A lot going on in my head these days, just need to get it out and move on!

• How did it get to be July already? I seriously can not beleive how fast June went by. I feel like it was just Jimmy’s graduation and now all of the sudden it’s July? I hate that the summer goes by so quickly, and we haven’t really had much of a summer weather wise yet. It’s been cold and rainy for the most part. I am so tired of living in the North east. Winter lasts way too long, and seems to get longer every year. I feel like I just get defrosted and BANG! Summer is over and we are facing another winter. I was reading Jennster’s blog yesterday and she put it so perfectly.
  

  july is like the saturday of weekends. it’s the one month you get to enjoy from start to finish- no last day of school.. no first day of school… it’s just gloriously summer break from day 1 to day 31. and usually it’s filled with summer vacations and the beach and water and sun and dodger games (but never disneyland, cause hello.. disneyland in the SUMMER? are you high? unless you have a year pass, then it’s perfectly acceptable. but you’re still probably high.) and if july is like saturday, then you know that august is TOTALLY THE SUNDAY of summer. and sundays suck.

  I love that! It’s so true! I always get sad after the 4th of July because then the stores put all the summer merchandise on sale and you start seeing back to school sales, Halloween and even Christmas merchandise! I HATE THAT! Can’t we enjoy summer? We don’t go on vacation until August and I hate that I can not find a swimsuit at the end of July in any store! They have all been replaced with winter coats and sweaters! Who can even look at a sweater in July? UGH!

  I hope that July does not go by as quickly as June did. I really want to enjoy the only warm months we get.

• My freaking weight. AGGGHHH! I have been working out every day since May 9th. I’ve been keeping track. Except for those 4 days I was really sick, I have not missed a workout. I’m doing a variety of workouts alternating between cardio, weights, yoga, kickboxing and more. I’m always sore form working out. I have been eating so much healthier. Weekdays for breakfast its my zone bar and red bull. On the weekends I have more time so I’ll have some oatmeal with fake butter or some eggs and a whole wheat english muffin. Snacks are fruit or a handfull of nuts. Lunch is almost always a big salad. Lots of lettuces, spinach, veggies, a little dressing made from oil and vinegar and a hard boiled egg tossed in for some protein. We have really changed up our dinners. I bought the two Biggest Loser COokbooks and we have been making new recipes from them. Some really really good stuff. We have cut waaaaaay back on the pasta eating. We used to have pasta 2-3 times a week, now 2-3 times a month. We haven’t had chicken wings since May (we used to get them every week). Pizza down to twice a month and we get whole wheat crust, low fat cheese and load it up with veggies! I only ever drink water. But yet, I am not losing weight.

  I’m only weighing myself twice a month. Second weigh in I was down 4 lbs. This last weigh in, up 3! WTF? I blame the weekend. I did cheat. On Friday it was our Employee Appreciation Picnic and we had Abe’s hotdogs. Anyone from this area knows Abes hotdogs are the best! I have not had one in years, so I figured, “What the heck, one hotdog wont set me back”. But then Hillside Farms was also here and they have the best ice cream! I got a small sugar free chocolate. Then the weekend was our church bazaar. I ate way less than normal. Only one dish of haluski, 1 1/2 potato pancake, 2 pigs in the blanket. Half a beer. Then Monday was orientation picnic. Again with the hot dogs. And Dippin Dots.

  And I wonder why I gained back 3 lbs. Now I know. Lesson learned. It was not worth it. I am so mad at myself.

  I am feeling more energetic and stronger though. I can now make it through almost all of the work outs, except this one, its a killer! I don’t know how some of the people that say they have been following thse workouts are losing lke 30 lbs in 2 months. I’m tending not to believe them…

  So I’ll continue on, eating healthy, working out and waiting for the payoff.

• I’ve been in a very pissy mood because of this PA State budget fiasco. Our legislators and governor have failed to reach an agreement on the budget. That means as of yesterday, Mike is no longer getting paid. He still has to show up to work and deal with all the assholes and put himself in harms way, but the state has decided the State Police are “non-essential” personnel and do not need to get paid. WTF? I say they should all not show up to work and see how non-essential they are!

