll go with the latter, however, it has caught my attention more. Probably because we had Hillary Clinton running in the primaries; Obama won and is running for president and Sara Palin running as VP. Yes, this one will go down in history for sure.

So, who are you voting for? Why are you voting for this person? All I want to say is make sure you go to factcheck.org. There, you can research any questions you have about either party. All this hatred and thinking Obama is associated with terrorists is scaring me and making me realize that people don't check their facts. Yes, I am an Obama supporter but I will not push for that. Just GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT to make your decision. Don't listen to what others say, do your research. All the emails that fly around...they are easy to decode...go to snopes.com.

This is why I am not voting for McCain:

1. His tactics are very similar to Bush's and I do not like how Bush has run this country in the past 8 years.

2. McCain has a very short-temper and I saw that come out during Debate #3...big no-no for me. How can you not control your temper? And you want to run a country and talk to other leaders of this world. Um...no thanks.

3. Palin - all I can say is that if McCain is president...I will pray every single day for your health so Palin will never take over. I believe she has no concept of the important issues and is not qualified to run this country as a VP or P.

4. I believe McCain's tax plans help the rich more than the middle class and poor.

5. What really put me over the edge was recently, at rally's, McCain and Palin have allowed people to shout "terrorist", "off with his head", "let's kill him" about Obama and they did nothing! I am apalled that they do not have the human compassion to stop their rally and correct that person. I do not want our country to be turned into that.

Why I am voting for Obama:

1. I believe he conducted himself well through this campaign (I think he is doing much better now than he did during the Primaries - who I then voted for Hillary).

2. I agree with more of his tactics in cleaning up this country.

3. I like Biden and I think he has a good head about things.

4. I do not believe Obama is associated with terrorists.

"Ouch"

2008-10-15T10:16:00.002-04:00

Monday, October 13th
I was excited to remember that soccer practice was cancelled for tonight so all we had to do was go to Mya's last class - she graduates. She did really well and I think we'll sign her up for another class in January. So, it was a good non-rushed night.

FANTASTIC WIN FOR THE PHILLS!!!! One more game away!!

Tuesday, October 14th
This is where the Ouch comes into play. I had a doc's appointment for my in-grown toe nail. Yeah, gross. I never had one before so I had no clue what it was and it led me to the doc's office instead of me being able to get it out myself. It hurt a lot.

I arrive at the office wondering how they are going to do this (and trying to piece together what others have been telling me on how they remove it). I was a tad nervous. I am not one for pain and have a very low low tolerance. How I got a kid out of me...I don't know. So, I get called back into the office and she explains the very minor procedure. Which to me, is still frightening. I tell her I have low tolerance, I apologized and that I wasn't a very good patient. She laughed. lol. Well, she stuck a needle in my toe in three different spots to numb it. The medicine she injected burned and it felt like the needle was wrapping around my toe! It hurt. Ok, needle is done with - thankfully! Toe is all numb and she does her thing and we're all better. I think the best part out of this is that I can still wear flip-flops for the next few days (even during work) and its still warm outside. Let's hope I don't get another one of these again.

Sports Weekend

2008-10-13T11:09:00.002-04:00

So, not only did Dan have a hockey game and four soccer games....Temple football, Flyers, Eagles and Phillies played this weekend. Oh my - sweet heaven for sports fans!

Unfortunately, Temple, the Phillies (game 3) and the Flyers loss. I blame the Flyers losing with Pallin being there to drop the home opener puck. And for the record, I completely disagree with mixing politics and sports. Sports is just one thing that bans a town/city together and no need to add something there to divide that up! As for Temple (24-14 loss), well, it was a non-conference game - thank goodness but they must win all of their conference games (5 left). The Phillies on game 3 - what the heck happened??? I hope they get their act together for today's game!

The Eagles finally pulled through in the second half - it was rocky at first. Basically, only Philly win this weekend - go (finally) Eagles!

