So .... let's see how this goes

After being hacked last week I am feeling very leery of posting on here. Nothing like biting the bullet and getting it over with though is there?

I've been super busy of late. Working two places, taking a class and just trying to stay sane is what's overwhelming my life right now. Oh and trying to make myself healthier.

So far everything is going really well. I wish I didn't have to go to Robinson to work, I wish I was working full time at Cvs and getting paid for it, but my goal for June is almost completed(!) and it hasn't been that extremely hard.

It hasn't been a cake walk.... lots of walking involved but..... so, so far for June I've lost 4lbs, and my goal for this month was to see 5 off, so nearly there. I have this last week and we'll see how it all ends up. Gotta say though I'm really excited with just the 4.

Been trying to get my girls from high school to get together, but they are all proving very stubborn. I mean I know they all have busy lives too, but it can't hurt to at least drop me a line and say "hey not going to be able to make it this year, can't wait for next though!" or something is it?!?!?

I thought not.

Welp, that's all I got right now. Just a short one to try out the new passworded blog.... fingers crossed.

ps, sorry everyone had to see all of that on here. That was just ridiculous

lates

Sometimes I just can't beat myself.

So I know I need exercise to make this diet thing work.

It's just something I personally need.

I know this.

And yet, I have yet to do it. I always have intentions of doing it, but I never do. And I always blame my lack of motivation on my sleep patterns. I just don't like to get up, especially to exercise! And because I never was able to get up early enough to do it, I never have enough time to fit it into my day, never mind that I'm usually off some what early-ish, it's far to hot to do it then.

So it has to be my sleep pattern.

It's just gotta be.

So, last night I set my alarm early and was determined that I would not just hit snooze and sleep through my work out time (although personally I think that was my exact plan... somewhere deep in the lazy recesses of my brain)

However...

I woke up this morning 45 minutes before the alarm was even supposed to go off.

umm......

Shoot!

There went my theory about what causes my laziness.

Cause it's apparently not the part of my brain that wants sleep. Because I also dreamed about, well, not about exercising but the equipment I use. So.... my subconscious clearly is on board with the exercise idea.

That means it's me that's being lazy.

Bummer.

There goes that excuse.

Oh and as I'm writing this, I still have 15 minutes til that alarm is supposed to be getting me up to exercise. Foiled again!!

Facts of last week : I didn't do to badly eats wise, but I didn't knock it out either, and I just keep not logging. Bad bad Kara! I didn't gain but I didn't lose either. Stayed exactly the same. Frustration. But still it wasn't a gain so I should be happy.

Now I'm off to exercise... I hope.

It's been a wild one

So this week has been something else.

Let's start with the good news.

Lost 2.2 lbs, super excited about that.

Found out that my petition (that I didn't actually petition) has approved and I now get money for my summer courses!! Really super excited about that!

....

Okay that might be all the good news....

Oh wait! Got gas for $3.78!! Guy at the pump next to me was chatting me up, which was weird but hey.... and the very best news of all, although not for other people? It went up the next day. Yay good timing! At least for me!

Oh and Friday was jean day! So yeah got to wear jeans to work! (really good thing as I didn't do laundry and was out of khakis)

I think that really is all of the good news.

We had that crazy storm front go through.... I mean seriously how insane was that thing? It was stretched almost entirely top to bottom across the US. How nutty is that?! We didn't really have any damage. In fact I don't think any damage. Some poor flowers lost their petals but that would have happened anyway.

Work has been crazy, people stocking up on lanterns and oil and ice and just about everything else under the sun because they were with out power. And then they all came back to buy tons of stuff for Memorial Day weekend! Nuts I tell ya nuts! You hardly get a break, and you go home tired!

So I was a bit naughty this week on WW because I haven't been logging my food... and I've been dessert crazy. But I have since corrected the matter. That's right, like a good kid I went back and logged everything that I ate! Because well..... I do better when I see those numbers staring me down.

And now today (Saturday) me and the rents are going to go to Charleston, because we just can't stay home.

And that's the long and short of it.

Hope you had a good week!

Lates!

I feel it keenly

So I had an interview for a pharmacy tech position in Robinson yesterday.

It went well, even though I hated having to do it. Interviewing just always feels so awkward. Having to think up instances of various scenarios is just difficult.

But I did it, I went for it. Which meant that I had to "give up" my internship. It's not like I had to call up the place and tell them that I won't be coming, but I was prepared to for go it.

And was almost looking forward to it. Tuition will be cheaper without the internship to pay for and there would only be travel in one direction.

Had a short shift to work today.

Started out okay... if you count that I thought I started at 9 and it was actually 9:30, oh well just means that I get to sit in the back and read until it's time to start.

That was only really bad thing, it was busy most of the time which is always tiring but it was still a good day.

