birthday's on the horizion, so what have I done in a year?

Captain Awesome's other g-ma is having a birthday Sunday.....Happy Birthday to Karen.
Karen really looks too young to be a grandma and she is one to 4 darlings.
I love Karen, but she is not the point here....the point is Birthdays.


At lunch with my friends this week we were celebrating a birthday and someone said that they didn't like this years birthday because it would bring them closer to 50......
In two months I will have my next birthday..... still not the big 50, but a year closer.
Last year I created a list of 50 to do by 50.....I was really keen on it and worked on accomplishing it all for about 3 months then like most of my great ideas and resolves it went by the way side. So today I dusted it off and took a closer look at it.....can I do it still, how crazy was I to even attempt this, what was I thinking? Oh the thoughts we have when one hasn't really even begun to reach the goals set for themselves.......

I have 18 of my 50 by 50 done or in progress or definitely planned for......but the other 32, well they are all great ideas and goals, but they all need a bit of changing...... I guess it is okay to change a few of them up, make them a bit more realistic.....(no I am not coping out, I will just move the grander things to my bucket list, the unrealistic things......the things that involve others and their agency, well those will have to be re thought out. And for the stuff that just doesn't interest me anymore.....yes, I am flighty and scatter brained and not very focused or committed....well some days I should be committed, but that is a whole other issue....back to the not interested in, it is gone). I guess what I am thinking is that if I want to really do some of theses things I had better do some re-thinking and better goal setting and planning and get some follow through......
The other thought I had concerning the 50 list was to revise it and make it a list of things that I could possibly accomplish or put into motion in a week or so....thus giving my self 52 weeks (if I start my birthday week and give me 2 vacation or sick weeks) to do 50 things by my 50th birthday.......
I think that this is the way to go.......
Now to make my list, not an easy undertaking, but then who says I will even follow through with this.....I will follow through, I can and I will do it!

Marcie's 50 by 50 - the new and improved list.....
1.

MCC

Silly grandma

I am a silly grandma. I go over to J & L's and hold and cuddle and stare and stroke his hair and kiss and hug little Ry for hours.... I take about 20 photos of him every time I see him because he changes and his personality is already starting to show.....poor Laurie and Jordan they probably want me to go home and leave them alone.
I am not saying that I didn't do this to my own children, but then again I had to be with them 24/7 and I was probably tired, worn out, etc.... Right now for Ry I am fresh and excited, a new face and voice.
He doesn't need me for anything really, but I need him to fill that space in my heart that I didn't know was empty.....
I think grand parenting comes with a bit of wisdom and the ability to see the bigger picture....I see him and I ponder on his future, I see how much he is like his dad in all that he does. Daily I am better understanding the really important things that are my responsibility to make sure he knows and is exposed too. I also understand that I am there to back up and support J & L.
I know that this little guy is truly a miracle...we are all blessed by him and his sweet spirit.
Everyone tells me that being a grandparents is the best.....and not just because I get to sleep through the night.....I am seeing the truth to that statement --- being a grandparent is the best. A grandparent is a lifter, a support, a reference, a spoiler of good...... A grandparent gets to do and participate in the good parts of parenting...I guess that is why we are called grand parents, because we get to parent grandly.....

I love being a grandma....Little Ry is awesome!
XOXOXOXOXO
MCC

Wednesday Weigh In

Still all the same...... :( , which is also good....at least I am not getting bigger.
I need to get back on/better at the exercise thing. I am much more hit and miss with my 'cizing than I was before Christmas and so I guess that is why the minimal change from week to week.....
My exercise buddy is also a bit more hit and miss. I guess we need to discover a new something to do.

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Lots of frustration right now with the theatre website.... it is a piece of crap.....it is not user friendly, it is a pain to keep updated, the guy who is doing it for us doesn't understand our needs or business. ...... I have to keep reminding myself that technology is a good thing?!?!?!?! It is all so complicated. I just don't get it.I am trying , but gosh it is all getting too hard for me to figure out. I am sure my grandson will just laugh at me when I tell him about this.....he will probably be studying how to do this stuff in Grade School and think that I am just a crazy lady.

