okay...I'm back.

Sorry about that brief moment of weirdness. You know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, I'm back and my blog is back available to anyone who wishes to read about what I ate for lunch two days ago, or how many days I've gone without hot water. :)

So, I'm thinking of moving to a new/different blog. I will let y'all know for sure. Sorry for all the changes. I haven't been doing very good with this blog lately, and I really want to get back into things, but for several reasons I'm considering changing things up a bit.

Bear with me while I figure it out. I'll be sure to let you know, asap.

Thanks!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this news:

This is what I awoke to via text this morning.

WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 PM MDT THURSDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 PM MDT THURSDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

RAIN SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING AND THEN CHANGE TO SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA INTO THURSDAY. SNOW MAY BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 8 TO 14 INCHES WITH HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE IN SOME AREAS. GUSTY NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS WILL PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES FROM WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
PEOPLE PLANNING TRAVEL ACROSS NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. ROADS WILL BECOME SNOW COVERED BY HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW. CHAIN LAWS WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAIN PASSES FOR SEMI-TRAILERS AND BUSES... AND ROADS CLOSURES WILL BE POSSIBLE. TRAVEL WILL BECOME VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY... TAKE ALONG A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT.

More Information
... EARLY SEASON WINTER STORM FOR NORTHERN COLORADO TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...

A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WILL DEVELOP NEAR THE FOUR CORNERS WEDNESDAY AND THEN MOVE SLOWLY EASTWARD ACROSS THE SOUTHERN COLORADO--NORTHERN NEW MEXICO BORDER AREA THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE STORM SYSTEM WILL THEN SWING NORTHEAST ACROSS EASTERN COLORADO THURSDAY. THIS STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS... FOOTHILLS... URBAN CORRIDOR AND NORTHEAST PLAINS. IN ADDITION TO THE SNOW... GUSTY NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS WILL ALSO DEVELOP WHICH WILL PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES.



ohhhhh, GREAT! Looks like it's going to be me riding the bus for the next several days.

cuts, wedding stuff, and other random adventures**

**and by adventures I really mean totally boring and only slightly interesting information about what's been going on in my life. :)

haha!

So, Saturday I was cutting the plastic vacuum-sealed wrap from a turkey breast that was being marinated in cajun seasonings. I was cutting towards my body, which my mama always taught me NOT to do, but either I was having a momentary moment of rebellion (YEAH! TAKE THAT, MAMA!) or I was having and idiot moment. Sure enough, as soon as the though popped into my head, " you shouldn't be cutting towards you're body, the knife could slip." guess what happened?? The knife slipped. OOPS.

I felt it cut my hand in between my pointer and second fingers, but I wasn't sure how bad it was. I grabbed my hand and ran over to the sink, expecting blood to start pouring. But, it didn't. I rinsed the cut and finally built up the courage to look at it and it was not THAT deep. Deeper than a regular cut, but not deep enough to need stitches.

Oh, well, lesson learned. Mama laughed at me when I told her that I knew I shouldn't have been doing it. I think she was just so surprised to hear that something she taught me stuck with me. haha!

Also, I had a wedding to help produce/co-ordinate. Here are some pictures. I was pretty proud of myself...and of course, Jen, who was the co-coordinator. haha.

This is the mantle/mantel (I never know how to spell that word) that Jennifer designed. I thought it was really lovely and rustic.

These were the little hay decorations we made. :) hehee

And Jennifer made these signs that showed the wedding route. They were just like this one but said "wedding" on them. soo cute!

Here's one of (L to R) Jules, me and Jennifer. I have no idea why I don't have one of the three of us with the bride.

And this is Jodi, the bride. She was truly beautiful!

We had a great time! The wedding was in NC and it was really lovely that time of year in the area. Aside from the supposed bears lurking in the mountains, I can see the appeal of living there!

Anyway, I'm going to try to get in a habit of blogging again, so check back and check often!

Talk to y'all later!

~K

I have not abandoned you!! (nor made my blog private!)

I've just been a bad, BAD girl when it comes to blogging!! OOPS.

Anyway, I'm back and I have a funny story to tell. If you have facebook you probably already heard about this, but I thought it'd be funny to tell the whole story.

So, on Friday, October 2nd I was running late to work that morning. I remember that I was going to text my boss and tell him I'd be a few minutes late but when I picked up my cell I saw that I had a text waiting. It was my boss texting me to tell me he was going to be late. OOPS. I guess that means I had better be on time! So, I rushed to work and made it with 10 minutes to walk to the clinic from parking and get everything open before patients arrive. I remember pulling into the parking garage and looking at the time and it was 7:50 on the dot. I noticed as I was getting out and putting on my coat (yes, it's cold in the AM's in Colorado!! brrrr!) there was a man who looked as though he didn't belong in the garage. He was at the far end of my level and was wearing a big, bulky blue jacket and a blue "toboggan" (winter hat) and was walking reeaaaaaally slow and whistling. I remember thinking that he didn't look like he was supposed to be there because I work in a professional/medical setting, so everyone is either wearing business clothes or scrubs/medical attire. He was wearing neither. And I remember thinking how odd it was that he was walking SO slow when it was so close to 8 am. Anyway, he walked into the stairwell about 5 seconds ahead of me and I couldn't tell if he went up or down, so I took the elevator. I didn't want to risk running into him if he WAS up to no good.

So, I rushed into the office and didn't think another thing about it.

Jules came and picked me up at work at 3 because we were going to look at this apartment complex that we LOVED and if we were happy with it we were going to go ahead and get the paperwork started to move there. Well, of course we loved it and so we were there from 3:30 until about 4:45. At that time we headed back to my work (which, by the way, is going to be about a 5-7 minute drive!!! instead of the 45 minute drive I have now!!) So, I go get my car and Jules is following me out of the campus and she calls my cell and says that my rear license place is missing. I was like, WHAT?? so I pulled over and sure enough the rear plate is gone! So, I go back to the parking garage where I parked that morning and call the campus police and they come and we file a report and the policeman is going to look at the surveillance tapes for that day and see what he can find out. So, I go home (Friday) and I'm totally not worried about it because it never occurred to me that that crazy man from that morning might have taken my tag.

Saturday I had to get up and come into work to finish up some things that I didn't get finished. I also wanted to listen to the Alabama game and I couldn't get the Internet radio to work at our house. So, I came into work for about 4 hours and then went to the grocery store and then went home. When I got home my tag was laying up against a column on my porch. I immediately got scared thinking that that crazy man had found out where I lived. I called the city police (remember that the police who originally filed the report were campus police) and asked the city police what they thought about it. They said, "we do not take these things lightly." They filled out paperwork to have extra patrols drive around our house daily and nightly and also have an officer come by the house. Feeling a little relieved I locked myself in the house and started thinking. Well, after a little while it started bugging me that the plate just "showed up" so I started knocking on neighbors' doors.

Oh, by the way. Have I mentioned how nice our neighbors are?? No?? well, that's because THEY'RE NOT!! I knocked on every single door and even though I COULD SEE THEM IN THE WINDOW, they wouldn't open the door.

Well, I was thinking if one of my neighbors found this plate and put it on my porch then they might see me outside and come out and tell me they did it. So, I walked around our part of the complex like 15 minutes--around and around and around and around. Hoping that someone would see me and come out! I looked pretty silly just walking around. I tried to seem more casual by looking at the ground as though I was looking for the screws that went with my tag. (oh, I'm sure that looked SUPER casual!) Anyway, there is one lady who lives like 5 doors down who is friendly. We've seen her a few times when we've been apoxy-ing jules' side-view mirror back on or trying to pull up the broken window on her passenger side. (wow, that was a very redneck sentence!) Anyway, she came out (finally!) and told me that she found my tag FRIDAY MORNING right after I pulled out of my spot! oops!

So, I had to call the campus police and tell them to "please don't waste man-hours on looking at surveillance...there won't be anything there!"
I had to call the city police and tell them that they can better spend their time on real criminals instead of my make-believe ones.

OOPS.

I was supposed to be born on Labor Day...

Did you know that? Probably not. But, yes, my due date was labor day back in 1984...but my mama had me 3 weeks early. Thank goodness for that, too, because I was already 8lbs 9oz. I would have just about killed my mama. She would have thought she was birthing a baby pig!! :) haha, maybe that's why I liked pigs so much growing up.

Anyway, I had the BEST labor day weekend. On Thursday (which technically doesn't count towards the weekend) me and Jules went had had our hair(s) cut. **i never know how to write that when I'm talking about two people getting hair cuts** ANYWAY...they looked really good, and even though mine is not quite what I was looking for..it's still pretty. Over the weekend I worked on how to fix it and I think I've got it figured out now.

