Monday, August 4, 2008

So much to write, I don't even know where to start.....

This weekend we took Bella and Brandon to my hometown for an annual festival. We got there just in time Friday night to see the fireworks. Saturday, we stopped by Laura's flip house to see the progress that has been made. Laura and Blaze most definitely have a lot of work ahead of them, but it does look good. I hope I can see the final project in person. Afterwards, we went to my mom's store to see her as well as save a seat out front for the parade. I swear, I think Bella and Brandon liked the store better than the parade. They sat at the counter and "worked" for my mom. They wanted customers in the worst way. They all met the "kitty" of the store--a fat cat named Snickers that thinks she owns the place. Most of her time is spent in the storefront window watching people walk by. I guess while Brian and I went up to check out some of the food vendors, Bella went shopping, because we came back to find her wearing a crocheted "corsage" pin and had a cute new purse. Of course, since Taylor couldn't be there (she was with her family in Ocean City for the week) Bella went shopping for her. Taylor will soon be the proud owner of a fuschia satin purse. Brandon had a new American flag pin and a new snazzy visor.

When the parade started at 1pm, the kids wouldn't go outside because they wanted to work. My mom eventually lied to them and said the store closed during the parade. Brandon didn't get the memo my mom was lying to him. As he walked out and my mom wasn't looking, he flipped the sign to CLOSED. After the parade was over, my mom couldn't figure out why no one was coming shopping til an old lady said, "well, your store is closed." Back to the parade.....we all sat out front with my Nana and Pop, sister, and Uncle Jer and my 10 year old cousin, Brad. We quickly found out that besides the Santa parade we take them to every November at a nearby shopping complex, Bella and Brandon have never been to a parade before. They were amazed that people threw candy at them and gave them bags of goodies and balloons.

Brandon quickly attached himself to my Nana, which I know made her feel good. My family doesn't get to see them very often....actually, this may have only been the 3rd or 4th time---and since they aren't biological grandkids and kinda got thrown into three new great-grandkids, I don't think they really knew how to act around them. But anyway, Brandon and Bella were attached to Nana, Pop, my mom, and sister the entire trip. Brandon wanted my Nana (in her 80s) to go in the fun house with him. I don't think he realized she barely got up the hill--there was no way she was going in a funhouse. I think Bella just about peed herself with excitement when my Pop slipped her $5 in her hand so she could go play games. They both won goldfish at the ball toss stand. (Unfortunately, Brandon's fish didn't make it through the night.) Nana took all the kids for ice cream, so she definitely was their new best friend. When they had enough fun, all they wanted to do was go back to the store to work. (I can only imagine what the kids mother thinks of our trip....when they called her to say good night, they didn't mention the parade, but said "we worked at Sarah's mommy's store!")

Brandon played again in the mud and waited patiently for his "friend," Corey, my parents 7 year old neighbor, to come help him build a new mud road. Corey never made it over, but Bella and Brandon did end up swimming with him at his pool. We eventually had to force them to go to bed, which was already past their normal bedtime.

Each morning they got up and help Leigh and my mom make breakfast. They drew up personalized placemats for each person eating and yesterday they made handmade menus. The rest of the time, they were on a constant search for my mom's cats which were pretty smart and hid as much as possible. So, overall the weekend was very good. The kids didn't want to leave---they wanted to stay one more day, but I had to be back for work at 7pm.

In other news, my sister is canceling her wedding. Not the marriage, just the wedding. They just want to be married before Jimi is deployed again and don't want all the hassle of stressing out over wedding plans and money issues. I totally agree with them. I think if I Brian and I ever marry we'll be doing it in front of Elvis in Vegas. Ok, so I'm not really sure about Elvis, but it won't be a huge event. Weddings don't create a marriage. I am a little bummed that a week or two ago I ordered my bridesmaid dress---I don't think the order can be canceled. That's $150 I could use right now, but at the same time, I totally understand why they are doing what they are doing, so I'm not too worked up over losing out on $150.

I know I've posted this ten times over, but today I'm starting over on WW. Last week I weighed in at a new meeting, but to be quite honest, I didn't count a single point. I think I just wanted a reference point to "start" at. But yesterday, after coming home from PA I weighed myself at home and I was 181. Holy hell. 181. I haven't been that heavy in 4 years. Times up. I gotta get crackin. I have my physical coming up in a few months and I have to be 165 or less. Plus, the big girl pants are getting snug and I'm one of those weirdo people who think they look smaller than they are, til you see your picture....yeah, that happened this weekend and it wasn't pretty from my eyes. So, everything is new. New meeting, new leader, even a new WW.com login name. I want nothing from the old me. I can't fall back on the "I lost 70 lbs" thing anymore. That was years ago and I have to work on a new goal. I started journaling again. Its been so long since I've done that. I didn't realize what bad habits I've fallen back into. Like driving home from work this AM I wanted so badly to stop a Panera bread. Just as I got to the exit I remembered today was my start over day and I went home and had 3/4 c of Capn Crunch w/ skim milk and Brian made me two silver dollar pancakes because the kids wanted me to eat with them. I'll probably sleep thru lunch so I'm not worried about that. For supper I'm back to cooking. Brian's working OT tonight so I may cook for a few nights. I forgot how much I liked that WW cookbook from a few months back. I have to get back into some points friendly recipes.

