Finger-tivley Numb

Wednesday I went to my doctor b/c I have been suffering with numbness in two of my fingers and part of my hand. She says I am suffering from neuropathy and that I have some type of pinched or damaged nerve. Going back again next week to hopefully be able to see a specialist about this.

But what really freaked me out is when I got to the doctor's office the entire front of the building had VULTURES sitting on top of it. It was early in the morning so my brain wasn't fully functioning yet or I would have taken a picture to post here.

Oh, and my thyroid levels are on the high end of normal and are elevated from my previous tests so my doctor is waiting for this batch of labs to come back and she will probably start me on a low dose of thyroid medication.

So those are my woes for this week. Stay tuned for more madness next week.

Sleepless Nights, Good Books

Ok, you all have to go out and read every memoir by Jennifer Lancaster. Hi-lar-ious! I promise you, you can turn to any random page in her books and laugh hysterically. She's a nut! I read 2 1/2 of her books in the last 24 hours. Now I have to go to my dr's appt this morning with no sleep. Yes, I really HAD to read her books because they were that funny and I HAD to know what was going to happen so I HAD to keep reading.

Decided at 6am this morning to go for a walk with my doggie around our side of the neighborhood. Because it was 50 degrees outside. Here. In Houston. It will be blindingly hot by 12pm but for now I am enjoying our little cold front.

My dog, Baby, is 10 lbs. One lb is doggie,the other 9 lbs urine. She peed on 150 mailboxes this morning. I think she needs an IV to replace her fluids. At least she doesn't have a fat ass (until real winter comes along).

That is all folks, carry on.

Job Hunting

So I decided that it's time to leave the nest. I have been a stay at home wife and caretaker (on and off) for the last 4 yrs. I am ready to get out and do something and meet people and make some money. Although the money part is not the most important part, I guess it's still pretty important.

First off, I am 34 and have never ever worked in food service. It is also an area I am totally not interested in so, no food service work for me. Gas stations/ convenience stores stay open all night 7 days a week, not for me. Answering phones? Not for me. Nothing worse than dealing with an ass on the phone who thinks they can talk to you however they want because they aren't face to face with you. Customer service? Possibly. I could be nice for a short amount of time. We'll keep this one on the short list. Computer skills not up to par, must take classes at the library on how to use Excel again. Would like to work anywhere with books. Would like to be the boss within say 12-18 months. Anyone hiring?

Train - If It's Love

Busting My Bootie

 I got really lazy for a short time there. Yeah, I finally threw out my 5 lb bag of Reese Cups and decided to get my ass in gear.

So, the last 15 days I have been huffing and puffing and doing what I used to do best. Exercise. Yeah, first one to say "Pain is weakness leaving the body" gets throat chopped. Pain is not weakness leaving the body, it's just pain......you'll get what I am saying once you see how high a deductible on your medical insurance is. Meanwhile, you young people live it up because that wonderful body and metabolism and fitness comes without a guarantee.

So back to me. There I was tonight, in the dark, bouncing my fat ass around the neighborhood. Three mailboxes walk, three mailboxes jog! Wash, rinse, repeat! Do that for 3 miles and then come home and strip naked as the front door is closing because the humidity here in Houston is a bitch! My husband has walked 4 out of the last 5 days for about 20% of the time I have and yeah, he's lost 5 lbs. Lovely ain't it? I have lost 4 lbs in 8 days b/c I cardio, cardio, cardio.

Now before you think I am overdoing it, let me be clear. TONIGHT I did the 3 miles huffing and puffing around the neighborhood. I did it Monday night too. I am not killing myself everyday doing this. I normally do 30 minutes of walk/jogging on my treadmill. At the same speed. In the A/C.

Getting out and really tearing it up (or turtle'ing it up b/c I am really slow!) has reminded me of how much I really enjoyed running and how in control I am when I am doing it. I may have a little bit of achy calves and ankles when I am done but the feeling of "Hell Yeah! Take that McFatty, I am still the bomb diggity" really does feel good.

It's the little things.......that piss me off!

STOP signs and red lights........NOT a suggestion.

If your kid is 3 and in diapers and tells YOU that they need to go potty, don't tell them to "do it in your diaper". That is just LAZY ASS parenting. Even the 3yr old knows that!

If you come spend 3 days in my home, look away from your IPhone at least once. Seriously. Just once. And take your dirty dishes off my table and bring them to the sink, I got it after that. Really.

