Long time....

As it has been awhile since my last post I decided to update. Things are going well, but I am totally exhausted today. Yesterday I threw a bridal shower for my best friend...Goose. Go check her out!

It was complete with lavender colors everywhere in honor of her wedding. Each table was draped in lavender with candles and candies and funky little zigzagged shreds of darker purple paper. It was lovely and I think it suited her nicely. I am very excited about the upcoming wedding because as a fantastic turn of events, she fell in love with my first cousin. Now not only do I get to keep my friend forever, I get to keep her in my family forever too. How strange it is that she will soon be taking the last name I left behind in October.

Anyway, the shower was a huge success. I worked very hard to give her a beautiful and fun day. The only thing I forgot was...MY CAMERA!!! I was pretty mad at myself, but considering that was the only thing I forgot for the day I figure it is okay. There were plenty of other people with camera's so she should be able to get pictures to enjoy. So to Goose....sorry I forgot that one!

As I have known Goose for some 14 years now, I know her "likes" pretty well, which came in very handy for throwing her shower. As I know she isn't much of a "cake" kind of girl, I decided to make homemade pies in celebration of her day. With it I made her favorite treat, Oreo dirt cake! I must admit, I had never made nor tasted a dirt cake and now understand why she likes it so much. Instead of the traditional "flower pot" arrangement I put it in a trifle bowl so all the pretty layers would show.

We played games and enjoyed our sinful treats and had a wonderful time. I took the time to hand make earrings for each of the women who came to the party, which provided a huge hit. It was thrilling to do something so nice for my friend and I could tell...she had fun!

Now it's back to the daily grind. Only one good thing about this day. I am getting HD hooked up to my new TV. Tonight I plan to sit and stare in awe at the big screen sitting in my living room. I want to prop my feet up and enjoy some "veg-out" time. Happy Monday everyone!

Rant and Rave Wednesday

Check out Little Ms. B to see what she is ranting about on this beautiful Wednesday afternoon.

Rave- I am finally getting started on the path of surgery. I have my first appointment set for mid April. I am so excited I find it hard to think about anything else.

Rave- I've continued my water aerobics and walking routine and continue to feel better and better.

Rant- My right knee is still giving me trouble since falling back in December. I really hope it's just a bad strain.

Rant- I have recently found an odd spot/growth on my neck. I can't tell what it is but as I've watched it over the last two weeks it is continuing to get bigger. I called to set up an appointment with my doctor to have it looked at. Really gonna be pissed if its something bad!

Rave- I am throwing a bridal shower for Goose in a week and a half. I have almost everything ready for the day and hope she really enjoys herself.

Rave- Jared is getting more and more hours at work, which means we are finally going to get our finances back on track. What a long winter it turned out to be.

That's it for me today. What's got you rantin and ravin?

Phase 2 begins

Over the weekend I went to my third and final weight loss surgery seminar. Another good one where I learned even more useful information. The seminar gave me some insight on some questions I needed to ask of the other program I am interested in. In addition, my father joined me to get more information about the seminar, which was outstanding. He became a part of this process and learned all the reasons why it is important for me to move forward with this plan. I don't think he had a good clue about the process or about why this is so important for people like me, but now he does. Did you know that only 5% of morbidly obese people can lose weight and maintain it 5 years or longer with diet and exercise alone? Sad to say, but the numbers are just not on our side when it comes to "the old fashioned way". A fact that MOST lay people don't know/believe/understand.

Today I decided to call the local program and ask the questions that had come up from the latest seminar. I got the answers I was needing and have now decided which program to pursue. There are two that are very good; however, one is considerably closer to where I live and significantly less expensive. For both of those reasons, I have decided to be evaluated by the local program. I set up my first pre-operative consultation with the surgeon. It will be mid April and I am so thrilled. I am ready to crawl out of my skin with joy. I know this will not be the "easy" road as so many people believe it to be. It will take change and dedication on my part to live my life better. I am ready and so excited to be given this opportunity for a redo start in a new life and a new situation. I am confident I can and will be successful with this and that in a short amount of time my life will be very different than how it is in this moment today.

Phase two has officially begun.

What a PACK RAT!

This weekend was quite lovely. I spent Saturday with my wonderful husband. We were out and about shopping and eating and enjoying our local custard stand that has re-opened for the season. We took a nice long walk with the dog and the whole day was just special and peaceful and just what I hoped it would be.

Sunday, I got a wild hair and decided to do some spring cleaning. Jared and I have been talking about what we "needed" to do with cleaning out of closets for some time now, but have just been to lazy to actually get to it. Well I got to it! As I'm cleaning out two of our closets I come across old junk that got thrown in when we moved over a year ago. Naturally, I see this is stuff we haven't used nor looked at in the last year so I decide it is time to throw it away. Meanwhile, Jared is busy digging out what I throw in the trash. He tells me, "it's perfectly good stuff". Riiiiight...it is, but we haven't used it since we moved and that tells me it's time for it to go! At first he tries to get me by saying, "I'll make a space for it in the basement". Then, I happily remind him of his idea to clean out the basement as part of our spring cleaning job. Why move it down there to have to turn around and go through it again.

Score one for TEAM WIFE! He had no come back and the items that I sent to the trash got to stay in the trash. Saaaaweet! I know if he had his way, our house would look like his parents. Small pathways to get through rooms full of shit...erm JUNK. So glad I am quick on my feet and didn't fall for his plan!

I met a new friend

This week at aerobics I started talking with one of the women in my class. She is very nice and the more we talked the more I realized how nice it was to have someone to talk to outside of my home life. I don't have very many friends and I think having someone to relate to at aerobics will help keep me in there and looking forward to going. She is 10 years older than me and has her plate full with three sons, so I'm not sure it's someone I would do an extraordinary amount with socially. You just never know though. I am not a person who likes to be super social all the time. I enjoy my own private and personal time, though seems I get too much of that these days and I'm really missing spending time with the close friends I do have.

Exercising has been good for me. I'm feeling better and better and am getting more motivated. Tonight is walking night so me and the pooch and hopefully the hubby are gonna go for a walk after work. Jared took Dudley for a walk last night while I was in class. I think the exercise is great for all of us and I really want to keep it up and make it a part of our lives. In the end I think it will be good for all of us to make this change and I hope Jared can see that. I know after surgery his lifestyle will need adjusted as mine does, so why not do it now?

Rant and Rave Wednesday

If you are interested in knowing more about it. Go check out Little Ms. B for the scoop.



Rave: I totally forgot to blog about this, but figured this was a good time to mention it. March 1st, which was Monday, marked the 7th year I have spent with Jared. It's a weird thing after you get married. I use to focus so heavily on the March 1st date and now I nearly went the entire day without realizing it was a special day. We didn't celebrate the day like we once would have, but we still mentioned it to one another and looked back at our time together. Many ups and downs, but we love each other and that is what counts.



Rave: I've been back to aerobics and am already feeling more energy from working out. I decided to try to incorporate walking into my off days so last night Jared and I took the pooch out for a walk. It was a bit cold, but I know the better weather will be just around the corner so for now I'll suck it up and wear a coat!



Rant: I love winter but I am now officially OVER IT!



Rave: We are supposed to get into the 50's over the weekend, which will feel wonderful. I'm ready to get out and enjoy some fresh air.



Rant: Week number 5 in a row of mandatory overtime. I'm sick of it and burned out. I hope we can catch a break soon!

Wow, for once I have more raves than rants!