Friday we went to a couple apartment appointments to check out new places to live and we found THE ONE. We loved it...I'll include more about that when it gets closer to time, but just know that we are SOOOO excited to move now!

Saturday I did a little grocery shopping so that we had food in our house again and I just did a few things around the house. I laid out a little bit, but it started getting rainy, so I logged in some time on the weeeeee.

Sunday I made Taco soup...which basically is a million different types of beans, corn, and ground turkey/hamburger. And lots of taco seasonings. It's soooooo good, but it gives your intestines a nice little workout (if you know what I mean ;-D) Then, I did a little laundry and went out to the pool. I read and relaxed and did a whole lotta nothing...

Then, MONDAY! oh, lovely Monday! I found a new heavenly past time! I got in the pool...right at the 4 foot mark, and I stood at the edge with the water right below my shoulders and I read on the side of the pool! it was soooo wonderful! I did that for about an hour and I only got out because my stomach was eating my backbone (I was starving!). That's all I could think about--how lovely reading from inside the pool was!! But I got a little sunburned and thought it best to NOT go back out into the blazing sun.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is I had a lovely weekend...the only thing that would have made it better would have been if it were Memorial Day weekend instead of Labor Day. :(

Weeeeee have fun.

So, for my birthday my mom and sister bought me a W*ii. And I must tell you--I LOVE THAT THING! Heather has had one for a long time, and every time I went home I would play it every chance I got. I am seriously amazed by the technology. So, then she sold it to Stevie, and this last time I was home I played "his" every chance I got. So, they surprised me by buying me one!

I had to hook it up in Jules' room, because the TV in my bedroom (which rarely gets used, so I'm really not sure why it's even in there) is from 1982. It still has the wood paneling on the sides. Nice, eh? Anyway, it doesn't have the correct hook-ups. The TV in the living room is hooked up with Ti*Vo and they say that you shouldn't hook the "weeeee" up with Ti*vo because it will cause a 1-2 second delay in your movements. That's just what we want, right? To swing at a baseball and two seconds later the bat actually swings. STRIKE THREE...YOU'RE OUT!!

So, anyway. It's hooked up in Jules' room and she's kind enough to let me sit in there and play. Sometimes she's even asleep and I play. You'll hear me in there grunting or yelping at my fights in Indiana Jones...or whatever game I might be playing. It's so fun!! I have the best time. Too bad the money in Deal or No Deal isn't real, because I'd be sitting pretty right now. Anyway, my point is that I am enjoying the Weeeee so much!!

Me and Jules play shooting targets or balloons, we play bowling, baseball, golf. It's all just SO FUN!! I just don't see how I'll ever get tired of it! I feel like a 13 year old boy who just got his first X-box. haha!

I'm movin' on up...

Ever since it was raining in our kitchen we have been having landlord issues. He's such a nice guy, and for the first two years we lived in our current residence he was beyond helpful. But this last year has been hard for him...hard on the economy...just plain hard. He lost his job in like December, right before the flood, so he was equally stressed about the water problems. The flood stuff is taken care of, but the way that it was handled by the HOA and HUD was sub-optimal. Anyway, since the flood we've consistently been having trouble getting ahold of our landlord. We only had a cell number, because his email address was through his previous job. He got another job fairly quickly, and was apparently busy busy busy at work. We called him on his cell several times and left messages regarding the hot water heater not working (this was around Feb/March.) It took him several weeks to come fix it...meaning several weeks of waking up at 3:30 am to make sure the pilot light was lit, so that I'd have hot water for a shower before work. Several weeks of never being sure that we'd have hot water for anything, and several weeks of the heat being hit or miss. It was really frustrating. Finally he came and fixed it.

In May, when the pool opened we called him about getting the pool pass and code. They give the info to the owners, and it's the owners' responsibility to pass out the info to their tenants. Anyway, I couldn't ever get him to answer the phone. I put a note in the rent check. I called several times. I spent at least 3 weekends inside at the beginning of the summer because he wouldn't even call back. Instead he came by, didn't ring the doorbell/knock and stuck a newsletter with two ladies phone numbers on it on the door. Those ladies ended up being the ones to call about the pool.

Lately, the hot water heater is fritzing out again. This morning I took a very very cold shower. One thing people who know me well know is that I don't like to be cold. So you can imagine how well the shower went this morning.

Anyway, all this is to say that in the past culmination of events we've decided to move. I know what you're thinking: I thought you were moving back to AL???

The answer is simple: we are. But it's not the time, right now. The economy...my job is going really good...it's just not right. When it's time, God will let us know. So, for now, we're staying. And moving.

We live right now about 45 minutes from my job, and about 1 hour from Jules' job. When it snows this is just doubled so we've decided to move closer to our jobs! I'm really really excited about it.

Our first meeting with an apartment complex is Friday. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm SO excited!! :)

Gooooaaaaaaaaal!

Ok, so this will be my last (hopefully, because I'm sure you're tired of hearing about it) post about my weight loss. I just wanted to post because I have officially reached and passed my goal.

So, I have lost a total (as of today) of 44.6 pounds. I am going to keep losing until I reach 55 pounds total loss.

Anyway, here are the inches lost during these past months:

Neck: lost 1.5 inches

Bust: lost 8 inches

Waist: lost 11.5

Hips: lost 10 inches

Thighs: 5 inches each leg

That equals a total of 36 inches in my whole body. I moved from a size 20 jeans to a size 14 and I'm working my way to a size 12.

I'm really proud of myself. I feel like for the first time in my life I'm actually doing it! I thank God for that study that got me started on this journey!

Anyway, here's a before picture:

And here's a current picture:

I'm so much happier! I feel much more like myself now. When I look in the mirror I'm not disgusted anymore (and that's somethin', y'all!).

So thank you for your encouragement. Thank you to That Chick, who inspired me to try. Thank you to God for keeping me motivated. I'm just so much happier! I feel like nothing can hold me back now...So thank you, guys, because your support has meant more than I can say!

Random Ramblings...

A patient asked me today if I cycled. I laughed and had a flashback of my first and last cycling adventure.

When I told him the story he laughed really hard. Apparently he's an avid cyclist and that was just the funniest thing he'd ever heard. I told him the fact that I have a bicycle seat permanently lodged in my hind end might sound like an advantage, but oh no--it's not.

Also, I feel like I might be sick and because of that I took some chewable pepto bismol and that made me feel even worse. So right now I am waiting on the time to tick away until I can go home and hopefully not throw up.

And lastly to report today, I did another inpatient study yesterday where they took some fat from my hip/lower back. I told her she could just keep on sucking it out if she wanted, but now that I can feel how sore I am, I'm glad she opted not to suck ALL my fat out. OUCH! i don't know how people actually have REAL liposuction.

OK, i really am feeling kind of sick. Perhaps heather passed on her virus to me. I better go. Post more tomorrow. :)

un-bee-levable

Yesterday I forgot my breakfast. Since I've been changing my eating habits, one habit I've had to add is eating breakfast. So, sometimes when I forget my breakfast I have to run across the street to a "cafeteria"-type building on campus and I just stop by there on my walk in to work and pick up a little to-go bowl of cereal. Yesterday's choice was plain Total cereal with a little skim milk. So, I get my bowl of cereal and I'm walking to my office when I (stupidly) walk under what I call the "bee-tree." I have no idea why, but there's a particular tree here on campus that is SWARMING with bees. I mean, that tree looks like it's moving because there are so many bees flying in/around it. I typically avoid the tree altogether by walking on the other side of the street. My only past experience with bees was getting stung on the buttocks while attending a Hot Air Balloon Festival a few years ago, so I wanted to avoid any future run-in's with The Bees. Yesterday morning I suppose I was so enthralled with my yummy cereal that I moseyed on under the tree while in route to my office. BIG MISTAKE.

As I passed under the tree a bee started buzzing around my face and I immediately lost my cool. Since I had my big heavy purse on my shoulder and my cereal in my one hand and my spoon (of course!) in the other, i started BLOWING at the bee. So here I am, standing still as a pole, blowing at a bee, trying to get it to go away. Then when that didn't work I started taking steps backwards--while STILL blowing at the bee. Needless (probably) to say neither of those things worked, so I dropped my purse and set (calmly) my cereal on the ground and then took off running. I zigged and zagged and weaved and bobbed....and that darn bee was keeping up with me the whole way. In fact, he was flying circles around my head and I am pretty sure I heard him saying, "HAHA! YOU THINK YOU CAN OUT RUN ME?? I'M GOING TO STINK YOU IN THE BUTTOCKS!" It was really scary. So here I am, in my professional environment, with my stuff splayed on the sidewalk running, ducking, and zig-zagging, while trying to get out of the grasp of this stubborn bee. I'm pretty sure I was the picture of competence for all my eye clinic patients.

