Wardrobe Malfunction

I just wanted to share my wardrobe malfunction with the world today.

I decided to wear my sandels to work today. They're old...I was in 9th grade, I think, when I got them. Let's take into account that I graduated from highschool 7 years ago...

These are a pair of the wedge shoes that have a really high heel. I LOVE these shoes.

On to what happened. You really don't care how much I love them, right? :)

I was walking to work, and when I stepped off the sidewalk to cross my last street I heard a pop. I looked back, but didn't see anything wrong. So I kept going. Three steps and I realized something was definitely wrong. I pulled up my pant leg and left my foot to look at my shoe.

Guess what, it was hanging funny. Most of the insole had popped loose. We're talking from the heel to the ball of my foot! DAMN! So I kept walking, figuring I could make it to the office... Ten steps later I took my shoes off and walked the rest of the way barefoot!

I really hope we get off at lunch today. Then I can just get a ride home and not have to worry about my lack of proper footwear. I will probably attempt to glue my shoes back together, but I don't really expect it to succeed.

So, that's my embarassing wardrobe story for the day. What's yours???

Family Pics

Ok, so the pics aren't on this post. Sorry. And there aren't any of me. But that's ok.

My niece Ashleigh just turned three and my sister has posted some pictures from the party and I thought I would pass them along!

Friday's Feast!

I haven't done one of these in a long time, so I thought I would today.

Appetizer
What was the last game you purchased?
I think it was Battleground: Crossbows and Catapults, but I could be off on that.

Soup
Name something in which you don’t believe.
Complete selflessness. Everyone wants something for everything they do. (I'm very cynical person this morning....)

Salad
If you could choose a celebrity to be your boss, who would you pick?
Denzel Washington

Main Course
What was a lesson you had to learn the hard way?
That just because someone says they are your friend doesn't mean that you can trust them.

Dessert
Describe your idea of the perfect relaxation room.
It would be painted in light blues and greens, have large windows looking out over a lake (but with thick curtains so the light can be blocked out when wished), and be full on comfortable couches. There would also be a bookshelf with a wide selection of novels to fit my moods.

Desktop Tag!

Maria over at Foodie Wanderings tagged me for the desktop meme. So, time to share with all my current desktop.

Now, technically I'm supposed to tag a few people to share their desktops with us. However, I'm gonna leave it open for you. Share if you want to. If not, I don't want anyone to feel obligated!

Weigh In!

I went and weighed in right before work this morning, as usual. I had lost 2.5 lbs this week. It was nice to have a loss again. I don't think I will make my Christmas goal above, but I am going to get as close as I can to it. I knew it would be a tough, and somewhat unlikely, feat for me to lose that much during the challenge, but I figured I might as well challenge myself. I don't feel bad about how I have done. It's just the way things are.

I really didn't want to get up this morning. I was hurting and hadn't gotten enough sleep in today. But I finally talked myself into getting up and going. I was seriously considering calling in sick to work since I was feeling so bad. Then I just would have went to weigh in late. I'm glad I went on in though. I wouldn't have had such a nice loss if I had went later in the morning.

Also, if I had stayed in bed I wouldn't have went to class. The teacher slightly changed our test format for the final and I have to study extra material. It's material I know, but I feel better knowing that I need to review it.

Well, I'm off to think about potentially working again. It's something I try to do a bit of every day or so. (And the big boss came through this morning. You never know when he will decide to do a second visit to really surprise you!)

Bad Blogger...

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. I was in a serious funk last week and just didn't feel like blogging. Work and school were very stressful, but I have one of my classes completed already.

I should be more on top of things with blogging this week, and will start on the catch-up.

I should also be addressing Christmas cards this week. I have to make sure I've responded and gotten everyone's addresses. I'm sure I missed a few comments on the card post and will have to get that taken care of.

I watche The Closer and Saving Grace last night. The Closer was ok, but not fantastic. I really enjoyed Saving Grace though. Can't wait for next week's new episode.

Talk to y'all later!

LA Renn Fest

I went with friends to the Lousianna Renn Fest this past weekend. We had a blast!

We met up with the first set of friends at 8am and headed out, and after two more stops finally had everyone from here together. We met the rest of our group at the Festival around 11:30am.

We walked around the place, did a lot of window shopping. I watched the Birds of Prey show, the Joust, a juggler who was cool (I forgot his name, I just know it wasn't Jamison!), and the Tortuga Twins. I hate that we missed the Duelists show though. But that's what happens when you get there so late. It's hard to see everything!

We did get to see the Queen's parade, and got a saranade. I got fitted for a bodice at one of the shops. But I didn't like the selection they had in my size. It'll be a while before I need one anyway. :) I did buy two pair of earrings while I was there though.

My friend Dee and I have decided that we WILL dress up next year. She should be able to help me get a costume together. I just have to remember to work on it along the way. It would even be nice to have it for halloween next year. Then I would have something to dress up as too!!!

Christmas Cards *Stickied!*

While I certainly think it is too early to mail Christmas cards, I know that, for me, it is time to start working on them. I might actually get them out in a decent period of time if I start now. So, I've bought cards, and now all I have to do is figure out who to send them to.

To that end, I'm sending out an open offer to send one to any of y'all that would like to receive a card in the mail. If you're interested (and, no, you don't necessarily have to send me one. I'm not stingy! and some people just don't do Christmas cards.) just send me an e-mail at jarlynn [at] gmail [dot] com and give me your address and all that. And for all my readers that do not live in the US, I'll send to you too!!!

So, any takers??? (Wonder if I will be sending out more than last year?)

Christmas Gifts

I love giving Christmas presents. And sometimes I have trouble deciding what to get people. And for most people, I have no problem with the idea of asking people what to get them. I have no problems with being given a list of options, or one particular item that a person really wants. If they want a surprise, they'll give more options, right?

Well, I really hate when people turn around and ask what to get me. It's not that I really hate the question, I just never know how to answer. You never know how much someone is thinking to spend, and you don't want to make them think you require them to spend a lot, or that you think they are cheap. Always a difficult thing for me!

To this end, I just decided to really use (yeah, it's probably slightly late this year...) a function of a site a visit fairly regularly. I made an Amazon.com Wish List. I put a lot of books on it. I put a few pieces of jewelry I saw I liked.

Now, I realize this isn't perfect. There are things I like and want that aren't available on Amazon (What a shock!!!) and then again, there are people that don't shop online (Another shock!) But, at least no one can say they didn't have a clue. And if someone does want to get me a book, at least they can go see a list of ones I want!

Now, the reason I'm blogging this is I just wanted to share it with y'all just in case it was an idea some of you might find suitable. (And, for those of you with children, you can create multiple lists and have lists to tell the grandparents to go look at for all those requested toys!)

5 Things Meme

Tagged by Paige and Alanna. I did this not to long ago, and it's taken me so long to get to Paige's tag that I'm just gonna do it once for both tags this time! Sorry y'all! I'll try not to cheat next time!

Rules: Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

5 Weird things about me:

1 - I didn't have an imaginary friend as a child. I had both a ghost and a witch living in my closet.

2 - We really did have a ghost in my house. No one ever actually saw it though. Dad heard it a few times. And it would take the silverware from the kitchen and leave it in the yard. NO JOKE!

3 - I'm trying to teach myself to knit. Considering I never could figure out how to crochet, I'm not sure this is actually possible.

4 - While I'm generally the girl that just pulls on blue jeans and a t-shirts and walks on the door MAYBE with shoes on, I do sometimes like to dress up complete with makeup and nail polish.

5 - Taking into account the above statement, I don't actually know how to properly apply makeup, and I don't actually know how to take care of my nails.


People to Tag!

Joy
Rae
Jackie
Dancer-In-Me
Both Twisted Cinderella and NotSoSnowWhite over at Coffee Talk

Thanksgiving

I really do enjoy Thanksgiving each year. It's a nice time to relax just before the holiday rush.

Just a few things I'm thankful for:

-A close family and friends that love and support me
-My friends online that show how much they care by taking a few minutes to share encouraging words
-My health (while not great, is better than some people's)
-A steady job
-A roof over my head
-Enough money to pay the bills, even if there isn't any left over
-All the things that I know I'm leaving out

For all my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you have a wonderful time with your families. For the rest of my friends, I hope you have a wonderful day as well!

Uni Closes!

I've just been told I can go home for the holiday at Noon today!!!!!!!!! Y'all have a fantastic holiday!

Got a few things...

I've actually got a couple of pieces of news to share today. I'll start with the worst and move from there. That way the message gets better as I go!

-The local gaming store, The Gamer Sanctuary, is closing it's doors. The last day of business will be Nov. 28. This makes me sad because I have met some awesome folks there. And most of them I don't see outside of the store because that's the only place big enough for everyone to get together. We will be holding a wake at the store that evening to say goodbye to our hangout. We've known for a while that it would be closing. Greg just wasn't making any money anymore.

-I gained 2.5 lbs this week. Yes, that is a GAIN. But I'm ok. I did it to myself with crazy eating over the weekend. The lady that weighed me, not my usual, was surprised by my upbeat attitude about it. And the lady that usually weighed me told her that I had a great attitude about weighins and complimented me on it. I no longer let the number on the scale get to me (although I do let the suspense get to me a lot!) I look at the gain this week as a tool to keep me in line over the long holiday weekend.

