August 2011

Summer has flown by and it's going to be day 1 of school next Tuesday. 

My job is going well.  I'm solo and enjoying it so far. 

My family recently went camping. In addition I have some pictures to show of my last few weeks. I'm too lazy to write up a proper commentary so I apologize. 

Also, my mom is here this week and I'm bugged when she's here.  I don't know what's wrong with me because she's awesome, but I'm bugged just the same.  I like my space and with her here I lose some of that space. She's here because we asked her so it's not like she's not wanted.  Why can't I be normal?

Okay, on to the pictures.

  That's me, and my brother, Alan, behind me.  I'm getting ready to get in the cold water BEFORE I've had my coffee, and water ski.  This is Rollins Lake in Grassvalley/Colfax CA area.  Great lake, very pretty.  We've camped here for years. 

                                                                         I'm waterskiing. 

Now I'm wakeboarding.  I didn't move much the next day. 

My 8 year old Shawna got up on the training ski for the first time ever! 

Getting some air!!!

This year my husband strung twinkle lights around the campsite for everyone. We all agreed they were a nice touch. 

This is me playing on the kids playset.  I used to be a total pro on the bars so I showed them my "moves". I still got it.


Thanks for looking!

I have a new job peeps

I've had a busy couple weeks my friends. 

A week ago last Friday I was emailed by the CFO of the semi-conductor company I was hoping to get a hob with, and he was asking if I'm still available and looking for a job.

I said Yes.

I received a phone call an hour later from he finance manager asking if I could start work on Monday. I was still working at my company (almost 12 years there) and later learned I had a job with them until August 5th.

I signed some paperwork and started my new (temporary) job on that following Monday. I'm being trained by the gal going on maternity leave. I like her a lot. She's a good trainer and gives me tons of patience and good training notes.

I hope this new job has an opportunity to become permanent, if it's meant to be. 

I wish I was a writer, like so many of the blogs I read, because there is so much more in my mind, but I'm lazy in writing it all down. I think it, but writing it down feels like so much work.

Kudos to the writers.

Don't ask, won't happen

I talked to my mom today.  I wanted her opinion on something regarding the girls that I couldn't talk to Todd about because when I called him he was on the manufacturing floor, which is LOUD, so I'd have to scream from my cubicle which I didn't want to do.  So I just told him to call me back whenever, no hurry.  To which he replied it will be awhile since he has blah blah blah to do. 

So I called my mom. 

In talking to her I admitted that I still don't have an end date for my current job and it's not because I couldn't have an end date, but because I'm procrastinating on knowing an end date because then, the end is real.  Like there will then be a real end once I ask and have the date.  Right now I'm in denial in a 'don't ask, won't happen' sort of way. Make sense? 

Just wanted to clarify for anyone who cares.  Which is really nobody. 

Funky Funk

The past several weeks have moved quickly by.  I attempted a few times to post updates but couldn't pull a post together so I moved along.  My emotions are up and down.  Today I'm in a funk.  . 

I believe I mentioned I have to find a new job.  I'm being replaced by technology and have a job till the end of Q2 which is June.  I learned of this in March.  At the time June felt a long time off.  Guess what?  It's June. 

Finding a new job is the FOCUS of my life.  It's really hard to think of much else.  We are a two income family, living in one of the most expensive places in the country, and half that income is leaving.  Can you say panic? 

M-F while at work (since I still have a job but they're making me look elsewhere so why shouldn't I look for a new on their time. heh) I go to Indeed.com and Monsters.com and Craigslist (less than the others) to see if there is anything out there for me.  I went on an interview a couple weeks ago for a temporary position but apparently didn't get the job since they never called me back.  I've also applied for a few others.  Last week I did get a call back for a job in San Francisco that I applied for in April.  I applied probably thinking they'd never call me or something.  San Francisco is hella far from my house for a daily job. I guess the person they chose didn't work out and the recruiter wanted to talk to me.  But at this point in the game  (that would be the losing my job finding a job game) I'm not inclined to jump at a job during a summer I could have off with my children, that would take me an hour by BART to get to.  At some point beggars can't be choosers and I might be driving to Nevada for a job, but right now, knowing I have several months of severance covered I can't justify taking on a commute like that. 

