A WHOLE LOT GOING ON

It has been awhile since I’ve entered the blog world here, again it is not a situation of nothing to say but more an inability to say it coherently.

Since my last post:

• Bella has turned 6!
• The Olympics have come and gone
• We took a family vacation to Tomahawk WI
• I re-connected with a college friend in Stevens Point
• I have had a full check up with a new doctor
• I have gotten new contacts and glasses
• Bella started first grade
• We celebrated our 8Th wedding Anniversary
• We hosted Bella’s birthday party at the Discovery Center Museum
• We made our annual pilgrimage to Ukraine Fest in Chicago

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY





BELLA TURNS 6, I cannot believe how quickly she has grown. She was very excited for her birthday on 8/8/08. I had an eye appointment in the morning and Scott took Bella to McDonalds for Breakfast. It surprised me because while Bella loves both McDonalds and pancakes, Scott hates to go there. From us Bella got the cash register and the mankala game she has been asking for as well as a Barbie Fishing Pole and a bike for her basket. We had lunch at the Olive Garden with Grandma and Carl. Bella then spent time with them while Scott and I went out and bought a new bike rack for the car so we could take our bikes on vacation. Later we ate Chinese food, watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and celebrated with cup cakes.



THE OLYMPICS HAVE COME AND GONE

Last year we never turned the TV on in our cabin but this year we watched Olympic coverage. My family has always been into watching the Olympics. How exciting for Michael Phelps! Scott was quite interested in Basketball where I enjoyed the gymnastics and track events. We taped the closing ceremonies but have not watched them yet.





WE TOOK A FAMILY VACATION TO TOMAHAWK, WI

We spent a week on Swamp Lake with my family: my dad, my brother Mark, my sister Sonya and her kids and my sister Shelly and her kids. We had a great time! biking, swimming, fishing, boating, eating, playing games, sitting around the campfire making smores, visiting the zoo, eating at Paul Bunyan's, Playing Mini golf, visiting the Harley plant, going to the tallest point in Wisconsin, eating ice cream and just relaxing in general



I RE-CONNECTED WITH A COLLEGE FRIEND IN STEVENS POINT

I contacted my friend Joe and told him I was going to be in the area and I would like to get together. We stopped in Stevens Point on our way home from vacation. I had not seen Joe in years. He had not met Scott or Bella. We went to lunch and had a nice visit.




I HAD A FULL CHECK UP WITH A NEW DOCTOR

I really like the doctor I saw at North Pointe. He introduced himself, listened to me and ran some labs. I also had my mammogram that day. He has me on a couple of meds one for acid reflux and an allergy medicine to see if that helps the persistant cough I have. He called me with my lab results the other day but I will save that for a post of its own. We also talked about my weight issue more on that later as well.


I GOT NEW GLASSES AND CONTACTS

I did this because I was having a hard time reading. They did change my prescription but I don't think it is still strong enough. I also got a pair of bifocals to wear in the mornings or at night if needed.





BELLA STARTED FIRST GRADE

Our girl is growing up. She started first grade at Windsor Elementary on August 20Th. We are hoping for a great school year.

WE CELEBRATED OUR 8TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Sorry no picture to share. Bella stayed at the cabins with family while Scott and I went out to dinner at a supper club called Bootleggers. We both had steak, Scott tried a drink called Shark Attack. It was nice to share a meal with just the two of us.

WE HOSTED BELLA'S B-DAY PARTY AT DISCOVERY CENTER

A great chance for her to have some fun with her little friends. It is a great museum and I had no preparations or clean up. Afterwards her friends Katie and Cassie were able to come over to our house to play and have pizza with us. I'll post picture later

WE MADE OUR ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO UKRAINE FEST

We have gone every year since we got Bella. We love to go and see the displays and eat Ukrainian food and best of all we meet up with our friends the Deatleys who also have a daughter adopted from the Boyarka baby house in Ukraine. The girls; Bella and Marina are a few months apart in age and our adoptions were a few months apart. It is great to see them each year and see how the girls have grown and changed. Pictures later.

As I said we have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY.

A WHOLE LOT GOING ON

9 YEARS AGO TODAY

August 7th is "chance day" and 9 years ago today Scott and I met for the first time at the Rotary Gardens in Janesville Wisconsin. I thought it was a nice mid point between Rockford and Dodgeville. We were there for hours just talking and getting to know each other better. still today the Rotary Garden is still one of my favorite places to go.

Scott and I were actually introduced on paper first through a referral from our dating service "The Right One".

The rest of the story as they say is history.

Tommorrow is a big day in our family too, so I will post again.

