So That Was Christmas

Well another Christmas has come and gone. I have to admit, this was probalby my least favorite Christmas yet. Dont get me wrong I enjoyed watching the faces of Tyler and Sarah as they opened all their presents. Debbie enjoyed her gifts as well. I must say I made out like a bandit.

So whats my problem you ask?

Having to leave Debbie and the kids to get to work by 830 for starters. Then having to actualy work while I was there instead of collecting my double time and a half 8 hours for doing nothing. These were petty things. The real truth of the matter was, for 9 hours I was by myself and had a lot fo time to think about things, namely my grandfather passing away and not being here for this Christmas. This was my first Christmas without him. I had 36 with him and this first time without him hurt. Ive been in a funk the last 3 months due to my HRT starting to wear off and now Christmas came and went without grandpa.

Ill be ok. I have some fun things to look foward to in the next week or so. Im traveling to San Diego next Tuesday to meetup with Chris "DuckGeek" Butler from our board to attend the Holiday Bowl as his guest. Theres a possibility that Kristi "kjboston" will come down from Irvine to meet the two of us. Then I come home and attend the Coyotes vs. Avalanche NHL on New Years Eve. The bitchin thing about that is that I got front row, on the glass seats for the game. Way cool! Then after the game itll be off to the Tippery's for their annual NYE block party. I can drink and not worry about driving that night as my dad is loaning us his motorhome and we are going to park it by Doug and Beths house so we can go and crash after the party.

So life isnt so bad, just hit another one of its potholes. Ill pick myself up, dust myself off and press on.

Thanks for reading

RandomCam

Me and My Guy

On Sunday Dec 6th, Sarah and I traveled to Lake Pleasant for a Girl Scout Me and My Guy fishing trip. The activities for the morning lncluded a pancake breakfast, a short hike, arts and crafts and of course fishing. Sarah and I were the first father/daughter combo to arrive dark and early that morning.

The weather that morning wasnt all the pleaseant as it was cold and windy. With that in mind I was beginning to wonder who schedules a fishing trip in December. We started the morning with a turn at the nail art booth were Sarah and I took a piece of square plywood, some nails, hammer and some multicolored twine and made a heart for mommy. After that it was time for some fishing. No luck catching anything but the bottom of the lake and me losing a brand new lure. We then headed to our pancake and hot chocolate breakfast. After that it was bracelt art and the short little hike on a trial just above the shorline. After that we retunred to fishing were our luck hadnt changed but at least this time I didnt lose any tackle.

Kylie, Maya and Sarah

Sarah doing her nail art

The three girls on the hiking trail

After having no luck with fishing, Keith, Kylie's dad, suggested we head to a small municipal park were the fishing was alot better. Pretty much like shooting fish in a barrel. So off we went. I wasnt able to fish at the park as I didnt have an urban fishing license but I had more fun watching Sarah and Kylie fishing. After 30-46 minutes Sarah caught her fish ever fish, a ssmall sunfish/bluegill. Not to long after that we decided to call it a day, headed over to Subway and had lunch.

Sarah fishing at Rio Vista

Sarah and Kylie with the catch of the day






Keith and I cleaning up

The early morning start mustve got to Sarah as she passed out on the way home. I kinda wish she stayed asleep longer. It wasnt 20 minutes after we got home from our very special morning when she crashed on her bike. But thats a story for tomorrow

Surprise Party

Going back in time once again with this blog entry. On Friday the 5th Debbie, Sarah, Tyler, Megan, Ryan and I went to the annual city of Surprise Party at the Surprise Recreation Campus. Its the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony. The party takes place on Friday night and most of the day Saturday.

We went up there around 7 ish to take part of the festivities. Basicaly they have a stage with bnads playing, arts and crafts booths, rides for the kids etc. We justn kinda hung and and waited for the hot air balloons to do their lightup acty and then the actual ligthing of the tree. They did it a little bit different this year. Initialy they didnt have the baloons out. THey just had the baskets of the balloons scattered about and when the lighting of the tree took place, the balloons hit their burners. It was pretty cool looking to see those big ol flames coming out the top with out the balloon.

