Aspiring Politician or Tourist?

Flat Stanley dreamed of taking political office while he was visiting Iowa. He thought maybe he could change the world, so he headed to Washington D.C. where he was able to stay with friends Sean and Colette Burgess and their family in Maryland. Sean let him go into DC with him on the Metro. It was fascinating to figure out all the stops on the map and he even found time to read a book while riding into the Nation's Capital.
Once he arrived in D.C. though, he discovered that not only do the politicians gather here, but there are many museums.
In lieu of going into political office he decided to take the opportunity to check out the museums. He visited several in the Smithsonian area. He also got to see the Washington Monument.
Maybe someday he'll consider political office again, but for now he's headed back to the Burgess' home for a home cooked meal. Sean is a wonderful cook, so Flat Stanley is not sure he will ever leave!

Thank you Burgess Family for letting Flat Stanley come to visit! Wonder where he will show up next???

Injured Flat Stanley Considers Public Office

Flat Stanley is off enjoying quite a trip. Unfortunately, his last location started off with quite a bit of commotion. He was happily playing with two of the most amazing 5 year olds in the world in Johnston, Iowa (just outside of Des Moines). They were all laughing and having a good time, when he forgot to use his safety rules and let go of the swing.
He had take a ride in an ambulance and visit the Emergency room. Once he got to the hospital he rode in a wheel chair. Lucky for him the boys father is a Doctor and was able to take care of him. He and one of the nurses checked on Flat, and then had 2 other nurses check out his heart. Once he passed all the examinations he was allowed to return home.
The next day Flat Stanley visited with Keith and Luke's Aunt Susan at the Iowa Capitol. He was lucky enough to sit in the chair in the front of the Senate House and the House of Representatives. He is even considering running for public office someday. (It might be safer then playing on the swings!) He ended his day with a ride on a Green Tractor and lunch at the Machine Shed. No trip to Iowa would be complete with out doing that!Thank you Dr Fisher, Mrs. Fisher and Keith and Luke for letting Flat Stanley visit! He's glad he got experience so many neat things in Iowa!

Flat Stanley Showcases His Musical Talent

When Flat Stanley left for Austin, Texas we had no idea that he had musical ability. While visiting with Amanda he went to NXNW (North by Northwest) and listened to Sound of A.M. Apparently, a visit to Austin isn't complete without live music! While there he was asked to play and sing with the band!
After the gig he was presented with his very own guitar and microphone.
His adventure in Austin has come to an end and he will be returning to Cleveland soon, but since he is FLAT he has also taken a trip through the photocopier and will be heading somewhere else exciting too!
Thank you Amanda for letting him visit you and for sending him off on another adventure.

Flat has now been seen in Austin, Texas!!!!

Flat Stanley has amazing ability to get from one place to the next! Now he is visiting with Amanda and her family in Austin, Texas!



He even took a minute to write Katelyn a letter.

Hi Katelyn,
Flat Stanley here. Just sending you a quick email to let you know I arrived safely in Austin, Texas. The weather here is wonderful!
The first thing I did when I got here was to get decked out in some Texas clothes. As you can see from my attached pictures I got new cowboy boots, a Texas hat and a Longhorn belt buckle! I've made a new friend here, named Trent. This evening we are going to play together.
I've attached a picture of me at the Texas State Capitol building.
Hope you're having a fun day at school.

Your friend,
Flat Stanley

To read more about his visit in Austin, you can visit http://brianandmandie.blogspot.com/2010/03/flat-stanleys-visit-to-texas.html

Flat Stanley stops in Northwest Ohio

Flat Stanley (while having been spotted in Champaign, Illinois) apparently took time to visit Northwest Ohio and our good friend Dan Boyle. While staying in Whitehouse, he attended church with Dan. He was able to study the bulletin, read the Scripture lesson for the day as well as play the piano, organ and keyboard. Flat also hung out with the choir. Joey, Dan's son, taught him all about tractors on his Grandparents farm, and since they were visiting Joey's Grandparents for a haircut he took the opportunity to get a few hairs trimmed as well.Flat was thrilled to get the opportunity to work for FedEx for the day. He was listed as driver number 2 for his journey. He drove the truck, got to steer, talk on the CB and look out the window. Crazy Flat also climbed out onto the grill and the sideview mirror. He was so worn out from his adventure he had to come back in and take a nap in the bunk. He loved his visit with Dan and his family. Hope you enjoy following along with the pictures!

