The Stroke of Midnight

Nobody in my house stayed up until Midnight except for me. We got home from the restaraunt around 9:30. Tricia made it until about 10:00-10:30ish. Parker was asleep before we even got home. He was dozing off in the restaraunt. Keith said good night at 11:00pm after it was 2006 in New York, so I decided to stay up and watch my new favorite show that I tivoed. It is called Ballroom Bootcamp. It is on TLC. It takes 3 people and teaches them a ballroom dance in 5 weeks. It's great!! I then turned on the Chicago New Years Celebration. Counted down, kissed Keith while he was snoring away and then went and kissed the kids and took these pictures.

Happy New Year little Buddy!!

Happy New Year Babe!!

After that I went to bed and listened to fireworks, neighbors screaming and Keith Snoring!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! HAVE A BLESSED NEW YEAR!! May it be all that you hope it will be. May you reach the goals that you make and have fun while doing it. I know that I would not be where I am today without my relationship with the Lord. I thank God everyday for sending His Son to die for me. I know that he died for me and rose again three days later because of that I will be living eternally in heaven with Him someday. It's the best relationship I have ever had and I cannot wait to have my relationship with the Lord grow stronger this year, in 2006. Have a good one!!

After Golf Dinner

After we went golfing we went out for Mexican. We went to an awesome place called Las Palmas. They had a two man band going from table to table singing. When they came to our table the kids requested Feliz Navidad. They were incredible guitar players and made it really fun for the kids.

Here is Katie and the kids. Katie is their adopted Big Sister and she loves that as she is an only child, so she hangs out with us and gets her kid kicks. Then she remembers why she loves being an only child. :-) She has taught the kids about personal space by telling them that they are in her bubble.
Katie took this picture of Keith and me. AWWWW, aren't we cute?

I brought New Year's Eve cups to dinner where we made a toast. Here's to a wonderful New Year!! Cheers!!

Our New Years Celebration

This New Year's Eve we decided to start our celebration off early taking the kids and their friend Katie out Glow-in-the dark Mini golfing. It was a lot of fun.
This is the hole where Tricia got a hole in one. It was the only one of the night, so she stood up and declared it to the whole place. We were all screaming!!
Here is Keith, Tricia and Parker having fun on the golf course. Mommy had fun blinding them everytime I took a picture.
I told you all I would get my work out on the golf course, well here I am defending my beloved family from a flying dragon. With my quick defenses and a great golf swing I was able to defeat him and get my family to the next hole.

Here are the final results of our golf game:
Keith-53
Melissa-55
Katie-64
Parker-65
Tricia-68

A fun time was had by all.

My Triathon Date

A lot of you have asked if I have picked a Triathlon to do in 2006, so I have decided to post it. The first Triathlon I will be doing is around June 24th, which by the way is my 12th wedding anniversary. It used to be called the Reebok Women's Triathlon in Naperville, Illinois. I will be swimming .46 miles, biking 14.5 miles and running a 5k, which is 3.1 miles. If I am up to it I will be doing a second one around July 8th. It is the Danskin Women's Triathlon in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. For that one I will be swimming 1/2 mile, biking 15 and running a 5k. For all my Triathlete friends reading this, please let me know if you think that is enough time between the two races. I'm not sure that will be enough time for me to recover and get ready for the second one, but that is just the newbie in me. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Later,
Melissa

Last day of 2005

I went to my kickboxing class last night. The class itself was good and I'm going to try it again next week. The only bummer was when we were working on our ABs at the end of class she had us working on a ball and had us stretch out our back. I pulled a muscle. Because of the muscle pull I was not able to go to my regularly scheduled spinning class this morning and weight training. I'm so bummed that it has affected me this way, but I am having a great day with my eating and getting stuff done around the house, so it hasn't turned out so bad afterall. And I will get my workout in when we go glow in the dark miniature golfing later. We will be doing that with the kids and out to eat and turning in early for the night, so we are not asleep at church tomorrow. I'll let you know how the golfing goes. I'm sure I'll get my Heart Rate up. LOL

Have a great New Years Eve celebration. Please be careful out there.

Melissa

Great Workout Day!!

I have to admit and I hate to do it, I gained the holiday 5 pounds. The average American will gain 7 pounds over the holiday season, so I am happy to say that I am below average. :-) I am now back in my grove with working out and eating. I had an AWESOME day yesterday.

I woke up at 5am to head to my spinning class (which is an aerobic workout on a bike) and got there early, clipped in and starting warming up. My instructor was running late, so he got there and got our class on our way. Half way through, he comes up to my bike and says take over Melissa I really gotta go to the bathroom. I freaked out and then took over for one song and I tell you it was a blast. Everyone told him when he got back that I did great. I know now for sure that I will teach a spinning class in the future. After spinning I headed home and got some work done around the house. I then headed back to the gym in the evening to do my weight training and another spinning class was starting, so I jumped on a bike and took another 45 minute class and then did a full body workout with weights. It was awesome. Eating went well too, so yesterday was a very good day for me. Today I am off to a great start and will go to the gym later to try a kickboxing class. I'm excited. I'll let you know how it goes. Later, Melissa

Tricia's new hairdo

Tricia has been growing out her bangs so her hair can be all one length. Her bangs were finally down to her chin. On Tuesday, Dec. 27 she decided it was time to cut her hair, so off we went to get to her haircut. She was hoping that her hair would be long enough to donate to locks of love www.locksoflove.org It has to be 10 inches long and she had 12 inches to donate. This is an organazation that makes wigs for kids who have lost their hair to cancer.


