Peace in the Holidays

When we are little, all we can think about is what we're going to ask everyone for and what we will get. At some point, when you grow up you are expected to do for everyone else and think about THEIR needs. When you have a family of your own, you now have to worry about your kids, your spouse, their siblings and kids and your own extended family. As I get older I feel more and more responsibility and pressure to get gifts for everyone I know. And not just a gift, the RIGHT gift, the best gift, the most thoughtful gift. This gets harder and harder as most people get older, they have more money and are able to get the things they want themselves. Myself included. So really have a short list of things I want for Christmas (most of them needs that I would have bought myself had it not been the season) and my list for others is even shorter. Last year I bought ornaments that were actually a receipt for the purchase of a tree planted in that person's name. This year, I'm trying to find people's favorite restaurants and get everyone gift certs to eat out. Eating out has always been a luxury for me, more by choice than anything else. I know I can cook a meal for our family of 3-5 for around $10. There is no way we can eat out for anything under $50. So it just doesn't make sense. Same with going to the movies. Because of my frugalness, practicalness or just being insane - we don't eat out or go to the movies a lot. But it is fun and I am more likely to do so if given as a gift. So, that said, that's what most of the people I'm buying for this year are getting.

Aaron and I got out all the Xmas stuff 2 weeks ago and we even put lights up on the outside of the house, something I've always wanted to do. Growing up, we lived on 10 acres so it was silly (according to my Mom) to put lights on the outside of the house that we couldn't enjoy. But now that I live in a subdivision, I enjoy seeing everyone's lights and feel compelled to do my part and hang some. So we did. The tree went up that day and stood bare until last weekend when Dave put the lights on. Monday night, we each chose ornaments that were special and put them on the tree. Over the years, the kids ornaments have grown and there is quite the selection to choose from. Dave's Mom also purchases ornaments for everyone each year, so those are always fun to get out. I write on them each year so someday when the kids are ready for their own tree, they can take all their ornaments and we'll actually remember who's is who's and what year they were given.

In October, when I went to CA for my great Uncle's funeral, I was given all of my grandmother's pictures to scan for a scrapbook I am working on for her. This included pictures of her and my grandfather when they were younger and of course pictures of all 3 of their kids and the 6 grandkids and 3 great grand-kids. 3 days after I finished scanning all those pictures, my Mom sent to boxes (about 40 lbs) of all of her pictures. It was been a lot of fun going through the pictures seeing some that I never knew were even taken. Mom has always had really good intentions and has loved to take pictures, but when it came to sharing them, she sometimes fell short, but I have them all now. Along with that are pictures of my step-dad Leo who passed away in Nov of 2003. It has been very sad looking at pictures of him, always happy, always working and building something. The fact that my he and my Mom met in the Bay Area in 1973 and bought property and moved away from everything and built a house and started a farm is even more amazing to me as an adult than it was living it as a kid. I thought they were crazy then, I think they were amazing, brave, creative and strong now. I miss Leo very much and feel bad that I don't think he knew how much he impacted who I am today. We never had a very good relationship and I feel like I never gave him the credit he deserved. I never appreciated the role as a step-parent until I become one myself a few years ago. It's the toughest job I've ever had, even harder than being a single parent, alone. Leo did the best he could and I was always giving him a hard time - which he didn't deserve. He was amazing with my son and that is probably what I am saddened most by - Aaron will never learn from him and know him the way that I did. One of the pictures was of me changing my oil in my first car. Leo believed that if you were going to drive, you should know how to take care of your car. So there I am, 16 years old, hair done, makeup on wearing a "zumie" suit that he must have brought home from working at Rancho Seco and changing the oil. And there must have been Mom taking a picture. Had it not been for that picture, I wouldn't have remembered doing it, or remembered that it must have been fun. I have in fact, complained about the fact that he made me change my own oil. But how many women know how? Shoot, how many men know how? It's a life skill I will always have (if I need it!). You never know, I may move away from the city someday and start a farm. Happy Holidays and God bless.

Adventures of Aaron

For the last 6 months, Aaron has been fascinated more than ever with electronics and making things and taking things apart. For as long as I can remember, he was always the kid who took apart the toys instead of playing with them. I was so happy when HE finally figured out how to put things back together and make them work again. My Dad is an engineer and our last 2 visits to him have taught Aaron a lot of new, fun things including learning to solder. We've added a "work table" to his room and he has all kinds of parts, tools and supplies. He even made me a great ipod video stand for watching video podcasts at work. He also recently put together an auto door opener/closer for his room. Too funny.

Another new venture of his is starting his own blog. It's at PopularGadgetBlog.com I am really excited that he is taking an interesting in technology and a blog is a GREAT way for anyone to express themselves about whatever they are passionate about. And at 12 years old, it's not too early to get started! He is interested in making money and we've put some Google Ad Sense ads on there and he's also going to start doing more videos. There is one on there where he demonstrates how to take apart a 9volt battery to get to the AA like ones inside. If you listen to what the SAYS, it's hilarious.

Recently, one of our favorite podcasters Dawn and Drew started a video contest where you film yourselves finding someone or something dead. This is a for Halloween of course and as soon as I heard about it, I knew Aaron and I had to do one. Watch the video here. I did finally also get our wedding video up, it's here.

Wedding

I realized I couldn't blog until I posted the promised update about the wedding. So, I'm going to buckle down on this cloudy almost rainy day and "just do it". First, all the pics are here.

We picked the Oregon Coast for our wedding spot because it was the first place we ever went to together and neither of us had been before. We had a great weekend in 2001 and an even better one in 2007 for our wedding over Labor Day.

We arranged for Aaron to fly to his Dad's for the long weekend and Jeff went to Aunt Paula's since his Mom was going to McCall. Dave and I flew out of Boise Friday morning at 7am and landed in Portland where we rented a Volvo SUV with navigation. It was great, we got to test out the system and see what we liked, didn't like and things to look for on the one that comes with the MDX that Dave wants to buy.

We found Nelscott Manor in Lincoln City and got checked in and found our room very lovely with silk rose petals scattered around the jetted tub (with huge window to the beach) and the bed which also included two nice fluffy robes.

Saturday morning we set out to get ready for the wedding. First we picked up Dave's pressed clothes, then the flowers and then down to Newport where I got my hair done. Then onto the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse where Mary Crook met us with her nephew who we had arranged ahead of time to take pictures for us. I had also borrowed another camera and a nice girl that was working at the lighthouse did the video for us. I brought the items for the sand ceremony which we did. The sand looked cool when we put it in, but unfortunately by the time we got home, it was all mixed up. I guess it's just a metaphor for our lives being now so integrated there's no separation.