I told the girls yesterday about my situation on the way to school.  They were talking about summer camps and basketball camps etc.  I told them I might be home with them this summer.  At first Paula was very excited. But then I explained I'm losing my job, it's not workers comp (like she thought).  Last night she told me after we talked how she felt scared.  She asked will we be poor and lose our house?  I waited a long time to tell them my upcoming situation because she of all people is the biggest worrier.  I reassured her we'll be fine.  Still, in my stomach I feel a pit of uncertainty.  My brain rationalizes I'll find something even if it doesn't pay as much as I make now. 

I was hopeful a couple weeks ago about a position in the company. I interviewed with the director and felt good upon leaving his office.  He later realized he couldn't add responsibilities on to the job, which would be necessary to increase the pay from an entry level to more experienced level.  So in the end I didn't get it. 

Some days are better than others.  Today is bad day. 

On the positive side, I did get to help pack food boxes today for a food bank.  Also, yesterday I won $100 in a weekly school raffle. 

I'm getting my hair re-colored tonight.  Maybe I'll feel better afterwards. 

Why do I do it?

Let me start by saying I like kids.  I do.  But I prefer adults.  I love my kids, and I love many of their friends. Kids like me.  I'm always getting "Hello Mrs. TwoGirlsForMama" and hugs from the girls who know me. The thing is, in a group setting kids stress me out.  Kids in groups are loud, hyper, chaotic and loud. Did I mention loud?  They never stop moving.  Or talking. 

As a family we are required to do 39 volunteer hours at my girl's school so I volunteer for adult things. (My husband helps out too.)  This year, for example, I am the Crab Feed Volunteer Manager, School Board Member/Chairperson of the PR/Marketing Committee, 4th grade Parent Club (aka PTA) Snack Mom and the Box Tops Coordinator.  Do you see the pattern? 

I do not volunteer in the classroom, I resist (but do get guilted by my children once in awhile) chaperoning on field trips.  I don't help with the Halloween day games in the school gym, nor do I help at the school book fairs or Christmas Boutiques.  I avoid groups of kids when I can.   

This avoidance means I dread my kids birthday's. Why?  Because they want a party with their friends.  That means lots of little children.  I'm usually okay when it's another child's party. I just stand back and let the birthday child's mom run around like a chicken with her head cut off.  Although truth be told, those moms are always cool and collected which annoys me a little.  If the party is only 2 hours I'm great. Pool parties I do not like.  They give me an eye twitch as I watch children just barely slam their heads into the side of the pool as they jump off crooked or barely land on another kid.  I usually have to leave early on those parties. 

But, being a mother, a good mother, means sacrificing (lets be honest) EVERYTHING, which means I have to throw my kids a birthday party and have other children in attendance. 

Many times I've arranged birthday parties at local places like Pump It Up, bowling, ice skating, Little Gym, and a couple others.  The idea here is the space is large, usually a teenager or other adult is paid to do some of the organizing of the children and the mess is left there. 

This year, however, I decided I'd throw the party at my house.  I'm a glutton for punishment apparently.  I limited the guest list to only half the girls in her class, would only do 1 craft, and my husband would set up the Wii and dancing in the garage so the grown-ups could drink mimosas and enjoy each other's company.  Great plan right?! 

How could this plan fail?  Well, let me tell you. 

First, I am not a crafty person. There are mom's who like paint, glitter, glue, scissors in small children's hands...that's not me.  So finding a craft I could do took time.  I settled on a purse project.  Wal*Mart sold a 3-pack skirt purse in pink, blue and green.  The packaging demonstrated bling via iron on decor.  I didn't want ten 7 & 8 year olds around an iron.  Hello!  So I went with puffy fabric paints and fabric markers.  Good idea right?  Wrong. 

First, after I got home I read the directions on the puffy paint.  Dries in 4 hours.  Hmmmm...my party is only 2 hours.  Also, that meant we could only do one side of the purse. No biggy.  But, guess what happens when ten 7 & 8 year olds do designs in puffy paint?  They GLOB it on.  Hearts, smiley faces, circles, all done in HUGE, puffy paint globs.  My plan was to hang the completed artwork on a clothes rack with clothes pins.  Only my daughter Shawna's decor (she wasn't the only one) was so globby (this is a word right?) the hearts and faces were dripping down the skirt purse.  I had to literally put hers flat on the top of the rack so the paint wouldn't run off. 