Here Tricia is holding her 12 inches of hair that will make some kid very happy!! She looks so grown up with her new do.
Here's Tricia before her haircut. Look how long her hair had gotten. We cannot wait for it to grow out and be all one length again. It should grow fast.

We had a quiet, but great Christmas. Christmas eve we spent at my brother, Karl's, house. My sister and her 4 kids came, my little brother and his wife and us. It was a good time. Christmas morning we went to church and had a nice lunch out and then a quiet afternoon and evening to ourselves. It was nice just to be at home. I'll post some Christmas pictures soon.

Later,
Melissa

Please Pray

Tuesday night there was an accident outside my kids school. A mom who was leaving a PTO meeting with her kids pulled out of the school's driveway into the path of an oncoming pickup truck. Her 3rd grade son, Brennen, died 45 minutes after the accident happened. He has a 2nd grade sister that was injured and according to the paper was in good condition today. Tricia and Parker do not know the kids, but as you can imagine this has been hard on us to hear especially at this time of year. Please pray for the parents and for Meghan who has lost her big brother. We do not know if there are other kids in the family, but these are the only 2 school age kids. Also, there are kids that go to my preschool as part of the daycare program that were in class with him last year, so this might become an issue at work for me. Thanks for listening and for your prayers for this family at this time. I wanted to blog about some fun stuff, but after hearing this the timing didn't seem right. I'll blog more after Christmas. Thanks for understanding.

Later,
Melissa

King Kong and Spinning

Last night I got to go and see the new movie KING KONG. It was very good, but has some very intense scenes. I definetely wouldn't take my kids to see it. The special effects were awesome!! There were some aspects that I could have done without, but overall very happy with it. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to ruin anything for those of you who do want to go and see it. If you do go and see it please post your thoughts. The movie was over 3 hours long and my brother and I went to an 8:30 show, so we were home late and I didn't get bed until after midnight. I asked my spinning teacher Jeff if he could come to class by 5:15am today to help me with my new clip in shoes. Once I was in bed after the movie I realized I had to keep my appointment with Jeff, so I was up at 4:45 to go to spinning.
I got there at 5:15 right when the gym opened and put on my new shoes. If you have joined my blog recently you might not know that my spinning instructor bought me my shoes when I was really down about working out, weight loss and was ready to throw in the towel. He made me promise to come to class for a week and he would get them for me. This was a while back and he kept his word and I have my new shoes. Clipping in was weird, but AWESOME!! For those of you who don't know, you can buy shoes that clip into your pedals on your bike. It really makes you get more from your workout. It's hard for me to explain. It was pretty easy to catch on to clicking in, had a little trouble getting out and I'm really not sure how I am supposed to do these on a real bike. I'm going to click into my regular bike on grass the first time I do it. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about an awesome compliment my spinning instructor gave to me last week. He told me that the YMCA had an opening for a Spinning Instructor and that I should apply. I thought he was kidding and he said I would be good. I'm not able to becuase of the time of the class and I'm not quite to that level of confidence yet, but I do want to teach a spinning class in the future, so this really encouraged me.
Have a great evening. Melissa

My new workout schedule!!

Here is my new workout schedule.

Sunday-REST

Monday- 9:30-10:30 Swimming
10:30-11:30 Water Aerobics- This ain't your Grandma's Water Aerobics
11:30-12:00pm-private swimming lessons starting in January for 5 weeks

Tuesday- 45 minute spinning class
WORK
Back to gym for weight training

Wednesday-Swimming
Elliptical or Treadmill after pool

Thursday-45 minute Spinning class
WORK
Back to gym for weight training

Friday-Swimming
Bike or Treadmill after pool

Saturday- 90 minute spinning class
Weight Training

I got home on Friday, Dec. 9th. I woke up early the next day a little late and so I did an hour of my 90 minute class and than did some weight training.

Sunday was my day of rest.

Monday. I went to H2O aerobics and than swam a 1/2 mile in 45 minutes which is good for me. That used to take me almost an hour. I was in the pool a total of an hour and a half. I cannot wait to take my private swimming lessons in January. That will really help. I have taught myself how to swim, so I haven't gotten the whole streamline thing down yet. In time. :-)

Tuesday-today- I made it to my spinning class and will get some weight training in tonight at home with some hand weights and my excercise ball. I am unable to get back to gym due to my schedule.

