Getting Going Again

For some reason I have lost my wonderful Get-Up-And-Go from last week. I have no clue where it went. But I'm insisting on finding it, or getting a new injection of the stuff!

I have barely walked at all today (just over 1000 steps) and feel bad about it. I couldn't make myself get in all my walking yesterday either. But I'm going to my walking class tonight with plans to do at least 2 miles, and I will be walking to work tomorrow. No more driving! (Although I've only driven one extra day this week...)

I'm planning to finish cleaning up my living room tonight. I have to get the floor cleared up of Josh's junk so that I can work out inside. I would really like to do some of my dvds instead of depending only on my walking to met my requirements. It's way too hot to spend too much time outside working hard. And I don't like getting too much sun either. I burn WAY to easily. I got a sunburn on my honeymoon even though I used liberal amounts of sunblock!

So, I'm in Kim's 12 week challenge, and I'm on Jodi's team, Skinnie Minnies. This is not to say that I'm not still doing my stuff for the Make Yourself a Priority in 2007 Challenge. I hate that Michelle is MIA, but I'm continuing on my way, and plan to succeed in that. However, I think this other challenge will help me out as well. And my success with it is going to be an awesome birthday present to myself come October!

So, tune in tomorrow to find out if I've found my lost go juice!!!

Debt Comes DOWN!!!

Ok, I just had to have another post today. I went and checked my campus mail box and found a letter from American Express! Sound awesome info in that letter (see below!)

We are pleased to inform you that you have successfuly completed the debt management IRW plan with American Express.

So, I called my credit counseling firm, Federated Financial, and told them about it. She informed me that it was my last bill in the program (DUH!) and congratulated me on completing it. I have faxed her the letter for their records as well as the paperwork to cancel the monthly debit. I'm THRILLED! Now, I can easily get some of my other cards paid off this year!!!!

Now, I won't be completely out of debt by Christmas, but I will be a LOT closer. So I'm going to go jump around the office in celebration a little more.

I'm so happy! SO SO happy!!!

Weigh In Day

Well, I lost another pound!!! Not quite to my 10% yet, but getting closer. My little weekend snackies didn't exactly do good thing for my weight loss this week. But that's ok. Josh finished those off so I'm safe again. The scale was actually messed up at the center, but we got it fixed up. Which is too bad. It had said I lost 4 pounds instead of 1. But better it be correct now than correct next week and wrong today!

I feel good today though. I finished The Good Guy by Dean Koontz last night. It was an AWESOME book. I really enjoyed it and almost wanted to read it again immediately. It had a really clean feel to it that attracted me. I'm much more used to his older books, which never had a clean, crisp feel to the words. This one is definitely worth reading if you have a little time! (And the hero will surprise you!)

Well, I hope that everyone has a wonderful day. I don't really have anything else to talk about now!

Tuesday!

I'm glad it's Tuesday, and that I don't have class this afternoon. It's entirely too hot outside for lots of walking around.
I got in 9,027 steps yesterday (before I took of my pedometer. I didn't walk around too much after I took it off though.
There are only two reasons I don't shave my head.
1. I don't think I would look good that way.
2. I would end up with a horrible sunburn up there.
And one of my main goals for the summer is to avoid UV poisoning. If you've never suffered from it, you are lucky. IT SERIOUSLY SUCKS.

Ok, now I think I'm done with all that. I'm a bit tired this mroning, but I'm sure I will recover. I was planning to go to water aerobics tonight since I don't have class, but I forgot to pack my bag for it. Oh well.

I'm eagerly awaiting my weigh in tomorrow morning. Unless I REALLY screwed up this past week (and I don't THINK I did) I will probably hit my 10% target. And that makes me really happy. :) It's time that I start really thinking I'm getting somewhere with this. I did a bunch of measurements last night, and I have lost inches since the last time I did them. Too bad I didn't write down the DATE I did the measurements. Just what they were. This time I took just about every measurement I could think of. The only ones I DIDN'T do were shoulders, wrists, and ankles. LOL Sometimes I amaze even myself. But since I'm participating in Kim's 12 week challenge, I figured I would go ahead and do them all. I'm not sure which ones we'll actually be doing for that, but I figured if I'm doing some, might as well do them all!!!

Y'all have a wonderful day!!!


Edit: My sister has posted some awesome pictures of the girls, if anyone is interested! And my new boss had some terrific news for us today. He's going to be a DAD come February! Just thought I would share!

I have NO clue why I can't type in the title box for this post, but I know it hasn't been just me on this either. (Although I've honestly forgotten who said they had the same problem.)

The weekend wasn't too terrible, although I did give in the the munchies. Between Saturday and Sunday I ate two swiss cake rolls. But I don't feel bad about it. I did pretty good on my eating anyway. And what's life without the occassional snack???

I saw Transformers on Sunday. It was awesome. I really enjoyed it. I would probably go see it again in the theatre if I could afford it. But with Harry Potter coming out this weekend, money is at a premium. And that's ok! It's definitely a fun movie to see, but not deep. Very fun though. With eyecandy!!!

I read a good book over the weekend. I'll be posting a review of it later this week. I'm reading a Mary Higgins Clark novel as well as another Anita Blake book right now.

Well, I think that's all I've got for now. I've been reading a lot of blogs this morning, even did some comments. I'm just not really feeling it today for some reason. Y'all have a great day!!!

Friday!!!!

I love Fridays. Except for the having to work part. But I guess I can survive through a few hours of it today.

Walking class went okay last night, I guess. We walked for 20 minutes on the indoor track. Putting the 15 of us plus anyone else in the gym on the 1/8th mile track was tight at times. I walked a little over a mile. Had got a shin splint from hell. But I pushed through it. Out midterm assignment is a 6 sentence paragraph on how we can incorporate more walking or jogging into our daily life. I'll probably do it this afternoon. No sense in putting it off. Especially when it's that easy! (AND she cancelled class on Tuesday for us to work on it. Kinda strange...)

Anyway, I racked up 11,343 steps yesterday. I feel good about that. Don't think I'll hit that today though. I think we'll actually be eating out with the inlaws for supper. That almost scares me. It will probably be either TGI Fridays or Olive Garden. I'm hoping for Olive Garden, then I can do unlimited salad!!!!

I feel really good about myself today. I was actually feeling a little down yesterday because I don't really see a change in myself when I look in the mirror. But this morning I'm wearing a pair of jeans that used to be so tight I couldn't wear them for very long at all. And I'm wearing them at work!!! They're still tight, but they are stretch jeans, so they are going to be a littlw fitted. :)

Anyway, I hope that everyone has a fantastic weekend!!!

And Changes Again!

So, I decided to put up a step counter on my blog since that's the main part of my challenge goal for this month. It's for 7500 on weekdays and 2000 on the weekends. It's not perfect on the numbers, but it's a good estimation.

While I was at that, I decided to change up the colors. I'm SOOO not good at that. But I trust y'all to let me know if something is really bad and needs changed! So, if it looks bad, tell me! Please!!!!

And back to work...

I hate holidays in the middle of the week. They always give me problems.

I didn't manage my walk yesterday. As a matter of fact, I didn't even manage 1000 steps on my pedometer. But I'm not beating myself up over it. I didn't go to bed until after 1 that morning, so I slept in!!!

We went to the inlaws' house and ate lunch. I was very reasonable and stayed inside my points. I spent the day reading books. I'm more than half-way through No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong and have enjoyed it. We didn't leave there until 11 pm! (We did do some fireworks, but they just gave me a headache. It was more loud that pretty.)

Today I overslept today and feel awful. But I already have in over 5000 steps today. So I'm feeling good about things, even if I don't feel wonderful.

I think I've caught up on everyone's blogs. Lots of people had some good news to share (losses, NSVs) and some people are having a bit of trouble. But it feels good to be caught up on the reading.

Kim over at Kim Under Construction is putting together a 12-week challenge for anyone who might be interested in participating. It starts on July 11th and she has created a SparkTeam for anyone interested. Feel free to check out her post from Tuesday for some more information if you might be interested. She's still taking challengers. And if you're in the 2007 Challenge, this might be something fun to do addition. Right now she's talking about a weekly exercise time goal, but we'll know more in the coming week.

I hope that everyone had a safe 4th, and that the rest of the week goes well. (I know I'm looking forward to my walking class tonight, and hope it doesn't rain this time!

Weighin' In Wet

Yes,the ticker does show an additional 1.5 pound loss. And that's with me being very wet, AND weighing in at 6:00p, instead of 7:35am. So I feel really good about myself today. That's only 1.5 pounds til my 10% goal!!!!!!

