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March 20, 2008

Absent from the body, present with the Lord.


Ernie passed Wednesday around 8:00pm PST.

Photo taken by M. of the lighthouse only blocks from Ernie's home on the coast.

March 18, 2008

Results

I ain't seein' no results people! I have come to the conclusion that food is the issue. I have had a personal trainer since Nov. and i am exactly the same weight. I know, I know, it's not the numbers it's the inches. Fine, i haven't seen any change there either, while i have not measured my self in about 3 months, my clothes are not fitting any differently. Weight training and a little cardio is not going to cut it.

I picked up the book "The Writing Diet" by Julia Cameron, the same woman who wrote the ever popular "Artist Way". I've finished the first half of the book. I could say a lot about this book so far but the point i want to make is that i've been keeping a food journal for 11 days now. Wow, do i ever let me emotions rule my eating. If i'm too tired to deal with cleaning the dishes or planning something to eat, it's fast food/take out. If i feel stressed, mad, sad or celebratory, it's all about the sugar hopefully chocolate flavored. Of course I knew this to a degree but having to write down what i eat and why i made that choice is making me much more aware.

The next step is to get past my avoidance of meal planning. I'd also like to start eating breakfast at home and not in the car. Also, i can't believe i'm saying this, I'm tired of coffee. I no longer like the Grande Vanilla Soy Lattes from Starbucks, they leave a bad taste in my mouth and make me feel heavy. I tried getting the same latte at a small coffee shop near work, this is taste better but i still get that heavy sensation. I didn't seem to mind it so much when i was making drip coffee at home but even that left a bad taste and it wasn't from a flavored creamer or a brand i didn't like. So, I'm thinking of switching to tea or it's getting closer to summer even with 3 more months of dreary rain, I might go back to drinking the protein mix with orange juice i did um, 2 (o.m.g.) summers ago.

Random things about the gym:
Does anyone else have the reaction to cry after a work out? I mean sitting in your car balling for a good 5 minutes. I have this reaction after I've had a hard weight work out i found difficult and felt wimpy after. Really, i'd prefer to start crying about 10 minutes into the session but so far i haven't. I have a young male trainer, I don't think he'd know what to do. Tonight was one of those nights. It was legs tonight and we were at the squat machine. I despise squats. The thing is, he does not even add weights to it, i'm simply resisting the weight of the machine. After about 15 of the things my legs are on fire and I want to start crying out of shear frustration of having to do 2 more sets. Then at the end i just let it all out in the car. Odd, huh?

How do some girls look so darn cute while at the gym? They have these coordinated out fits and their hair pull up but good looking. Those first few minutes i'm in the locker room of the gym I feel so frumpy, i still match in my blue capri sports pants and gray shirt but still frumpy. Once i'm actually out in the gym doing whatever, i completely forget about it but still I wish i was better at ignoring it. I am sure as heck not spending money on work out cloths. No, i'm saving that for when i drop a couple of pant sizes and need a new wardrobe.

***
Now that i've eaten my 3 little oranges and drunk a couple glasses of water, I'm off to bed.

March 14, 2008

Ta-Da!

It took me forever and a template change to get the new banner up but it's there! I had fun making the banner. It only took me since November to actually do it. Then I had to spend a few hours finding the font I wanted.

Going to the beach this weekend. Can't wait! There was a quick day trip in Jan. but this is a full weekend. I plan on doing a lot of beach combing for drift wood. Not only do i collect it but I want to make a mobile or two for our living room.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

P.S. this is my 100th post!

March 13, 2008

Library Card

March 10, 2008

Health Update

My brother-in-law R. had a very successful surgery on Friday. The surgeons were able to completely remove the tumor in his left shoulder. They did have to take some of his hip bone to reconstruct the shoulder.

R. is doing very well. I went over Saturday evening and he was up walking around! I was shocked because frankly i'd think his hip would hurt. He was quiet drugged up on pain meds and we were sitting around the kitchen bar talking and you could so tell from his half drooping eye lids. It was a little humorous. R. still has a great attitude about the recovery. The tumor was diagnosed as a rare cancer even with it being benign. The doctors will continue monitoring him for the next 3 years. The first year being the most strenuous with chest x-rays every 2-3 months after his 2 week post-op check up. They'll be taking check x-rays because the type of cancer they found is known to appear in the lungs as well.

My mother-in-law J. looked so tired but in a way relieved. Of course she's going through the "i should have done more" battle with her self. I told her she did the best she knew how. J. took R. to the Dr. for six months trying to figure it out when the MRI was finally assigned. Turns out that R's. Dr. was shocked when they found the tumor. J. is also comparing the odd timing of R. getting diagnosed with a cancer tumor the same time her father was diagnosed with cancer. I do agree that it seems odd that it would both happen at the same time but I don't think it really means anything.

J.'s father Ernie has been moved from the hospital to J.'s brothers house. I am amazed at how much change everyone is going through. I am feeling especially sympathetic for Ernie's wife. I can't imagine after 50+ years of sleeping in the same bed suddenly not being able to. From having a husband who took care of her to reversing the roles. A lot can change in a month. Wednesday is Ernie's birthday so we're going over to help celebrate. I plan to take lots of pictures.

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for us.