After a while they started filling up the balloons with air and gave the whole party a unique glow show. There musvte been 12-15 balloons there. It was pretty neat. Definately will go back next year.

Sarah, Debbie, Ryan and Tyler

Dude, your head is on fire! Lol. Kinda interesting how I got this guy directly in between me and the hot air balloon basket as the balloon crew hit the burner.

The official City of Surprise Christmas tree. Probably the most photographed thing in Surprise this time of year.

One of the balloons a glow

A few more of them lit up for everybodies viewing pleasure

Just a little bit of useless trivia for you folks that I learned when we went on our hot air balloon ride. There are two parts to a hot air balloon, the basket and the envelope. The basket is what the pilot and passengers rides in, the envelope is the material in which the hot air fills and allows the balloon to rise. So in actuality the term hot air balloon is the sum of two parts, the basket and the envelope. SO there you go you leanred something new today. That knowledge and 6 bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks =)

So Many Ideas, So Little Time

We've had a lot going on in the last week or so that Id like to share but just havent had the time or the ambition to do so. Ill start off with the hike we took as a family this past Saturday.

Debbie and I have been part of a small group through church for the last two months. We meet with other couples and discuss the book Have A New Kid by Friday. It is written by Dr Kevin Leman. Its a pretty interesting way of changing your childs attitude, behavior and character in 5 days.

During one of the meetings we decided as a group that we would get together and do something as a group with our families. It was decided we would hike a nearby mountain. There were some concerns as a few of us had small children but would were reassured that they would be able to do it wasnt that challenging.

So we show up Saturday afternoon with our two kids and Megan and Ryan ( Deb's sister Heather's kids ) There are like 6-8 couples in the group normaly. Well only 3 of us couples showed up. Heather and Jeff are in the group too but were in Vegas ) Oh well, I guess its not such a big deal, it wont be as crowded on the trail ( as it was there were 16 of us )

I probably shouldve paid more attention to how long it took us to climb up and down but I didnt. We took our Garmin GPS with us as there was a Geocache at the top of the mountian. After much searching by most everybody in the party we never did find the cache. Jason said that when he cant find caches he tells Joe Darago ( our lead pastor ) and Joe usualy finds them. SO it sounds like Joe might be doing some hiking soon =) Never the less a good time was had by all. After we made it back down the mountain we went to a nearbdy park were we had some Gatorade, water and snacks and the kids played on the palayground and a few of us played a real short game of football.

One bit of irony. As Debbie and I got to the top and start looking west from the mountain, we realized this was the same mountain we flew by when we went on our hot air balloon ride a month ago. Whats the odds in that?

On the trail up

About halfway up, looking south towards Peoria

Ryan, Debbie, Sarah, Tyler, Me and Megan at the halfway point

Almost there, looking north towards the next mountian


At the top

A little post hike football in the park

A good time was had by all, nobody fell off the mountain or biffed it down the trail in a major way so life was good. My kids really enjoyed it and I think hiking will be something we will continue to do as a family.

Holiday Meme

I saw this on Kris's blog and decided to play along

If you want to play along, copy the questions onto your blog, post the answers, and leave a comment here so I know to go read yours.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? As bad as I am at wrapping things I prefer wrapping paper, it gives a present a more personal touch

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, real ones die here too fast

3. When do you put up the tree? Usualy the day after Thanksgiving, this year Ill do it over this weekend

4. When do you take the tree down? Day after New Years

5. Do you like eggnog? I dont recall what it even tastes like its been so long

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmm probably my Star Wars Snowspeeder or my Spider-Man action figure

5. Hardest person to buy for? Debbie

6. Easiest person to buy for? Myself ( what? dont tell me you dont buy things for yourself while out shopping =) )

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No, but I plan on buying one this year

8. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail them, kinda goes along with the wrapping paper theory

9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Drawing a blank here.