-I still don't know how long I have to work today. I suspect we won't find out until 11 am or after if we work this afternoon or not. I'm hoping that Dr. Saunders decides to send everyone home. I would love to go home for the afternoon.

-I read an awesome comic this morning. Most everyone is familiar with the game Guitar Hero even if they haven't played it. And it's hard to miss talk, or a display about, the new game Rock Band. I personally have no intentions of purchasing Rock Band, although we talked about how cool that kind of game would be before they ever announced plans of it. I'm planning on one of our other friends purchasing it so we don't have to! :) To that end, read the latest Ctrl+Alt+Dlt!

10:25am Update - I MAY get off at lunch. The way the President worded her message the CIO could choose to leave our office open all day. I hope they hurry up and let me know!

Got it!

Just wanted to drop a quick line and let you know that I did get my cabinet in yesterday. So I have that all set up now and I really happy about it!!! Still don't have the camera stuff installed so you'll have to wait a little longer for pictures.

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Lovely Weekend...

Didn't get my cabinet yesterday. It's supposed to be delivered today. Didn't do my homework yesterday either. I'll probably get it done today. I'll probably start it after my post here is finished! May not FINISH it this morning, but I will start.

My friend Stimpy's new lady friend dumped him before they really started dating. I really feel bad for him, but I'm not really surprised. She is young (21 I think) and lives about 2 hours away. And hasn't been making any real effort on her end other than the occasional phone call. However, I am kinda pissed. She dumped him via IM through an offline message. His bad luck simply has not turned around. Wish I knew some awesome local gamer girl to hook him up with. He apparently can't pick a decent girl on his own.

Anyway, Josh and I ate at Applebee's with him last night. Still don't have the cabinet so I still cannot cook in the apartment. Wish they would hurry up and call about that, but all in time. Instead of a drink before dinner I got a coffee afterwards. I got the Cafe Magic, which has Baileys and Amaretto in it. Nice drink. I'll probably try one of the other coffees next time we go though.

Then we headed back the the apartment for a little while and Stimpy decided to try the online play for guitar hero. That was kinda neat. He seriously beat the first person he played and the second guy quit pretty early in their first song. Kinda sad.

Then the three of us met up with a couple of other friends to watch Beowulf. The movie was ok, but I wasn't really pleased. Sadly, I can't even figure out why. I spent the last thirty minutes of the movie trying to figure out exactly what I didn't like. I can think of one think, but I'm not going to ruin the movie for anyone else by mentioning it. It's a kinda major plot point.

Well, I'm off to do some homework. And later I might even manage to have some pictures to post if the guys don't decide they want to hang out and play games.

In Other News...

Go visit TrixieBelden. She's sharing something awesome!!

I'm annoyed today.

Ok, so that REALLY comes as a shock to anyone, right?

It's nothing major, and doesn't really bother me that much either. Just a time killer. The simulations I have to do completely take over my computer, and I cannot use any other program without shutting the simulation down. This means I cannot really do them while I'm at work. If I could they would already be done. So, today is really boring at work and we don't really have anything to do because not many people are on campus to have problems. Well, I kinda thought since it was so slow I could load the stuff on one of our lobby computers (used for basic troubleshooting of student accounts) and do my last simulation at work this afternoon. And that woulf free up my laptop in case I had any customers. The computers refuse to load the lastest version of FlashPlayer so I cannot do it. I hate having an afternoon wasted at work. And I really want to get my final simulation done. I would rather not have to deal with it this weekend at home.

Oh well, that's life. I'm sure I will come up with something for the rest of the afternoon.

We had a pot luck for Thanksgiving at work. I brought a bucket of cookies that I have no intentions of eating. If they don't get eaten before I go get the bucket (if I even bother!) I will send them to the local gaming store. Someone is bound to eat them there. I ate about 1 oz of pork with maybe .5TBSP of barbecue sauce, 2 chicken strips, 1 small piece of cake, 1 chocolate chip oatmeal walnut cookie (AWESOME!), and had a canned coke to drink. Not wonderful, but not so bad either. I should have skipped the cake, but I was curious. I'll be working it off tonight though. I have to finish moving around furniture to prepare for tomorrow when I should be getting my cabinet. And Josh told me he may not be home until 6 or 6:30 so I'm kinda sad. I hate that he has to work late, especially since we worked late last night.

Well, y'all have a wonderful weekend!!!!

Not feeling it

Not feeling the blogging today. Not sure why. Oh well, this will be pretty short then.

I completely forgot that I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor yesterday afternoon. I rescheduled for Monday. Maybe I can remember it this time!!! Of course, I have to because that will be a month, and it was supposed to be 2 weeks!

I cleaned more in the apartment last night, and left some for the hubby to do. Not much, and he did it before he went to bed. So tonight I will be doing the little bit I need to in the bedroom. Then tomorrow night (or possibly even tonight!) I will move out the bookcase and stuff in it to actually empty out the area for our new cabinet. I hope to get it in Saturday. Then I can rearrange my kitchen!!!! (Can you tell I'm excited?)

Then this weekend I get to do a lot of schoolwork since I couldn't because I had to clean. I'll try to get Josh to load my camera on my computer tonight or tomorrow night so I can post pictures.

Well, y'all have an awesome day!

Wiegh In Day is HERE!

Yeah, the weigh in part has come in gone. I was struggling along hoping to see a maintain this week if I was lucky.

Lucky doesn't even begin to cover this morning. I had a 2 lbs loss!!! My lovely leader complimented me on how well I've been doing the past few weeks. I have 5.5 lbs left to lose before Christmas, and hopefully a bit more!!! (Although I'm not making any guarantees. We'll just have to see what happens!)

I did a little bit more cleaning up for my new piece of furniture last night, but not a lot. I ended up with a headache. :( I decided to take aspirin and a short nap and woke up with a worse headache two hours later. Then overslept a bit today. But I will get a lot done tonight. Last night the hubby was home and that always affects how much I can get done. (Josh, I'm not saying this is a bad thing or your fault!) Tonight he has Aikido and I will take advantage of this and clean up in the living room. I think I can make a fair amount of progress. I can probably get almost finished if I really try. Just have to see if I'm willing to really try. Supper will quite possibly be left over pizza from last night. Because I'm sure Josh didn't polish off two large pizzas when I was asleep!

Well, off to work on programming homework. Even though we don't have class this Friday (again!) I'm not pulling last week's trick and ending up with a bad grade this time!!!

Wow, I think I'm caught up!

I think I'm caught up on just about everything for the moment. Ok, not everything. Just blogs and e-mail. My inbox has NOTHING unread in it currently. (Unless I get a new message while I'm typing this!) This is an awesome feeling.

I went this morning to get my blood drawn for another lipid profile. I didn't like the lady this morning. It hurt. :( But at least now I can have coffee. I'm STARVING!!!! I hate fasting blood tests....

On SparkPeople the GamersFit team is having a Biggest Losers challenge. It starts on Thursday, but I think most people really starting working on it yesterday. :) I know my team talked about weighing yesterday and using that weight on Thursday. I'm sticking with my WW weighins on Wednesday for my numbers though. Too difficult to get to another scale regularly on another day. Anyway, my team, Team Sonic!!!!, is apparently doing public nutrition and fitness journals to keep everyone accountable. Not to mention to pass along advice and encouragement. So I journaled everything yesterday. I got in the calorie range, but I was low on a lot of things. Including a complete and total lack of veggies. I cannot wait until I get paid on Thursday so I can go grocery shopping. I need veggies and don't really have any!!! And I have to pick up the stuff for my thanksgiving dishes. Luckily I don't have to cook much for those.

Well, time to do something work or school related so at least I can say I didn't waste away the morning. Y'all have a fantastic day!

Joy is back!!!!!!!!

Ok, so my beautiful friend Joy and her husband decided to get a new house. And she's been out of touch for a while waiting for her internet access to be hooked up in her new location. And she's finally back online!!!! I can have near instant communication with my friend again, which has me thrilled! No more waiting for cards and letters to cross an ocean. (Ok, I didn't send that many... I'll admit that!)
But, Joy is back online with us again, and everyone should visit her blog and welcome her back.

Started while waiting for the teacher!

Well, I WAS caught up on my blog reading, but a few days out of touch has changed that again. I'll get caught up again this week sometime. In the meantime, here is some news on my life! (Yeah, just what you all wanted for Christmas, right? More of my boringness...)

I was sick on Friday with yet another migraine. Hence the out of touch stuff. It sucked. I was planning to do my programming homework at work on Friday. Instead it didn't get done. I did do one of my office simulations Friday night though. So that's something....

Saturday I got up and did another office simulation. I should have gotten up a little earlier and done too, but I was still feeling the effects of my lovely migraine. I got over more of it though. So, Josh and I got ready, I braided his hair (I did take pictures which I will get to share eventually!) and headed out to play DnD. Ms. Ptitts killed the red dragon with the elephant. Yes, you did read that right. She used her rod of wonder to drop an elephant on the dragon. At which point they both plument 2 miles to hit the water and each die. We were on this huge bridge and the fight was fun. My warmage did a lot of damage to the dragon, and the other characters each got their on hits in as well. We didn't leave there until after 2am. My migraine tried to come back, so I dozed while most everyone else watched Chuck and Larry.

