I work with a interesting bunch of folks, one of which is Bobby. Bobby's my age, actually 3 months younger, is the Teen Director and a bachelor. He enjoys that life, or claims to. Eats take out like a champ, favorite foods include anything fried & hates exercise. He hasn't been to the doctor in over 3 years that is until recently. He decided to go since he'd had weird pains in his chest. He wasn't alarmed but figured he should get them checked. Doc sent him for a stress test, which he beautifully failed and was admitted to the hospital for more tests and observation. This led to an angioplasty and that has now turned into a triple bypass.
I've spoken to him a few times since he went into the hospital and his great sense of humor and optimism hasn't wavered a bit. Today was surgery day and we are waiting to hear word on how he is doing. Best case scenario he will be in the hospital for a week, followed by 8-10 weeks recovery. The Y won't be the same without him and I worry about the Teen program, but more so about him.
So here's to Bobby, a healthy new start, and hopefully a speedy recovery!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
2007 Year in Review
Well I did this post about a week or so ago but apparently I did something wrong and it's disappeared into the world wide web. So we give it a second try and hopefully this will post correctly.
2007 was a great year. Many exciting things happened. We won't dwell on the bad and focus on what went right.
Allen had a huge milestone as he graduated from NECC with a degree in Early Education. Did I mention he graduated with high honors? He starts classes at Fitchburg in a couple of week to complete his Bachelors degree. So proud of you, hon!
We had a bunch of big birthdays. I turned 35 but we won't dwell on that. Alex is now 5, I can't believe it. Rachel is 3 again more disbelief.
We had a phenomenal vacation in Walt Disney World. Rachel met Cinderella and was mesmerized. Alex, who claimed to have no interest in Princesses, was awe struck and received his first kiss from Snow White. The weather was wonderful, the food great, the memories precious. Can't wait to go back.
Dad and Lyn got married and our family grew. It was a fantastic wedding, a ton of fun, and my feet hurt for days from the dancing.
Speaking of weddings, Megan & Jake got married and now have a baby on the way. Don and Gennifer also welcomed their first baby, Alyxis.
More babies, Renee is expecting her first and Amy her second. Looking forward to the spring when we have all the new ones around.
Alex started Kindergarten at St. Monica's. We've had 4 months under our belts now and are getting the hang of things. Alex is doing great, he's getting smarter, didn't think that was possible. Now if only we could get him to sit still.
Rachel has some sort of fish gene in her. She swims like a pro. Her teacher, the famous Ms. Claudia, said she will be swimming in no time without a bubble, just needs a little more strength.
Both the kids played various sports throughout the year, basketball, baseball, soccer and now we are back to basketball.
We spent a few great long weekends up North enjoying the "Mountain House".
Wrap it all up with a great and tasty Thanksgiving followed by a joyous and fun filled Christmas and you have quite the year.
Looking forward to 2008!
2007 was a great year. Many exciting things happened. We won't dwell on the bad and focus on what went right.
Allen had a huge milestone as he graduated from NECC with a degree in Early Education. Did I mention he graduated with high honors? He starts classes at Fitchburg in a couple of week to complete his Bachelors degree. So proud of you, hon!
We had a bunch of big birthdays. I turned 35 but we won't dwell on that. Alex is now 5, I can't believe it. Rachel is 3 again more disbelief.
We had a phenomenal vacation in Walt Disney World. Rachel met Cinderella and was mesmerized. Alex, who claimed to have no interest in Princesses, was awe struck and received his first kiss from Snow White. The weather was wonderful, the food great, the memories precious. Can't wait to go back.
Dad and Lyn got married and our family grew. It was a fantastic wedding, a ton of fun, and my feet hurt for days from the dancing.
Speaking of weddings, Megan & Jake got married and now have a baby on the way. Don and Gennifer also welcomed their first baby, Alyxis.
More babies, Renee is expecting her first and Amy her second. Looking forward to the spring when we have all the new ones around.
Alex started Kindergarten at St. Monica's. We've had 4 months under our belts now and are getting the hang of things. Alex is doing great, he's getting smarter, didn't think that was possible. Now if only we could get him to sit still.
Rachel has some sort of fish gene in her. She swims like a pro. Her teacher, the famous Ms. Claudia, said she will be swimming in no time without a bubble, just needs a little more strength.
Both the kids played various sports throughout the year, basketball, baseball, soccer and now we are back to basketball.
We spent a few great long weekends up North enjoying the "Mountain House".
Wrap it all up with a great and tasty Thanksgiving followed by a joyous and fun filled Christmas and you have quite the year.