10. Favorite Christmas Movie? Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

11. When Do You Start Shopping For Christmas? Up until a few years ago, I'd do my shopping ( like most men ) on Christmas Eve. Now its usual the week of Chirstmas

12. Have you Ever Recycled a Christmas present? No

13. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Danish Butter Cookies, Sugar Cookies, Tamales

14. Lights on the tree? Yeppers, our tree is pre-lit with 1,000 clear lights

15. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night, Christmas Sarajevo and Gene Autry's Silver Bells

16. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usualy travel to one of the inlaws houses

17. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yes but only by singing that bit at the beginning of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. ( again, gotta go with Gene Autrys version =) )

18. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel that Sarah made in preschool

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Day.

20. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Christmas decorations and music in the stores before Thanksgiving

21. Favorite ornament theme or color? no theme really, just a mix of old and new

22. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Honey baked ham

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? My two front teeth =)

Whoa Nellie! Were has the year gone?!

I cant believe its December 1st already. Sheesh is seems like the first of the year was just a few days ago. Time to get the Christmas decorations down. Actualy Ill be doing that Thursday and Friday as I have the days off.

I weighed in this morning, boy that wasnt good. I guess Thanksgiving finally caught up with me . I gained from last week. Sucks as on Thursday morning I was down 1.4 lbs from that Monday. Ooops. Im still down but that number is dwindling fast. Need to keep focused.

Thanksgiving

Well another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We went to Debbie's sister Heather's house for dinner. It was quite the crowded house. There was about 20 people there. All in all we had a good time. There were a few firsts that went on that day. I weighed myself first thing Thursday morning before I even ate breakfast and then I weighed myself Friday morning pror to eating anything. I gained exactly 1 lb from the eating I did Thursday. Not sure if thats good or bad as I had never weighed myself like that. THe good thing though was that I was down 1.4 lbs Thursday from were I was Monday. So even with the eating I did Thursday, Im down almost a half lb for the week, woo hoo! The other first that happened was Sarah rode her bike for the first time without training wheels. Being she is 7 we were wondering when she was going to have us take them off. As high up and bent as they were though she basicaly was riding without them, now they are physicaly off the bike. I was proud and a bit apprehensive at the same time. I didnt want any ER visits on Thanksgiving Day.

Numbers, they keep a changing

Well I got on the scale this morning, and for the 3rd week in a row I gained weight. I just cant seem to get a handle on what Im putting in my mouth. Dont get me wrong Im not plopping down on the couch and eating a quart of ice cream. I know my soda consumption is back up to were it doesnt need to be. Along with that comes the Hersey or Snickers bar that gets purchased along with the soda instead of a NutriGrain or Trail Mix bar. Im not sure if its stress or depression eating. I dont feel either stressed or depressed but I cant figure out whats wrong.

Im still 11 lbs down from the beginning of the year but nowere near the 30 lbs I wanted to drop. Maybe that was too lofty or maybe an unrealistic goal for me. Maybe 20 lbs woulda been a better goal. Im not giving up but with Thanksgiving on Thusrday and the holidays coming up it makes it that much harder.

Only time will tell

Alone in the Woods

I borrowed this next entry from the pastor of my church, Joe Darago, from his blog. Thought it was pretty cool

Somebody once told me this story or legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage. I have no idea if it is true, but I like it enough to share it with you.

"A father takes his son into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a man.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm.

The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the ground next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

"We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.

Joe Darago
Lead Pastor

Branden and Tyler

For those of you who dont know Debbie's oldest nephew, Branden, serves our country in the Army and is currently deployed in Iraq. We got word Thursday afternoon that he was wounded by shrapnel from a bomb explosion. He is in a hopsital. Not sure if its a hospital in Iraq or if they flew him back to Germany ( were he is normaly stationed ) Hoping to here an update on him soon.