After the wedding and taking some pictures on the beach we went to the drug store where we took a picture off the camera and printed copies to mail with our announcements. I mailed them on Saturday the 1st but they didn't make it to anyone's mailboxes until Thursday of the next week, but it was still fun to send from there.

For our wedding night dinner, I had made reservations at The Bay House which is a lovely restaurant in Lincoln City famous for it's extensive wine collection. It was the most expensive dinner I've ever had, but a wonderful 2 hour long experience. We had a great table with decorations and a corner window view. For dessert, they brought a special "double" creme brulee with port which is my favorite.

On Sunday we went back to the Spanish Head Inn where we stayed the first time and had a wonderful buffet brunch in the restaurant on the top floor where the view is breathtaking. We didn't drink as much or stay as long as we did the first time (that was quite the story) but we did eat a lot of great food. That night we went to a restaurant that we remembered being wonderful in 2001 but had horrible service and ended up leaving. So we drove south to Depoe Bay and ended up eating in the noisy but wonderful Sea Hag. Dave had a huge crab and was quite happy.

After we checked out, we headed north to Tillamook where we went to the cheese factory and sampled cheese and had their delicious (Dave's favorite) ice cream. Then we used the navigation to find the nearest Fry's where we checked out TV's and home theater stuff and then onto the Portland airport and then home.

Everyone has asked to see my ring, but we didn't change it, it's the same as it was. Dave did get a cool ring made of titanium with a ring of Mokume. Here are our rings.

We had a great weekend of eating out, site seeing and just relaxing. It was wonderful and I am so happy to be Mrs. Dave Williams :)

Trip to CA

I see another month has gone by since I last posted. I've thought about it quite a few times but there never seems to be a "good" time. I guess a good time is when I expect to sit down and not be interrupted. Not too many of those opportunities at home or work.

Trip to CA photo album on Webshots

So, shortly after Aaron got back from his 7 month stay in Reno with his Dad, we headed to CA for our annual family/friends visiting vacation. We spent 12 days amongst the various places and it was definitely nicer to only stay at 4 places instead of 6 or 7. I did miss opportunities to share a meal with 2 long time friends, but with the traffic so bad between Sacramento and the Bay Area, changing towns during the day is imperative.

We headed out the day after Dave and Matt left for U of I for Matt's junior year. This year he moved out of the dorms and into an apartment so we had a truck full of stuff to send up so Dave took the truck up on Friday. Aaron and I left Saturday morning and first stopped in Reno to assess how much stuff Aaron had to bring back so I would know how much room to leave in the car. Since we were a bit ahead of schedule, we took the opportunity to sort through and pack all the crap he had in his room and closet. There was quite a bit of stuff, so we set off to our first destination which was my Mom's. We stayed there until Tuesday and spent days helping her pack and sort through items as she will be selling her place later this year and moving into a smaller place. We did get to see Dad for breakfast on Sunday and I played some dice and had a drink with him on Monday.

On Tuesday we left Mom's and went to Rayleen's. I called as I decided to travel during the day and not wait in Sacramento to have dinner with Jen as I was afraid of the traffic and very anxious to have a shower after being at Mom's for 4 days. She was able to get a hold of Thomas and he was there when we arrived. Rayleen ended up being able to take off work for our stay and it was Thomas' birthday on Thursday so we ended our stay with a great breakfast at a Crepe place in Santa Cruz.

From Rayleen's we headed to Dave's Mom's in Saratoga. This was Thursday. Dave flew down and met us early Friday morning. His truck had given him problems on the trip north, so he was interested in looking at the Acura MDX in the Bay Area since there is much more selection of nicer vehicles than here in Boise. We ate wonderful meals and sat on the covered patio day and night and just relaxed and read. Aaron spent his days in the pool. The Sunday before Dave flew and Aaron and I drove back to Idaho, we drove up to Belmont and had lunch with Nanney. Randy and Nancy met us there and it was great to see them! Because my trip was cut short because of work, I didn't get to go to their houses and stay because of the timing of Dave being in the Bay Area over the weekend.

Dave flew out of San Jose on Monday night and we headed up to Dad's. I was supposed to meet Tricia at this point in the trip for dinner, but again, if I would have left later, the traffic from the Bay Area to Sac would have been gross. So, we went straight to Dad's and spent the night. Aaron and Dad got heavy into some electronics stuff which went over my head after the first few minutes.

Early Tuesday we left Dad's and headed back to Sparks to get Aaron's things. At this point, the car was dragging ass. I had taken a bunch of stuff from Mom's as well as all the stuff we had for 12 days worth of travel. The electronics alone was staggering :) We only went to 3 Fry's during the vacation, LOL Dave brought empty suitcases so I sent him back with a bunch of stuff, but the car was still full. At Aaron's Dad's we were able to get everything but a few clothes and some things he said he didn't need or was going to leave there. We even managed to get the dreaded electric scooter. The car was packed to the roof. This pic is Aaron trying to get something from the back and he's sitting atop all the boxes and his back is parallel with the roof of the car. He was a bit upset with me for taking the pic and demonstrating his Reno behavior. It was funny.

On the trip, I gave MyMileMarker a try. Usually Dave wants to know my gas mileage and I hate figuring it out so I setup this site before I left and emailed him my info so he could check it. I don't think he has looked at it to this day, but at least I didn't have to do any math. I just wish I could figure out how to send it the fillup info from Twitter. Just not sure of the format.

So we got back from the trip to CA and had one weekend before we left for the Oregon Coast for the wedding. To be continued...

Aaron's Back!

Well, I wondered how long it had been since I had posted and alas, my last past says "Happy Father's Day" so I guess it's been a while! Well, I may work backwards here because the biggest thing that's happened lately is that Aaron came back home last Thursday the 26th. It is wonderful to have him home. He's been at his Dad's for 7 month's and since July was such a busy month, I held off on having him come back until my big project at work was done and then I had a week after. So he got home last week and we went to the dentist and then spent the afternoon at Roaring Springs, which was a lot of fun. We also got him a haircut, which he desperately needed!

Since June, we had our big garage sale which was a huge hit. We sold tons of stuff and made close to $500. The rest of the stuff we donated. As soon as Dave leaves with all the stuff I have for Matt next week and heads back up to U of I, our garage will almost be livable again!

Since the end of April when my gym closed, I've been wanting to go somewhere else and since Aaron was interested in the Y we signed up on Monday and I went for our first workout last night. I went to a Yoga class while Aaron did the machines. It was a great teacher, small class and a good workout. Next week, Aaron is signed up for a 2 hour a day training which will teach him how to safely use weights and all the gym equipment, then he'll be able to do whatever he wants there. It should be fun and I'm so glad I can bike there like I did with the old gym to even further enhance my workout.