  I have many problems with this. First off being NON-ESSENTIAL? MY ASS! And it’s not like the state is not going to have to eventually pay them for the hours they are continuing to work, they aren’t saving any money, so why not JUST PAY THEM! Why cause so many difficulties for so many people. Add to the already shithole economy? More people that can’t afford the pay their mortgages. We are not buying anything absolutely necessary and I imagine most state employed families are doing the same. So we aren’t contributing to the state economy.

  Meanwhile our lovely legislators continue to collect their paychecks. EVEN THOUGH THEY FAILED TO DO THEIR JOB! It’s THEIR JOB to pass this budget. They have known for oh, what? last year? Since the last budget that this deadline was looming and had a year to work on it. There is absolutely no good reason to not have found a solution by now. Can you imagine what would happen to your job if you didn’t meet an very important deadline? Would your boss continue to pay you? THEY should be the ones going without pay! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!

  Oh, and yeah…the PRISONERS are continuing to get paid. And the WELFARE checks will still go out to the low life scum who is ton their asses NOT earning it….How is that even right? Maybe if we stopped sending them free money they would go out and get a job? And what do prisoners need money for? They already get free room and board. And cable tv. And lord knows what else.

  I blame the Republicans and Democrats equally for this mess. But Republicans you continue to drive me further and further away…really proposing a budget that ELIMINATES 800 STATE TROOPER POSITIONS???? ARE YOU INSANE?

  They can all SUCK IT!

Last night Mike and I took a trip back to the ’80’s and went to the Cheap Trick, Poison, Def Leppard concert. We have been looking forward to it for a long time, figuring it would be a fun time. All of our friends that said they were interested never came through so it was just the two of us. I bought tickets late but did manage to get them under the Pavilion in case of rain. Good thing since it did rain quite a bit last night. I also didn’t want to shell out a lot of money for the higher priced seats but after we got there I was wishing I had. I figure we were in about the 45th row….which is really far back from where I am used to! They weren’t horrible seats by any means, just not as close to the stage as I usual.

The adventure started on our drive to Montage. It’s a beautiful Pavillion in the woods basically. The traffic getting there is always a pain. After all the years that they have been having concerts there you would think they would have figured out a better way to get cars in and out! But no, you suffer in the traffic. We were in no hurry as we had about an hour to kill. We parked the car and I commented that the lot really sucked as there were no markers to indicate where you were and I hoped we would find the car after the show. The parking lot was filled with tailgaters channeling their inner 1980’s and Mike and I got a kick out of some of them. I bet some of the drunker folks never made it in to the concert!

We hiked our way up to the pavilion to go through security only to be told I could not bring my camera in. Even though I had called the Pavilion and checked the website and was informed that regular digital camera were allowed, just no professional cameras. JERKS! LIARS! So we had to walk alllllll the way back to the car so I could put my camera back. But as we had time to kill it was no big deal and we ran into a bunch of people we knew along the way including my brother and his girlfriend. Surprisingly we found the car with no problem. By this time is was raining so I grabbed an umbrella too for the looooong walk back to the pavilion again.

On our way up Bret Mihaels tour bus drove by, honking the horn and girls all over started FREAKING OUT! Mike laughed and made fun of them. We heard one of them saying something about how she saw Big John in the window or something and Mike scoffed at her and made comments about people having no life. This will become important later.

We got in and decided to grab some drinks even though it was highway robbery. $8 for a cup of beer, $13 for a frozen margarita. We made our way to our seats which as I said, weren’t too bad and tried to get comfy. Unfortunately the guy sitting next to me was half taking up my seat too. Plus he had no teeth and his breath smelled like shit. And he was drunk and noisy and sang every.freaking.song.