So, I wore jeans to work today because I figured it I had to sit in a doctor's waiting room I should at least be comfortable while doing it. So I figured I would change before weighing in. Then, we walked outside for our timed 1 mile walk in class tonight. It started raining a bit (a little more than a sprinkle but still not too bad) and I decided to finish anyway. I had a time of 17:36 (I think). More than half of my mile was in the rain. I probably would have had a quicker time but I decided to walk the raining portion of it with another girl for company. After it started raining I started packing the mp3 player stuff into pockets. Just to be safe. It could have started raining worse. I think we were the last pweople to finish, but I know that a lot of people quit when the rain started. (Teach said that was fine. She understood. I'm just glad she was willing to wait out the rest of us!

Of course, when I got home I couldn't find my house keys, so between digging through bags for those and changing it started some torrential raining. (Ok, not THAT bad, but bad enough that parts of town are starting to flood.) So, after weighing in I went to work to see if I left them there. For some reason I had put them in my desk drawer. I have NO clue why I did that!!!

Anyway, the point of some of this rambling is to continue to say that after WW I gave up on the umbrella. There is skill involved in using an umbrella while getting in and out of car. I do not have this skill. No matter what I do I get almost as wet as not using one as while I do, although a bit less distributed. So, at work I just left it in the car and ran.

Oh, and about the flooding. I was going to take some back roods around town to get from the WW Center to work. Yet, that didn't last a block. There was a SERIOUSLY flooding spot. Bad enough that it was hitting the bottom of SUVs and trucks. So I was NOT taking my Neon through that! But the dumb as guy in front of me had stopped, and kept backing up. He backed up far enough to turn into a driveway and turn around, but he just kept sitting there. He finally got close enough to be that I couldn't even get around him and try to use that driveway. And traffic wouldn't let up enough for me to back up farther. Finally, I as able to back up enough to turn into a a small bit of pavement on my side of the road. Car is still sitting there. I pull up to get straight again and then back up to the end of the pavement so I can turn around in the street. THEN traffic picks back up so it's a couple of minutes before I can turn around. What does that stupid idiot end p doing? Driving through the flooded spot!!! Pissed me OFF! But I'll get over it.

So far I'm at 7057 steps for the day, so I should be able to pick up another 500 or so easily doing some work around the apartment. I was going to go to the library (another book is ready) but not in the rain. It will wait until Thursday when they are open again. They're closed for the holiday. I would just drop my books in the box tomorrow if I didn't have anything waiting, but no sense in making two trips downtown. I hope the weather here is better tomorrow. I want to get up and get a couple of miles in before heading to the inlaws. That should put me well on my way for walking, and not make me feel too lazy. And I'll be walking to work again on Thursday.

Well, congrats to everyone who has already posted a loss for this week! I'm heading over to sparkpeople now to post mine on the group loss board! Y'all have a great holiday (well, my US readers anyway!).

And the Doctor Says...

Get better posture. Will, basically that's what she said! Not exactly.

She done some trigger-point therapy (I think botox) on my upper back, and set up an appointment for a nerve burning for my lower back since that helped it last time. she gave me the 30 minute rule. Everytime I'm reading or working on the computer I'm supposed to stop every 30 minutes and pull my head and shoulders back several times. Hopefully this will work out well for me!

I'm going to weigh in tonight at weight watchers assuming I get out of class in time. I'm expecting to see a gain there just because of the time of day. But I know I'll feel bad if I just skip it entirely.

All of my book shipments have come in, so I will not be continuing the Anita Blake books until I have two or three others read. (I should be able to get in a lot of reading tomorrow!) I expect at least one will get finished tomorrow. I'll be at the in-laws' place, but they will most likely just be watching tv.

How about everyone else? Any big plans for the 4th?

Oh, and on my goal status, I don't think I'll hit my step goal today because I've had to drive so much. But I will get in at least a one mile walk!

Long, And Boring Day

Yes, today will be long and boring. I'll be leaving work shortly to go sit for a couple of hours in Dr. Folse's waiting room. She's always at least an hour behind by 9:30. But, I should be able to finish Obsidian Butterfly while I wait. I brought the next Anita Blake book as well as The Bookseller's Daughter with me for once I finish. I wasn't sure what I would be in the mood for by then.

And I just realized that I'm not 100% sure I remember where her office is. That's nice to know now!

Anyway, I probably won't be around again until after lunch, and I should have news then. I hope.

And I hit 9500 steps yesterday!!! I'm well on my way! (Today isn't so high, but I did have to drive to work!)

Y'all have a wonderful day!

It's a New Month!

I'm glad that it's July. I think it's a great month. It means that half of the year is behind us, and I'm still working on my goal. I haven't had just a ton of progress with it, but the scale has gone down, and I'm happy about that.

We don't have things all together yet on the Challenge board, I guess Michelle's a bit busy, but I still have my July goals together. This month I will follow the orders of my back doctor (whatever she tells me tomorrow!) and I will walk every day.

With my walking itself I do have goals as well. I'll be logging at least 7500 steps on weekdays, and at least a one-mile walk on Saturdays and Sundays. Most of my weekday walking comes from walking to and from work which I WILL NOT do on the weekends, thanks!

Right now I hate my walk. It's in the 90s outside, and 80% of the walk is in direct sunlight. There's only one small stretch of shade to walk through and the rest is just miserable. :( But I do it because it saves money and it keeps me moving. These are very important things. Because I am BROKE. But that's ok! I'll live.

This weekend we went to my friend' Shay and Dee's house to play DnD. I finished making my new character, who did not have the opportunity to make an appearance. I probably slept for an hour or so, off and on. It got a bit boring and I got a bit sleepy. So sleep I did. I should have through to ask my friend Dee for the books I needed to borrow early in the evening. Then I could have been reading the entire time! Oh well, the sleep was good for me. And we had liquored up strawberries! That was fun. We had out buttershots (very, very good in a strawberry), mead, baileys, and a few other things. Our friend Joe had the idea of injecting the liquor and then letting the strawberries set in the fridge for a day. I'm kinda interested in how that would work out, but who knows if we will actually ever do it. It's definitely something to remember though!

I read Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black this weekend. That was an awesome book. It's a story of a young girl who leaves home and heads into the city. It's definitely a dark story, but it has a happy ending, and I like that. It's a young adult novel, 320 pages. Looking back, it doesn't feel that long. The story goes by pretty quick.

I also finished reading Sabrina Jeffries' The Royal Brotherhood series. They were good, fun reads. Not masterpieces of literature. It's about three half-brothers, all fictional bastard sons of the Prince of Wales. The middle book is probably my favorite though. Definitely by favorite hero of the three!

I'm continuing to read the Anita Blake books right now. I'm on Obsidian Butterfly right now. I'll finish it either tonight or tomorrow. It's definitely a good read!!!

Other than all this stuff, I did housework over the weekend. I finally have a clean kitchen again, although no where near as nice as Joy's new kitchen. She sent me some pictures of her house and it's beautiful. Makes me wish I lived out in a beautiful countryside, but maybe I will one day!

Everyone have a terrific week!!!

All Finished!!!!

I've been doing the WOMAN Challenge (Women and girls Out Moving Across the Nation) through WomensHealth.gov for the past few weeks. It's an eight week program with bonus challenges some weeks, so I actually completed it a week early. I proud to have completed the journey. It give me a nice sense of accomplishment! I can't wait for next years challenge. I should be able to set my goals higher then!

IT'S FRIDAY!

I'm happy about this, other than having to pay the bills. We'll have, I think, $50 left afterwards. And that's assuming I know about everything that hasn't hit the bank yet. Not happy about this. But that's life!

I finished reading Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern by Anne McCaffrey this morning. I wouldn't have made a point of finishing it this morning if I had known how it was going to end. It depressed me. But it is a terrific book. I'm about to start Nerilka's Story which actually coinsides with the other one. So I already know some of the things that will happen. (Like her GOOD news!) So I should at least have a happy read for this next one.

I'm going to spend some time cleaning up my apartment tonight and tomorrow. And hopefully finish this book! It shouldn't be two hard since it's only a little over a 100 pages long!

The cleaning lady cleaned our counters at work this morning, so I had removed all my stuff from the counter last night. When I was hooking it back up this morning I decided to leave off my computer speakers. I never use them! My desk looks nicer without them. They stayed under the overhand, but I can actually slide more of my "important" things there now. Such as my dragon figure, my stress apple, my pirate ship.... Yes, I keep lots of toys at work! It makes work more fun!

Well, everyone have a wonderful weekend!!!!

Nothing reallly....