The other big news is our upcoming wedding! Dave finally decided to set a date and I said, let's make it happen! So we are headed to the Oregon Coast where we took our first vacation together in August of 2001. We are staying in Lincoln City and getting married at the Yaquina Bay lighthouse in Newport. I've been busy shopping for a dress and getting together all the little details. It's a destination wedding, no guests or even kids and we'll be sending announcements from there. I can hardly wait!!

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Father's Day, so happy Father's Day to Dave, My Dad and all the other Dad's out there! Since we are all going to PF Changs for lunch today, I actually made Dave a Father's Day breakfast yesterday. Recently on America's Test Kitchen they made this wonderful "family" omelet which is what I made for Dave and I yesterday. It was delicious! The key to making it great was to cook all the ingredients (I used tomatoes, broccoli-slaw, bacon and a red pepper) first to get all the liquid out. Then after the eggs have set up, add the ingredients, top with cheese, lower the heat and cover. The eggs were cooked perfectly and the ingredients were integrated into the omelet wonderfully. We also went to dinner out at the Caldwell Elks Club as a Middleton High School fund raiser for a fire they experienced earlier this year. My friend Michelle's daughters go there and Traci was selling tickets so I bought them for us and Heather and Randy. Heather was out of town at a dog show and I'm not sure why Michelle and Gregg weren't there, but it was fun to go out and have dinner for a good cause. Tammy was there working so there was at least one familiar face. After dinner, we came home and watched Comic Relief 2006 and Dane Cook's Viscous Circle that we had on the Tivo.

Last week I finally braved the bus for the first time. I live close enough (5 minutes) to a stop and with the price of gas, my driving record (4 tickets/3 years) and trying to save on the environment I finally gave it a try. It was kinda fun and I hope to ride on any day that I don't need my car for other things. I got to work in only about 10 minutes longer and I was able to watch my video podcasts so that was cool.

Things are really gearing up at work for the reimaging and changeover next month and I'm doing everything I can to be prepared and organized so things go smoothly. I can just hardly wait until it's over. As a bonus, as soon as it is, Aaron will be flying home and spending the month of August with us. I'm also hoping we will take a 2 week trip to CA to visit friends and family and maybe spend another day in the city like we have 2 times before. Dave may even fly down to his Mom's and meet us there for a long weekend.

This week, my friend Wendy emailed me and asked me if I could fly up to WA in two weeks for an "appointment". I explained to her how crazy work was and asked her what was up. Well, she's getting married of all things! Of course, I'm going to do my best to be there for her on her special day.

This last Monday I was getting ready for work and my neck suddenly seized up leaving me with limited movement and a lot of pain. I went to work, but only for a few hours. I headed straight to the chiro and then home to bed where I watched so much TV I thought my brain would fall out. I stayed home Tuesday and well and got a massage which I think definitely helped. It's a bit better each day and I am definitely committed to walking the dogs each day and doing the 15 minute yoga show in the morning. I've also changed out my desk chair at home to use the stability ball which really helps with the posture. I'm also being very conscious of how much time I spend on the PC and taking frequent breaks. It's a hassle, but I think with the damage that has already been done, I'd better get a hold on this now before anything worse happens.

About a week ago, Adam Curry on the DSC announced he had done an interview on Bloomberg TV's Night Talk show. I immediately tried to figure out what channel Bloomberg was for us with DirectTV and since I couldn't remember the name of the show, looked around until I found the show and then picked up a season pass. Well, it aired late last week and Dave and I watched it. It was great, he talked about podcasting and explained himself very well. I then emailed Adam and asked him if he wanted me to pull the video off our Tivo and upload it somewhere. He suggested Podshow and Friday night I pulled the show off the Tivo and tried to upload it. Of course, the .TY format isn't accepted on hardly anything so I wasn't surprised that it didn't like that format. I changed it to MPEG and waited 4 hours for it to upload, only to find it failed because it couldn't be converted to flash. I then asked Dave to help me edit the file so I would be working with a smaller file. We cut out the commercials and the 2nd half the show that Adam wasn't on and then I spent Saturday trying different formats and uploading again and again. I even emailed Tom Wiles of the Trucker Tom and Finding America podcast for suggestions. I finally got it converted and uploaded this morning. Check it out here.

Vacation in AZ

Over the long Memorial Day weekend Dave and I traveled to Tucson, AZ where we vacationed for 6 days with his Dad and Barbara. They live in Green Valley, which is about a half hour drive south from Tucson and only about 20 miles north of the Mexico border. I had no idea what the town was like and had printed off some information on area shopping off the internet. I was a bit disappointed to see how dinky the town was and in fact the advertised "mall" was just a shopping strip. It's a retirement community town and VERY quiet. We relaxed, read a lot, ate, sat in the sun and did some site-seeing. We arrived on Thursday morning and Barbara took us to Trader Joe's which I absolutely love, especially since we don't have any in Idaho. We filled up on groceries and then headed to a wonderful bakery where we had delicious sandwiches for lunch.

Dave and his Dad played golf twice and even took me out to the driving range (which is in their back yard!) for a lesson. I was also able to get 2 massages while I was there and attend 1 yoga class. Dave even read 2 books and I read 3. It was great. We visited Rex Ranch for a wonderful dinner where we had to drive the car through a river. It was a very cool place with great scenery. Barbara and I drove into Tubac one day and did some shopping. Mike is a recent member to the Elk's club so on our last night there we attended a buffet dinner with a "spanish" theme with some of the ladies from the neighborhood. It was a lot of fun. Mike and Barbara's house is a really nice dual master suite home perfect for vacationing. They even rent it during the summer. I helped Barbara update the webpage, so I was able to get a tiny "online" fix during the week.

We learned during our trip to OR that Dave's Dad makes a great latte. As soon as you get up in the morning, he makes it to order. Ahhhh. Another favorite thing of mine when visiting them is their dog Jazz and cat Gigi. Jazz has a lot of character and I always enjoy taking him for walks. With their great location on the golf course, we walked along the greens every night and saw lots of bunnies, birds and other animals. We even had a scare where Jazz got into some rat "cakes" that had been left out and then moved by the creatures in the night. Luckily we were able to get most of it out of his both before too much was ingested to make him sick. The vet said those things are really powerful and can easily kill even large dogs like Jazz.

I did manage to eat pretty well while on vacation and after many days of being in skimpy summer clothes and sunbathing I came home and decided to get back to good eating and trying to exercise. This week I've walked the dogs 4 times and have ate really well. I still need to start getting up early and doing some Yoga or something but I've just been really tired this week. Maybe this weekend I can get started. I am taking golf lessons for the next 3 weeks, so I hope to get out a practice and I think that counts towards exercise also ;)

The dogs stayed with Heather and Randy and of course had a wonderful time there. They always come home obedient and well groomed, which of course, neither lasts long at our house.