Dan had a phenomenal weekend! He was awesome in hockey and awesome in net for all his games. Some pics:

It was a very long weekend and here I am, Monday, at work, wondering where the weekend went. I did unfortunately miss a friend's b'day dinner and I wish I was there! Happy Birthday!!

A day off

2008-10-10T11:40:00.000-04:00

After the fiasco with Mya chewing another library book of Dan's (partly Dan's fault and partly the dog's fault), I went online and bought the book. I am too embarrassed to give money again for another chewed book. Thank goodness it wasn't too expensive. Pocket change adds up! I hope it'll be here before next Wednesday.

Dan was off from school today for Yom Kippur. Cool. I am currently switching days with two other moms for when the kids have days off. This works out perfectly. I don't have to take so many vacation days for all the times Dan is off. So, one of the other moms had them yesterday and I take off election day. I thought about that for a second. I'll have four kids going with me to the polls. Three are in 4th and one is in 7th. This is pretty cool and to show these kids how important it is to vote - especially this election! Just pray for a nice, beautiful day so I can kick them all outside to play :)

They had fun though. They went to the park, ran the trail and played in the water. It was gorgeous out too! Later that night, I took Dan to soccer and I went to my mom's house to "exhaust Mya". Still wondering if that is possible. Anyway, my mom and I worked out to a new video I got - 30 Day Shred. I like this a lot. I still love my Tae Bo and Turbo Jam but this was short and I was sweating - good workout. Today, my legs are hurting so it must be a good thing.

At night, we put the Phils on and they win Game 1 of the Playoffs - SWEET!! Then we all crash into bed - even Mya who will be in lock-down in our room at night from now on. :)

"Mya!!!!"

2008-10-09T10:57:00.002-04:00

"Mya" is a word that can be heard loudly throughout the house all night. She was doing so good with not chewing but my goodness - completely 180!!! She ate two library books, a remote control and an electrical chord - what the heck! All of this and I was just starting to really like her. lol.

In other news, Dan decided to open up to me last night. Found out he has a girlfriend - one he rarely sees or talks to. I was happy he informed me of this but really? age 9. So, my dilemma is that I have a talk with him about having a girlfriend at this age is not good and possibly scare him from talking to me again or do I go along with it and just remember its completely innocent? He's getting older every day!

Nothing Much

2008-10-08T09:36:00.002-04:00

Day went as usual for a Tuesday. We had a night off so we were able to relax a bit and not rush to get everything done. I had time to walk the dog to my friend's house who has a black lab as well, Chelsea, and they played. I actually cleaned both bathroom too - sweet!! Now, for the rest of the house...maybe I'll do a little each night, who knows.

We had gotten some sad news. My husband had two dogs growing up - Cokie and Pepsi. Cutest things ever! Probably about 12 years old now and living with his parents. They may have to put one of them down soon as Cokie is just bleeding behind her eye and it's not good. Pepsi isn't doing well either. So sad. :(

At night, I was able to watch Debate #2 between Obama and McCain. I already know who I'm voting for but it just amazes me how much they stretch things and lie. I know, it's what they do and all but for once, can someone just please give the facts! I fell asleep towards the end. lol.

Aren't Mondays the best?

2008-10-07T15:48:00.002-04:00

Yeah right. I am starting to get anxiety as the day goes on. Work is busy trying to catch up from my day off on Friday. I finally get through my work day and my home life then begins. It's like a rat race at times. I pick up Dan, get home, Dan starts homework and I make a great dinner.....grilled cheese. I'd rather spend the time with the homework than cooking a more "homey" meal. Besides, grill cheese isn't that bad for you...is it? I made myself a pizza wrap anyway; its more healthy for me.
So, we finish homework and we're out the door by 5:45 for soccer practice. Mya is in tow with us. I drop Dan off and go to my parents so Mya can have some exercise. I actually take her for a walk and have a catch. I also jogged a little as my knees are feeling better. I get back to my parents and my mom and I decide to do a little bit of an exercise video. It's the 30 Day Shred. Not bad but I didn't do most exercises as I want to ease back into it with my knee. My mom was hysterical though!
At 7:15, Mya and I are out the door again to pick up Dan; we then go to Mya's dog class and she was a bit more hyper tonight for some reason. We made it through though - she did good. Ryan met up with us half way through class. I actually like going to class because I can pick up random pet stuff I need that I can't get normaly. We do have one more class left. I didn't sign her up for the intermediate one yet though. I figured I'd work with her more for now and we'll do that in the spring or something - we'll see.
We all head home for a relaxing evening - sort of. It's about 9:20ish; Dan still has to finish homework, eat a snack, take a shower and head to bed. Ryan eats dinner and we make lunches for the next day. So, I sit down to watch some tv with some wine at around 10:30. I unfortunately am not that tired and I don't fall asleep till 11:30. Ugh...dragging tomorrow!
Fortuantely for me, no practice next Monday so no running around anymore (for now) like I normally do.