Well, regardless of how stupid I looked, it worked, because eventually the bee was no longer buzzing in my face. I calmly straightened my shirt, brushed the sweat off my brown, and walked back to my purse and cereal. I picked up my purse and slung it over my shoulder...picked up my cereal and began eating as though nothing had happened.

I *might* have put a protective hand over my buttocks the rest of the way to my office. Once you get stung in the butt, you don't risk it again.

Please excuse my absence...

Ok! Hi...remember me? My name is KrustyLynn and apparently I have dropped off the face of the Earth this past month. OOPS. Sorry!

Anyway, I'm back in the swing of things and I have lots to tell about. The first thing I want to tell you about is...

(drumroll please...)

...no seriously...drumroll.....

OK, I reached my goal of losing 40 pounds and am currently sitting at 41 pounds. I was at 42.2, but I had a bit of birthday cake...anyway, I am going to do my measurements and then do ONE post about the differences and such...then hopefully you won't have to hear me talk about it much anymore. I am going to keep trying to lose until I've lost 50-55 pounds, so that I have a little bit of leeway towards staying under a particular weight over the years. But that will be a more gradual loss...

Anyway, that brings me to my second announcement...I had a birthday!! I turned 25 on August 11. Yay! It's really not that big of a deal, but I got to spend my birthday with my family and that was really fun! I had a great time with them! I would also like to announce that Heather is basically on the brink of needing a walker because she's so elderly and frail. Ha! just kidding, Heather! Just had to throw that in there since you turned 29!!! this year. haha!

Business at work has really really picked up. I typically blog while I'm at work (shhhh!) but lately I have not had a spare minute to blog...which is why I have been absent for almost a month. But I now have my old laptop back from heather, on which I can use at home to blog! So, yay! hopefully no more slacker Krusty. :)

This weekend we have company coming into town--friends. I'm excited about it...but there's LOTS to do. Jules has been working like 10 or 11 days straight with no day off, so she's been trying to rest whenever she can--poor thing. So there will be mass cleaning and laundry efforts over the next two days. I have no idea why I didn't work on some of it over the weekend! duh!

And, soon I am going to start reading the Ha*rry P*ott*er series. I have checked out the first two books from the library, but I haven't gotten a chance to start them. I have been told that if I enjoyed T*wili*ght then I would enjoy these, so I'm really excited to start them.

And I have a patient coming in now, so I have to go. But I promise I will make a better effort to write every day if possible!! I miss you guys!!

Just Plane Scared

I used to hate to fly. Now I fly enough where I'm used to it and I guess I'm a little less nervous each time I fly. The first time I went home to visit my family (after I moved to CO) it was a surprise for my mom. My sister told her they were going to pick up a friend of Heather's and then instead it was me! Mom loved that! Anyway...So, this was like October of 2007 and it was the first trip home I could make since moving in January 2007. I flew with NW airlines I think and the plane was very small. Two seats on each side of the aisle. So, the first leg of the flight was to Memphis, then from Memphis to North AL. My assigned seat placed me right next to a very attractive guy about 3-4 years older than me. I remember he had some faint tropical accent and he was very nice. Once I got settled he made small talk with me and we chatted about where we were headed. He, too, was headed to North AL. Neat! I thought.

I had brought a book to read to try to take my mind off of being scared of flying. I hadn't started reading yet, mostly because Mr. McFriendly next to me was just chatting me up. So, about 45 minutes into the 3 hour flight we hit a little turbulence...it was out of the blue really. I had no warning (not even the seat belt light) that the plane was about to feel like it was plunging to my death.

Without warning (did I mention there was no warning?) the plane takes a serious nosedive and my wonderful knee-jerk reaction was to GRAB THE LEG of Mr. McFriendly.

Now, hold up. Let's pause for a second. I am a very shy person when it comes to men/boys. I get embarrassed and flustered. In fact, I get flustered when a boy has his shirt off, mostly because I don't know where to look. I don't touch boys, or hug them unless I have to because I feel shy and embarrassed. So, keep that in mind as we go back to our story...

I GRABBED MR. MCFRIENDLY'S LEG--no, no, not just his leg...his thigh. I saw what I was doing and my brain was screaming, "LET GO!!! LET GO OF HIS LEG!!ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" but I couldn't force my hand to actually let go. All of it happened really fast. Before I knew it the plane was horizontal again and all was good...except, I very quickly snatched my hand back, turned towards Mr. McFriendly, and said, "Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry. I'm really sorry." And you know what he did? He smiled his McFriendly smile and said, "Oh, that's okay. That was pretty scary for a second." and I swear I heard a {ping} off his teeth when he smiled at me. Well, I was humiliated. I mean, utter embarrassment. I grabbed my book and started pretending to read so he would stop looking at me and talking to me. I am sure my face was beet red. And what did Mr. McFriendly do? OH, he kept talking to me. He wanted to make sure I didn't feel embarrassed or flustered OR he wanted to make sure I continued to feel embarrassed (I'm not sure which one) because he WOULDN'T! STOP! TALKING ABOUT IT!! oh gosh!

So, when we stopped in Memphis he said to me, "maybe we'll be assigned seats next to each other on the next flight too. That way if you get scared there'll be a friendly face."

I smiled, praying, "God, I know you have a sense of humor, but please don't let it be in the form of sitting next to this guy again!" Thankfully, I was not seated next to him on the next flight. He looked genuinely disappointed. CRAZY!

Now when I fly, I only fly South*west. Luckily with South*west you don't have assigned seats--so you know what I do? I look for a seat next to an empty one, or if I have to sit next to someone, I try to find a woman. (or at least an older guy.) There's no way I'm going to have some Friendly thinking I'm making a move on the airplane just because we're dying again!

Sleepy Sweet Home Alabama, Roll Tide Roll...

That title doesn't really have anything to do with anything, except my post is going to be about the dream I had last night (sleepy) and there's a song that says that in the chorus. Me being an absolute UA fan loves it because it says "roll tide" in it. :)

Anyway, occasionally I have dreams that haunt me a little bit after I have them. They'll be the kind that you wake up during and you vividly remember and they won't leave your head all day! I hate that! Especially when they are about something you try not to think about. Sometimes I dream about my dad and that makes me mad b/c I don't like devoting any brain cells towards thinking of him.

Anyway, (side-track sally) Last night I dreamed about having a boyfriend. I am not really looking for a boyfriend...I'm not really worried about boys/having a boyfriend. I don't decide my wealth/worth based on a boyfriend/boys. I am trusting God for my future...and that includes boyfriend material. But. Yesterday there was a little bit of drama in Jules' family life that included lots of talking and thinking about fiances and boyfriends. I devoted a lot of thought to these particular subjects yesterday and I think that's why I dreamed of them.

So, in my dream I had this boyfriend and everyone liked him. Jules really liked him, and they were really good friends (which is perfect). And in the dream i was taking him home to meet my family. His name in the dream was Mike, but he wasn't any Mike I've ever met, so I wasn't projecting anyone from my real life into my dream. Anyway, we went to introduce him to my family and they hit it off immediately. Him and my brother got along, he played with my nieces and even played basketball with my nephew (who was like 8 in the dream, so it was far in the future. funny that I just remembered that part!) He chatted it up with my mom and sister and they really liked him. I remember he was a really good guy who had a healthy fear of God and I remember in one part of the dream him making me laugh so hard I had tears rolling down my face. I think he prayed to bless our meal at suppertime.

Most of the time I (thank God) don't spend much thought on my future boyfriend/husband. I truly trust God to take care of that area. I'd rather wait (and possibly be single for the rest of my life) than to rush into something and it not be what God had planned for me and me be either miserable or get hurt. I honestly don't worry about it. I have full faith that God has my future in his hands. BUT, when I dream things like that...and it was so perfect...it makes me think about it too much. I don't like to think about it b/c when I'm thinking about it it makes me feel like I'm not trusting God to take care of it. Isn't that crazy?? I'm crazy. Much too hard on myself most of the time. I mean, really--who has control over what they dream!?

Anyway, my point (oh, you HAD one?? i had no idea!) is that I think that God was using this dream to show me what I might have if I just keep trusting him. I think that it was a picture into how happy I can be if I allow God to bring that person into my life. So, although the dream got me thinking about boyfriends and stuff...it also reminded me that God is in control--and if I trust him, I can truly have something spectacular!

I think I'll hold onto that, instead of the dream. :)

Wongs, Pancakes, and (FINALLY) the dancing Grandma!

I'm sorry I haven't been around lately. I just haven't gotten back in the swing of things. I'm trying to get back to things...

