Day 120

Day 120, 20 being the key number. About a month or so ago, something sparked a change in me and I have not looked back. I have been working really hard this time and I have finally reached 20 lbs. I am extremely happy about this. I have started and stopped working out and dieting for a long time. No more. I am on a mission :) I feel so much better about myself. I like hearing from others they notice a change. Its a great motivator. I still have work to do, but I know I will accomplish what I set out to do this time!
Dominic took over my computer tonight. I told him he could not go see Vanessa because he has not taken the whole scholarship stuff serious. We are a little short when it comes to financing his college education and he needs to step up a little and help. So he sat at my computer for hrs and filled out at least 10 scholarships. Now if he had been doing one a day all yr he would not have had to do this. Tomorrow he will officially sign to a school.
Happy Birthday Genica :)

Day 119

Can I just state for the record again that I am sick and tired of these darn winds. I was cooking a turkey today when I saw my lounge chair fly into the pool. Not only was that one in there but 4 other chairs. I asked Christopher to go get it and he said no way too cold and windy. So needless to say I jumped in the pool and had to go to the deep end to get the darn lounge chair out plus the other stuff. Water temp is 55 and with the winds blowing over 40+mph I was frozen. It felt like my skin was burning. Anyway Christopher being the good kid I've raised him to be, snapped away with my camera. LOL
Then its time for our last meet, The frosh/soph championships. Our girls team took 1st. and or Boys team came in second. Brandon did not qualify for regionals :( bummer. hopefully next yr he will be better.
Now I thought I was feeling better, but I had not put anything in my stomach all day. Then I ate some chicken and had a starbucks coffee. Wrong thing to do :( now sick all over again and I made a delicious turkey for dinner and couldn't have any :( They better have saved me some.

Day 118

Went running this morning and I thought I had over done it because I started throwing up while running. Well I stopped and walked home and still continued. Been sick all day. I did feel well enough to go get my hair highlighted, but once I got home felt like a truck had hit me. Hope im not getting the flu. I was told I could be dehydrated. went to visit my mom because I didn't get a chance to yesterday. No I did not get close to her. got sick there too. :( Now im off to bed. But not before telling you that Brandon received the Scholar Athlete award. this yr they decided to forgo the award ceremony and give the kids a nice lunch from Canes. I would have loved an awards ceremony, but oh well.

Day 117

Before 2008


After




Austin got his braces off today. He was so excited. He could not stop licking his teeth. lol
Today was also our last home meet of the season. We killed the competition. Friday Is the Frosh/soph championship meet and will be Austin and Brandon's last meet unless the qualify for regionals which are next week. Dominic has already qualified in most of his events. It was also Senior night. I had a local florist shop donate some flowers so the parents could give them out to their kids. Each kid's name was announced and they came to the center of the track and the parents met them with the flower. Some of the kids parents could not be there so I stood in as team "mom" for them. I just love those kids so much. What am I going to do next yr when they are gone. I guess I will have to adopt the next group. LOL

Day 116

Today was a great day. I got to talk/see some very dear friends of mine. I miss hanging out with Joy and Danielle. I love these girls so much. I went to my old school and had lunch with Joy and then hung out for about an hour with Danielle. It has been much too long since I've done that. I promise I won't let time go by so long before our next visit.
I also went to the hospital to see my mom. They moved her while I was there to IMC: Intermediate medical care. She is still very week. I had to feed her her dinner again. She is refusing to go to pulmonary rehab. I hope she changes her mind. She is going to need it when she is released from the hospital.

Day 115

First I want to wish my favorite Sister in Law a very Happy Birthday. Love you Sonia. Not much going on today. The kids went back to school today. Sad spring break is over. I just hung out. Took the boys to see my mom. She looks so much better than yesterday. She's not going to be happy that I posted this picture. But its whats going on in my life right now.

Day 131

What a great day today was. I got up worked out. Not good to run to Boys II Men when you got lots on your mind. Anyway, Dominic was supposed to turn in all his scholarship papers for the Senior awards night a couple of weeks ago. I kept reminding him to do this, but he just kept forgetting. I had to drive the stuff up to the school and walk with him to make sure he did it. Unfortunately it was too late to be added to the brochure for the awards night, but it will be for graduation. While there, Jayson showed up and they started sharing some love between them. So here is my "crispy and spicy" boys showing love. Don't ask about the names long story. After I went to lunch with Carol, who I have missed terribly. It seems like forever since her and I hung out. Of course our lunch was 3 hrs. When isn't it. So much to catch up on. After that it was margaritas/dinner with Glenda. another couple of hrs of fun.