Everyone lives tight these days. Some more than most. I am a penny pincher, we live off one income in this home. We are not the bank. Unless you are going to give me collateral of equal value (kids not accepted), we have no money to "give" you.

Don't tell me about your infidelities to your spouse. I don't condone but you are a grown ass person. When your spouse kicks you out, you cannot live here and yeah "I TOLD YOU SO!"

Friendship works both ways. You bitch, I listen. I bitch, you listen. So? When are you going to let me have my turn?

School starts soon. Yay! It may cost parents a fortune but in the end, 40 hours a week is a nice break for you. And for me too, even though I have no kids, because YOUR kids are not skateboarding in the middle of my street now. I will gladly provide each of you with a free notebook, just for the peace and quiet.

Skinny bitches, quit telling me your fat. You are the size of my leg, and let me tell you, I have awesome legs under a fat stomach. They are beautiful and shapely and you are still smaller than them so STFU already. Why? Because I am grouchy b/c I am hungry and you are eating a whole pizza that weighs more than you and you will probably lose 2 lbs from using all that energy to hold it up to your mouth yet you are so fat you are in a size 0. You know, the size that is so big it shouldn't even exist right? Wow, sorry that rant just kinda hit me from nowhere about skinny people......anywho......

Well that's the things that piss me off for today. Tomorrow is a whole other story.

I ....

will do it. It is going to be hard but I will do it.

Need to just get over it

Well I got sick and then got out of the habit of working out, slacked off for two months and then wondered why my scale kept creeping up. Blood sugar went outta whack and the cholesterol slowly got higher and somehow, of my accord, I am back in a bad place. So, this week I have buckled down and started trying to get back in a routine. Jogging/walking, lifting weights, doing abdominal exercises. It's hurting but I have got to do something.

I was running (yes, RUNNING) on the treadmill today when I had a revelation that just hit me outta nowhere. I am going to be 40 in 5.5 yrs. I need to make my body healthy. I need to do it now. There is no more tomorrow if I can't do it today. It sucks. I feel like I have no support system. I live far away from my friends and family.I keep thinking "what the hell is wrong with me? why can I not do this? don't I deserve to do this for me? why do I resent me for making myself do the right thing? why doesn't it feel good to push my body, anymore? when will the real issues that are holding me back, present itself to me so I can just freaking GET OVER IT!?"

So that is my rant for today. Oh yeah, added oatmeal to my diet. Have never eaten it before and it is disgusting. I almost rather eat beets...........almost.

Ready, Set...........Now what?

Ok, dressed for the gym and also packed a bag to shower at the gym. I hate packing to shower at the gym b/c I have no clue what to bring and what the heck could I be forgetting.

For those of you who shower and change at the gym, what do you bring?

Grrrr!!

Just finished watching Obama give his little speech on the oil spill. He says it is "unfair" what the Louisiana people are saying about him but he understands because people grew up and "fished" in the waterways and don't want to see them that way.

Well I think, "Mr President", that it is VERY fair that they are upset and expect you to do something because they didn't grow up "fishing" in the water, they make their livelihood on the water. They also live along the waterways that have been polluted by BP so yeah, they expect you to get off your ass and hold people accountable!!!!!!

Too many thoughts on a Thursday Morning

I am really digging this song on cmoursler's page, called :Airplanes by B.O.B and Hayley Williams and Eminem.

Watched so many finale's this week that I can't keep them straight. But then the thought of  "SUMMER TELEVISION" really depressed me. :::sigh:::

I am really sad that Saving Grace is in it's last season.

Wished that I didn't read so fast b/c it's hard to find books that satisfy me in between my 7 or 8 fav author's new releases. Yes, I really do read that fast. I read 3 books on Tuesday.

I am glad and sad that my husband's trip to Chile got postponed a few days. Glad b/c I hate when he is away from me but sad b/c I was going to go spend time with my girlfriends in Louisiana this weekend.

Once again, really thinking about writing a fantasy/horror/thriller kind of book but I have all these thoughts in my head and when I try to put it down on paper, it just goes away. Also, I read so much that I am afraid I might accidentally plagiarize something. Ah well, it was just a thought.

My brain doesn't function well at 4 am, after no sleep. I need to really work on that!

Is wondering when I will hear a woman finally say something to the effect of "he cheated/cursed/insulted/left/doesn't love me, so f%^k him, I'm good!" Instead of "how can I make him love me/accept me/appreciate me?" which I keep saying over and over "YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T MAKE ANYONE DO ANYTHING THEY DON'T WANT TO DO!" I just keep remembering when I was 20 and crying the same words and feeling like I was the person who was bad or wrong or not good enough. I don't feel like that anymore and refuse to feel like that ever again and I want to shake the people in my life that keep telling me these things b/c I can't lie and can't encourage them to keep holding out hope that they can do something to make that person change.