Matt is home from school for the summer and is working full time which is great. Jeff is working but apparently doesn't like the job and will either be soon quitting for the summer or looking for something else. Last weekend we attended Kim's graduation party and it's hard to imagine in 2 years Jeff will be graduating and only 3 years after that it will be Aaron's turn. Aaron finished school yesterday and we are still in talks about where he will live for next year. He makes a good point that the schools are better here. For now, he will spend the next 2 months at his Dad's and then the month of August with us. After that, who knows. Hopefully, we will be able to take a nice long vacation visiting family and friends in CA in August.

Work is crazy busy. We are gearing up for everyone to be reimaged during a 2 week changeover to new document management system. It's going to be crazy. PC's and laptops everywhere and users complaining about every icon in a different place. I'm trying to stay calm and realize there is only so much I can do and it will be what it is regardless of my stress level.

The day before we left on vacation I went to my laptop in the morning to sync my ipod as I always do (to get a refill of podcasts for the day) only to find my Itunes library was wiped out. Gone. Nothing there. I had a backup from a few months ago, but what a mess putting all that back together. While I was on vacation the podcasts really built up and I made a decision to really wack down what I was subscribed to so I'm just now getting caught up on my "favs" and am now on the long list of 2nd priority podcasts I listen to and I imagine I will need to do some pruning there also.

Mother's Day!

The last few weeks have been really hectic. This weekend was Mother's Day and on Saturday, Dave's Mom flew in from the Bay Area for a month long visit. Then she's staying into June for Kim's graduation from Eagle High School. We all got together over at Michele's & Martin's house on Sunday for Mother's Day brunch. It was a beautiful day so we were able to sit outside and visit.

The last time Myrna was in town she used my fleece blanket to cover herself while on the couch and so I had the idea to make her one to use in Idaho when she comes to visit all her kids. So, on Friday, Deanna and I went to Hancocks over the lunch hour and I found some nice orange baseball print fleece for one side and some dark colored Aztec kind of print for the other side. I washed it, sewed 2 sides together and then cut fringe at each end and tied off the other 2 sides. She liked it so much, she even said she would take it home. I also gave her that and a TSA lock that I found online that is great for frequent travelers.

Matt also arrived back in town, down from U of I for the summer. We saw him at the brunch and then he ended up coming over yesterday to stay with us. He has a new pet, a bearded dragon he calls it, I say yucky lizard. But he says it's soft and cute and friendly, but I am reluctant to find out. Matt's girlfriend Sandy is staying home for the summer because she is working. What a bummer, but I am proud of them for making work a priority when they are not in school.

After last weekends Scrapbooking Fiesta I decided I really needed to get going on Nanney's scrapbook. I printed pictures and sorted and have emailed family members to gather what I was missing and my goal is to have it finished by her birthday in October.

My friend Heather found her dream house and made an offer last week and found out on Friday it was accepted. I am thrilled for her other than the fact it's further away from me then where she lives now.

Next week is our week long vacation to AZ to spend time with Dave's Dad and his wife. I can hardly wait! I've never been to AZ and am looking forward to relaxing in the sun, getting some reading done and trying to unplug from the laptop and blackberry. I'm sure I'll have my IPOD going, but am hoping to cut down on the screen time.

I've been talking to Aaron more and more over the past few weeks and last weekend he called me and said he had made the decision that he wants to move back with us. Since then, he's talked to his Dad and I've discussed it with Dave and I am very excited at the thought of him coming home. It's still being discussed as I think his Dad wants him to stay there, but I really believe he would be happier with us. This brings up the issue with me working full time. For a while now, I've thought if Aaron came back, that I really need to reduce my work hours. This idea couldn't come at a worse time with huge conversions going on until the end of July. Plus, without Dave and I being married, I have no health insurance for myself and Aaron unless I work full time. Hopefully God will answer my prayers and something will work out and come to light as a solution.

Rainy Weekend

The furniture that Dave and I picked out and ordered finally arrived yesterday. So we woke up and started cleaning the living room and moving everything out of the way. Part of what needed to happen was the furniture that was in our living room was being moved to the (kids) front room. We took the opportunity to finish spring cleaning and got everything all situated. The new furniture is nice, but it is different. Dave does not really like change, but I'm sure he'll come to love it. The best part is that his old, favorite couch is still in the house and he can go sit on it anytime he wants. In fact, he's been spending more time in that room anyways, listening to his "cans" plugged into the Deep Tracks channel on XM. Then, I can have the other room to myself to either listen to podcasts or watch all my TV shows that he hates. It's perfect. Since we have a Tivo in each room, everyone can have their own shows and watch them wherever they want.

Pepper and Chloe seem to like the new furniture as well. They're very happy with the new location of the old sofa since it allows them to see outside the window and bark at more stuff. Last night there were 2 cats outside and they were going crazy. I finally closed the blinds.

Jeff was up early this morning headed to some video store to get the Pokeman Diamond for his DS. He came home thrilled with his purchase and I doubt we'll see him the rest of the day.

This next week at work is going to be crazy. I start it all off on Monday by leaving early for a haircut. That should make everything else run smoothly as my hair has been driving me absolutely crazy since my bangs are so long and the rest is just overgrown and out of control.

Aaron got his internet working again and is still trying to decide on a phone upgrade. Now he wants to take bake the bike I bought him over Spring Break and get a trick bike instead of the 21 speed mountain bike he picked a month ago. I've got to dig out the receipt and see what Target's policy on such returns is. He also got suspended from school last week, for something stupid (doing something stupid, it wasn't stupid that he got suspended) and I was amazed that he wasn't in worse trouble from his Dad. He called me during the school day that he was home and apparently he had full privileges. I guess I can't expect Bob to know everything I've come to learn in 10 years of single parenting but it seems obvious if you don't punish a child, how do you expect him to be motivated to not do it again? I guess all the more reason he's with his Dad. I miss him like crazy, but I don't miss the trouble, the suspensions, the stress and the worry of the next call from the school or a distressed parent.

In addition to my usual addiction to Podcasts and now Twitter, I've added Stumbling to my list of things to occupy my time online. You install a toolbar into Firefox and when you are ready for a site (you setup categories) you click "Stumble!" and are taken to a random site that someone else has submitted. You then can give it a thumbs up or down. You can also submit sites that you find that might of interest to others. It's a lot of fun and definitely more broad than what I pick up in my Reader and I've found some really interesting stuff.