Tyler was having trouble breathing yesterday when I dropped him off at Amy's in the morning. It got worse as the morning progressed. It got to the point were Debbie called me letting me know I was going to have to take time off of work to take him to urgetn care. She then called me back a few minutes later and let me know that urgent care wouldnt see him I had to take him to the hospital.

So I left work, picked him up and headed to the e.r. It was just a short wait in the lobby and then we went to a room. They proceeded to take his vitals and start him on breathing treatments. He had several of those by the time Debbie got off work and met me at the hospital. It was decided they were going to keep him over nigth for observation and to coninute with his breathing treatments overnight. Debbie txted me this morning to let me know while he was showing signs of improvement, they are going to keep him overnight again.

Thanks for reading and wehn I have more info about Branden, Ill post it.

Up, Up and Away

This past Saturday night Debbie and I went for our first hot air balloon ride. The balloon ride was my birthday present to Debbie. It was quite the experience. We had to be at Deer Valley Airport ( a small city of Phoenix owned airport in the NE valley ) at 3:15 pm. Once we all gathered there ( 10 of us would be going up in the same balloon ) we piled into a 15 passenger van and head for the takeoff sight. After a 15-20 minute drive we arrived at that take off sight along with the 3 other groups who would also be flying in other balloons.

We were introduced to the pilot of the balloon. Mike then went over the basic rules, 1. dont get out and 2. dont get out unless instructed by Mike to do so. We then signed the required wavers and proceeded to hop in the basket and off we went.

Debbie was the first one into the basket

One of the ground crew snapped this of Debbie and I right before we lifted off

Looking into the envelope of the balloon

One of those noisy propane burns giving us lift

Once off the ground it was a nice quiet ride ( well except for when he hit the burners to heat the insed of the balloon ) . Its quite different from an airliner as you really have no sensation of pressure or actualy rising. We went as high as a mile up and it didnt feel any different than when we were 500 feet of the ground. Out of the 10 of us on the ride, 6 were from out of state, we even had a lady fron Calgary, Alberta, Canada with us. Mike proceeded to give us all a little lecture on the sights, the different plants, trees and animals we might see. Being the natives we are, Debbie and I knew most of what Mike was mentioning and were familiar witht he sights but it gave us a unique perspective on our hometown.

Subdivision in Peoria, AZ

Lake Pleasant in the distance

It was a great time. Kinda funny side note. Ive lived in Arizona all my life and the only time I had previously seen Javelina were in teh zoo. As our balloon flight was nearly over we flew over a family of four javelina. Kinda cool even if we did scare the hell out of the little baby javelinas. The balloon ride was just part of the experience. This was a sunset flight. Im pretty biased but IMHO there arent many places that have comparable sunsets to ours.

Self portrait of Debbie and I with the sunset

After we landed ( in the middle of a dry wash ) in the middle of the dessert, the support truck and van were waiting for us. Just when you might think our experience wouldve been over, you were wrong. Waiting for us were two tables with table cloths, fine china and linens, champagne flutes and hour derves. Yes, we cracked open champagne, gave a toast had a drink and sat down to some great food and conversation. It was nice and dark by then but the candlelight allowed us to see. After a while ( and 4 glasses of champagne ) it was time to head back to Deer Valley Airport and call it a night. We definatley had a blast and might someday do another balloon ride.

Captain Mike breaking open the first bottle of bubbly

Our food

Debbie hording the bubbly =)

The end of a wonderful experience fading with the sun

RandomCam

Wow, I went a whole month without a RandomCam entry. I dont know the reason why, but I dont have many pics of Sarah on my phone. Here's one I shot a few weeks ago when we were at Burger King for dinner.