I really don't have anything. I've been doing some reading. (That's the norm lately!) My class starts tonight right after work. I'm scared it's going to be boring. I'll be missing my weekly weigh in next week because our center is closed for the 4th. There isn't another early morning weigh in, so I'm just going to give in and miss. I'll do a weigh in at home just to see if I'm lower or not, but nothing official. I'm scared if I don't do SOMETHING then I'll end up really off track. I weighed this morning so I would have something to compare to. I should have thought of this yesterday, but oh well. I do hate having that big A for absent in my book though. That really will bother me. :)

Let's see, there's one other thing. I'm considering trying to find some sort of yoga program to help with flexibility, and hopefully my back. But I'm not really sure what I should do. Anyone have any suggestions for a beginner???

I'm Addicted to Blogging!

75%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

New Laptop!!!

I'll be getting a new laptop for work sometime in the fairly near future. I think it's really cool! I actually kinda found out about it yesterday, but I got it confirmed today.

One of the upper-level type guys told me yesterday that my coworker and I were getting new computers. I asked him today if they were going to be laptops again, and he said yes!!! The reason I actually asked him is beause my work laptop backpack has had it. The padded laptop compartment is going unstitched. So after they come in (I doubt they actually place the order until sometime in July) he is going to get someone to order me one of the padded cases that just holds the laptop. And I'll continue to use my personal bag. The great thing about it is that my backpack is perfectly balanced, and had wheels for when my back is bothering me more. Sometimes I roll it and sometimes I wear it on my back. I love it!!!

Anyway, I'll probably be getting a Dell Latitude D620 Notebook. It's got 2 gigs of ram and a DVD burner! And a 14.1" Widescreen. It's the university's new base laptop since we are now going with Dell. I almost wish they would get us the high-end laptop, but I doubt it. I don't know the specs on them, but I know they are a world above the base model. I'm also thrilled because this will be the first new computer I've gotten at work. In the 5.5 years I've worked here I've gone through 9 computers. They have all be hand-me-downs, and most of those were on their last leg when I got them. Only my previous Dell was a really good one. I had it for nearly two years. (It was a high-end when it was bought, and only a year old when it was passed on to me.)

Anyway, that's my other good news of the moment! On top of a good raise this year, I think I'm going pretty damned good at work right now!

Wednesday Update!!!!

Yes, I did go to weigh in. Yes, the ticker above is correct. I lost 3.5 pounds!!! (And I was so sure I had gained....)

After weigh in when I got back in the car the song I Don't Wanna Stop by Ozzy Osbourne was playing. So I sang along with it. It just felt appropriate somehow (the first line I heard was "I don't wanna stop").

I'm still good and on track with my walking. I meet a couple of ladies for a 15 minute walk yesterday after work. I thought it was going to be longer, but they wanted to go to water aerobics. I still got in about an hour of walking yesterday, so I'm proud. It was over 7000 steps for the day. Guess I'll have to keep up this walking deal since I had such a great weigh in this week. See if maybe I can repeat it a couple of times!

Let's see, in other news, Josh still hasn't heard back from his interview. But that's ok. I think he's going to try for a position on campus with iTech (the department I work for). It wouldn't be a great position, but it would be a bit better than what he has, but a small raise included.

I'm feeling great this morning, but a good loss (it's been a while since I really had a good one) is a great mood raiser. Both myself and the lady that weighed in before me had great ones. She got her 20 pound star today. If I can have another good week I'll get mine next time maybe! (And I'm really close to that 10% lost goal. I can almost taste it at this point!)
Well, I can honestly say that I am ending this month on a good note. Today was my last weigh in for the month, so time to start working for July!

And, on a lighter note, go check out the Hump Day Hunk! He's enough to make me wish I worked at the cafe!


Update: I did get an A in my class!!!!!!!!!!

Music Video

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A friend sent me this video today. I thought I would share it with everyone.

And It's Over

I've finished my management course, for better or worse. I didn't do so well on the final as I had been doing in the course, but then again, I didn't study as much. I got tied up in something else. But it's ok. A 50 on the test would give me a B. But I hope I did well enough for an A in the course. I should know tomorrow.

My Fitness Walking course starts on Thursday. I'm excited about it. Even if I won't really get a break between it and work. I'll survive somehow. :) I'm even going to meet with one of the campus walking groups after work today. I think they walk for about 30 minutes. Probably plenty long enough for me to want to die from the heat!!! It's bad enough on the 10-15 minute walk to work (depending on my route!)

We got business cards at work yesterday. They are generic and for the entire office, but they meet our needs. It is incredibly rare for us to give our personal phone numbers, so generic cards it is!

There's a preview at school today (incoming fall student's orientation) so I will be a bit busy and not catch up on blog reading today. But that's ok. I'll get it done. The month is nearly over, and I'm excited to be half-way through the year. I think it's great. (Although if I'm not careful I'm going to get a ticket! My car's inspection sticker has been out for three months already!) I've been thinking about a July goal. I think I have the perfect one planned out. It's something I've never done before, and it is not related to my losing weight at all. I'm going to actually FOLLOW MY DOCTOR'S ORDERS! I'll be seeing her July 3rd, and I'll be doing whatever she tells me to do.

Y'all have a great day!

What Goddess Are You?

You Are Aphrodite!

A total shining star with a ton of admirers And no wonder: you live life to the fullest! When things get bad, you can easily take off to a happier place But occasionally, you need to deal with problems head on

What Goddess Are You?

Friday Joke

A man went to the Police Station wishing to speak with the burglar who had broken into his house the night before."You'll get your chance in court," said the Desk Sergeant."No, no, no!" said the man. "I want to know how he got into the house without waking my wife. I've been trying to do that for years!"

Joke is from AJokeADay.com.

I can honestly say that I wish my husband could do this. If I'm in bed when he gets home he wakes me up to tell me all about his evening. Although I can honestly say that he didn't do this Tuesday night. But it could just be that I refused to wake up!!!

Update

I gained a pound last week, but that's not such a shock. It was a holiday-ish weekend for eating, and I had been sick the week before. I usually show a gain the week after I've been really sick. I think that's normal.

I'm already over 3000 steps for today, so I don't think hitting my low goal of 5K will be difficult. I'm thinking of trying for 1oK today. I can take a walk or something. I have to do some running around campus at lunch anyway. I certianly think that will help build up the steps.

What I have to do at lunch is sell back my management text book. I'll probably put all, or at least most, of that money straight onto my summer univ bill. I hate that I bought the book and have only opened it once. The teacher told us we needed to study it. And I fell asleep within 8 pages in the first chapter. So I haven't opened it again, and have done perfectly fine in the course. Stupis waste of money. Oh well! It only cost me $108.30. Maybe I'll get $20 back. I hope. That would put a decent dent in my $177.50 bill for the summer.

I read Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton this week. Not a bad book. You definitely see some changes starting in Anita Blake's character. (And some of the others as well.) I could probably say a lot of things about it, but no sense boring everyone to death. If you're interested, pick up the series. It's awesome (although long, with the 15th book having come out this year).

Just started The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. The first book is Storm Front. I'm not very far in, but I'm enjoying it. I'm picking up character bits on Harry Dresden that I didn't catch in the tv series. Then again, they may not have been there either. But it's really interesting so far. I like it because it's a mix of paranormal (he is a wizard!), cop stuff (he is on retainer with the local police), and mystery (I like trying to figure out who done it!). It's really catching me. I would love to own these, but there are already several out and I really can't afford to buy every book I want.

My husband and I are sitting down this month and figuring out our current debt. Then I'll figure out how we are going to pay it off. It's a lot, but Josh does have a pretty big cash payment together for his credit card this month. That will put a decent dent in what we own. (I haven't decided if I will include his car in the estimate or not. What do y'all think?) Hopefully we can get out pretty quickly (2 years? yeah right!), but that will kinda depend on if he gets the job he interviewed for this week. I'm being positive with him, but I'm not really expecting it. And even if he does get it, the increase in pay will be eaten up in our gas money. The job is an hour and a half away on the coast. We would move to a half-way point, and I hope that would really drop our rent payment. But don't know...


Update: They didn't buy back my book. :( But I did manage a 30 minute walk during lunch. I feel really good about that. That's got me at nearly 50 minutes for the day. And I still have my walk home! If nothing else I'll get some good exercise in today!!!!

Thursday Thirteen!