I really need to stop posting when I am lacking sufficient amounts of sleep.

Something bugging me........

Thursday night, I didn't watch Grey's Anatomy b/c my husband had to work late and we normally watch it together. So I DVR'd it while I played around online. Well, for the 2 hours it was on TV and the rest of the night, people on Facebook had to post a play by play of what was going on. Really? You are going to recap G.A. while it's playing on Tv and ruin it all for those of us who haven't watched it yet? Get a life people.

Also, I come from a very small town. I am tired of reading "OMG such and such just got in a wreck and they are dead". This happened last week before the young man's family was notified, but they had read about it on FACEBOOK! WTF? I have taken to chastising people and deleting the bastards off my friend's list. If something happens to one of my family members and one of these asses posts something before I am notified, they will rue the day they were born!

So, I am making a list of everyone who ruined Grey's Anatomy for me and I am going to post the ending of every movie I watch this year, on their Facebook page. By the way, I've had a couple glasses of wine as I write this but that doesn't mean I'm not serious. Be Forewarned people!

Back in the Saddle

For the last month and a half, I've been sick/injured to where I couldn't work out. Well, I went to the doctor last Thursday and I had gained 12 lbs. As soon as I felt well enough this week to work out, I got back on the treadmill. Well the first day of working out was very slow. I mean, I walked on the treadmill VERY SLOW and did 100 crunches on my exercise ball. Got up the next morning and bam! 5 lbs gone. Now, that tells me that I have been holding on to water weight. Next day I walk on the treadmill again about .2 mph faster, 1 minute longer than the day before and this morning I wake up and I am down another pound. I think I am retaining water, no way my workout was the contributing factor in this weight loss b/c it was so minute (my-noot people!)and so slow that there is no way that I even burned more than 350 calories in those two days.

So what I am getting at is that, I am back to working out. I am not pushing it to the extreme, I am just going with what my body says and hopefully push a little more each day to build up endurance again.

That is all for today as my abs are hurting from the crunches I did yesterday. I have never felt soreness from an ab workout before. I must be getting old. Take care!

Picture this!

Me and my hubby, last Friday. I love him so much!

New Home Security System

Well, got my security system hooked up. It even has a motion sensor. Wow, its like "Mission Impossible" over here. Get up in the middle of the night for some water, throw a hand full of baby powder in the air to see where the lazer is, do a couple of back flips into the kitchen and repeat the process to head back to bed.

Short note

Half cup of Greek yogurt and a tbsp of honey taste just like whip cream. That is all. Carry on.

Door to Door Annoyance

My husband is absolutely never allowed to answer the door ever,ever again. Every time he answers the door we have some new magazine subscription or 40 boxes of thin mints. Well, he answered the door on Thursday and guess what? Yeah we have someone coming tomorrow to install an alarm system in our home. F**K! Of course that means on Mother's Day, with my bad ass motherless self, I get to clean up our house from top to bottom b/c they will have to go into every room to make sure the connections on every window are working and yadda yadda. Oh and we get to pay another BILL every month! JOY!


Guess where he is? He had to sweep the dining room so now he is worn out and taking a nap. So........I will have to miss going to the gym tomorrow b/c they will show up sometime tomorrow during a normal workday and the appt normally takes 3 hours. So that means I will wait all day for them to show up at 5pm and then be in my house for 3 hours which means I am totally not cooking dinner (serves my husband right) and will be stuck eating sandwiches.

Gym and Food

Went to the gym yesterday. It was weights day (boo!) and I really hate lifting weights. So I warmed up for 35 minutes on an elliptical then did my circuits of upper body weight machines. After I was done, I came home and prepared myself to cook this new recipe I found in The South Beach Diet Cookbook.


Before I start to type up the recipe, I just want you to know it is a tad bit bland. It's up to you whether you want to add to it or not.