Sunday I had planned to do another office simulation and hopefully some of my programming homework. But everyone was out to get me. Josh's parents wanted us to meet them across town at Sams. And his Uncle Bob wanted us to drive out to look at some kitchen cabinet thingie that he is giving us. I didn't think we were going to be able to take it, but I've figured out a way to fit it in the apartment and it's going to be an awesome thing to get it. Then we got lunch (2pm now!) and headed home to get ready to head to Jackson. We went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra!!!!!

We left at 4pm to drive 1.5 hours to see a 7:30 concert. Josh's mom wanted us to go in the daylight because we weren't sure how to get there. Yeah, it wasn't daylight when we got there, and we were WAY early. So we sat in Taco Bell and chitchated for a while. (Josh's cousin Ben went with us.) If their winter tour comes within three hours or so of you, it's worth going to see! The music is terrific. (Best sound of any concert I've ever went to!) The light show is superb! And there are enough hot men and women on the stage to make anyone drool. It was definitely worth the experience. And we got to see my friend Drew there. Since he graduated and moved home I rarely see him anymore and he is a really cool guy. And we got t-shirts. I'll take my progress pic sometime soon in mine. That way I get both in one shot!

Anyway, Josh drops me off at home after the concert after midnight. He actually dropped me off because he completely forgot that he had to take his cousin home. We were in the apartment and he shook his cousins hand and told him we would see him later... Then Ben says "You've got to take me home." It was awesome. But I got my shower in the time it took Josh to take him home, so he could have gotten to bed quicker if he wanted to. Needless to say he didn't.

Well, that's most of everything from the weekend. I'll be spending most of this week cleaning in the apartment. I have to get the living room and dining room cleaned up enough to get my new piece of furniture in. I've already taken before pictures, so as soon as we get it in I'll post before and after pictures. Since the place is a total mess right now I think this will be great. A project!!!


If you're curious: The title comes from the fact that I wrote most of this on notebook paper this morning waiting for my teacher to show up for class.....

Not a lot...Yet!

Let's see, I'm at work with a headache. Caffine and chocolate and advil are no help today apparently. I'll survive, but I would rather go home and sleep. So I'll do that later!

Got my grade for the MIS test I took at Halloween. 96. I'm happy. I finished it so quickly I knew I had ever gotten an A or a 20! Luckily my average is currently somewhat safe.

I'm doing good so far on tracking. I have tracked everything since yesterday morning.

The lady at Starbucks got me to try one of the seasonal drinks. Caramel Gingerbread Latte. This was really good!! I'm gonna have to get another one.

I just finished reading Dhampir by Barb and J.C. Hendee. It was awesome. You'll see a review shortly. Promise!!! Shortly will not be three weeks this time....


Guess that's all for now. I'm going to sit and suffer a little longer. And maybe do a little work before Josh picks me up to go home. Have a great evening y'all!

Weigh In

I gained a half pound this week. No big deal though. After finding out about my body fat percentage last night a small gain isn't enough to bother me. It's just my body trying to stabilize itself again. I'm going to go strict on program this week though. Just to push myself through this. And because I should be doing that anyway. :)
It's only my second gain during the Christmas Challenge, and I'm still over half-way to my goal, so I'm still good there. Things are going well!!!!

Fitness Assessment

I went tonight for my fitness assessment. This is the post test for the Biggest Winners program at the university. My pretest FA was on Sept 5 and then Nov 6 for the post. So this is a 2 month timeframe. I went at about the same time of day. Sept 5 was a 6pm appointment and today was a 5 pm. I just wanted to share some of the findings from tonight.

My total fitness score, on a 100 point scale, went from 31 to 37. My sit reach score, which measure flexibility, went from 13 to 19. This was centimeters. I sat with my legs flat, arms straight out in front of me. This was how far I could reach past my feet without bending my legs.

They use 3 skinfold measurements, and I guess height?, to figure body fat %. I went from 41.3% to 33.3%. When I had a dexa-scan done in January it said my body fat % was 49.x%. They did 13 body measurements on my each time. In the past 2 months I have lost 13 inches over those measurements. 3.5" on my right thigh and 3" on my left.

Needless to say I am proud of my changes. I think they are a major accomplishment. I'm also really glad that Jennifer sat down with me after my FA to talk to me about those results. She thought they were great too. I never would have thought that I had lost 8% body fat in the past two months. Considering it is "acceptable" for a woman to have in the range of 2x% body fat, so I'm getting closer to a good number. Just to give you some numbers (if you care!), the following information is according to Health Check Systems.

Women's Body Fat Percentages
Essential Fat: 10-12%
Athletes: 14-20%
Fitness: 21-24%
Acceptable: 25-31%
Obese: 32% and above

For men the numbers are lower, and are posted on that site. I think that if the option is somehow available to you, getting the skinfolds measured to calculate body fat % might me a terrific way to keep you motivated. 8% body fat is SO much more motivating than saying I lost 6.5 pounds in the last two months. I really hope they do another weight loss program at the university in the Spring semester so I can this done again. I think it is a wonderful measure of my progress. And a much better measure of where I am than the BMI chart!

Well, I think that's my speach for the day. Hope everyone is doing really well this week, and I'll let you know about my weigh in once I get to work in the morning.

Sex and the Immortal Bad Boy

I feel really bad that I'm just now getting around to posting a review of this book. It came out November 1st, and I got an advance review copy of it from Stephanie Rowe back on October 26th-ish. I've meant to review it several times since then, but kept forgetting about the intention by the time that I got to blogger. So, thanks to Kelly's post, I'm finally managing to remember to review the book at a time when I can actually be on blogger... Took me long enough, huh?

Anyway, Stephanie decided to try a grass-roots advertising scheme, and I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of her new novel. I've only read one other book of hers (Must Love Dragons, which I have already reviewed here) and was thrilled to get my hands on another. This is another amusing story with loveable characters.

Paige is an ex-apprentice who was training to work for Satan. But she quit. She's living her life and enjoying time with her friends when she learns that Satan had her made a little extra-special. She starts on a quest to get herself fixed, and the epitome of all evil (surprisingly enough, NOT Satan) agrees to help her. But only until he has to sell her out to Satan Jr.

This is an awesome book. It's amusing, has very lovable characters, and some serious double-crossing. This is an awesome book to pick up as a get-away from real life, and is an awesome thing to drop in your gym bag. Pick it up while you are on the elliptical (or machine of your choice!) and you'll be surprised how quickly your workout passes!

And Stephanie, I'm SOOO sorry that it's taken me so long to get around to reviewing this for you!!

Angie just posted what she got off the Oracle and I decided that I HAD to try it myself!

Personality type: Clueless

You don't go to Starbucks much; when you do you just tag along with other people since you have nothing better to do. You would like to order a Tazo Chai Crème but don't know how to pronounce it. Most people who drink grande non fat hazelnut mocha are strippers.

Also drinks: Wine coolers

Can also be found at: The mall

I find that amusing. I never go to Starbucks with other people, and would probably be a stripper if I had the body for it! Just wanted to share that with y'all!

7 Things Meme

The awesome Adora tagged me for this meme the other day, so here I go!

The Rules:
1-Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2-Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird
3-Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs
4- Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog

About Me:
1. I am very shy. Even around people I know I will be really quiet if there are more than 3-4 people.
2. I love to read. If it is in print, I'll try to read it at least twice before I give up on it.
3. I'm a natural blonde. I have no problem using my hair color as an excuse if I do or say something stupid.
4. Some days I'm a seriously good techie person and suck with people. Other days it's the exact opposite!
5. My feet turn in so I destroy the inside edge of my shoes rather quickly (a few weeks!). For this reason I rarely buy or wear dress shoes.
6. I'm a career undergraduate student.d I've been in college every semester since Fall 2000 and even took college classes the summer of 1999.
7. I was always considered the go-to-girl among my friends in high school for boyfriend and sex questions and problems. From 5th grade until after I started college I had one boyfriend, and that only lasted 2 months!

I tag these awesome bloggers...
Tigerlilly
Poppy
Christine
Fatinah
Sally
Carolyn
Dancer-In-Me

Grouchy...

I'm irrationally grouchy this morning. I have absolutely no idea why though. I was planning to take care of Adora's tag this morning, but I don't think it's wise at the moment. I'll wait until I'm not contemplating multiple murders.

Freshman get younger every year, I think. This morning the guy I followed upstairs looked about 12. Crazy, huh?

I dropped my fitness walking class at the university. I was taking it for fun, and was miserable every class period. It's amazing how a different teacher will change a class from fun to awful. At least now I have the time for homework.

We started a new chapter in programming today. I might actually have to study outside of class this time. It's functions. The teacher will even have to study because the book teachers them differently than he does them. He only told us about 5 times today that he hates the book.

