Decompression from the IC

Both the DH and I took the week off after the IC.  We made it home on Monday and slept (and did laundry LOL)

We packed up the Girls and ourselves and headed out on Tuesday to a KOA for the remainder of the week.  There were many campfires and we tried new things while we were out.

The DH tried to bake in the trailer:



 

 

And the muffins came out ok on the top but burnt on the bottom.  I was going to leave it to him to eat those up.

 

Nikki and went for a walk and I am sure she was glad to see the last of the 5K's LOL

 

 

 

It was nice to just lay in bed until 10 an know we didn't need to be anywhere.  I think the Girls appreciated the rest too!

Sunday of the IC

Wow......was I ever exhausted but I forged on........

The Sunday morning of an IC is to wrap everything up (literally and figuratively) and send everyone on their way.

We had one 2 little bits of business left to do......The charity fundraiser and to announce the total for the charity for the weekend.

Well in the past (too many to count...) there have been pies in the face.  It is usually the CS (President of the organization) and the IC Chair (the DH).  The DH and I talked about the pie thing and we both agreed that it has run its course and we needed something new.  That is when I mentioned the duct tape challenge.  Originally it was to have strips of duct tape sold to that we could tape them to the wall and take away the chair they were standing on to see if they would hold.  Well after seeing the conference centre, the masses decided that we should tape the DH and the CS together.  Then a bidding war started to see if they were to be face to face or back to back.  I am happy to say that we raised over $400 to have them taped face to face.

Once everyone paid up, the weekend was a great success!  We raised over $2000 so that will send 2 kids to NASA Space Camp for a week!  WOHOO!

So folks went on their way and I told those that were in the business meeting on Friday and missed out on the walking tour that I would be doing it again on Sunday afternoon.  We met in the front lobby and I was surprised to see that Jong came along a second time and brought Garcia with her.  So we had about 10 of us that were crossing the border for some fun.

Merman took this picture of me on the walking tour.  I think I was explaining the bit about all the tulips from Holland when he took it.  Either that or I am trying to be a body builder LOL

 

 

When we stopped for lunch at Burger King, I was able to chat with Victor and CoffeeVictor and I found out that they were at the table with BollickS last night and she neglected to tell me that she ate a whole bowl of salad plus what she told me.  No wonder she wasn't feeling well.  She had enough food to fill a regular tummy.  Victor made a note of how much she ate because he has had the sleeve done and was surprised at what she ate too. 

 

This is when we got in to a great discussion on health care.  I found out that there are 2 types of health care, one that gets you by and one that gets you the extras.  Well BollickS had the standard care where she was told to lose 10% of her weight and she gets the surgery.  Then she is left to live her life.  Victor had the "upgraded" version where it was like what I went through with the specialists but instead of Opti, he was to lose 10% of his weight.  This would explain sooooooo much now.

 

I was glad to stay one more night at the hotel so I could get some rest.  I don't think I could have gone home and unpacked everything the same day.

Saturday of the IC

This is the longest day of the IC.........

We have a general session in the morning where we hear the highlights of the big business meeting from Friday and this goes usually from 8 to noon. I decided to sit at the back of the room since I had both girls with me so that the room could get cleaned.  I never realised that when I twist my legs around each other when I sit, it gives me a muffin top! LOL  BTW, the shirt I am wearing here is a LARGE!!!!  I automatically went for the XL and it was swimming in it.  I was just glad that there was another one for me to swap out.

Looking at this picture it reminds me of how my mom reads her romance novels.  I think it is the way my left arm is positioned.  Ahh the days of mom reading LOL

So the afternoon was setting up for the auctions.  DevineW and LiLDevineW were there to help me out.  After looking at all the stuff after the Marine Mess last I am glad that we broke it up into 2 auctions. 

So I was able to leave the silent auction in the hands of DevineW and I headed back to the room.  I was soooo beat I decided to head back to the room for a nap.  I knew that Jong and Garcia were stopping in so I thought hearing his knock on the door would be enough to wake me up.  No such luck.  I had left the door propped open for them and the housekeeping staff actually stopped in to clean and she panicked when she saw the girls.  Lucky enough Garcia was there to calm her down and told her to come back tomorrow.  Where was I through all of this?  Sleeping.  Yup didn't hear a single thing.  Garcia gently closed the door and left me to sleep.  I woke up 2 hours later to get read for the bidding auction and the dinner.  This was the moment I have been working so hard for.  The past 9 months were for me to walk into a rom and make the DH say "wow that's my woe.  She looks great."