Any comments or advice would be great.
Later,
Melissa

Some more pics

Hi Everyone, Here are some more pics of our trip. We had a blast and I wish I had more time to write. I will keep posting pictures and short notes until I can sit down and really write about the trip. I figured this is better than nothing. It was a great time together. There were no crowds and we made a lot of great memories. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

For those of you in the Tri community. I will be posting my new workout schedule for you to help me tweek and keep me motivated. So far I have kept up with it and I have sore muscles to prove it.

I hope everyone had a great week while I was gone.

Here are the kids playing with their light up toys one night at Magic Kingdom. We were waiting for Grandma, Grandpa and Daddy. This picture turned out so cool. Here we are at the entrance to Magic Kingdom. I love getting our picture taken here. I have a silly tradition that I can only enter the park through the left tunnel. Even though the locker we rented was way over by the right tunnel, I made everyone walk over to the left. It's just something I've done since I was little.

I need to run and get my butt to spinning. Have a blessed day!! Later, Melissa

We made it home!!

Here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment!! Darlene screaming while Parker was driving in Tomorrowland. It was his first time behind the wheel. I will post this one again bigger at a later date. It is too funny!!



The kids acting like Pluto!!

I'm the real Mrs. Incredible!! Check out my muscles!!
Here is the happy fam with the mouse himself. Keith and I didn't realize how big his ears were until we posed for this picture. We kept hitting his ears. Sorry Mickey!!

I'll post more later. I've been crazy since getting home. Talk to you all later. Melissa

YIPEEEEE!

Well, we leave tomorrow for Disney World and I'm finally excited again.

Parker got his clean bill of health yesterday. We do follow up with one more doc today, but everything just disappeared like he was never sick in the first place. I say it's because of all the prayers. :-) Thanks everyone!!

I will try and blog while I am there, but if not I will be back with tons of pictures.

I need to run for now and get the kids to school and me to work and then off to run a million and one errands.

I'm also excited to leave because it is snowing here and cold.

Have a magical week while I am gone.

Melissa

2 days to go!!

Only 2 Days to go!! I'm not as excited as in previous posts because I have so much to do and so little time to do it in. And I don't know why this is underlining my post, oh well! Yesterday was very eventful!! Parker was sick and I ended up taking him to the ER. It ends up that he will fine. He has a viral rash infection. He has a right swollen hand and swollen feet and a rash that appears, disappears and then reappears somewhere else. This is just one of those things that just has to work its way out of him, hopefully quick. :-)

He just woke up and walked all the way downstairs to the basement not complaining about his feet, so I'm hoping the swelling has gone down. He couldn't even wear shoes yesterday. Please pray for him, so he can get healed before our trip. Today we do a follow up visit with the Infectious Diease Doctor. She will be getting some test results back today. I'll keep you all posted.

Because of all this craziness I have not made it to the gym this week and will not be able to make it to Weight Watchers tonight, so I will be back in full swing with a workout plan and eating plan for after the trip. I will be posting the plan and letting you know how it goes. I need to get going now if I'm giong to be ready for my Triathlon in June!! Catch ya later, Melissa

Look at my Cute Colonial Kid!!

Today started Colonial Days in Tricia's Class, so here is my cute little Colonial kid. We found the coat, skirt, apron and shirt and the local GoodWill. She had the long hair and bonnet already.
I love this picture of Tricia. She looks so grown up. Next thing I know I'll be packing her up to head out to college. SIGH!
The pictures taken outside were taken this morning. Yes, that white stuff for those of you who don't know, is called snow and yes, I did make her pose without her jacket so we could see the whole outfit.

Remember how I said this was going to be a goofy day (see post below) and week, well, this morning started off with a bang. I was driving Tricia to the bus stop, which is only about 5 houses down, but it was still snowing and it was cold and she was in her Colonial stuff, so I drove her. Well, I didn't realize that my windows on my car had this thick layer of ice. So I turned on my window wipers and it scraped a little hole for me to try and drive with. I was driving blind. I pulled over 1 house down and scraped a little then drove again. No good. Pulled over 3 houses down, saw the bus in my rearview mirror. Yelled at Tricia, "Get out and run babe." Turned on my flashers, started running with Tricia, yelling for the bus to wait. It was a funny picture, me running after this little colonial kid to the bus, my car parked now 4 houses away with the flashers on. When I got back in the car, I couldn't find my keys. In the craziness of yelling at Tricia I ripped them out of the ignition and throw them towards the passenger seat. I'm just thankful I didn't lock the door. :-) So that my friends is my goofy morning. I just hope this day gets better.

Your Goofy Friend,
Melissa

It's going to be a goofy week!!

I'm wirting to tell you only three days until we leave for, you guessed it, Disney World. I'm a little less excited today because Parker ended up really sick last night. Keith is on a business trip all week, so I have to call off work to take care of my little man. I have so much to do before Friday, so I figured I could get stressed or just look at it as a goofy situation, so that is what I decided to do. You can never go on a family vacation without something happening before you go.
I know that Parker will be fine, I'll get everything packed and will let out a BIG 'OL sigh as soon as the plane is in the air, but until then I am just going to roll with the punches and laugh like goofy!! :-)

Have a goofy kind of day!
Melissa

A Man and His Mouse!!