Chicken and Eggplant Casserole

1 eggplant, peeled and cut into 12 slices
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 lb boneless chicken breast chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
3/4 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup shredded reduced fat mozzerella cheese

Preheat broiler.
Arrange the eggplant slices in a single layer on a nonstick baking sheet. Mist the slices with cooking spray. Broil 4 inches from the heat for 2 minutes, or until golden. Turn the eggplant over and mist again. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and garlic. Broil for 1 minute, or until golden. Set aside.
Heat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray over med-high heat for 1 minute. Add the chicken cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes (with juice), onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, Italian seasoning and black pepper, stirring to break up the tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375.
Coat an 8" baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange 6 eggplant slices in the bottom of the dish. Top with the chicken mixture. Arrange the remaining 6 eggplant slices over the chicken. Sprinkle with the mozerella cheese. Cover with foil and finish cooking, or refridgerate until the next day. Or wrap with foil, label, and freeze up to 3 weeks.
Bake, covered, for 30 minutes or until heated through. To cook frozen casserole, bake, covered, at 375 F for 50 minutes, or until heated through.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving:
205 cal
3g fat
1g sat fat
26g protein
19g carbs
6g dietary fiber
55mg cholesterol
395mg sodium

Dear Readers:

As you all know, when you get a little older than 18, gravity starts taking hold and your boobies start to hang a little lower.

Well guess what? It happens to your butt too!

That is all.

Wonderful Weekend

WWII plane from the airshow

The new motorcyle

All dressed up to go out.

Last weekend my husband and I bought a new motorcycle. He has always ridden motorcycles, since he was 14 but I am not the biggest fan of them. So we bought this really nice Kawasaki Vulcan and this weekend we decided to ride it over to the airshow which is like 2 miles from our house.

It was such a beautiful day that we decided afterwards to go ride for awhile north of Houston. I am hooked! We spent Sunday riding around too. It was great.

We also went "out" for the first time in years. We went to a comedy club then a country bar. A+ on the comedy.......country club, not so much. I am not a fan of country music to start with and just being in a smoky bar was like, ugh! I wasn't even home for 2 minutes before I stripped down and showered. Can't take the nasty smell. I guess I am getting old b/c bars are just not my thing anymore.

Oh, one more thing before I go. We found the most beautiful park! 320 acres and a huge lake. Can't wait to go back.

Hate be gone

Did anything ever happen to you that you just could not let go? I mean, did someone really stick it to you, stab you in the back or completely destroy your trust in mankind? Yeah, I figured as much.

So, that happened to me about 13-14 years ago. A person that I trusted the most just completely and utterly ruined my life. I have hated that person for such a long time. Laughed when I found out ill things happened to them shortly after and felt little vindication.

I really wanted that person's world to be shit. I wanted that person to live a long and miserable life. Well, I got my wish and it does not feel good.

That person got in touch with me this week after many, many years. Their life is completely destroyed, and they just came back from Iraq. Now, I am a veteran and I feel that no soldier should ever, EVER have to have their spouse destroy their relationship and life they built together over a 10 yr period, while the are DEPLOYED! Isn't it enough to just survive the day without worrying about your spouse cheating on you and going to jail and what will happen to your kid and why is there no money in the account?

So, that person got in touch with me because they feel that after all these years they are being punished for what they had done to me. I imagined a million times in my head what I would say to this person given the chance and this is what I said instead:

It's ok. I forgive you. As a matter of fact, somewhere deep down inside, I think I forgave you a really long time ago. People are not punished in life for their past deeds. Sometimes people just make really bad decisions and you get caught up in it. It's not karma, it's not fate, it's just life. I'm sorry too. Remember this conversation because one day, you'll probably be on the same end of it that I am today.

So I have quit hating my ex husband. I worry more now for his sanity and how he will raise his little girl. I am encouraging him to get counseling because he is a war vet and now soon to be a divorcee again. Good luck to him and thank him so much more for forgiving me because I really needed to be forgiven for my own ill will towards him.

Early Morning Ramblings

So I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning and wonder why is it, when I hit the bed around 8 p.m., I always wake up at 3 a.m.?

My dog has serious issues. She likes to "play" this game where if I look at her, she growls or barks and runs up to me, then runs to her food bowl and eats her food as fast as she can. Can dogs have eating disorders?

I wanted to go to my new gym this morning. I figured they'd probably open up around 5 a.m. or so. Nope, they open at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and at 2 p.m. on Sundays.... I can see that I probably won't go to the gym on Sundays, as 2 p.m. is kind of late in the day for me.

People tell me to take temptation (ie: chips, candy, etc) out of the house. But I find that when I keep them in the house, I don't CRAVE them and I mostly do not eat them either. But if I don't keep them in the house I eat like 3 sandwiches which cannot be healthy!