I freshened up and slipped into the purple dress and took a good long look in the mirror to see how I was looking.  Thanks to the help from Nash with my undergarments I think I pulled it all off!  The shoes looked really nice, my hair turned out and I really don't see anything that screams "stuffed sausage" :)

It took me some time to get used to the heels again, but I have to say, now that the weight is coming off, the knees don't hurt as much when I wear them.  Will I wear them more frequently?  Probably.

Here is what I look like all cleaned up ;)

 

I had a few compliments and even a cat call!  I walked into the conference centre and JU yelled "(DH) you don't deserve that!"  I was shocked that I got that compliment, but then I thought that the DH does deserve this.  I was also told that I have models legs since they are so long.  I know that I am not signing up with any agencies soon but I will keep that compliment under my hat :)

I was happy to have my little cups with me at the dinner.  Everything was set up "family style" so a big amount of food on a plate was passed around and you took what you wanted.  I talked to the DH about it and he said that if there was more food needed, the plates would be refilled and brought back out.  I am glad that I had this chat since I didn't go into the "grab it first" mindset.  It made for a nice relaxing meal.  Dessert came and it was an Italian Lemon cake and I have been making a conscious effort to cut back on the "white" carbs.  So when I saw the cake, there was a middle of cream (Merman thinks that it was ricotta) and that is all I ate.  It was quite a funny sight to see the end result.

And then things get interesting.........

The DH was talking to AlRoz and his girlfriend BollickS and the DH flags me over.  So I went over to see what was up and BollickS had the RNY and wasn't feeling well.  I asked what she had eaten and she then informed me that she had the pasta, some breaded pork chop and mashed potatoes.  I nearly fell over since she had enough starch in her system that a normal person would have consumed!  So as a result her stomach had gone hard and didn't know what to do with the food.  I told her what she had done and the only thing to do was to walk and sip water to help it all through.  I walked away absolutely shocked, thinking that this was RNY 101. 

She and AlRoz excused themselves for the rest of the night and I didn't see her again.




Friday of the IC

Well this is the day of the business stuff takes place at the IC.  So there are about 40+ that need to sit in the meeting and it usually takes all day.  That means there are spouses with nothing to do and I have come across this situation at past IC's that I didn't know what to do with myself.  So I told the DH that he can leave this to me and I will take the spouses on a walking tour of the Falls.

So we met in the front lobby at 10, and there was MUBoss, JD, BFFlorida, Jong, Chuck and myself that decided to go.  So we walked across the border, took pictures by the Falls, walked up Clifton Hill, bought some souvenirs, stopped for some poutine for lunch, had a beaver tail for dessert, walked back down to the Hershey store and hit the Duty Free for some ice wine and Caribbean cigars.  The tour took about 4 hours in total and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

By the looks on their faces they enjoyed the food.

 

 

 

Friday night of the IC has a dinner called the "Marine Mess" and it is for a part of organization that the Marines are the infantry forces of the organization and  unlike the rest of chapters whose personnel, who used a naval ranking structure, the Marines use a rank structure based on equivalents of Earth infantry-based militaries, such as the MACOs.

 

So you have members who where uniforms to the dinners and there is quite the pomp and circumstance to the dinner.  So I decided to go with looser fitting clothing and I got to wear DentisT's skirt to this dinner.

 

I think I even did CCC and Nash proud by doing my hair before I went LOL
 

 

 

 



August 19th

This was a busy day for a day off.......

The DH loaded up the Dodge to head to the conference centre and hotel for the IC and I stayed behind to work my shift at the second job before heading out on Thursday.

It is a good thing I did since I was getting texts from the DH if things that he had forgotten to bring with him to the hotel.  So I started a pile at the front door and decided to just keep adding to it until I packed up the car.

Grandma S stopped overnight to watch the Noodle so I could work the second shift.  She was able to stick around into Thursday so that I could run into the store quickly without a dog.  So once I had the car fully packed with the girls and all the stuff I headed off to Niagara Falls around lunchtime.