I have to say, this is the most motivated I've been in a long time. I feel awesome. I have that attribute a lot of it to my medicine and sleep. I actually WANT to go to the gym today. How crazy is that? I'm hoping this is a new me and it will continue.

I think that is all my updates. Oh, the patio. Still not done. Well, the patio is, but the fill for the yard isn't here yet, nor has the patio people returned to fix the step. Brian's now has the mission to contact them and ream their asses out. This is ridiculous. Today marks week number 4. So much for a 3-4 day job.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Progress has been made, finally.

Progress has been made with the patio. Our steps from the house to the patio have been put in and they look good. We are going to have to stain the pickets for the railing but that's no big deal. The patio looks much "neater" than it did before. Its nothing spectacular, overall, but its what worked with our budget. We got to keep our flowerbed and Brian came up with a good idea to make two other beds on either side of the steps down to the yard. That way it adds some color and dimension. Although we'd love to have a fancy patio with some teak furniture or something we have to work with what we've got for now. I had two plastic/vinyl Adirondack style chairs from my apartment patio that came with me when I moved in here. We were given a really nice mosaic cafe style table and three chairs from a friends of ours that didn't want it anymore. And Brian brought a few side tables/plant stands and a loveseat from his old house---we just need to get some cushions. None of it really matches and looks kind of crappy right now, but our plan is to paint all the metal items (table base, side tables, cafe' chairs) the same color Rustoleum so it matches and its protected, as well as paint the ugly Adirondack chairs a color that better matches. They are so ugly now, but so incredibly comfortable (as was the price when I bought them).

We planned on replacing the privacy walls, but to save money, Brian is just going to fix whatever is broken, replace a few boards that are warped, power wash them, and then stain to match the steps.

We plan on sprucing up the existing flowerbed, and like I said, making two new ones. Initially we were just going to put flowers in it but after talking with our neighbor, we are considering doing a veggie garden, which would help us save some money next summer on vegetables.

I'm starting to get excited about it. I sat out there earlier tonight to talk on the phone and it was so relaxing. I can't wait til its all done.

You're an enigma

Brian and I went to my ENT appointment this morning. They took us right back and my Nurse Practioner, Doreen, came in and reviewed my case with a new NP shadowing her. She read my CT results, which consisted of a deviated septum with huge turbinates, an impacted wisdom tooth (not causing any problems) and a cyst in my sinus. Ho-hum, just another day in the ENT world. That is, until Doreen put my CT up on the light up board thingy, said, "Oh God!" and proceeded to talk medical talk to her shadow like we weren't even in the room. She went on and on about how horribly crooked my septum was. Then I think she all of a sudden remembered we were sitting three feet behind her. Doreen turned around with a big shit eating grin on her face and said, "oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to act like that. I just don't know how you can breath." She ran out and got a doctor in the office so we could talk about surgery. The surgeon, who was very nice, came in looked at the CT and repeated all the same "Oh, God, how can you breath?" phrases we heard already, did a quick exam and then explained how beneficial the surgery will be for me. She explained to all of us in the room what she planned to achieve during the surgery as well as what I could expect afterwards. The doctor told me I wouldn't have any packing but I'd be doublely splinted because my septum is so deviated. I thought Doreen was going to go nuts. She got a huge smile on her face and said, "you're going to double splint her?" she asked Dr. Day. By her reaction, you'd swear she was getting a million dollar bonus in her check next week. I asked her if I'm the weirdo every ENT waits for and she kinda smiled and called me an enigma. When we left the office, Brian hit it on the head. He said he felt like he was living an episode of Grey's Anatomy where all the surgeon's are fighting to get in on the good surgery. We figure they all went in the lounge afterwards and started pestering Dr. Day to assist in putting in my double splint or something.

I'm waiting on a phone call to schedule the surgery. I've been told it will be a week until I can go back to work but after reviewing some paperwork, it looks like I'll be off for two weeks. The paperwork says I can't bend, lift, or strain (including constipation) for two weeks, and that's everything I do at work (minus the constipation).

On a different subject, the patio guys are back. They are building our landing/steps coming from the patio door as I type, so I'm hoping that tonight I could get to my back yard without walking around the house. They are planning on bringing a ton of dirt to make the transition from the steps to the yard a little nicer. Brian and have been talking about it and after hanging out at his parents condo yesterday, we've decided we want the patio to be a sitting area as compared to an eating area. I don't like bugs/flies hanging out with me while I eat, but I'm very okay with sitting out relaxing at night. We've also talked about getting flowers that we can hang off our privacy wall. And once this is all done, we can work on the flowerbed that borders the one side of the patio. Brian wants to put all wildflowers in there. That might have to wait til next year but I do think it will be pretty.

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