Yes! The Tiki Bar WAS open on Monday!

Well, we never did clean the room OR the yard on Monday. Yes, we went to the Tiki Bar in Pt. Pleasant and then to dinner at The Wharfside! LOL! We took a nice ride down the shore. (Note: Yes, I did say "down the shore". It's one of those regional terms of speech thingies..In NJ, we don't "go to the beach/shore"..no, we "go down the shore". Don't ask...I can't explain it.) Anyway, we had a really nice day together.

Tuesday I worked half a day. So, I decided to do some food shopping. I made some meatballs and sausage for dinner. Then Herman and I headed to the gym. Yay! Day 6! Tonight I won't be going because I had an allergic reaction to something...my lip blew up, I got bad hives and my breathing got bad. So I'll stay home tonight :(

Tomorrow night is Prom! Rachel and Becky are both going. Ray is going with her friend Nick, while Becky is going with her friend Jessica. Friday Ray will head down the shore..hahaha...to Wildwood for the weekend. I'll post some pictures of the girls. Maybe a "before" shot of myself. We'll see.

Tonight is the finale of "Top Chef" so that's what I'll be doing tonight. Maybe even catch some of "Ghosthunters". Oh, which reminds me! TSPR is doing an investigation this weekend! I'm so excited! We're training a new person..fresh blood! LOL!

I guess I'm outta here for now...feeling lousy from the allergic reaction..Peace!

 

Day 5....and other stuff

I've made it to the gym 5 out of 7 days! Today I did the treadmill for 30 minutes and I did a leg workout. Herman is training me. I am doing light weights, light reps. (More "gym-ese"!) In any case, I feel a difference already: more energy, motivation and self-confidence! Oh yeah....more pain, too! LOL!

Last night Herman and I went to a dinner/dance cruise on the Hudson River with his sister Maureen and her husband George. We had a great time! I danced all night! (And I looked like a dork doing it!!!) I'm tall (5'10") so when I dance I look like an ostrich on acid! ROFLMAO! The cruise took us down the Hudson, from Tarrytown, beneath the Tappan Zee, under the GWB and down to Chelsea Pier in Manhattan. Very cool trip! We got home around 11:30pm and just collapsed into bed.

Today we decided to take a ride down US Route 1. We wound up in PA..because we didn't want to get off in Trenton! LOL! Anyway...we saw a sign for New Hope (PA) so we headed north. We hung out in New Hope for a couple of hours..had a few appetizers along the way. Then we had to "find" our way home.. I knew that we had to get back across the Delaware and then head east. Eventually we hit a road that we recognized and soon we were home. We really should invest in a portable navigation system...or at the very least keep a map in the car!! Anyway, we had a good time!

Herman's last day off (for awhile, anyway) is tomorrow. We'll be cleaning our room and working on our lawn. ::sniff::  Maybe we'll take another road trip?! We didn't get to Pt. Pleasant this weekend....Hmmm... I wonder if the Tiki Bar is open on Monday...?

Peace!

3 days....and a groin pull

Yes....3 days in the gym and I officially have a "gym injury"!! Apparently I pulled a groin muscle last night whilst doing cardio work on the treadmill. Or, could be that I pulled it while I was doing leg work. YEP..I'm "official" now. I am now able to speak "gym-ese"...LOL!!

I sure hope that $1000 can fix my groin muscle....

::sigh::

Peace!

A $1000 bet!

Yes...that's right. I made a $1000 bet. The bet? That I will go to the gym 3-4 times per week for the next year. I started this Monday. Herman wants me to start slowly: 3 times a week for now. If I want, I can do the treadmill on the 4th day. So far I've made it twice to the gym. Yes, I am sore. But it's a good kind of sore. It's the sore that says "You WILL get into a bathing suit this year!" Ok...I am not fat by any means..but hey! I AM 45 now and I have had 4 children. Things on my body are slipping southwards...and FAST! I may post some pictures to track my progress..we'll see.

Oh, who did I make the bet with? My friend Mark, who claims that I'll quit after a few weeks. My words to Mark: I'll take your $1000 and I'll look good doing it!

In other fronts: Jackie got a job at a local upscale restaurant. She started training today.

Rachel was in the ER on Monday night. She has ovarian cysts on both ovaries. Ugh. Couple that with the fact that she has a lingering stomach virus and she's one miserable kid right now. Took her to gyn yesterday who wants to keep an eye on her for a bit. If the pain doesn't subside from the cysts he may do laproscopic surgery to see what's going on. Poor Ray!

Herman has been on vacation since last Friday so we've been hanging out with each other quite a bit. Did the Tiki Bar last Saturday. ( Note: A seagull "got" me right in the head! So I played the lottery..didn't win.) Took a ride to a beautiful and ridiculously expensive area of NJ on Friday. (Peapack- Gladstone...Jackie O had an estate there at one time.) We saw this 40,000 sq. foot mansion (I could be exaggerating!) on an estate called  Southern Comfort. DAMN! It was gorgeous! Really makes you wish that you had money!

Mother's Day was nice. We did brunch at a local Charlie Brown's. We went with my mom, sister and her family. Then we had my mom, nephew and Herman's family over for Chinese and Italian take out. No one could agree on 1 type of food so we just got both! Nice night altho I was tired.

Well...I should switch out some laundry and head to the store.

Peace!

Only me...

Sorry for lapse in posting!

