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The Stars and Stripes, baby

It's the

Fourth of July

There is so much I could say. 

But the only thing I really need to say is that I want to live my life in a better, more selfless way. 

Because I'm so blessed to be an American and I want to live a life that is worthy of the sacrifice of those who died for my freedom.

I am so thankful for:

Those early Americans who left their homelands and families to come here so I could worship God according to the dictates of my conscience. 

Those inspired men and revolutionaries who risked their lives and freedom to sign that heaven inspired Declaration of Independence that long ago day in 1776.

The nameless generations of American people who buried their young solider sons. 

Those early immigrants who came on ships, not knowing what they would find. 

Who buried babies when they couldn't survive in this new, harsh land.

 Those early Americans who lost or left behind their fathers and mothers. Who gave up everything they knew for their ideals.

The revoluationaries who threw tea into the ocean on a cold December night in a defense of liberty and the right to be represented by those that govern.

Those brave, tireless men rode their horses through the night to change the tide of war.

Those lesser known women, who supported the most important revolution every to occur by baking, sacrificing, raising kids on their own, housing soliders, and, at the risk of treason, sewing flags for a newly formed country by candlelight.

Those fought for the independence of the enslaved and the preservation of our union.

Those who marched all night over 30 miles and then fought at the top of a hill and changed the course of history.

Those who defended the world against tyranny at great personal cost. 

Those who swam ashore the beaches of France, to save people they had never met. 

Those whofought against the spread of communism in a harsh landscape in Asia.
(and be welcomed home by an ungrateful country with little fanfare)

Those who answered the call of duty after the scariest day our country has ever known in September of 2001.

Those who never got to see their kids grow up.

Those who served and sacrificed without a second thought.

And especially those gave that last full measure of devotion to a dream.

I am so grateful to every one of those Americans. 

And I am lucky to be able to call myself an American every single day.

May this next year be a year of sacrifice, service, and dedication.

Which are, in my mind, the traits of a true American.

Lori Ann

A very lucky American girl

PA fields on my drive home last night. No filter. It's so beautiful here.

What can make me feel this way




The Sugar Cookie
(aka Sugar December Hinsdale)


Weird Thoughts on the Last Day of Work Before a 3 day Weekend!

I almost enjoy the last day of work more than I enjoy the 3 day weekend. The same way I enjoy the Christmas season more than Christmas. The anticipation of something is often better than the reality :)

Elly gave Sugar her middle name. She said "I have a month as a middle name (Mae) and Sugar should too!"

It was the kind of hot yesterday that makes me hate summer people. The ones that whine EVERY DAY in winter and talk about how they JUST CAN'T WAIT for summer. I feel like saying "Is this what you wanted, you idiots??"

I've been going to bed early. Like weird early. Last night I had fallen asleep by 8 pm. I didn't really wake up until 7 am. (except for one hour awake around 2 pm, watching house hunters and eating an english muffin with my Sugar)

I think it's the meds. I can tell they are doing something to my brain. We'll see if it's something good they are doing or something bad.

I got a 2% raise at work. I told my boss that money changes people and I probably was going to be pretty difficult to live with :)

Speaking of money, I switched from the full coverage, high cost insurance to the high deductible plan at work. Which means that I CANNOT GET SICK EVER AGAIN. Cross your fingers for luck!

James Ray Monroe has recently told me (a number of times) that he was "born with a shotgun in my hands". I remind him that I was there the day he was born and that there was no alleged shotgun present. Then I try to give him kisses and he runs.

One of my favorite coworkers is leaving today. She is the sweetest girl and I will miss her so much. I told her recently that I planned for one of her (cute!) sons to marry one of my nieces. We are working on the wedding plans as we speak!

My sister keeps telling me I don't get to plan her daughter's weddings. Whatever. I completely plan to drive a wedge between the girls and Danielle by the time they get married. She'll have to watch the wedding from a distance, with slow tears of regret running down her cheeks. (I haven't envisioned this in detail or anything)

My mom has been driving around with a blood covered manniquin in the back of her car. I think it just got us banned from a Dunkin Donuts. We aren't serial killers, I promise.

She scares me sometimes. Ok..all of the time.
I guess I should focus on work. Which is why I came to the office 3 hours early.

See you on the Fourth of July!!

BEST DAY EVER!!

Lori Ann

p.s.- If I ever do have a human baby, I am going to carry on the middle name tradition of months. Her name will either be Jane March or Lily October..what do you vote for?



Little ditty about...



My crazy brother in law with 3 of the 4 Monrobies

So, this isn't necessarily my story to tell but it was making me laugh so much that I wanted to record it for my posterity.

 (which won't be much since I had Sugar fixed)

Yesterday I ran by Jack and Danielle's to ask them a quick question and I see the two of them sitting at the kitchen table.

Danielle is holding up a drawing with 9 stick figures drawn on it and Jack is staring intently at it as Danielle is saying "And now, number 4..."

I don't like to ask a lot of questions about their marriage. It's usually better that way, trust me:)

 But I couldn't stop myself from questioning what was happening.

Danielle explained that Jack didn't really know all of the names of my mom's 8 siblings, their birth order, or too much about them.

 Apparently he thought our Aunt Cheryl and our Aunt Sharon were the same person.

 He didn't know who our cousin Maddy was.

Not that I blame him.

 We have about 40 cousins on my mom's side.

 I haven't even met all of them.

 (It's one of my bucket list goals to meet them all- I am just missing one- my cousin Holly)

I wish you could have been there though, people.

 The stick figures.

 Jack going "wait..who is this Ronald?" (my mom's 7th sibling) and Danielle saying " We haven't gotten to Ronald yet".

