coolbird30

Today, ok well yesterday, just after 9:30pm my beloved mother and best friend decided she has had enough and went to join God and all His angels in His kingdom.  Mom is now pain free, and free of the horrible shell she’s been stuck with for the past year and a half.  And she’s finally, once and for all, rid of Ron!!  The best part, I think.  

Hospice called me Friday at work to tell me mom had taken a severe down turn.  She had not eaten, drank, or taken any of her medications since Wednesday.  This morning they put her on oxygen.  She could no longer speak with words, but she spoke volumes with her beautiful green eyes and did manage to grace us with several smiles today.  

She got to see Mikayla, Chris and I.  My brother managed to not be a total idiot and came down to see her.  I did have to put up with sitting with Ron all day, but we did manage to keep it pretty neutral.

They took her to the same mortuary that took care of her parents, so I know she will be in good hands.  My worry is that Ron now has the ultimate decision, to bury her proper in a casket, or have her cremated.  Mom and I are Catholic, so she needs to be buried properly…  I fear Ron will do as he wants, as usual.  He will most likely choose the cheapr path of cremation.  This does upset me, because I know it’s not what she would want.  Unfortunatly, as it’s gone this whole time, I will get absolutely no say in the matter.

I had to come on her and blog this.  In a way, it is also a tribute to my mom.  My mom was my best friend.  We did everything together.  Shopping, movies, you name it.  She was the most wonderful, giving person I’ve ever known, and I know she will be truly missed by a large amount of friends as well as our family in New England.

I do wish she had been better during my pregnancy, and that she had had more time with Mikayla.  It truly saddens me that my daughter will never really know her grandmother..  who would have spoiled her rotten and I would have loved it!!  Mom was so excited when I finally got pregnant last year.

Rest forever in peace Mom!  I love you forever and and going to miss you so much!!!

To all my buddies here, and especially my Tribe…  thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here for me.  To support me and love me through this journey.  I will most likely be taking the week off from work, but I don’t know how much I will be on BS.  Will see..  I’ll probably need you guys a lot. 

You know that friend, the one who is always tapping her leg, getting up to straighten the bookshelf, the one who generally just can’t sit still? She’s likely burning an extra 200 to 300 calories a day on top of any workouts she does or the amount of calories she burns just being alive. This process is neatly called NEAT, which stands for “NonExercise Activity Thermogenesis” (say that 5 times fast!), and it’s essential for successful weight loss. Basically, it’s the extra stuff you do, physically, all day long that adds up. Make a point to add more “neat” into your day and you can zap another 500 calories! Here are a few ideas:

Do crunches in bed: You could burn about 20 calories in under 5 minutes just by drawing your knees to your chest 25 to 50 times, plus it strengthens your abs and gets your blood pumping. Check out these 10 ways to boost your calorie burn 

Dance around while getting dressed: Turn up the radio or listen to upbeat music on your iPod (if you can) while doing all your morning rituals—an hour of hip shakin’ can burn about 55 calories. Tired of the belly fat? Dance it off!
  Stand up! Don’t sit when you can be on your feet—you’ll burn about 40% more calories. So just take a stand—when you’re on the phone, watching kids at the playground, making small talk at a party.

Laugh: Watch something that’s consistently funny (like 30 Rock) and you could burn about 40 calories if you guffaw for 10 to 15 minutes straight.2 Minutes to a happier, healthier you!

Walk, pace, jog down the hall: In other words, MOVE! Doing little bits of activity all day—taking the stairs to use the restroom on another floor at work, doing an extra lap around the grocery store—can help you burn an additional 375 calories a day!

Now remember these are ways to burn EXTRA calories and not a substitute for actual workouts!!  You still want to get in your cardio sessions and weight training! 

Have a great day!!

Nothing feels so bad as getting blasted by a friend in a blog.  It hurts deep down into your heart.  A friend asked for ‘help’ and ’suggestions’ on what they were eating, so I offered them.  Well, you know how it goes with emails, the tone doesn’t come across the right way, your joking or teasing gets twisted around.. right?  Easily done.  Well, instead of this friend telling me that what I said upset them, I find out the next day that they have instead completly blasted me in their blog.  Of course they didn’t name names, but as soon as someone showed me a copy of it, I knew it was about me..  so you know what?  When it comes to this friend, I will no longer post or share what i’ve eaten, even if it’s ‘fessing up’ to how bad I may have done on the weekend, which this friend knows how much I struggle with my eating on the weekend anyway..  and I will no longer offer my opinions on what this friend is eating, has eaten, or is planning on eating.  I will just stay out of that conversation.  I’m sure I give off an aura that I’m cold, and have no feelings, but I sure do…  and I have an extremely thin skin to boot.  So if this friend sees my blog, I’m sure they will know it’s about them, and then maybe they will understand how hurt they made me.  and I have to be honest, it’s gonna take me a bit of time to get past this hurt, because it really and truly hurt me - a lot!

For those of you wondering, I did get my tax refund money - finally!  Yeah!!  Now I’m just waiting for the stupid dealership to deposit my check!!  They were supposed to do it Monday, and they still haven’t.  I hope they don’t jerk me around.

On my eating, I am trying to get more into the flourless-sugarless eating of Plan-D: The Amazing Anti Diet (www.plandee.org for those interested).  I’m not selling it or anything, just sharing.  It sounds like a great plan, and Kama and I are going to hear the author speak at Sprout’s on Thursday.  I’m really looking forward to meeting her and asking her a couple questions.  I hope I can successfully do this change over.    I need something to help me start losing again, as I keep getting stuck.  I’ll lose a pound then gain 3, then lose 2 and gain 1 back and forth and it’s really annoying.  Ah well….   such is life, right?

Well I have a busy weekend ahead, and lord knows what’s going to happen food wise.  My worst part will be a baby shower I have tomorrow lunch time.  Other than that I should be good.  Fingers crossed!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!