The Sun'll come out tomorrow...

I am excited today! My friend Sarah and I are taking our daughters to see ANNIE performed by the Broadway cast. Lauren doesn't know the story, and she wanted to see the movie, but I told her it would be better for her first experience to be live. I played Pepper(The snotty, loud mouthed orphan) in a production of Annie when I was 10. Talk about good casting!

Before the show, we are going out to dinner to my safe place- Sweet Tomatoes. It is basically the only place I will eat outside of home these days. I can stuff myself silly, stay on my program and enjoy myself. If I went to The Olive Garden, Chili's or out for Italian- I would be miserable. I wouldn't order what I would WANT to order,so I would order grilled chicken, steamed veggies and a plain potato. Then, I would silently curse my companions as they ate their meals. When I got home, I would drown my sorrows in ice cream or chocolate, thereby defeating the grilled chicken and steamed veggies. At Sweet Tomatoes, I can actually ENJOY eating- thankfully I actually LIKE veggies. I can eat a big salad, a hot bowl of soup, a muffin and some frozen yogurt. I'm really looking forward to the evening!

I have to work tomorrow morning at the YMCA, then meeting with my trainer/friend for a sweat session. The rest of the weekend is wide open, and the weather should be a balmy 92 degrees, so the beach or water park sounds like a great plan.

I registered Lauren for summer camp next week, as she is making me NUTS- so although it cost almost half a car payment for 5 days, she's going. I can drop her off as early as 7:30 and pick up at 6:00. I don't think I'll make her stay THAT long, but 9-4 is sounding pretty attractive. Also, 15 days till she leaves for CAMP Grandma! My parent's are taking her for NINE nights!!!!! This will be the first time she has been away for more than one night. Can't wait to see if I am summoned to drive the 4+ hours to my parent's to pick her up at 3am on the second night!

Off to clean the kitchen, AGAIN. Have a great weekend!

Almost a year

It really has been almost an entire year since I last wrote. I realized the other day that something was missing in my life- some therapy. I figured out, it was this blog. It's FREE therapy. Sure, I probably get judged in silence by some readers
(not that I have any left) but, who cares?

Last we left our heroine, she was overweight, smoking a pack a day and had 2 cats.

Today on AllaboutCici we will learn the answers to the following questions:

Is Cici STILL overweight?
Is Cici STILL Smoking a pack a day?
Does Cici STILL have 2 cats?
Did Cici KILL Joey yet?


Is Cici still overweight? HELL YES! I will probably ALWAYS be overweight. I remember in third grade, my class went to the nurse's office and as part of the President's Physical Fitness Challenge, we all got weighed. Publicly. Like prize heifers. I weighed 81 pounds.

Norah Mayes and her cronies weighed 60-65 pounds. So, I was 'overweight' then, and I am overweight now.

But.

Thanks to Weight Watchers, the fact that I befriended a personal trainer who took me under wing, and some damn hard work, I am 32 pounds LESS overweight than I was when we chatted last. I still have some work to do, but the end is in sight. I feel great!

Is Cici still smoking a pack a day? NOPE! I quit, cold turkey on October 17th, 2008. My 58 year old, 2 pack a day neighbor dropped dead in his living room of heart failure on October 16th, 2008. That was enough for me. So long forever, Marlboro Lights.

Does Cici still have 2 cats? Well, as of now, yes. As of last night, I had 3. We adopted a kitten, Sundae in September. She is awesome! But, our 10 year old cat, Bruno died last night. We actually had him put down. I became concerned around 10pm when I couldn't find him and Joey found him under our bed. Joey pulled the cat out, and he was paralyzed! Joey FREAKED, as Bruno was his cat. I called my neighbor, Chris, who came and sat on the couch while my kids slept, so Joey and I could go to the cat ER. The vet offered us two options. 1. $1000's of dollars in therapies that may or may NOT work. Or 2. Euthaniasia. It was heartbreaking, but we chose the latter. Rest in peace, fur face. You were a great cat.

Has Cici Killed Joey Yet? Not YET. But check back daily for updates, as this could change in an instant. The moron left my keys on the ROOF of my SEVEN FOOT TALL minivan yesterday, and WONDERS why I didn't look THERE for them??? He considers this a perfectly reasonable place for a person to look for their lost keys.

He also has chronic shoulder pain. You may recall that he had surgery a couple years back on his shoulder. Well now his OTHER shoulder is acting up. According to my neighbor who is a licensed family counselor, I am not being an effective communicator when Joey complains of shoulder pain and I reply with "Oh shut UP about it already!"

Anthony is 100% potty trained, Lauren is 100% making me wish there was no summer break from school and I am great! Welcome back, glad to be back!