Get Ready Florida...

Here come the Bells!!!

Yes, dear friends, the Bell family is descending en masse to the Sunshine State in just a couple of days.

The.Entire.Bell.Family. Except for my eldest of brothers, who has to stay here and work. For which I am very sad. Because I wanted him to be there too.

What does this mean for you, dear readers? Most likely it means daily blog listings about the joys of living with ten people in a four bedroom/three bath condo on the beach. Because there is nothing that will bring a family closer together than having to share that little amount of space with that great amount of people.

It is not like it was the last time we made this family trek. Kristin, Katy & Allison were barely out of toddler stage. Joey was not even on the horizon. Now the girls are 19, 17 and 17 respectively and Joey just turned 12.

So part of the TEN consists of three teen girls. I took two teen girls to FLA last year after graduation and couldn't see out my back window for all the luggage. I drive an SUV. These girls do NOT pack light.

Which is amazing, when you see the size of their bathing suits.

So get ready... the blogging will most likely begin either Sunday night or sometime Monday.

Working on my tan...

Gentle Basic Step

So... I went back to the YMCA for my first exercise class since the surgery. I started going back to the Y last week just to begin using the treadmill and getting back to some sort of exercise post-surgery. While I was there, I saw the summer schedule and I scanned the classes to see if there was anything that would be fun without death involved. There is a class that meets on Tuesday nights at 7:30 that was called Gentle Basic Step. I thought this was an encouraging class. The two significant words being "Gentle" and "Basic".

So last night I went to watch the girls play softball and after the first game I head to the Y. I arrived a little earlier than the class starts, so I walked the track as a warm-up. I enter the workout room and select the lowest of the steps (not being an idiot and thinking I could do anything higher) and placed myself in the center of the room hoping to just blend in.

The "basic" part of this class is pretty accurate. There were no step sequences that were too complicated and I wasn't trying to mambo my way out the door. However... GENTLE may be a bit misleading. Knowing this was only a 30 minute class, I was fairly confident that I would be able to make it to the end without fear of collapsing. However, the first time I looked at my watch thinking that I was near the end of the class, we were actually only ten minutes into it.

Ten minutes. I had 20 minutes left and I was looking for the oxygen masks to fall from the ceiling. I then remembered that I was not on a plane. Nor was I dreaming. And I apparently was there on a volunteer basis. I know this because I looked around for the man who had the pistol to my head, and he was nowhere to be found.

I did make it through the entire 30 minutes. I only had to rest once and I considered that a great feat since this was my first real exertion since the Best.Surgeon.Ever. removed an internal organ. I am also excited about the loss of some 20 pounds since the surgery and the fact that I can wear clothes that have not been on my body in over a year.

We'll see if I make a return visit next week.

ATTA GIRL!!!!

There is just something fabulous about a girl beating out all the boys. It is, undoubtedly, my pride speaking... but it is wonderful nonetheless. I enjoyed being on the winning tug-of-war team in elementary school and was smart enough not to face those same boys after they had reached puberty and could beat me. A girl's gotta use her brains to win too!

There was one special girl that went up against the guys over the weekend... and beat them all. I'm talking about the 139th running of the Belmont Stakes. The final jewel in the Triple Crown. Even though I was heart broken that Street Sense lost to Curlin in the Preakness, I was very excited to find a filly in the mix at the Belmont Stakes. (Street Sense, by the way, decided to take a break and prepare for the fall racing season, so he was not there to face Curlin again)

So, my eyes were drawn, naturally, to the one girl in the ranks of these powerful stallions. And I wanted her to win. Rags to Riches is her name and she's a pretty filly. She kept her head throughout the race. She stayed with those boys in this longest of the three races, and she didn't even appear to be sweating too much. Or should I say glistening? I am from the south. She stayed to the outside of the big boys so she wouldn't get her pretty face flecked with mud and when it came time to turn on the charm, that is exactly what this girl did.

She went neck and neck with Curlin, the favored horse, and in the end I have a feeling she just took a look to her left and snorted at him... while flicking her tail in triumph! She is the first filly to win since 1905. Her brother Jazil won this race last year and her father won the race back in the 80s. Racing is in her blood and she went down in the history books for her effort.

That's the way to show those boys!