I received a call from the DH saying that he was should WaytoKill'em around the Falls and that I would have to drive on Clifton Hill to meet them to get the room key. O_o  This is the busiest street in Niagara Falls Ontario because of the tourist stuff to do.  I am glad that the DH was waiting for me outside to the attraction since there was no way I could have found parking.

I crossed the border into NY and that is when I fell apart.... believe it or not, there is a Sheraton AT the Falls and a Sheraton ON the Falls?  Well I had the wrong on in the GPS and I was trying to figure out why it kept taking me back across the border.  So I pulled over and called the DH crying and he gave me the address I needed and I was just over a minute away from the hotel.  PHEW!

I got to the hotel and started to unload the car and when I got up to the room with the girls the hotel had a surprise for them!

This was nice of them!  I should have told them that I had the 2 dogs, since I can see some looks coming from Nikki claiming this bed.  So on the last trip to the car I brought up the bed that is in the car for Melodie and she is such a sweet girl she just slept on the old dog bed and was happy.

I began unpacking the luggage for the stay and the DH and WaytoKill'em came to the room with Garcia and Jong and we had a good chin wag to catch up on news.

At this point I realised that I hadn't eaten since I ate the power bar in the car and the troll was getting achy. So we decided to herd down to a TGIFridays and met up with AwardsQueen and R6RC.  And of course I was at a restaurant with Garcia so we had to get Mozza Stixs again lol.  He got a fair bit  more than just these but who I am I to turn down a decent mozza stick!

I also discovered that when you are in a hotel restaurant that is holding the IC, you can never just have a meal and leave.  As we were enjoying dinner we were joined by JD and BFFlorida.  They are a great set of friends who went me to the stock yards in Dallas.  They were the ones that invited me along so I thought I would return the favour and show them my neck of the woods on a walking tour tomorrow of the Falls.  So as I was getting tired from the noises of the restaurant I had the best of intentions to get up and go, but then we were joined by KU and her hubby MU.  At this point I was too tired from the day and needed to leave and it isn't like I wasn't see them during the IC.  So if you plan to go, go.  There will always be someone showing up and you will never got out!

So I took a very tired Nikki back to the room and she decided to flop for the night and this is where she spent the rest of the night:

August 18th

And this begins the upswing to the IC..........

Garcia and Jong were up from California to take advantage of the sights and fun that Toronto had to offer before heading out to Niagara Falls NY for the conference.  So the DH and I headed off to the hotels around PIA to catch up with them over a really late supper.  See California folks are 3 hours head of us in the time zones so since the DH  were working  and could get out until 8ish, this worked in their favour.

Last year at the IC Garcia and I were notorious for enjoying the same appetizers, in particular the Mozza Stix.  Did you know I went looking for the post from that weekend and there isn't one?!?!?!  The shock!  LOL  Anyway, Garcia mentioned at dinner tonight of we should split another order for old times sake.  I told him that I would be up to eating half an order, but definitely try to eat one.  Well I did try, and got through half.  The DH was nice enough to eat the other half and Jong and Garcia split the rest of the order.  Of course I did order off the kids menu again and tried side ribs again.  I didn't get through them all (only 3) and the troll let me know I was full.

So I am sure that Jong and Garcia will be in my posts later on since they are joining us in Niagara Falls on Friday after a few sight seeing spots in T.O.

August 16th

Was a day away to see the Jays!

It was bobblehead day.  Yes a bobblehead.  They were having the alumni from 1985 make an appearance since it was the anniversary we won the division series.

 

So I went as C's second person so that she could get 2 of the bobbleheads.  She likes to have 2 so that she can keep one to display/play with and the other stays in the box so that she can sell it as a collector's item later.  I think she mentioned that this is how she is supporting her retirement LOL

 

So this is what we went for and as you know it was the second trip for us.

 

 

 

It was a very hot and humid day and the stadium was packed.  It was very tight quarters with the young guy beside me and I was hoping that it would be an empty single seat but alas it wasn't.  So all of us were very tolerable with each other and I am glad that I wasn't at my highest weight because that would have been ugly.  Between all the sweat in places I didn't think sweated ands constantly touching someone would have drove me nuts.

 

Well that will be the last game of the season for me since F is going with C to the last 2 games that she wants to go to.

 

I guess I will see if she needs me next year LOL