Cheap Trick was up first. I had never seen them live and was pleasantly surprised by their show. It was awesome! They put on a great show! I would totally go see them again! Set List (borrowed from a tour message board) :
Way of the World
I Want You To Want Me
These Days
She’s Tight
Don’t Be Cruel
Sick Man of Europe
Dream Police
The Flame
Surrender
Goodnight Now

Cheap Trick finished up and then I noticed BIG JOHN was standing in front of us at the sound board. No one was paying any attention to him at all. I motioned to Mike who all of the sudden turned into a complete fangirl and started yelling “It’s Big John! It’s Big John!”…..and then Big John walked up the aisel right next to us (we were on the end) and I couldnt get my cell phone out of my pocket quick enough! He walked all the way around the back of the pavilion and back down a different aisle and backstage. I was so mad I missed a pic of him!

Mike decided to go to the bathroom and make a beer run and I sat and talked to the people behind us who had the same phone issue I did. Then I noticed Big John was standing down front off the the side near the bathrooms…so I walked over and people were taking pics with him. So I asked a kind looking woman if she would take a pic of me and Big John and Yay! I got a pic with Big John! It’s horribly blurry as you have to hold really still with the cell phone but you can tell its him!

Next up was Poison! I was most excited for them and for Bret. I was hoping there would be some skanks dancing on stage but as far as I could tell there were no skanks in the house. At least no ROL skanks. There were plenty of skanks in the audience. I wish I could have taken a picture of the two ho’s sitting near us. I think Mike’s eyes popped out of his head and rolled down the aisle. There shorts were really not shorts. There was no inseam. I’m surprised there weren’t girly parts visable. They also had on 6 inch heels that they could barely walk in. I hope they realized they weren’t Brets type as neither of them had breast implants.

Poison was AWESOME! So energetic and Bret made fun of himself for his Tony’s accident. Great stage show, pyrotechnics, they really got the place up on their feet and rocking! Set list
Intro (Let Me Go To The Show)
Look What The Cat Dragged In
I Want Action
Ride The Wind
Your Mama Don’t Dance
Something To Believe In
CC Guitar Solo
Fallen Angel
Unskinny Bop
Rikki Drum Solo
Every Rose Has It’s Thorn
Talk Dirty To Me
Encore:Nothin But A Good Time

Great fun! We were pretty much completely deaf by this time and still had one more act to go. Mike went for another beer run and I went off to find a friend of mine sitting not too far away. We chatted during the set change then Def Leppard was up. Mike liked them best. I was underwhelmed. They were kind of dull. Not really energetic. They had this screen behind them that played these really cheap and cheesy animations during the whole performance. It was all to bad flash animation for me, it really distracted from the musicians but maybe that was the point since all they did was pretty much stand there playing. At least they played “Pour Some Sugar on Me”. Def Leppard set list:
Rock Rock Til You Drop
Rocket
Animal
Make Love Like a Man
C’mon C’mon
Love Bites
Foolin’
Rock On
Two Steps Behind (acoustic)
Bringin’ On The Heartbreak (acoustic)
Switch 625
Hysteria
Armageddon It
Photograph
Pour Some Sugar On Me
Rock Of Ages
Encore:Let’s Get Rocked

Still, it was a great night of music! It was nice to get out with Mike and enjoy a concert.

But our night was not over yet. We still had to walk back to the poorly marked parking lot and find our car. We must have walked around for over a half an hour, up and down, back and forth, trying to find our car. I was beginning to wonder if it had been stolen! Finally we realized we were searching no where near where it was parked. Of course by that time it was the only car left in the lot. Kidding, it wasn’t but it might have well as been. people were for sure laughing at us walking around and around and around. Once we did find it we had to sit in traffic forever to get back to the highway. Thankfully Mike knows his way around and took a side roads to get us away from the highway. We were home about 12:30 and I was in bed shorty after.

if you are fans of any of these three bands I highly recommend going to this concert if it comes near you! You won’t regret it! Stacey I wish I could go with you in NOLA!

So, it looks like Jimmy will be heading out to L.A. in two weeks.

Two. Weeks.

Yikes. I thought he would be around until the end of July at least. But they are anxious and eager to get out there and see what the world has to offer.

I’m a jumble of emotions.