So, today we saw a patient who had to come in to the office fasting, so she had to eat her breakfast before we could start the visit so that her blood sugar didn't go low. So, she pulls out her breakfast while I'm taking her history and she's got CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES!! oh my.

I very calmly and nicely told her that I might hip-check her and steal her pancakes. She laughed...until she realized I might be serious, then she just gobbled her pancakes down. I think she really was a little nervous.

Then while we were doing a visual field test she had to wear what we oh-so-very-professionally call a "pirate patch" and her mom got out her camera and the girl posed and said "arrrg" to the camera! it was sooo funny. This girl was like 18 and such a good sport!!

Tonight I'm going to the Sugarland/Keith Urban concert! I'm really excited. If i get any good pictures I'll post them. I still have yet to figure out how to post that video of the granny dancing. I'll try to post it in this blog, but if it doesn't work someone tell me so I can take it off. :)

So there go...we'll see if it works. There's lot of me and Julie laughing on the video...and the main voice you hear is Jules. She was holding the camera.

In other news, poor Jules has been having lots of trouble with her carpal tunnel or whatever the problem is and last night she only slept a couple hours. I would wake up and she'd be just bawling her eyes out because of the pain. The only way she could sleep was sitting up. Isn't that just the saddest thing you've ever heard?? Okay, not the saddest you've ever heard, but still. She's going to go to the Workman's Comp doctor as soon as she can file a report at work. :) Poor thing!!

And the last thing that is probably WAYYYYY too much info, but it made me laugh:

I wore pants the other day that were the kind of pants that you can REALLY see lumpy underwear lines on. I typically don't care, nor do I worry about that sort of thing...but these were the "weight-loss pants" and I was really excited to wear them...but they weren't very thick pants and you could see my lumpy behind and my squishy panty-lines...So, I don't own the kind of underwear that you need to wear for that sort of problem. You know...Wongs. (go with me...I don't want people googling that other word). I don't own a wong. So, you know what i did? I took my current underwear and I gave myself a wedgie. I walked around with yards and yards of fabric tucked into my...umm...bottom. All day. I have never felt such sweet relief as when I un-wedgied myself that night when I changed clothes!

Ok...enough of that. I hope that was funny and not offensive. Sorry. :)

Marco?

Hi.

Someone from Corinth, Mississippi visits my blog.

Um, hi. Who are you?

The reason I ask is because I know people in Corinth...and I wonder if you're them.

I'd just like to know.

If you don't want to comment and leave your name, please email me and tell me who you are. If you want. If you don't want to, then I'll just pretend we never had this little conversation.

Thanks! Tootles!

Big News

I have big news. So big, in fact, that I forgot to tell you!!

I went to the doctor just miserable the other day, saying that they had to help me with my allergies or send me to a specialist, because I was literally SICK everyday from them.

They upped my dosages, added new meds, and put me on short-term steroids. And guess what?


I haven't sneezed in 4 days. FOUR DAYS!? If you know me, and know that I sneeze like 150 + times a day, you know how huge this is. Heather can attest to the fact that I have been a high-number sneezer since I can remember. As far back as my memory goes I have sneezed and sneezed and sneezed.

There's not a time in my life I can remember going more than hours without sneezing. It's a big deal, y'all!

the 4th of July was FUNNY!

Oh, man, I had a great 4th of July! I really didn't do much...went for a swim that morning and then it clouded up so I just went back inside. Then I lounged around and read for the rest of the day until it was time to go to the Community 4th of July Celebration! yay! It's illegal to have/shoot fireworks here in CO, which is totally foreign to me because in AL you can shoot them anytime you want...heck! You can shoot them at each other if you want, and no one cares. But here, I guess it's too dry and the potential for wildfires is too great, so you cannot shoot them off. Thus, all the different suburbs have these community celebrations. Ours was so nice and relaxing.



It had rained most of the afternoon, though, and I forgot about the ground being wet. So, instead of going to walmart or something to get a plastic tarp, we just put trash bags down under our sitting blankets. It worked out pretty good, but the plastic made the blanket really slippery and so everytime we moved we were shifting the blanket or the plastic. It started raining again during the thing anyway, so it didn't matter...we all ended up damp.



A funny thing happened while we were at the celebration. We arrived around 6:30 and placed our blankets in an open space right behind a family that was having a cookout. The rules say that you cannot bring grills to the celebration but people did anyway. This family was a grandma, about 4 daughters, one of those daughters brought her husband and son. They were all, let's say, 25ish and older (except the son, of course, he was like 13). And let me tell you! Grandma was getting down!! We secretly took a video with my digital camera of grandma dancing, and it was SOOOO funny! I'm not really super-techno-savvy so I'll have to figure out how to upload it, then I'll show y'all. This family was sooooo funny! they were just getting down! But, you know what? They were just having the BEST time with one another! That's what was important!

There was a family behind us that had three small dogs...two yorkies and one cha-weenie and they just barked and barked and barked at people walking by. It made us feel better because Westin is such a sweet dog, but he barks his head off at people! it's really embarrassing! So, we made sure these ladies knew we knew how they felt, and not to worry about their barking bothering us.

I started this post on Monday, and now I can't remember what the point was.

Sidetrack Sally.

A really funny thing happened at work today, in regards to a service dog that a patient had with her, so remind me to tell you that story tomorrow!! It'll at least give me something interesting to write about and it'll give you something to look forward to. :-D

Oh, and P.S. I've lost 33 pounds. :)

So True...sooo true.

I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments
thatI'm gonna remember most,
yeahJust gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on'

Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving,
keep climbing
Keep the faith,
babyIt's all about,
it's all about the climb
Keep the faith,
keep your faith.

--Miley Cyrus, "The Climb"


I couldn't have said it better myself, y'all.

Single at 25?! that's crazy! (not!)

Do you know--as a child/teen I always thought I'd be married by 25. Seriously. I just thought that would be the absolute oldest I'd be when I married. But honestly, I thought it would happen MUCH before then.

But I also thought that if I could just get Lance Bass to meet me once then he'd fall head over heels in love with me.

Turns out that wouldn't have worked anyway. hahah!

God has taught me in a very personal way that He has someone special for me...that he's being molded and fine-tuned specifically for me and I for him. So, it's not that I am afraid or even worried that I'll never have my day...but it's really funny to think about. It's funny to me that I just knew I'd rather die than be single at 25 (like that was sooooo old).

I also thought that I'd never be fat, then metabolism caught up with me.
I thought that Colorado was under 6 feet of snow all year-round.
I thought that the Everglades were the Alps.
I thought that if I stuck my key in the cigarette lighter in the car that it would heat up my key (let me tell you--i was wrong about that one! POW!)
I thought that Billy Ray Cyrus's mullet was just the cutest thing.
I thought that if I put my finger in the same hole we had just spent 30 minutes getting my finger out of, that this time it wouldn't get stuck.
I thought that flannel shirts over overalls was the cutest thing I could wear.
I thought that Mark Chestnut waved at me at a concert when I was like 11. I swore he did.
I thought that me and my siblings would never get along.
I thought I'd never grow into my teeth.
I thought that the worst thing that could ever happen to me was getting "pantsed" at soccer practice.
I thought that if I prayed hard enough then Cissy wouldn't die.
I thought that my problems stemmed from my small town in AL, and that if I just moved away then life would be different...better.
I thought that high school was the best time of my life.
I thought that college was the best time of my life.
I thought that Guy Williams was the man I was meant to be with, and that he was just born a few decades too early.

It's funny how things you're just sure of sometimes turn out to be CRAZY later.

You're everything I'd hoped for....You're everything I neeeeeeeed....

I have wanted to see T*he P*rop*osal ever since I saw the previews in the theater back in April. I remember each time I saw the trailor after that first time I laughed as though it was the first time! I have been so excited to see it, and I worried that because of my excitement and anticipation that I would be disappointed.

I went last night to see it...


I was NOT disappointed! It was SO good and sooooooo funny! I laughed so much.

I think it even moved up into my #1. favorite movie. Bumping T*he H*oliday and H*ann*ah Mon*tana back a few spots! It was so good.

And because I hope you'll enjoy it...here's the trailor. I hope you laugh as much as I did--and if you do think it's funny please consider going to see it--because (if it's possible) it's much funnier in totality. :)

Very Funny<--click here!

Groceries Galore!