My excursion

2008-10-06T11:27:00.004-04:00

Thursday 10/2:

I was leaving work early today to finish packing and cleaning what I could around the house I guess. I love this perk of our job - we get to leave at 2:30 one day every other week. So nice!

So I leave work, run to walmart to pick up a few things and go home. I really didn't get too much done before it was time to pick up Dan and get ready for soccer practice that night. It is just cold at night now. I hate the cold - I can never get warm. It was a normal runaround night and I finished my packing - yeay!

Friday 10/3:

I was so excited! Today I leave for the football game in Ohio. This was the wives trip. I saw Danny off to school and I relaxed for about an hour and I was on the road to the airport. This time, we fly Atlantic Aviation - charter flight - sweet!! Finally found the lot. I was a bit nervous driving but it was super easy to get off the exit and all (I needed an easy drive this time). I parked my car and waited for others to show. The team arrives and we start loading the plan. We were offered lunch before we got on and man, can these players eat! I was thrilled to find out that we were able to sit next to our husbands this time around. Last year, we were on busses and we weren't all on the same bus. So, I was wedged between two coaches. I didn't mind as I like the other coach - not sure how he felt though. :)

The flight was a bit rocky as it was really windy that day but we made it safe and sound. We load onto busses and leave for the hotel. It was a bit of a ride but got there safely. We all go to our rooms to relax and whatever before the girls meet up for dinner. Some of us met in the hotel bar to have a drink beforehand and then we all walked across the street to this really nice swanky place. The food was amazing! I had shrimp, scallops and lobster in one dish - soooo good! The girls were great - we had great conversations, lots of laughs and we all clicked.

Towards the end, some coaches and hubbies came over to hang out at the bar with us. We had a great time. We all drank, danced, laughed! Just a fabulous time! Here is Ryan and I that night....little drunk? lol.

Saturday 10/4:

Woke up with a bit of a headache but thank goodness I took my advil the night before. I got up, took a shower, and met some other ladies for some breakfast/brunch. Learned a few got up and worked out - God bless them!

We got our things together and got on the bus to the game - 45 minutes. I was feeling a bit queasy during the ride so made a mental note to try and get ginger ale or coke for the way back to the airport - hour and half ride. We got to the game and walked around for a bit and met Miami's coaches wives. They were really sweet and guided us to Tailgate Town. So adorable! We got our food, found a spot on the lawn and chilled for a few hours. A few of us were just missing beer. :)

We find our seats and settle in. It is very interesting to experience different stadiums and different people. The fans at this stadium were probably the worse I've experienced this year so far. There were probably about a dozen of us fans just cheering our hearts out for these players and we were told we had no class. That didn't go over well with a parent. We made it through the game whooping their butts! We need more wins. However, this also meant another significant thing - us ladies were allowed to talk on the way back home on the bus and plane. So very exciting!

We get back on the bus (I had soda this time) and we head to the airport. There really isn't too much to see in Ohio but it was a nice cute town. We get to the airport and our plane is really late. We ended up leaving about an hour past our scheduled time and Ryan and I stumbled home about 1:30 a.m. Long trip, great memories, awesome time!