This last week Adam Curry from the Daily Source Code (on of my oldest and my favorite podcasts) was on vacation and had Mark from PCH filling in for him. It was hilarious! I don't listen to PCH because I think it's a little over the top, but the way that Mark made fun of Adam and pretending like he was tied up in the next room and he was using his laptop and interacting with his fans was priceless. Good times.

Hot and Cold

Last weekend we "decorated" the newly planted tree in the front yard. I even put some flowers around it. Hopefully they make it through the freezing mornings we've had.

Though Spring has sprung, it's really been a variety of weather these days. We had some warm days, followed by wind and then freezing nights again. I hate this time of year because no matter how you're dressed if it's windy, you're going to freeze and be miserable. I'm typically on the cool side so I like to dress warm but then if I go out and do any walking during the day, I roast and sweat. Oh well.

Saturday I went to the Fun Match at Ann Morrison Park and met Heather who showed both Tootsie Pop (Chloe's sister) and Tico. The weather started out nice, but as the clouds built up and the wind picked up it definitely cooled down. By the time we left, I was glad I was headed back indoors.

Saturday night Dave's friend Rick got married. It was a nice, simple ceremony and there were some of Dave's work friends there so I mostly visited with their wives. It was nice to get out and dress up, though I didn't wear anything fancy because the party was originally suppose to be outside I was (again) afraid of being cold.

Sunday I really just lounged around and even took a long nap. I spent a good part of the day up in the guest room with the computer, the Tivo, a stack of magazines and my heater blanket. I sewed up some of the girls' toys that had been ripped open and also straightened up the desk a bit more.

The last few weeks, I've really been struggling with depression and missing Aaron. It seems to get harder as time goes on and not easier like I thought it would. Combine that with being crazy busy and stressed at work and trying to workout and diet to lose weight for summer clothes and it's just overwhelming. The first phase in the work changes will happen on the 28th. We will be changing from GroupWise to Outlook for our email. This is going to be a MAJOR change for people and I'm really nervous about how it's going to go. Also at the end of the month, my gym that I've come to enjoy so much is closing. The owner has it for sale, but I doubt that someone would buy it and keep it open for business in such short time. I've been walking the dogs in addition to biking to the gym and working out so I'll just have to start taking longer walks. I've looked into joining the YMCA and may do that just so I have somewhere to go for Yoga/Pillates. I do enjoy that.

I really thought that once Aaron got his computer that I took him over Spring Break, I would hear from him more. I've emailed him more and still never hear from him. He calls when something isn't working right or he has question. I sent him money to get new pants since he apparently ripped his new pair that I bought him last month. I also sent him money for Easter since I had no idea what to get him or send him. I talked to him yesterday and it seems as though the one unsecured access point he was using at the apartment complex him and his Dad live in got locked down so now he has no internet :( I reminded him that his Dad said he would get him internet if he had a computer, so we'll see what happens next.

With the whole Twitter / Jaiku debacle (Leo leaving Twitter) I'm glad to see most like me, have stayed with Twitter and just signed up for Jaiku and put the feed in. I think that's an excellent solution. Twitter is fun, I enjoy seeing what others are up to, especially the ones I listen to their podcasts.

Spring Cleaning

Almost another month has flown by. After our trips, having company and both of us working a ton, we've started Spring Cleaning. This is mostly finishing moving in for me, but Dave is working on the yard and outside. After two weeks, it looks really nice. I finally got the linens put away this weekend and boy am I glad to have that done! I literally had 6 yard size trash bags full of linens to incorporate back into Dave's already full linen closet. It was all in there before, so I knew it was possible, but it was definitely like building the Flintstones closet.

I've still been going to the gym 4 times a week and have even been riding my bike to and from (1 mile each direction). I don't think I've lost any weight, but my clothes are fitting better. I didn't walk the dogs this past week because Madison has been over and a few days it was windy and I just didn't feel like it. So, I need to get back into that this week.

Another project I did this week was to swap out the "storage" pc to a faster one. The storage PC has all my music and audio books and I also sync it to the video ipod so it has my video podcast subscriptions. The old storage PC is going to become a true network storage for our home network and I'm going to try to use FreeNAS that I heard about on Dl.TV. Yes, all this because I watched a video podcast on home storage and thought it would be cool.

I've only talked to Aaron a few times when he's needed tech support on either using the Slingbox remotely or having me give his Dad the password to the ComputerTime program running on his PC.

Jeff was on spring break this past week and has recently gotten a job at Albertson's as a courtesy clerk. He seems to like it ok and I think at his age, it's definitely a good idea to work and if he's ever going to drive, he'll want the money.

As far as websites and podcasts, nothing really new, still Twittering and Folding and keeping up with all my favorite shows. I did sign up for Virb from Cali's recommendation and have been looking for old friends on MySpace.

Whirlwind March

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted. But then I think about how much stuff has been going on and I'm not surprised. I think I last wrote when I was in Ketchum and that started the craziness.

After I came back from Ketchum I left for Nevada on Friday, March 9th to pick up Aaron. The weather was good and I made good time to Sparks. Aaron and I unloaded the car with all the stuff I brought him and then went on to my Dad's in Georgetown, CA. There we met up with my 2 step-sisters Rayleen and Alecia. Alecia's daughter Neira was cuter than I could have ever imaged. She's almost 3 and super smart. Her and Aaron seemed to get along well. I was proud of Aaron for how he was with her. We spent 2 nights there and then went onto Sacramento. We went by Alecia's place and then while Rayleen went home, Aaron and I went to see Jen. This is my friend since the 3rd grade and she grew up in Garden Valley and went through the same schools as I. We used to get kicked out of everything we did together because we could never stop laughing. It was great to see her and her cute apartment. She is blond and cute as a button and looks like Sarah Jessica Parker who I am a big fan of. I unfortunately did not get to meet her daughter as she was with her Dad. From the pictures, she's a mini-me of Jen.

In Sacramento, we also saw my friend Tricia who I met when she was pregnant with her son Sean, who just turned 15. She is a great woman who is done an excellent job at being a single mother. We spent the night with them and then went onto Auburn. After we got checked into a hotel, we took a drive up to ForestHill across the big scary bridge I don't think I've ever been on, but you see each time you go through the canyon from Auburn to Mom / Dad's in Georgetown/Garden Valley. We stopped at Lake Clementine and looked at the dam close up.

The next morning, I drove Aaron back home and we did some shopping in Sparks. We got him a bike for his Dad's, a desk for his computer, some food and his birthday present which was a hydro rocket. His 12th birthday is tomorrow and I am very sad that I won't be spending it with him. Even though I saw him and bought him presents and sent him a card this week, it's just not the same as being around him for the day and celebrating.

