Happy Birthday Peewee

Today is Kerry's birthday. It is also the first time we have not been together on this all important day which depresses the crap out of me. I'll be seeing her on Wednesday though. We will celebrate then. Kerry's birthday always has a theme of turkey (or in our case, tofurky) and birthday cake.

I can't believe that all important night was 22 years ago. It seems like just yesterday that I squeezed her out, laid her on my chest and promised her that I would never be one of those horrible moms who constantly told their kids what to do. I was going to let her grow up as a free spirit to make all of her own decisions. LOL What a moron I was. LOL "Clean your room", "Do your homework", "Call me when you get there" LOL LOL I've been telling her what to do for 22 years and I have no intention of stopping now. LOL

Kerry at about 6 months old

Kerry today

Well, after 22 years of telling her what to do she has turned out extremely well. Happy Birthday Peewee. I couldn't be a happier or prouder Mom.

Breakfast Was On Me

So, yesterday morning my friend S called and asked if I wanted to go to the casino. It's really hard for me to say no to this. Yep, I love to gamble. We always say we are going to do something else but we always end up at one of the local casinos. I told her that I had to work in the afternoon but if she wanted to go early I was up and ready to go.

She picked me up and we drove on over to the Seminole Coconut Creek Casino. It is not my favorite casino because they don't have blackjack and it is usually very smoky but they have slots and thats all I need to have a good time.

The Coconut Creek Casino at night

On the way S had the radio on and as we were talking I heard the first few notes of Sargent Pepper that gave me a good vibe. Paul McCartney's voice always makes me feel happy and optimistic. I was singing along and I said to S "this is a good sign". She laughed and we continued on to the parking lot and trolled for a space. Even though it was 8:30 in the morning the lot was crowded and spots were at a premium. We finally found one and went in to start our gambling experience.

We sat down at the machines and S immediately won $60. I, as usual, lost $50 in a little over 10 minutes. I was totally annoyed and started whining saying that I was tired of losing and hungry because I hadn't had breakfast yet. We decided to hit the breakfast buffet and we have a rule that whoever is winning buys the food. S was buying. I never buy.

On the way to the Fresh Harvest buffet we noticed some new 2 cent progressive machines that we hadn't played yet so we decided to stop off and give them a try before breakfast. S immediately hit on her machine and won about $100 bucks. I was so mad. I was bitching and moaning about how my machine was a dog and how badly this machine sucked and how I never win and how she always does all the while sitting and pushing the buttons watching the last of my money going down the drain.

All of a sudden my machine changed it's video screen and a train appeared. I had no idea what was happening. There were 5 flashing buttons and I didn't know what to do so I asked S what to do. She came over and told me to push the buttons one by one. Well, I pushed the flashing buttons and the train on the screen started tooting it's horn. S started screaming that I had won the progressive jackpot but I still didn't know what was going on. Well the casino attendant came over and informed me that I had just won $1800!!!!! I couldn't believe it. I've never won anything before. I sat at the machine as she peeled of 18 $100 dollar bills. Of course, she also handed me a W-2 and told me that I was going to have to pay taxes on the money. She also told me that at the end of the year I could get a printout of my account and any losses that I may have incurred could be written off against this jackpot win. I called Pat and Kerry right away and we celebrated over the phone. It was all very exciting. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have any pictures of all this.

I was totally blown away. I'm still blown away. I can't believe that I won $1800 on a 2 cent machine. I decided to put some of the money in the bank so that I'll have money to pay for a trip to LA someday in the future. I am going to keep some of it so that I can go back to the casino from time to time and have a great time on their money. I'm also going to do some holiday shopping with some of it. Life is good.

Needless to say, I bought breakfast.

Foot Solutions

My heel pain has been ruining my life. I haven't been able to exercise, I've been having trouble standing at work and I've been in pain all the time. I've been feeling bad for Rigby because I haven't been able to go for much of a walk lately and he loves a good long walk. I'm like the Michael Phelps commercial where he takes his dog out, looks at his watch and says "go". Even going to the bathroom when I wake up in the middle of the night has been , you'll excuse the expression, a nightmare.

Yesterday I decided to go to Foot Solutions to see what they could do for me. Foot Solutions is a well known place to go when you are having foot issues. Some of my running and yoga friends have told me to go there. I was in so much pain yesterday that I couldn't just sit around and wait for this to go away any longer. If this didn't work I was going to go to the doctor.

I was greeted by Bob who sat me down and started giving me a foot exam. He moved them around, played with my toes and ankles and just generally got off on playing with my feet. Then he took me over to this really cool computer contraption which had a pad that I stood on. The screen showed how my weight was distributed on my feet. He also had me walk back and forth and back and forth and back and forth while he watched me. It was an interesting exam to say the least.

To make a long story short, it seems that I have very flexible feet. As a matter of fact I have the most flexible feet this guy has ever seen and he's been looking at feet for many years. Because I have these flexifeet I need special motion control shoes and inserts. I have been wearing the wrong shoes all these years . He sold me Brooks running shoes and arch support inserts which I must say feels really weird but guess what? I feel better already and it's only been one day. I was able to stand at work last night and not be crippled this morning. I think it's working. Yay!

They also had some REALLY cute black sparkly incredibly comfortable low heels too. Some of you might remember that I love black sparkly shoes so much that I bought a pair on Rodeo Drive a year or so ago. They are not the most comfortable shoes in the world but I do smile whenever I look at them. Once I recover from the cost of the new shoes and inserts I may just find myself back there to buy these other shoes. I love shoes. It's doesn't matter if you gain 10 pounds. They always fit.

