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.