I ended up coming back a day early sine we didn't go to the Bay Area, I didn't want to pay for another night's hotel so I just came home. Aaron was happy because he got to spend a day at home with his computer, scooter and new bike before him and his Dad left for their trip to AZ to see his other grandparents.

When I got back, Dave was still gone on his trip to WI for management training for his new job. He was supposed to be home the next night, but ended up getting stuck in Chicago due to flight delays. I spent 3 nights at home without him and missed him terribly. When you're away from home, it's a lot easier to be without the people you usually see. Heather watched the girls while we were both gone and when I picked them up, we had a nice visit. Dave got home Friday and the next day his Mom came to visit. She flew home Tuesday so this weekend we are looking forward to sleeping in and finally having some down time and relaxing. I still have a lot of unpacking and organizing to do, but I've realized it's not going anywhere and if it's been boxed up this long and I haven't needed it, it's probably not the end of the world if I don't get to every last box anytime soon. I would like to get the garage organized enough so Dave can park inside again, but it is nice having the extra room all to myself :)

Packing in the Snow Part Deaux

So, I have learned a very valuable lesson when blogging. Apparently you can't "recover post" unless you've at some point done a "save as draft" at least with Blogger.com. I spent over 2 hours working on a long post Wednesday and when the power went off at the office, I lost everything. It's funny since I do user support for a living and always tell users to "save, save and then save again" and I hadn't saved myself. Ooops.

Last weekend we continued moving stuff out of my rental house over to Dave's as I am moving back in and need to be out of the rental by the end of March. Sunday we went furniture shopping again and actually found a sofa and snuggle chair that we ordered. It will takes 10 weeks for them to come, but now that frees me up to sell my loveseat. I've had my loveseat and entertainment center since 1989 when I lived in the Bay Area, renting a small room at my Aunt & Uncle's house in Redwood City. I've sure moved them around a lot and am happy that I won't have to move them again. I still need to get them listed on craigs list.

Sunday after Dave and I went furniture shopping we stopped by Cobby's on the way home and had some delicious sandwiches, soup and a pitcher of beer. It started snowing out and it was a nice afternoon. When we got home, Dave re-proposed, so I've got my ring back! Yeah!

Thursday (yesterday, seems to long ago) I headed to Sun Valley to come to the Ketchum branch of HTEH to do RAM upgrades, personality captures and swap out some PC's and bring back a bunch of old equipment. The Subaru I rented is now loaded up with pc's and monitor's to go back to Boise later today.

I recorded episode 10 of the Mind and Body Cast last night and announced the show will be going on a temporary hiatus until June when school gets out and Aaron comes to visit for the summer. I was listening to Tee Morris on Podcasting for Dummies and had read another blog post that Adam shared and agree that if you're going to take a break, just let your listeners know. So that's what I decided to do. We may do a Bonus Episode over Spring Break when I see him. Also, I'll be taking him his computer and his Dad said he would get him internet, so maybe when he has a PC, we can do recordings together remotely. It's just too weird for me to do the show by myself.

After I get Aaron from his Dad's in Sparks, NV, we will head to Dad's and stay over for the weekend. My step-sister Rayleen is coming up from the Bay Area and then we're going to see her sister Alecia in Sacramento on Sunday. I haven't seen her in probably almost 10 years, since Rayleen's wedding. She has a little girl and I believe is expecting again so it will be fun to catch up with her.

This week I broke down and bought another Ipod. I have a 5G video and love it, but since I've been working out, it's too big for that so I've been using Dave's shuffle. Well, since I listen to podcasts and not music, it doesn't work very well for that, so I went ahead and ordered a 4gig pink Nano. I love it!!! So now I sync the Nano with my laptop which has podcasts and then the video will sync with my PC at work here I have music and now the video podcasts that I watch. For those interested, since I had to make a list and re-subscribe to them all, here are the shows I watch (all searchable in Itunes):

Rumor girls
ABC News 20/20
ABC News Medical
Amanda on ABC
Cesar Milan
Command N
Cranky Geeks
D & D TV
DL.TV
DogBlog
Geek Brief
Hound TV
Joel Osteen
Joyce Meyer
Labrats
Mobuzz
Pet Trends
Rabbit Bites
Starring Amanda
Daily 10's Hollywood Rap Up
Masthead
VideoVoom
YaZooMa


For this week's new technical sites and things, I've just been updating Twitter and started listening to Tom Merrit's Real Deal podcast. It's really good. I've listened to Tom for a while with Molly and Veronica on Buzz Out Loud, but I'm really enjoying Tom on his own. His podcasts are brief, concise and very helpful, even for a nerd like me :)

Packing in the Snow

I spent over 2 hours working on this post and was almost finished with links and then lost power. I'm frustrated and not going to re-write it today.

Crazy Busy

Last weekend was a 3 day weekend for President's Day and Dave and I painted the former Matt/Aaron room to make into a "guest" room or my "office/scrap/MK/media" room when not otherwise occupied. Yes, I am moving back in with Dave and that fun began last weekend also. After 6 months of living apart, we decided we can't go another day without each other. Or, living in a rental a mile a away is more of a hassle than its worth since I started staying over there all the time after Aaron went to live with his Dad.

So we painted, shopped and moved stuff over the weekend. Sunday, I met Heather for lunch and the movies. We saw Because I Said So which was a total chic flick, but fun to see with a girlfriend. Dave stayed home and finally swapped out Jeff's door that we had to buy like 6 times because Lowe's kept drilling the hinge places wrong. Well, I guess this last time it was still wrong so he had to hand dig out the spots for the hinges. When I found that out, I was glad I was gone! That door has been a nightmare since Aaron kicked a hole in it 3 years ago when him and Jeff were home alone and having some sort of disagreement.

Work has been crazy busy also with a huge migration project getting started which will involve changing all the desktop pc's out in a time period of 2 weeks. Typically this takes 6 months to do, so it will be interesting. On top of this daunting project is the fact that my wonderful assistant who has been with us almost a year, put in his notice on Tuesday. I'm very happy that he's found a job more suited to what he's learning in school, but I'm totally bummed that he's leaving and even more stressed about the timing.

I've been following the Free Trinity google group that Adam Curry started which is the project to get his biodiesel station wagon driven across the country to visit podcasters and deliver the Mercedes to it's new owners which live on the East coast. It's very exciting project. I was disappointed that Barbara, the Project Manager said Trinity probably wouldn't come through Idaho because it's too cold here :( Bummer. But I'm on the list so we'll see!

