Sunday, March 28, 2010

Weekly Update #7

Status Update:
Pounds lost this week: none - I actually gained .4 pounds
BP this week: 122/79

Recap of the week:
My stress level at work this week went way up and I didn't handle it well at all. I was in SAP training every day from 8am to 5pm. I also had to try and keep on top of my regular workload so I was putting in another hour before training and 30 to 60 minutes after training and checking me email at home in the evening. Long days don't go well with me. We were also having lunch brought in every day so I was eating like crap. Our grill was stolen on Tuesday so we had an impromtu shopping trip and meal out that evening. Carly was especially obnoxious this week with her nightly disturbances so I was also sleeping like crap. Add it all up, and it made for a not-so-great week. So I must say I was surprised to see I'd only gained .4 pounds since I hadn't even considered working out at all the entire week.

This coming week might not be much better, but hopefully I'll be equipped to deal with it more successfully. I have training Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday starts another month-end cycle. I'll have long days all this week again but I'm trying to get back in the swing of working out and eating better. I tried to plan easy, no-brainer meals for dinner this week since my brain tends to get fried after 9 hours of SAP talk.

In other health-related topics, I made my annual doctor appointment a few weeks back. I asked for the first appoinment of the day and was shocked when they came back with 7:15. That's awesome! I'm back with the NP instead of the OB/GYN so perhaps this will be a more pleasant experience. That's not until August though. Both Adam and I also have dentist appoinments coming up in the next couple weeks. I haven't seen a dentist since before I graduated from high school (you do the math) so I'm kind of afraid to know what they might find. I'm also afraid they'll tell me they have to take my wisdom teeth out. Ugh. We'll see how it goes. My appoinment is April 13th.

Photographic Memory #16

My younger sister turned 25 years old this past Friday so this Photograhic Memory post is dedicated to her.

Here we are in October of 1986:



We did theater together. Apparently I'm supposed to be a daisy and Catherine is "the wind":



Sometimes we dressed alike:





We both grew our hair out:



We acted silly for the camera:





But only she did a dance in the Office Max parking lot. I really have no clue what that was about...



We visited Niagara Falls when she graduated from college:



Danced like fools at my wedding:



And in a couple months we'll meet again to celebrate her graduation from medical school and her transition from student to resident, from NYC to Boston. She's accomplished a whole lot in just 25 years!

Happy Birthday, congrats and good luck, Catherine!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Photographic Memory #15

So, there was this time that a rabbit climbed up into my engine and decided it was a good place for a nap.

My check engine light came on when I started my car so I popped the hood to take a look. Not that I'd know what to look for... but whatever. This was the Saturn (ie, the car from hell... part 3, and I figured I needed to top the oil off.) At first I didn't see it, but then it moved and scared the living daylights out of me.



I took a picture because I knew no one would believe me. I'm just so glad it wasn't injured. I know I wouldn't have handled a "puree of rabbit" very well.

Then again, it did chew through some wires and cost me something like $500. So, I was not happy with the rabbit. But I understand its reasoning. I'm sure being up in my engine was warmer than under a bush or something...

Kitties in the Sunlight (and other pictures)

JC. I especially like the reflection in the glass table top:



Connor:



Ted:



And yes, even Carly:



Although she looks a little ticked because Connor was laying next to the table:



Other shenanigans...

Ted conked out on the couch next to me. Don't you just want to eat that paw up?



JC, Connor, and Ted hanging out on the bed:



The clasp on my necklace broke so we moved the barstools up to hunt for it. Carly saw this as a perfect opportunity to explore:



(And I realize he's not a kitty, but) Adam, the roofing man:

Weekly Updates #5 & 6

Status Update:
Pounds lost last week: .8
Pounds lost this week: 2
BP this week: 119/76 (forgot to take it last week)

Recap of the weeks:
I’m not even going to try and remember what I did on which nights. I know it wasn’t my best showing, exercise-wise. Once again bad week struck and all I wanted to do was sleep and eat chocolate. Stupid hormones. Is it too soon to ask for a hysterectomy?

Anyway. Last week brought two fun events. First was Adam’s birthday on Thursday. Now he’s once again a year old than I am. Ha ha! We went out to Pullman’s for dinner where I had the awesomest salad ever – Berry Walnut. I’ll be doing a whole separate post on that one. It’s that good. Since we both worked full days we didn’t do much else in the spirit of celebration. He had complained that I got so many more cards than he had in the days leading up to his actual birthday so I went out and bought him three cards. And it ended up being four when I got another gift idea. So I think it all evened out. And really, I got probably seven cards total so it wasn’t like I had a mountain of them. It’s always a competition with boys, isn’t it?

The second fun event was Mark and Pat’s wedding on Saturday. I had mentioned previously that she had gotten a not-so-great diagnosis that pushed their wedding way up. It was a small affair, maybe thirty people, in the chapel at a non-denominational church in Oshkosh. Since both had been married before and both have children, it was not the most traditional service. What I thought was the best idea was instead of lighting a unity candle, they had all their sons come up and the all lit candles together. Symbolism at its best. After the service we stopped home for a quick wardrobe adjustment (let’s just say…um…Adam got hot) and then headed to Primo for the dinner. It was a good time. Same small group and Adam got lucky and we sat by a pair of golfers. This didn’t leave me with much to contribute to the conversation most of the time, but that’s ok. Instead of a cake they had a tower of cupcakes with the best frosting ever. Also a neat idea.

She started her first round of chemo yesterday, so keep her (and Mark, and her kids) in your thoughts.