I had a dream that I was sitting in a church with my friend Chris who is currently in Iraq. In my dream he grabbed my hand for comfort. I hope that he is doing well in Iraq and that I hear from him soon because I know it's hard being away from friends and family for so long.

Well, that is all of my crazy early morning ramblings for now.

Monday Night Lasagna

I tried out this recipe for lasagna last night and it was great. It was straight out of the South Beach Diet cookbook.

The tomato sauce takes an hour to cook so if you are going to make this, make sure you start about 2 hours before you are going to serve your meal.

South Beach Tomato Sauce

1/4 cup extra virgin oil

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 can (28 oz) peeled italian tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic, minced

4 leaves fresh basil, chopped

2 tbsp chopped parsley leaves

1/2 tsp sugar substitute ( I used Splenda)

pinch of ground red pepper

1/4 cup canned ripe olives, chopped

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes, or until soft. Add the tomatoes w/ juice, garlic, basil, parsley, sugar substitute and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour. Add the olives and simmer for 3 minutes longer.

Makes about 2 cups.

Nutrition per 1/4 cup: 100 calories, 7 g fat, 1 g sat fat, 1 g protein, 5 g carbs, 1g dietary fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 220 mg sodium.

Whole Wheat Veggie Lasagna

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 zucchini, sliced ( I used two, didn't find that one was enough)

2 cups (16 oz) reduced fat ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 tbsp dried basil

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

2 cups South Beach Tomato Sauce

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked

1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed

1/4 cup (1 oz) grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup (1 oz) shredded reduced fat mozzerella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the zucchini and cook for 5 minutes, or until crisp tender. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, basil, salt and pepper. Set aside 1/2 cup of the spaghetti sauce.

Place 3 lasagna noodles in the prepared baking dish. Evenly sppon half of the spaghetti sauce over the noodles. Top with half of the ricotta mixture, half of the spinach, half of the zucchini and half of the Parmesan. Repeat layering with 3 more noodles and remaining ingredients. End with the remaining 3 noodles. Spoon the remaining sace over the top and sprinkle with the mozzarella.

Cover with the foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for 20 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition per serving: 217 calories, 7 g fat, 4 g sat fat, 12 g protein, 29 g carbs, 4 g dietary fiber, 44 mg cholesterol and 36 mg sodium.

I found this to be a fantastic meal even for my husband who is a MEAT LOVER. He loved this and brought some with him to work this morning. The sauce has a really great taste and would probably be good by itself over pasta.

Working together

My husband went and had his annual physical this year with the VA. He has gained a bit of weight and his cholesterol is borderline. His doctor said they want to give him a chance to change his diet, and lose weight before they stuck him on a Statin drug. So now I am on a mission! A mission to do an overhaul on our diet and exercise and to make US healthy so that we can live a long, long life together. We sat down with my Cooking Light magazines and one of the MANY cookbooks that I have, and went through each recipe. We marked the ones that would benefit both of our diets. We set him up with a Sparkpeople page to help him track his food. It feels better to do this together b/c I have seriously been faltering the last 2 mths with my own dieting and exercising.

Tonight, for dinner, we had 6oz. of baked fish (Pangasius) and he had 4 oz of steamed asparagus, and I had 1.5 oz of asparagus. Yum! Tomorrow night we are trying a vegetarian lasagna. And if I can wake up early enough in the morning, I will grill a chicken breast and send it along with a baby spinach salad for him to take to work. Woohoo! Finally motivated again!

My trip to the ER

Let me start off before I went to the ER last night.

On Tuesday, I started getting a cough and achy joints from the hips down. I told my husband that I was probably coming down with a cold. Which sucks. Because I am diabetic. And it takes FOREVER to heal.

Wednesday morning I woke up and the cough felt really deep in my chest. Then later on in the day it felt like a sharp pain behind my right shoulder. I took a hot shower and then coughed up nasty dark phlegm (sorry but just leading up to it all).

So my husband got home and I told him I was worried that maybe I was coming down with swine flu or something because of all the aches and pains. Around 9:30pm last night, I finally told him to take me to the ER, because I was worried that maybe, just maybe, I had pneumonia.

Got the Memorial Hermann ER and was seen right away. Got a breathing treatment, while they stuck an IV needle in my arm and drew blood, made me pee in a cup, then stuck a long little brush up both sides of my nose (OMG I think it touched my brain! it freaking hurt!) to test for the flu. Sent me to Xray and had my chest xray'd and doctor came in and said " You seem to have a touch of pneumonia".