A Historic Election

Well unless you live under a rock, you are well aware that Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States yesterday. Im glad I took the time out of my day yesterday to cast my ballot in this historic election. Only God knows whats going to happen next with thie nation of ours. It will be an interesting time in our lives.

Its A Special Day

Today is November 4th, 2008. Election Day here in the USA. History will be made in one way or another tonight as we will either have our first African-American president or our first female vice president.

But thats not whats special about today.



Today is my grandfather's birthday. Had he not left us earlier this year, we would be celebrating his 84th birthday. Even though he is no longer with us, this date on the calendar will always be special. I love and miss my grandfather. I have many wonderful memories of him that I will always cherish. Im glad he lived long enough to see me grow up, marry and have two wonderful children. Im glad they got to spend time around him. They might not have had the chance to build as many memories with him but they are old enough that they will remember him for years to come.


This is a pic of me, the San Diego Padres Padre and grandpa just after he threw the first pitch of a San Diego Padres vs. Chicago Cubs spring training game in Peoria, AZ a couple of years ago. I entered grandpa in a contest through my work and he was selected to throw out the first pitch. He really loved it and I was glad he was able to do it.

Another one bites the dust

We came home night from small church group to find our parakeet Kylie dead in the bottom of the cage. When our other parakeet died in September the kids didnt see it dead so we just disposed of it and told the kids the bird flew away. There was none of that this time as Tyler heard Debbie tell me the seconnd bird died. So there was no hiding anything this time as the kids both saw the bird dead. Now we are down to just Popcorn, Sarah's hamster. Pretty amazing how a month and a half ago we had 4 pets, now we are down to one, Weve kicked the idea of getting another dog around but havent acted on it. I dont think Im ready for another one just yet. Maybe we can get a turtle =)

A Possible Source of Speechlessness

I mentioned in an entry a couple of days ago that I for once was speechless and wasnt sure of the reason. Deep down I know one of the reasons, I was just denying it or surpressing it as best as I could.

Earlier this year I was diagnosed with Andropause. To keep the definition short and sweet, basicaly my testosterone is on the decline. With the decline in testosterone level comes many different symptoms. Some of those symptoms can be depression, mood swings, non injury aches and pains, loss of sexual desire, fatigue just to name a few. I suffer from several of them. To combat this, I started a hormone replacement therapy in late spring. Basicaly I was given an injection of testosterone in pellet form that slowly over time released into my system and brought my level up higher. Im not sure what the numbers mean but before I started the therapy my level was less than 300. A male my age should be at a minimum of 750. About midway through the summer my level was checked again and I was in the mid 500s. Better but not were it needs to be. With the therapy I have to get injections twice a year. Well I can see that its time as some of my symptoms have come back in full force. I would assume my level has dropped again. Not sure if on this next go around my Dr. will increase the amount of pellets I get or what. I guess its something I need to discuss with him.

Needless to say I know I need to do something. Its not such a great feeling when your wife tells you, "I wish you'd get your next shot". Heh, easy for her to say. She doesnt have to go in, get a local injection, have an incision made and a small load of pellets ( which I cant feel ) inserted into my upper glute area. Its a bit humbling and painful but in the end its worth it. Its also nice to know theres a reason why for the last year or more I have been moody, depressed and so short tempered at times. Not to mention the aches and pains I was feeling. Some of them were from the low testosterone level. Ive learned a bit of the last 4-6 months about some of this stuff.

If youve made it through all of this entry, thank you. If your still gonna check in back in after finding out a bit more about me than you had planned, awesome. Some of you might have heard a bit about this before on Kick but obviously without as much detail. Thanks for reading and being patient with me

More cowbell and the Transfomer's song

With the amount of time we spend in the car a day ( a minimum of 2 hours ) music is very important to my family. Actualy its always beem important to Debbie but its taking on a new or different meaning for the kids and I. Im resistant to change when it comes to my choice in music so Im pretty much stuck in the 80s with a splash of the 90s and today thrown in. Its not unusual for my kids to sing along to and enjoy Styx, Bon Jovi, Kelly Clarkson, Nickelback etc. Today as a matter of fact Tyler was singing along to Joan Jett and The Blackheart's I Love Rock and Roll.