REJUVENATE

Bell and our new puppy
re·ju·venate (ri jo̵̅o̅′və nāt′) transitive verb -·nat′·ed, -·nat′·ing


to make feel or seem young again; bring back to youthful strength, appearance, etc.
to make seem new or fresh again

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

I will be leaving for vacation on Saturday. I am also off work on Friday to celebrate with our Princess as she turns 6. Friday I will also be going to the eye doctor as I have been having some real vision problems as of late.

We will spend a week staying in cabins in Tomahawk, WI with my two sisters and their families and my brother and my dad. My mom use to come on these vacations but is now on Dialysis 4 times a week and is unable to make the trip. We will sleep in, ride bikes, play in the lake and relax around the camp fire in the evenings. I am hoping to do some scrapbooking as well. While we are on vacation Scott and I will celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary-I hope it is better than last year. I will hopefully have time to rejuvenate my body and my mind. Once we get back I have a counseling appointment and a physical and mammogram scheduled. Hopefully I will have an answer as to why I am so tired all the time. I am a little afraid of what the answer might be but know I must forge ahead. I know in my head and my heart that I would feel better if I could just lose some weight! I seem to be immobilized on this issue right now. Emotionally I am drained. I feel like an utter failure on all levels: as a mom, as a wife, as a housekeeper, as an employee and as a friend. Some recent incidents with friends are really weighting heavy on my heart. My feelings are hurt! I feel friendless! I am unhappy! I really feel that Happiness is our own responsibility. My weight is my own responsibility and life is about choices. It seems that I have inevitable made some poor choices both health wise in the areas of food and exercise and in friends.

The cheeriest thing I have to say is that on vacation we will be near Stevens Point (where I went to college) and I will hopefully hook up with my friend Joe who I have not seen in a long time. It should be fun to catch up.

Once we get back from vacation we will be gearing up for the start of the School year for Bella. I only hope she has the greatest teacher in the whole world!

PUPPY

This past Saturday we added to our family again with the addition of our new puppy. She is a 2 month old miniature schnauzer-salt and pepper in color and her name is Lady. We picked her out from a litter of five. She is very Cute! We keep her in a cage in the upstairs bathroom at night. She follows the cat around thinking Isis is her playmate. Isis is not quite so interested. Isis however can get up the stairs and Lady can't so Isis likes to lay on the landing where she knows the puppy can see her but can't get to her. We are working on house breaking the puppy-it is slow going at this point. She likes to chew on Isis's toys and eat Isis's food. Isis in retaliation will eat Lady's food. They are quite the pair, but seem to be adjusting to each other OK.

We have our last game of T-Ball this Saturday. At times I have regretted coaching this team but at others I am glad I did. It has been difficult at times as I have quite the band of ragga-muffins. Hopefully they have learned some skills, got a taste of what it is like to be a team and had fun.

Joan

THE SCALE

I got on the scale this morning and now I wish I hadn't. I weighed 216 pounds! I am getting closer and closer to being 100 pounds over my ideal weight. I'll admidt that I have not been exercising. I set my alarm to get up and exercise but every morning I shut if off and lay back down in bed. I have also been eating very poorly. Oh I can come up with lots of excuses as to why I don't eat better but in all honestly they are simply that excuses. I know what good foods are: fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meat and low fat dairy. and I do eat a lot of those things but on top of that I have been feeding my chip/fry addiction. I get really upset with myself and that in some ways makes it even worse as I convince myself "Oh what the Hell, you are already fat!", "Have fast food, Have those chips or that ice cream" etc.

I know there is no magic pill but I sure wish there was.

NEW SUIT

Well this past weekend after meeting my sister in brother in Madison for lunch, a tour of Olbrecht and ice cream I went to Shopko to buy Bella some shoes and came home with a new bathing suit for me.

A little history-I have a bathing suit,actually I have 3 and I can still wear them all but they are by no means "NEW" they are all Lands' End suits that I bought when I worked for Lands' End which I have not done since before I got married and I have been married for almost 8 years. While these suits still fit no one and I mean no one would say they look good. A true testiment to the quality of Lands' End suits as they have stretched to accomidate my ever increasing size.

Bella loves the Beach, I love the beach but we seldome go simply because I am protecting the general public from the horror of me in a bathing suit. We will be going on vacation soon, staying at a cabin on a lake so I don't think I want to totally avoid putting on a suit.

The suit I bought was on sale so I bought both pieces for around $25 and yes I said 2 pieces as it is a Tankini. The top is blue floral and the botton solid black with a littel skirt. Definately a modest suit. I like it but not the fact that it is a size larger than any suit I have ever bought in my life. I think this is one of the reasons I put off buying a suit for so long because I was afraid I would have to go up in size. If only I was not undertall and overfed!

By the way I did not get new shoes for Bella as the selection was minimal and Bella was not interested in buying nice practical everyday shoes but tall boots with zippers up the side of sparkaly sandles etc.