ALL People Deserve Aid

This past week I've been seeing and hearing some disturbing comments about our country, about the people who run it, and about the people who live in it! So maybe if I put some things in perspective for you..... it may change your thought.......

Haiti was hit by a 7+ earthquake a few weeks ago.... perhaps you hadn't heard.... THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS of people are dead! I am proud to say that our great country... AMERICA came to their rescue..... we immediately deployed troops, volunteers and news media to aid in their relief! Obviously cash is needed to feed, clothe and rebuild. I am beyond happy to give..... It helps the Haitian people and sets up a little good Karma for me!!! Of course I'll help..... why wouldn't I help...... they're human beings, be they from this country or not!!!

I've been seeing a sad trend of comments, "WHY AREN'T WE HELPING OUR OWN....!!?" "I'M SO GLAD, WE CAN HELP THE HAITIANS BUT WE CAN'T TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN!!" "I'M GLAD THERE ARE HUNGRY AND HOMELESS HERE, BUT WE CAN HELP THE HAITIANS!"

Well.... you're right!! We do have a problem in this country...... hunger, homelessness, health care!! You're right....... But you see in this country we do have help..... IT'S CALLED WELFARE, HOMELESS SHELTERS, SOUP KITCHENS, FOOD STAMPS....... So get off your asses and start helping them instead of bitching at our government for not doing it!!!!!!! There are MILLIONS of sites you could donate your cash to, to help OUR OWN!!! Are you doing that!!!??? Are you working in a soup kitchen..... are you sponsoring a family..... are you donating to a shelter!!!?? You see...... We've won the lottery just by being born in this country....... We truly have every opportunity there is to help one another........ but you'd rather bitch about it...... We as human beings are able to provide aid 365 days a year in this country, FOR THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY, ..... not just when a disaster strikes!!!!!! NOT A SINGLE HUMAN BEING IN THIS COUNTRY...... NO MATTER WHAT THEIR CIRCUMSTANCE WOULD EVER TRADE PLACES WITH A HAITIAN..... DON'T FORGET THAT.... THAT IS HOW GREAT YOUR COUNTRY IS!!!!! So shut up.... get up.... and help one another!!!!!!!

Here are a few sites you may want to consider donating to! I promise to do all I'm able to do this year as well!!! Peace my friends!!!! Be the change!!

www.redcross.org
www.unicef.org
http://www.rihomeless.org/
http://www.voa.org/

She's A Poet ~ And I Didn't Know It (well... yes I did)

I'm in awe of my children..... They surprise me everyday with their many talents.... Apparently The Divine Miss Em is a poet..........

My Poem
By Emily Prince


Relaxed
Is blue
Like the
Afternoon sky
On a
Summer day,
And also like
The warm feeling of
Ocean scented candles.
It runs
Through
My mind.
Relaxed
Reminds me of
The time when I
Sat on
The couch for
3 hours.
It makes me
Feel safe like
When I
Take a nap
Once every
Few months.
Relaxed
Makes me
Want to
Kick off
My shoes
And chill.

She's just lovely.......

Who Says You Can't Go Back To High School

I've lost 45 pounds in the last six months...... No gimmicks, no games, no diets........ Aside from Gall Stones that is!! Last summer I started feeling sick almost every single day. I was getting stomach aches, I was ahem..... irregular most days. It wasn't like the pain I had several years ago when I had gall stones....... You remember, when I drank a six pack of Sam Adam's and ate an entire pack of Oreos!!!?? It wasn't like that...... I started getting scared...... But in my omnipotent fashion I chose to ignore it....... I suddenly became use to it!

I continued to eat the same....... suffering stomach aches, irregular ahem...... movements. Until......
One day....... As I sprawled across the bed, buck naked with my ass in the air, crying in to my pillow...... Matt walked in and the poor bastard froze...... "What do I do!!??" "Tell me what to do!?"

Leave me alone..... no wait..... call 911..... wait..... I know every firefighter in this state..... don't call..... drive me to the ER!! No wait...... I know every doctor there!!! Leave me alone!!!!

