Superbowl Champions Indianapolis Colts!!

I am so thrilled and proud of Peyton Manning and the Colts!!! And Tony Dungy and the whole team too! Way to go guys! It was definitely the best game of my whole life and I'm sure it was for every Colts fan everywhere! We had a great get together here at our house with my parents and sister-in-law and Max's cousins all in attendance. Max was rooting for the Bears but, alas, I won!! Ha Ha!! Sorry, I had to get that out since I had to contain myself in his presence.


Our dog, Katie, had surgery about a week ago on her elbow. She had to have a piece of loose bone and some diseased bone removed from her joint. She is to be crate restricted for a 6 week recovery. I've no idea how to keep a one year old who has never been confined to a crate happy. She absolutely hates being in there and left alone. If we are in the room she will eventuallt settle down. If we have to leave to go out and she is in the crate she does her best to destroy whatever is available. This includes her dog bed, toys, and the crate itself. I'm afraid she is doing more damage to herself fighting the crate than if I just let her out. I've tried all kinds of new bones and toys, leaving the TV on so she might think someone is home, and letting our other dog stay inside to keep her company. Nothing but the drugs she had when she first came home work and we are out of those drugs. Obviously I cannot keep her drugged for 6 weeks. I can just see it now, "Hi my name is Katie and I'm dog drug addict." We have managed one week but I cannot imagine keeping this up for 5 more.

Tonight, we have friends coming in from California for a weekend visit. Andrew is Max's best friend and he is coming with his mom, Jaime. I am so excited for Max, and he is off the charts thrilled with the knowledge that Andrew will be spending 3 whole nights here at our house. I am very happy also to be getting a visit from Jaime who over the years has become a dear, dear friend of mine. I know we will get in some good visiting. Tomorrow we are going to the zoo but I'm not sure what else in on the agenda. We'll have to see how the weather holds up. Today it is raining on and off and slightly cooler than earlier this week.

Gail went on Tuesday and had a colonoscopy which went fine. No major problems there. They also did a scope of her esophagus. They took a biopsy of her esophagus because of her severe acid reflux and we'll have results next week. Today she is off to the dermatologist because she had what turned out to be a cancerous skin tag removed a couple of weeks ago. Ugh!

I saw my new endocrinologist yesterday and had some blood drawn for tests. I will go back on Feb 19th for the results and find out what the plan is so I can start feeling better.

Max finally found something he is willing to spend is own money on. They have an indoor obstacle course at his school and he has been asking me to get one for home but I keep saying he doesn't have a birthday or Christmas coming and it costs over $200! I finally told him if he wanted to use his own money for it I would order it for him. He asked me if I would help him so I told him I would pay half if he pays half. So last night we sat down to count money from his piggy banks and from one of his bigger banks we sorted over $100 in coins alone. Plus he had Super Bowl money from his Bears getting to the Super Bowl. So the obstacle course has been ordered and is on its way!

AFC Champions Indianapolis Colts

I am so excited tonight I can hardly contain myself. I was so nervous for my Colts and they really kept me on the edge of my seat I tell you! But we won, we won, we won!!! The final score was 34-38! And on top of that, Max's team is the Chicago Bears who also won their game. The Superbowl is going to ROCK THE HOUSE this year!! We are going to throw a bash like you wouldn't believe. I also get to collect $5 each from everyone in my family (as does Max) for just getting to the Big Game. So I'm definitely a winner already. Tomorrow I am off to Party City to gather all the supplies I need before everyone else beats me to it. Right now I am so wired and the satellite receiver in the living room went out right in the middle of the 2nd half of the game so I can't watch TV since Scott is already asleep in the bedroom. I need to go run around the block or something! Woo Hoo!! GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brrrrr! It's Cold Outside

Last night, before I went to bed, the ice had already started covering our cars and the steps up to the garage apartment. This morning we have icycles from outdoor furniture and trees. It is still raining outside and all the schools are closed. Max is enjoying the different weather and calls the icycles "popsicles". He cracks me up.

In other news, I booked our Panama Canal cruise yesterday. We will be sailing Mar 7-22, 2008 from Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles. We are all very excited, even Max. He really enjoyed his first cruise in December and is looking forward to spending two weeks on the big ship. He will miss one week of school and the second week will be over his Spring Break. I am hoping he will have an understanding Kindergarten teacher. One never knows but I think life experience is just an important and educational as the classroom.

Americal Idol started again last night. Minneapolis is apparently not the hotbed of singing talent. Seriously. Only 17 people out of 10,000 made it to Hollywood. Of course, the previews of their time in Seattle did not look much better. And we know Seattle has a good music scene. Well, at least they did at one time. Those people that audition crack me up. I love music and I love to sing - only when noone is around to hear me because I KNOW I cannot carry a tune to save my life. It makes for some painfully funny television though...

Clean House = Ironed Napkins

For the first time in almost a year, the feelings of being overwhelmed by the duties associated with my house were gone. As a result, I ironed my napkins and placemats. It is a good feeling!

Tonight we are expecting to freeze. It is very, very cold. Today when I got in the car, the computer display said "Ice Possible." In all my years in L.A. that message certainly never appeared.

I am watching the Golden Globes right now. Yawn...At least Hugh Laurie won for House. His acceptance speech was funny!