Day 114 Happy Easter

Hoping you all had a wonderful and Blessed Easter. We all got up and went to church. Then we headed over to the Pursels house for a delicious brunch. Glenda made a yummy quiche and mexican breakfast casserole. Boys want me to make the quiche. So I better get the recipe. I left the boys there to color eggs and have a egg hunt while I went to see my mom. This is the first yr ever that I did not do eggs and a hunt for my kids. Im kind of sad.:( They finally got her off the ventilator. :) She looked a whole lot better than she did the other day we saw her. She's still really sick, and will probably be in the hospital for about 2 weeks. Stayed for a bit, picked up the boys and headed home so I could cook our dinner. We had honey baked ham, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. I thought my brother was going to come over, but he never showed up. Oh well more left overs for us. Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers. It means alot to me/us!

Day 113

Today was a really pretty day out, so we all decided to go walking/running. I guess I am motivating Christopher to get into shape. Im down 17 now. He's so funny. He complains so much. But I guess I was like that too when I first started. We did 3.2 miles today. He acts like he doesn't like it when I tell him daily, hey look my clothes are fitting looser, but I know he's pretty proud of me. I hope he continues to work out with me. His brothers are very supportive of him too. I was being goofy after, trying to do the Usain Bolt pose. I could not get it right. The kids thought I was pretty funny.

Update on Mom: they tried to take her off the ventilator today, but she wasn't ready. They will try again tomorrow.

Day 112

Went to the hospital today and they finally moved my mom up the the ICU. One bed came open while we were there and the nurse who was taking care of her jumped on it. While we waited for them to get her ready to go upstairs they turned the propofol off just enough so that she was in a twilight state. She could hear us, but the nurse said she probably won't remember. She is restrained at the moment to keep her from pulling the tube out of her mouth and causing any damage. I asked her if she wanted us to bring her Easter dinner, she shook her head no, same thing to soup, candy etc. But when I asked her if she wanted me to bring her a cigarette she shook her head yes. Can you believe that? She is in there because of those darn cigarettes. It makes me so mad that she has done this to herself. My kids don't need to see that, well maybe they do so they NEVER EVER pick up a cigarette. Sorry to those of you who smoke, but I HATE IT! Its not a pretty way to die. And yes she is going to die a terrible death. (VENTING HERE SORRY)! I was going to post a picture of her, but I will go with the Mercy Air Helicopter that was landing when we got there bringing in a patient to the ER. It was pretty cool to watch.

Day 111 part 2

Update on my mom. She is still heavily sedated and will be for probably 2 days or more. She is on a ventilator to help her breath. Still in the ER because the hospital does not have any rooms available in the ICU. She has pneumonia and went in with respiratory failure. I asked if I should come down and the nurse said no since she would not even know I was there. I had promised the kids I would take them Ice Skating so I did. No sense in just sitting around thinking about things and then crying all over again. This is all so hard for me since me and my mom don't have the best of relationships anymore. I wish I could go back a few yrs when she actually still liked me, but that's just not going to happen. I just don't want anything to happen to her before we can figure this all out. Thank you to all my friends who have helped me get thru this day and most of my days. Hugs to you. I love you guys!
Anyway, we had a great time skating. I have not ice skated for many many yrs. I can tell I used muscles I didn't even know I had. Seems like I've been doing that a lot lately. LOL I only fell 1 time. Not bad. We skated for over 3 hrs. now its time to relax and watch a movie. I think we will watch the original Arthur.

Day 111

Can things around here get any worse? At 5:30 this morning I kept hearing doors opening and closing. I knew no one was up because we are on break and the kids don't have to go to practice until 8:00. I ran down the stairs to see what was going on and there were the paramedics in the downstairs living room. I guess at some point my mom called them to come get her. Well then she decides she doesn't want to go to the hospital. She is very stubborn like that. After talking to her doctor, she agreed to go to Valley. Bandit knew something was up because all he did was lay at the front door. He normally darts out as fast as he can. I will update as the day goes on.