March 7, 2008

Random Bits of Fluff

My husband has unexpectedly left town for the weekend for a work conference. He left at like 5am to drive 4 hours with other co-workers to the location. So, here i am left with a completely empty weekend. Bring on the insomnia and girly movies. The insomnia is only vaguely new. When M.'s not home to go to bed with me at the same time i feel a touch lost about what time i should go to bed. Also, tonight, i feel wide awake at 10pm.

***
Random experience at the video store. There were 3 guys loudly perusing the outer rim of the store containing all the new releases against the back walls. I ended up having to step out of there way as they made an about face to go the opposite direction we were all originally going in. One of the three said "excuse me", i imagine his role in the group was the public apologizer for the other two's behaviors. I find the movies i want "Death at a Funeral" and "Much About Love" (think that's the title).

Standing in line, the three guys come up right behind me. The Extra Loud Guy makes a comment about how the big tub of pop corn has had the same illustration on it for years. Their conversation digresses about large woman and how eating popcorn will get them that way. I tried to block it out and kept making small steps closer to the counter. Extra Loud Guy keeps inching up along with me. In my head i say "i'm moving up, you stay where you are". My turn at the counter. Instead of the group staying a few steps back waiting for either cashier to open up the group clusters behind me, if Extra Loud Guy was a step closer i would have thought he was checking out with me.

Extra Loud Guy said something but i don't remember what. Polite Guy says "You'll have to ignore him", i find this interesting because I had not turned my head to even give them the idea i was paying attention. I turn over my right shoulder and look at E.L.G and say "um, yeah." The Second Guy "She already was". I turn again and say "Yeah, if he was step closer I'd let him know you'd invaded my personal bubble." I made a sweeping arm gesture to imply a barrier. I then realize that the cashier has been very quiet and that I've been rude to ignore the check out processes. Turns out cashier wasn't even paying attention and he still had to check in my rented videos so i don't feel so bad. E.L.G.'s response was saying to his friends "I had a bubble once until I got married" and then something about how before that he had an inverted bubble, what does that even mean?

Whats even crazier is that something that took 5 min. to happen took 3 paragraphs to explain. General comment about the whole thing, people are very talkative in video stores. In a city that in my experience the people do not strike up conversations with strangers it is very easy to do so in a video store.

***
I find our mail man annoying. We constantly get mail that goes to the street next to us. We have address 123 4th st. and we get mail for 123 hill st. - come on! it might be the same numbers but look at the street name! We live in an apartment complex so i don't expect the different sr. names to mean much. BUT the most annoying above all else is how he crams mail into our tiny little box. I ordered 2 issues of Artful Blogging^ and i find the envelope folded in half and crammed in there. At first I didn't think i'd get it out. There was a piece of cardboard in there to prevent bending, ha, lot o' good that did. Amazingly enough the magazines are just fine. Even if i did have to rip the envelope as i pulled it out.

^I do see a bit of irony about buying a paper publication about blogging which is digital. Strictly speaking they could offer the exact same content as a purchasable pdf. Although, there is something nice about full color photos on glossy paper.

March 4, 2008

Ikea Love

It all started on a Sunday morning with one little question from M. "Do you want to go get a new shower curtain?"

I excitedly replied that I did and I wanted to go to Ikea to get it. A new one opened last year and we had yet to go make a pilgrimage to it. Plus a few other things like a dvd box storage system because we had out grown our one shelf they were sitting on. And curtains and a new silverware holder for the kitchen.... we had gathered up a list of small items and made our way.

It was glorious. We talked our selves into buying a new tv stand w/ a pull out drawer for the dvds. Then we had to get the matching bookcase and deep chest drawer because we can put blankets in the drawer and replace an ugly bookcase hand-me-down. We did end up buying part of our new backdoor curtains but we haven't purchased the second half in order to hang them. So, that was it for the trip in January.

Then this past weekend my husband unexpectedly had Saturday off. We found our selves in Ikea again. I can't remember exactly what our motivation was. This time we walked out with a new dining room table and 2 new chairs. We love our new table though. It replaced another hand-me-down that i had sworn to repaint for 2 years and it never happened.

The new table also serves a duel purpose. Once in Ikea I had the thought that I would like a little bookcase/shelving thing that could become our mail/bill way station. The table ended up being a good solution for this because of the drawers it has in the middle. The drawers can serve as mail sorting/bill storage and a small file box can sit next to it for when i'm ready to file some mail away. I have also plugged in our shredder next to it for disposal of some things. The second purpose is of course to eat at but this is unusual for us because we normally eat on the couch with a movie. The best part is it saves so much room which is nice!

Here is a video of our new furniture:

It feels good to own our own furniture.

We picked up this lamp that is also art on Saturday too:
Ikea LampArt

What i loved doing was taking pictures of things we'd like to have in the near and far future.

We would love to buy these chairs with the foot rests not shown here:
Ikea Chairs

M. wants this loft bed for his future office. Not exactly sure why he loves it so but it hey, it would be his office. It could also work as a guest bed ;-)
Ikea Loft Bed

This wall unite of shelves for my future studio (ignore the bad stitching of the photos):
Ikea wall shelving

Here are shots of a kitchen we like. Love the blue on the front of the cabinets. I also like the shelves with the clear glass, would be good to show off my mug collections.
mosaic4099589