Yesterday was the first time in 2 months I've had to go shopping for groceries. I remembered (rather quickly) why I don't like to go grocery shopping. This time wasn't SO bad because Jules had cooked a wonderful supper before we left and so we were full. Also, we had written out a list, that sort of comprised of foods that we can make several meals out of. :) It was a very productive trip, but we walked around a lot and the little incision where they did my muscle biopsy was getting really sore. To ice that cake, when we got back to the car we noticed that someone had hit Julie's side-view mirror and knocked it off! She was not very happy about it (as you can imagine.) Unfortunately for Jules, I had been bitten by the ticklebug and couldn't stop laughing about her mirror just hanging there by it's wires. I really thought it was funny. She REALLLY didn't.

So, today she'll be calling the insurance company to see if they'll fix it since someone hit it and didn't leave a note or anything! RUDE PEOPLE! Also, she's having a little trouble with her BRAND NEW cell phone, so during my lunch break we're going to take it back and see if they'll give her another one. I am going with her because she's not very assertive and I can be if the need arises, so just in case "Punk Kritty" will be on standby. :)

**Punk Kritty is my alter ego. The assertive, slightly irritated, and a little bit pushy side of me that comes out when people are being rude. Or when standing up for yourself or someone else is warranted. ***

ha. I really am a little weird.

There are people interviewing for a couple open positions in the clinic next door to mine. I feel so sorry for them!! I've had some really good interviews and a couple really bad interviews. I am just so thankful that I have a job and I don't have to interview right now. Interviews are so nerve-wrecking! You sit there, trying to seem casual and confident, and flip through an educational magazine that you care nothing about. Then they FINALLY call your name and you jump up as though you're names being called for a lottery prize! You follow the person into a room full of strangers just waiting to pick you apart. And those are the GOOD interviews! hahah! I'm just kidding. sort of.

The worst interview I ever had was before I got this job. I was trying to get a job doing office supply/purchasing and although I didn't have any experience they thought that I was teachable and wanted me to come in for an interview. I answered all the questions and was very nice and polite and I thought things were going really well. Somewhere along the way the woman interviewing me decided that I was not right for the job...so she interrupted one of my answers to a question she had JUST asked and tells me that she's not going to be hiring me. That I'm a nice girl but just not right for the job. And because I was caught completely off guard I started tearing up. I was embarrassed and just wanted to leave, but OH NO! She had other plans. She proceeded to tell me every little area that I was not qualified and goes on and on about how I'm so nice and she's just sure I'll get a job somewhere! Thanks a lot, lady! I was totally humiliated!

Interviewing is really hard anyway, and here they make it even harder. The doctor next door (not the one I work for, thankfully) asks you weird questions that catch you off guard in an interview. How would you like to be sitting there, confident and prepared, and get asked, "Do you love your mom and dad?" or, "Do you think women can be as good a doctor as men?" SERIOUSLY??? those aren't interview questions. And he might even ask where you live, so that he knows how far away you are and he might not hire you just because you live more than 10 miles from work and traffic or whatever might cause you to be late.

I didn't have to interview with him, because I don't work for him. But my roommate did and I feel so sorry for the little chaps sitting in the waiting room right now thinking that this is the opportunity they've been waiting for.

Is it wrong to slip them a note that reads, "RUN AWAY!!!" :) hhaha. just kidding.


sort of.

Hi. Remember me?

Hey Y'all! I'm so sorry I've been so absent! I hope each of you are doing well! I've missed you, but life has just caught up with me and it took me a while to get on top of things. I'm finally getting back into my routine!

So, yesterday was my final day of my weight loss study. In total I lost 27 pounds. YAY! Here's a picture so you can see the before and after. If you have Facebook then you've already seen this, but just in case. :)

Anyway, I feel pretty good about the progress, and I hope to continue my weight loss journey. The truth is that I'm having a hard time reminding myself that I CAN do this. That I've BEEN doing it and I can KEEP doing it. Just because the study is gone. That's the factor that's trying to trip me up. But I'm going to do it. Watch and see...

And stay tuned...I won't disappear again! :)

it's raining...it's pouring...

I wish I was snoring!!!! I am so sleepy today!! And it's so rainy outside. I love rainy days, and they really are few and far between here. The only downfall is they make it hard(er) to get out of bed in the mornings. It's just so dark and cozy because its rainy and it sounds nice...oh how much I'd give to go back home and crawl into bed!! :)

Anyway, Yesterday was the last day of the "diet phase" of my study. Now I move on to the "maintenance phase" where I cannot gain or lose more than 2 pounds from my weight on the 31st. So, in total since I started I have lost 26.6 pounds. I am really really pleased with that amount!! :) And once I'm done with this study I'm going to try to start another one where I'm getting paid to exercise! :)

I also want to say that I LOVE the H*anna*h M*ontan*a movie. :) I know. That makes me approximately 13 years old.

And I saw the new movie with Matthew McConaughey and I HATED his character for the first 40 minutes or so. I was so mad. Julie kept saying, "it's just a movie...calm down." but i couldn't because I was FUMING!! But, once the character's story started to affect him, he changed and I didn't hate him anymore. :) That's good...because I'm pretty sure there's no use in hating an unreal, non-existent character in a movie.

Also, my friend Jennifer just got engaged, and her fiancee used MY idea to propose!! :) isn't that just lovely. I can come up with great proposals for other people. lovely. :) I'm just kidding...I know my day will come.

Well, I had better get back to work. It's taken me several hours to write this tiny, mediocre post about nothing, because people keep walking by and I have to minimize quickly! ha! See ya!

Oh, man! What a lot to report...

Well, lets see...I supposed I'll just go in Chronological order...

The trip to the beach was so wonderful! It was just the relaxation I needed. I got to see good friends and had a really good time. I literally spend almost ALL my time laying on the beach reading and napping in the sun! There really truly is NOTHING better than that!

Here are some beach pictures! (Heather, I forgot to show them to the kiddies when I was there, so you'll have to show them! I think if you click on the pictures they'll show up bigger. And yes, there are beaches in AL. The southernmost part of AL is these two little "feet" and those feet form the border between florida and AL and lie on the Gulf Coast. Gulf Shores/Orange Beach is my favorite place to take a vacation!! :)

Here's one more of me and Jules on the beach. Notice we're both covered up...we didn't want to get sunburn on top of sunburn!
Then I went to see my family and that was just wonderful! I got to spend lots of time with everyone and I was sad to go. I got some good pictures of Sarah, and I took the BEST picture with connor, but it was actually on film instead of digital. Anyway, here's one of the ones I took of Sarah:
She's too cute! :)

Then I came back to work and was swamped and swamped!!

But now I'm caught up and I'm getting back into the routine of things. And friday was my 2-year upgrade on my cell phone, and this is the phone I got. It's fancy and I've never had a fancy phone before!

yay! So, anyway. I missed y'all and I plan to spend lots and lots of time on Friday catching up on reading your blogs! :) Hope you're all doing well!!

WHEW!!

OH, man! I had the BEST vacation...

Unfortunately being gone 8 work days has put me underneath a mountain of work to catch up on.

So, for now I'll just tell you that the beach was awesome...my family was awesome...and more info will be coming soon...

So stay tuned!! :)

I missed y'all by the way...all except Heather...because, well--I saw her. :)

It's not 'Goodbye,' it's 'Talk to you Later'

I'm not coming to work tomorrow (Friday the 15th), because my boss said I could take the day off since he wasn't coming in and we don't have any patients. Yay!!

I will be a the beach first...then I'm going to visit my family on the 20th. Unless I get to write from my mom's house (which I probably will) then I'll be silent until the 26th when I return!

have a HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! and I'll see you guys later!!! :)

The Smallest Winner!!

Okay.

One of my favorite favorite favorite shows is The Big*gest L*s*r. :) I think it's one of the most inspiring shows I've ever seen! I have watched like 4 seasons in a row! Last night was the season finale. It was the longest running season, the season with the oldest contestant, the youngest contestant, the sickest contestant and the heaviest man and woman ever on the show. It was the most inspiring, wonderful thing to see what these contestants accomplished in 18 weeks! I felt like a proud mama while watching how good everyone had done!

The three who were in the finals were all people I really liked. I did want two of them to win more than one of them. There was a pink team, a brown team, and a green team. I really wanted brown or green to win, because they had really worked so hard during the season. Pink won. You know what...she looked great. And I was really happy for her...but I felt so sad for the green member. Because Ms. Green literally dominated during the entire season, and she deserved to win. You could see the disappointment on her face. But you could also tell that she was just happy to have lost the weight. So I don't know...I felt sad for her, but happy too.

And that brings me to my weight loss update. I have been eating the same...still doing the study...but I think my body has hit a plateau. I have not lost weight in like a week! It's very frustrating!! Tonight I should get a good bit of walking/running around at the Photo scavenger Hunt we're having with the CommUNITY group and that might boost a little weight loss. Also, when I got to the beach I plan on swimming as much as I can, because swimming is EXCELLENT exercise. So hopefully I'll catch up on my weight loss, but MAN! It's pretty frustrating to get on the scale and see nothing!! Unless, of course, the scale actually said "0" then I might freak out, because although I want to weigh less I don't want to weigh nothing. :)

Be thankful I'm not your mom!