Went to Gettysburg last weekend with some fellow TSPR members, Ali and Kerri. We stayed in a cabin again. Had campfire at night, traipsed around the battlefields during the day and did a little investigating. Ali and I smelled pipe tobacco (cherry!) up on Little Round Top. After smelling every damn bush and tree (plus running around to see if anyone had a pipe lit!) we could only guess that there was some sort of presence there. I still have to review my recordings. Nothing showed up in photos.

Got new glasses a couple of weeks ago. They have progressive lenses, which mean I can look at a distance from the top portion of the lens, and I can read close up from the bottom of the lens. They're taking some getting used to, though. I won't bore you, but it's taking awhile for my eyes to adapt to the glasses. Oh, I learned that I'm not really a candidate for contacts because I have an angular astigmatism in my right eye, which would allow the contact to freely float about my eye, causing poor vision. Damn. (I used to have contacts years ago but my eyesight has worsened over the years.)

Jackie returns home for good tomorrow. I believe that her flight arrives around 6am on Thursday. Glad I'm not getting her! My mom will be going for her, as she has the day off and we have to work. We'll see how this works out. She hasn't lived home in quite awhile. We've (Herman and I) told her that she must A)Find a 40 hr a week job ASAP! B)Attend meetings C)Help around the house. There's more, but we're hoping that we don't have to go there.

Rachel graduates high school at the end of June...time flies by! I just can't get over the fact that she'll be headed to college this fall. (County college.) Becky will be a Senior and John, a sophomore.

Well...Rachel wants some Carvel ice cream and I've promised her that I would take her, as long as she brought my towels down from her room. I guess I'm outta here for now..

Peace!

"You say it's your birthday..."

Ok...just a couple of pictures..(Sorry Michele!)

Today is my 45th birthday! And, it is the 50th birthday of my husband's favorite (my favorite, too) cousin Jeff. So we spent the day up at Jeff's celebrating his birthday! It's very odd singing "Happy Birthday" to someone else on your birthday! Herman took me out for my favorite dinner last night: Shrimp cocktail, dozen steamers, Mahattan clam chowder and a 1 1/4 lb. broiled lobster..rice pudding for dessert! (All this for $29.99 at The Barge in Perth Amboy!!) Oh, they make the BEST Bloody Mary, too! Herman said that he is taking me away next weekend..we'll see. I hate leaving 3 teenagers home. We're thinking of going to Mohegan Sun Casino in Ct or doind a cheesy hotel up in the Poconos. (Think champagne glass and heart shaped tubs.) We may wind up in Atlantic City for all I know. We don't really gamble but the hotels are worth the sightseeing trip. I'll let you know where we wind up...after the fact. (Insert dirty little laugh here.)

On other fronts: Jackie had decided to move back home at the end of this month. I really wished that had waited a bit longer to return home, but oh well. She has to learn how to be clean wherever she goes.

Rachel is Boca Raton at the home of a childhood friend who moved there several years. She's having a great time and claims that we will all envy the tan she has accomplished. She'll miss Easter at home but she'll live. Her Easter basket will sit on the table til she gets home. (Tuesday at midnight.)

Anyway..I'm outta here for now..I'm really beat from the day.

Peace!

I got 'em good!

Well, last weekend (April 1st) I got my kids good...REAL good! I picked up my nephew that Saturday, under the pretense of picking up an old friend, "Dianne". I told him that my own children wouldn't accompany me to the airport and that he was a real sport for helping me out. I had a bouquet of flowers that I'd like him to hand to "Dianne" when she showed up. We waited for her down by the security area. When she didn't show up, we decide to move sown to the baggage area. I told him that we needed to keep an eye out for her. I told him that she kind of looked like Jackie, tall and blonde. Well, here comes Jackie down the ramp!! He looks at me and says, "Aunt Sharon! Your friend looks EXACTLY like Jackie!" Well, I cracked up as Jackie ran up to him and gave him a huge hug!! He pulled away from her , as to say "Why is this stranger who looks EXACTLY like my cousin hugging me?!" We both looked at him and said, " It IS Jackie!!" He nearly hit the floor!!! I gave her a long hug and we headed for home, where only Herman and I knew she was coming home for a visit.

I had left a note earlier in the morning (prior to my leaving for the airport) stating that each child (Rachel, Becky and John) had a chore to do and that they MUST all be home when I got back from "the store". (A little background: I told Rachel that she absolutely must be off from her job as we were having a huge family dinner.) I told them that I would have numerous packages that I owuld need help unloading. So, now here we are, heading towards the house. I called and told them that I had a bit of a surprise for them a rather large package that would require all 4 of us to get out of my truck and into the house. Becky pushed for more info, but I wasn't giving any. I told her that they ALL had to be outside or no deal. So when I pulled up to the house and only Becky and John were outside, I refused to let them approach the truck til Rachel was outside to help. When Rachel showed up, my nephew jumped out of the truck exclaining "April Fools, suckers!!"  Rachel said, " I can't believe you got me outta bed to unload groceries..bad joke." I told Rachel that I really DID have a surprise for them and that she should just open the back door. WELL!!!! The screaming and crying that ensued after that!! They were sooooo happy to see their sister after 7 long months!!!

Yeah...I got 'em good!

We had a great time: did dinner with my family, did dinner with Herman's family, did a lot of talking...oh we had such a great time! She looks GREAT!! (I will post pictures next post...whenever that may be!) She returned back to AZ that Wednesday...not willingly, but she did it. (Good girl, Jackie!!) Jackie will be moving back in late June...

Well...I've had a BUSY day...so I'm soooo outta here!

Peace!