Well, I'm off to study a bit I think. Might as well take advantage of a slightly slow work day! And hopefully lose some of this crazy grouchiness!!!!\



Edit:
Gmail is doing funny things lately. Messages I have been getting for a while suddenly quit coming in. I didn't really think about it until I didn't get a message I KNEW the hubby had sent me. I've had several legit messages going to my spam folder lately. Although I do think it is amusing that Josh's messages was tagged as spam, I wasn't thrilled to actually have to glance over all the nasty spam I get daily!

WorldWide Game Day

Today was worldwide game day. So I hung out at the local gaming store for a while. It was PACKED. In addition to all the Dungeons and Dragons gamers there to celebrate, there was a Warhammer 40K tournament as well. That took over half the store because it was a massive game. I know I've been told several times exactly what was going on with them today, but I can't remember. I don't play the game, so I don't keep up.
This year the Wizards DnD module was awesome. Last year the module wasn't really winable and the pregenerated characters really sucked. This year the characters were very well done and the module was awesome. I know that there were at least 6 games played. Of those 6 only group lost, and more than one group had all the characters survive. I played the fighter in my game, and she was the best made character in the group. She was awesome! This year the players kept the characters instead of the DM, so I got to take her home. That made me happy. She will be an awesome addition to my desk at work. All the players also received a Spined Devil DnD Mini. That figure came not only with the DnD minis card, but also the minis 2.0 card and a preview of the DnD 4th edition stats. 4th edition comes out sometime next year, and I think this was the first stats they released on it. My husband played the rogue in the game I was in, and also played another game as the paladin. He thought those characters were well done also. I think it was a very successful day.

After hanging out at the store a while I headed home to get some homework done. My major assignment right now is some Office 2007 simulations. The simulation software SUCKS. It doesn't always read what you are doing. You might do the same thing 5 times before it realizes you are actually doing it right. I finished one assignment and started another tonight. My goal was to get four, if not five, assignments done in the simulation thingie this weekend. I don't think I will make it though. You have to go through a pretest, then training on everything you missed, then do a test on all of it for the actual grade. It takes forever. I've probably spent about 5 hours to get my 3.3 assignments done so far. And there are 12 total. I'll try to get some done tomorrow, but we are visiting the hubby's parents, and I can't work on it out there. Dial up is not friendly to simulation downloads. These simulations are awful though. They make me cry, scream, cuss, and throw things. Not necessarily in that order. They are seriously annoying. I'll be thrilled when I finally finish them. I'll just have to remember to get up in the morning so I can try and finish the one I started tonight before we leave, and hope we get back in time for me to do another tomorrow night. Then I'll just have to force myself to actually work on them throughout the week.

Well, I went back and took a look at my weigh ins for October. I lost 5 lbs, and didn't have any gains during the month. I think that might be the first month I've finished that way this year. And with all my birthday meals to boot!!! Here's to doing well in November!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

I had thought about doing something neat and all halloweeny on my blog today, but I don't have time. I have a test this afternoon and I haven't even finished the test review yet!

For halloween I'm either a gamer girl or a poor college student. I'm wearing jeans and a Capcom t-shirt. And I'm carrying a wireless PS2 controller. I decided it would work since I don't play that many console games. I'm more into DnD and similar stuff.

I went to weigh in this morning and had lost another pound. I got another 5 pound star. I've hit 30 pounds gone finally. That made my day!!! I was really expecting a gain. (Especially when I showed up in jeans! Even if they are light-weight!)

So, what is every one else doing for Halloween?

Good Birthday!

I really enjoyed my birthday weekend this year. Friday night Josh took me to eat at Logan's. I had a big steak, margaritas, and a fudgeslide for dessert. I ate too much, but oh well. I don't care! Then we went to the gaming store and watched some friends play a game of Talisman. I didn't play because I wasn't actually plannning to stay for the whole thing. Then again, the game was unusually short as well.
Josh gave me a throw that I wanted and a stuffed squirrell. I love my squirrell.
Saturday night Josh and I went to see Resident Evil: Extinction. I loved it. It was awesome. I kinda want to try out Alice's hairstyle from the movie, but Josh has informed me that it is TOO SHORT. Not that I'll be cutting my hair anytime soon anyway.... Then we went and picked up our friend Chuck and went to see 30 Days of Night. I didn't care for it as much. It was ok, but not great.
Sunday night we went and bought Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii. Josh beat it on Medium last night. I haven't beat the first song on easy yet. Then again, I've barely played GH at all.
Monday I went to class then went back to bed. It was a nice day off work. I found out I made a 101 on my programming test. The two questions he marked off weren't the ones I thought I missed. Stupid mistakes on a couple of multiple choice questions. I did actually miss one of the ones I thought I did, but he didn't count off on it. I got closer than most of the class did. And I got the bonus question. So I still have my A in that class.
I meant to do a lot of homework on Monday. (Take note of the lack of homework mentioned over the weekend. It's because I didn't do any!!!) I did my MIS assignment that was due today, but nothing else. I'll be working on my test review for MIS today because I have that test tomorrow afternoon. Not a very exciting day, but work has been slow enough that I have gotten a little of it done. I'll be doing MIS stuff all day with the exception of my fitness walking class.

I'm not really looking forward to weigh in in the morning. I think I gained again this week. I know I say that every week. I think it every week too!!! However, this time my pants feel tighter than they did last week. I won't let a gain get to me though. I was sick and in bed a lot of the past week with my respiratory infection. (I feel a lot better, but still not 100% yet!) And I REALLY ate too much Friday night. What's life without some celebrations though, right. So far I'm really enjoying being 26. So I won't let a gain on my first weigh in at this age be a big deal. It happens to us all.

Y'all have a wonderful day!!!

Thank you!

Thanks for all the get well wishes from everyone! I appreciate them.

I am, in fact, feeling better now, although I'm still not 100%. Hopefully I will be by next week.

I am still sore from my fitness walking class on Tuesday. She had us walking, doing lunges, inadequate stretches, stairs, squats, more stairs, more walking, and then ab work. My legs HURT. Even yesterday I still had trouble sitting down. Not so bad today, but I think that's because I have a higher chair at work. Oh well. I will go back on Tuesday. I skipped yesterday since I was still sick.

I had a programming test this morning. Instead of forgetting everything I ever knew about C I only forgot everything I ever knew about loops this morning. If all is well I got a B on this one. I'm fairly certain I missed two of the 5 point questions. Oh well.

I'm excited about my birthday this weekend. I have NO plans except eating out for dinner one night and getting homework done. I have to get a LOT of homework done.

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Weigh In Day

Lost 1 lb. Just wanted to let y'all know.

Even sicker this morning, but I'm still at work. I go to the doctor this afternoon. Hopefully they will give me something that will make me better! (I had another basically sleepless night. Can't handle many more of these...)

Another Day, Another Torture

Yeah, still sick. Actually a bit worse today. Oh well. I go to the doctor tomorrow. At least I managed to sleep last night! Always a good thing. :)

Not much else to report really. I just finished a book I'll be posting a review on in the next few days. I have to decide what I want to say about it. I'll also be going to the library tonight to pick up Lick of Frost. They called today to tell me I could pick it up. I'll probably review it over the weekend.

I supposedly have a test on Friday for Programming. No clue what's on it. Hope he tells us tomorrow.

Not expecting happiness at weigh in tomorrow morning. Mostly just not expecting it because I feel crappy. Makes me pessimistic! :) Maybe it will be a happy pick me up weigh in though. It won't get me down if it's a gain though.

OOOOOH! Almost forgot. My new bluetooth headset came this morning. I picked it up at lunch because Josh had plugged it in to charge before he left for work. Called Mom on my way back to work and she said she could hear me just fine on it. So unless something happens, seems like a got a decent headset. It's a refurb, but that's ok. Josh and I each got one for a total of $24.99. Can't complain!

Monday's Suck!

It's because I'm still sick. Otherwise I would probably be ok with today. After to a few people around town, I can expect to be sick for up to a month. Lovely. Sounds like great plans for my weight loss. LOL. If I stay like this I'll be doing the bare minimums for a while on the exercise front. Then again, if I stay like this I won't feel like doing much. So maybe I'll get my homework done. LOL
The DnD game this weekend was fun. My lovely warmage got knocked down to 1 hit point. That was fun. I shouldn't have taunted the powerful bad guy with spells when not of the melee characters could reach. LOL. It was fun though. I still don't have her completely leveled though. I'll HAVE to finish that before the next game. My friend Dee doesn't have her character sheet straight either so I don't feel too terribly bad.
Last night the inlaws took Josh and I to Olive Garden for my birthday dinner. They'll be a cruise when my birthday actually rolls around. It was a fun trip out. It was the only thing I did all day too. Ate too much, but it was all I ate all day as well so I don't feel bad about it. :) Other than the tummy ache.
I'm trying to decide if what I've got is a sinus infection or a head cold. I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday afternoon, so I'll see how things are then. :) She can tell me what she thinks, and tell me if I need drugs. I hope I don't need much in the way of drugs. I'm kinda broke with it being bill time! I didn't get very much sleep last night because I couldn't breathe if I laid down. I spent most of the morning sitting in the recliner. I hope it's not the same way tonight. I'm going to try a nap after work, that should give me an idea of how to plan the evening. The recliner isn't very comfy for sleep, so it's possible I'll have to work out something else that keeps me fairly upright. Any ideas???