It's no secret that I'm not exactly sure what to do with babies. I learned this lesson when Catie Grace was like 6 months old and Heather went out of town and asked me to babysit. I think I kept her during the day...and when mom came home she helped me with her. I can remember that I didn't know how to get Catherine to fall asleep, and she screamed a lot. A. Lot. And so I would drive around in my car, with her in the carseat, just to get her to sleep. And I can remember using like a whole tank of gas, because I was so tired and I just needed her to sleep.

I was 16.

I wasn't really a kid who babysat for people either. I remember I used to babysit for one of my teachers. Her son was named Jack. I remember thinking it was the cutest name ever for a little boy. Anyway, he was like 9 months to a year old and I remember not really knowing what the heck I was doing. I also remember that the family had just gotten a little white kitten. And since we all know how I feel about baby cats (SATAN!!) you can just imagine how thrilled I was about the baby/cat combo.
One of the Saturdays I was babysitting Jack we played outside for a while and then we went inside because it was the summer and it was in the south and the heat and humidity was stifling. I think it must have been lunch time, because I put Jack in his high chair and went to the kitchen to get some food for him. I can't imagine that I'd give him food to pacify him if it wasn't lunchtime, since I have superior skills with kids. ;-D
Anyway, I remember I warmed him up some little raviolis. They were little bitty and just right for his little hands to pick up and put them in his mouth. But I was afraid of a mess, so I proceeded to try to feed him with a spoon. He did okay at first...then he started grabbing at the spoon instead of eating, thus getting ravioli sauce all over his hands. Then I'd put the ravioli down (on his high chair tray, of course!) and go grab a napkin and he'd be elbow deep in ravioli. He must have been trying to make my life a nightmare because then he started flinging ravioli all around. He was waving his hands in the air like he just didn't care. I remember that the carpet was bright white, and there were little drops of ravioli all over it. I'm pretty sure I decided that Jack had had enough ravioli and I picked him up (probably with two fingers on each hand--he was DIRTY!) and carried him into his bedroom to change his clothes. I knew I was risking major damage by leaving that ravioli to sit for even a few minutes, but I felt like if I let Jack go he'd just make little orange hand prints over the walls, carpet, couch and me--when I fainted from the stress. So, I take him back to his room, take off his clothes (probably spattering ravioli sauce all over the wall) and change his clothes, wipe him down, and then go back to the kitchen to clean up the carpet. I remember someone telling me that baby wipes would clean almost anything, so I came armed with baby wipes to try to clean ravioli off the white white white carpet.
When I came back to the high chair...I couldn't find any ravioli spots. All the spots were gone! What happened??
You know what happened? That devil cat came behind us and ate every bit of ravioli off the floor, and he must have really liked it, or been really hungry (maybe I was supposed to feed him too!!) because he sucked all the sauce from the carpet. Not a spot was left.

Turns out that baby cats ARE good for something.

Oh, and on a side note...I don't think that family asked me to babysit again after that.

Not so exciting events of yesterday...

The ballgame the other day was just the BEST weather I've experienced at a game before! I only wished we had been sitting in the sun, so that I could get a little color on my lily-white skin. But nonetheless, it was glorious outside! We were in the shade, and there was a breeze the ENTIRE time, and the temps stayed around 60's-70's until the sun went down. Even then the temps were really nice. I ended up putting on a sweatshirt towards the end, but that was just because the breeze was cool. And the Rockies won! 11-1. Only to lose to the same team the next day 6-3 or something. ( I never did understand how you can slaughter a team one day, and the next day get beat so bad yourself!) anyway. The game was great...the weather was to die for...and the tickets were free!!

Yesterday after I ate lunch at work, I was sitting outside with my boss just for a few minutes to soak up the nice weather. We were out there, and there were three other people from another department out there. Two boys and a girl. One of the boys was on a bench, the other boy was lying under a tree, and the girl was sitting on the grass under that same tree. She had her back to us (me, my boss, and the guy on the bench) and her pants had sagged in the back. I'm going to assume she was unaware of her bottom showing, and I wasn't sure what to do. I thought about telling her, but there was no way to let her know without causing a scene...I can just imagine that. "hey, um, so-and-so. Your, um, bottom...um. Yeah, you might want to...um. Hey. Okay, see ya!"

Riiiiiight.

So, I didn't tell her. It turns out that she got up like two minutes later to go to the post office, and therefore her bottom was no longer in view. That was good.

Yesterday morning I had a rough morning because I was in a horrible mood from gaining a little bit of weight back (the ball game--sabotage!) Then I read the post on Heather's blog where she talks about the "weight/math exercise" in Catie Grace's class and I got so upset I really needed to cry. I kept thinking.. "okay, I have 11 minutes before this patient shows up, I could run in the back and cry for a minute..." but I knew my face would get splotchy and then everyone would ask "what's wrong!?" and bring more attention to my splotchy face. So I held back the tears.

After talking to Heather and hearing that Catie Grace was doing fine, I felt better. Our clinic is getting busier and that's always good. That takes less stress off my boss and less stress off me...to know that we're hitting our patient quota everyday! yay!!

For lunch we walked down to Subway. (don't worry...I ate my study lunch...the other girls ate subway). You know...Subway where Gary works. Yeah. I had to buy a drink...so I had to stand in line...and try to avoid his gaze. Even after the very embarrassing, cowardly delivery of his phone number to me through his employee, and even after I haven't called him or shown interest in him romantically (other than gazing at his subway sandwiches like I haven't had food in 10 years) he still proceeds to try to stare at me or talk to me or breathe. hah, just kidding about the breathing part. sort of. No really.

Sort of.

Speaking of Gary. The guy who was laying in the grass (above) said to me the other day, "Krusty," (except he used my real name) "why do all these guys like you?" I was like, "Gee, Pal, I have no idea. When you figure it out why don't you let me know?!" Geez! Who asks a question like that. That's just the sort of thing that makes me feel insecure and uncomfortable. I know he didn't mean it like it sounded. I know he was asking in reference to Gary and to another guy who's a patient here who inappropriately tries to give me gifts and hold my hand and such. I know that he didn't mean it to sound like he was asking "Krusty, why would ANY guy ever think you're ATTRACTIVE and want to ask you out??" But that's how it sounded. I wanted to punch him in the head...but I didn't.

I'm a walking example of restraint. ;-D

Anyway, hopefully today I'll be getting off early and going shopping with Jules. She needs a bathing suit for our upcoming Beach Trip. What? What's that you say? I haven't mentioned any impending Beach Trip??? Well, then you'll just have to come back to find out more about it, won't you??? :)

Update...

So, yesterday my roommate was reading my blog for the first time in like a month and she said that I needed to update y'all on how some things are going...

She said this right after she caught me sticking my finger in my belly button to see if it had gotten any smaller.

You know. because I've lost weight.

What? What's that you ask?? How much weight have I lost so far?? Oh, about...twentypoundsthat'salll. :) I can't tell yet. I don't feel smaller. I don't really look smaller...but the numbers say 20 pounds. I'm halfway done...so who knows--maybe I'll lose 20 more before June 15th when the study ends.

I guess that was update number 1.

Number 2 is the book study. We've really been wrestling through a lot of tough emotional issues during this study...and I am getting so much out of it...I think i MIGHT be starting to see myself the way that God sees me, instead of the way I or the world see(s) myself.

Well, that's all the updates I have. I suppose that numbering them was useless, since there were only 2. Y'all probably could have counted to two by yourselves. Oh, well.

In other news: I'm going to the Rockies game tonight. YaY!! :) I'll take pictures!

Friends

When I started blogging here, it was just so my sister could read about my daily life and know what was going on with me, since we live about 1,200 miles apart from one another. Heather had me on her little blogroll thing on the side, so the people who read her eventually ended up here. (I'm sorry). I really mostly talk about nothing. I like to tell funny stories about the things that I've done that have been less than wise, or the things that have happened to me. Weird stuff happens to me a lot. Most people think the stories are funny in real life, so I figured I'd entertain my sister with them too. Then people started sticking around. They started commenting and laughing with me and it was like I had made new friends.

One of my new friends, Della, just found out that she had a miscarriage.

I don't have children. I have nieces and nephews who I love more than I thought I could like a snot-vomit-poop machine...but that's not the same. I have never had to experience the excitement of finding out you're pregnant, then the devastation of something going wrong.

