Thanksgiving 2009

I went to visit my sister and brother-in-law for Thanksgiving. They live in Burbank, CA. On the plane to LA, I enjoyed the lady I sat next to! Her husband and daughter (just turned 3) were in front of us and her son (1) was beside her. They were perfect!

When I got to LA, Kris and Mikiel picked me up. We drove through Hollywood to get home. I saw the HOLLYWOOD sign and some other landmarks. We stopped by the grocery store so I could stick to my diet. I was VERY scared about gaining weight this week! I actually ended up losing weight!

That night, we went to The Avalon for a concert. It was a benefit concert, check out the Pablove Foundation. I was so tired! I got up at 1:30 am (their time) and the concert ended around 10:30 pm!
The next day, I went to the singles ward in Glendale. I miss the singles ward! They have 260 YSA in the ward... I have about 15! On my way home, I got a flat tire. I was thankful it didn't happen on the highway. I was sitting at a light on the overpass and when I went to turn, I realized the tire was flat. I pulled into McDonalds and called my sister and then AAA. I will always be a member of AAA! Kris and Mike were there in a couple of minutes, their place is only a mile away. I told AAA, I think the donut is flat... Mikiel and Kris thought otherwise. Mike changed the tire but I was right. We waited, not even 30 minutes, for AAA to put air in the tire.

Monday, we had another concert. This one was at, I think, El Rey Theatre. Mike owns LA Music Blog and my sister writes/edits for it. You should check out the website! Anyways, the band was electronica and not something any of us would usually listen to. The first band, which we did not go to see, was terrible! 
Wednesday, we went to The Jay Leno Show. On Monday, I sent a email trying to get tickets. Just a couple hours later, I got a confirmation! I really wasn't expecting to get tickets! We sat in the second row and got to go up to high five Jay. I actually got a high five! My hand was sandwiched between his and the tall guy behind me. Jay handed out the leftover In and Out burgers. He passed the tray along to my section and when I got it, there were about 5 burgers left. In the matter of seconds, I had hands flying at me in all directions! I ducked and raised the tray! I'm pretty sure, because of that I got a soft baseball that says TheJayLenoShow.
Thursday was Thanksgiving!! :) Thanksgiving is my sisters favorite holiday and I think she convinced me, so it's mine too! Her co-workers decided to have Thanksgiving at the studio. We made a ton of food! Wednesday night, we made banana bread and started 2 broccoli casseroles (I will add this recipe to my other blog). Thursday morning, we made a ham, 4 lbs of mashed potatoes, 3 things of stuffing, 2 things of scalloped potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, apple cobbler and 2 types of gravy. We also cooked the mini wrapped beef and chicken appetizers that the men wanted.... We only had 1 oven and everything was still pretty toasty when we got to the studio! Kristin didn't realize how much stuff the other people would also bring! There was a TON of food! Did I mention 3 turkeys?!

I really enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with my sisters co-workers.
Friday, I had to fly back to NJ... hopefully the next time I go to CA I will be moving there!
On the way home, I looked out my window and the pilot was talking to a mechanic. Never good, right?! They had to change a tire! I'm glad they noticed before we took off!

I did have the row to myself!

Flat Stanley

At the book fair, Joshua got the book "Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures". You can check out the Flat Stanley Project at: www.flatstanleyproject.com. In the original book by Jeff Brown, Stanley Lambchop is squashed flat by a falling bulletin board. One of the advantages to being flat is that his parents can put him in a large envelope and mail him for a visit to his friends in California.

I think this is so fun! In 4th grade, Mr. Susich had us mail letters to two 4th grade classes in other states. I sent mine to Little Rock, Arkansas and Ashtabula, Ohio. (In High School, I went to school with kids who sent me letters!) I really liked that project and Flat Stanley is even better! 

So, Joshua wanted to send Stanley to visit my mother in, as Josh would say, the "Neverlands". Before leaving, Stanley wanted to play with Chance! He has made it to the Netherlands and you can follow his adventures at Stanley's blog.

When Josh and his siblings came home from school, they read the blog post. They were all excited and Ethan asked if he could send one to my sister. I told him I would ask her. So, I sent a text to my sister, Kristin, and her husband, Mikiel. I figured, Mikiel would spend a lot more time with Stanley and I had a better chance of getting a yes from him! They agreed to let Stanley visit!

This morning, Ethan and I prepared Stanley for his trip to California.

Unfortunately, Ethan left him laying on the couch and Chance wanted to play!

So, we prepared a new Stanley to visit Kristin and Mikiel. He's a lot more adventurous!

You can also follow Ethan's Stanley at his blog.

If you, or your kids, would enjoy Stanley, let me know! :) It may be a while until he makes it to your house... but he LOVES adventures and wants to visit!

Contacts

Today, I went to get contacts. Once upon a time, I owned contacts but did not have luck with getting them in and out. It's kind of necessary to be able to get them out! I would just rub my eyes until they eventually fell out! Yeah, not good!

So, I decided that it's been long enough and I will try again! Practice makes perfect, right?! When I got there, the Dr wasn't even there yet! Then, 6 minutes into it he asked how often I wear my glasses. Ok, I wear there 95% more in NJ than I ever have! I hit a log while driving... it was dark out! I thought it might be a good idea to start wearing them while driving! I had no idea he would be able to tell that I don't wear them! He said something about not making my eyes make an effort to see far... I don't know. Then, he told me I need to just chill! WHAT?!? Yes, I may have a small issue of always wanting to be right. Thats not good when you can't tell what the right letter/number is! Then, he asked me to make "OK" signs with my hands and put the circles together and look through it at the wall. One hole, two eyes, the equation just doesn't come out for me! So, I asked, "Where should I put the circle?" Now, I'm thinking too much. He asked if I was an engineer of some sort. Nope, just a nanny! At one point, he compared me to his 16 year old son! I'm not sure how it related to anything but his son doesn't study all year and come finals he freaks out.... Ok.  Now its time for the hard part, putting them in! He put them in for me. It was a little rough. We tested them and had to lower the left eye's prescription. Now, it's my turn to take them out! Not so easy but not as hard as putting them in! After a few minutes of trying to put the left one in, he said, "You're supposed to do this twice." He was done after the first time!