I guess you had to kind of be there.

 But it's something I didn't want to forget.

Lori Ann

Just for the record, my mom's siblings are as follows:

Terry (my mom)

Debbie

Cheryl

Walter

Michael

Dwayne

(the only one who has passed away)

Ronald

Sharon

Jennifer

There are 17 years between my mom (the oldest) and Jennifer (the youngest). I've spent the most time with my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Walter though I don't see any of them all of that often.

And because I know you are finding this endlessly fascinating, here is the line up for my dad!

Ray

(passed away at age 4 in 1949)

Don

David (my dad)

Robin

I haven't seen my dad's siblings in years and years.

 My aunt Robin lives a few towns over but I haven't talked to her in years.

 Sometimes I think it's odd that she is to me what I am to Elly and Katy. They say I even look like her.

Anyway...that is today's oddessy in my family history!! Thanks for hanging in there!

I've seen rain

I DID NOT want to go walking this morning. Like the DID NOT that starts the minute you wake up and your brain starts giving you all the reasons why you shouldn't it.

It's hot.

I'm so tired.

One day doesn't matter.

You can do it tonight.

I just want to lay in bed and read.

I think I had all of those thought before 5:15 am.

I did it, though. I got 3 miles in this morning and I'm hoping to pick up a couple more tonight after the news. (my day is not complete without the news!)

But I wanted to use this post today to remind myself why it's important to just keep going.

Before I lost 171 lbs I couldn't do the following:

Walk even a quarter mile

Get through a trip to walmart without having to sit down

Sleep laying down flat

Get up from the ground easily

Fit in a standard seat belt

Fit on a plane seat

Sit in a booth

Stand for longer than maybe 10 minutes

Go on any amusement park rides

Tie my shoes standing up

And a million and one other things.

Last week at the carnival Elly was begging me to go on the Ferris Wheel with her and James. The whole time in line I was holding my breath and preparing what I would say to them when I didn't fit into the seat and they were embarrassed by their overweight aunt.

But, you guys, I fit into the seat no problem. And throwing our hands up and screaming as the Ferris Wheel spun around and around is and always will be one of my favorite memories ever.

And I can't go back to who I was before.

Which is why I HAVE TO get up and walk.

 And run.

 And get to the gym.

And stop hording Swedish fish in my office.

Wish me luck.

Lori Ann

I won't forget

It's Fourth of July this week.

American Independence Day. 

I've been worried about my country in the last few years. I am sure it is not shock to anyone that I am not a fan of our current president.

I think he is a good person but not a good leader.

However, I still believe in the American Dream.

I still wake up grateful every single day to be an American.

Other than being a daughter of God, a sister to Danielle and Erin, and an aunt to the Monrobies, being American is the most important part of my identity.

I am in love with American history. Seeing the meeting places and gravestones of our history's leaders fills me with a sense of reverence. Reading their words and ideas in our founding documents reinforces my belief that this country was created under the direction of God.

My family (the Hinsdales) have been in every single American war since the Revolution. Both my grandfathers are/were veterans.

Being American might not be a ethnic designation but it runs in my blood stronger than any DNA.

I might be 68% Irish and 30 some % French, English, Scandinavian or whatever-but I only feel American.

It's the best feeling in the world.

So..here is to a week of overly patriotic, somewhat ego-centric posts about my wonderful home.

God bless the USA!

Lori Ann

Maybe I'm amazed

It's been about 14 months since i wrote THIS post. 

I looked like this. 

And I was so proud of myself because I had just started walking again. 

I walked 2.2 miles that morning. 

The scary thing is that about 6 months before the above picture, I weighed 40 lbs more and couldn't walk a quarter mile. 

14 months later and this morning I walked 10.2

(my feet are still burning an hour later)

And yes, I take pictures at a more flattering angle then I used to ;)

It's been 14 months and about 131 lbs since that first picture.

  (and 171 overall lost)

I hope 14 months from now finds me completing a marathon and at my goal weight

 (I've got about 60-70 lbs to go)

Yay for happy life changes!!

Yay for me not giving up like I have so many times in the past. 

Thanks for following me on this crazy, crazy journey. 

Lori Ann

Be my friend

The Thomas muffin

The Weekend before July 4th Weekend Agenda

Let's do this thing, people!!

Here are the highlights from my 33 item weekend agenda:

Take Elly to get a pedicure (I may even brave it myself..we'll see)

Mow the lawn.

 Every weekend I get in a fight with the old man about who is going to mow the lawn. I told him that he is 63 and he just got a double knee replacement. I would be forced to kick my own lazy a#% if I let him do it.

Do some service.

 (Like cleaning my brother's bathroom service...yikes)

FINALLY get in touch with my visiting teaching people.

 Poor things.

 They probably have no idea who I am.

Spend 30 concentrated minutes playing with Sugar. I don't think she gets enough mental stimulation.

Teach my primary class more wild and crazy Old Testament history.

 We're finally getting to the really good stuff. The Israelites have just arrived in the Promised Land. Now I can use this as a launching pad to share my thoughts on the Middle East...

Mail Erin's 4th of July package.

 If only people would stop eating her tasty cakes and then TAPING THE BOX SHUT LIKE I WON"T REALIZE WHAT THEY'VE DONE, MOTHER!

I want to walk at least 10 miles.

I've got 260 to go before August 24th. That's an average of 4.4 a day. I need to get some miles under my belt.

Get back to the gym. I've got to get my strength training start again.

 Cardio isn't enough to prepare for this half marathon.

Stop tormenting people with my weekend to do lists :)

Lori Ann