We only have 4 days to go until our trip. I don't know if you can really understand just how excited I am. :-) This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Walt Disney. I hope you enjoy it!!

I also wanted to let you know that my buddy Chris left for Iraq at 2:30am this morning. This is his second time going. He will be there 12-14 months. Please pray for him, his wife, Melissa and their kids Blake, Destiney, and Mason. When the war started I went to a great website www.operationmilitarypride.org and requested a soldier to support. I was given Chris' name and the rest is history. He is like a brother to me now. I know longer say he's this guy I met on the internet. He is my friend.

We called and talked to him last night, which was good, but I cried after I hung up. This whole war thing just stinks. When you talk to Chris though he was ready to get back and do his job. He doesn't like the whole leaving the family part, but he was eager to get back and help finish what was started. That's very admirable to me because if it were me, I definitely wouldn't want to head there especially a second time.

As the war goes on it seems that support for our troops isn't as big as it was at the beginning. Just like Hurricane Katrina Relief. It seems everyone gets all gung ho at the beginning, but as time marches on so do people's lives. Please reach inside yourself and see what you are doing to support our men and women overseas and the victims or Hurricane Katrina. Is there something more you could be doing? The one thing that soldiers have told me over and over again is that the letters mean more than any care package sent, so if you think that you have to make a big deal to support a soldier it's not. Letters and cards are most welcome.

Just some thoughts to ponder.
Melissa

Good Morning!!

It is 12:04am and I am still up, so guess what that means? Only 5 days until I leave for Walt Disney World.

I would like to take this moment to salute Walt Disney for being the creative genius that he was and for creating Disneyland( which I went to a lot as a kid and where my love of Disney began) and for creating Walt Disney World. I would like to salute him for dreaming BIG and making those dreams a reality. I know this is sappy, but I really do admire the man behind the mouse. I'm tired, so I'm going to stop blogging before I make a complete fool of myself. I know it's too late I already have. :-) Good night!!

Thanksgiving Day

This is Dar and I reinacting our morning Turkey Trots. We are really doing well with our new lifestyles. Like I have said in the past we have been eating buddies and now we are getting healthy buddies. We still eat together, but we eat the right stuff now.
Here we are sporting our Turkey Trot shirts. I'm so excited because I can wear an XL now. No more XXL for me. Her hoodie is way cool!!
We went to Darlene's house for Dinner. Seated at the end of the table is Dar's Dad, Bob. On his right is Keith, Dar's Grandma, Tricia, Dar, Parker, Dar's Uncle Joe and Dar's Mom.
We had a great time eating, but more importantly spending time together. The food was great, but the company was greater.

Things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

1. My relationship with God
2. My Family
3. My Friends
4. My new healthy lifestyle
5. Being my kids role models
6. Having the best husband in the world
7. My kids at Church that I work with
8. Laughter
9. My friends and support at the YMCA
10. The country that I live in and my freedoms. Thanks to all you military men and women.
11. That I leave for DisneyWorld in 6 days. :-)

I have so much more that I am thankful for, but that is list for today. Have a blessed day and if you get stressed concentrate on what you are thankful for and the good things in your life.

Walt Disney World Here We Come!!

YIPEEEEE!!! We are on our way to Florida to Walt Disney World. One week from today!! I'm so excited. We've got all our days planned out and all our reservations made. I can hardly wait! My best buddy Darlene is coming with us. We have been friends for 20 years for those of you who don't know that. She went with us on our last trip there too. It's a lot of fun and a great benefit for me. My husband Keith will do something with the kids so I can go out with Dar and then Dar watches the kids so I can go out with Keith. I offered to watch the kids so they could go out, but they didn't take me up on the offer. :-)

Also, Keith and I have friends that are our kids adopted Grandparents. It is there timeshare that we use when they go, so I asked them if they could go with us this time and it worked out. We are so excited that they are coming too. Now we not only have Auntie DarDar to help with the kids, we also have Grandma Anne and Grandpa Jim. :-)

I'm not sure I will be able to blog while we are there. I'm trying to convince hubby to take his laptop, but don't you worry at all. I will be blogging with tons of pics when I get home. Last time I went pre digital camera I took so many rolls of film. Just think of how many more I can take now that I have my digital with my huge memory stick. I can't wait. So many pictures to take so little time. :-) Dar, remember I can't have anyone in the background even at Disney World. :-)

I need to go help my daughter finish cleaning our hamster cage. You don't want to know.

Later,
Melissa

Black Friday

I went out on Black Friday. I went to Target, Staples, Menards and Walgreens.

Last night Keith and I were driving home from our Thanksgiving Day. We drove by a Best Buy and a Walmart at 11pm and there were already people in line. It was freezing out. I cannot imagine how cold that must have been all night.

I looked over the ads and my list and decided I would run to Target. They had something that somebody in my family really, really wants, so I knew I had to go. I was in and out of there in 10 minutes.

