LEAGUE CHAMPS!!

HERE THEY ARE!! 2006 Chippewa Valley Fastpitch League CHAMPIONS!! Eau Claire Mighty Ducks! WHAT a game! It was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation (5 innings) and remained tied through 7. Our Ducks pulled through in the 8th inning to score 4 more runs and held the opponent to 2. As you can see, it was getting dark and we probably wouldn't have been able to play another inning--no lights at this field. We were ready to call the news team and get the ambulances lined up for the moms on the brink of coronaries! Just to remind everyone, the Ducks were the 7th seed and played against the 1st seed. A shout out to Seymour Teal for a great game and tough competition. Congrats to all the girls on both teams--GREAT season everyone!!!

Mighty Ducks

You are looking at the Eau Claire Mighty Ducks 10U girls softball team that just won the rights to the CHAMPIONSHIP game tomorrow night!! Way to go DUCKS!! These girls are fabulous--such a great group. I couldn't be more proud right now; they're awesome! They've grown so much since the beginning of the season and they work so well together. What a terrific group of girls! They are so strong and proud, but humble. The tournament started on Monday with a win against the 10th seed (the Ducks are the 7th seed). Tuesday it was the 2nd seed that they beat and tonight was the 3rd seed. All that's left are the Ducks and the 1st seed for tomorrow's game. Wish us luck! GO DUCKS!!!

BLACKOUT?

So what's the deal with this? What I'm referring to is sports events being "blacked out" by a television network. At least I think that's who initiates the blackout. We're MN Twins fans here, and they recently played a 3 game serious against the Houston Astros. All of the games were broadcast on ESPN2, BUT, we weren't able to watch them. We pay the cable company oodles of money every month so that we can watch these channels, and then when we click on the channel to tune in, it reads "We're sorry. You do not currently subscribe to this channel. For more information or to subscribe to this channel please call your cable provider." Are you kidding me? We sure DO subscribe and that's what we pay you for! Anyways, it was a bummer that we weren't able to watch Liriano whoop Roger Clemens in one of the games. That Roger Clemens is another story...what a poor poor sport. Imagine being paid millions and telling your boss WHEN you'll work and WHERE you'll work. Apparently this game against the Twins was his first game this season. What has he been doing all this time? A whole lot of nothing, I presume. And he'll only play home games, he won't travel with the team. Hey Roger, there's no "I" in team!

It all worked out in the end, the Twins continue to improve their record and inch ever closer to the top. :) Yeah, right...

Go TWINS!

All the Day's News

Happy Saturday everyone!

Long time, no blog. I'd like to say I've been busy, but I haven't really. Since Caitlin left last Saturday for CA it's been pretty calm around here. Usually by about 3:00 p.m. at work every day I'm running through the list in my mind of things I have to do after work or where Caitlin has to be dropped off or picked up and when; but this last week my list came up empty most days.

Cait left at about 4:00 p.m. on Saturday (after playing 2 games in a softball tournament, it was a long day) to head to the airport. Saturday night Jason and I went to Hayward to see one of his friends who was "home" from the Army. Jonah is supposed to stand up in our wedding, but it doesn't appear as if he's going to make it. He'll be leaving soon to go to Hawaii where he'll be stationed before being deployed. The coolest thing about our visit with him is that he flew a Sessna 4-seater from Superior to Hayward and took Jason up flying with him for a bit. Sunday I met a couple of my friends for lunch before heading back to Eau Claire.

Not much to report for the last week--I just worked every day, went grocery shopping, picked up a couple of things for the wedding...that's about it. I started tanning. :( Not something I like to do, in fact I've gone 3 times before in my life, but I need to get a little tan before the wedding.

Jason was offered a new job this last week, and he took it. Since leaving LSS in March he's been working at Xcel Energy. Sounds good, but it really wasn't. I've never seen him so unhappy so I was thrilled that he was offered a job with a place called Triniteam. It's definitely more up his alley--it's a halfway house for correctional clients. Not a phone center for grumpy energy customers!

Today my friend Sarah (and Matron of Honor) is coming down for a visit and she's going to pick up her dress for the wedding. It's always nice to see my good ol' pals. :)

It's going to be a hot one today...whew! When I woke up this a.m. it was already 85 degrees, and

End of report...have a FANTASTIC weekend!

Check it Out!

Saw this a while back on Miss Karen's blog...didn't have enough content on my own blog to create one, but now I do! Cool, huh?

Week 1: -1.2

Pounds, that is. Yep, I'm back at it. Fourth (and final) time on the Weight Watchers program. The program comes highly recommended by many many many people, including yours truly.

I say "final" time because this is it. I'm here to stay. And I say this here so that everyone can read it. I'm making myself accountable not only to the scale or to the WW leader or participants or my family and friends, but to the potentially millions (yeah, right!) of people who could happen upon my blog.

My first go round was my most successful. I had lost almost 20 lbs. and then I got lazy with my eating habits and fell off the wagon. The 2nd and 3rd times around my head just wasn't in it and I didn't get very far either time.

Now 1.2 lbs. isn't a lot, but it is a loss nonetheless. Had I seen +1.2 it would have been pretty hard to keep on going. Just over a pound could be the difference in the clothes I'm wearing, or water weight or whatever. But if I add another 1.2 loss next week and the week after that and the week after that I'll be on a roll (and losing mine!).

Sure, the upcoming wedding increases my motivation, but more than that is the anticipation of having more children. There is NO WAY that I could add baby weight onto this pile and be healthy. It would just give me that much more to lose, and make me that much more unhealthy. And so I've pledged to be in the "recommended" weight range for my age and height before attempting to have a baby. And at 1.2 lbs. per week, it'll be about 5 years before I'm at that stage. I'm KIDDING!!! Not quite that long... :)

If anyone has been on the Weight Watchers program, or even if you haven't, and you have any good tips or tricks to share, I'd appreciate any advice. Constructive criticism is welcome as well.

Have a nice day!

"Telephone!"

Something kind of funny that Jason and I both noticed over the last week or so...

A couple of times when we've been out of the house, to the grocery store or wherever, we've come back to messages on the answering machine that went something like this:

1. "You have two new messages" Beep. "Hi Caitlin, this Shianne..." Beep. "This is Grandpa, calling for Caitlin..."

2. "You have two new messages" Beep. "Hi. This is Nicole from Caitlin's softball team..." Beep. "Hi. I was wondering if Caitlin could sleep over..."

Hmmm...I see a pattern forming. :)