Thirteen Books I Have On Hold At the Public Library

1. Bite by Laurell K. Hamilton
2. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black
3. Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong
4. No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong
5. The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
6. Kiss of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
7. Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
8. Legends II: New Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy
9. Hunter's Moon by Cathy L. Clamp
10. Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
11. Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead
12. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
13. The Reef by Nora Roberts

These are only the books that weren't currently in when I looked them up. I have an even longer list of books in my notebook that I want to pick up that are currently in (or were when I last checked!) A couple of these are books that come out soon, and No Humans Involved is one that I ordered from Amazon. However one of the books I ordered then was backordered and I haven't received it yet. If it comes in before I can get it through the library, great. If not, then I'll check it out!

Sorry...

I haven't been the best blogger this week. Things are going decently well for me though.

I was out of the office in a training session most of yesterday. And today I just haven't felt like spending a lot of time looking at the computer. I don't think I got enough sleep for my eyes to handle the glare!

The weekend was fun.

Saturday was partially spent with my parents, then driving home. We didn't see any movies, but I enjoyed my time with them. Even if it was very short. I even went for a 30 min. walk Saturday morning instead of sitting in front of the tv. My sister's daughters are getting bigger everytime I see them. You can check out some of the latest pics at her blog.

Sunday was spent at Josh's parents' house. We watched The Prestige, Man of the Year, Next, and The Illusionist. I enjoyed seeing them all, although I had watched them before. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed Man of the Year.

That's mostly it. I don't expect to hear the best news in the morning at weigh in. But that's ok. I'm not terribly concerned. It will be good or bad, and I'll go on.

My business class is almost over. I made a 95 on the last test, and the final is next Monday. Only one LONG lecture night left.

Oh! And I didn't get to see the premiere of The Closer last night on TNT. I'm slightly upset about that. But it's ok. It will be on again later!!!!

Y'all have a wonderful week!!! (And I promise to catch up on the blogs soon. Sometime this week.)

I saw that Sarah Ellerton, writer of Inverloch, had hers posted on her livejournal and decided to take the quiz. Josh will be proud, he'll see a monkey!

Revisting the past....

Ok, not exactly. But it's a title that isn't about it being Friday.

I was sitting at work yesterday thinking about the fact that it's almost time for me to give blood again. (You may or may not remember the story of my FIRST time to give blood a while back.) And I realized that I had no clue where to go to do that. And then I thought about the fact that I hadn't received my donor card yet from the Red Cross. It came in the mail yesterday.

I thought it was cool to learn that I am O+. I've never known my blood type. I'm sure that this knowledge could come in handy some time in the future, but hopefully not to be honest.

Since I haven't studied anything related to blood type since middle school science I thought it would be interesting to take a quick look at wikipedia and learn what this meant for me. It means that almost anyone can use my blood. Which I think is super cool. If I pass out every time I donate, I think I will still have to donate in the future. But it will hopefully go better next time! I also read a little (not much) about the Japanese idea of blood type relating to personality. I am apparently outgoing, passionate, and driven (not so much outgoing, but I AM passionate and driven!, if I really care about something), and type O people are often referred to as warrior spirits.

And, of course, there is the blood type diet. Type O people are referred to as hunters (strong, self-reliant, leaders) and this is thought to be the earliest human blood group. This means that I am supposedly muscular and active, and should eat a meat-rich diet along the lines of the Paleolithic diet (which I know NOTHING about at this time). And, just because I find it interesting, here are my strengths and weaknesses, as posted on Wikipedia.com.

Strengths:
Hardy digestive tract. Strong immune system. Natural defences against infections. System designed for efficient metabolism and preservation of nutrients.
Weaknesses:
Intolerant to new dietary and environmental conditions. Tendency towards an overactive immune system.

Ok, and now that everyone is bored to death, I'll just say that I'm hoping to have a slow day at work. And I hope to have a great weekend. Everyone be sure to move some instead of just sitting in front of the tv!

Hump Day!!!!

And it's a good one!

I weighed in this morning and have now lost the 2 pounds I had gained in the past two weeks. I'm very happy about this. I'm slowly getting there!!!!

I got a call from the library this morning. They have one of the books that I placed a hold on ready for me. They must have just gotten in a new copy. I'll go pick it up at lunch, and take back the book I read last night. I may even pick up a couple of other books. There were two that I was going to place holds on, but then when I went to do it they said they were in. And since I had already checked out my books (and I'm sure they hadn't checked in all the books I returned) I decided to wait. But I might get them now.

And yes, this means that I did not study last night. I will study today at work. I promise!

Let's see, work has been busy this morning. But not terrible. It's finally slowing down. We just had a lady that insisted on putting in 10 work orders for different computers. I really hope the tech can get them done quickly. (It's for one of the grouchier departments on campus, although the secretary that actually put them in is really nice).

Ok, I think that takes care of the news. Head on over to the Midnight Cafe to see the Hump Day Hunk!

Well, to be perfectly honest I have nothing of incredible interest to report today. What a shock! :)

I've decided to forget about water aerobics since I'm having so much trouble with my back. I've tilted the seat of my work chair a bit. I'm hoping that helps some.

I'm finally starting to get into Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. I had tried to get into it before, but I just it just wasn't the right time. It sort of clicked for me last night. I'm 64 pages in now instead of 15!

My management teacher decided to skip some slides last night and let us go "early". It was still the latest we had stayed before. Our test is tomorrow, so I have to get some studying done tonight. Don't wanna though! And, on a side note that may or may not interest you, I can't decide if my teacher always has a hardon in class or if he's just that well endowed.

In other news, I'm making my library run tonight right after work. And I'll be returning The Phantom of the Opera. I haven't watched it yet, but I got Josh to rip it for me. Now I can watch it whenever I want!

Y'all have a wonderful afternoon and evening!

Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason

The glorious nineteenth-century city of Rome gives rise to a new threat from the Immortal Undead...

I don't want to tell much more than that. A lot of the online stuff I have read give away a little more than I want to!

Colleen's first book, The Rest Falls Away, was a fantastic debut. This Buffy the Vampire slayer meets Pride and Prejudice series is enough to grab anyone's attention. While the books are marketed as romance, they don't really fit that perfectly to me. But, I don't really care what the publisher classifies a book as, as long as it is a good one. And Colleen definitely delivers a terrific story. And keeps you wanting more!

For readers of the first book, there are more fight scenes, and more carriage rides in the second installment. And more information on the Venators.

So, run out and pick up these two books!! Now! Even if you don't read a lot. And check out Colleen's site. She's got some great info up, and writes a terrific blog.

Monday Again

I dread class tonight. My back is to the point that sitting for long becomes agony. I'm not sure if I don't know HOW to sit, or if it's something else. But I WILL make it through class. Even if I don't retain very much!

I finally stopped being sick yesterday. Too bad the back pain didn't go along with it. Luckily the pain from my canker sore did. Maybe that's what was causing me to be sick? I barely feel it today!

I'm going to hit water aerobics again tomorrow, or I plan to anyway. We'll see after another session if I'm going to have to bow out for the summer or not. I'm planning to take a walk before class tonight. I'll drive over there after work and leave everything in the car and walk around for a while. At least I'll get some activity in. I didn't walk to work today because I didn't want to have to carry so much weight around. I'm not expecting excellent things in my weight over the next few weeks. I have a feeling I'm not going to be doing a ton of exercise.

I'll be making a library run tomorrow night after water aerobics. I have a list of things to pick up. Half the list is books I read in high school that I want to read again. Other than that, I'm picking up Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton, Bitten and Smitten by Michelle Rowen, and Darkfall by Dean Koontz. I haven't read a lot of Koontz lately, and he was one of my favorite authors in high school. I may even pick up a Mary Higgins Clark book that I haven't read before. Those are two of my FAVORITE authors, I just haven't bought anything by them lately. I even wrote a paper in high school comparing the Master and the Queen of Suspense!

Well, I hope that everyone had a terrific weekend. The only thing I can say about mine is that I did some reading!

What Tarot Card are You?

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

It's Friday!

And wow, with my wrist brace I managed to post absolutely nothing! Stupid bulky thing!

Anyway, I fell like crap today. Don't know why, just that I do. Guess I'll spend another evening in bed trying to get over whatever it is I have.

And my wrist decided to join the pain party with my back. I think my body just hates me right now. Luckily it is only by right one. While having my primary hand in this thing makes work very difficult, it's even worse if I have both braces on. And my left wrist is giving me problems too, just not quite so bad.

I'm supposed to go to a wedding tomorrow, but if I'm still sick I will be staying home. It will really suck because I like the couple. But I certainly don't want to pass around a bug. That would just be cruel of me!

I drove to work today since I felt bad. It's a good thing. Right now I don't think I could walk to the closest intersection, much less all the way home. But at least it is after 1, and I have less than 4 hours left to suffer at work.

I may read some this afternoon, but I'm not sure. I guess it just depends on how busy we are.