I've still been using Twitter and having fun making badges for my various sites and even did one for this blog. My blog is becoming a real catch all for all my stuff and I even put links to the podcast on the sidebar. Speaking of the podcast, I am overdue for a show and have one all prepped, just need to find 30 minutes to sit down and record. Hopefully, I can get to it before I go visit Aaron in March so the next show will be the two of us again. I hate doing it without him, it seems odd to sit and talk alone. It was always the plan that we would sit and chat about whatever topic we were covering and that made it a lot more fun. I still enjoy it, but it's just not the same.

Happy Valentines!

A good friend of mine is going through a breakup with a man she's been involved with for over 3 years. It's such a difficult thing, I think it gets harder as you get older to move on to something new and let go of the old. But sometimes it is for the best and must be done.

For new sites this week, MightyFoodBlog.com is a food blog that looks interesting and Wellsphere.com is a social networking site of the health/fitness variety with a local emphasis on SF.

A new blackberry was released yesterday, the 8800. I've got the 8100 which is the Pearl. The 8700 is nice, it's a bit bigger and what I recommend for people who want a full keyboard. The pearl is nice and small, but a lot of people don't like the tiny keyboard and SureType typing. Once you use it a while I think it's very intuitive.

I've been listening to Trucker Tom and his adventures in Vista and am considering buying a copy for the old hard drive for my laptop. It would be fun to try. When I swapped out the hard drive it took 6 hours to reinstall windows and set up everything the way I had it. Not bad considering how much stuff I have and use, but that was ideal and had lots of prep and planning behind it. So not sure I want to invest that amount of time into it at this point.

With the return of 24, we've been enjoying pretty exciting TV. It's also fun to see our Chloe's namesake back on the screen saving Jack time after time. This season's addition of her ex-husband has been interesting.

I can hardly wait for my trip to NV to get Aaron and take him to CA for half of his Spring Break. We will see my Dad and Mom and then head to Sacramento and then possibly the Bay Area. Not sure how far we will go because we only have from Friday to Wednesday. So, looking forward to that!

Yesterday at the gym, they did my 1 month measurements and weigh in. I'm down 2.6 lbs and 10.5 inches. However, my body fat increased. I don't think that's right because I've been eating salad and veggie stir fry everyday and haven't even so much as had a fry or chip since January 2nd. Oh well, maybe next month it will be even better.

Back in Action

So we got back from the Oregon Coast Sunday, around half time of the Superbowl. Dave was able to see the kickoff and part of the first quarter at the Portland airport and then we finished watching it off the Tivo at home. I picked up the girls from Heather's Monday after work. They did great and had an amazing time. She of course had them all groomed up, exercised and even not barking. I really think Cesar's onto something with the exercise thing. I'm planning on taking them and Dave for a walk on the days that I don't workout.

So yesterday I went back to the doctor for a followup visit. Unfortunately, they show me UP 5 pounds from when I first started going there in November. So that wasn't good news. But she said to keep working out and it will eventually come off. I really thought working out would make the weight come off faster, but so far, it's seems to have the opposite effect. I'm showing a loss of 3.2 pounds since January, so I think I must have gained during the holidays. Big shock there.

So we had a wonderful time on vacation. We didn't do much, just hung out with Mike and Barbara and ate a lot of crab and did some reading, site seeing and lots of beach walks. It's amazing to me how far away you can feel when you're gone but how quickly when you come back it seems as though you never left.

We are hoping to take our next trip to AZ to visit them at their home in Green Valley. I've never been to AZ and my cousin Jennifer is going to the U of A, so maybe we can even see her if we go. It's nice to know Heather is willing to watch the doggies for us because we miss them terribly and worry about them when they're not with us. We've only left them twice and this time was much easier knowing they were with her and not at the doggie hotel.

I talked with Aaron last night, he's doing well. They are moving into a 2 bedroom apartment this weekend so that will be good for them both to have some of their own space. He is doing a fund raiser at school selling candy bars and had called me last week to ask me to buy some and he would ship it to me. I laughed and told him that 1) I didn't NEED candy bars since I was dieting and 2) it would really eat into his profits to ship it to me. So he's going to hang onto them there with his Dad and if there's any leftover when I get him in March, we'll take them to CA with us.

This weeks time consuming site is Change.org - it's a social networking site for good causes. Pretty cool. My friend Donna also just put me in touch with the Voices or Martyrs at Persecution.com where you can buy bags for $5 to fill with clothing and personal items and send that they send to people that need assistance. So I'm trying to figure out how many of what bags to send where to get and fill. How fun.

Blogging Unplugged

Saturday, February 3, 2007

This is our last full day at the Oregon coast. We are staying at a beautiful rental home owned by Dave’s Uncle Don in Yachats, OR. They even have their dog Jazz and cat Gigi here so I’ve been able to get my dog fix while I’m away from my puppies. If I walk on the beach I can get service on my phone but so far I haven’t hooked up the computer down there. When we drive into town, it also comes on. So far, doesn’t look like I’m missing anything interesting being unplugged. We’ve been spending lazy days with the slider open and hearing the ocean sounds while we eat fresh crab and homemade goodness. I even found Vitamin Water so I’ve been drinking that. I finished my book this morning and need to start another. We visited the library, which was surprisingly nice for such a small town.

We scored a Mustang for our rental car, so Dave’s been having some fun driving that around. I apparently left a long skid mark leaving the house’s driveway the one time I took it for a short spin. The cool thing is that it has an auxillary input and once we stopped at Target for the 3.5 mm male/male jack, I can listen to the ipod in the Mustang.

View all the pictures from the trip here.

Fun Places

This past Saturday, we drove up to McCall for the annual Winter Carnival. We took the girls and stopped in Cascade for breakfast. Our order got behind a large parties, and it ended up taking over an hour to get our meal so when we arrived in McCall we were stopped on Highway 55 near a church, for quite some time. We parked and were waiting and then noticed emergency vehicles just ahead of us. Then people in front of us started turning around. We waited until we were at the front of what was the line, only to find a major accident. We saw them put someone (I found out later it was a little boy) in an ambulance. As we turned around to take the detour past the Activity Barn, we saw the St. Al's life flight heading to Boise. As we drove past the tubing place, we remembered going sledding there years before with Aaron and Matt. I rode the little dish down a hill and got the wind knocked out me so hard I couldn't breathe. Both Matt and Dave came running and we've all laughed about my daredevil stunt since.

We read in the paper Sunday on that there were no casualties in what looked to be a very bad multi-car accident. We ended up getting to the carnival much later than we had hoped, but grateful we were not involved in the accident as we were only a few seconds behind it and that would have really messed up our day, and possibly our lives.

We had a nice day walking around with the girls in their stroller, with most passerby's oohing and aahing and wondering why a big guy like Dave would be pushing a pink stroller. They only had to look a little closer to see our beautiful doggies and realize why he was so proud.