Hope everyone else is doing great. By the way, go check out this blog. The Veggie Paparazzi decided to come out of hiding behind her laptop. :)

Sick...

I hate being sick, but then again, doesn't everyone? I woke up yesterday with a little bit of a sore throat. It's worse today. I hope it decides to go away soon though. I don't like head colds. I'm have a little bit of the sniffles today, too. I HATE BEING SICK!

I installed OneNote 2007 Thursday night. It looks awesome! And I'm going to start putting in my DnD character sheet after I finish this post. A'Lyni Starfield is an elven fighter warmage. I'm thinking about the possibility of giving her a prestige class (force mage) but haven't really decided yet. It would broaden her spell selection a little, I think. But it's not happening right now, so no biggie.

Josh has decided he wants to start painting minatures, and has spent a fortune recently on paint and supplies. I hope he actually keeps this one up. I picked up a cute 5x7 cross stitch package to do. I'll probably start it next week. I think it might help with anxiety a bit. Maybe. Or make it worse. Guess we'll just have to see, huh?

Well, off to play with the new software! Talk to y'all later!

I HATE FALL BREAK!

I hate fall break. I really do. I would probably love it if I didn't have to work. We have NOTHING to do. I wrote my next program for my C class. That went MUCH quicker than I expected. I've read so many blogs that I don't want to ever look at my laptop screen again. I've done as much of my C worksheets as I can without my textbook. I've ensured that my new software is waiting at the apartment for me when I get home. Too bad Josh wouldn't bring it to me at the office! (Of course, I didn't ask him too either. So I can't really complain. I wouldn't expect him to go that far out of the way. It was enough that he went ahead and picked it up at the office so we wouldn't have to rush there after work.) And I'm procrastinating on my MIS homework.

I have my discussion questions due on Tuesday that I could be working on. I even have that textbook with me. Too bad I can't get interested in the topic. I could read the book I brought with me, but I don't feel like getting it out. Too much trouble. Sadly, I actually WANT to do the programming worksheets. But I missed the class where he went over this stuff. I only have 4 questions left, but haven't found enough info online yet to help me figure out the answers. I KNEW I should have brought that book with me today!

Anyway, I would REALLY love to have my new software. I ordered OneNote 2007 and it was delivered today. I get to install it tonight. I'm going to put my DnD character in it instead of keeping it on paper for the time being. I've erased enough that I'm having trouble reading everything, and I generally do custom character sheets. This wonderful lady is put together in a spiral notebook, and takes up over 10 pages because I put in the spell particulars so I would rarely need to look up a spell during a game. It takes me a while to get a sheet done this way. On the computer it is a little easier. And I really want to play with my new software.

Anyway, I just felt like posting another thing today since I had nothing to do. I think my phone has rang 5 times all day, and I've had 2 walkin customers. I wish they wouldn't make us work these two days....

I'm feeling better today. My head still hurts a good deal, but nothing like yesterday. So I'm back at work doing the boring thing! :)
It's Fall Break today and tomorrow at the uni so I have next to nothing to do, workwise. Just the occassional phone call.
Thanks for all the comments yesterday. Those made me feel great when I found this them morning.
I've done a lot of blog reading the morning, but I'm gonna take a break from it for the moment. I have a program due Wednesday, and I want to try and get a good deal of it done today if I can. At least half, if possible. Then I can worry about the rest over the weekend. I really need to have it done my Monday. Or at least as far as I can get without asking questions. Matthew told his our last question opportunity on it would be Monday. And that this was a difficult program that we would not get right the first time. Then proceeded to give us a chunck of the code. Which is good, because I didn't have a clue what he wanted us to do on this thing. Now that I know the basic premise, I can start attempting to get the code done. I hope it isn't too terribly difficult. But I should be finding out soon. And when it starts to make my head REALLY hurt, I'll stop and read some of Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning. I picked it up Monday and have barely started on it!
I'm going to a small portion of a Pampered Chef party at lunch. I'll probably read or something for the first half of my lunch, then hit the party when it starts. Don't know if I'll buy anything, but she said she would be having snackies. So hopefully there will be enough for me to get a little bit of lunch in. :)
Y'all have a fantastic day!

Weigh In

I had lost .5 lbs this week. No clue how I managed that, but it's nice.
I have a major migraine this morning, so this will be short. I came to work, and have been ordered to go home after class if I'm still feeling bad. I started feeling bad last night.
My fitness walking class is going to be a chore. I have a two page paper two page paper to write, and she is going to have us do activities other than walking, such as kickboxing and weight lifting. I hope she warns us before weight lifiting day so I can change my schedule to participate.

Just the words

I wish I had the pictures though! I did the family visit weekend. Drove up to see the parents and then visited my sister on the way back. Took some great pics of the girls with my phone. If I get the download things working I'll post them here. Hopefully I can!
I've gained weight this week. This isn't me being paranoid either, it's truth. Probably a pound or so, which could potentially be water. I'm going to try and get enough of a workout in tonight that I can manage a maintain tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes though.
My walking class starts tonight. Although we probably won't be walking. Probably just the paperwork portion of things. But I'll still do my Ct5K, even if it's running in place at the apartment. That's better than nothing.
I went to the library and book shopping last night. Then went to bed early. I was too tired to do very much.
Well, I'll let y'all know how weigh in goes, even if I don't expect to be happy about it!!!

Recommitment

Sometimes we slip up, even though we try not to. I have actually been trying to seriously stay on track the past couple of weeks, but have failed miserably. Between the doctor messing with my anxiety meds and class work I have been having trouble. I either have a ton of school work to do and have to skip a workout, or I am too sick from my meds to workout. This is not having the best effect on me.

Sometimes recommitment is more about mindset than actually doing something. It's important to re-evaluate your plans and goals every so often. As time goes by our lives and time commitments change. What worked great for your schedule 6 months (or even 2 weeks!) ago may not work anymore. As you grow older the things you really want change, so it might be important to change the goals you have in mind.

I think one problem a lot of people have during long weight loss journeys is that they forget about how their life changes. They forget that they have to change their workouts occasionally; they forget that after losing 50 pounds they might not need to eat as much at each meal. They forget that after they have aged 10 years it might not be feasible to fit in a size 2 anymore. These are things we need to think about as we try to lose weight and become healthier people.

With the second eight weeks beginning for me at school, I have to re-evaluate my workout schedule. I’m taking a fitness walking class two nights a week. That interferes with the classes I’ve come to enjoy at my gym. I cannot go to KDW at the gym if it starts at the same time as my class. I cannot go to water aerobics if it ends at the same time my class begins. So I have to decide what to put in the place of those activities that will have a similar effect on me. It can be hard to decide how to make these changes. I’ll be walking for my class, but that won’t burn the calories like my dance class does. I have to evaluate the differences and decide what fits for my schedule.

This time I’m lucky. I’m taking part in a Wii Sports challenge with SparkPeople. It starts today. The idea is to spend 30 minutes a day seriously playing this very active game. And I think I can put a serious dent in my workouts through this. I think it will also be a lot of fun to spend time boxing, especially since it isn’t something I have access to at the university gym. They are allowing bowling, boxing, and tennis for the challenge. I think I will avoid tennis, but bowling will probably find its way into my gaming sometimes. J I think the boxing will be good for my shoulders though. I could be so wrong, but we’ll see in 6 weeks, right?

I’ve decided to try the Ct5K program in conjunction with my walking class this fall. That should help not only my calorie burn during class, but also my fitness. This time I plan to get through Day 1. After that it should be easy, right?

Anyway, back to recommitment, since I apparently felt the need to go off topic! In addition to exercise, it’s important to remember eating. That’s been a major problem for me my entire life. I have to remember that I want to be healthy. And the only way to be healthy is to eat healthy. That’s difficult for most people, I think, and it’s important for me to reevaluate WHY I want this. That will help me to get back in gear.

It’s time to buckle down and do this right! No more half-assing it!

Must Love Dragons

I picked this book up the other day at the library because I've been reading blog entries by the entertaining Stephanie Rowe. And when I looked over the library's selection of her works, I decided that I simply had to start with Must Love Dragons.

I read through this novel rather quickly. One, I wanted to procrastinate on homework again. Great reason to read. Two, it was a pretty darn good book.

From the back cover:

Single Female Dragon seeks love and good times in the big city.

Single Male, ex-Dragon Slayer, seeks fiery sex goddess.

What's NOT to love in that sort of story. It has suspense, mystery, and a FIGHT. Or a few.

This would be a wonderful book to read while on the elliptical or bike. It's fun, sexy, and wouldn't require so much brain power that you couldn't still peddle! Check out Stephanie's site for a video and excerpt.

FRIDAY!

I'm glad it's Friday, and I sure most of you feel the same way.

Personally, I'm not feeling all that great that the moment. I took my first dose of buspar this morning. And now I'm sick to my tummy and sleepy. I hope that it goes away soon, but food didn't help it.

I've posted two manga/comic book reviews today. I picked them up last night at BAM and was pleased with the purchases. We renewed our discount card and got a free tote. It's a smaller edition of the ones they gave out last year. We even got one of those $5 off a $25 purchase to use by the 20th. Too bad the new Laurell K. Hamilton book comes out the 30th! I'll find something to pick up though. There are books I would like to have. I've actually started a list!!! Shouldn't be hard to bring that to a $30 total. All I need is 5 paperbacks. Or the hardcover Feehan holiday treasury and three paperbacks.