I mixed myself a cocktail of Advil, Valium, and Zantac and BING..... within twenty minutes, my pain was gone!! But I couldn't ignore it anymore!! I called the Doc in the AM and made an immediate appointment........ Off to the Ultra Sound tech I was sent! Guess what...... You have Gall Stones!!!!! I was told to make an appointment with a Surgeon...... So I did..... Only problem was, she couldn't fit me in for more than a month....... Well, I've been sick for six months, what's one more!!?? She told me to stay off FAT and eat very low residue light foods...... Okay!!! As long as I don't feel that pain anymore!!!!!

After more than a month, I visited the surgeon....Yup...... you have gall stones, BUT you don't have an infection and your duct is in great shape...... no blockage! So why should I cut open a healthy 30 something woman!!!?? You've lost 11 pounds since your last doctors visit!!

I'M SORRY!!!! WHAT!!!??? 11 POUNDS!!!!! WHAT YOU SAY!!??

Who would have thunk it!!?? I lost weight without thinking about it...... I just tried to avoid that horrifying pain!!! Trust me, it was worse than labor!!!! 11 Pounds just to avoid pain! No surgery for me......... I'll just eat what I've been eating and hopefully it won't happen again...... My doctors continue to monitor me to assure I don't get a stone blocked!

Over the next few months, I was motivated to lose more weight...... I figured I'd try the treadmill again...... A little walking is good....... Well after just one week, I worked myself up to two TWO two non-stop RUNNING miles!!! I was a RUNNER!!!! Yahoo...... before I knew it I was down 20 more pounds!! That lasted a couple of months before I ditched the treadmill...... Besides, I looked good at 150 pounds, I mean I was down from 172! So I stopped running! But continued my good eating. I'm now down to 129-133 ....... I fluctuate...... still!

Here's what I've been eating!! I'm very lazy..... so the key for me is pre-chopped or made foods!!

BREAKFAST:

EVERY morning I have a huge bowl of Multi-Grain Cheerios with skim milk.
One Dunkin Donuts Medium Coffee with skim milk and three Splenda

A little later a bag of Mott's Sliced green apple or
One Chobani Greek Yogurt ~ Plain ~ with two Splenda ~ Mix Well!
Del Monte sliced Red Grapefruit in the cups ~ Don't drink liquid...... too many calories

LUNCH:

Something light...... Turkey slice wrapped around lettuce tomato and mustard ~ even turkey bacon
NO CHEESE
A salad ~ NO CHEESE ~ Balsamic Vinegar ~ Loaded with vegis
SOUP SOUP AND MORE SOUP ~ WATCH SODIUM
TBLT ~ Turkey bacon, lettuce and tomato ~ Fat Free Mayo ~ Calorie reduced wheat bread!
Sometimes more cereal

A little later ~ One of these
Del Monte red grapefruit (so good)
Organic Salsa ~ Trust me on this...... found in Stop and Shop by the prepared salads!!!! It's so good!!!!! Eat right out of the container!
Baby Carrots
Chobani Plain Yogurt ~ Two Splenda
Sliced tomatoes with sprinkled red pepper (Robyn's idea) Mmmm...
Turkey slice with sprinkled red pepper


DINNER:

Very lean small amount of ANY meat, I craved steak or turkey burgers......
I would buy a rotisserie chicken from stop and shop and eat right off the carcass!
any vegetable ~ TONS ~ sprinkle with balsamic vinegar for flavor or butter spray........
No rice or anything because I love BREAD and chose that
Bread with I can't believe it's not butter
Pasta with marinara and turkey meat balls
Sometimes just cereal again
Turkey bacon (I ate tons of this stuff) egg on an english muffin ~ fat free mayo NO CHEESE
I made pancakes a lot ~ I Can't Believe it's Not Butter Spray and Lite Syrup, again with tons
of turkey bacon!!

Watch WHAT you're cooking with..... use olive oils or no oil..... butter spray, pam, vinegar, mustard...... no ketchup.


NOTHING LATER!!! Lots of sugar free gum and Jolly Ranchers if you're going crazy for something!

I drink water all day long...... no juice..... I get my milk in the morning with my cereal...... JUST WATER!!!! No alcohol....... I know this may be hard for some Woburn people, but think of your ass after six months.......... Beer betrays you....... It's like that North Woburn ass you let walk all over you your entire high school years...... It betrays you!!!!!!

Good luck...... Before and after pics to follow soon..........

For The Love Of Em!!!!