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Speaking of grandson and family. All seem to be doing well......from the Gary to the Ryan. All are busy and learning and growing and discovering.....It is amazing to look at Ry and think that everyday is really new to him...to me most days are just the same, not much changes in my life from day to day.
Nelson is an awesome missionary. He is running hard and doing good. 297 DAYS
J & L are figuring out this parent thing.....now if Jordan could get a job, life would be a bit better for them. Megan is busy, busy, busy! I Just wish she would be busy getting done with school and on with the adult portion of her life. Hayden's life has slowed down a whole lot. He did however get a 4.0 this last term ....he thought he just missed it..... I am glad that he is a good kid, great student and that teachers like him.
Gary is back to being a traveling fool.....I think I will call him Hoodini. He's here and then he is gone, but wait he is here again.....
I am on the decorating run... I found couches for my family room! Now I need the funds to get them and I need to get rid of the ones I have so that I can make room for the new ones. I am keeping the big chair and ottoman and having them re-upholstered again.....yes it is almost as much as buying new, but this way I get to pick the fabric and make them like I want, not almost like I want.
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but I digress.....exercise......exercise....exercise!
MCC

looking like his daddy

Ryan is only 12 days old....and boy has he changed.

He looks just like his dad and apperantly is acting like him as well.

MCC

Friday My Favs....

I have been spending my evenings planing my home redecorating projects for the year. Last night I pulled out my favorite things book. It makes my eyes feel good.

I made this book years ago and have been filling it with my favs ...... in the book are magazine photos of my favorites rooms, locations, flowers, colors, ideas etc.... I know that some of the ideas in the book will never happen in my home or in my life time, But I also know that I have a picture of a sofa that I liked years ago that is very similar to the one in my living room.....
Most interesting to me as I leaf through the pages of my book are the similarities in colors and locations from picture to picture. Looking at it I can better see my decorating style...no my house isn't magazine perfect, nor have I copied the looks exactly. But I can see the colors, the feeling a room invokes, the furniture styles, etc.....on the pages and in my home.....
Over the years my taste and style have evolved a bit from what looked like an English county garden style to an eclectic, Tuscan, style...yes our home and life is more the eclectic and never like the garden......

The oddities in the book are the tropical beach and lake pictures. In my decorating I have never leaned to the tropical, nautical or beach in style or colors.....we live in the desert far from a tropical beach and there isn't a lake near by either..... i guess this is just my subconscious telling me to get away, take a break, indulge in a fantasy.....maybe for the back yard.....a pool, the lush garden, a stay-cation spot......

MCC

Weigh In a day late.....just like my life.

I am down a pound.....Yeah 14 more to go by the first of March or my Birthday....the 26th.
I am not wacky about my weight loss , but ultimately would like to loose another 40 lbs. Why I am so obsessed...not wacky, with this is weird to me. I know that weight loss is a slow go, but for some reason I know if I lost 40 more lbs. I would be at my ultimate....of course I will then need a skin lift and tuck...especially on my upper legs and knees.....
I am enjoying my new found shape....I can actually purchase clothing at in regular stores. It is fun to see a thinner waste.
Now to keep on eating right and exercising.....

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I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short. I need to get it together and be more organized. I have two big projects in my home that I am currently focused on....
New Furniture for the Family Room and Painting and Decorating the Loft.....
Yes I began the loft last year, but the help in moving stuff out never happened until it was too late to continue the project...so now I have begun working on it again.
My biggest stumbling block for both projects is the cash.....I wish it grew on trees....I guess I need to go back to work. The next challenge is finding a style I like.....there are so many choices when it comes to sofas....shape, size, upholstery, etc..... also I want a lot of seating, but I am limited by lack of wall space, and the need to move through the room up the stairs or to the outside.....choices, choices, choices.....

MCC

SO Cute!

This is Captain Awesome! One Week Old.

A Foggy day..... and more

It is foggy today which makes the trees gorgeous, the driving hazardous, and the inversion still bad....no snow. Where is the promised snow?