I ran to Staples next for Keith to pick up a few items. The line at Staples was way longer than the Target line, so even though I got in there only 13 minutes after they opened I couldn't get anything I wanted. They were ticketed items and they handed out tickets to people while they were in line. I looked for a few minutes and then left. Sorry Keith.

Next it was on to Menards. I just wanted one thing. Of course they were out, so I went looking around the store to see what other deals I could find. None worth waiting in the insane line. One lady had what I wanted, so I asked her where she got it. She was willing to give me one, but I couldn't justify standing in the long line for over an hour for one thing. She offered to give me cuts, but I told her I couldn't do that to the people behind her. She looked surprised, so I decided to pass it up. Sorry Keith again.

Next I was off to Walgreens. I got there about 5 minutes after they opened. I got everything I wanted and Keith wanted. YEAHHHHH!! The most important store I needed to go to was Target and I was very successful there, so going out early was well worth it to me.

If any of you went out and faced the crowds please tell me your stories. Did anyone get a laptop for $199 from Best Buy? Afterall, there were 10 per store. Fine print stated that you had to sign up for AOL for a year to get the deal and even finer print said 10 per store. Can you imagine? Anyway, please comment with Black Friday Stories.

I'm off to take a nap!!
Melissa

My Turkey Trot 5K

Here is me waiting for the 5K tobegin. It was 15 degrees out with a windchill of -2 degrees. I wasn't sure I should go through with it, but I did and I am so happy I did. Only about 15-20 people showed up.
Keith and the kids met me there to see me finish the race. Parker was too cold, so he waited for me in the car. Tricia and Keith met me on the trail. The pictue below is of Tricia and I hiking up the last hill and the middle picture is of Tricia and I crossing the finish line.
My personal best for a 5k is 50:53 seconds, which I didn't beat this time. I had back problems leading up to this and wasn't even sure as of this past Tuesday if I was going to be able to do my 5k. It was very windy and a very hilly course, so I finished in 52:40 seconds. Not to bad.

Darlene was doing a race today as well. She did a 4 mile course in 55:00. Let's all give her a WAAAAHOOOO!! YOU GO GIRL.

Well, we are off to Dar's for Thanksgiving Dinner. Have a blessed day with the ones you love.

Lots of Love and Turkey,
Melissa

Tricia's Birthday

Things have been crazy for the month of October and they are still busy. We are getting ready for Tricia's 8th birthday party on Saturday. We are having a Mad Scientist party. The kids each get their own googles. We will be painting a Volcano to explode at the end of the party, making their own slime to take home, we have a Frankenstein ring toss, an eyeball pinata, and they got to put flavored sugar in test tubes for them to take home. We also bought one of those Electric Balls where they put their hand on it and the electricity follows their hand. They also get a Frankenstein cup with a lid and straw to drink out of and they are eating off of eyeball plates. I'm not sure all the food we will be having, but one thing will be a brain made out of Jello. It will be cool. I will probably blog at the beginning of the week with pictures. Have a great weekend. Take some time for yourself and remember you are too blessed to be stressed.

Take care,
Melissa

Halloween Night

Here we are in our Halloween get ups. Tricia was a fly, Parker a Black Widow Spider and I was a Bug Exterminator. My tool belt had fly swatters, Raid, and a net in it. It was really fun to make the costumes and we got a lot of great responses.
Here is my little fly girl!! She had a lot of fun buzzing around the neighborhood.
My eight legged little man. Parker had fun with his arms because they were attached with fishing line, so when he moved his arm all the arms moved at the same time. He liked doing Black Widow Karate. He put on his outfit the Friday before Halloween for a party at the YMCA and said, "I am Black Widow man ready to fight crime." He started doing all this Karate stuff and flying around. I envisioned his costume falling apart before Halloween even arrived, so I told him, "Black Widow man can fight crime on November 1st." He understood and Black Widow Karate was only practiced a little bit here and there.
Do I even need to caption this picture? It was a creepy crawly kind of night. Hope you enjoyed this pictures. I would love to hear what you were for Halloween or see pictures of the kids.

Have a great day.
Melissa

An Eye Poppin' Breakfast

Today is Halloween and we had an Eye Poppin' experience at breakfast. Thanks to some white doughnut holes and some raisin's we had some real fun. Here is Tricia yanking her eyes out.
We decided that Daddy looked the best like they really were his eyes. Eeeewwwww Gross!! Put your eyes back in their sockets.
Our next little eye popper is Parker. He's got his eye on you!!
My eyeballs were itching, so I decided to take them out and massage them and then put them back in. They are all better now!! I'm sure you were concerned.

We are having a fun day. I just got back from my preschool party and am off to two more parties this afternoon. I'll post some more Halloween pictures later.

Have a great day with your little ghouls and bats.
Happy Halloween.
Melissa

A 5K Kind of Day

This is my friend Jean, who finished 1st in her age category. She finished the race and then went out to the people at the end and was their cheerleader. She walked with me the last part of my race. She really gave me the boost I needed to finish and was so encouraging in my journey. Thanks Jean for being there for me today and helping me reach the goal of getting my best personal time. :-)
Here is me waiting for the race to start. I was cold to begin with, but by the end of the race I had no ear muffs on and no gloves on. I could start to understand why some of the runners were in shorts and tiny shirts. They knew they would get warm during the race. I was very excited at this point to start the race, but also nervous. My goal was not to be last place and to get my best time ever.