My plan was to remind the children upon their departure, as I handed them their skirt purse, that their skirt purse wasn't completely dry and to hold them flat, face up.  Well, one cute child took hers off the rack while I was distracted (surprise there!) and was holding her globby (it's a word I swear) puffy paint side towards her pants.  As she's moving she swings it back and forth covering her pants and tall boots with puffy paint.  *Gasp*

Shawna's skirt purse dried by Monday.  The party was Saturday.  There should be a disclaimer that reads Dries in 4 hours if your not 7 & 8 years old. 

Next problem.  Cake.  Apparently a vast number of children don't like chocolate cake.  Who knew?!  I made my daughter, per her request, a bear cake. The theme was Glitzy Glammer, but she wanted a bear cake.  It's 2 round cakes, chocolate chips for hair, butterscotch chips for part of the mouth, cupcakes for ears, candy and marshmallows for eyes, licorice (or gel icing) for eye brows.  I have a cake book for dummies. I'm not creative, but I can copy candy cakes.  Since it was a brown bear I did chocolate cake and chocolate filling and chocolate icing.  Death by chocolate. 

One girl is allergic to chocolate - it gives her headaches.  The others, well, they just don't like chocolate.  They loved my cake design.  Mr. Bear looked great. But I had maybe 4 children out of 10 eating cake. 

Also? The adults also didn't want cake. Why?  Dieting! 

The good thing is my daughter LOVED her party.  The parents can never tell how stressed or frazzled I really am.  Mimosa's helped.  It ends and away they go. 

Ahhh relax. 

Unfortunately for me, my other daughter's birthday is in early March.  *shiver*

1/20/11 diet status

~ Recap

Day 10 - 145.8

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: Shredded pork, lettuce, and tomato
Today I had a lunch meeting for our employee activities committee. They had tortilla shells with shredded pork and all the fixin's, but I restrained and just ate the pork (not a meat choice ON the diet btw), lettuce and chopped tomato and a water.
Dinner: Chicken, asparagus, wine, WW bar, 2 string cheese, 2 pieces wheat bread w/cream cheese

Yeah, do you see what I did there? I OVER ATE.  I let my cravings get the better of me and ate bad things. haha
But, the scale didn't move!  Also, I made 36 chocolate cookies for my 4th graders Treat Day tomorrow and didn't even eat one. Go me!  It was tempting, but I restrained. See, I have some will power.


Day 11 - 145.8

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Snack: Chinese cookie - A coworker offered me a tiny cute square Chinese cookie.  I felt bad declining (cuz hello!  It's a cookie) I'm counting that as my carb for lunch.  It has sesame seeds on it.  Yum.
Lunch: Spring lettuce, rice wine vinegar, apple, chicken
Dinner: TBD
I have to pick up Paula from volleyball practice tonight at 7:30pm.  Normally on late nights I'm better and don't overeat.  The more I'm in my house, the worse I am.  Heh. 

I drank much more water yesterday like I hoped I would.  I'm going to do that again today.

More of my unique HCG (not really) diet stats

Recap ~ Day 9 - 146.0

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: See picture below. That was lunch. Spinach lettuce with rice vinegar dressing, halibut, apple and 1 Melba toast, and diet Coke (not on diet list but was craving soda)
Dinner: Chicken breast (half), asparagus, wine and WW bar.
I didn't drink as much water as I should have.  I think Day 10 may reflect that fact.

 
Day 10 - 145.8

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: Shredded pork, lettuce, and tomato
Dinner: TBD
Today I had a lunch meeting for our employee activities committee. They had tortilla shells with shredded pork and all the fixin's, but I restrained and just ate the pork (not a meat choice ON the diet btw), lettuce and chopped tomato and a water. 

I'm really going to try and up my water intake. I haven't had a bowel movement today and I'm starting to be constipated in general.  Need to get this body moving! 