The Happy Family

Our little Ry guy is still the most beautiful baby in the world...you can tell I am the grandma...all grandmothers have the most beautiful, smart, etc...grandchildren. they are home and happy, very tired, but happy. I told J & L that they wouldn't have a good nights sleep for another 20 years..... J stayed up and watched him sleep last night. Gary says he remembers doing that. I remember even when you stop staying up regularly you still have nights when you stay up and watch them sleep. Ahhh to be new parents all over again.

Hayden in All Shook Up

Jayne, Jenna & Hayden after the Show
All Shook Up is almost over.....Hayden has been awesome in his role of Dennis. Cousin Jenna has also been fabo as Natalie. This show is fun, the audiences love it, people are telling their friends, the kids are have figured out how fun and funny it really is....they should trust Angela more. Anyway everyone has now discovered that the hubbub over content was just that hubbub..... overall I think we all have a great appreciation for the songs of Elvis, and the fun of the 1950's.

I finished up the Christmas presents this week. We wanted to take the family to see 110 in the Shade with Audra McDonald and Will Swenson when they come to Utah this summer for a fundraiser at the Hale Theatre Orem.... well, I scored us our tickets yesterday.... I had to wait until Utah residents could buy them....at first the phone was busy, but when I got through it was so easy to get tickets....I guess it pays to have previously purchased form the theatre. They had all my info and it was slick. We are all so excited!

The Weekend is here and there is still lots do do...just not as much as last week, yeah!

I am thinking let the New Year begin......I know it is mid January, but now I have the time to focus on 2010.

MCC

Just Call me Grandma.....and Baby Call

Daddy Jordan, Baby Call (40 minutes old) and Grandma marcie

He is here.... Baby Call was born January 12, 2010 at 10:19 AM. He weighs 8 lbs. 10 oz., is 19 1/2 inches and has lots of dark hair. He looks like his dad and his mom..... in fact his weight and height are the same as his dads. He is healthy. His heart beat was so strong during delivery that they only monitored him from the outside. His lungs are good. he hollered for the first 25 minutes of his life.....you would too if you were naked, naked, cold, prodded, poked and had bright lights shinning on you..... his Grandma Karen said that he would come out singing...i guess he did.

We are all so excited...he is my new crush.
Laurie is doing well, she is tired as is expected, and Jordan can't stop grinning.
He is so handsome!!!!

.....so what is his name? As of now we don't have a first name only a middle and last....so his name is (something) Jordan Call.
Jordan and Laurie had a list of 15 names they liked this morning and just knew when they saw him that they would know want too name him....I told them that they had too many choices.....after he was born the were down to 3 names.... (they would tell anyone what they were thinking of for names because they didn't want any input or preconceived ideas about him) ....privately they called the baby the three different names and now they are down to her choice and his choice....they are both stubborn and won't give in. i told Jordan to let his sweetheart name him and save you the grief....you can name the next one. No one has budged. they can't leave the hospital with out a name on the birth certificate.....

....did I tell you that he is so beautiful and handsome!
MCC

it's time

So I thought I would change up my background again ....unfortunately this is what came up, better than the one it selected for me. i am not very techno savvy..... I think I am doing what is asked, but for some reason I messed it up. i will have to try again later today.

no BABY yet...what's up with that? Laurie told me that she has had no contractions today...unusual for her...she has had contractions everyday for the past week+. maybe it is a sign!

Opening Night

It's Opening Night...always exciting....for All Shook Up! It is such a fun show. I am glad that we have been a part of it.
The dancing is fabulous, the singing is great, the direction and staging is awesome, and if I do say so myself the costume design isn't half bad.
Jenna and Hayden are the highlights of the show, be it their lead or chorus nights. You watch them. They are in the moment and focused. Jenna plays Natalie, a girl pretending to be a boy. She is great...she looks just like her brother Aaron which is so funny. Hayden plays the nerdy best friend who is in love with Natalie. They both are great actors and singers so it is a pleasure to watch them.
I remember my opening nights of High School shows. We thought that we were so good....but I am sure we were just High School.....the fun on and off stage, the friendships that were made...Both Gary and I still have friends from those days and when we see or talk with someone from our High School shows that we haven't seen since then it's as if time has stood still.....I remember some of my lines and songs, and choreography...."Sing Out Louise!" "Spit and Chew" Quite Backstage, the live high school orchestra---not great, but memorable.......ahhh the memories.
Break A Leg!
MCC

