Wednesday, April 29, 2009
May 2009 Birthdays
8th - Terry
13th - Chelsea (12 years)
16th - Tamara (John's daughter) 20 years
16th - Camille
16th - Isabella (2 years)
17th - Gregory
18th - Gaston
18th - Sheung
19th - Jason
22nd - Renauld
22nd - Wendell
26th - Omey (the BIG 80)
30th - Allison (5 years)
31st - Mike
18th - Happy 13th anniversary to Sheung and Lisa
19th - Happy 54th anniversary to Raoul and Omey
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!!!
Monday, April 27, 2009
A cousin's reaction to the LLW syndrome....
Fast forward to roughly a week ago when he posted pics from his "Daddy & Daughter Day" on Facebook, and I couldn't help but comment saying he looked like the teenager I knew from back in the day. I had to give him props as I know how hard he worked to get that way. Not that he did it to get props from his cousin (I admire his true reasoning about Marisela whole-heartedly) but I imagine the props he gets from Charity is the true icing on the cake. Marisela will dish out props when she's old enough to know what props is. =o)
And I can testify that Sandra is living the LLW life to perfection. Not that any of you needed more evidence by the fact that she looked 25 years old at the reunion. But I clearly remember at a family gathering at Lisa's house (I can't remember what it was for), she didn't give in to the fact that it was a family gathering and she should simply eat what everybody was eating. No, there was separate bake made (with no salt I think) and separate chili prepared (using turkey I think) that she diligently consumed to LLW standards. Hardcore I thought to myself, but you gotta be hardcore about it to be serious. The payoff is that huge laughing smile on her face in the picture Janine posted. LOL
Jay, I got your back 100% cuz! Although coming from me (and all my 120 pounds) it may not mean much, but I know you can do it! I too remember back in the day that you too also had the symptoms of fruit-like calves and I was impressed because it was from all the riding you used to do. (My legs were like twigs and I knew I would have to walk a bike up the hill near your mom's house.) Going out to clubs, you'd get all the ladies attention as your clothes fit just right. I felt like an assistant: "Make way ladies! Tall, Dark and Handsome coming through! Coming through! Please, give the man some room ladies!"
But if there's one thing that stands out to me about your situation....it's that fact that your wife is afflicted with LLW!!! You should be able to catch the disease just by being around her! At the reunion Karen was looking fab and chic....shades and earings in the water and everything! Marriage is a team and you two should team up to live the LLW life! Do like what Garnet said, gut the fridge and stock it with good healthy stuff. Can't eat it if it's not there to eat, right? She can lead the way as she's already living it. Look to her for inspiration as well as motivation to look good FOR her.
Taking on a life-altering mission is so much easier if it's done tag-teaming with a partner. Sure you'll have the whole DNN family behind you, but it starts with you and the people you see everyday. And with Terehz, imagine the good habits you will be instilling in him (as well as De Andre as I'm sure he's already thinking about looking good for the ladies.) Heck, take De Andre with you to the gym and tag-team Father & Son-style. Have the whole family get bikes, get a bike rack and take trips to the park for riding excursions. With the warm weather coming around, start a plan and go for it. You've got two LLW lifers willing, ready and able to give you priceless advice on how to start the plan the right way. Then you, Karen, De Andre and Terehz will be taking family walks for lunch eating a shopping bag full of grapes....and talking about, "Damn skippy we all look good." =o)
-Your cuz, Chris
Sunday, April 26, 2009
An Open Letter To My Family
Not to take anything away from the accomplishments of those in the LLW article but I think it's time I asked my family for their support. I currently weigh about 252 pounds and I would like to lose about 40 of those. For the last few years, I have been able to hide it pretty well - or so I thought. Lately, my clothes don't quite sit right and with the new season, the shorts that fit me last year are a little bit tight. The shorts from last year were bigger than the shorts from the year before. I wear sport jackets over my shirts and ties even on the httest days. There are not too many pictures of me out there and I realize that I avoid them for a reason.
As a kid, I rode my bicycle everywhere. It was my method of transportation. Now? Not so much. Its easy to jump in a car and drive.
So now that I can admit that I have a problem, I have a plan to try to correct it.
1) I loooove to eat and that love affair may have to end. I know that when you eat, it takes 20 minutes of so for your brain to register "full" on the gauge. But I keep eating anyway. I can control that or I ought to be able to control that.
2) I have a fairly good bicycle. I look at it and admire it, I shine it up and repair it but don't ride it as much as I should. I drive to places around here that are easily accessible by bicycle. I can control, or ought to be able to control that.
3) I also know that to achieve results, they must be measurable. Using my current weight as a starting point, I can keep everyone posted on the progress.
So I come humbly to my family - and with a bit of shame - for their support.
If anyone would like to join me as a sponsor (kinda like AA), let me know.....
Wish me luck folks.....
....and thanks Garnet for saying what you said about losing a parent. I will look to Rezzy and DeAndre for inspiration too.
Your cousin/nephew/brother/son/husband/friend;
Jay
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN
Whatever you do today have fun and enjoy it.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Health Alert: DNN reports Big Losers within the family!
Sandra T (last names have been withheld) was one of the first in the family struck by the condition.