Looking forward to 2008!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Christmas 2007
So Christmas 2007 has come and gone. Overall Santa was very good to all of us so I assume we made the Nice list. Alex received his 3 items that he asked Santa for, Diego movie, paratroopers and the infamous Bumblebee Transformer. Rachel was very excited to get dress up clothes, a Dora movie and her Hello Kitty piggy bank. Santa also threw in some other small items that he knew they would enjoy. Anyone asks him what Alex got for Christmas what do you think he tells them? The Transformer I nearly went to the ends of the earth trying to find, the season pass to Water Country that Auntie Veronica & Uncle Darren got him? How about the computer game, paratrooper, board games any of those? Nope he tells them he got a Spongebob Electric toothbrush. Yup a $4.88 Crest Spinbrush. Gotta love kids!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Let the shopping begin!
We have a rule in this house, we call it Santa's rule. Kids can only have 3 things on their Christmas list so make them count. For the last few years Alex has had the same thing, Thomas the Train wooden train set. Santa finally came through last year and brought it and the thing sits in a tote. This year Alex is going small, paratroppers, Tranformers and a movie. Easy enough or so I thought. See there is one particular Transformer he wants, Bumblebee. And it has to be the kind that actually converts in to the car. It's a whopping $9.99. Do you think I can find the thing?
It started out innocently enough. I was in the new Methuen Target, alone for once, and wandered by the toy aisle. Figured I'd take a peek. There was another Mom frantically going through all the hooks. As I started she asked if I was looking for a particular one. Yup, Bumblebee. She laughed, good luck. Instant panic. There were none. I went to Toys R Us. Again everything but. I asked a clerk. Nope haven't gotten any in in the last 2 shipments either. K B same thing. Salem Target zilch. Back to the house to check the internet. Again nothing. All out of stock.
One last resort...E Bay. This $9.99 toy may end up costing as much as Thomas the train set. Well I won't resort to that but it looks like the cheap list just got a lot more expensive.
It started out innocently enough. I was in the new Methuen Target, alone for once, and wandered by the toy aisle. Figured I'd take a peek. There was another Mom frantically going through all the hooks. As I started she asked if I was looking for a particular one. Yup, Bumblebee. She laughed, good luck. Instant panic. There were none. I went to Toys R Us. Again everything but. I asked a clerk. Nope haven't gotten any in in the last 2 shipments either. K B same thing. Salem Target zilch. Back to the house to check the internet. Again nothing. All out of stock.
One last resort...E Bay. This $9.99 toy may end up costing as much as Thomas the train set. Well I won't resort to that but it looks like the cheap list just got a lot more expensive.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The Progress Report
My yearly calendar is full of the usual stuff, family dates, appointments, work schedules, vacations and St. Monica's info. One date in particular we were looking forward to was October 19-Progress Reports. Alex's very first and more proof that our son is brilliant. It was very official looking in a brown envelope with his name and date. I couldn't wait so I opened it in the Y parking lot.
Comments like knows all his upper and lower case letters, working on soft and hard vowels, reading at level, excellent language skills. Yep I knew it, stand out in his class. Wait a minute......Needs improvement! Apparently the little guy has ants in his pants. To boot he's a chatter box. All the academics stuff is at level or better and the behavior stuff is all needs improvement. Now thinking back I do remember getting most talkative in my class so that may have been passed down to him. Hmmmm....after speaking with Gail I find out Allen had all the same issues when he was little, the ants in the pants part. I guess the apple really doesn't fall to far from the tree. I guess it's better than needs improvement on the academics and at level for the behavior. He'll just be a social rocket scientist or doctor!
Comments like knows all his upper and lower case letters, working on soft and hard vowels, reading at level, excellent language skills. Yep I knew it, stand out in his class. Wait a minute......Needs improvement! Apparently the little guy has ants in his pants. To boot he's a chatter box. All the academics stuff is at level or better and the behavior stuff is all needs improvement. Now thinking back I do remember getting most talkative in my class so that may have been passed down to him. Hmmmm....after speaking with Gail I find out Allen had all the same issues when he was little, the ants in the pants part. I guess the apple really doesn't fall to far from the tree. I guess it's better than needs improvement on the academics and at level for the behavior. He'll just be a social rocket scientist or doctor!
Monday, October 8, 2007
The hike that turned into a mountain climb
We've been lucky enough to be able to go up the mountains a few times over the last couple of months. We headed up for 4 days this past weekend with the intention of some relaxation as well as some fun with the kids. One of the things we have not done that we keep telling the kids we'd do is take a hike. I met up with my friend, Gale, who lives in Thornton, Friday night and she told me of a few hikes that would work with the kids. One in particular sounded nice, easy and we'd get to see some waterfalls.