Sunday 10/5:

Waking up a tad later than usual to catch up with things, I finally get out of bed and straighten up my room and unpack for a bit. Got a surprise call from my friend in Germany. Can't wait till she moves back here. I finished straightening up and headed out the door to foodshop and get Dan at a friends. We get to my mom's house after that to leave for his soccer game. Before we left, he wanted to show me his "skills" on the sax. So cute and here is a picture of him playing:

We left for the game and had a good time there. We then vegged out a bit at Nonna and Poppy's house and went home to gather ourselves together for Monday.

The weekend flew by!

We are very loud at our house

2008-10-02T12:09:00.002-04:00

During the day, I made plans for a friend to stop by and borrow a piece of clothing (who would’ve thought I’d have something for someone else! – trying to stay on top of the fashion as much as possible). Anyway, after I picked up Dan from PREP, we went home and my friend came over. We were talking and all of a sudden, my dog starts barking (still a major issue) and my son has the brilliant idea to turn the tv up really loud over us talking and the dog barking. Yeah, you could probably hear us a mile down the road!! I realized that it's usually like this and this is the first time I actually thought about it for some strange reason. I told Dan to turn it down; apologized to my friend who understood completely and we continued our conversation. It was great to catch up with her as I don’t do that very often. I hope we can keep it up as sometimes life tracks us in different directions.

So much for getting work done

2008-10-01T15:45:00.000-04:00

I go to pick up Dan after work. He is at a friend’s house because they had off. I end up staying there talking to the moms for like an hour and a half. Then Dan goes over the other friend’s house. I run home to take Mya out, stick a load of laundry in and leave (I hate leaving the washer and dryer go when I’m out but I really needed it done). I go to my mom’s; have a catch with Mya to tire her out and head up to get Dan. I’m there chit-chatting again. I leave and drop off Dan’s friend and get home by 8:30. Ryan is home – thank goodness because I needed to: finish laundry, eat, do lunches, clean a room, and finish with Dan and his homework and pack. Needless to say, I got homework done and some laundry and Ryan did make us dinner - tacos (they were yummy!). I don’t know why I get my hopes up of getting stuff done. I just would love to scratch things off my list! I guess tonight is another night.

It started already (blaming the dog).....

2008-09-30T10:47:00.000-04:00

My son’s first blame on the dog came last night. We get home from school and work and Dan starts on his homework and I head upstairs to get changed and whatnot. I go downstairs to start dinner and Dan heads upstairs to use the bathroom. He yells downstairs that Mya knocked the roll of toilet paper in the toilet. We leave the TP a little higher up next to the toilet so Mya doesn’t get it and chew it up. Anyway, I start laughing and asked Dan how it happened. He tells me she sort of jumped up and the TP tumbled in (oh and Mya has been with me the whole time). Now, if I haven’t just use the bathroom right before, I could’ve fell for the story but I asked him if plans on blaming things on Mya from now on and that I know she didn’t do it. He finally confessed but I had to give him an “A” for creativity. He was warned to not it again too. That was funny.

Ahhh....Sunday

2008-09-29T09:28:00.001-04:00

I get myself up a little earlier (again; I can’t wait to sleep in a little again someday) to take the dog out, get myself together so I can get three boys up, fed and ready for 9 o’clock mass. I was up for the challenge. Everything went well; boys were good to go. As they ate, I laid down the rules: “If anyone talks, moves, whispers, etc. during church, I will take you guys home”. They seemed to understand. In church, they did really really well. I was happy that they behaved liked they should. After church in the car, I told them they did fabulous and I had one more trip and that was food shopping. If they behaved, I’d get them gum or tic tacs afterwards and I’m a very fast shopper so it won’t be long. Again, they did fabulous and we were in and out. So, threaten for church and bribe for food shopping – not bad! They even unloaded the packages for me.

They continued playing until lunch and one kid went home and I fed the last two and then he went home. Dan’s soccer game was cancelled due to rain which was fine but we had already gotten to the field – bummer. So, we go home and I make dinner for the week and lunches for the next day. I’m getting ready for the Eagles!!!