Flat Stanley has been spotted!

Flat Stanley has been spotted in Champaign, Illinois! Wonder what he is up to there? Can't wait to hear.

Flat Stanley is on the Move AGAIN!

Two years have passed since Flat Stanley has ventured out, but he is once again on the move. Flat Stanley is a character from a book by Jeff Brown. In the book Stanley Lambchop gets flattened by a bulletin board and through the story they family decides that because he is flat he can be sent by mail to visit a friend in California. Two years ago Zachary sent a Flat Stanley out, he ended up in Egypt, New Zealand, Australia, California and many other fascinating places. Now it is Katelyn's turn to send him out on an adventure. He left by mail this morning...come back soon to find out where he is and what he has been up to!

One Clear Moment

There are so many times in life when you find yourself questioning if you are doing the right thing, saying the right thing, and living the right way. As a parent I find those moments seem to come more and more often. I find myself saying things that I hated being told when I was a kid, mainly because they are things that need to be said. "stop fighting with your sister or brother, listen when I'm talking to you, be respectful to your teacher, coach, or any other adult we come in contact with..." I know, like many, I say at least once a day "Are you listening to me?" so often thinking that nothing I say is making any difference.

Lately, I've been praying for the right words to encourage and discipline my suddenly emotional, almost 10 year old. Wondering how I can raise him to be a man of integrity in a world that seems to think that is unneeded. Trying to show him how to control his emotions that seem to be on the edge of his sleeve whether he is standing in our kitchen or on a sheet of ice playing the game he has come to love. I've heard his hockey coach say a few times how hockey taught him so much about life, and I find myself wondering if my son is learning a message that will last beyond his hockey playing days.

Before every game and most practices we tend to have a conversation in the car that goes something like this..."remember to focus on what your coaches are saying, skate hard, and do your best. Back check, go to the net, and pass if you can, if you get knocked down get up quick and let the refs make the calls" This weekend I added a new one to the usual conversation. He got a necklace from us for Christmas that as a hockey skate, puck and stick on the front with the words, integrity, strength, and perseverance on the front and on the back says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". So before every game this weekend I pulled him aside and reminded him that Jesus was in the game with him, that he needed to play like He was watching. It's these life lessons of listen, play fair, and work together that I knew we've tried to drill home to him over the last 3 years that he's played hockey. This weekend, in a hotel room, at 10:30 pm, I realized even more clearly that hockey has been a way for us to teach our son even more about life.

As we laid in beds separated by darkness and the night stand we began to talk about the game that had just taken place earlier that evening. "How did you feel the game went?" I asked, expecting the normal "good, or fine" response. Instead I got to see for One Clear Moment that what we've tried to teach our son has gotten into his heart..

"Mom, I wish I could give someone else credit for my goals tonight"

"Why?"

With a quiver in his voice he said "Because I don't want them, I don't want to have any more points this season, I have too many and I don't want people to think I want all the goals"

"No one is really keeping track of who has how many goals. Daddy keeps track of yours because you've always liked numbers, not because he's going around saying to anyone how many goals you have."

"But he tells people when I get a goal."

"Yes, but he also celebrates if your team mate has the goal."

"I don't want it to be about me, it's about the team."

The lump forms in my throat and I find myself saying "Z people know that, they know that you are not the type of player who thinks 'I'm the only one who can score', they know that you are going to shoot if you can shoot, and pass if you can pass. They know that the other kids on your team are doing the same thing."

"I don't like when they say 'good job' all the time to me, or nice play, or talk about how I got a goal."