The season premiere of 24 started last night. It was very good. I am looking forward to Max going to bed so I can watch tonight's. I was very happy that Jack wasted no time removing all that excess hair. Max is driving me a tad insane. Wait, maybe that's just my nature ;-) I am not sure what we will do tomorrow if he cannot go to school. I am however sure that my newly cleaned house will get pretty destroyed. I need to find some new "rainy day" activities. I cannot afford to bake anymore cookies!

And, finally, for my old friends on the December 2001 board, I have included in this post Max's 5th birthday photo. I am really looking forward to reconnecting and catching up with everyone. I have been gone for much, much too long.

Oy Vey!

Where do I begin? I'll start with good news for me! I weighed in after my first week on Weight Watchers and lost 7.8 pounds! I am quite pleased indeed!

I am however exhausted from a very early semi-spring cleaning! I started Thursday on my own and then Friday my mom came to help me out. We accomplished so much on Friday that even though we had planned on cleaning today too, we decided to go see the movie "Dreamgirls." It also helps that Scott (God bless him) decided to authorize a cleaning lady for deep cleaning. So Monday, Sonia will be here all day removing tons of dust from blinds, shutters, baseboards, tops of cabinets and furniture along with a myriad of other things. Her price is very reasonable, and assuming it works out, she will be coming every other week!

Now, while my in-laws did leave on Thursday on their trip to Ft. Hood, the relief I felt was short-lived. I found out tonight that they are not continuing on to Arkansas due to an ice storm and are, in fact, returning home tomorrow evening. I could just scream! There went all my dreams of "me time." I am currently trying to figure out how to basically pretend that I am not entirely pissed that they have come home early. I'm not sure how I will handle it but I just want to hide in my room!

The evening has ended on a pleasant note though. Scott and I decided to attend a wedding of a friend in Las Vegas on 07/07/07. Our 11th wedding anniversary is June 22nd so we will consider this our anniversary gift (we usually travel) and I made reservations for a suite at the Paris Las Vegas. After a few attempts at staying other places like Bally's and the Golden Nugget, we have decided that the Paris is the place for us. We really enjoy the hotel, the casino & the atmosphere! I am hoping to grab us a cabana by the pool for one of the days we are there. Maybe even get a couple's massage poolside :-)

AND........GO COLTS!!! Woo Hoo!! I am thrilled that my Indianapolis Colts defeated the Baltimore Ravens! We now advance to the Conference Championship game against either the Patriots or the Chargers. We'll find out tomorrow how that goes. I personally strongly dislike the Patriots and find it nearly impossible to root for them. So Go Chargers!

A Milestone!

Max lost his first tooth today. He asked me numerous times last night to pull it but that tooth wasn't ready. This morning, he asked again, and with the help of tweezers, out it came! He is so excited - and happy to be able able to eat again. I guess a loose tooth really hampers your ability to eat pancakes! The logic of a five year old.

I'm doing well with my new health plan. I am feeling much better already! Max even did my 10-minute Abs workout with me last night and wants to do it every night.

Gail & Leon are leaving on Thursday and will be gone for two weeks. I will enjoy having the house to myself for awhile. I have not been truly alone for a very, very long time. The only thing that could make it better would be if it were summer and I could float in the pool!

So far, not so good...

Okay, so I'm not the best at blogging yet. I have thought about it on a number of occasions. Does that count? Didn't think so. Well, since my last (and only) entry, I have done a number of things I could have written about. In December alone, my family went on a Caribbean cruise, celebrated Christmas, and went to California to visit Disneyland and to see some of our sorely missed friends. We spent New Year's Eve with our best friends, and for the first time EVER, the boys beat the girls in Trivial Pursuit. Of course, they had super easy questions about Lord of the Rings & Harry Potter! I am certain Keri & I will not let that happen again!!

We finally have all our Christmas decorations put away for another year. Now I have to find the motivation to clean before re-setting our everyday decor. However, I think getting caught up on Desperate Housewives will take precedence! LOL!

Speaking of television, I am very excited about the upcoming premiere of Season 6 of 24! I will be glad when Jack gets rid of his Chewbacca look though! The Apprentice LA started last night. I thought it had some interesting new twists.

On another note, Max has his first loose tooth. He discovered it yesterday while at my niece's birthday party. He is anxious to get that tooth out and have his first visit from the tooth fairy. I have no idea what the going rate is for a tooth these days. I think we'll go with $1.00 or maybe $2.00.

Max started taking Tae Kwon Do last week. He came home very excited and quite cute in his do bock (that's what they call the uniform)! He has to practice stretching but he wanted to practice kicking and punching...us! Not good!

Scott went back to L.A. today. He will be there all week. We'll get him home for the weekend and then he'll be gone again all next week too. We miss him when he is gone.

Last week, I joined (or should I say rejoined) Weight Watchers. I must start taking my diabetes VERY seriously or else I will be in for some major health issues, and I already have enough problems. Instead of setting a weight goal (even though losing weight is a great side effect), I am going to focus on eating healthy & exercising 4 - 5 times a week. My goal, then, is to get off some of my medications. I am only 35 years old, and I take enough medication for a 65 year old. I take 3 blood pressure meds, 2 diabetes meds, 1 cholesterol med, 1 for my thyroid & 1 for my PMDD. The thyroid med & PMDD are here to stay but I would love to say goodbye to the rest of them!