We walked out onto the lake and I ran the girls in the snow. It took a lot of energy and by the time we walked back to the truck, they both slept soundly the entire way home and even all night Saturday without their usual waking to go outside several times in the night.

Tomorrow we leave for the Oregon coast and can hardly wait. Strangely, there is no cell service which means I won't have internet, email or phone. That's not necessarily a bad thing for me, just different. I am typically glued to the internet and blackberry 24/7.

This past week, I've been catching up on podcasts which is fun, but always leads me to more time consuming things. I've discovered Twitter, Geni, Normal Room and Joost (still waiting for in invite!). I've been keeping up with all these as well as my usual visits to MySpace, FaceBook, Google Reader and recording the latest episode of the Mind and Body Cast on Tea.

I'll be unplugged the rest of this week, but back online, absorbing info like crazy next week! I leave you with the thoughts of being grateful for getting delayed, because you may be glad you missed something else.

Results

So, I am starting my 4th week of "commitments" and really expecting to see some results. So far, I've been sore, hungry, tired and have only lost 2 pounds :( I remember from doing the WW thing before that it does take a while to see results, but I was at least dropping weight each week. This time I've added the fitness component and thought for sure it would be coming off quicker. I still want to eat bad things, want to eat way more than I should and think I'm starving in the night when I get up to let the dogs out.

This weekend is the McCall Winter Carnival and we are planning on going up for the day. There's lots to see with all the ice sculptures and other things going on around town, but I just really want to take a drive and get away from the house for a day. We'll take the girls and eat out and it should be a lot of fun.

On the 31st, we leave for the Oregon Coast. I wish the trip was longer, but it's all we could both spare from work. I've been watching the weather for Newport, which is the closest large town to where we are staying. So far, it looks about as cold there as it has been here :(

I finally got a new coat, it was a present to myself for quitting smoking. My other coat was old and stank like smoke. I had ordered one from Victoria's Secret, but of course it didn't fit. I used to order from them all the time and loved their clothes. Now that I'm obese and in my 30's I guess their stuff just doesn't fit anymore. Out of $400 worth of stuff I bought (all of clearance, so that was a LOT of stuff) I was only able to keep the underwear and 2 shirts. One other shirt was ok, but the color was gross. So, the coat went back and off to Burlington Coat Factory I went this weekend. I actually got 2 coats for less than I paid for the 1 from VS. I got a nice pink wool coast for my work coat replacement and also got a very cute leather jacket. I've never had one before and this was too cute to pass up. It was also kind of a reward for my hard work so far. Hopefully I will actually accomplish something worth rewarding!

I've been keeping at my points each day, staying away from soda, caffeine and cigarettes and working out 4 times a week and taking all my supplements, so I'm doing everything I should be, just anxious for results.

I just finished reading Sharon Osbourne's autobiography Extreme and it was sure good! I've always been an Ozzy fan and sure enjoyed when the Osbourne's reality show was on and even watched Sharon's talk show when it was on, but the book was an amazing insight to her life and her story.

CES

I knew I'd forget something when I posted the other day and it was the BIGGEST thing going on this week. CES is the annual Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas. It's geek heaven. So, I've been glued to the RSS Feeds and Podcasts even more than usual, if that's possible. All the latest gadgets and toys are being released. It makes you want to get rid of everything you have and buy all new. Too bad a working girls salary can't afford that :(

So a big thanks to the following Podcasters for doing such great coverage for those of us who can't be there:

Cali from Geekbrief.tv
Molly, Veronica and Tom from Buzz Out Loud
Andy & Sean from Labrats.tv
Patrick & Robert from DL.TV
Engadget

To always keep track of what I'm reading and interested in, check out my "Google Reader Starred Items" web page. Each day I read through hundreds of articles on the Google Reader from RSS feeds that I've subscribed to. The ones I "star" are extra cool :)

I also wanted to explain more about the Youngevity products and why I'm taking them. I realized I listed what I was taking, but didn't share what I was trying to fix. So here goes. For as long as I can remember, I've had heavy painful periods. So, I've always been on the pill, even though I don't need to be for birth control reasons. So here I am last year at 35 and realizing I should get off the pill. I tried and it was unbearable. I went to see my OB/GYN and she just recommended a different form of chemicals in my body to help ease my discomfort. So, I sought out a more natural doctor that my friend Bobbi recommended. I really liked her and she got me on some supplements and after my 2nd visit to her I decided to stop taking the anti-depressants that I'd been on for 5+ years also. She explained to me, I was most likely suffering from Adrenal Fatigue / Estrogen Dominance from years of running at full blast and being stressed out. The fact that I'd taken bc pills for 20 years wasn't helping my liver be able to make the right mixture of hormones either. The fact that I'd been drinking almost daily for the past 4 years certainly didn't help my liver either.

So, in the Fall of 2006, I went off the pill, started taking Rosemary and Raspberry oil, some new vitamins and Progesterone cream. By October, I went off the Zoloft. It was a bad month. I was tired, irritable, having night sweats, headaches and was gaining weight like crazy. She had also tested my thyroid and it was borderline which I had always suspected and my regular doctor hadn't listened to. So I also started taking Iodide to help that. November was a much better month and I continue to feel better.

One of the major down sides of being on the Zoloft is that it killed my libido. I've been taking Maca Root for almost 3 months now and just started the Nuo cream from Youngevity in an effort to return things to normal.

So, the Youngevity products are just adding to what I'm already doing but I'm hoping having all the right vitamins and minerals will allow me to finally drop all this extra weight I've put on over the past few years and help control the carb cravings that I typically have when I diet. I really like the Weight Watchers program and lost 20 pounds in late 2005 when I followed it.

I'm up to 3.5 lbs lost the first week and need to weigh in again today. The yoga class Monday night kicked my butt and the circuit training Tuesday that I did with the instructor was equally as vigorous and left me sore. So I took Wednesday off and am going back today all charged and rested up to work again. Hopefully, the worst of the having sore muscles is over.

I finally heard from Aaron late Tuesday night. He had been in school for 2 days and said it was "so-so". Not much news, but at least he did call. I called him yesterday after school but he didn't have much to say. I sure do miss him and want to see him face to face and really catch up. Hopefully, over spring break.

I also, FINALLY had my last cigarette this morning. I've been down to 3 a day (not at work) since New Year's and vowed to quit when I finished my last pack which was this morning. The hardest habit was smoking at work and I've already beaten that, so the rest should come easier. I've quit several times and it seems that I got about 6 months and start again. If I really am committed to being healthy (and not stinky) I need to quit for good.