I got them out with no problem tonight... We'll see how putting them in tomorrow goes! Fingers crossed for me!
Update- Putting them in was still hard! The left eye took 5-10 minutes! Yes, closer to 10 minutes..... The right eye took 3!

JUNK, JUNK and more JUNK!

I should be at the gym....

Because I am on a healthy habit challenge, I often tell people, we have any junk food you could possibly want! I don't think they believe me. Today, I was cleaning out the candy cupboard to make room for the Halloween candy and decided to let everyone SEE how much junk there actually is in this house! I should've taken a picture of the freezers! (I cleaned out the kitchen freezer today.) There are 9 different types of ice cream! Yes, 9! 10 boxes of popsicles. I also threw out several boxes of old popsicles. There are 2 types of Italian Ice. 2 tubs of Cool Whip. I would include their dinner items in the junk category also! Boxes of pancakes, mini pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, cinnamon french toast sticks, muffin tops, egos... I could keep going but you get the point! Don't forget about the baking cupboard, mini candy bars on the shelf in the garage and the huge candy bowl that I didn't take pictures of!

As you can see, there are a lot of sweets! There are bags and boxes of candy on the shelves that you can't tell what they are. Then, the counter is filled with any candy you could really want...

This is the "bread" basket that consists of 3 large bags of chips, brownies, banana bread, maple syrup bagel holes, bagels, donut holes, mallomars, stuff that I can't see or think of but is JUNK! I also made M&M cookies this morning that are now added to this basket and the freezer. (I made them to use the kid's Halloween candy and knew that I could freeze them for later.)

This is the pantry closet that has all of the crackers, syrups, pudding, jello, popcorn, nuts, a HUGE bag of Dum Dums, marshmallows...

Here is the other "pantry" that has so much stuff you can't even see it all! Pick a cereal... I'm sure it's there! Some things you can see and can not see are peanut butter crackers, cheese crackers, big bags of chips, little bags of chips, pretzels, muffins, brownies, cupcakes, coffee cakes, zebra cakes, mini oreos, regular oreos, oreo sticks, dunkaroos, cheese its, gold fish, donuts, nutter butters (I love these!), a couple types of granola bars, rice krispie treats, pop tarts, pudding, different types of cookies. Again, I could continue but you get the point!

You may ask yourself, is there anything nutritious? Yes, but definitely more junk!

Did I mention that I was doing a healthy habit challenge and can't eat any of this?! I'm glad I haven't had any major cravings! :) I guess it's all will power!

P.S. The kids do not eat this all the time! They get 2 snacks for school and a snack after Shabbat (Friday night).

Week 5

Week 5, WEek 5, WeeK 5, WeEk 5!
Day 29- This week is starting off rough! I did not want to do cardio... I only did 30 minutes after weights. What's up with that?!

✓ - 7 Hours of Sleep

✓ - 35 Minutes of Exercising

✓ - No Junk Food!

✓ - Personal Goal

Day 30- Ummmm, why do I not want to do cardio?! I skipped it all together today... weights were enough. I did make myself laugh as I stretched watching t.v. tonight. 

✓ - 7 Hours of Sleep

✓ - 35 Minutes of Exercising

✓ - No Junk Food!

✓ - Personal Goal

Day 31- It would be better if I actually filled these out the same day... what did I do today? Good question.

✓ - 7 Hours of Sleep

✓ - 35 Minutes of Exercising

✓ - No Junk Food!

✓ - Personal Goal

Day 32- I made banana bread today and it smells delicious! Am I trying to make myself miserable? No... Gabrielle asked for some and I've been in a baking mood! I guess it was good since Ellen ate a loaf (the tiny ones) by herself. I came home from guitar with the kids and she said, "You only make 3 right?!" 

✓ - 7 Hours of Sleep

✓ - 35 Minutes of Exercising

✓ - No Junk Food!

✓ - Personal Goal

Day 33- At 7:00 this morning, I made banana bread. I bought really ripe bananas and was going to make 2 batches yesterday but wanted only tiny loaves... so I had to make it 2 times since there are only 5 small pans. I gave a loaf to the cleaning lady... I really like the one here today... she's Polish, old and cute! She told me she likes my shoesies! (I really like my slippers too!) Ethan wants pumpkin bread... it will have to wait until next week. I really should've been a baker. 

✓ - 7 Hours of Sleep

✓ - 35 Minutes of Exercising

✓ - No Junk Food!

✓ - Personal Goal

Day 34- I went to Boston and got in around 12 but the girl I was staying with told us she was at a party. We didn't get to her house until after 1 and I had to get up at 5:30 to get ready for the YSA Conference about member missionaries with Elder Ballard. I wouldn't be as sad if it was in my control... and if I did it to myself, like sticking a brownie in my mouth! Even thinking about it really upsets me! I guess I can look at it positively, I got to hear Elder Ballard speak,  meet YSA and come up with an idea to help member missionary work! But I still lost a point and can't get it back. :(

X - 7 Hours of Sleep

✓ - 35 Minutes of Exercising

✓ - No Junk Food!

✓ - Personal Goal

Day 35- Still sad about the lost point. 

✓ - 7 Hours of Sleep

✓ - 35 Minutes of Exercising

✓ - No Junk Food!

✓ - Personal Goal

Week Total- 27 :(

Total- 139