On one hand I am so thrilled and so excited for him! I always tell my kids to get the hell out of this valley when you can. THere is nothing here. Sorry to all the people who think that we can hold onto college grads with jobs at Sonic and Sallie Mae. There are no great jobs here. Sure the cost of living is dirt cheap but thats about it. SO Jimmy has the chance to go to L.A. and hopefully get a job, find a decent, affodable place to live and make a nice life for himself. It’s what I always wished for him. He has so much potential and he has the wanderlust like I do. I don’t him to end up in a crappy dead end job and cursing himself 20 years from now for not taking the risk and getting out. And L.A.!!!! So Exciting! What a crazy place, but so much to see and do and so many more places to find work. It is the right thing to do. In his field he needs to be in L.A.

On the other hand I am going to miss him like crazy. We have been together for 23 years. He’s my first born, my friend. It’s going to be like losing a limb. But because I love him so much and want so much more for him, I have to push him out of the nest…actually there is no pushing, hes really excited about going…let him fly. You can bet your sweet ass we’ll be out there visiting him as often as we can. And he knows he can always come home if he needs to. I hope he never has to though. I hope that he is hugely successful and happy in California. Its so far. All the way on the other side of the country!! But only a plane ride.

So I’m trying to focus on the exciting positiveness of this in order to keep from becoming sad about it.
Thanks to everyone who offered advice and support, I appreciate it so much!

Stay tuned for more ….

Since I teach basic business etiquette I’m always amazed by the displays of LACK of etiquette I encounter on a daily basis. You would think at this point I would be used to it but I’m constantly surprised by some of the things I see.

Is proper etiquette a thing of the past? Am I just old and need to get with the times? Maybe I’ll start taking notes and write an entire post of examples of what I’m talking about someday. But there is something on my mind that prompted this entry- Party invitations.

Growing up, if someone were going to invite you to a party, you would receive an invitation in the mail. And you would call to R.S.V.P. And then you would show up. (Don’t get me started on people who R.S.V.P and then don’t show up!!!). Then over time as e-mail became so infused into our daily lives, people would e-mail invites. Or would that be e-vite? And I could accept that, it was cheaper than buying paper invitations and mailing them..quicker…etc.

But the one thing I have not been able to get used to is text message invitations. Connor has been invited to so many parties via text message. The first time it happened I didn’t believe there was actually a party and insisted on calling the parents to verify that 1)there was a party and 2) that Connor was actually invited. Apparently thats how this next generation does things because that trend continued all year long. I guess I better get used to it.

However I do find it tacky to render and invitation by calling someone. A week before the party. To me that reeks of “oh half the people we invited can’t make it so we’re calling our B list”…tacky, tacky, tacky.

Anyone remember last summer when I was going crazy trying to find a pair of white linen pants? I looked everywhere and just could not find exactly what I was looking for! A few weeks ago I was in Target and saw they had white linen pants! I grabbed a pair, figuring I would end up returning them since I never end up liking clothes I buy at Target. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Target for everything else, but their clothes just don’t excite me, they don’t fit me well, the sizing is not insistent. I know people who love Targets clothes and good for them, but for me its hot or miss. Mostly miss. So I fully expected to hate the pants. I decided to try them yesterday for work. I put them on and OH!MY!GOD! The most comfortable pants ever! So smooth, so flattering! I wore them with a white tank, a long sleeve bright blue button down left open and silver sandals and got so many compliments on the pants! I didn’t even get them dirty!

So on the way home from work I stopped at Target and grabbed another pair in white. Then bought them in black and brown just for the hell of it. They are even a size smaller than I normally would buy. LOVE THEM. Highly Recommended!

I’ve been sick since Friday afternoon. We went to Knoebels on Friday for Connor’s school picnic. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather wise and the park was practically deserted. No one had to wait in line for any rides. I started feeling sick on Friday afternoon and by the time we were leaving the park it was a full blown cold. I spent the weekend laying on the couch blowing my nose. Today I’ve added a cough to my symptoms. yay.

Today was weigh in day, and even though I didn’t get to work out for 3 days I jumped on the scale. I’m down 3 lbs. I was hoping for 5, but I’ll take the 3! I’m going to try to do a light workout today, some low impact cardio and flexibility.

Next weigh in is July 1st. My original goal was to be down 10 lbs by August 1st so I’m still on target for that goal.