Wednesday Weigh In

Back on track. I weigh less than I did last year at this time......
There is an ad on the radio that has someone saying my goal this year is to get fit. You then hear that statement rewind, then said again, rewind, said again, etc.... My Friend told me that she was just going to cross off 2009 at the top of her goal sheet and write 2010..... I asked on facebook for people to click like if they had set a diet or fitness goal for the new year.....lots of "like" response.
It's a New Year So it's back to paying attention to the diet and fitness area of my life. ..... my goal was to have 15 lbs. lost by the new year. I made this statement at the beginning of November, thinking that it was a worthwhile goal....no one had told me that the average person gains 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and the New Year....
Lucky me, I didn't gain those 10 pounds but I chased 5 up and down , back and forth, etc.... today I am exactly where I started the first of November..... so my goal now that the holidays are over is to lose 15 pounds by the first of March.

During the holidays I had several people ask me about my weight loss. They are all expecting me to tell then that I have been taking a magic pill or something like that.....when I tell them that I am eating right and exercising they get this silly look on their faces and say something like "of course, but I didn't want to hears that ."

I'll keep eating healthy and drinking plenty of water and I will exercise...I like to exercise!?!?!
MCC

Am I Getting Old? or my time managment skills are non existant

I must be getting old....things that didn't phase me are now taking there toll on me...I need my sleep and for some reason I keep trying to run and get things done but for every step forward and find myself 3 steps behind.....what is up with that?
Today I have too much to do and no time to do it all.....It is January 5 2010 and i find the year and the world around me running away and my life moseying along.
I need to get a grip and take my life back....I'll give myself until the weekend. Maybe that will be a long enough time to accomplish this.
MCC

......

no baby yet they sent her home.....when you don't progress and there is no danger to the mom or the baby they send you home to endure on your own.......my second guess date is Hayden's opening night of All Shook Up.....

It's a New Year...Hello 2010

Happy New Year...remember 1999 when we were all so worried about it becoming 2000.....well now it's 2010 and look at us, no crazy worries, no crazy scares.
I am excited for the new year...several new things and happenings for the Call Family......We are beginning the next generation.....Jordan just called and said that they are on their way too the hospital....to see if the baby is coming....contractions are consistent and have happened every night for the past three days. We are hopping the time is at hand......
Gary and I are becoming Grandparents.....wow, kind of scary.....I am not old enough or wise enough or anything enough.... I hope that i am a good, fun, grandma.
Other new things and happenings....Jordan should graduate...Megan should too but she won't commit to when. She needs to see a counselor and figure things out. I am pretty sure she is done and could heaver a degree. I know she isn't done with the teaching thing...but come on already.
We have a new driver...Hayden. He has been driving legally since November...but it is still new....he is a scary driver in the Suburban....

I also have several new resolves and some new and old to dos for this upcoming year.
On Facebook I asked who had a diet/fitness goal for the new year.....I had an overwhelming response of 'yes that is my goal.' ....So once again a year of healthy eating and exercising. I actually said I missed my daily exercise today ...so did Megan. Who would have ever guessed those words would have come out of my mouth.
We are cleaning out the cupboards and refrigerator tonight...junk out healthy in. We were all going to give up soda pop, but have decided to not go that far until after the Musical is over....we might need the fizzy caffeinated support.....
I want to make it to the Temple once a week ....I have done this in the past but for some reason lost the habit and now I am having a hard time finding the time....I just need to make an appointment and keep it.
I also want to get some more education this year....To do what I want I will have to self educate on the Internet, through the library and with trial and error....but it should be fun.....sew, draping and pattern making here I come.
Home projects are always on my to do list and this year is no exception...it is time to finish up the loft...I know I began last year and it is still in transition. It is becoming mine, Hayden and the grand kids fun and project space......
I have to re decorate, paint and re purpose.
Once again Lots to do and not enough time to do it....
MCC