"Being humble Zach is wonderful. It's about realizing that the game is not all about you. It's also being willing to accept compliments and point out others successes. When you get a goal and someone starts to tell you about how great it was, what do you usually do? You usually start to tell them how if so and so didn't pass it to you, you wouldn't have been able to get the shot. Or if another player on your team didn't take the shot you couldn't have gotten the rebound. That's being humble and playing a team sport. "

"I just don't want people telling you how I'm doing something good all the time, other kids are too"

I had told him on the way back to the hotel how another parent had told me how they loved what he'd been doing in a game earlier in the weekend.

"The people who say good things about you, don't say them in front of others, they pulled me aside to tell me. Just as they pull other team mates parents aside to tell them good things too"

He got really quiet for a minute and then said he wanted to stop talking and get to sleep because he had a big game tomorrow.

I laid there in the dark thinking...that was one clear moment. One clear moment when I could see the foundation that has been laid in his life for being humble. A quality that shows the character he is developing and life lessons that he is already learning from hockey. Making the trip worth the drive.

The Powers That Be

In September I subbed for a Preschool teacher who was out for a few days. I got to know the aides in the classroom and they seemed to like me, and suggested that I could maybe take over a maternity leave for another Preschool teacher in the fall. I told them that from what I understood about the No Child Left Behind Act, to sub long term you have to be in your exact field. I wasn't sure if that extended down to preschool or not, but I told them my certifications, and that I had a sub license and they passed the info on.
The next week I talked to the teacher, and told her as well what I was qualified for, and that I would love to take it but wasn't sure if The Powers That Be would approve it. She said she'd check. Which she did, and explained she'd like me to teach for her, but could they check if that was possible. So the waiting began....
In December, after not hearing anything I checked with her and we both agreed if they could tell us firmly "no, won't work" that would be better then not knowing, but The Powers That Be couldn't give us an answer. Before Christmas break, she checked one more time and it sounded like it might be a "no" because of my Special Ed certification, but not Early Ed...but still not a definite answer.
Today, I was in the building where she teaches, and we talked again. Still no answer from The Powers That Be, and she is due any day. So...her boss decided to go around the Powers That Be. Mainly, because I have the one certification, have lots of experience in the second certification, I'm willing to do it and quite frankly, she could go into labor tonight and The Powers That Be could be stuck with no one.
I love our district, I think they make some great decisions but this time they really dropped the ball. Sometimes The Powers That Be, need to make a decision with enough time to make arrangements so that everyone is where they need to be in the time they need to be there.
Tomorrow, I start a new job...guess I should be glad that the Boss decided it was time to go around some of those powers!

Finished the Book- Book Review

Finished the Vampire Diaries books I've been reading this weekend. I had previously read The Awakening, and The Struggle. The book I just read through contained The Fury and Dark Reunion. What I did enjoy about the books were that they didn't quite end the way you would expect. I am usually pretty good about figuring out what is happening and who is doing what. A few times with all of these stories I was surprised.
I also felt more like I was reading a Murder Mystery then another Vampire story. There was still the element of fantasy and Vampires but there was more too it then that. If you are looking for something quick, and light to read that will capture your attention I would suggest these books. If you want to read more about real life, well...Vampires won't do that for you! I just checked on Amazon and apparently there is another book that came out this fall call Return:Nightfall, guess it's time to order that from the library.

Got to Try It!!!

Wow am I wiped out! Danced on the Wii this afternoon for 30 minutes to some great 80's hits. Okay, not necessarily my all time favorite hits, but just the same some fun tunes. All four of us could grab a remote and dance together which made it even more fun. Just Dance is a hit, I'm glad I bought it. I even would go so far as to say it can be added to my exercise rotation. I get so bored if I do the same thing everyday.
My goal this year is 15 or more minutes a day so, think Just Dance will fit in great! Can't wait to get back to Eye of the Tiger!!

Why is it??

Why is it that putting Christmas Decorations away is so depressing? Could it be beacause...when you put them up your so excited about the season, the Christmas music is playing everyone is helping out. Then comes the time when you decide it's January and time to put them away. No one is around, the music isn't playing and you realize that for a month you haven't dusted the dresser where the tree has been or around the nativity on top of the piano, so now on top of putting away the decorations you need to clean!