Well, I think I'll go. I want coffee, have a novel to write a review of, and need to do some actual work before I go home for the day. Y'all have a safe and fun weekend!!!

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Guilty Pleasures Vol. One

Josh found this while he was looking at manga at Books-A-Million last night and brought it to my attention. Needless to say I HAD to pick it up and take it home. This is a hardcover edition containing the first 6 issues of the Guilty Pleasures comic adaptation.

The comic is put out by Marvel. The first five issues were adapted by Stacie Ritchie and issue six by Jess Ruffner-Booth. All the artwork is by Brett Booth, with colors done by Imaginary Friends Studios. The entire book is in color and is BEAUTIFUL!

I read this at work today and it was a delicious escape from the the boredom of a Friday. The story was incredibly well told and I was very pleased with the adaptation from the book. Anita is beautiful and Jean-Claude is sexy!

This harcover includes a cover gallery to show you the covers from the individual issues, and even has a short extra titled Vampire Victim! There are additional issues of the story out past these six, but I will probably wait for the second hardcover volume before I purchase them. Although that doesn't mean I won't be looking at them in the store. There's no way I can wait that long before I read the next issue!!!

Dark Hunger: The Manga

I picked up Dark Hunger by Christine Feehan last night. I read the short story not long after it had come out and really did enjoy it. It's not one of my favorite Carpathian stories, but it's not my least favorite either.

This is the story of Riordan and Juliette and takes place in the Amazon. From the back cover: She will release him from his bonds. He will release her from her inhibitions. Each has a voracious appetite that must be sated.

It was published by Berkely Books, and the pencils are done by Zid of Imaginary Friends Studios. While the artwork is not a style that I care for, it is an acceptable adaptation of the novel. It has been a while since I read the story, but I was pleased with it. I hope they adapt some of her other short stories to manga form in the future.

If you are interested in a sneak peak, visit Feehan's website for a slide show preview!

Another Day, Another Headache?

Actually my day is going pretty well. My hubby commented on a previous post here. He informs us of WHY he doesn't hunt. I was amused.
I feel much better than I have earlier in the week, and am slightly excited about my small shopping trip this evening. I'll be getting BIG bottles of shampoo since both of us will be using dove now. And we'll be getting vitamins. And a flat-iron purchase.
I'm not excited about my simulations I have to do for my MIS class. Each assignment on it takes over an hour! I have 11 of them left! And I have a lot of programming homework.
I am almost completely caught up on my blog reading now. Just a couple left. I haven't commented to everyone though. Just a few.
Everyone in the Christmas Challenge seems to be doing fairly well. Lots of losses so far. Lots of positive thinking, which is the most important thing.

I won't be making it to the gym tonight. Laundry to do, packing to do, TOO much homework. I'll try to fit in some sort of exercise though. Although I did walk to work AND to lunch. So that helps.

Y'all have a fantastic day!

Beauty Shop

Josh and I both got trims today out at The Cutting Edge. April did our hair, and I love her. I'm so glad she's back working. She asn't last time I was in and I missed her. She's got a beautiful little girl.
Anyway, Josh went first since he had to go to Aikido. By the time I got there she was flat-ironing my husbands hair. People don't realize how long his hair is because of the way it curls! I took a picture. I will probaby be able to post it at the bottom, assuming I get the bluetooth working!!!
Then we looked at my wedding pictures because she hadn't seen them. April loved them all.
Then the hair. I'm not allowed to blow-dry my hair. I'm not allowed to wash it every day. (At least she gave me a shower cap!) I am allowed to flat iron it occassionally, and she told me where to get one. And which one to get. She promised me she would refuse to let me chop off my hair until it was to my butt or longer (I'll need help not caving!!!) and she promised to show me different things I can do with it along the way. Today I was shown how to flat-iron. but not every day. It looks neat.
Josh and I both have to start taking vitamins. We can take prenatal vitamins or two flinstones a day. Our choice. And he cannot use his suave shampoo anymore. We are to both use Dove, or one of those fancy expensive name brands.

Anyway, I cannot get the bluetooth to work, so I guess you'll get a picture whenever I get to make the stupid phone work via USB cable. Stupid phone. :)


--I don't take Lexapro anymore. I'm to take two days off and then start something that starts with a b....

Another Weigh...

I was shocked. 2.5 pounds gone. I'm out of the 210s, hopefully to stay. Although I won't feel bad if I have a gain next week. I'm going to visit the parents for my birthday this weekend, and have very little clue what Momma has planned. Other than deer stew. My mother loves me. She knows that I really enjoy deer, and don't get to eat it often enough considering the hubby nor I hunt.
That's 6.5 of my goal for Christmas, 40% in three weeks. I hope I keep this up. I really would like to see onederland this year. It would make me feel good. This week marked 52 weeks in weight watchers for me. 28 pounds in my year barely following the program. Here's to hoping I don't sabotage myself much in the next one!

Another Week

I feel both great and sucky at the same time today. Kinda wierd.

I feel great because I noticed this morning that my black slacks I've been wearing since before beginning this journey are slipping uncomfortably like my jeans that I mentioned earlier. Nice feeling, I guess. I'm also wearing a shirt today that I thought was too tight just a few weeks ago when I put it on to wear. It lays across my rolls instead of stretching across, so I thought that was nice. AND, I had a lady tell me that I was slimming up. That made me proud. It was Ms. Susan, one of my fitness role models, and I think that was the first time she's actually complimented my weight loss. So I was really happy. That kinda made my day. (Don't we all just love compliments!)

I went to see my back doctor today. She was happy to see that my posture had improved since last time. (Both she and her nurse always remember me. Her nurse was confused because she couldn't find my printout. She had forgotten my last name had changed. She didnt' even ask my name before starting to look. I wish I could remember names like that!) Anyway, She said they kinda wanted to do another MRI on my middle back, but were going to wait. And I don't have to go back and see her again until February, unless I start hurting. YAY! I love my back doctor. Even if it does take forever to get in and actually see her. She really does care about her patients.

I was a bit sick over the weekend. I woke up sick to my stomach, but I went with Josh to his Aikido testing anyway. No one told us what to expect of the day. I ate a small breakfast because I wasn't feeling well. Then 1.5 hour drive there. Then they were doing Aikido for 5 hours. THEN the guys forgot how to get to the Indian restaurant they wanted to eat at. So I went like 10 or 10.5 hours without food. We were at the police academy gym, and all they had was a water fountain. And it was in the middle of nowhere. Then I woke up sick again on Sunday. But I made it through the day and was feeling a little better in the afternoon. So I went to the Chevelle concert with Josh. And we first sat down at a table upstairs in the bar. No view. But seated. I had two margaritas. They were alright, but not great. Then he decided he wanted to go downstairs so he could actually see Chevelle. But made us go down an act early. Way to long on my poor feet in a too hot crowded space. It was more crowded than when we went to see Saliva. But it was a good show. We got to hear some band we had never heard of and got the album. Don't remember the name right now though. There was also a fit while I went to the restroom. I did see the guys and girls get drug out by the red shirts though. Then I woke up REALLY sick Monday. So I stayed home and did nothing. Still a bit sick today, but nothing too major. I'm at work bored. YAY.

I'm convinced I've gained again this week, even though I have noticed a drastic difference in my clothing the past few days. Guess that's normal for me though. I ALWAYS think I gained. At least I'm usually not disappointed, right? I wish I hadn't been sick yesterday so I could have weighed in for biggest winners and given myself a clue as to how I've done. I COULD weigh in today, but the difference in time would skew that result. I'll just skip a week with them and be surprised tomorrow.

I'm going back to the gym tonight. First time in over a week. I'll be taking the last of the dance classes I can because I have a night class starting next week. I kinda wish I could drop that class, but I would still have to pay for it. So I might as well get my money's worth, right? And I really do want to try to up my walking speed anyway, and that class should help with that. The walking class will drop my actually GYM time, but I'll still be exercising on the non-gym days for class, so that isn't too big a deal.

While I'm still not feeling 100% blogger happy right now, I am trying to catch up on some of my reading. Not doing a ton of commenting since I'm a little behind at the moment though. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things though!

Denim Day

Today is Lee National Denim Day. Southern Miss had a team to raise money. Feel free to visit our page!
We raised $150 this year. And I'm having trouble keeping my jeans up! Just thought I would share.

Blast from the Past

I was talking to a couple of the girls at work today about bra shopping. Don't know why exactly this came up, but it wasn't a topic for long.

Anyway, I thought about when my friend Dee tied me up a while back, and I thought I would share the link with y'all. This was back last year, and when I was still posting on my old blog. I'm still going to have my own!

Just Another Feeling

Not really feeling the blogging thing at the moment. Every once in a while I click a random blog in my reader and look and maybe comment on it. Don't feel bad if you're not it. It's nothing personal.

I'm not such a worry wart after a couple of days on my new drugs, but I'm getting angry for no reason. I'm waiting a few days to see if this continues, or if it's delayed PMS or something. I hope it's something temporary.