All I can say to Della is that I'm so sorry. You are my friend and I'm sorry. I know it's not enough...but know that we (your online friends you may never meet) love you and we are thinking and praying for you. Because that's what friends do.

Post number 102!

About a week ago I noticed that I was getting close to post number 100! WOW!

But then I forgot.

It was clearly very important to me! :0

So, today, when I signed in to post, I realized that I missed post number 100 so instead I'll just celebrate post number 102.

Seriously...I can't even imagine that I'd have enough to say to fill 102 posts. errm. riiiight.


Today is Administrative Professionals Day, and although I serve mostly as an Ophth. Tech, I also serve as our Administrative professional. The Clinic Manager got every Administrative professional a little flower-boutonniere-corsage thingy to wear. Lucky for me, I wore the junkiest scrubs I could manage today. I feel sort of like I'm wearing a crown encrusted with 1,000 diamonds in my pajamas. yay! I do appreciate the gesture. It's nice for someone to thank you for how hard you work...but my boss (in my department) thanks me for my hard work at least once a week. I'm lucky that way. Also? Flowers make me sneeze...so the idea of having a little bundle of flowers approximately 5 inches from my nostrils doesn't exactly make me excited for the onslaught of sneezes that are in my future.

In other news, there was a very interesting lecture on eating disorders during lunch today. I was actually pretty impressed by the information presented. It was very thorough. I quite enjoyed it as I crunched on my salad while everyone else was eating Indian food. It was okay though, because I find most of the offerings of Indian food catch up with me soon after I've swallowed.

Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment. I'm not very excited. I always thought that dentists, proctologists, and gynecologists must be major sadists or something. And seriously, can you think of 3 more horrible places to have your hands in? Mouth, bottom, tootie-ta. See! I told you. You're snarling your nose up now, aren't you?

Speaking of tootie-ta's. I have one more story before I go. When I was about 18 I was having some sort of kidney pain or something. It was only on one side (which pretty much rules out kidneys) and it wasn't constant. It came and went like the north star. (well, honestly, I think the North Star is pretty constant, isn't it?) Anyway, I went to the doctor and after a series of questions they decide they need to do a pelvic exam. I was like, umm okay? Thinking that I would just lay down and they'd just poke on my belly or something. NOPE. The nurse pulls out a sheet and says, "Take your clothes off and wrap up in this sheet." I was like, "Take what?" She looked at me--clearly unamused by my shyness--and repeated "Take your clothes off and wrap up in that sheet." I said (probably a little more panic-y than I meant) "what clothes?" and she so kindly informed me that she meant MY clothes. I said, again pulling her from the door she was trying to exit, "Which clothes?? ALL of them???? WHY???" The nurse informed me that the doctor wanted to "invade my private space and make me horribly embarrassed then talk about me when I left." OK. maybe that's not exactly what the nurse said. But I was not having it at all. I waited until the nurse left and counted to ten. Then....I gathered my things and RAN out of that doctor's office.

Funny thing was I never had anymore side pain after that.

I SO wasn't trying to be secretive...

The study I'm doing is measuring the effects of "undereating" on Insulin and Glucose in your body. It's basically Nutritionally-induced Insulin Resistance. They give me my food...I eat only and all of the food they give me...and then 3 times over a 12 week period I go into the hospital. The hospital stays are the worst! At first, while you're unpacking your little overnight bag and you're setting out your phone charger and you're fluffing your pillows and you're looking out the window at all the wonderful city lights you think, "Ahhhh. This is niiiiiiiice." But then, when they wake you up the next morning at 5:30 and start shoving needles into your veins and drawing blood every 5 minutes and injecting you with all sorts of things you start thinking that it's not so great. Then, when they start cutting into your leg, all the way down to your muscle and take a piece and you can feel that the doctor has gotten the instrument she's using stuck inside your leg and is tugging and tugging but can't seem to free the cannula, you start thinking...WHAT DID I SIGN UP FOR?!

But once it's over, you forget how bad it was...sort of like childbirth (or so I'm told). You'd really have to ask someone like Della about that.

Anyway, one of the side effects is losing about 10-15 % of your body weight *yippee!* and then I get paid at the end also. And let's not forget how much I'm saving by not having to buy groceries.

But I have been hungry. I'm not going to lie. And sometimes it seems that every stinkin commercial on TV is about food. I don't even like chocolate-covered brussell sprouts in a yam and coffee sauce, but when I see a commercial for chocolate-covered brussell sprouts in a yam and coffee sauce my mouth starts watering.

And in case you're wondering, no. that's not a real food. At least I hope it's not. Unless, of course you're the maker of chocolate covered brussell sprouts with a yam-coffee sauce...in which case...YUMMMM. ;0

Anyway, so, I'm holding steady at the 12 pound weight loss mark. (also just in case you're wondering...that is NOT 10 percent of my body weight...but thanks for thinking that!) I think my body has gotten used to the amount of food I'm eating now, so I just have to step it up with a little activity! Then I should start shedding some weight!

So, that's the study. Not as interesting as cancer research or trying to find a cure for a disease...but still...more interesting than chocolate covered brussell sprouts. :)

Insert cute and catchy title here...

Good Morning. Yesterday I was in a horrible mood, so I didn't post anything. I started posting a whiny little rant, but I deleted it and went about my business of being mad and looking at people meanly.

Today, I'm feeling much better.

Also, yesterday, I forgot to eat supper. That has never happened in my life. I've never forgotten to eat a meal. never. But yesterday I did.

Also, I have found my love for Christian music again. I stopped listening to it for a while because I swore they never played anything you'd ever heard before. But yesterday I turned it on again, and every song was one I knew and liked. So I jammed to K-Love all day! I danced and sang and had a good ol' time while I was cleaning last night. If anyone could have seen me through the window, I think they would have thought I was crazy!

My study visit on Friday (last week) was okay. It's never fun, but once it's over it's not that big of a deal. The incision from the muscle biopsy isn't as sore this time, which is good. Last time I was limping around like a hobb-along.

Church for Easter was really really good. I really enjoyed it...but MAN was it crowded. They had also scooted the rows together a little more than they usually are, so I literally had my knees butted up against the seat in front of me. But it was good, nonetheless.

And, in other news...So far, since the beginning of the study I've been doing, I've lost 11.6 pounds. :) yay!

It's Friday, But Sunday's coming!

I know...it's only Thursday...but I have to go to the hospital again tonight for an overnight stay for my study...so I won't be posting tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Good Friday. When I was growing up I knew what Easter was about, and why we celebrated. I understood that the sacrifice Jesus made was for me and I was thankful. And I celebrated Easter like any kid would.

Last year was the first year I really considered what Easter is. Last year was the first year I really tried to think about how it must have been to have been a disciple of Jesus when He was crucified. I tried to think about how God must have felt allowing such horrible things to happen to his son, so that we can life. I tried to ponder how Jesus must have felt, knowing the horrible things he was about to endure.

And it overwhelmed me. I spent most of last year's Easter weekend mourning Jesus' death. I spent lots of time sad and guilty about what I caused Jesus to go through. Then the Children's Pastor at our church sent out an email to all the volunteers. It said something to the effect of "some of you might be tempted to be sad today, because of what Jesus went through for you...but remembering what Jesus did for you be thankful. Be grateful and celebrate that you have life abundant now! Thank God for what He did, instead of being sad about it! Jesus WILLINGLY made the sacrifice for you, because he loves you!"

It was just the reminder I needed. So this Easter, I'll be celebrating that I have life abundant because Jesus willingly made a sacrifice of his life! I just needed a different perspective!

Random Ramblings...

So, since Sunday, (which I know has only been 2 days) I've lost 2.6 pounds. I hope that means that the rest of the 2 months are going to go exactly as I would like. :)

Also, I am starting to get not one, not two, but THREE fever blisters on my bottom lip. I felt them starting to come up before they actually appeared, so I think I might have knocked them out with Abreva. Man! that stuff is good!

And they're saying that it's going to RAIN on Wednesday. I cannot tell you how happy I am for two reasons: 1. It's not snow. 2. I love the rain and it rarely rains here, so I'm really excited about it! I might even have to play in it!