Eagles lose! Don’t know why I just posted that but what a big disappointment. Oh, I guess I should add that Temple didn’t have a great game either; they lost 7-3. I hope they win a few more games. They need to.

My Saturday Mishap...

2008-09-29T09:19:00.002-04:00

My goal of Saturday was to get the winter clothes down from the attic. Dan and Ryan both had games and by the time the morning rolled around, I was just tired. Dan’s soccer game was great. Again, Dan played so incredible in goal. He stopped a lot of shots and they won 5 (or 4)-0. As we were leaving that game, I just had no desire to go to the Linc and watch Temple. I knew I should’ve but I was just tired of running. I think I travelled to more day and overnight trips since summer than I ever have before. I know during the week, I HAVE to travel to pick up Dan and get him places but I didn’t have to go to the Linc so I made the decision to stay home and get my winter clothes out. Of course, half way through the day, I wish I had gone. Oh well, the wives trip is next weekend – again another overnighter – so I’ll see the next game. I’ve also been more friendly with another wife recently and that’s a good thing. So, that was my upset for the day. On the bright side, I got my winter clothes out so I’m ready for Dan’s nightly practices.

So, Dan decides to invite a friend over which is fine; another friend calls asks if Dan can come over and sleep over; well, this kid ends up coming over as well. So now there are three boys in the house and they play and they end up sleeping over. It actually wasn’t that bad and they all behaved.

Good Day Friday!

2008-09-29T09:19:00.001-04:00

I go to pick up Dan and I see the case – this is so exciting! He is just bubbling with excitement to tell me about the sax lessons. He tells me the rules. Lol. Then as we get to Nonna’s, he opens up the case and shows us all the saxophone parts and I ask him what he needs to practice first. He needs to put the reed together first with the top of the instrument and then blow to make this ahem..sound. To give you an idea of the kind of sound that comes out of this….Mya goes CRAZY when she hears it.

Another aspect of why I love Friday nights hockey!! He had his first hockey game. He volunteered for goalie and he was incredible. The game ended 5-4 so it was a fun exciting game!!!

Today is The Day!

2008-09-26T10:07:00.000-04:00

Dan is so unbelievably excited for his first saxophone lesson today! I love that he’s expanding his horizons. I thought for sure he’d pick the flute or something. I am excited to hear all about it!! Not sure if my ears are ready yet or not.

The rain didn’t come fast enough last night..we ended up still having soccer practice. When I picked up Dan, we got home, he started dinner and I got his dinner ready. I looked at his homework, he ate, I cleaned up and we were all out the door. I dropped Dan off and went to my mom’s with the dog to give her some running time. For a lab, she doesn’t really like to play fetch too much. She loses interest after a bit and she does get tired quickly. I guess I have a more low-key dog (could of fooled us!). After playing catch, I left her at my mom’s and went to Dan’s practice for a bit. Man, it is getting cold. I really need to bring out my winter clothes. I keep trying to every night but it just hasn’t happened yet. So, I chit chat with the other dads (of course all the moms were smart and stayed inside). I ended up getting sucked into volunteering as being on a board representing the soccer team for a November tournament. Why do I always do that! There are two other parents in on this too so that’s good. I hope I’m exempt from doing the snack stand anyway. I’ll stand outside in the cold to watch my son play sports but not to work the snack stand…brrr!

So, practice ends, we go pick up Mya and head for home. Not bad, on the road home by 8. Dan gets his shower, puts his stuff away and reads his required reading. I really need to keep asking him his spelling words and keep on the multiplication. Oh, in the car today, we listen to a multiplication rap tape. Dan doesn’t hate it – thank goodness and we all rap along. This definitely helps him pick it up quicker!

Ryan makes it home, gosh, around 8:30. I feel like I lose track of time as the night goes on. He helps me with Dan and I get lunches done and dinner for Ryan and I in the nick of time for Grey!!! Great episode. I finally head to bed at 11. Not bad of a night’s sleep. Mya barked once during the night this time but I love the fact that Ryan gets up with her. That helps me a ton!