Day 9 HCG diet

Recap ~ Starting weight 151

Day 8 - 146.4

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: Green salad (mixed spinach w/spring lettuce) with chicken, a few cucumber slices (not supposed to mix the veggies btw) and rice wine vinegar, 1 Melba toast and an apple.
Dinner: Chicken, asparagus, 1 Melba toast, wine and WW ice cream bar. I skipped the fruit for the wine.  Grapes are a fruit but not on the HCG diet list.  Whatever, I like my wine and my chocolate dessert. 

Day 9 - 146.0
Only lost .4 today.  After I got to work I had a movement that would have dropped my weight further. 
Hey, I count everything!

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: TBD (stayed tuned for updates)
For lunch today I'm hoping my cafeteria has fish I can have. Yesterday they had tuna which is a no no per the HCGdiet.com book. 
Dinner: TDB (stay tuned for updates)

Tonight I have a school board meeting at 7pm so dinner won't be until 8:30pm.  Also, last night I steamed 2 bunches of asparagus (1 bunch comes rubber banded at the grocery store, then chopped them into 1 inch pieces.  I ate some for dinner and have enough for a few nights. 

Breakfast:
Tea or coffee in any quantity without sugar. (One tablespoon of milk is allowed per day.  The all-natural sweetener, Stevia is great to use! (they added the (!) not me)

Lunch (I'm not going to type it all out but it says measure before you cook and all visible fat s/b removed, only grill or boil the meat)
100 grams of veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp. 

The veggies your allowed to have, per the HCGdiet.com book are:
One type of vegetable only to be chosen from the following:
spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens (never eaten or heard of beet-greens), green salad (I think this must just mean lettuce because you can only choose ONE right?), tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes (do they come in other colors?), cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage, (Any reasonable portion of vegetables is allowed)

As you've seen from my diet log, I've mixed up some veggies in my salad to add variety, but you're not supposed to. 

Also, for Fruit: 
An apple, orange, 6-9 strawberries or 1/2 grapefruit. 

Dinner
The same four choices as lunch (above)
Do not eat the same meat for both meals

Staying positive

My HCG diet (I flip between caps and lower case on that...I know it. Go with it) is going okay. I didn't do awesome this weekend, but I didn't totally fail either. Failing to me is gaining it all back. 

Friday, as I mentioned in my previous post, we had the Harlem Globetrotters game to attend (which was totally fun btw!).  Check this one out of Shawna holding the girls' new Official Harlem Globetrotters basketball. 

For Friday dinner I had asked Todd to bring me a piece of chicken I could eat in the car on the way to the event.  The store didn't have any pre-cooked whole chickens that looked any good to him so he just bought chicken tenders which are breaded. Normally, breaded chicken would be fine, but not on this diet.  But, I thought I could remove the breading.  Not so much.  It just wouldn't come OFF without taking all the meat with it, so rather than starve, I ate the entire thing, breading and all. 

So, let's recap Friday:
Day 5 - 147.2

AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Chicken, green salad, cucumber, apple, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: Chicken tenders (breaded), cucumber.  That's it!  I didn't do the Melba toast since the meat was breaded.  I didn't do the fruit because the meat was breaded. 

As always I take the liquid 3X a day, then before bed I take my vitamin B12, a multi-vitamin and 2 calcium pills. I also drink water during the day.  Perhaps not a half gallon or gallon like the diet recommends, but I'm regularly visiting the bathroom to pee, so THERE.
Day 6: - 146.4 
Weight loss!!!!  Woo hoo.  But, this is a Saturday now we're on and traditionally on diets I have problems holding to the routine on weekends.  When I did WW in 2005 I regularly fell off the wagon on weekends, but kicked butt on weekdays.  Every morning I'd have high hopes that I could stick to it, but sadly, I'd give in to some craving. This Saturday would be no different. This day was emotionally very hard for me.  I was an idiot and left too late to watch my daughter perform a cheer leading dance routine in a huge competition.  My husband was there with her, but my other daughter and I left the house too late (totally MY fault) so we missed it.  I was soooo upset with myself I was on the verge of tears for hours.  Still, during the rest of the competition I ate what I'd brought.  It was when I got home that I failed. 
AM: No coffee.  Nothing. 
Lunch: Chicken pieces, cucumber, 1 Melba toast, 2 cuties
Dinner: Chicken breast, cucumber, 1 Melba toast, apple
Snacks (here is the problem:) Lots of wine, 2 string cheese, WW ice cream bar (1 point bars if you're on the WW plan)