Lately, once a song is over, Tyler will ask the name of the song and the artist. Sometimes he gives me the reponse of "correct Daddy" or there are times when we get to Amy's house ( T's baby sitter ) he will inform her of what he was listening to.

On our way to T-ball practice we were listening to Blue Oyster Cult's Dont Fear The Reaper. I guess I never really paid attention to how much cowbell is played in that song. I mean ive always heard the joke about "more cowbell" but never paid it much attention. The sound of the cowbell brought me back to near the finish line in Philly when Lori was banging away on Colleen's cowbell at last years Marathon/Half Marathon. Hard to believe its been a year since I was back there and saw all those people.

The next song that was played was Linkin Park's "What Ive Done" Good song as most are from Linkin Park. When the song was over Tyler asked me, daddy what was that song. When I told him he told me "no, thats the Transformers song. At first I was a bit puzzled and then I remembered he had seen the Transformer's movie at Amy's house and it mustve been in the movie. Sure enough after some Google searching I found the soundtrack and the songs and artists and there it was. Smart little shit =)

Well this entry was a much better one compared to yesterdays. Guess I just needed more cowbell =+D

Wow, for once im speechless

I dont have alot to say lately. Not sure why that is. I noticed I havent written an entry in a week or more. I could talk about my stupid human trick but nah, thats old news already. I could talk about my weight loss. I am back down below 190 again. I dropped 2 lbs since a week ago Monday. Just dont have much to say. Hopefully that changes soon

T Minus 2 months and counting

Well I jumped on the scale Saturday morning as it was the 18th and two months till my birthday. I had lost .6 from when I was on the scale Monday. Its a step in the right direction.

At this point I am 15 lbs from my goal. That means I have to lose 7.5 lbs a month in the next two months. This is were my half empty nature gets going. Im trying to remain positive but its getting harder. In the grand scheme of things, even if I dont make my goal, I wont consider this journey a failure. Since the 1st of the year Ive lost 14 lbs ( had dopped 18 at one point but hit a rough spell ) Ive dropped at least two inches in my waist and ive had people actualy comment on my weight loss. All good things. So even if I dont make the goal of losing 30 lbs, there are still plenty of positives to outweigh the one negative.

Dont get me wrong, im not throwing in the towel. Im going to continue the fight. Ive still got pounds to lose and time to do it =)

I need to quit betting beers =)

Im not much of a betting man usualy but yesterday I entered into a little wager with Kris. Her Cleveland Browns were playing my New York Giants on Monday night football. I shot her a txt msg yesterday afternoon and asked it she wanted to bet a beer on the outcome of the game payable at the next 30s meetup we are at together. She said sure and that she'd pick out a good beer for me when It came time to collect. I thought to myself, the Browns just might beat the GIants as they dont have anything to lose going into the game. Well sure enough the Browns kicked the crap out of the Giants. I will happily pay up my debt when I see Kris sometime next year.

This is the second time in a year ive lost a beer involving beer. I bet Bob Wilber, who is my favorite FunnyCar driver Del Worsham's team manager, a beer on the outcome of a Minnesota WIld vs. Phoenix Coyotes NHL hockey game last season. I lost that one too. Ill be paying up on that beer next month in Pomona, CA at the NHRA Finals.

It would be easier to bet money =) I do better at that

Another Saturday, another Tyler T-ball game

This week's game was a little different in that head coach Brenda wasnt there. She was partying in Rocky Point Mexico for her birthday. So two other dads and myself took to running the team. It was fun. As Debbie said in her blog recently we will probalby be spending alot of time at baseball fields with Tyler. I think he'd play everyday if given the chance.