Day 110

Another one of those days that I had things to do, but had something heavy on my heart/mind that I didn't get much done. I did get Brandon's retainer picked up. He somehow broke his first one and we had yet to pick up the replacement until now. I also took them to lunch at the Olive Garden so we could just get out of the house. It is spring break after all. I hope to be taking them ice skating tomorrow with Brandon's friend Genica.
Our worst fears lay in anticipation. ~ Don Draper MadMen

Day 109

Today was a pretty nice day outside, so I put my swim suit on and layed out by the pool. Tomorrow is supposed to be windy again, and it sucks. I am so tired of the wind. Its seems to be more than normal around here. Anyway since it was so nice I decided I would bbq some Rib eyes for dinner. we had those with baked potatoes and one of my favorite salads. Broccoli strawberry salad. Its so yummy! Oh in the mean time the boys thought it would be fun to duck tape Brandon and lock him in the closet and see how long it took him to get out. I only got them dragging him down the stair. They had to carry him back up the stairs because the downstairs closet was full. LOL So they ended up putting him in Christopher's closet. I don't even know how long it took him to get out.

Day 108

A whole lot of nothing going on here since I got home at 2:30 AM. Got up early (7AM) to get kids to track practice. You would think the coaches would give the kids a break during Spring break, but NO! I went and worked out and glad I did. I am super sore from climbing the mountain yesterday. I can barely walk. Boys went to the drs again and they have Bronchitis and will be on more antibiotics and anti inflamitory steriods for a week. I really hopes this works. Regionals and State are coming up. I(we) need them healthy. Its been too long. in the mean time they need to take this to help stop the coughing.

Day 107

Sorry Picture heavy!


















Today is a free day. We all stayed an extra day while the rest of the team went home last night. We planned on hiking up to the sign since the last time we had so much fun and this time we wanted the kids to experience it. Too bad Brandon and Austin aren't here to enjoy it. Maybe some other time. Got everyone up, dressed, fed and ready to go by 9. Pretty good when you have 12 people to coordinate. Got on the road and headed to Hollywood. Glenda who had fallen down some stairs in her house on Thursday was too sore to be able to hike up, so we called up to the top and had Officer Ruiz come down and pick her up and take her up and wait for us. Guess this isn't a permanent postition for anyone. They rotate all the time. I wish she could have done it with us, but it just wasn't going to happen. So we are walking the path and last time I did this I was winded by the first hill. I guess these workouts are paying off. I was able to run up the first hill and continue on without really stopping. We got to a part in the path where we saw this trail going straight up the mtn. The boys said they were going to climb it and we could meet them when we got up there. We watched them do it, the twins and I and after they made it decided we would do it too. The boys kept saying don't do it because the dirt is very loose and it was a difficult climb. Now that to me is a challenge. Me, Vanessa and Megan started up the mtn. They weren't kidding. for every step up you would slide back down 4-5. I have not used that many muscles in a very long time. I was crawling on hands and knees just to make it to the top. But I can Proudly say that the 3 of us made it to the top. Dirty and all. Im also very proud of Jayson for doing it since he's afraid of heights. Once we reached the sign and the actual top of the path we took pictures and just hung out for a bit. we had planned on doing a picnic up there, but it only took me half the time to get up this time. :) I can totally tell im getting more fit! Jogged back down part of the way then walked the rest. Glenda was driven back to her car and she left to get gas. guess who had my car keys, yep Glenda. I had to wait until she brought them back up to us. After that we went got cleaned up, purchase our winning Lottery tickets(crossing fingers) and headed off to Olvera Street in Los Angeles. Its a really cool part of town where there are a lot of vendors who sell nic nacs and lots of good food and entertainment. If you are ever in that area you should go. Its across the street from Union Station. I had the Best time there. The kids seemed to really like it too. I use to go there a lot when I lived in Cali. Once we were done we walked back to our cars and Paula suggested we go to the beach. You think im going to say no to that. Oh HECK NO! off we went. I was asking this motorcycle cop for the right freeway # when he flashed his lights and told me to pull over so he could talk to us. Glenda thinking I was getting pulled over for nothing took off and went to Union Station. I can honestly say that I did nothing wrong this time and was only getting directions. LOL By doing this we got seperated getting on the freeway. I have to give her credit she was able to work her way up to us. She's learning to drive like me from the Master! lol Got to the beach and the kids goofed around for a bit and I took some pics and then layed down hoping to get a little nap in since I knew it was going to be a late night drive. We still had to stop at the spaghetti factory for dinner. lol Had dinner and then drove home. We got home around 2:30 because I had to drop everyone off. Today was the PerfEcT way to end a GREAT weekend!