Here is me crossing the finish line. The clock says 50:53, but my official time was 50:54. It must have been changing right as the picture was taken. I actually ran the last short distance and everyone was cheering for me. It felt great. Some people passed me on the course, so I gave them my camera and asked them to take a picture of me at the finish line. I'm so glad I asked because I would not have a picture of me at this point. I would have rather had a picture from the front, but I like that you can see the clock in this one. Someone else took a picture of me from the front that I will hopefully get a copy of. I came in 53rd out of 60 woman. I was 13th out of the 13 woman in my age category and my official time was 50:54.

I will write more tomorrow and share more pictures when I am not soooooo tired. I had a busy day after getting home and need to get to bed.

Blog more later,
Happy Halloween.
Melissa

I forgot to mention that my pumpkin won first place. I won a nice wine basket. :-)

Ready to go

Well, it's the day of my 5K and I'm getting ready to go. They encouraged people to run in costumes, so I've got a shirt that says, THIS IS MY COSTUME. That's about as creative as I'm going to get. It's hard enough for me to run in regular clothes let alone a costume. My contribution to the Halloween aspect of the race is my pumpkin.

I'm really nervous about this for some reason. I even had a nightmare that I missed the 5K because I was playing with the kids and in my dream I became a hysterical mess. Geeez, you would think I was running the Boston Marathon or something. Anyway, I need to finish getting ready. I'm sure I'll be fine.

I'll let you know how it goes.
Later Gators,
Melissa

My 5K Pumpkin

Hi Everyone, tomorrow is my 5K. I'm excited yet nervous at the same time. It has been awhile since I have done one, but I am in the best shape of my life, so I know it will go well.

The charity that is sponsoring the event is called CASA. It stands for Court Apointed Special Advocates for Children. They are having halloween costume contests and pumpkin decorating contests. This is the pumpkin that I painted for the contest. I just finished it. I am very proud of my work. Even if I don't win the contest it was fun coming up with the design and painting it.

I will let you know how my 5K goes and how my Pumpkin does in its own competition. Keep me in your prayers as I have not been feeling the greatest the last couple of days. Thanks for all your prayers and support through my journey to becoming a fitter me. :-) I appreciate it.

Blog more later,
Melissa

Just signed up for . . . .

a 5k run on October 30, 2005 in Bolingbrook, IL. A 5k for those of you who do not know is a 3.1 mile run/walk. I will be doing a slog (a combination of the words slow and jog). Please be praying for me. I haven't been able to get to the gym for a few days, so we will see how it goes. I also want to see if I can do a 5k around Thanksgiving. If I do that I can try and beat whatever time I get this Sunday.

Please be praying for me.
Blog more later,
Melissa

Before and After

A lot of you have asked to see my before and after pictures of THE HAIR, so here it is.

Wow, now that was a head full of hair. For those of you who don't know, I'm donating the hair to locks of love. Some kid is going to have a lot of hair. :-)

This is the after shot. I LOOOOOOVE it and felt so much better. It felt weird for a couple of days not having hair on the back of my neck.

I'm keeping my hair this way from now on, so I hope you all like it.

Take care,
Melissa

I Fit!!!

I just went to Six Flags Great America last night. My best buddy Dar took me there for my birthday present. They are having their Halloween Celebration, so there was a bunch of scary decorations and guys walking around. I don't usually do well with scary, but no one was jumping out at us and no one was chasing us.

The exciting news is that I am 40 pounds lighter then the last time I went. Last time I couldn't fit on most of the rollar coasters and it was very discouraging for me. This time there was only one that I couldn't fit on. It was so exciting and made me realize how far I have come. That's what I kept saying to Dar all night, "Dar, we've come a loooong way." We used to be eating buddies now we are excerising, getting healthy buddies. Sometimes we just crack up when we are all excited and talking about the gym. I'm so proud of both of us and how far we've come on our journey. It will be exciting to see where we go from here.

Anyway, just wanted to tell you how exciting it was to finally fit on rides again. I cannot wait to get back to DisneyWorld. I could fit on everything, but not comfortably last time. It will be great!!

Gotta get the kids to soccer.
As excited as ever and ready to lose some more weight,
Melissa

Look at Me!!

Hello, I forgot to write in my last blog about going to my Grammy's 90th birthday bash. My Grandma Maggie turned 90 today. We had a party for her this past Sunday. A lot of my relatives had not seem me for years, so they were so proud of me and very complimentary. Here are some picutres that my Step Mom Patty took of me. I have lost 40 pounds to date on the way to my goal of 100 pounds lost. Thanks for all the encouragement and support that you have all given during my journey. I could not have done it without you.

