Ahoy, Matey!

hahaha, ohhhh, I haven't written here in FOREVAH! :) Not much has been going on since I last posted. I still have the same job. I live in the same apartment with the same roommate and same sweet puppy (most of the time).

I DID have surgery last month. To repair a really painful bunion on my left foot. I have to have the right one done too, but not for a while. I'll upload pictures soon...that is unless I drop off the face of the blogging earth again. ;-D I'll try not to do that. In fact, I'll devote tomorrow's post to my surgery. Before and after pictures! Although, my foot still looks like I have sausages for toes. Anyway...

Also, I just recently got rid of Zorro:

I traded him in (sad!!!) for Sylar:

And Sylar is one BAD kat! (Also, didn't you LOVE to HATE him in H*eroes???)

heheheheheheh! And I can honestly say that buying a car was the scariest thing I've ever done! I mean, it's such a scary, grown-up purchase! But, I knew what I wanted, and I knew what I wanted to pay and therefore I was able to get what I wanted.

We are also supposed to get like 8 inches of snow tonight. *sigh* I guess it's that time of year again. AT LEAST I HAVE 4WD NOW!!!! yay! :)

OK, maybe if I keep my posts short and sweet I'll actually stick with it! :)

Talk to you tomorrow!

My last post was brought to you by Depression and Desperation. Today's post is brought to you by hope and happiness. (Thank Goodness!)

Hi.

Thanks for sticking with me through that last post. I know it was rough. Rest assured that those kind of times don't come around that often.

It might be unnecessary to say, but I'm feeling much better.

I found someone to watch my dog. That was a major stressor for me. And, as it turns out, it's not P. P will never sacrifice anything of her own (including her time) for me. I'm adjusting to that. Basically, I'm going to let go of my hurt feelings--understanding that this is just who P is. But that also means that I'm going to adjust my BEHAVIOR towards her. I won't keep putting myself out there for her to just hurt my feelings over and over.


Also, the Bachelorette weekend went perfectly and didn't end up being that expensive, so that was a GREAT relief! Everyone kept saying it was the one of the best weekends they've ever had!! One of the things we did was this place called Canvas and Cocktails. It's a place where you go and have a painting class and they sell glasses of wine or whatever. I don't drink, so I was mostly interested in the painting class! Here's what we were painting:

Here's my painting:

I am no artist, but I had a blast!!! :)

Anyway, I'll just wanted to thank y'all for being there for me when I was so down the other day. I'm feeling much much better!!

Talk to y'all again soon!

Strenght will rise as we wait upon the Lord, Wait upon the Lord...

There are so many things in my life that I feel like I'm waiting on. Small things and big things alike. My cell phone, for instance, has been broken for like 3 months!! I purchased insurance at the time I got the phone, so I took my broken phone into Best Buy and they whisked it off to be "repaired or replaced." It's been gone for like 3 weeks. I've been using a phone that my sister lended (or is it lent?) me like 2 years ago. That phone gets the job done, but it has NO signal at my work. Zilch. So, I can't really do ANYTHING with my phone at work. So, I'm just WAITING on BB to call and say my phone is ready.

No kidding, my phone just rang and it was BB saying my phone is ready. Maybe whatever I type here will come true...Like a wishing well.

And then I got a call that I won the lottery without even playing **eyes closed, fingers crossed...waiting....**

.....

well, that didn't work. SHOOT! ;-D

I'm waiting on someone to call me about a thing that's very important. WOW! Was that the most vague sentence I've ever muttered in my LIFE?? I think so!

I'm waiting for football season to start. If you're not new to this blog (and let's face it--why would you be??) (and if you ARE new then I'm sure you didn't even make it this far in my ramblings!) then you know that I'm not just talking about ANY football...I'm talking about Number 1 Ranked, National Champions--University of Alabama Football. ROOOOLLLLLLL TIIIIIIDE! :) It starts next weekend...but the game is Pay Per View. So, I guess we'll be hovering around the radio like people used to do before TV was invented. Oh well. Last season I went into work to listen to the game on my work computer b/c the one at home wouldn't pick up the radio station! So, I sat at work on a Saturday and did a little work and every once in a while you'd hear "YESSSS!" echo down the hallway. Oops.

Then there are bigger things I'm waiting on. Things that I just have to trust God for. Things that I know will come eventually, but aren't here yet. And things that I don't want to RUSH, but I just get curious about. Like who I'm going to marry. I wonder who that will be. I wonder what he'll look like and what his name is. I wonder (and hope) that he makes me laugh all the time. I wonder if I'll know right away (like people always say) or if I'll just grow to know. I wonder if he's going to be outdoorsy or indoorsy. I wonder if I'm going to have kids? I wonder if I'll feel like I have to RUSH to have kids b/c I was "older" when I got married. I wonder how it'll feel to be a mother. I wonder if I'll be as good a mother as my sister is.

Almost everyone I know (from my past or even from my present) is married. Now, I know that I don't want to rush into a marriage. That married life is hard and I want to take my time to make sure I make the right decision. But now things are shifting to where everyone I know who's married is now having a baby. I can honestly say that I'm nowhere near ready to have a baby...but I wonder how different my life would be.

ANYWAY, I know that God has a plan and I'm not worried about it. I'm just curious.

Take a Bath! Wash ya'self! Take a Bath!