I've been working on it since 9:45 this morning. First had to dig the boxes out of the attic as I forgot to ask Phil to do that last night, then finish gathering it all up. This year I decided to weed some stuff out as I was putting it away, so now the one side of my laundry sink tub is filled with stuff to get rid of. (add that to the list) Finally, I got started. Finished my room, but realized I needed to rearrange a few things on the dresser and also that the room really needs dusted. Decided to let that go so I can get the rest of the decorations away. It is now 1:20, need to be ready to get dinner together in an hour, and head up to school for the Brownie meeting today. So the real question is, with one hour left can I take down 2 trees, get out of the grubby clothes, put dinner together and get up to school.

Why is it that sometimes being a Mom takes super hero strength??? If I had one super power I think I'd want it to be the ability to freeze time!

Time to Get Organized...AGAIN!

People who know me would say that I am one of the most organized people they know. I keep things neat in the house (or at least the parts of the house they can see), and I'm always jotting down a note or writing things in my calendar but...

If truth be told, I don't think I'm very organized. So, here I go again as it is 2010 and start to reclaim my spaces. Today's project the dreaded linen cabinet, and 1 of my daughters dresser drawers. More then one of her drawers and I'd have to be committed to a mental institution. Also, going to tackle the holiday decoration drawers in the attic. Off to a good start so far. Went through the towels this morning, and realized that nothing in our bathroom decor matches forest green anymore so bye bye towels. They will find a good home with the next group that calls me offering to pick up household items. This afternoon it's on to the sheets. Guess my almost 10 year old is probably past using the little truck sheets that are still in the cabinet. Will have to ask him about those after school.

The other goal when it comes to dealing with this mess is to clean up one before starting the next. I tend to start something and that reminds me I needed to do something else. This year it's one thing at a time, guess I better go move the towels to the dryer, oh I mean pick up this Christmas decoration and put it in the pile to go away, or check my email, wait the bathroom needs cleaned...oh yeah I was headed for the dryer. Don't laugh, it happens to you to I bet!

Time to Read- Book Review

Trying to keep my brain fresh this year so I've decided that I'd like to read 1 novel a month, or more if possible. At my sisters urging last summer I read the Twilight series and I have to say I was surprised, but I did really enjoy it. I'm not a vampire junkie now, but once again was discussing with my sister that I needed something to read and she suggested the Vampire Diaries.

The Vampire Diaries were written by L.J. Smith and although I didn't check it out for myself, my sister told me they were written prior to the Twilight series. So far I've read 2 of the books, The Awakening, and The Struggle (already plus 2 on novels and it's only the 3rd! Although I did start the first one on the 29th) The book is about a high school girl who falls for a Vampire boy. Where did I read that before? The fact that this was written first is kind of weird because my mind kept comparing it to Twilight not the other way around. Anyway, the first 2 books were quick reads and pretty good. It was more of a mystery type book as there is of course murder and the characters in the book need to figure out who did it. There is a lot more super powers, and superstitious type things in these books. The action comes more to life then the characters. The first and second book both seem to end abruptly, but that is probably because the author knew they were writing more books. I would recommend them as a casual, quick read that you don't want to think much about. If you have to pick between the 2 series Vampire Diaries or Twilight I, at this point would pick the latter. I've still got to more books in the Vampire Diaries to go, and will probably read them, but overall I think the Twilight books were better.

Starting off 2010

2010 has arrived and with it a desire to reclaim my life. Reclaim the organization of things, reclaim the clutter, reclaim healthier habits. Will that be easier this year? Will those resolutions that I've made in my mind at least be fulfilled by the end of the year?

It's hard to say. At this point I feel good about moving forward. So far today, I've read my bible, exercised, drank more water, read a few chapters in a novel, worked on photos, spent time with my kids and cleaned out the upstairs medicine cabinet, my bathroom drawer and the fridge! Off to a good start I would say. Tomorrow is another day, another challenge to see what I can accomplish. The main resolution for this year is this...let nothing go to tomorrow that could be done today, but in doing that stop stressing about what needs to be done and take it one step at a time. Live life, enjoy life, and capture it one photo at a time of course! Stay a list maker and don't get distracted by the form of adult attention deficit disorder that Moms in general are so prone to get distracted by. Finish one job, find time to relax and move forward. Don't regret the past, learn from it and be better today because of it.