Much love,
Melissa

Biker Babe

Here I am on my new bike. I got my bike on October 14, 2005. It was the day after my birthday. I was like a little kid all day waiting for Christmas. I went riding about 10 miles the day I got it. I rode 10 miles this past Monday and Tuesday. I had to take a break on Wednesday because I was not feeling well and went to spinning today because I knew I would be too cold out on the road.

Riding has been great. They just finished a bunch of trails around here that all kind of connect. I have just begun figuring them all out. I have really taken this time to focus on God's glory in nature. This actually takes the focus off of the ride a lot of times. There are times on my rides that I pray a lot more than I used to. For instance, going up a good size hill for me. I start praying, "Lord, please help me, Lord please help me." It's amazing how he helps me up the hill. So far, I've only had to get off my bike twice in 30 miles of riding and that's only because I'm still learning when I should change gears. :-) I can definetly tell that spinning has paid off. I would have been history on the little hills had I not been building leg muscle in spinning.

I need to get back in the gym to keep up with my swimming lessons and weight training. I have only had one swimming lesson. My teacher, Buzz, is being a wonderful man and fitting me in when he can since I can't afford private lessons right now. I need to make sure that I get in and get my laps in. I'm setting up a new schedule this week to start next week. Getting my bike really through everything else in a loop. I kind of threw everything else to the wind, but it has been worth it.

Tomorrow is my birthday outing with my best girlfriend, Darlene. This fall marked our 20th anniversary of being friends. Pretty awesome. She won't tell me what we are doing, but I'm so excited regardless. I need to get to bed, so I'm not dead tired.

I'm really excited about how things are going that I have adopted a new quote.

"I now only have good days and great days." -Lance Armstrong

Blog more later,
Melissa

Workouts going great!!

My workouts have been going great this week. The only day I didn't go was on Tuesday after being sick. Tomorrow I head out for a 90 minute spinning class and then the kids and I will be in the Barrington Homecoming Parade to represent our churches AWANA program. That will be a lot of fun. We get to throw candy at people. :-) The weather here is going to be in the 80's tomorrow, so maybe we will take the boat out.

Along the lines of working out I wanted to let you know that I will be doing a 5K in October and November. The best time I have ever had on a 5K is about 52 minutes. I always have to walk most of it. I'm excited to see how I do. I think the first one I will be doing is on October 16th. I will get back to you on that. If anyone wants to do it with me let me know. It will be fun.

I need to get going. I get together with friends from church for a bible study. Tonight we are having a bonfire at one of the families houses. It will be fun and the weather will be perfect.

Blog more later,
Melissa

I was SO sick. How sick were you?

I was so sick I had to call and get a ride home from the YMCA, but let me start at the beginning.

Yesterday, Monday, I went to the YMCA at 5:30 in the morning to take a spinning class. I felt great after the class and went home. I got the kids off to school and spent the morning cleaning around the house. Next I went to see my Grandma who will be 90 years old on October 20. I visited her for most of the afternoon and left her house around 4pm. On the way home my stomach started hurting. I called Keith to tell him I had to stop by the bike shop on the way home and then I'd come straight home.

I got to the bike shop. My stomach was really hurting at this point, but I didn't let it stop my enjoyment of my bike shop stop. I got to see my bike and say hi. The reason for the trip was to get fitted for my bike to make sure it was the right size and it is. :-) I made another payment and left the bike shop around 5:10 and got home around 5:30. My stomach was really hurting, but I was trying not to think about it.

Keith was making dinner and I had a personal training appointment at the YMCA to start a weight training program. I told Keith at dinner that I should call and cancel because I was sick, but that I felt bad because the Monday before I had forgotten about my appointment with the same personal trainer, so I decided to go. I told Tony that I was not feeling well and he said, "let's just do what we can." About a half hour into the training I was really bad. I just had him show me the last two excersises instead of me doing them. Then I asked him if I could sit in the office. I was doubled over while he was making a copy of a paper for me. I started crying and realizing that there was absolutely no way I could drive home from the Y. I called Karl and Sara because I knew at this point Keith was getting the kids to bed. They came to my rescue. Sara drove my van home and Karl drove me home. I could barely stand up straight at this time. I called my boss to tell her I couldn't make it to work and then crawled up the stairs and went to bed. It hurt even to roll over. I thought I was daying. I even told Keith at one point that I would rather be having a baby. :-) Now that I'm not feeling that bad I'm not sure that that's the case anymore. :-)

I went to work this morning, but went home early. Then I went home and slept from 11:00-3:45pm. I still cannot figure out what was wrong with me. I did go to AWANA tonight and am now heading off to bed.

I will be going to the gym tomorrow night for spinning and then home to bed. Please pray that I don't get sick. I really don't have the time for it right now, but then again who does.

Blog more later,
Melissa

Don't have a heart attack, I'm back!!

Hello everyone!! Everyone has been asking me to start blogging again, so here I am. Part of the reason I haven't been blogging is because I have been insanely busy since getting back from camp, but to be perfectly honest that is not the only reason. I have had a setback since getting back from camp. I have basically stayed the same weight since getting home without losing any. I have been up and down a few pounds since getting home. I have been getting to the gym, but not as regularly as I had hoped and my eating has been a little off since getting home. Part of this has to do with the busyness in my life, new job, kids back to school and AWANA starting, but those were starting to become excuses. This past week and this morning I got the excitement back that I have been missing.