Books

I finished reading Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton. I loved this book. Of course, I loved Guilty Pleasures and The Laughing Corpse as well. These are fantastic books. However, I've heard of Anita Blake before, and these books just didn't really mesh with what I had been told.
When I finished the book last night, I saw that there was an afterword from Ms. Hamilton. After reading it, I realize that I'm about to start reading the stuff I've heard about. After this book things really change for Anita. There's not good and bad, but things in the middle as well. Or, at least, that's how I feel after reading the note.
In the first three books Anita is still innocent. She would never tell you she was, but she still really believes in good and evil at this time. She believes that she is the good guy and that vampires are the bad guys. I've really enjoyed reading her story. She's a bit like a breath of fresh air after reading the last book of the Merry Gentry series.
However, I'm glad to know that things will be changing for her. I don't think I would enjoy reading more about her without her growing up more. Her innocence would get old after a few more books.

If all goes well I'll be heading to the library to pick up the next book tomorrow. If not, I'll be doing it on Tuesday (more than likely). I really can't imagine waiting longer to pick up the next piece of Anita's story.

Since I finished the last of my library books I picked up Rises the Night this morning. I'm thrilled to be starting it finally. As of now I'm not further than what I had read on Ms. Gleason's website, but I intend to change that. I might even find some time to read at work today. I've been avoiding that at work because we got in a new boss, but he didn't say anything when I was reading it before work this morning, and didn't say anything about me having the Hamilton book sitting on the counter most of yesterday. Of course, I would be better off studying my management notes. But Ms. Gleason's writing is SOO much more entertaining!

Friday's Feast!

Appetizer

What do you consider to be the ultimate snack food?

Anything Chocolate

Soup

On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 as highest), about how popular is your last name?

8 or 9? I honestly don't know a lot about the sirname Williams. However, Smith, my maiden name, ranks a 10.

Salad

Who is your all-time favorite sitcom character, and why?

Uhhh....I don't really watch a lot of sitcoms...

Main Course

Do you shop online? If so, name some sites you like to browse for goodies.

I shop Amazon.com a lot. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

Dessert

Fill in the blank: I think ___________ should be ___________.

I think June should be a cooler month. Sorry, the heat is really starting to get to me!


Get the code for Friday's Feast!!!!

Thirteen Books I Cannot Wait to Read 1…. Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason (I have it, but I have to finish another book first) 2…. The rest of the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton (I am reading the 3rd book now) 3…. Unmasqued by Colette Gale (I think it comes out in August) 4…. No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong (I pre-ordered this book from Amazon, but one of the books I ordered with it ended up backordered and I haven't gotten it yet.) 5…. Safe Harbor by Christine Feehan (It comes out at the end of this month!) 6…. Dark Possession by Christine Feehan (It comes out in August. While I agree with many people that the first books aren't wonderful {TSTL heroines} but the latest books have been wonderful!) 7…. The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason (Comes out in February. Yes, I already cannot wait to read the book that comes after one I haven't read yet!) 8…. A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton (Comes out in October. It's the latest Merry Gentry book.) 9…. Storm Front by Jim Butcher (I cannot wait to read the entire Dresden series, but best to start with the first one!) 10…. Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong (Comes out in 2008. Yes, another one after one I haven't read yet. But when you really love an author, it's allowed!) 11…. Bite by Laurell K. Hamilton and others 12…. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black 13…. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J. K. Rowling (I don't think there are that many people not eagerly awaiting this book. July seems a long way time to wait.) 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!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

And now for the update...

Since I posted about a news item earlier, I'll do an update post for you now.

On my back, it does feel a bit better today, but I don't think I can take my prescription painkillers at work. They make me entirely to loopy. So I'll suffer with Aleve, and take the other before bed. I only need to knock the edge off the pain to function anyway. However, I'm going to skip water aerobics tonight since it was right after the class that it REALLY started to bother me.

I decided that I wanted to watch The Phantom of the Opera. And the library is closed until Saturday. So I decided to rent it (although the hubby says I should have waited). It was a free rental since I had to create an account at Movie Gallery. I'll hopefully be able to make it to the library on Tuesday. I'll need new reading by then. And I can hopefully pick up a couple of audio books to listen to while I walk.

I also discovered at lunch that one of the tires on my car was almost completely flat. It made me 15 minutes late coming back from lunch. But, I had more than enough overtime in to cover it. (I'm looking at at least 1.5 hours of overtime this week!)

In other news, I could potentially finish Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton tonight. Depends on if I actually watch Phantom tonight, or wait until the weekend. And I'll actually have to study for my next management test. It should be easy, but I'll need to study because it's actually some new material for me. And I've decided that I want to get a real gym bag. I've been using a Books-A-Million book tote. And it really just doesn't cut it. I guess I'll ask for one for a birthday present of something.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day (and if I come up with something good, I'll even post a Thursday Thirteen later!)

New Medical Condition???

CNN.com reports today on the idea of Wiiitis. This is a medical condition related to spending too much time on your Wii. It presents itself as the sports injury most common to the sport that you spend time playing in your livingroom. So, if you play tennis on the Wii, and feel like you might have tennis elbow...Now you have Wiiitis.

Not the first video game related condition, but the first that I might eventually suffer from. If I ever have time to actually play.

The fix...take ibuprofen and leave your Wii turned off for a week.

Post Lunch Post

Wow, me doing two posts in a day. This doesn't happen often, but I remembered stuff.

I had gained a pound today. It doesn't bother me though. I can live with it. And it should be gone next week if I keep up my workouts.

I logged 16,587 steps yesterday by the time I factor in my water aerobics class. That's TWICE my previous max since I started wearing the pedometer. Luckily the WOMAN challenge I'm participating in had a chart for converting some activities to steps.

I went home for lunch and did some chores. I took out the trash, loaded the dishwasher, and straightened up the freezer. And realized just how badly I need to go grocery shopping. But our balance in the checking account is $18. But Josh gets paid on Friday, and as long as he remembers to deposit his check at lunch we should be able to go shopping that evening. At least I have hamburger meat in the fridge so I can cook some supper! I even left the car at home and walked back to work. I know that's the only way I will hit my 5,000 step goal today.

I think that might be it for today. Y'all have a great afternoon and stuff!

News...Good and Bad

Ok, First, I went to water aerobics last night! It was fun, but a small class. Things had apparently come up at the last minute for several of the ladies that were planning to come. But it was really nice to get in the water again. Rosy (my preferred teacher) is teaching both classes this summer. It's somewhat disappointing that I will only be able to participate in half the classes. She's also teaching Cardio Variety on Monday nights, so I may take up that class in the last half of the summer.

Of course, water aerobics lead to a decision I've been avoiding. I've been having trouble with neck pain (bulging disc) and lower back pain (not really sure what that problem in) for the past few weeks. It's been bad enough to bother me, but I don't really want to go back to the doctor. It's going to be VERY expensive, and we don't really have the money. However, my lower back on the left started hurting pretty bad during class. But I made it through and it wasn't bothering me after I got home. However, we I went to wash my hair last night it got REALLY bad. So bad that I thought I might just not rinse out the conditioner. And it started spreading across to the right side. Needless to say that was the last straw. I'm going to see my back doctor, Dr. Folse, on July 3rd. I hate that it's then because I am supposed to have a Staff Council meeting, complete with a meet and greet for our new university president, Dr. Saunders. But it's then or wait an additional two weeks to get in. Oh well, I'll just miss the cool meeting....

After water aerobics I went to Books-A-Million. I just had to buy a copy of Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason. I actually paid for it at Joe Muggs (their coffee shop) because I didn't want to wait in line (and a mocha sounded good!) The barista laughed when I asked her to take my picture for a contest. I entered sent it in for the contest over at Stainless Steel Droppings. Which is a pretty interesting blog. I can honestly say that I've been finding some cool blogs to read just following Colleen's interviews. (I won the book, but I just HAVE to support her on this release). I'll be reading it later this week. First I'm going to finish the third Anita Blake novel so I can make a library run first. (Yes, I find it hard to believe myself that I am putting off reading a book ONLY because I had read a couple of pages of another one first!)

And last, the grade for my test Monday night has been posted. I made a 97.5! The only question I missed is the one that I KNEW I had missed when I walked out the door. I was one that I wasn't sure about that. I found the right answer when I checked my notes. It drives me crazy because I ALMOST chose the right one. I almost had a 100. But that's ok. I just hope I can keep my grade an A in the class.

Well, I'm going to leave my post at this for the moment. It's time for me to go to lunch, and I don't recall for sure if I had anything else important to post or not!

Win A Book!