Day 7 - 147.4 
I gained a full pound!*!$% Todd said it was water weight but I was kinda (A LOT) upset with myself.  Had I stayed the same weight I would have been okay, but to gain a full pound sucked.  Also, I slept like crap that night and was awake from 1am to 5am stressing and remembering how lame I was to miss my daughter's routine AND over eat the day before.  I knew I'd still have a problem not cheating but I would try to limit my over indulging from the previous day. 
AM:  Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia. 
Lunch:  Chicken breast, cucumber, 1 cutie, 1 Melba toast
Dinner:  Hamburger patty, tomato, 1 Melba toast, apple, less wine, WW ice cream bar

Day 8 - 146.4
Phew!    Lost that weight again.  Go me. 
AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: Green salad (mixed spinach w/spring lettuce) with chicken, a few cucumber slices and rice wine vinegar and an apple.
Dinner:  Chicken, asparagus, 1 Melba toast, wine and WW ice cream bar. 

My newest conquest

I recently started the popular, very talked about HCG Diet.  I read a bunch of articles online before purchasing.  One article said the hcg liquid is actually snake oil.  haha

I decided to try it anyway.  My sister-in-law is a chiropractor with 4 years of medical training.  She did (and is continuing to do) the injections of hcg.  She's lost over 30 lbs.  She's a naturalist, organic food buyer, waited a few months before immunizing her daughter for the first time, type person. She knows what is healthy and what isn't. If SHE'S on this diet, I know it's not all bad.  So, I went online & ordered it. 

A bit of back history on me. 

I've always had to worry about my weight a little bit. I've never been huge, but as I get older and become less active my weight goes up. When I was married in January of 1999 I was a size 8 and about 135 pounds. I hold my weight everywhere with a pretty good even distribution. Some people gain weight just their hips  but I gain it everywhere, and you can definitely see in my face when my weight is up or down. My cheeks and triple chin (haha) show my weight. 

Below is me in 1994.  We had a hat party.  :)  Size 8.

Below in 1999 on my wedding day

In 2001 I had my daughter Paula and in 2003 I had my daughter Shawna.  In 2005 my weight stablized around 150. 

This was me in August 2004.  (the baby I'm holding is not mine but she sure is cute!)  I'm pretty sure those were size 12's I'm wearing. 

In May of 2005 my friend Tina and I decided to start Weight Watchers together.  We were totally committed and supported each other.  In 5 months I lost 22 lbs. My goal weight was 128 and I hovered around that weight (up or down 2 lbs) for a few years.

Below was our December 2005 company holiday party. Tina is on the right, I'm in the middle. The three of us all did WW together so we were celebrating our skinniness with dessert! 

Some friends said I was too skinny at 127 but I loved it.  I could wear a size 4 or petite 6 in pants.  The blue dress above was a petite 8.  I felt SO good in my skin.  I'm only 5'3" so 127-130 is a good weight for my height. 

I'm below on the left at my 20 year high school reunion in August 2006. I was 127 lbs   :) 

Then, in 2008 I got hooked on this speciality salad at work in our cafeteria.  It was a Waldorf salad.  It had chicken, blue cheese, cranberries, apples, candied walnuts and a raspberry dressing.  OMG I ate it everyday.  But, as you can see by the ingredients, it's not a low calorie lunch.  Salad doesn't mean low calorie.  Gradually, without really noticing anything dramatic, in 1 year I'd gained 10 lbs.  In January 2009 I was 141 lbs.  I still looked okay but I wanted to lose the weight and wear my small clothes again.

Me in 2009.   Size 10. 

Then something awful happened. In 2009 I got hives for no known reason.  I was tested by an allergist and found to be allergic to NOTHING.  But the Prednisone (steroid) they put me on to stop the itching made me STARVING. I would feel as if I hadn't eaten for days, even when I'd just eaten a huge meal 2 hours ago.  I could have eaten a couch.  I quickly, and I do mean QUICKLY, gained a fast 8 lbs by the end of that stint.  Sadly, that weight didn't disappear when I stopped the evil (but necessary) Prednisone.  So then I was back to my original weight from early 2005.  During 2010 I managed to maintain that weight, give or take a couple pounds.  I did attempt to go back on WW, but my heart wasn't in it so I wasn't successful.