My ten-year high school reunion was last Saturday. We didn’t go. I couldn’t justify paying $60 to see people I probably didn’t even want to see. I didn’t have a good time in high school so I don’t know that I would have been happy to have gone. And that $60? Didn’t even include food. It was for booze. No thanks. My attitude is if people really wanted to see me, they can find me. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m not so great at hiding on the internet. Type in my name (married or maiden) and you’ll find some way to contact me. My decision was also greatly helped by the fact that we had the wedding that afternoon and the bell choir played at the 8am service Sunday morning. Oh, and there was a time change too. So, yeah. Wasn’t that hard of a decision. They’re already talking about a 15-year one. My suggestions? Try not having it in MARCH. Have food. That is all. Although since I have nothing to do with planning it and didn’t go to this one I suppose I don’t really have any right to criticize all the work I’m sure it took to organize the event. It’s not for everyone.

Sunday we were up bright and early due to the aforementioned church commitment. We were originally going to play for Saturday’s service but I got them to switch to Sunday so we could go to the wedding. So, since I made everyone get up an hour earlier than the butt-crack of dawn I baked some cupcakes and Adam also brought along some Amish Friendship Bread as an apology. They both seemed to be appreciated. After church we went to breakfast and then came home to springify the house a little. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. Since it seemed like the whole week before had been one big blanket of fog, it was so nice to see the sun again.

Adam and I removed the gutter guards, did some shingle replacement on the roof, swapped the snow blower for the lawn mower (which hopefully wasn’t blind optimism), took the deck furniture out of storage. I got a little muddy tromping through the yard and a little wet when we discovered the underground sump pump hose must still be frozen somewhere since all the water came gushing out the downspout instead. But overall, much was accomplished and we got to be outside for awhile. I opened the windows to let the house air out and the kitties basked in the fresh air and sunshine. Except for Carly. I had her in the office with me while I was updating IMA emails and instead of sitting on the shelf by the open window she plopped herself on Adam chair and took a nap. *sigh* Epitome of rebellion, that one.

This past week was IMA, which was pretty well attended considering we're in the throes of tax season. Our topic was the future of manufacturing in Wisconsin. Bottom line was not a very optimistic outlook unless the smaller to mid-sized companies get into sustainable/green ideas and embrace a global market. I was supposed to be training my May replacement since we'll be in NYC for the final meeting of the season but she was more interested in talking to people. Granted, she IS the incoming president, but hopefully she'll do alright for me. I'm kind of obsessive about my record-keeping.

The rest of the week was trying to play catch-up. The weather was beautiful. Sunshine, temps in the 50s. I opened the windows every day to let some fresh air in. But now this morning it looks as though it snowed overnight. Not a lot, but grrrr.

Activity-wise, I totally fell off the exercise wagon this week. Like I didn't work out at all. But I also had a pretty good week food-wise. I kept to the plan, although I will admit I did have 4 girlscout cookies: 1 peanut butter and 3 shortbread.

This coming week might not hold much improvement. I've been required to attend SAP end-user training every day even though MON doesn't go live until August. I'll also be expected to do my actual job in addition to the 8 hours of instruction each day. Luckily this week is generally a rather slow one, but it will still be interesting to see how the accounting department works when no one is there.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Photographic Memory #14

Aah, the school dance. So wonderful, yet so humilating to look back on...

Homecoming 1998:



Note the "Rice Krispies" mirror. Totally happening. I think I still have this dress in my closet...

Prom 1999 (which we already discussed here):



Awesome. A cat hair on the scanner. Gah.

Homecoming 1999:



The window behind me says "North 2000." Woo! Go School Spirit!

And Prom 2000:



This is the dress that was too big so everyone who was taller than me, which, let's face it, is the majority of the human population, could look right down it. No one told me about it until later on. Shame on you, Justin...



Someone (probably Jess) took this awesome picture of me down by the lake that night. Looks like I'm floating unless you look closely. Cool...

Weekly Update #4

Status Update:
Pounds lost: 3.2 (ish)
BP: 115/78

Recap of the week:
Aah, month-end. What's not to like? Monday was a long day. I went straight from work to bells. When I got home all I wanted to do is have dinner and go to sleep. So that's what I did. Tuesday I think we did Tae Bo. Wednesday I lazed out again. Thursday I think we might have done Tae Bo again and Friday and Saturday it was back to the treadmill. Adam moved a cable box down there this past week so now we can watch TV. I've been catching up on DVR shows. Makes me want to start recording more shows again. TV can't be that bad if you're watching it while on a treadmill, right?

Doing well with the "no potatoes" lent thing. Haven't missed them at all. Perhaps I should have made it a "no pasta" thing. That would have been much more difficult. Or "no ice cream." That would be torture.

In total, this last 36 days I've lost just over 8 pounds. I've got 17 more pounds to go for my May goal. We'll see how it goes this next two months.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Life With Cats

This past weekend Adam vacuumed in our bedroom and had flipped our comforter up over itself so he could get under it. The cats are always playing in it so I'm sure there was plenty of kitty hair to get there. Afterwards he didn't put the blanket back down, but the cats didn't seem to mind much. Aah, adaptation.



Then I caught Ted and Connor cuddling in the chair in the office. I had been on the computer and when I turned around and saw this at first I was surprised, but then I knew I had to go get the camera and take a picture of it. I just love Ted's arm around Connor. They're so cute! (sometimes.)



Finally, the other morning JC must have been having a bad day. He sat by the sink like this the entire time I ate my breakfast. The picture doesn't quite capture how tragic he looked. He'd stare off into the distance, glancing dejectedly at me every once in a while while letting out a dramatic sigh. Such is the life of a cat. Must be rough...