No, it's not me giving it away. A few months ago a picked up the book The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason after reading about it online. It's an awesome book! I immediately feel in love with it, and even read the author's blog on a regular basis.

Well, the sequel Rises the Night just came out, and Twisted Kingdom is having a contest! It's a scavenger hunt, and the prize is an ARC of The Bleeding Dusk!

So, if you love a good book, and love checking out new ones, go over there and check out the contest. Also, check out Colleen's blog for some other contest going on right now.

It's a Monday

The weekend wasn't HORRIBLE, although it certianly could have been better. I ate out Friday night (did fairly well though).

Saturday was DnD, and my character died. It kinda sucked. I really liked her. But they might actually try to get her resurrected later on. That just depends. I'm planning to build her twin sister and bring her in. It'll be a month before we play again, so I should have her finished. There's just no clue HOW she'll meet up with the party.

We also watched The Rise of Taj. I really liked it. It was a great movie. It had some awesome scenes. A lot of people say it isn't as good as Van Wilder, but I honestly liked this one more. But I'm odd anyway, and we all know that!

Yesterday I had a serious migraine and didn't do ANY studying for my exam tonight. I'll do that this afternoon at work. I did go over the first chapter Saturday night at the game though. Hopefully I will do well. Since I still have remnants of my migraine today I'll make that my excuse if I don't do well. ;)

I'm feeling ok going into this week. I weigh in on Wednesday, but I'm not really expecting good news. However, I do start Water Aerobics on Tuesday. For the next three weeks I'll be able to do that twice a week. Then I'll have to find something else to keep me going for the rest of the summer. I've been wearing a pedometer the last couple of weeks, and I can hit 7,000 steps on a good day. I just have to start working on the bad ones more!

The Challenge

Joy wrote on her blog about the past month in the 2007 Challenge. She wrote something that I had noticed throughout the month as well. We didn't communicate with each other nearly as much as we have in the past. Now, I know that people have been away from their blogs with vacations and such, but I also know that I haven't been nearly as supportive as I had been.
Many of us found May to be a difficult month in our weight loss journey. We ran in to obstacles that we weren't prepared for. We had those vacations and other celebrations that tend to be a small setback. I know I didn't follow any good plan while I spent four days celebrating my anniversary. I think that since June is here now we should all just take a deep breath and try to expel all the negativity from last month. Many of us are still struggling a bit with our troubles, but we can't let them consume us.
In January we decided that 2007 was going to be our year. We've all made a ton of progress. We've learned new habits, even if we haven't kept to them all the time. We've all learned that we feel wonderful when we go to the gym (or where ever we exercise). We've also learned that it doesn't feel as great to eat all the junk food we were accustomed to before.
Lets not let the first half of the year end on a low note. Let's all refocus, and begin again. We have succeeded this year, there's no reason not to continue that success!
And don't forget that we all need support. Remember to post and inspire your friends. Remember to encourage them. I'll be the first to admit to a lot of reading and non-commenting in the past month or so. Let's not let that continue. We need our friends so much, and there's no way for us to really show each other just how much the support and well-wishes mean. Just the few moments it takes to say Congrats, to say Good Luck, to say I'm here for you, are a small thanks that could mean the difference between success and failure for a fellow blogger.

Weigh In...

I gained a pound. I can live with that! Especially considering that everyone knows my weekend consisted of food and lazy. But I enjoyed it.

As far as my May goals, I haven't done so well. The walking bit went great. The fruit and veggie bit, I always got one or the other! On the multivitamin, I forgot more often than I remembered. And on tracking, I didn't meet the goal, but I did do fairly well. Much better than absolutely none at all.

For June I will probably just make a goal of keeping going. I would love to lose 4.5 pounds, or even 7, but I don't want to make goals like that. They always backfire on me! But I would love to hit 20 pounds in June, if not my 10%. That would be a great way to spend the month. BUT, I'll just do all the right things and see what happens.

OH, and I just had a coworker come in with an almost funny story. He came back to work from lunch and saw a lady (about 30 years old) sitting on her car crying. He asked her what was wrong. She said that she had a flat tire. He asked her if she had a spare and stuff. She said that she had everything, but she didn't know how to change a tire. Obviously, he changed her tire for her. Then proceeded to come in the office looking slightly dejected, and ask me if I knew how to change a tire. Then, when I told him that I knew HOW, but never could break the lugnuts loose he proceeded to laugh. But said he could understand that!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!!!

I Love Holidays!

I really enjoyed my time off. I took it as a 4 day weekend to celebrate my anniversary. Sometimes it's hard to believe that Josh and I have been married for a whole year.

Friday night we went to see Pirates. It was an awesome movie, definitely better than the second one. I want to go see it again, I enjoyed it SO MUCH! Then again, what's not to enjoy with all those beautiful people AND sword fights.

I read the Merry Gentry series by Laurell K Hamilton this weekend. Josh bought me books 3-5 as an anniversary present. They are wonderful books, and I can't wait for the 6th one to come out in October.

Saturday we went out to eat at Olive Garden, and watched some Lewis Black standup that we had on dvd. Nothing major.

Sunday (THE day) we ate lunch with his parents, and supper with some friends. And we watched Pan's Labyrinth, Epic Movie, and Next. The first was incredibly good, even if it was subtitled. I've never minded watching subtitles anyway. Comes from being an anime fan, I guess. The second was a one time watch only. I think it was funnier to most of us because of a friend's reaction to it. And Next was very awesome. I'm going to have to watch it again sometime when I'm not half-asleep!

And Monday was for lazying around, and then going to class. Which wasn't too bad, other than the packed hallway of people waiting for teachers to open classrooms. Of course, it won't be quite so easy after this. We'll be covering 2 chapters a night with an exam every third night. Quite a quick class, but I'm sure I'll do fine.

Today at work has been a bit busy, but it's starting to slack off a bit. We have students needing passwords, students needing e-mail addresses, and students wanting to activate wireless service.

I'm not really looking forward to my weighin tomorrow morning. I didn't exactly follow a terrific diet over the weekend. I wasn't too terrible, but I didn't exactly get in a lot of exercise either.

Y'all have a great week!

Graduation, and the other thing...

Josh and I went to his cousin's high school graduation tonight. It was out on the football field, VERY hot, and there were 288 seniors. I thought it would never end. And the two girls that sung the Alma Mater nearly busted my ear drums. But it was great to see some of the family, and a very happy time for the family. Aunt Denice has cancer (I forgot what kind) and when she was diagnosed she said that she was going to make it to see her son graduate. There have been several times in the past couple of years that we thought we would lose her, but she made it through. And of course, I learned tonight that Ben is short for Benton. I figured his name was Benjamin...

Josh and I have enjoyed the beginning of our anniversary celebration. I got up at 8:30 and sat around reading until Josh's alarm clock went off at noon. Then I went and crawled back in bed with him and kept him there for over an hour. We're planning to see Pirates tonight. I've already heard that it is a great movie. Tomorrow sometime we are going to go eat at Olive Garden. I'm not sure what else we will be doing, but I'm sure it will be memorable... ;)

Wednesday Update

I just realized that I hadn't posted today. I stayed the same at weigh in this week. And that was acceptable.

Sorry, I'm just not feeling talkative today. I think Robin's memorial service brought a lot of really old memories to the surface, some of those are ones that I really haven't dealt well with yet. But that's ok.

I bought myself a nice pedometer to try and get myself walking more. Not to mention that will give me a better idea of my times when I'm walking. It's an Omron and I picked it up at wal-mart. It's supposed to be REALLY accurate. So far it has been much more accurate than any of the cheapos I've bought. And it has a clock, so I know the time. And it has a seven day memory, whish if really cool.

Well, I might be feeling more talkative tomorrow, who knows! Also, my anniversary is this weekend. If anyone has a great and cheap celebration ideas I would really like to hear them!

Y'all have a great evening!

Weekend Update

So far my Monday hasn't been horrible. The coworker has barely spoken to me, but she has responded when I talk.

The weekend wasn't too terrible. Friday night we went to Keg & Barrel and drank to Robin. Then ate at Wendy's with my friend Stimpy. It was the last time we would see him before he headed to DC for the week. He's doing some training up there. Then we went and hung out at Shay and Dee's house. I finished reading Kitty and the Midnight Hour. I wasn't terribly impressed. I probably won't read anymore of those unless I go insane. My friend Dee loaned me A Kiss of Shadows by Laurel K. Hamilton. I've never read any of her stuff, and this seems pretty interesting so far. I also read Stolen by Kelley Armstrong this weekend. It was a pretty good read. I will eventually pick up a copy to keep since I checked it out at the library. I'll be returning my books Wednesday and possibly trying to pick up a few more.