OK, Now I'm Pissed Off

Ok, so I weighed in yesterday and it really sucked. It's amazing how easy it is to gain 10 pounds. It's also amazing how long it takes to lose 10 pounds. My eating habits have been horrific and exercise has been basically nonexistent because of this damned heel.

Now I'm pissed. I got off the scale and ran into the living room and did one of my very favorite Richard Simmons videos, Disco Sweat. I made sure to stretch the hell out of my heel when I was done. I definitely felt the pain an hour or so after I was done but I did it and that's all that matters. Now I just have to keep it up and watch my food. Ah shit! Watching my food. My two least favorite words in the english language are PORTION CONTROL.

Now that the Fab Four are seriously talking about a reunion in LA in March I'm going to really work hard to get the 10 pounds that I gained off before I go. I know I can count on my fellow fabbies for motivation. Besides, I would not want to show up at Slimmons to see Richard with extra weight on. That in itself is enough to get me off my ass and do this. Well, I gotta go now and get off my ass and do this.

The Fab Four at Slimmons last year

Angela's Party

Saturday night was Angela's going away party and it was lots of fun. Tijuana Taxi has a wonderful staff and our waitress took very good care of us.

Our beautiful waitress

We all ordered our drinks (in my case a mango margarita) and before long we were feeling no pain.

Lisa (my boss), Angela and Dina

Betsy and Carol

We all chipped in and bought a beautiful silver bracelet for Angela. Lisa and I picked out charms that reflected life here in Florida so that every time Angela wore it she would think of us. There was a fish, a flip flop, dolphins, a sand dollar, a sea shell and of course a little margarita glass.

Angela showing off her new bracelet

The Curves girls. Dina, Judy, Marie, Me, Angela, Lisa and Betsy

Angela finishing off her huge drink

I'm going to miss you Ang. My nights at Curves won't be the same without you.

Busy Saturday

I have lots to do today. I say that as I am sitting on my bed with the computer and not doing all of the things that I have to do. My new big screen TV has turned out to be a problem. I can't seem to get off my ass and away from it but today I will.

I have to go food shopping today. I don't have any good food around so I will go to Publix and stock up. I will buy milk, fruit, veggies, meat for Pat and Morningstar Farms meat substitutes for me. Oh yeah, bread too. I have a problem with bread. I love newly baked, soft, squishy bread. I'll have to keep myself from eating the whole loaf. Toilet paper and paper towels will be in my shopping cart today too. No eating problems there. LOL

I have to dye my hair today. Looking in the mirror yesterday I realized that I looked like an eighty year old lady with all of my gray hair. I'm also going to get a little crazy and buy some highlights. First I'll do my dark brown thing and a few days later I'm going to try a few red highlights. I hope it will turn out well.

I have to do laundry today too. I have a going away party at Tijuana Taxi tonight for one of my very favorite Curves ladies, Angela and I have nothing to wear. She is leaving next week and moving back to Washington DC. Her husband couldn't find a job here but was able to score work in DC. I'll miss the hell out of Angela. She is fun, beautiful and full of life. I'll miss her nightly visits to Curves. I'm sure we will all be drinking Margaritas in Angela's honor. I plan on taking pictures at the party. It should be fun.

I have to do a mini grooming job on Rigby today too. His ears are way too long. They fall into his food dish when he eats and they get all crusty so I'm going to cut them down. If Mac is any indication of my grooming skills Rigby will be funny looking when I am done.

Rigby in need of a haircut

I also have to call my brother Jon today. I need to know if he is planning on coming here for Thanksgiving or going to his new girlfriend's house. I'm good either way. Whatever makes him happy makes me happy. After all Kerry's coming home next week and it's all good from there.

I also hope to get a chance to go to Foot Solutions to get some inserts for my shoes. My heel is still hurting and it really sucks. I wish my foot would get better. If it doesn't get better soon it'll be a visit to my very favorite Dr Berman. I am still unable to exercise and afraid to get on the scale.

See ya soon.

Getting Old Sucks

I'm in trouble. I've developed this pain in the heel of my right foot. I've been checking it out online and it looks like I may have Planter Fascilitis. It started about 2 or 3 weeks ago and I really didn't pay much attention to it because it wasn't that bad in the beginning. After a while it got worse so I started taking an anti-inflammatory for it but that's really not working. After reading up on this condition I don't really know that there is much I can do about it except hope it goes away or get shots in my heel which I am not ready to do yet.

This is not a good thing for someone who needs to lose about 10 pounds and who likes to power walk for her exercise. It was hurting enough that I gave that up for a few days and decided to try a Richard Simmons video instead. Well, I found out this morning that it wasn't the greatest idea. I'm going to have to lay off for a while but my weight is not going to go down by laying off exercise. It seems like the only thing I can do is yoga and weight lifting neither of which is going to give me the cardio exercise that I need to burn calories. The extra 10 or 15 pounds that I am carrying around is only making this worse. Obesity is one of the causes of Planter Fascilitis.

This condition is also going to be a problem working at Curves. It's hard to work out with the ladies when you are in pain and sitting around is not an option. They need someone to workout with them and push them and I'm not sure I can do that now. I'm thinking that I'll just go on the machines and not do the marching or jogging on the recovery boards. I'm working tonight so we'll see how it goes.

I've also been having some trouble with my left wrist. I noticed that in yoga about a month ago. It comes and goes and feels like a touch of arthritis. Not much I can do about that other than get a brace so that's on the list of things to do today.

Oy vey. I'm falling apart. Getting old sucks!!

ps-Kerry is going to Gambia (kill me now) over the summer and has started a blog. It's on my list of favorite blogs. Check it out.