“It was a gradual process I just remember being unhappy with the way my clothes looked and fit. It was crazy because I had never felt that way before. At first the symptoms of the disease were subtle. “I found myself avoiding some foods that struck me as overly greasy or too salty. Gradually I started avoiding more and more foods until I had finally cut out almost anything fried and oily and was only eating fresh fruits and vegetables, small amounts of lean meats and very small amounts of breads and whole grains.”
Helpful nutrition experts working from the grocery stores were baffled. They made heartfelt appeals to get her to return to her pre LLW way of eating including sending coupons and putting certain products on sale, but with no success. The affliction is too deep and most disturbingly the 40 something year old seems delightfully happy. She is actually unwilling to rid herself of the shocking condition. “I know it’s weird for someone my age to be as thin and perhaps thinner than they were 25 years ago” she says peeling a banana “but I don’t want to change. I love carnival costumes and I love putting new holes in my belt. I guess I’m addicted!”
Worse still, it is believed that Sandra T* may have passed LLW on to a family member living in the same city. Karen C* recalls acquiring the condition soon after Sandra. “I started having feelings of always being the biggest one at a party or gathering. And I was even more distressed when no one disagreed with me if I made fat jokes about myself. I’m pretty sure by then I had caught LLW. It hit so hard that no one could help me” The first symptoms were revealed on the social networking site Facebook where she published a status update that read “I will lose 20 pounds by the end of this year”. Though slightly strange it didn’t attract much notice until 9 months later when she appeared in photos wearing elegant shape revealing clothes and having people mistake her son for her little brother. One year later still suffering from the effects of LLW she finds herself walking on her lunch hour with a bag of grapes instead of eating fast food with co-workers. Disoriented and desperate for help she checks in at the gym every night for one hour. Dinner is always a salad. Despite her attempts she isn’t hopeful for a cure. She shakes her head vehemently at the question as if to banish the thought “No. I won’t go back to the way I was before. I’ll never stop being this weight.”
Far away in the southern
Although the government and the food industry have made their best efforts to protect the DuChausees, there are just too many environmental and genetic factors to save the entire clan from being afflicted. It seems the family's only hope is to educate one another on the many ways LLW can strike. The spread of information could be the only way of understanding and controlling this life changing condition
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Soul (by KIA)
2009 Hyundai Elantra vs. 2009 Toyota Prius
Nissan....Stay out of it!!!
X-Men Origins - Wolverine
Sunday, April 12, 2009
An Easter Miracle
An Easter Miracle
Call it luck, call it Divine Intervention, call it what you want but for Janet Carrington it was nothing short of a miracle. 363-316 the final score of a scrabble game that ended the 3 game losing streak for Janet Carrington..
Janet and her opponent her nephew Christopher Barrow had had a long standing Scrabble feud. The two had gone head to head at family gatherings and ever since discovering Scrabble on Facebook they had continued duking it out internationally.
Lately however, Janet had found herself on the losing end of this Scrabble battle too many times for her liking.
“It was incredibly frustrating! It was almost like he knew where I was going to play. I would have an amazingly intricate set up of words in place and I’d be one click away from racking up a massive score and boom! When I looked he had gone exactly where I was about to go.” She shakes her head remembering. “If you could have heard de steupsing that went on during those games.” she laughs.” I remember thinking If this child wasn’t my nephew…”
And then it came. One magical game just before the Easter weekend. “I was getting vex with losing to be honest. And that day when we started I had decided ok it’s time to get serious.” So she brought out the heavy artillery. A little extra brain age. A warm shower to relax the mind. A microwaveable heating pad on the wrists to keep the mousing muscles loose. “Before the game I thought. This is it. If this game doesn’t go well I may have to move on to Sudoku or Monopoly.”
She recalls that the game didn’t begin in any special way. No seven letter word or triple word scores or anything like that. “I just pulled my letters, made my words and played them where they went best.”
Gradually however, she started noticing her lead creeping up. First it was only a couple points. Then a good ten, then twenty then forty and before she knew it she was leading by some sixty points.
“I couldn’t believe it. I remember thinking at one point in time that maybe he was letting Bella play!” she laughs recalling the thrill of being sixty or so points ahead of someone who had trounced her so many times. But as her lead started to shrink she knew it was not Bella. It was indeed Chris and her precious win was in danger. “I got a little worried once the point differential came down to forty. I thought oh boy this is taking too long. I better bring this thing home.”
And bring it home she did. Her last word (she can’t remember what it was) sealed the deal making the official final score 363-316. It was a long time coming but the Canadian has definitely earned her bragging rights. So what did the victor have to say?
“It was a great game, it will make a great Scrabble memory. Chris is a great player and a great guy and I look forward to more games with him in the future.”
Word.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Happy Easter
Monday, April 6, 2009
Universal Healthcare?
Sunday, April 5, 2009
April 2009 Birthdays
6 April - Vanessa (Our German connection)
Aydhan (two years old)already!!!
11 April - Yannick (Happy 18th)
13 April - His Mom, Margaret
17 April - Alfred (the karate kid)
19 April - Patrice
22 April - Nancy (a major milestone)
22 April - Christopher
25 April - Sean (also a major milestone)
Happy 15th wedding anniversary to Tony (aka Collie) and Yraiz