Saturday night we played DnD at Shay and Dee's and my character came close to dying. Not nearly as close as some of the others, but closer than she has before. They grilled some awesome steaks. Well, Dee grilled, Shay played Guitar Hero between cooking chicken on the stove. And I stood around the grill and just enjoyed some girl time. We watched Smoking Aces. It was a great movie. I really enjoyed it. We had watched Night at the Museum the evening before. It was also a decent movie.

Sunday Josh and I just lazed around and did next to nothing. We did catch up on Bleach and Naruto though. We had two episodes of each to watch. They were pretty good.

On the weight loss front I'm not expecting anything but a gain this week. But that's ok. I'll live through it.

On the school front, I DREAD starting class next Monday night. That will seriously suck. But it's just part of life.

Y'all have a great Monday!

TGIF

I'm so glad that it is Friday. It's the end of the work week, and I'm excited about it.

We're supposedly having a drinking party for my boss at the local beer bar right after work. It will possibly extend to his favorite bar, where he worked as a dj part-time. I may go for a little while, and I wouldn't mind going out to Shenanigans afterwards, but I already have a committment for the evening. And they will probably be at the Keg and Barrel for a couple of hours before re-locating. Oh well!

Today has been going fairly well. The coworker is still ignoring me as much as possible. And being snotty when she does speak to me. But I really don't give a damn today.

I went to JC Penny last night and discovered that I've been wearing the wrong size bra. Not a shock, that's why I went. I bought some fancy undies too. Then did the shopping.

I finished reading Bitten last night. Awesome book. Right now I'm reading Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. It's alright so far, but I only started it this morning. I'll be reading on it at lunch though since my husband just informed me that he cannot meet me for lunch as planned.

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

Thirteen Things about Shopping For Schoolbooks 1…. I hate it for the summer because the bookstore is only open 8-5 Monday-Friday. 2…. I simply hate our bookstore on principal. 3…. We have a Barnes & Noble, and I have to be careful not to look around while I'm there. 4…. Books cost too damn much. 5…. For some classes they ONLY have used books. And usually for the ones I would prefer new because I will be keeping them. 6…. For some classes they ONLY have new books. And usually for the ones I would prefer used because I won't be keeping them. 7…. The bookstore was fairly empty since it is the summer semester, and it's still technically intersession. 8…. Since I'm here all the time anyway I can buy my books before the rush. 9…. Since it's the intersession they had MINIMAL staff. 10…. I just spent $177. For school stuff. For summer. 11…. I could charge it to my account with the school because I bought it at the school bookstore. 12…. That means only $50 a month all summer to pay it off. THEN I start it for fall. 13…. At least the school charges MUCH less in interest than a credit card. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Why isn't it over yet?

I'm so ready for this week to be over. I want weekend to get here, not that it will be anything fantastic. But it will not be me coming to work. And that is always appreciated.

I lounged around and did a whole lot of nothing yesterday. And don't feel guilty about it. Apparently my wonderful coworker is pissed at me again. It really got to me yesterday when she was not only not speaking to be, but getting pissy with me for calling her out when she didn't do her job properly. But I digress. I'm not talking about her. I refuse to.

I'm reading Bitten by Kelley Armstrong right now. I picked it and Stolen up at the local library. I'm really enjoying it. I have read the entire series with the exception of these two and the newest one. I have the new one on order though. I ordered it on amazon with another book coming out soon. I may be posting my thursday thirteen on the library later today. Either that or my experience buying textbooks at lunch. An experience that I seriously dread.

As of thirteen minutes ago I was completely caught up on my blog reading. Wish I were caught up on e-mail, but that will take longer. When you spend four days almost completely away from the computer it will pile up. Rather quickly.

I never gave the news on my grades. I got those Monday afternoon. I got an A in my Intro to Computers course (you know, that thing I do for a living!) and a B in Business Ethics. If I had a half-way competent teacher I would have gotten an A. But oh well. My overall gpa is now a 3.6. I hope for it to go up again this summer. Guess we'll just have to see what happens!

Y'all have a wonderful day, and I'll check in again later!

Back from the Migraine

I woke up with a migraine yesterday. Made for a sucky day of sitting at home wimpering in pain. But the break was kinda nice.

I almost forgot about weigh in this morning. That was kinda scary. I was rushing to finish getting ready and get there. Good thing too! I lost 2 pounds! That's right, 2! That puts me past the 15 pound mark. Now I just need to try not to get stuck there again.

To be honest, and I might as well since I just made the comment on Joy's page, I've been feeling discouraged lately. I've been fighting the same few pounds, and it was really seeming to not be worth it. I had considered giving up, but I decided that I would just be too stubborn to actually give up. Eventually it will get easier again. Maybe these 2 pounds today will help. Hopefully they won't hurt!!! I may take next month as "Just keep chugging along" month. I think that with a few things that have happened this month that I might have bitten off more than I can chew and need a break. So Joy, you know you aren't alone. Just keep doing your best and don't give up. Slow and steady wins the race. There's no need for us to rush along faster than we can!

What Clan Are You?

My husband has decided to take up playing L5R, Legend of the Five Rings. It seems to be a pretty interesting card game. He's been buying old cards off Ebay and splitting them with a couple of friends so that a few of them can have playable decks. I hope this works out for him because he really seems to enjoy it.

Anyway, he found an online quiz today to determine your clan. So I took it just for fun.

The Update

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get in to update. I found out at 4pm (while on my way home) that it was confirmed that my boss Robin had died in a car accident.

I would have updated everyone when I got home, but I just didn't feel up to it. Instead I drank half a bottle of wine while attempting to remember what I was supposed to be packing. Needless to say, I was a bit of a wreck. I was on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for the evening.

Right now I'm pretty grounded, but I know that I will still have spells of crying for at least the rest of the week.

Josh and I went to the funeral home for a little while this evening during the wake. I didn't really know what I was supposed to do. I had met his kids a few times, but don't really know any of his family. I've probably been through close to thirty funerals, but this will only be the second where I am not a member of the family. I really don't know how I am supposed to act or what I am supposed to do. I guess I will just have to follow the lead of others.

The funeral is tomorrow morning. I dread it a bit. I don't want to see his kids there. I know that his daughter is in denial, and his son has taken it pretty hard. He looked pretty down tonight, but he seems to be holding up. Everyone is fairly certain that he is going to go to court to not have to stay with their mom. Everyone is praying that he will succeed, and that the judge will allow his sister to stay with him. I assume that they will end up with Robin's parents.

Our office won't be opening until everyone gets back from the funeral. Several people are going to meet at our office and carpool over there. I hope that I don't have to drive. While I was able to hold up at the wake, I know that I will be a mess after the funeral. It's going to be really tough to sit through.

I think that I have a picture of Robin somewhere. I hope I can find it and I'll try to post something tomorrow. It will probably be tomorrow night though. Mini-session summer courses start tomorrow, there's the end of grade entry, and we won't be opening until in the afternoon sometime. We'll be rather busy once we open. Which will probably be a good thing all around.

I hope that everyone had a good mother's day, and y'all have a good day tomorrow.

Friday Drama...

Well, I'm going to see the parents. We're skipping graduation. The family decided that we shouldn't wait until 8 pm to head out.

Work started out fairly well this morning. We got a call that the boss's phone was being held by someone at a school about an hour from town. Later discovered that he had left it at the bar last night. Also found out that his ex-wife is giving him trouble again. He just got out of the last stuff.

Of course, that's nothing for me to really worry about. I got a call from the local sheriff's office looking for his next of kin info. That worried me a little, but then I decided that it was nothing. The judge had probably just put out another warrant and they are looking for him again.

BUT...a coworker got a disturbing text message (that's all he said) and my call worried him a bit more. About 15 minutes ago another coworker came through crying looking for the other one. She wouldn't tell me anything, just said she would tell me in a few minutes.

Now, I can think of two situations today that could lead to her in tears, but I'm kinda leaning more towards one than the other. I won't say which. The first is slightly obvious. It's what I've been talking about.

The other deals with another coworker. He recently moved his stepdaughter up here from her father's house to get her away from a drug dealer in Florida. Apparently he showed up at the house today, and he left to take care of that.

Easy to see why I'm concerned, huh? I'm supposed to be leaving work now, but I don't want to leave until I know what's going on. Otherwise it will just stay in my mind all weekend and I will enjoy none of my family time.

Well, keep them in your prayers, and I'll try to have some info to post on it.

PPS-Another situation was thought of. It could be her husband.


WOW! The updates come quick. It was our boss. He might have been killed in a car accident. Brandi is going to met his family at the hospital.