Sunday mid-morning we headed out to Waterville to hike the Cascade Trail. our hopes were almost dashed when we ran into the 5K Waterville run and were told we couldn't get to where we needed to go. We managed to find another way in, parked the car and headed to the trail marker. Low and behold about ten feet in we end up in someone's yard. Hmmm...this doesn't seem right. Whip out the book to check it out when the guy yells down from his porch the trail head is now at the top of the hill since the construction of new homes. No problem hike up the hill, beginning to have second thoughts now, already had to take off the sweatshirt and I'm out of breath. Find the trail head and refer back to the book. Wide, logged trail leads into wooded trail, yadi yada so forth and so on. Looks good we start climbing/hiking. After a while Allen and I are looking at each other. The guide says this is an easy hike. Easy for who? Another 20 minutes later we're done. We have now climbed about 80% of Mt. Snow going up the ski trail. Back to the guide....hmmm..says there is a trail marker. Must have missed that. Feel like we're on the Amazing Race looking for one of the those stupid yellow and red flags.
Back down about 75% and oh look at that a small brown sign next to a brown tree says Cascade Trail. I realize they are trying to preserve nature but come on brown? This looks more like it. Wooded, yellow trail markers here and there, come out to a clearing and everything is roped off. Trees are partially uprooted and apparently the stupid trail is closed. Are you kidding me? Tell the kids we can't see the waterfalls which leads to tears. Well you didn't get to go on a hike but you did get to climb a mountain. If we hurry we can get home in time for football! Besides I'm pooped! Oh well there's always next year, on the bright side the view from Mt.Snow was beautiful!
Sunday mid-morning we headed out to Waterville to hike the Cascade Trail. our hopes were almost dashed when we ran into the 5K Waterville run and were told we couldn't get to where we needed to go. We managed to find another way in, parked the car and headed to the trail marker. Low and behold about ten feet in we end up in someone's yard. Hmmm...this doesn't seem right. Whip out the book to check it out when the guy yells down from his porch the trail head is now at the top of the hill since the construction of new homes. No problem hike up the hill, beginning to have second thoughts now, already had to take off the sweatshirt and I'm out of breath. Find the trail head and refer back to the book. Wide, logged trail leads into wooded trail, yadi yada so forth and so on. Looks good we start climbing/hiking. After a while Allen and I are looking at each other. The guide says this is an easy hike. Easy for who? Another 20 minutes later we're done. We have now climbed about 80% of Mt. Snow going up the ski trail. Back to the guide....hmmm..says there is a trail marker. Must have missed that. Feel like we're on the Amazing Race looking for one of the those stupid yellow and red flags.
Back down about 75% and oh look at that a small brown sign next to a brown tree says Cascade Trail. I realize they are trying to preserve nature but come on brown? This looks more like it. Wooded, yellow trail markers here and there, come out to a clearing and everything is roped off. Trees are partially uprooted and apparently the stupid trail is closed. Are you kidding me? Tell the kids we can't see the waterfalls which leads to tears. Well you didn't get to go on a hike but you did get to climb a mountain. If we hurry we can get home in time for football! Besides I'm pooped! Oh well there's always next year, on the bright side the view from Mt.Snow was beautiful!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Fall......my favorite time of the year
Ah Fall, so many reasons to love this time of the year. Kids head back to school, apple picking, the leaves turn all pretty colors, Halloween, Thanksgiving and so much more. Now the real reasons I love fall. Football and Fall TV Lineup. I can't help it I'm a TV junkie. Allen is as well, as a result so are our kids. Rachel told me last week she couldn't do anything on Sunday because football was on. For the love of God, she's 3! Alex has been counting the days until Survivor: China premieres. By the way that starts tomorrow, CBS at 8 pm. I run a couple of reality tv pools at work. Yeah I know gambling in the workplace is prohibited but considering the Admin Office is involved I figure it's okay. We will all be tuned in tonight for ANTM Cycle 9 tonight-that's America's Next Top Model for you reality newbies. Allen and I are hoping Mila or Chantal win and we'll get $150.00 towards frozen drinks at the Flying Monkey. Then of course we have the non reality shows, CSI (original please no David Caruso and I've never watched NY), Law & ORder: SVU love that Elliot Stabler, Nip Tuck, Without a Trace, Cold Case, Law & Order the original ( can't wait to see Jack Macoy as the new DA) and oh so much more.
Now of course we have other activities planned. The kids are playing soccer on Saturday mornings, and by the way, they love it and are doing well. We'll do our annual trek apple picking and probably a couple of weekends up north. We are starting a new Ramsden family tradition where we get together once per month for Sunday dinner. All of the above are possible because of TiVo! God, I love TV!
Hello my name is Michelle and I am a television addict!
Now of course we have other activities planned. The kids are playing soccer on Saturday mornings, and by the way, they love it and are doing well. We'll do our annual trek apple picking and probably a couple of weekends up north. We are starting a new Ramsden family tradition where we get together once per month for Sunday dinner. All of the above are possible because of TiVo! God, I love TV!
Hello my name is Michelle and I am a television addict!
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