Yesterday was such a productive day for me. After work I went to Petsmart to get some dog food. I usually get the little bags and they don't last that long. I saw that they had the bigger 20 pound bags on sale, though, so I decided to live large and get the big bag! Super size it, please! So, then I started thinking on my way out about where/how I was going to store all this dog food! I ran over to Target and found this cute green rubbermaid-type containter for 4.99 and it worked gloriously. I was really proud of myself. :)
Then when I got home there was A TON of work to do in the house. About 10 years worth of laundry was calling my name along with a dirty house that I didn't get motivated and clean over the weekend. So, I worked and worked and worked my tail off yesterday. I didn't finish until around 8pm. WHEW! But when I did finish, it looked so nice! I also changed my roommate's sheets into some new ones she got as a gift and she didn't know. So when she got home from work last night at 10:30 she was surprised that her new sheets were on her bed! :)

Also, I think I am going to ask the girls' book group that we're doing to start meeting at a Star*bucks close to home, b/c it's just soooo much to have people over two nights in a row, and sometimes people linger too long and when we have stuff we need to do and don't want to shove someone out the door, it gets a little tricky. I wonder if that's rude or not...to ask everyone to meet at a central location instead of one person's house. hmmm.

Anyway...people here are wearing shorts today. The high was like 70. It's such a perfect day here today! Thank you GOD!!!

P.S. Thanks to everyone who reads here and comments. It's really really nice to have people respond to you. Y'all are becoming such nice friends! :)

Changes are going to come...

So, Sunday I start this "diet". It's actually the second phase of a study I'm doing. But the short-story point is that they provide me with (real/regular, low-fat) food for two months...free...all my food. No groceries will be bought for two months. It's low calorie, low fat food. Portioned out for me...prepared and packed for me everyday. The main effect is not weight loss...but a side effect is. So I hope I lose some! I'm going to maximize my efforts to lose as much as possible during these two months...and then hopefully I'll have created healthy eating habits and continue eating right at the end of their two month period.

Also, I'm starting this Book/Bible study with some girls in my CommUNITY group. The book is, "Do You Think I'm Beautiful." by Angela Thomas. The gist of it is that God desires a relationship with us that is so intimate that we begin to see ourselves as God sees us, instead of defining ourselves by the "world's" standards. I mean, let's face it...I have terribly poor self esteem. There are so many things that contribute to this fact...and this study forces you to come to terms with the things that are hindering you from living a full life. We're just in the first week...and it's already good. I'll pass along what I'm learning every once in a while. :)

And lastly, I'm thinking about school more and more lately. I know I'm not quite ready to go back...but I think I'm starting to narrow down what I'd like to do. I used to think I wanted to do School Counseling...but the more I research the more I think I don't want to do that. For a long time I have entertained the idea of doing Occupational Therapy, but I've always told myself that I'm not smart enough to handle the science classes that OT would entail. After working where I work for so long now, and learning so much, and seeing that I can excel at science-y things...I'm starting to think I can do it.

Sorry for the boring material today. I just thought I would share what's going on in my life currently. :)

The Best April Fools Joke EVER!

**~*~I finally had to delete the Orange Scrubs post. It was leading so many people, especially in other parts of the world, to my post...and people who were NOT searching for my story. So, sorry! That post is gone!~*~**

In honor of April Fool's day I wanted to tell you a story about the best practical joke I've ever played on anyone in my life. Okay, maybe I built it up too much. But, it was gooood.

When I was a sophomore in college I had some friends from back home who came to the same school I went to. They were freshmen and lived in the freshman-only residence hall. They also lived in the same "suite" as their RA. The RA was a junior, so only a little bit older than me. He was this South African guy who just KNEW he was God's gift to the world. He was nice enough, but he was fullllll of himself. We'll call him Chapstick. (go with it). Chapstick had a little South African accent that sort of sounded British, but not as heavy. He also had lived in the US for a long long time, so he had lost a lot of the thickness to his accent. In fact, when he was around people he was totally comfortable with, his accent sort of faded into nothing. But let some pretty girl come around and he would totally play it up. He'd say something in an accent so thick you couldn't even tell what he said. I used to call him out on it. If it was just us hanging around, he'd talk almost completely normal. When some blond beauty walked in the room, he'd start talking and all you'd hear was, "whytcha duoinnnaya turrbuylleasr." I'd say, "Chapstick...No one can tell what you're saying. All of the sudden your accent is SO thick." He'd get pretty mad when I did that. ;0

His roommates (my friends from home) were so nice. We'll call them J and B. Anyway, one day I was over at J, B, and Chapstick's dorm room and Chapstick tells me that he can make a piece of hair stand up in water. I'm an idiot apparently, because I believed him. He pulled out one of my hairs...OUCH!...and tore it into little pieces. Then he filled a large plate with water. He poured salt in the plate (which was just for show) and then sprinkled my little pieces of hair in the plate. He told me I had to get really close and look from the side and I'd see the hair stand up on end. So, I got really close, looked from the side, and WHAM!!! he slapped that plate of water so hard, I was drenched. My whole face got soaked! I like jokes...and usually can appreciate the humor even if it's done to me unless it calls for me losing some article of clothing...that's not funny. So, I laughed it off, but reminded myself that I'd get him back later.

A few days later I was walking back to my dorm after eating supper at the Student Center and my roommate was with me. It was dark, and we went to an Urban University, so you had to be careful about your surroundings. My roommate noticed a car full of boys/men staring us down. They were parked under the dark part of the street, so we couldn't see their faces. Steph, my roommate, suggested that we not walk past the car. Just as we were waiting on the light to change, so we could cross to the other side of the road, I noticed the men getting out of the car. They were looking straight at us...and not in a good way. We couldn't tell who they were, but it was clear they were up to no good. They began walking quickly straight toward us. I started getting nervous saying, "Steph...they're coming here. They're coming. Come on light!! come on!!" I was genuinely scared. Suddenly one of the men began running at me. I had a juice bottle in my hands. In an instant I threw the bottle, started screaming and took off running past the guys! I knew that was going to be the worst night of my life. Just as I tried to run past the guy running at me, I noticed his face. Chapstick. He grabbed me and hugged me really tight and started laughing really really hard. I was so mad. They had really scared me (which was their objective all along!! It was J, B, and chapstick!) So that night I plotted a master plan to get this boy back!

It was right around April Fools Day. I wrote a simple letter that read,

"Chapstick.

I think you're hot. I've seen you around, and I wish that we could get to know one another more. It's a shame for someone like you to be alone. Think about it.

Don't worry. I'll introduce myself soon enough."


And I stuck it on his car window when he was in the Baptist Student Center. Don't throw stones. You have to seize your opportunities when they present themselves!!

So, I didn't mention anything about the note to anyone for a few days. Then I told J and B about it, and swore them to secrecy. They said that he'd been playing jokes on them too, and they wanted in on it. So, we planned a very elaborate scheme.

I began writing more and more notes. I would make each one a little more aggressive than the last. I began getting information from J and B about Chapstick that no one would know unless they were really following him. Stuff like what color boxers he had...or how his room was decorated. Things like the funny way he stacked peas on the back of his fork with his knife. Things like exact times and places that he'd been recently. Things about his past...about his family. I started confessing my LOVE for him. I started telling him that we WOULD be together...and that I couldn't stand by while he chose someone else. I kept telling him that I would introduce myself soon enough.

I had J and B come up with creative ways to present the letters. Sliding them under the door late at night...putting them in his closet...dropping them off at the RA office for him. It was GENIUS. He didn't tell anyone except J and B about it. He was totally freaked! We carried the charade on for about 3 months...then I wrote a letter telling him I wanted to meet him. We planned it out where I said I would be at a Bible Study he attended that week. What he didn't know is I already attended the Bible Study, so me being there wouldn't be a give-away.

He told J and B that he was going to confront this girl and tell her to leave him alone, and if that didn't work, then he'd have to do something a little stronger. Good thing I decided to tell him that night that it was me...before he turned my letters over to police or something!!

Anyway, that night at Bible study I noticed he was a little on edge. He did keep looking around the room at the people who were there. I kept asking him what was wrong...are you looking/waiting on someone?? heheheeh! I'm so bad!

After about half the night went on, and as far as he was concerned she hadn't showed...he calmed down a bit. Once I was sure he was convinced that she wasn't coming, I walked over to him and sat down next to him.

"Chapstick." I said. "I need to tell you something."

"Alright." he replied, oblivious.

"Chapstick. I just love the way your scrape your peas onto the back of your fork with your knife. And I looooooove that you wear red boxer shorts every Saturday to play football at Greensprings Park. And I loooooooove..."

His face went blank. I thought for a moment he might pass out. Instead he stood up.

"YOU???!!! How..? When?? How did you...?" Stuttering. He couldn't even get the words out.

Me, J, and B were laughing so hard we ended up in a heap on the floor. Chapstick just kept going on and on about how I was supposed to be so sweet and nice and innocent! Hahahaah! We had gotten him GOOD.

Of course, he wanted all the details of how we pulled it off. I'm pretty sure that J and B paid a much higher price than I did for the joke. I think there was talk of several "antique-ing sessions". But I would have spent the next year with flour caked over my face just to see the look on his that night!