Thirteen Things about CORY 1…. I love walking to work. 2…. But I hate when my neck and back start hurting on the walk. 3…. I love having fresh fruit in the house again. Thanks Josh for picking up the apples! 4…. I need to work on my posture again. I've been letting it go! 5…. I love water. It's been my work staple lately. 6…. I'm thinking of taking 7 hours of classes this summer. I recentally realized the 3 hour course I signed up for is only for half of the summer. But I'm not sure if I would be able to pay for the books AND the extra tuition hour. 7…. I probably won't be able to participate in the University's wellness program this summer. It looks like it will be done during the noon hour, and I have lunch at 11. I hate it, but that's life! 8…. My favorite snack as of late is apples and peanut butter. Now that I have apples again I will be having this at least once a day! 9…. I bought a book to learn knitting. 10…. I have yet to start reading it and I bought it on Sunday. 11…. I just got a call to find out that my bc pills are $144 every three months. And that's with insurance! 12…. That makes me wish that my doctor hadn't decided to have my try this new stuff. The older version was only $45 and I could get it at the school pharmacy. 13…. I GET TO GO HOME FRIDAY NIGHT! I'm glad to get to see my parents again. I haven't been home for 1.5 months. 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!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Goals and Pictures!

I tried to start the C25k program again. I again couldn't make it through day one. But I made it further than I had previously. I'm going to try it again on Wednesday and see how it goes. I probably would have made it if I hadn't been slacking on my workouts the past few weeks. I've been doing stuff, just not the high intensity stuff I had been doing. I'm going to get back on game this week. I can't lose the weight if I keep sitting still!

As far as my goals for the month I'm doing mediocre. I know I didn't make my activity point goal this week. I haven't tracked much this week, but I did it faithfully yesterday, and have a good start on today. I've taken my multivitamin more days than I haven't, and I'm well on game for walking to work. There's still room for improvement (LOTS) but at least I'm getting started.

A friend from work sent me some pictures he took at the concert. Josh tried to take some pictures with his cellphone, but didn't get anything other than a lot of dark. I'm glad my coworker was able to get some pictures!

This is the first band that played, Black Stone Cherry. They were pretty good. I had never heard of them before, but I enjoyed their show. However, the sound was not done right. I have no clue what the words were to any of their songs. But Josh has downloaded some stuff now. I just have to check it out this week sometime.

This is the lead singer for Saliva. They sound was great for their set and encore. Maybe that's why they took such a long break between the bands.

Anyway, they were awesome. The played all the songs I love, and the place cleared out enough for me to be able to really enjoy the encore. It was a bit crowded during the regular set.

Josh thinks he should grow his hair back out. He's probably right. But the hot pink strip down the middle was kinda neat. Matched his hot pink gloves!!!

Well, I hope that everyone has a fantastic day!!!

It's Monday...

And I'm done with classes. I'm glad to have the break. It should be really nice.

I went to see Saliva at one of the local bars Friday night. It was an awesome show. We should have gotten there early enough to get a table though. Standing from 8:15 to 12:30 kinda sucked. Especially since the place was packed!!!

I went to a small friendly Cinco de Mayo gathering at a friend's house Saturday night. I had a couple of drinks, chit-chatted, and we watched Casino Royale. It's a great movie. I like the new Bond guy. (I had seen the movie before. Went to see it in the theatre, but several of our friends had not.) One of our friends that hasn't seen it has been after us to watch it, but we always watched something else. I think it's funny that he wasn't there to watch it. I can't wait to hear the reaction on that.

I'm doing okay on my goals, but not great. I've missed some things a few times, but I'll keep working on it. Y'all have a great Monday!

Spiderman...

Went to see Spiderman 3 last night. Won't say very much other than that there were some scenes I could have done without. And that even if Sam Rainey doesn't like Venom, that's no reason to treat him that bad.

Now that I've ruined the movie for everyone, on to other things.

I'm going to see Saliva at a local club tonight. I wonder if their website has suggestions for parking... I've never been there, and it's downtown. I never go downtown if I can avoid it.

Well, I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Tech Support

I've worked in tech support for a few years now. You would think that since I do it for a university I wouldn't hear so many of the stupid things. But today's just got to me.

Student calls in because he can't get his temporary password changed. He can't make up a new one.

"Sir, the current password will be the temporary one we gave you. Your new password has to be at least 8 characters long, must have at least one number, and cannot be based on a dictionary word."

"All the words I know are dictionary words."

Ok, I had trouble formulating a response to that one. I finally told him to use all numbers. That worked out just fine for him. That one has just twisted me for a loop. I thought I would share it. At least the kid's password is changed now and hopefully he won't call me back!

Okay...News

Now that I have told all my stories that get their own post, time to move on to everything else.

I've decided to start weighing in on Wednesday AMs. Don't know why I made the change, just did. And I can do it and get to work so it's no major deal. I think I like the AM weigh in. She apparently opens the doors about 7:35 (posted 7:45) so I have time to wait AND get to work.

I lost a pound this week. I told her it was the blood I donated. It was probably the change from jeans to my normal skirt though. No matter though. I'm getting back on track here! I bought another 12 week journal. I journal more faithfully when I have one of them. I hadn't bought another one because I wanted to save money. Apparently that doesn't work for me. AND, since I'm doing an AM weigh in, I've decided to have my weigh day be the beginning of my week instead of the end. Not that it really matters, but I just thought I would share that.

I didn't exercise last night since I had decided to give blood, but it's ok. I had walked to work, although I had Josh pick me up. I hakd done a lot of walking throughout the day so I'm still going to count it as good. I drove to work today so I could make it on time. Good thing I gave myself that leeway in my walk to work goal, huh?

Josh's parents took us out to eat at Red Lobster on Monday. The food was okay, the service HORRIBLE. My glass was constantly empty...usually while I had a plate of food sitting in front of me. Our our waitress couldn't have smiled to save her life apparently. She got an awful tip I'm sure, and was told to share it with one of the other servers that kept filling our glasses for us. I don't think they will insist on eating there again! Thank goodness!

My challenge partners this month are Tigerlilly and Alana. Go check out their blogs sometime and cheer them on. They've been working hard and have really inspired me!

I passed out yesterday....

....after giving blood at an American Red Cross blood drive. It was awesome. I was laughing about it the rest of the day. I was perfectly fine until the lady told me I was finished and not to squeeze the ball anymore! Then I started feeling woozy. Then I decided that I would close my eyes.
Next thing I knew they had me flat on my back!!! It was great! I felt fine about a minute later.
I got a red squeezie ball, a cute cap, and a cool Pete t-shirt for giving blood. I'll have to post pictures later on it. The Red Cross lady was hoping for 55 people. Number 54 had signed up when they were finishing up with me. I hope she got that last person!!!

Anyway, even though I did pass out I feel great about donating blood. It was my first time and I think I will definitely do it again!

Don't Buy Gas on May 15th!

...in April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.

There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.

If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companys pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.


---My sister forwarded me the above e-mail about a week ago. I decided I would share with everyone today and do my part to be sure the word gets out. I personally think that this is a wonderful idea. It may or may not work, but I'm still going to participate!!!

Another Month, Another Attempt

So far I don't feel incredibly successful this year in my plan to lose weight. But I'm still working on it, which puts me ahead of most people of most people that started this year with the same plan in mind. So, at least I'm still here and trying.

This is going to be something of a slow month for me, hopefully. I take my final exam on Friday, and then classes don't start up again until the 29th. Of course, I have two graduations, Mother's Day, and my wedding anniversary to attend this month, but that should only account for a slightly busy weekend or two.

I have already talked about my goals for the month, but since it's the 1st, I want to post them again.

-Walk to work at least 3 days a week
-Track my points at least 5 days a week
-Take my multivitamin every day
-Get a minimum of 28 activity points every week
-Eat AT LEAST one fruit and vegetable every day

Now, I'll admit that I have a lot listed there, but they are all little things. I hope that I exceed all of these goals, but I wanted to give myself a little wiggle room! Life happens, and usually gets in the way of good intentions.

I have started the month off fairly well. I walked to work today, had my vitamin and fruit for breakfast. And I've been tracking. So I think I'm doing pretty well.

My boss is back to work today. I've only seen him for a minute, but it's good to have him back. And it means my scholarship form for this semester has been signed. I'll have to deliver it this afternoon so they can get evedrything processed. I really don't want to have to adjust my schedule again just because they can't do paperwork. That will cover my tuition so I will only have to pay for books this year.

Well, I should get back to pretending to work. Or at least read my school book. I can't get an A in my class, but I can at least work to keep my B!