I made a 93 on my MIS test. Makes me wonder if she curved the grade or something because I had forgotten everything I ever knew about technology when I tried to take that test.

I had gained 1.5 lbs this week. I'm not worried about it though. But I do need to get a hold of myself and start doing better this week. I haven't been to the gym since last Thursday. I spent my afternoon off work sleeping. I read the last 30 pages of The Smoke Thief and went to bed. Then ended up hanging out at The Gamer Sanctuary for the evening doing nothing. But it was good to be out of the house.

Y'all have a great rest of the week if I don't get back here again!

Paranoid much?

OK. I will make it through the rest of the day without murdering anyone. There, now that I've said THAT, I'll tell y'all about my day!

Went down to the Gulf Coast for our staff council meeting today. I rode in the van because I had NO CLUE how to get to the campus. It was a fun ride down there. I like everyone that rode the van. We had a nice meeting, lost three passengers (to other rides back home), and decided to eat at Logan's. We had a terrific waitress, good food, and it was a great time of socializing. My drugs must have helped a bit already because I actually opened my mouth and spoke over lunch. Normally in groups like that I sit quiet and just listen. But I really did join in on the conversations and had fun. I also had their peanut butter fudge thing as dessert. I had decided I wasn't going to order one (being good!) then the waitress started sitting them in front of everyone. I wasn't going to insult whoever decided to get them for the entire table (9 of us!) It was a fun ride home too.

I missed my dance class tonight because of homework. I have a C program due tomorrow and I couldn't figure out how I had messed it up. By the time I had it fixed the class had already started. But at least I wrote the program. It has no error checking in it, but I couldn't figure out how to put that in and didn't feel like worrying about it. I don't think Matthew is worried about that at this point because we have not discussed anything like that.

I don't know how well the drugs are really working because I seriously considering killing my husband earlier this evening. WHY? you ask... Because he mentioned having talked to some girl last night that I haven't had the opportunity to meet yet. And probably won't for a while because the next time she will be in town is when I will be out of town. And the last time she was here we weren't invited to the gathering, and the other time was HubCon and we couldn't afford for both Josh and I to go. My good friend is kinda interested in her, so I REALLY want to meet her. No idea why it has me so pissed that Josh mentioned talking to her last night.

And, then there is the why do I think I have gained weight this week. I'm paranoid. I just am. I wasn't as good this week as last, but that's ok. I think last week was too good to be true. I'm psycho, if y'all havent' figured that out yet! Hopefully I will get good news in the morning, but I'm expecting BAD news. At least this way I will either be prepared or happily surprised.

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful evening. I think I'm going to see if I can figure out a way to calm myself down for bed. :) I MIGHT try to catch up with all the blogs tomorrow afternoon. We get off work at noon for a ball game and I might use the afternoon for computer time instead of studying. Good idea, right?

Just A Quickie!

Made a 91 on my programming test. Much better than I expected. All my errors were stupid ones. I got the bonus question right, but he doesn't know how much it's going to count yet.

Still don't have the grade for my MIS test. I hope I passed though. Most everyone felt as unprepared as I did for it. But at least I know what to expect from now on.

Weekend was alright. Didn't exercise, didn't track. But I think I still did ok. While I didn't write anything down, I still kept a mental track on my food and didn't really have a desire to snack. Still think I'll show a gain this week though. Oh well.

Coworker is mad again. But this time I know it isn't at me!!! That makes me happy. Although I still have to deal with her mood. She isn't really talking to me anyway.

I have to write a program for my C class this afternoon. Then do MIS homework tonight. Wish I had thought to check the dates and do this over the weekend. Oh well. Didn't want to do it then.

I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. I scheduled it just for my cholesterol problem, but I think I'm going to talk to her about my anxiety problems too. I'm having a lot of trouble with that again.

And I probably won't be posting tomorrow. I have to go to the Coast for a Staff Council meeting. I might take my laptop, but probably won't have time to post.

Unmasqued by Colette Gale

I finally finished Unmasqued! I've been reading it slowly since I got it in late August. Not because I haven't enjoyed. In fact, quite the opposite. I had waited so long for this book, that I wanted to make it last a while. So I read it a few pages here and there until I read the last page just last night.

I will admit that Colette got some not-so-nice reviews on this book. She actually talks about some of those reviews over at The Spiced Tea Party.

However, the book tells you exactly what it is as soon as you pick it up, so the sex is no reason to NOT be happy with it. (Or, at least, the fact that there is a lot of it!)

While I have not read all of Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera (yes, I know this could be considered a sin by some), I find that Colette has retold the story very well. She really shows us WHO the characters are and how corrupt some of them are. The book is dark, exciting, and I wasn't always sure what would be happening next.

She has done a good job of altering perceptions as well. I have to agree with Pam Rosenthal's comment that harp music will never be heard quite the same way. I, however, have an increased desire to find a tall, free-standing mirror....

Colette Gale is actually a pseudonym for another historical novelist. This book is different from her other work, although I have enjoyed both. (And I figured out the connections all on my own and AM NOT TELLING. You're on your own with that mystery!) If you liked Unmasqued, or generally like retellings of other stories, Master will be coming out May 2008.

Caving

I caved a bit last night on the 'diet'. But that's ok. I STILL have some flexies left. Not exactly sure how many though because I haven't done the tracking yet. :) Guess I should do that huh?
*********************
15 flex points left to get me through Tuesday evening. I think I can do that. I will have to kick butt at the gym on Monday though.
I should probably go today and get some stuff in, but I don't know when we are supposed to head over to the inlaw's. My FIL wants to get the boat out (something that hasn't been done since before I met Josh!) so I don't want to miss the opportunity. And Josh hadn't told me last night when we were supposed to be there. Asshat. (Yes, I call my hubby names. Who doesn't?)

I can still manage to get through this week on track with weight watchers. Just because I went 10 pts over on one day isn't failure. That being said, I've been on track for 10 days straight now. I think I'm doing pretty darned good! Now I just have to keep it up for a few more weeks.

I'm still trying to come to terms with my cholesterol having gone up to 248. (Not sure if I had mentioned I got that test result in or not!) I have a doctor's appointment Monday afternoon to talk to one of the doctors at the university clinic about what I should do. It was high in January, but no where near this high. I hope she doesn't just tell me to go on a diet. I'm doing that already!

Well, tired of the depressing. I'm off to write a book review for y'all and who knows what then!

Just the facts! And opinions, etc...

Yeah, whatever. It's something in the title field anyway. I think I have a slight inkling of how authors feel when they try to give titles to their work. Only a slight on though because I cannot imagine writing a whole book!

So, good job and congrats to all the nice folks doing the Christmas Challenge. As those who actually read here already know, I lost 5.5 lbs this week. Which is awesome. And will hopefully happen again next week. (HEY! A girl can dream, right?) Everyone I've heard results on so far has done wonderfully. And, one nice blogger was very courageous this week. Visit That Skinny Bitch for her before video.

I might have to do one of my own. Just to let all you wonderful folks see my fat ass and hear my horrible Southern accent. (It's real, I promise! And I'm not 12 either!) ;)

In other news, it's a good thing that I have come to terms with my own body a bit. I had an 8 year old not comment on my fatness last night, but my big ears!!! Another reason to try the video, right? Let y'all see them in their HUGE glory. Too bad they don't help me hear any better! (My hearing SUCKS!) I told him I had big ears because my Daddy gave them to me. :)

Also, I JUST finished reading Unmasqued by Colette Gale. I'll be doing a book review on it either tonight or tomorrow. It's taken me forever to read it. I felt I should draw it out since I had waited for so long to get my hands on it.

Y'all have a wonderful weekend!

UUGGH

I wasn't going to do a real post today after deciding to do a TT instead of just a regular post about guilt. But I've decided to. I feel like crap now, so why not!?! :)

My day was going pretty good, then I got pissed. I'm not gonna say about what because I might get made again. I went to lunch then and couldn't explode about it because I shouldn't take it out on my friends that had nothing to do with it, right? So I held all my anger it. I know from experience that this gives me seriously bad headaches, migraines even. And I get enough of those without knowing why. So, now I have a seriously bad headache that is trying to turn into a nasty migraine. I've taken some stuff, but I don't know that it will really help much. I'm sick to my stomach, but that will hopefully start easing up soon. I have water aerobics tonight, but I can't go if I'm still feeling like this after work. :)

If I don't have any more difficult customers to set me back off I might manage to get completely past my anger and start to really feel better. It's slowly slacking off. However, I don't really expect to NOT have someone come in and be a total asshole to me about something that is totally not my fault.

******

Okay. I just finished my second phone call with a terrific student who made me feel wonderful, even if it did take two phone calls to get what she wanted done. That is certainly helping my temper, if not my headache. I'll let you know tomorrow whether or not I end up at the gym.