So they hooked up an antibiotic to the IV and let it drip for an hour. Nurse came in, disconnected the bag, pulled out the IV and left the room.

5 seconds later.......

...came back into the room with an OMG! look on her face and holding a bag of sodium chloride says, "I'm sorry, I was supposed to give you this one too". WTH??

So said nurse has to stick a NEW IV into my arm, which was just lovely, and hook me up for another hour of IV dripping into my veins. By this time it is 2 in the morning and when she comes in to remove IV I say "Go find out if this is it b/c you ARE NOT STICKING me again." So comes back in 5 minutes later with another bag just to make sure I am hydrated. Meanwhile, the ER Doc is on the phone with my doc discussing if they should admit me into the hospital. Outcome...we think it's safe for her to go home.

So he comes in and they remove the IV and the nurse takes my heart rate....99. So he checks my pulse..99. So they put the little thingy on my finger.....240!

I have to lie down and they hook me up to the EKG and ......99. Freaky. I was really worried that I was having a heart attack or something even though I felt fine and normal.

They released me at 4am, came home, went to bed, went to my doc's office at 8am, got the all clear, filled my prescriptions which consisted of 2 antibiotics, 1 albuterol pump and (mercy me!) Robitussin with codeine. I have gotten a total of 6 hours of sleep today but only in 3 hr increments as the coughing is waking me up. Hoping for a better day tomorrow and that they caught this early enough for me not to end up in the hospital.

Forgot to add...

I bought a bunch of new workout clothes. Really colorful and I am ready to start using them. Tomorrow I am going to go to the gym in town and check it out. I need to start going to the gym because my cardio is not enough to lose more weight.I have plateaued out this past month. I need to add the dreaded weights to my workout, Uggh! I hate lifting, even if I can bench 100 lbs! (Well, it impresses me so who cares!?)

I have 2 requirements of the gym......a.) rowing machine and b.) sauna. Everything else is just an added bonus LOL.

A Late Valentines Celebration

You know what? I just love my husband. He understands the times when I just need to slow down and relax. We didn't celebrate V-Day b/c he and his boss watched NASCAR and if any of you or any of your other halves watch NASCAR, then you know they had like some 6 hour delay. So my husband's boss was here ALL DAY Sunday.

Well tonight he comes home from work and I tell him we are just going to go eat somewhere b/c I really did not want to cook tonight. There is a little Italian restaurant  owned by this little old Italian man in town. And I told my husband I wanted to go eat there tonight (because I really wanted a good glass of Italian wine!). We waited to be seated and then ordered our food and wine and we sat and talked and it was so nice. I love this place. People sit in there for hours, enjoying their loved ones as it is custom to do in Italy. To sit and eat and "visit" with each other after a long day is so wonderful. I wish we could do that every night. We were in this place for a little over 2 hours. So were all the people that were there when we came in. I am thinking of making this a monthly event so that I can just spend that time with my husband.

After 3 yrs

Before.

During.

After!

We finally painted the first room in our house. Now the builders had put some kind of flat beige paint on the walls when they built our house but I've been saying since 2007 that I was going to paint every room a different color. So Friday, my husband and I headed over to Lowe's and picked up a huge selection of paint sample cards and walked around the house putting them up against the wall until we found the one we wanted for the front guest bedroom. The front bedroom is where we have decided to start and we will work our way (EVENTUALLY) from the front to the back. My plan is to go through each room, completely clean it out. Go through everything and throw away junk and put aside things for a garage sale and keep the things we need. I hate clutter and my husband is a total pack rat! So we went back to Lowes, Saturday morning, bought everything we needed and then some, and preceded to tape off the entire room and then paint it. I think we did a great job and it came out really nice. Since the rest of my house is still beige and the front room is now a dark Lilac, I keep gravitating towards that room to stare in awe at the pretty color. LOL. Next weekend we are painting the guest bathroom a nice yellow color. It feels good to start finally putting our personal touch on our home.

Found some motivation....

....within myself this week.

I have decided to do the treadmill twice a day for the rest of this week. I may or may not keep up that pace after that but this week, it's on.

My body is hurting in places I forgot it could hurt but it's a good hurt. It's a "hey you finally remembered I (says the muscles) exist!" Yeah, it hurts for now but it won't hurt forever.

I would like to be able to build up to walk/run 4 miles a day no less than 5 days a week, then move on to 5 miles/ 5 days a week by the end of March. It's daunting b/c my butt is so out of shape but I will attempt to do it.