Whats amazing to me is, when it comes to baseball personaly, I can take it or leave it. I only played one season of Little League growing up and I hated it. Tyler seems to have a gift for it. He can hit the ball pretty well, has a strong throwing arm ( and he's a lefty ) and fields the ball pretty well. And he's 4! Who knows with him.

Speaking of sports and ones I do like. I might go play open hockey at the inline rink I used to play at. Its been over a year since I played last. If my back is up to it, I may just go lace up the skates, put the pads on and see how it goes. We shall see.

I told Deb the other day that I may sign up for a league here shortly. Guess it all depends on how the open hockey sessions go.

Thanks for reading!

San Antonio, TX

Have never been to San Antonio but I hear its a great city. Being I'm an American history buff, Id love to visit the city especialy to see the Alamo and to take a cruise down the river walk. I apparently have a reader of my blog from the San Antonion area but yet I dont know anybody that lives in San Antonio. Vedy, vedy interesting.. ;) Would be interesting to know who my mystery reader is.

Positives and Negatives with my weight loss

Ok, so I got on the scale on Monday. I definately didnt like what I saw. I could very easily blame my shitty ( yes I skipped bad and poor ) eating and drinking choices on being depressed over the loss of Shiver the week before. No, thats not fair to my dog, I was just an idiot last week. Why am I so harsh on myself, I gained 3 lbs in a week's time. Ugh.

I know my good friend Kris will say it was just one moment in time and it will pass. This I know, Im just mad at myself.

Moving on to better things. I got paid a compliment today. While I was at the Peoria central office today, an equipment installer that I havent seen in more than a year noticed I had lost weight. He struck up a brief conversation asking me what I was doing differently, was I exercising, etc. I just told him I was trying to make better choice in what I was cramming in my pie hole and yes, I was exercising more. He told me he had quit smoking but had gained weight once he did. I said yeah, the food actualy tasted good now that you werent smoking, he laughed.

While Im thinking about it, I took a piece of info that Kris shared on Kick about a website she uses through about.com thats a calorie counting website. Just in the two days I have entered my caloric intake I can see why losing weight can be a challenge for me. According to the website, Im supposed to be consuming 2100 calories a day. Yesterday I took in 3200. Today, ill be lucky if I took in 1600. I nneed to get more consistent in my intake.

Thats about it for now. Only about 2 1/4 months to go, wish me luck on my remaining journey.

Coach Frankie Pt 2, or what I did Saturday

Well Tylers first t-ball came and went. It went pretty well. At this age and skill level they dont count wins, losses, runs or anything like that. Its all about learning the game in a non pressure, fun sort of way. I wound up helping out at second base when our kids were in the field and I helped the kids with batting. Each team had two turns batting and two tunrns fielding. The umpire told me after the game was over that before the end of the season the kids will get 3 and 3 as they get a bit faster with things. Im glad my mom, dad and neice Makayla were able to make Tylers game. Here are some pics...

Tyler prior to the game

Taking a swing...

Me keeping an eye on the kids

Tyler and I post game

After lunch, we headed to the Solid Rock indoor rock climbing gym to celebrate nephew Ryans 7 th birthday. We had a pretty good time. Even Tyler got into the rock climbing a bit. He went about 2/3rd the way the wall and then he got a bit scared

All in all a really busy day for us. After the rock gym ( were I saw Kris's twin =) ) We went back to Deb's sister's house for pizza and birthday cake and ice cream ( and to watch the 'Huskers get the crapped kicked out of them =) )

We had two tired kids on are hands after all that. Gotta love fun time spent with the wife and kids.

This coming weekend wont be quite as much fun, we have another t-ball game and then im cleaning out the garage, its a huge mess.

Thanks for reading!

Coach Frankie?

Before anybody from Kick gets any ideas, Im not taking Trevors place as a running coach. Tyler started t-ball last week. His coach, Brenda, is new to coaching. She let us parents know that we can have 4 coaches on the field during game play to help the kids. She asked if any of us parents would be interested in helping with the kids during practice and during games. Several of us volunteered.