My daughter Paula and I on a Christmas Train in December 2010.  See my cheeks? Yeah, big time weight gain.  Size 12. 

During the holiday's is when my brother told me about his wife's HCG diet. I saw her on Thanksgiving and WOW, she looked amazing.  I mean amazing.  I decided to do my research.  I considered doing the injections like her.  When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter I had to inject insulin 4 times a day for a month for gestational diabetes so I knew I could handle that part, but in the end I decided on oral. 

Last Saturday the HCG kit arrived from hcgdiet.com via UPS and I had to sign for the package upon delivery.

I immediately opened it.  Of course. Hello! The rest of my new life starts today! 

According to the book, Day 1 and Day 2 your supposed to start the drops (3x a day) and eat a bunch of fatty foods. Then on Day 3 you start the 500 calories. But since eating fatty foods doesn't scream DIET to me, I say the day I started the 500 calories is my day 1.  Got it?  Ok. 

Let me start out by saying I'm not doing this diet exactly by the book. I don't own a food scale, and don't plan to buy one.  Also, my schedule is chaotic with work, kid pickup, volleyball games and cheer competitions.  I eat lunch at noon and dinner at 7 or 8pm.  That's probably not the best for this low calorie meal plan since I'm STARVING by dinner time, so I've had to eat an orange or Melba toast in between meals.  Also, I'm a wino.  Wine makes me feel civilized and if I don't have my wine at the end of the day I feel jipped. So I need to have 1 glass a day.  Again, not on the meal plan.  But, I'm on day 5 and have lost 4lbs so I'm doing something right.  Also, it says don't eat the same meat for lunch and dinner.  I'm going to fail on that some days.  I'm a huge chicken fan.  Also, I'm drinking several glasses of water during the day. Sometimes it's green tea, unsweetened ice tea or just plain water. 

At night I take the B12 drops that came in the kit, with a multi-vitamin and 2 calcium pills.

Day 1 - weighed 151 lbs.
Actually, this was the first time in months I weighed myself at all. The book recommends weighing and measuring before you start the FAT eating diet.  The last time I weighed myself I was 153 or 154 lbs so I'd actually lost weight somewhere over the holidays which shocks the heck out of me but I'm not complaining.  Also, I didn't measure my body parts.  Measuring is recommended but I couldn't find my measuring tape until day 3. 
Menu:
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia sweetener
Lunch:  Halibut, spinach lettuce, apple, 1 Melba toast
Dinner:  Crab meat (fake crab meat), asparagus, orange, Melba toast

Day 2 -  150.8 lbs
That's barely any loss so I was a bit worried this whole thing is a sham.  Also, I was hungry the day before.  Today was rough because before I went on this diet I'd already made plans to go out to lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in 2 years.  I changed our venue from Vietnamese to Applebees and ordered off the WW menu, but tweaked it. 
Menu:
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Shrimp skewers (it had a sweet bbq sauce (didn't know it came with the sauce) but I'd asked for no oil), broccoli (not one of the veggie choices in the HCG book but oh well, I'm still learning this whole thing.
Dinner: Chicken, asparagus, orange, 1 Melba Toast

Day 3 - 149.4 lbs
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Trout, spinach lettuce, 2 cuties, 1 Melba toast (2 cuties aren't the same as 1 orange I'm told,  Higher sugar content in a cutie)
Dinner: Chicken, cucumber, apple, 1 Melba toast, red wine

Day 4 - 148.2 lbs
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Chicken, green lettuce, cucumber, 2 cuties, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: Shrimp, cucumber, cutie, 1 Melba toast, red wine

Day 5 - 147.2
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Chicken, green salad, cucumber, apple, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: No idea.  We're going to see the Harlem Globetrotters tonight. I've asked my husband to bring me some chicken to eat in the car.  I have some fruit (orange/cuties) with me and my Melba toast.
I'll try to not blow it. Wish me Luck!

Online Window Shopping

Does anyone else do this? 

