Last day of February-resolution time!

I have decided that March 1 is my "new" New Year! Join me! It's spring, a time to reawaken. So I'm rejoining my exercise efforts, back to running, and rejoining the purging efforts, back to throwing away,and Sally-ing.  Also more Ping-Pong. That's crucial! So forward into spring!
Went to work for a few hours this am, and finished the flannel board project, hoo-rah!  Danny is thinking about playing Lacrosse and went to  practice for 2 hours. Had my fab soup and more salad for dinner, so no effort for me! Watched the 3 or 4th week of Chicago Code, a police drama I stumbled upon on the first night is was being shown, Jennifer Beals and others, cool show. so that was fun. Temps dropping to about 10 tonight, so I could turn on the fireplace with no guilt.

and the oscar goes to...ME! Sunday 2/27/11

My party was quite fun. Food was brushetta with sun-dried tomato topping, vegetable spring rolls, southwestern corn-chowder and a big salad.  And Red velvet cupcakes..for the red carpet..get it?? Roseanne, Shawne and Alex, and the girls and I were the guests. We enjoyed watching the E! coverage of the red carpet arrivals, we all liked Natalie Portman's dress and agreed that Jennifer Hudson was stunning! We thought Anne Hathaway was darling but that James guy, I don't see it. Not that cute, certainly no personality..I named him "Keanu Reeves jr."!  All in all the show was fine, my favourite part was Kirk Douglas, I loved how there was an older person showcased, one who had had a stroke, he was able to show that he still has a sense of humor and great comic timing. This is a problem for the elderly and disabled, people think they are not human anymore and are more likely to ignore them. Show the world!
The rest of Sunday proceeded as planned, from 8am mass to work. Kids arrived home mid-afternoon.Charlotte,Alex Me, Shawne and Molly in our movie star glasses, the little party favour I gave my guests.

Ready for my close-up? Not!!

in my haste to get ready for the Oscars tomorrow, I went nuts on the beauty treatments...slight burns on face from at home hair removal cream (what they don't tell you about menopause-you grow hair on your face! I thought it was just Italian Grandmas but apparently not!) two razors needed, one for each leg...(not my fault, remember the poison ivy? well you can't shave that!) exfoliated, and in the morning I color my 1/2 gray roots! Then, bring on the Red Carpet!  Charlotte and I are hosting a watching party, and I am obviously going to be gorgeous now!
Worked today, still slogging through the flannel board files...but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Quick Costco run for the party food, then basically a night of vegging in front of the fire, reading gossip site posts on Charlie Sheen and Bristol Palin (not together!) random stories about that whack-job Gadhafi, top 10 places to retire, red carpet fashion, and who knows what else.  Boy it is easy to waste a night online!
The kids are at the lake with Jer and Hank, sledding, ice fishing, having winter bonfires and playing countdown, so my self indulgence is harming no one but me!

something new--indoor mini golf!

Today at BDL we had a staff appreciation dinner event. After the library closed at 5pm, we all gathered for appetizers and instructions...we were broken up into 7 teams and given an hour to create our own original mini golf hole. This was super fun! I think I 'll steal this idea for Danny's next party. Our spot was the kids area, and I had brought a small putting green strip we have, and a bunch of plastic popcorn holders from home. My team was one of the trustee's, Chris, and Heather,MaryRose and Nathan(turned 18 today!), all co-workers.  We constructed an awesome movie themed hole, which started by putting through the small castle door into our department, bouncing it off an angled table, heading up a ramp, though a pop up castle, down the ramp on the other side, down an aisle with popcorn holders, through a bookend surrounded by videos, up the putting green and into the hole.  Easy right?!!  We also had John Williams movie score playing on the CD player and movies on display. So we ended up winning the most difficult hole, and the prize was blue ribbon pins and a balloon for each of us(no cash award!)  It was a very enjoyable evening and great to spend time with work friends.

photos from mini golf at the library!

Golf outing at BDL!
Going for the final put into the hole..Danny's hat is good luck!




Teammates Heather and MaryRose help to design our winning hole.

Nate tests the castle jump.

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Danny holding model of the Fitzgerald

This model was built by the presentor to a 1/16th scale
The ship was 727 feet long and rode 27 feet under the water

2 shots of ship ;top is riding loaded, bottom riding empty



he shared several theories with us about what caused the sinking, this is a diagram of the sister wave

 Danny and I went to another program through Livingston Reads- this one on the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It was fantastic. The man who gave the talk is an ex-Army and coast guard, who grew up at his grandparents cottage on Lake Huron. He had a passion for learning about this wreck and researched for seven years. He spoke with the help of an overhead projector with transparencies and a huge cassette boombox to play the Gordon Lightfoot song. When I saw that I thought I was in for a boring presentation...was I wrong! This man had so much passion for his subject, and as a former educator he had no problem keeping our attention ..for 2 hours! Danny and I got home at 9:40, but wow, what a neat way to spend the evening!
argh! can't turn my photos!!

Back to school--but more snow on the way!

Hey, it's another good day!  Danny's snow burn has faded to a mild level of emabarressment red, so the bad mommy guilt has settled down!  My meeting a work was changed til tomrw, so Charlotte and I hung out this morning.  I brought her to school at 12:15 and we talked to Mrs. Rossman. She stayed for 5th and 6th period and went to play practice for a while. VICTORY! We shall see how it goes.  I am most concerned about the lunch time scene with Sam and her controling behaviour. 
I worked in Danny's library, and also got to stop in Kohls(cute $8 spring purse!) and Meijer. I picked up Danny and Charlotte and we headed home. We had a quick dance/weight workout, then started on the homework. It was a good thing that I served dinner early(turkey burgers topped with cheese and salsa, strawberris, edamame and sweet potato frys) because we got a call at %45 that the kids tryout for ByeBye Birdie was at 6pm.!  So off we went!  Danny gave a great shot at the tryout...he had to sing solo lines
(Ed Sul-i-van!) dance and do a little acting.  He had a great time and said he hopes to get a part so that he can be in a play with Charlotte. That is so sweet.  We find out on Saturday.
Mom should be on the ground in NJ now, Donnie is picking her up, and Susan is driving her home tomrw. and taking her to her Doctors apmnt.  I am looking forward to hearing about her trip.