Last night after about 10 minutes of the kids playing catch ( or attempting to, they are 4-6 year olds ) we broke up into 4 smaller groups and each group practiced some thing different for 5-10 minutes. Then we rotated the kids. I got to show the kids how to run the bases. Brenda wants the kids to learn to just touch the inside corner of the bases as they run and what the go ahead and stop signs are. Uh yeah. We practiced it, some kids got it, some kids not so much. I thought Tyler had alot of energy, a few of his teamates have him beat. After the little exercises we then had the kids take turns batting and fielding. Tylers favorite part is batting and he didnt quite get the fact that he had to take turns.

I think its kinda fun being an assistant coach. Debbie has mentioned to me several times in the past about volunteering to coach inline or ice hockey ( as I have so many years of playing it under my decreasing belt ) I havent gotten around to doing that yet but I am enjoying helping with Tylers t-ball thus far. Who knows, maybe in the next season or two Ill step up and be a head coach.

Tyler's first game is Saturday morning. Hopefully Ill have some pictures I can share of it.

Thanks for reading

Weight loss update

Last weigh in for the month of September came and went yesterday. I was glad to have lost 1.2 lbs from last week but upset at myself for being up .4 from the beginning of the month. Definately not the way I was hoping the month would end. I had hoped to be somewere around 182-183 lbs by this time. As it stands im sitting at 187.0. There is a positive side though. At one point this month I was back up to 189.2 so it could always be worse.

I did manage to finish off the month with the trips to the Y at least 3-4 times a week the last two weeks of the month. Im starting to see some results as I have a bit of definition in my arms and my legs. Plus I dont have DOMS after every visit to the gym thankfully.

I have to put some thought into my goals for October and ill be posting those tomorrow

RandomCam

Been a few weeks since we had a RandomCam entry. Took this Saturday morning up at Shadow Rim camp.

Shiver

Our beloved Siberian Husky Shiver, who we adoted at the age of 2, had to be put to sleep tonight. We came home from Tyler's t-ball practice Wednesday night and I immediatley noticed SHiver was noticeably draggin her right rear foot. I no sooner noticed that, and the next thing I know she's crashing into furniture and the walls. Something was definatley wrong. Then she started falling over and when she was donw, couldnt get back up off the ground. She has had slightly similar episodes like this befroe but not quite this bad. We decided to see how she was today before we made a decision. Debbie got home before I did and saw no improvement with her. So she called Shiver's normal vet, they werent able to see her, Shiver's prior vet's office was closed. So once I got home I wound up taking her the Emergency Animal Clinic. There upon carrying her into the waiting room, she was taken back into the exam room. I was watching a bit of Survivor on the tv when I was brought into a separate exam room. Huh? Shortly thereafter Dr Landry came in an gave me the news. Shiver had developed neurological deficits and was having heart issues. There really werent many options. I was told there were no gaurantees and even if Shiver got over the neurological deficits, her suddenly developed heart condition could possibly be the death of her. After calling and talking to Debbie we decided to have Shiver euthanized.



I was with her when she was put to sleep. It was a very peaceful for her but still very very sad. Once again that overly sensitive side came out in me and I cried my eyes out. I know in my heart I made the right decision. Shiver was almost 13 years old, lived a full life and I didnt want to have her suffeirng and/or pass away at home. Been there done that with Nanook, our original husky.



When it rains it pours around this place. While I was at the animal hospital with SHiver, Debbie found one of our parakeets dead in the bottom of the birdcage. Pretty amazing how in the span of a few hours, we lost half of our family pets.



We havent discussed getting another dog. As little as we our home, it doesnt really seem fair to have a dog at this point. But then again Debbie and I have always had dogs in our life so who knows, maybe down the road, we might get another.

Here's a picture of our beloved Shiver from a couple of years ago