Y'all know that song that goes "Shake ya' ***, Watch ya'self! Shake ya' ***! Show me whatcha workin with!" ?? Ok, It's a vulgar song and I don't listen to that kind of music, but it's been in TONS of movies and so I know it. It's a stupid song anyway and the only reason I bring it up is because me and Jules were talking about how she never wants to get up in the morning even when she gets "enough" sleep (whatever that is). I was telling her that I think like 88% of the human population feels that way. Everyone except those freaks who wake up bright-eyed and whistling some sort of happy song about sunshine and rainbows. Those people are just unnatural. So, basically I was telling her that I thought she would feel better if she showered in the mornings before she goes to work instead of at nights. She said, "but I don't want to shower twice--at night AND in the morning."

duh! Only those Freaky Morning People want to do things like wake up and jump right into a cold shower and sing showtunes at the top of their lungs!

I explained that I meant that she could just shower in the mornings. She said, "but I'm so dirrrrrty from work!"

That's when (before I could help myself) I said, "just take a bath at night. **pause** Take a bath! Wash ya'self! Take a bath! show em what ya' workin with!"

And we both busted out laughing. At 5:30am! Maybe we are those Freaky Morning People sometimes. (that is why we are best friends! If I hadn't made the joke first, she would have. )

On that note I'll leave you with a Top 5:

Top 5 Crazy-Fun Experiences with Jules in the 8 years we've been Best Friends

(Photo Version)

**after posting this I have decided to tell several of these stories in posts to come soon. Stay Tuned!**

5.

This was a Murder Mystery Dinner we put on called "Lethal Luau." I was supposed to be a tourist in Haiwaii who's bags were lost by the Airline named "Les Baggs." Jules played a Pro Golfer named "Birdie Putt". hahahahahaah!

4.

This was the first time that me and Jules went skiing. I cannot believe that I haven't posted about this experience!! Seriously, THAT is a good story! I guess stay tuned!

3.

This was a picture taken at the Keith Urban/Sugarland concert, 2009. Also known as The BEST Concert Ever (TBCE)!! Me and Jules can't help ourselves! We love to make silly faces in pictures, especially when the other person in the picture doesn't know! That's lovely Jen, who was unaware of our little antics!

2.

This was Halloween, 2007. The first year at my current job, Jules worked in the same building. We were two of about 10 who dressed up for Halloween! I was a basket of laundry and Jules was a Frazzled Housewife. Keep in mind that we both have lost at least 50 pounds since this picture was taken!

1.

This was a hike Jules, Jen, Brock and myself did at Hanging Lake. The website said "Easy Hike." The creators of that website are a bunch of bold-faced liars straight from the pits of Hell. Just kidding--sort of. That hike was NOTHING like "easy". I have never been so mean to Julie in all my life as when I was hiking that trail. (I tend to get mad when I do strenuous exercise. I know...it's a fault). That's another post for another day, but stay tuned!

It's my Birthday!

Well, today is my 26th Birthday! I don't think 26 is a very big deal, except for the fact that you're turning the corner from early twenties to closer to 30. That's okay though, because Heather is already 30. She turned 30 this year, so ha!

So, I went home for a Whirlwind Birthday Weekend last weekend and although my trip lacked a certain element of sleep, it was a really good time! Saturday I got to play all day with Mom, Heather and the kids and then we ate at O'Charleys (one of my favorites!) and then had ice cream cake! YUMMM!

The family also went WAY above and beyond and gave me a laptop (they said they got a really good deal) for my birthday! Since the computer I have been using is about 60 billion years old it was the perfect gift! I have been spoiled by the Acer. :)

Also, the family gave me a Nalgene bottle that looks like this:

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE Alabama fan. Living where I do, bama fans are few and far between so I love to show off my Bama Pride as much as possible. So, i LOVED this bottle! And who knows--maybe this will actually prompt me to drink more water! (I'll probably end up filling the bottle with Diet Coke instead! haha! just kidding---sort of.)

See the little slice of cake sitting there next to the bottle? That would be Banana Nut Bread. Brian (my boss) makes it for me on special occasions because he knows I love it! So this year he made me some for my birthday! Isn't that thoughtful? I know, I am lucky! I have the best boss in the world!

Also, not for my birthday but just because I she's nice one of the administrative assistants brought in these flowers for me today! I LOVE brightly colored flowers!!

Isn't that beautiful? They're in an Izzie soda bottle with a little twine bow at the top! Aren't they lovely?

Well, I suppose that's all for today. :)

Hello Again

Hi.

It's been almost a complete year since I last wrote. I was going to start using a different blog, but Heather and I never found the time to create it. So, here I am again.

I got a little burnt out on the whole blogging scene last year. I felt like I had nothing good to say and for some strange reason I felt pressure to put out good material. And, let's face it, I'm constently mediocre at best. So, I took a break and I'm feeling much more like myself. Let's see...what can I tell you?

1.)I have moved. I still live in the same city, but I moved to a different suburb and I'm so happy about it. We finally got out from under our (CRAZY!) landlord and moved into an apartment complex. It's very nice and has painted walls.
Yes, you read that correctly. I hate white walls. They make me feel like I'm in an institution.

2.)Jules and I have started running. We began our jogging journey in about February, 2010 and we're still working on it. Our goal is to do a 5k race in November. We'd LOVE to run a 10k, but considering we started running 30 seconds and now we're running 20+ minutes at a time, I think we'll just be proud of whatever we can finish!

3.) I got my hair cut. And Highlighted. See Picture at top right to see new hair.

4.) I turn 26 tomorrow. Well, that's not really new news, because my birthday hasn't changed. I just thought I'd share.

5.)Zorro (my car) broke down and was fixed by my friend's husband. I call him Hunky Julio.

6.)I passed my test to be a Certified Paraoptometric. yay!


I hate to stop on a weird number like 6, but I can't think of anything else to say.

Today a patient that might just be the man of my dreams is coming in. So, I'll let you know if it's love at first sight! haha!

:) Talk to you again soon!

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. :)