I go on a retail website, like LLBean or Old Navy or {insert the name of any popular site here} and click on all their wonderful stuff so it goes into my cart.  I actually take a good amount of time and care making my choices. Mostly things for the kiddos, sometimes items for me. 

My total reaches $150 to $200 but before I check out I purposely exit out of the website.

Why?

Because I can't actually AFFORD to spend $150 or $200 on all that wonderful stuff. 

Online window shopping at it's best.

Spell Ricochet

I know your all dying to know how I did in the Spelling Bee. All (none) of you. 

Well, I did very well thank you.  I managed to go thru a few rounds with some easy words like
Marriage
Mischief
Lecture
and maybe one more

Then they gave me Ricochet. 

I could not even visualize the word.  I wasn't even sure RIC was right! LOL  I got to RICOshae which I knew was wrong but I had to say something. 
I was not the first one sent away. In fact, there were 13 contestants (I was 007) and many were disqualified before me. 

So GO ME. 

Spell WHAT?

My company is having a Spelling Bee to raise money For the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Part of the arrangement is your supposed to donate a certain number of hours of vacation (4-16) to enter the Spelling Bee, which will then be donated to the cause.  Our company goal is $100K. 

My vacation hours are in the negative.  With all our shut down days in 2009 and 2010 as well as vacations in 2010 I can barely keep enough on the books. 

I guess there weren't a lot of participants so my friend running the event asked if I'd participate.  I'm sort of known around here as someone who gets involved. I was willing, but told her of my dilema of no vacation hours.  She offered to donate hours in my name.  Sweet! 

Unfortunately, I'm an okay speller but not great. They are kinda cheating and gave us the looong list of words in advance. On top of the list says "Beginner Words".  Hah!  Beginner words?!  I can read these words easily enough, but spell them?! I'm doomed.

I have one night to study, not that it will help. I'll be nervous in front of everyone and forget everything. 

At least it's for a good cause. 

click click

5am this morning I was sleeping. Rosie is laying in my room. She hears something, leaps up, barking and running to the stairs. Before she even makes it to the stairs I hear the dog door magnets clinking together. clink clink


THE RACCOON! That little sucker was trying to get in my house again but Rosie heard him pop his head in. Some of you may remember how we had a similar visitor many months ago, February's Raccoon. The one I saw last night was much bigger.




Rosie is outside barking like crazy. I open the window on top of the stairs, which looks out to the backyard. I tell Rosie to quiet down, then see the Raccoon run away off my fence and over my neighbors storage area roof, next to my fence, to the house behind and kitty corner to ours.




Rosie was sniffing around like crazy. She knew exactly where it had been. I got her inside and locked the dog door. Crap. I hate having to do that because Rosie already can't manage to do her business outside on a regular basis, if the door is locked for sure she won't. I also don't want a raccoon inside my house.

In other news, last night on my way home from getting my roots done I managed to take a picture of the gorgeous sunset.

Here's me driving. My hair appears more red than it really is. Must be the flash.

Yes, I'm a dork

SASSY

I can't think of anything to write so I'm going to show you my new glasses. Aren't they sassy! They're transitional, which means the lenses go from light to dark in the sun. You non-glasses wearing people may not have known that and I didn't want you having to leave, Google the dictionary and then come back and say duh?!

I took this picture at home yesterday after I'd been in the sun. You can see how they're a bit darker in the lens area. This goes away after a few minutes.

I took this picture on Friday at work. The sides of the frames are pink with lots of bling. (totally fake bling btw). And because I purposely bought these to match my pink stuff today at work I AM wearing a pink blouse and black pants. I'm totally accessorized. Yeah baby!

You know you want them too.

Birthday weekend "Readers Digest Version"

Thursday night we headed to my parents about 7:30pm and hit stupid traffic midway on Interstate 80. There was no reason that we could see for the traffic since when it finally dispersed there was nothing there! I hate that.

Friday morning my mom sang happy birthday to me. My girls were SO EXCITED that my birthday had finally arrived. We headed over to the bike parade that morning. Todd was already there helping set up. My moms friends Barbara and Carol organized the event and since he helped them last year they asked for his help again this year. Their bikes were all decked out. I bought them matching Wal-Mart outfits (since I'm a big spender). They looked really cute. They each won in their age group. Thank goodness because last year when Shawna won and Paula didn't it was torture for all of all weekend with her complaining.