Guilty Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Cory and Guilt 1…. I can find myself feeling guilty over the craziest things! 2…. I feel guilty when I'm doing well on my diet and other bloggers are having problems. 3…. I feel guilty when I'm not doing well because I don't feel that I'm providing a good example to others. 4…. I feel guilty when I drive to work instead of walking. I feel like I'm cheating myself because I'm not getting that extra exercise, although I know I shouldn't be carrying that much weight around. (My backpack with work and school stuff PLUS my gym bag!) 5…. I feel guilty that I'm losing weight because it means that I'll have to spend money on clothes instead of using it to pay off my debt a little quicker. 6…. I feel guilty that I haven't been doing Thursday Thirteens for a long time. 7…. I feel guilty that I haven't actually visited all the Christmas Challenge participants and put their blogs in my feed reader, even if I have done a blog roll for them. 8…. I feel guilty when I don't feel like cooking at home just because I get seriously light-headed since the heat builds up too much in our tiny kitchen and makes me sick. 9…. I feel guilty that I don't get to go see my parents or the rest of my family as often as I would like. Gas just costs too much! 10…. I feel guilty (sometimes, not all the time!) that I'm not more interested in doing all the things my husband loves to do. But I have my own interests too! 11…. I feel guilty because ever since I decided to do the RIP II reading challenge I haven't felt like reading books that really qualify for it! 12…. I feel guilty because I didn't go to water aerobics Tuesday night because I wanted to try the KuKuwa Dance Workout class. 13…. See, I wasn't joking about the crazy guilt I feel! I know it's crazy, but I feel it nonetheless. Anyone else feel guilty about wierd things that they know they shouldn't? Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Yes, Yes

That does say 5.5 lbs lost for the first week of the tracker. I was in complete and total shock. I guess tracking really does work. That and the gym. I had 18 activity points last week. I'll just have to be sure and do just as good this week!
Needless to say I'm on a bit of a high right now, hopefully it will stick around a little while. :) Although I know I will be spending the rest of the morning (when I'm not working!) studying for my test this afternoon. But that's just part of life.

Y'all have an awesome day!!!!

And tomorrow shows the results...

Well, I know that tomorrow I will find out my official weight for the week. And I'm excited about this. I think I might also be disappointed. I've stayed on plan fairly well this week, and wish for a 3 or 4 pound loss. I'm thinking I'll have about 1-2 lbs gone. But that's ok. We always want to see those high numbers on the scale. And I know I'll be thrilled with whatever loss I mange to show. That's just the way of things.

I do really feel good today though, although I did have a nasty headache after lunch. I didn't do very good today food wise, but I have plenty of flex points to cover it. I had gotten an voicemail on my cell telling me about a blood drive being on campus this morning. So I ate a really big calorie breakfast to be sure I would be ok to give blood right before lunch, then I was going to eat a salad for lunch (no time for anything else!) and it would be balanced out. Well, I get to work and I couldn't find anything anywhere telling me where this blooddrive WAS, so I couldn't give blood. I ended up eating about an average calorie lunch today, and I'm out of my points. Only to find out that the blooddrive was on campus today, but I didn't find that out until after they had shut down. Just my luck. But it'll be ok.

I'm going to the gym tonight. I'm going to take the Kukuwa dance workout class. It should net me 3 or 4 activity points. And I might go a little early and hit one of the exercise bikes first. Just depends on how I feel.

I also have 12 pages of notes to memorize tonight for a test tomorrow. I'm slightly worried about the test, but I'm sure I will be fine. Everyone have a fantastic evening!

BITCHOLOGY

I friend at work sent this to me, and I felt it was worth sharing!

When I stand up for myself and my beliefs, they call me a bitch.

When I stand up for those I love, they call me a bitch.

When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts or do things my own way, they call me abitch.

Being a bitch means I won't compromise what's in my heart. It means I live my life MY way. It means I won't allow anyone to step on me.

When I refuse to tolerate injustice and speak against it, I am defined as a bitch.

The same thing happens when I take time for myself instead of being everyone's maid, or when I act a little selfish.It means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won't become anyone else's idea of what they think I 'should' be. I am outspoken, opinionated and determined. I want what I want and there is nothingwrong with that!

So try to stomp on me, try to douse my inner flame, try to squash every ounce of beauty I hold within me. You won't succeed.

And if that makes me a bitch, so be it. I embrace the title and am proud to bear it.

B = Babe
I = In
T = Total
C = Control of
H = Herself

B = Beautiful
I = Intelligent
T = Talented
C = Charming
H = Hell of a Woman

B = Beautiful
I = Individual
T = That
C = Can
H = Handle anything

'If you can't do something right, get a woman to do it.'

It's Monday!!!

I read something interesting on Carolyn's Blog this morning. And it's great enough that I have to share it here. Her husband tells her to appreciate Monday's because they are 1/7th of her life. I think that's a good way to look at it. I've gotten to where I don't hate Mondays on prinipal, but I will have to keep this in mind for the occassions that I get upset about a Monday.

My Biggest Winner weigh in this morning showed a 1.5 lb loss, so things are looking good for my weigh in on Wednesday morning. I hope I can show a bigger loss, but I will certainly be satisfied with a pound. (Don't we all WANT to see the large losses.) I really do hope to see a big loss though. I would love to have a good jumpstart on the Christmas Challenge.

I have created an added to the sidebar a blogroll for the Christmas Challenge participates. If anyone in the challenge would like the code to add to their blog, just let me know. I'll gladly share it and hopefully manage to keep it up to date. I think I have everyone listed. (I know I'm not one of the organizers for the challenge, but I still figure I can help!) Some of the participants have already posted losses on their blogs. So can give them some encouragement and support!

I'm glad to say that my Monday is going well. My coworker appears to be over her snit and is actually talking to me again. I just deleted my user profile off my old laptop and put it in my boss's office. I'm so happy to be rid of it. It's nice to be 98% moved to my new laptop. I still haven't installed my mp3 players or my camera. I will get that done soon though. I feel so good because I have tracked every day since my last weigh-in. I'm definitely planning to make it the whole week. As of this morning I still have 29 or 30 of my flex points left to last me. I'm taking a chunck of them today. I wanted a treat at lunch so I got a mocha. It's 9 points, but I like them. I'm excited to be headed back to the gym today. I have a goal of getting in at least 2 pts on the cardio machines there. I will probably go for 3 again and do something similar to what I did last week with hitting three different machines. I may even carry a book up there with me for my last bit. Maybe I will get carried away and burn more calories that way. ;) Think anyone would mind me doing that?

Well, I'm off to do real work. Y'all have a wonderful week!

Darkfever

I just finished reading Darkfever this morning. I picked it up at the library after having it recommended to me by Amazon. I wasn't expecting to pick up a book with a Romance sticker on the side, so I went into the book slightly skeptical. I wasn't really in the mood to read a romance. But that's what the book seemed to offer, and I had it to read. The cover you will find on the author's website and on Amazon.com is not the one here.

In Darkfever, we are introduced to a somewhat average young Georgia woman. But, of course, that will change. One day she gets a call that her older sister was found dead in Dublin. After a couple of weeks the cops there quit looking for her killer, and MacKayla simply considers this unacceptable. She leaves her grieving parents and heads to a country where she can't understand hardly anyone, even if they are speaking the same language. After that, things start to get really weird.

MaKayla learns the hard way that she is a sidhe-seer, and that being one is very dangerous. She is thrust into a world that she is completely unfamiliar with, and has no idea of the rules. Luckily, or maybe not, she finds the mysterious Jericho Barrons, a man who has a good idea of what is going on and ends up cluing her in a bit.

While the cover and sticker lead me to believe that this would be a romance, it was not. I can see how the series, when complete, could be a romance, but that's not it's main function. This book is a bit scary, although I think the series will get darker and maybe more frightening as the story continues. While the book doesn't exactly have a cliffhanger ending, it does leave you ready for the next volume. Luckily, Bloodfever will be coming out Oct. 16th so maybe I won't have to wait too terribly long to get my hands on it!

The Harlequin

I finished reading The Harlequin this afternoon. I spent a good bit of yesterday reading it. I absolutely loved this book. Although, I can't say that I have not enjoyed any of the Anita Blake books.

The newest volume in the Anita Blake series is definitely a must read. There are many things that happen in it's pages that should prove essential in understanding what goes on in the next volume.

I'm happy to say that it isn't like the last few volumes. Hamilton doesn't spend a lot of time in the erotic portions of Blake's life, although they are the topic of many conversations. While I have no problem with erotica, it was nice to have a book more centered on solving a problem in the characters' lives as opposed to being spent in bed.

This book has a lot of character development. Many characters have realized things about themselves since the last volume, and learn many more things about themselves in these pages. Some of these are developments that I have been hoping would come along, and others are expected, although I hope they eventually come to better arrangements. (Yes, this is the romantic in me talking!)

While I don't want to give away anything, I will tell you that we see Haven, Edward, Belle Morte, and Mommie Dearest again in this volume. And all of the men in Blake's life. I was very happy to see Edward again and see how things were going in his life. He's been a favorite of mine ever since he first appeared. While I wish he were in more volumes, I think he's a better and more loved character because he isn't at the heart, or the sidelines, of every event in Blake's life.

Well, I can't think of anything else to write at the moment that I don't feel gives away something major in the book. Which sucks because I want to write about all kinds of things I have read in the past few hours! So all I will say now is that it's time for you to go and read it yourself!!!! Go! Pick it up, be entranced and spooked! It's that time of year anyway!