Happy 2010! Look out, it's another year, and another chance to make it real!

Working Out

Staying healthy is not easy. We've decided to try and start working out as a family to some extent. The kids are both involved in sports where gaining more muscle would be a good thing for their performance and endurance. Phil just recently completed a couch to 5K program and now is starting it with Zach, who has greatly enjoyed his time running with Daddy. For a year now Phil has also been doing a 100 push up workout. I've been trying off and on to get on course with the 200 sit ups program. SO...now we're all doing the push ups and sit ups and the boys are doing the running. I'm trying to walk everyday too, but with my schedule it isn't always easy to fit that it.

Today though I have managed a walk, and push ups 8, 10, 7, 7, and 20 and then sit ups (crunches) 15, 18, 10, 10 and 30! Now off to the rest of the day. (with my arms still burning!)

Back to the World of Blogging

Seems like with all the technology we have everything seems to just ad one more thing for us to do. Blogging has done that for me in the recent months. Once summer hit, all sense of schedule was out the door as I was trying to spend every moment I could soaking in time with the kids and the sun. Now it's fall and I find myself once more ready to set out on the adventure of blogging about life, Creative Memories, and of course hockey!

Life is good. Yes, we're busy and sometimes feel like the walls are shutting in as we're running this race that we call life, but overall it is good. Today for instance, I could choose to be upset that I didn't get a teaching job or choose to embrace what I have been given today, which is time to get some jobs that I keep pushing off to the back burner done. So, I'm choosing, the second one. Why go through life being upset! Besides, with the lack of a job today I was able to go for a walk, run the dishwasher, get cards made for my cousins new baby and thank yous done and still have time to meet a friend to work on a project at church, which will lead to Chipotle for lunch!! On top of that I'm going to be able to stop and get some new shoes and pick up some gifts that are needed for the weekend.

With working sometimes now during the days I'm finding taking the time I have to do what needs to get done is so important. Like preparing 4 dinners while making dinner Sunday evening. Now, I have at least 4 days I don't have to worry about what to do. It's all ready to go. Tonight, since I didn't have to teach today I plan on getting a couple more dinners ready at dinner. Life is good, it's what we make of it, and how we choose to live. I want to live it to the fullest!

Washington DC on a Budget!

Have you ever though it would be nice to visit the Nation's Capital, but I certainly can't afford to do that? Have you wondered how you could afford to go to some of the Nation's Best Museums? We managed a trip for 4 days, and 3 nights to our Nation's Capital this August for only $561.19! How you might ask?

First of all, yes, you have to be willing to rough it a little. We didn't stay at a 4 star hotel, we stayed at a million star vista. Greenbelt National Park http://www.nps.gov/gree/index.htm. We registered online at the link above for only $16 a night! So for 4 nights we paid $64 that's it!!! It is a very private campground. Accommodations are not glamorous, the bathrooms could have been better, but they certainly were not the worst bathrooms we've ever seen while camping. There were flush toilets, and showers, but there were also cobwebs and a few spiders. You can only have tents and small campers at the location and there is not any electric or water hook ups. As far as activities at the camp site, there was only hiking. We were only there to sleep and cook our meals, so we didn't really need a pool or other things to keep us entertained.



Traveling around town is also an issue in DC. We drove 5 minutes down the road to the Greenbelt Metro stop. The Metro is really the only way to get around DC. The cost was $4.75 a day to park, but on weekends it's free! We did buy the all day passes on the weekends as well as on the Monday we went into town. The all day passes run $7.80 but allow you to get on and off the trains at any location all day long. The only catch is on Monday-Friday the passes are not good until after 9:30 am. Regardless, these passes allowed us to move freely around the city and take in many sites without having to walk all the way back to the stop we had gotten off at to begin with. Total cost for 3 days use of the Metro $97.85.