Afterwards we headed back to my parents to make lunch and get in our swimsuits. My dad and Todd staked out our spot on the beach w/out EZ-Up canopy. The weather on the 4th was great. Not hot or smokey. The girls played in the water for a couple hours. We headed back home so I could nap. LOL Todd set up the pool in the backyard w/the EZ-Up to shade it. A couple times we saw twin baby deers. OMG they are soo cute! Lots of spots. The mom was nowhere to be seen, but the babies came to my parents waterfall for water.

The girls set the table for me. They wanted me at the head of the table with them on each side of me. So cute. They'd each decorated cards and the envelopes for me. They blew up balloons and hung birthday signs. The adults drank the wine I picked from my day out with Dina and Susanne. Delicious. They helped my mom frost the yellow cake with chocolate frosting. YUMMY! My favorite. My mom claims she didn't know she bought trick candles but WHATEVER! Those suckers did not want to blow out! LOL

Saturday we headed to my mom's friends house on the lake. Barbara. She and Carol had planned a kids event where they panned for gold. They'd painted rocks of all sizes gold and tossed them in the lake. The kids LOVED it. There was probably at least a dozen kids of all ages. After they weighed their gold they got to "buy" something from the table. Paula met a sweet girl whose grandparents lived across the cove. Her name was Paige and she's 7 also. They played, even took a paddle boat to her house to play, then paddled back. We headed home where they played in the tiny pool again.

Sunday we left Shawna at my parents. Todd, Paula and I visited my Grandma on the way home. She looked awesome! She's 92 and so pretty. I love her white hair. Sadly her eyesight is so bad she couldn't recognize me right away. Her strokes have affected her eyes. She asked me to read to her a letter she received from her niece so I did that. She adored Rosie too. Rosie was making her laugh, which I loved to hear. We stayed until they came to get her for lunch. Paula wanted to push her wheel chair to the lunch room table. I gave her tons of kisses and we lift. God I love her.

We hit a lot of traffic on the way home. I told Todd that Labor Day weekend we need a plan because towing the trailer in that traffic will be a bear.

So that's my birthday weekend in a nut shell. Overall it was wonderful. I'm not as freaked being 40 now that I AM 40. It was just leaving my 30's that made me panicky.

Todd didn't bring the SanDisk SD card to work so I'll have to post pictures later.

Basking in my 30's for one more day

Tomorrow is D-day. I will officially be 40 years old at 8:45am. I'm really not thrilled about turning 40.
I love my birthday's in general. I love all the attention I get (I'm needy) the presents (I'm materialistic) and the festivities of 4th of July. I remember turning 30 and feeling I hadn't accomplished everything I wanted. Not married yet, no kids, no house.

But my 30's have really turned out to be the best! In my 30's I got married, bought a home, had 2 beautiful girls. They're young, sweet, fun and so full of energry. In my 40's I'll have TEENAGERS! I'm just not so sure my 40's will be as blissful as the 30's I'm leaving.

I wouldn't say I'm kicking and screaming, but I'm not running to my new age either.

Todd totally surprised me!

Todd totally surprised me this weekend with a surprise party for my 40th birthday. I didn't expect it at all. There were times thru the past few months that I thought something might happen, but at the end of the day I didn't think he'd pulled it off so I wasn't expecting it at all when Dina and Susanne and I drove up to my house after a day in Livermore wine tasting, to finding my closest friends and family waiting for me in my driveway! It was awesome.
The theme was Las Vegas. Todd had rented a craps table, hosted by our tax guy Larry and his wife. We had poker, 21, lots of great food and appetizers brought and made by Susan and some other friends. We had dancing (of course), and just overall the best time.

Another huge surprise was that Jeannie, my friend from grammer school who had another party to be at this weekend), located our old friend Aaron Maes from high school. Aaron walks up with Todd in my kitchen and it literally took me seconds to register it was him. The next day he came with his wife and 2 kids so I was able to meet them.

In another post I'll type out specifics of how my dear friends and family tricked me that day and months prior leading up the event, but for now look below for some of the pictures (I say some because we know he takes like a 1000) from that night.