And speaking of butts, I have like no butt at all. It's why buying pants sucks b/c for some reason, people who make jeans forgets that some people don't have butts or hips but they sew in a huge space for them anyways and then b/c my waist is an inch wider than my hips, my pants fall off of my bootie. And even when I'll be able to fit into said pants with smaller waist than hips, the butt will be saggy b/c I don't have a butt to fill it out. I will prob have to switch to men's jeans. Ah, the unfairness of it all!

The Count

One, one time on the treadmill today ...ah ah ah!

Two, two times on the treadmill today....ah ah ah!

I am a glutton for punishment.

"Why?" Friday

Why do I only want to really fix my hair on rainy days?

Why do I wait for the phone to ring 4 times from Cody's school before I pick it up?

Why is my gas bill 30 dollars higher this month?

Why do I not want to chaperone Cody's 5th grade class party on the 12th?

Why does my dog only want my attention for one hour a day, right before my husband gets home?

Why are you punished too, when you punish your kids? (Not really fair is it? I say go punch someone in the head b/c you are going to be punished for nothing, otherwise!)

Why isn't Houston renamed the Bermuda Triangle, b/c the weather here is really an unexplained phenomenon that no weather person can predict or explain?

Why does the school give you the option of looking at your kids grades online and then the teacher doesn't post all of them nor return any of your emails on what grades are missing?

Alright phone rang and totally threw me off. Maybe next week I'll have something different for you.

Doggie Dieting, Overpriced Lawyers and Lazer Lying

So I always have all these cool ideas on what to write in my blog. All day long I write the story in my head but by the time I get a chance to sit down and write......it's gone.

Instead I will just sit here and type up what's been going on all week. So let's see:

I bought a bag of those Valentine Heart Candy. I love the little messages on them but was pretty shocked and perhaps a little annoyed at the new stuff on them. "Tweet me" "Text me" blah blah blah. I picked those out and threw them away while tossing some at my husband. "Me & You" "Wink, Wink" while he laughed as each one landed in front of him every 10 seconds. I had poured the candy into a small bowl with a screw top lid on it because my dog likes to jump in my chair with me and whine for candy. (No I don't give her any!) But the funny part about it is she will GUARD the candy. She lays down on top of it and if you try to reach for it she hunches over it and growls at you. So now she is helping me in my quest to lose weight. Anytime I want to snack I just put it in a bowl and let her lay down on it so that if I want it, I have to brave getting past a 10 lb doggie to get it. I tell you, it's pretty effective.

I don't remember if I posted this but we have started the process of getting full custody of Cody. I hired a lawyer and he only wanted THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! for a retainer. I am Miss Cheap, it was VERY hard to write that check but I ponied up b/c there is no way Cody is going back with his insane mother. Now hopefully this lawyer works as fast as he cashed that check!

Oh, how's this for dealing with issues of a 12 yr old kid. So Cody comes home from school Monday with a little Lazer Pointer thingy. I ask him where he got it and he said the bus driver gave it to him for being good on the bus. Well, I know that the teachers and bus drivers give the kids in Elementary school little prizes for being good and stuff but a lazer? My husband thought it was fishy too. Especially since we live right next to a small airport. So he took it away from Cody and waited at the bus stop yesterday morning with Cody to confront the bus driver. Here is how the conversation went:

Hubby: did you give this lazer to Cody yesterday?
Bus Driver: no, I never even seen that lazer before.
Hubby: Cody I thought you said the bus driver gave this too you.
Cody: Yes Mr. Busdriver, you did.
Hubby: I am taking Cody to school today and going talk to the principal to get to the bottom of this.

So Hubby gets to the school, talks to the principal with Cody, leaves the school to come home and phone rings. Principal lady says "Cody wants to tell you guys something". Cody gets on phone "I'm sorry I lied, this 5th grader boy gave it to me". Principal lady gets back on the phone and says " I told Cody I was going to review the tapes from the camera on the bus and he immediately told me that he lied". Well it figures, since this is his new favorite thing to do. So the school confiscated the lazer and left it up to us to punish him.

Arghhh! I am getting so tired of this. That he could actually stand there to this man's face and lie and said "Yes you gave this to me" really discourages me because it shows lack of remorse and guilt. When he got home we sat for a long time and I told him that he could have gotten this man fired and that the man would not be able to feed or take care of his family all b/c Cody lied. That his actions have consequences that could affect more than just us. Then I gave him a huge plastic tote, sent him to his room to pack up all toys, electronics and games. He has a chart on how he can earn each one back. Some will take longer than others. I had him write down, in his journal, about what he done and what could have happened and how that would have made him feel so that he can discuss this with his therapist. He also had to write a letter to the bus driver apologizing for his actions and I stood at the bus stop this morning to make sure he gave the note to the bus driver and apologize out loud for what he did. Sometimes apologizing out loud is more effective than anything.