So how about tours? We took this trip with our 7 and 9 year old children. The main thing they were interested in seeing was the things that were shown in the Night At the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian Movie. That meant the FREE museums! They also wanted to see the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and of course the White House. We wanted to at least stand in the street and yell at the Capital building as Josh Lyman does on the West Wing. http://westwingonline.net/. All of which cost us nothing. We thought about going on a tour before we went, but we weren't sure which day we'd want to go, and we definitely didn't want to pay a ton of money for a tour and have the kids not get anything out of it. In looking up info on the DC area I came across the DC by Foot tours. These tours are FREE! http://dcbyfoot.com/ They include info on the White House, Capital, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Wall, and the Lincoln Memorial. They are full of interesting facts that keep all ages engaged. They meet on the Corner of 15th and Constitution and then walk with you to the different venues ending at the Lincoln Memorial. At the end they accept tips. I'm sure you could get away with paying nothing, we did give $10.00, which really $2.50 a person is a steal! It is a walk, but if you were going to see those sites anyway why not do it with a tour guide for little to no cost. Our guide was wonderful! He was a retired teacher/principal and our son quickly became his little shadow for the whole tour. He didn't seem to mind at all, and answered all of his questions as we went along.

We also took in the National Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum, the American History Museum, the Portrait Gallery and the National Zoo. All for FREE!! Don't forget if you are going to DC to head to the Old Post Office for the best views of the city with the shortest lines! Again it's...FREE!






Eating is always a concern when you are out and about in a different city. We decided to go as cheap as we could in this department too. The first day we ate breakfast on the road at McDonald's. We had coupons so this cost only $11.93 for four of us. We ate a picnic lunch half way to DC and then ate Skyline Chili, and Hot Dogs for dinner. We of course also enjoyed bear claws and smores around the campfire. The next morning we ate muffins at the campsite, headed in to DC with back packs with various snacks and 2 bottles of waters. We did splurge on a coke at the Portrait Gallery for $3.00. We then enjoyed an amazing dinner at our friends house in Maryland. Sunday morning we again had breakfast at the campsite, packed up a few more snacks and headed back into DC. This is the day we did the DC by Foot tour and we were so hot we had to have an ice cold water and the kids wanted Popsicles. This ran $9.00 from a street vendor. In addition to the $2.00 coke we bought earlier in the day so we'd have change for the tip at the end of our tour. We did decide to splurge once again on lunch at the National Air and Space Museum's McDonald's. Of course this ran $23.95! We did discover that we could keep the 2 pop cups and store them in our backpack, empty of course without being crushed by slipping our water bottles into them. We were then able to come back and refill our drinks and enjoy them several times while we were in the museum. This defiantly saved us several dollars! We headed back to the campsite in time for a dinner of taco helper. On Monday we also packed snacks and water. Again we bought a drink at the American History Museum. We saved our cup from the $3.00 drink, and refilled it 3 times in the American History Museum and 3 times in the Natural History Museum. We ended the day on Monday at the campsite with leftovers from the previous meals. On Tuesday we headed home stopping at Atlanta Bread Company for breakfast, Subway for lunch and then home for pizza at Georgio's. The cost for these three meals combined was $34.32. Adding in about $75.00 in groceries an additional $19.84 for ice brings the food grand total to $182.84.

We spent $91.89 on gas for the trip, and feeling like we had kept under our budget amount allowed for souvenirs to be purchased totaling $74.61. I also spent an additional $40 on photo processing and album supplies from Creative Memories of course! And 1 week after the trip had a beautiful album complete and ready to remind us of the great time we had.

This brings the grand total to $561.19! I'm not sure you could plan to see as much as we did in 3 days with four people anywhere else for as cheap! Going to Washington DC in August was a lot of fun. The only thing we'd do differently is pick a different time of year, simply as August is perhaps one of the hottest months to visit the Nation's Capital. Will we go back again, definitely there is still so much to see.

Just Ducky!

Well if this isn't just Ducky. Out mowing the lawn tonight when I realize there is a Duck in our front yard. It was just sitting there.

I mowed somewhat close to it thinking...it will fly away! Of course, it just quacked at me, or whatever it is that ducks actually do as my third grader told me "Mom, they don't really say that!" (ok, so now I have a duck in my yard and feel betrayed by all the people that taught me that a duck says quack, quack!") Really, what do you do with a duck in the yard?