As I prepared for a night out with my gals last evening, my man Matt came upstairs to watch me dress...... a habit of his...... As I dressed we chatted and in walked Miss Em!!

I explained to Emma (for the thousandth friggen time) to please knock upon entering Mom and Dad's room! I felt like being a bit more blunt this time......

"We could have been having sex..... You don't want to walk in on that!!"

"Mom, why would you guys want to make another baby?"

"People don't have sex always to make babies!! Sometimes they have sex to show how much they love each other! Besides..... Mommy and Daddy can't make babies anymore............."

Miss Em replied with............... "Because you got ROTTEN EGGS!!!"

Gotta love her!

A Little Nostalgic......

Since the launch of Facebook, I have become more and more nostalgic. My sisters and I have poured through family photos, friends and classmate photos, and just getting in touch with friends lost!! It's funny how much stuff you realize you've forgotten.

I took a Facebook "test" the other day, "Who was your childhood crush" Or something along those lines...... It reminded me of a special and funny memory of my sister Elena, me and my grandmother "MA"! My grandmother had her makeup spread out all over her long kitchen table...... she had this metallic blue makeup "suitcase". Elena and I sat on the table while Ma made us up!! "Lane.... What do you want to be when you grow up honey?" Now, I don't really remember what Lana said, but I'm sure it was somewhere along the line of saving Mankind!
"Tray, what do you want to be sweetie?" "Black!" "Black??!!" "Yes.... I want to be black!!"
"Why??"........ "So I can marry The Electric Company guy!!"

Apparently nobody told me it was okay to stay brown and marry Morgan! He was my first crush..... My biggest crush....... I STILL love him today!! How can you not...... He's God for goodness sake!!!! I still wouldn't mind being black either...... God if you're listening...... A bit on the Beyonce side please!!!! Thank you!!!

MAN HE'S FRIGGEN TASTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the frig am I!!? ~ Just a rant!

I used to ask this question quite a bit as a child! My father is 100% Puerto Rican, his family is from Arroyo..... My mother is 100% Sicilian, her family hails from Calabria!

When filling out the census forms in elementary school, I was always stumped!!! What the frig am I!? My mother would INSIST Caucasian...... My father would INSIST Hispanic!! Needless to say they were never a help and I always felt confused and conflicted! I am proud of both of my heritages...... so why isn't there a mixed category!!?? Come on people, we have a half black / half white president!!!! IT'S FRIGGEN TIME!!!!!

This week in school my daughter was presented with the same dilemma.... Upon filling out the census form, Emma checked HISPANIC~! The obviously not too informed teacher (for lack of a better term) approached Miss Em and said......"Sweetie..... you're white.... See this box CAUCASIAN....... That means white!! You should check that!" Now not being there but knowing Miss Em..... I can imagine her face....... "I'm not WHITE!!!! I'm Hispanic..... I'm brown!!!!"

Miss Em has a diagnosis of SPLD ~ Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder ~ Which sometimes makes it hard for her to understand what the frig you're talking about, but allows her to let you have it!! This obviously not too informed teacher (for lack of a better term) must have assumed Emily was not understanding her! "No, honey, your name is Prince ~ See the vowel at the end!? That makes you Italian!!"
Now who the frig has a processing disorder!!!??? WTF!!! Hello..... a vowel at the end..... not that the word PRINCE wouldn't be an immediate indicator of it's ENGLISH heritage, but the vowel is silent!!!!!! Miss Em stood her ground...... "I am not white, I am Puerto Rican...... I'm brown, Hispanic!!!" One child stood up and said...... "Puerto Rican is not Hispanic!!" Emma still stood her ground...... "I AM PUERTO RICAN!!" "I AM HISPANIC"

Of course in the end, Miss Em won...... She always does! But WTF!!!??? Parents teach your children who they are!!!! Let them be proud of their heritage...... Emily knows shes part English, Part Sicilian, AND Part Hispanic........ she has chosen to be all and to CHOOSE her Hispanic culture as her CHECKED BOX!!

Teachers...... learn your vowels and don't talk down or condescendingly to your student...... They're going to be wiping your ass and giving you meds someday...... Trust me, you should have seen my 11Th grade English teacher's face when he realized I was his Medical Assistant after his surgery........PRICELESS!!!!