Cody can make you feel so SORRY for him. When he gets in trouble, he reverts to trying to please you as much as possible. "I'm sorry" "Please don't be mad at me" "I love you". So on and so forth and you just want to let it slide but I worked as a drill instructor at a juvenile boot camp so I know that I have to stick to my guns.

I know kids lie and do mischivious things but sheesh, this was kind of big b/c a man could have lost his job over this! So that was my frustrating week and hopefully the rest of it goes by without anymore incident.

Black and Gold, Super Bowl!

Saints are going to the Super Bowl for the first time! Geaux Saints!

Green Tea, Treadmill and an Exercise Ball....

what more do I need to lose weight? Ha!

Today I walked/jogged 35 minutes on the treadmill, drank 40 oz of my own brewed green tea and did somewhere around 100 crunches on an exercise ball.

Next purchase at the store will be kettlebells. Hey! They seem to work for the Biggest Losers so I will give it a try.

Had somewhere around 500 calories so far today. Decided to go back to my high protein low carb/fat diet. Will try to stay at 1100-1200 calories again. Seemed to have lost my steam for 3 wks but I am revving it back up to get down to -40 total lbs by the end of January, which means I have around 6 lbs to go.

Drink green tea people!

Oh yeah, don't respond with how the contestants are doing on Biggest Loser, I am not caught up on watching it yet so don't ruin it for me!

44

So suddenly, I have 44 readers! That's 12 more than last week. What's going on here? I think the pictures of New Year's dinner brought you all in! LOL

My first weekly resolution started yesterday. The mission? Exercise 30 minutes everyday this week. The monthly resolution of taking my vitamins and supplements everyday is going well. So far 100% taken.

The purpose of making weekly and monthly resolutions? To start a habit of doing what's necessary to keep good health while not feeling overwhelmed by a huge list of things that I really want to incorporate in my life.

I, like so many others, tend to have big goals that eventually sputter out because it becomes too hard to do so much. I figured if I make it a small goal with a small time limit, I can possibly make it a habit worth keeping. I find I am already popping vitamins after a week and a half without even thinking about it, first thing in the morning. And while today I dread having to get on the treadmill, I am looking forward to how I will feel when I get off of it.

Baby steps, Krys, baby steps!

Cabbaging it up!

Tonight I am cooking steak, deviled eggs and cabbage for dinner. Yes, it will make 3 nights in a row that we've had cabbage but I got a great deal on cabbage the other day. HEB was selling heads of cabbage 3/$1.00 after New Year's. I know everyone must be tired of it but it was cheap and anyone who has shopped with me before knows I buy the cheapest cuts of meat, the cheapest canned goods and the cheapest (meaning seasonal) vegetables and fruit. It doesn't mean we are eating unhealthy because I look for lean cuts of meat, it just means that I am the crazy lady who takes all the meat out of the cooler to look for the cheapest one even if it is slightly smaller than the rest. Yes my pantry looks like a commodity shelf with all the white "GREAT VALUE" canned goods from WalMart but here's the thing, they taste the same or better than DelMonte, etc etc. There is one or two things that I like that I just have to have like Blue Plate mayonnaise. Sorry but I hate Helmann's and all the others, it's Blue Plate for me! And I like the Whitewheat bread. But that is about where the splurges end. I shop for 2 wks of groceries at a time and normally spend around 120-150.00 which I think is a great deal. I really probably don't have to shop for a whole month with the stock of food I have in my pantry and freezer but you never know when family when come visit. And I have a huge family of 5 bros/sis in laws and their kids. So, I may be cheap, and my house may smell of cabbage but we will always have a good meal to sit down too and for that I am thankful.

3 day streak!

So I have taken my vitamins/meds/supplements 3 days in row! Woohoo! I am on a streak. Now I am thinking of making weekly resolutions, starting next week. Maybe I am on to something here?

Health, Wealth and Good Luck in 2010!

Here is what I made for lunch and dinner today! Smothered cabbage and ham, and blackeyed peas and rice. To health, wealth and good luck! Not pictured is a nice glass of Lambrusco. Happy New Year's!