Phil tried the Sean Connery move from Indiana Jones III, "Ah, I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne "

It didn't work! So instead we, of course encouraged by our children, shooed the Duck to the backyard so it could swim in the pond we just put in. Mind you 2 days ago we put 10 goldfish in the pond. Not sure they'll be there tomorrow. Did I mention the duck kept running into things and we think it might be blind??

SO now we have Anaheim the Duck in the pond with the goldfish. Tomorrow we're calling the Nature Rescue people to come remove Anaheim. She really can't stay here...after all we're Detroit Fans! Do things like this happen to anyone else??

Hey Refs...You Missed a CALL!

Do you have your cell phone handy? You might need it again on Thursday night as the Detroit Red Wings face the Anaheim Ducks for game 7. Why do you need your cell phone?? That's really simple, so you can hold it up and yell at the TV "Hey Refs, you missed a call!" or "Hey Refs, you dropped the call!" Whichever you prefer.

Now I realize there are possibly Duck fans out there somewhere, can't say I've found too many, but perhaps somewhere out there there are some. And with that in mind I'm sure they feel there were calls in last nights game that were missed for there team as well. Just the same I'm a Wings fan, and will always be a Wings fan, and therefore I would love someone to explain to me how tackling a player and sitting on him during the middle of a play when he didn't even have the puck is a legal play. OR, how is climbing on a guys back legal? Did those plays led to us losing last nights game? Who knows, they could have created power play time that may have led to a different goal scenario, we may have scored we may not have. Regardless, "Refs....YOU MISSED THE CALL!"

With that said...Come on Wings, we're not ready for the season to be over! Fight, Win, and advance!

Two Hunderd Sit Up Challenge Day 1 Week 4 REDO

Ok, it's been a few weeks. Guess that's what happens when you get sick, and then hurt your back. With that in mind I decided to restart on week 4.
Today's totals: 32, 38, 32, 32, and 100!!! Feels good at the moment, not sure how it will be feeling later.

Two Hundred Sit Up Challenge Week 4 day 1

Actually, did this on Monday...okay except for the last set that I've been trying to find time to do since Monday so maybe it's cheating but I just did them now.
32, 28, 32, 32 and 58...moving on to Week 4 Day 2 in a few minutes.

Two Hundred Sit Up Challenge Week 3 day 3 (only a few days late on posting it!)

Made it through week 3
33, 42, 30, 30 and 64. Moving on to Week 4!

Two Hundred Sit Up Challege Week 3 Day 2

The count jumped quite a bit today. Glad yesterday was a day off.
Today's totals, 30, 38, 23, 23, an 64!

Two Hundred Sit up Challege Week 3

Week 3, day one
21, 27, 21, 21 and 40 in the final set. That after doing 50 in the test to determine which column to follow in week 3. Wow! That's quite a few sit ups.

Two Hundred Situp Challenge

Day 2 (4/17)
26, 26, 18, 18 and a final set of 42! Not bad, but definitely know why they suggest waiting a day between sessions.

Day 3 (4/19)
24, 25, 21, 21 and a final set of 50!!!! Feels pretty good to be doing the ab workout. Might have to consider adding in the push ups someday...ok that must be an adrenaline thing working on my brain. Week 2 wasn't to bad (started on week 2 because of my initial test). Looking forward to starting week 3 and moving forward.

Anyone up for the challenge just check out Twohundredsitups.com

Two Hundred Sit Up Challenge Day 1

Week 2 Day 1
2009-04-16
32 total crunches after sets of 21, 21, 15 and 15.
This wasn't as hard as I thought it might be, at least so far. Happy that I'm not even sore the next day.

Two Hundred Sit Up Challenge

Phil's been doing this 100 pushup challenge for over a year, so I decided to look into the situp/crunch version of the program. http://www.twohundredsitups.com/logger.html
So...I did the initial test and qualified for week 3. Feeling pretty good about testing into week 3, although I'm going to take Phil's advice and start with week 2. We'll see how it goes.
I'll plan on tracking each day, so keep a watch. Want to join me check out the website above and let me know.