This past Thursday I decided to do a little shopping for a bike for my Triathlon, which I am still planning on doing. I was just going to look and price things. I went to one shop where the Manager, a lady, was not that friendly, not that helpful and when I told her what I was looking for in a bike made a comment that kinda hurt my feelings. When you do a Triathlon normally you would want a ROAD bike. That's a bike that you would only take on the road and not on any trails. If I wanted to ride on any of the trails around here I would need a second bike because you could ruin the tires on your ROAD bike. That sounded like a lot of money and space in my garage. I did my research and found out that their are HYBRID bikes that are made for going on trails or the road.

I told the lady that I wanted a bike that I could use in a Triathlon and also that I could ride on the trails and she said, "Why do you want a hybrid that's what an old couple rides around their subdivision. You want a road bike." I asked her what if I want to ride on the trails and she said to buy a second bike. I was asking her about cycling shoes and she got someone else to help me. (These are cool shoes. They click into your pedals so you are locked into your bike and use more of your leg power and have a better ride. I am a little afraid to click into a bike. I envision myself clicking in and falling right over. The shoes ended up being more than I could afford for now.) I also asked her to fit me for a bike, so I could know what size frame I should be buying. I told her I wanted to be sized, but not buy a bike today. She got really huffy and said, "If your thinking of buying used good luck. You never know what you are going to get." I explained to her that I was new to the sport and not sure if I was ever going to do another Triathlon, so I wasn't sure what route I was going to go and just wanted to know what size frame I needed. She eyeballed me and said a 17 1/2. There is actually a device that is used to measure what size you are, but I never even saw that. She told me if I bought a bike they would size me. The guy that helped me with looking and trying on shoes was very helpful, but I had already decided to take my business elsewhere. I feel that if I was thinner I would have gotten better help.

I went to another bike store and the gentleman was very helpful. I told him how I was treated at the other store and he knew exactly where I had gone. He says she loses a lot of customers and also employees. Some of her employees have come to work for him. I explained to him that I was doing my first triathlon and wanted a bike that I could do my Triathlon with and still ride on the trails with my family because I couldn't afford a road bike and a second bike. He told me that he had the perfect bike for me. It is a hybrid, but it is made more like a ROAD bike. It was awesome. It is a 2005 bike and they are making room for their 2006 line, so I got $100 off and I'm making payments, so I will physically have my bike by Oct. 20th. I'll still have time to ride before it gets too cold. Also, his store carried some NIKE biking shirts that fit, which is very exciting because it is hard to find workout clothes in my size. Here is a link to check out my new bike. I'm so excited. http://www2.trekbikes.com/en/Bikes/City_Bike_Path/Hybrid/FX/7500_FX_S/index.php

The next bit of encouragement came this morning. I had just finished my 1 hour 1/2 spinning class. For those of you who might not know a spinning class is like an aerobics class, but on a stationary bike. I didn't spin around in circles for an hour and a half. I told Jeff, my instructor about my bike and he encouraged me to get the shoes you clip into the pedals. I told him I couldn't afford them for now because of the bike. What's cool is I can clip these shoes into the spinning bike during the winter and get used to riding with them and then transition to using thme on my bike in the spring. Sorry, back to the point. . .

I've been part of a contest at the gym for losing weight and was ready to quit today. This guy I know that works at the gym told me not to quit, but come weigh-in and see how I did. It didn't go well and I got upset. I was even crying. I told him I couldn't be a slave to the scale anymore and needed to drop out. At this point my spinning instructor walked in and was very encouraging. He told me not to drop out, but to weigh-in tomorrow and to weigh-in before I work out and gave me great advice. He also told me to keep me motivated he would buy me my clip in shoes this week as long as I came to the gym tomorrow and Monday. I tried to tell him NO, but he told me his wife wouldn't care and he had the money and he wanted to do it. He told me that he knows how motivated I am and how far I've come. He said he doesn't want me to lose my momentum. Then I started crying from gratitude. These two guys are going to probably run the other direction when they see me coming next time. :-) This is the boost I needed in my morale. I'm pumped up again and ready to go.

Next step is swimming lessons. I will be signing up for those soon and will keep you posted. Well, it feels good to be blogging again. Thanks for your patience and understanding. It was hard for me to be so honest on here today, but knew that I had to be to get going again.

Blog more later,
Melissa

Life has been crazy

Well, I'm back and will be blogging on a regular basis again. I'm really starting to figure out this whole Triathlon thing and I will be starting to blog about my process. I'm really excited about this adventure and have met some great people in the process. I will be starting private swimming lessons in September at the YMCA. I have never really had formal lessons. My teacher's name is Buzz and he does Triathlons and helps people train for Triathlons all the time. I will start out with 5 lessons and then see where I go from there. He says he will have me set by the time the triathlon comes around. Should be good. I need to run for now. Blog more later, Melissa.