Just a thought on the economy: It is extremely scary right now!

The Start of PREP

2008-09-25T15:20:00.001-04:00

Well, another year and the start of 4th grade religion education classes. My son was thrilled. Lol.

His teacher seemed very nice and I’m just happy this year that we don’t have to deal with any sacraments. I love them and all but just a lot of work. Dan did tell me though he might want to join the children’s choir. That’s cool.

Dan is just still so excited about his saxophone lessons. He still talks about it. Well, the day arrives tomorrow so I’ll let you know how the weekend practice goes. Hopefully he only learns 1-3 notes. Or maybe just putting the instrument together. Who knows!

Our Night Off

2008-09-24T10:26:00.002-04:00

Dan and I look forward to these nights because they are rare and we love to not have to run anywhere. It didn’t start out too good at first though when Dan missed the bus for the second time this year. He truly is my procrastinator. As I taking him to school to drop him off, he loves telling me how it wasn’t his fault. Nothing is ever his fault too.

I pick him up after school – he says school was good and is still excited for sax lessons on Friday. I was pretty impressed of how excited he still is and I hope it sticks. He does homework, I cook dinner, we eat, I clean-up and check his homework. We then venture outside (beautiful night) to go for a walk and head over to a neighbor’s house. My neighbor lives in the next development behind us and she’s also got a black lab, Chelsea. I love going over there to let the dogs play and get energy out. Mya can be overpowering sometimes though. Chelsea just loves to lick you to death and Mya gets too hardcore bite playing. I think that scares Chelsea.

So, Dan gets on his bike, picks up some friends and we head over. I meet another one of her neighbors who is super sweet as well. I was informed that her ex was coming over to hang out with the kids. Ok, sounds good. Dan plays for awhile, I chit-chat and before we know it, it’s 7:30 and dark now. We are also going to try and plan a girls night out for dinner and drinks soon. Urgh, how I hate winter and it seems to be approaching fast. I have to get my winter clothes out soon.

Dan, Mya and I get home safe and sound. Dan reads for 15 minutes as I make lunches. Ryan ventures home around 9:30ish and we watch some TV and we go to bed. Oh and House was brand new last night. I used to love House but I wasn’t too into it last night.

I’ve also been fixated to Ebay. I’ve won quite a few things for Christmas already so I’m very excited about that. I also have been eyeing something that I so very much want but I can't get yet. Hopefully in a few months!

Pretty exciting night, huh? I love these nights though. I always have much to do but at least I can be a little more relaxed getting things done instead of rushing around.

Another Monday

2008-09-23T15:27:00.002-04:00

I am unsuccessful in getting up early to workout as I have a pounding headache and have to lay back down for 45 minutes. I started working out again and was doing great but then I think I ran too much becuase I have knee pain so I've stopped really - my plan is start with the yoga ball.

So, Dan is on his way to school and I'm on my way to work. After work and I pick up Dan from school, we go through homework. I get a call from Ryan letting me know he's out early - music to my ears! He comes home before we have to leave for practice and Ryan opted to stay home and exercise the dog so she's tired for class tonight. I head out the door to take Dan to soccer. I like going there - it's a good gab fest with some friends.

I have some conversations with a mom whose son goes to another school. She tells me what he is learning and I just can't understand why my son's school is so far behind in things! It's very frustrating.

Anyway, my son had fun and did great at practice. We run from there to pick up Ryan and Mya and head to dog school. There is another black lab that goes there - same age and all - and I like it when they play at the end of class. Last night's lesson was having your dog sit when you stopped walking. Mya did pretty well. We also practiced having our dogs sit when we call "come" and when they get to you, they are supposed to sit. Again, something I've been practicing with Mya so she did pretty good. I'm starting to like going to these classes though. They are informative. Nothing beats the Dog Whisperer though. :)

So, What is it Like?

2008-09-23T10:49:00.006-04:00

I guess I should go into description of exactly what my life is like.

Being a (Sports) Mom:
It's thrilling! Our son, Danial is 9. He is involved in sports on so many levels. This includes: Soccer, roller hockey, soccer, baseball and soccer. Everything else is in between: bike riding, tennis, swimming, etc. He loves to play. He's good too. This can get hectic at times but it's well worth it. Plus, I only have one child now so it makes life a little easier. As of now, we have soccer practice on Mondays, then take Mya to class; home by 9:15. Tuesday nights are our off night! Wednesday night is PREP class, Thursday nights is soccer practice, Friday night is hockey and Sat. and Sun. are soccer games (CYO and League). We'll add basketball to the mix in a few months. My bump in the road right now is always figuring out times to exercise Mya. It's tough but we manage.

Dan also is great in school. He does get all his homework done before practices. He also just scored Advanced in math in the PSSA testing he took in 3rd grade. Nice!!

In between running Dan around, I manage most times to keep the house clean, pay the bills, run the errands, food shop and whatever else needs to get done. On most months, I am a one man team. (explained below). How ironic...there is no "I" in team. That saying is embedded in our family! I should say, I get help from Ryan when he can and I also get help from my parents. So, in a way, we're still a team but with the bumps of course - who doesn't have 'em?

Being a Football Coach's Wife:
This is truly hard to describe. When I met Ryan, he was an elementary gym teacher. After doing that for a year, he proceeds to tell me he wants to get back into coaching football. He just was happiest on the field. I just thought that was so exciting. He does, however, explain to me how rough it will be with him never around and I told him that I’m pretty strong and can handle it. Little did I know! :)

So, Ryan starts at Gettysburg for a year, goes to Villanova for two years and is now currently at Temple. It’s been incredibly rough adjusting to this life. Coaches cannot take off unless it’s really really important, don’t take sick days, don’t go to events (even weddings) during football season especially. Only sometimes during the year can they attend events if time allows (we still have recruiting, spring bowl and camps to get through). He (they) work non-stop. They will sleep overnight at the office, come home at 1, 2 or 3 am and just to be back at work at 6. I know, I feel bad that it’s hard but he really enjoys it – I guess you have to.

On the flip side, I am by myself most of the time. It took a LOOONG time to get to where I am now of accepting him not really being around. It has made me incredibly strong and independent. It can only get better. I am finally enjoying the “thrill” of games. Dan’s games this season are at 9 which makes it perfect for me to then go to the Linc and watch Temple! Very exciting.

Anyway, I’ve also noticed after getting through the first year of a new place, it gets easier. He is around more now (Monday nights he comes home early which is perfect for my crazy Mondays).

We get lots of perks as well. Dan and I have travelled to a few stadiums. We experienced Army and PSU (could reach out and touch Joe Pa!!!) this year – loved it!! I get to go to Miami, OH for the wives trip. We also get some gear associated with the school.

Ryan is around when he can be and is here for us. Dan is in heaven! He loves going to practices and talking to the players all the time. The players even ask how he is which is really neat.

Ryan and I got married July of 2007. We definitely had a rough first year. It has slowly gotten better and of course, a lot has to do with not seeing each other. Something we have to get used to.

Oh my perks is that Ryan is a very easy going guy and since he’s rarely home, I basically call the shots! I don’t really ask him things as to what he prefers or anything. I could probably pick our house out without his approval. He trusts me and he tells me as long as I’m happy. I ask him things sometimes but I like that perk as well. :)

In addition

2008-09-22T14:58:00.003-04:00

In addition to our family, we have a black lab, Mya. We got her in February and she is already 9 months! They grow fast. However, I am excited for the day she calms down - they say 3? She's a good dog but she has her moments. We love her to death though! She is already an Eagles fan for sure.

Entering the blogging world...

2008-09-22T13:12:00.001-04:00

Well, here it is. I've finally entered the blogging world. I used to consider myself on top of things in the technology world but find myself learning these things a step behind others nowadays. I guess I better start catching up a little quicker to stay ahead of my so fast ever growing 9 year old son!

Let's see...this is about my life as a mom with a son active in 5 sports and I am also a football coach's wife. It's a very interesting life......