Then Brandon came over and asked to speak to me. I had an inkling that it wasn't going to be something I really wanted to hear.

So he said I did a really good job in the interview, that he thinks I'd do really well in a pharmacy, that if they get another opening that he definitely wanted me to come in and work with them. But that they were going with one of the other applicants.

Sad face here.

I mean I'm pretty sure that I know the girl who got it. And she totally deserves it, also she lives much closer to the store and seems to me that it's kind of a better situation for her to be in.

I can still do my internship. Of course I'll have to pay for it. And I don't know where I'm going to work. And I'll have to do way more driving. But all in all I'm sure it'll be okay.

At least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

I'm really disappointed. And it's making me sort of angry, the poor cat is probably sulking because I kept scolding him quite forcefully. It's not his fault he's a cat and wouldn't stop meowing.... but it was annoying me.

But I'm disappointed. And it's making me want to eat ten cookies... luckily there aren't any cookies for me to eat.

Okay... I don't really want to eat ten cookies..... but it's making me want to relieve my frustration some how. And apparently that means I want to do something destructive.

I need my mother to come home so we can walk or something. Something where I am exerting frustrated energy.

It's amazing how something that I wasn't even 100% convinced I wanted to do, is bumming me out when I don't get it.

Ah well.

That's life for you I guess.

Good and bad.

And who knows, I may really love the internship in Olney, and it may become something permanent. Anything is possible.

Now the question is do I try and transfer back to Olney (where it sounds like things are rather rough right now) or do I see about finding a job somewhere else.

Choices choices.

Do things like that ever effect your diet? Because I feel like it really could mine.

I guess I'll just have to try and make sure if it does effect me it's in a positive way.

Lates.

I'm counting on you...

to help hold me accountable!

I am back on the band wagon kids.

I know I fall off it a lot, but I feel a genuine motivation to try again. Before it was more of a feeling of having to do it, and that's never good for me.

So, here we go.

I got the new Weight Watchers app on my phone, which I'm totally loving. Really glad it's there because now I can enter points and everything right away. Instead of having to wait until I get home (which I never did btw)

With my potential job I can have walking buddies again! Which is always a great thing. I managed a few times on my own when the weather was so nice but then I lost it again.

And all in all I just have a better mind set. Which is probably the biggest hurdle for me. If I don't want to eat healthy then I won't.

But... the thing is, I know I'll still be tempted to sneak "bad" things every now and again. Which wouldn't be horrible if it didn't send me down a very dark bad trail. And I know I'll be tempted to slack off, which means that I could still be losing weight but not as effectively as could be happening. The other thing that I'll need to be held accountable on is keeping up with the program, not getting discouraged when things don't go perfectly. And if/when I meet my final goal to still be aware of my weight. Because I really don't want to yo-yo the rest of my life, or to only yo. (go one direction and one direction only)

So your task, should you choose to accept it (and you should I need help) is to hold me accountable. Check up with me to see if I've been behaving on the plan, if I've been working out, if I'm still motivated.

My goals stand as thus:

lose 5lbs

lose 5lbs

lose 5lbs

lose 5lbs

have lost 25lbs

lose 5lbs

lose 5lbs

lose 5lbs

lose 5lbs

have lost 50lbs

lose 5lbs

lose 5lbs

lose 5lbs

lose 5lbs

Reach final goal!!

That's how this thing is gonna go down!

Also there is no time limit on this whole thing, typically I would want to be at a certain weight by a certain date and that's a sure fire way to fail, it's just way to much pressure.

I think every week I'll try to post at least once about whether or not I've followed the program as I'm supposed too. And once I set up an exercise regimen I'll post about how that went too.

And I know that I've said a lot of these things before, but that's where you come in again!

At least if you want too....

please?!

Lates!

Just being a little vain here

I mean it's not like I created the background or header....

But can I just say that I am seriously loving both! They are so awesome! In my oh so humble opinion.

My room is essentially clean, I need some more storage type things... or I need to figure out how to re-organize things so everything fits.

But what I really really want to do still.... Paint!!! I really want to get this room painted!

However I want to wait for some really nice days when I can open the windows up so the fumes don't harm anyone, and I need at least a couple of days off so I can... well... paint.

But until I can finish the make over to my room, which is almost finished, I happily look at my made over blog. It tides me over.

This blog post by the way.... has been entirely pointless.

Just me babbling to relieve the pressure of having flown through my Medical Terminology Midterm. Which I got a 90% on thanks very much.

Anywho, lates!

As if...

being a girl and having to deal with girl.... stuff, ..... ya know... OH FINE! make me say it, period.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I've decided to torture my self a little more.

One, I'm back on the wagon, that's right following weightwatchers rules and trying to eat right.

So that's not exactly bad, per say. Just kinda hard.

What's actually really hard is that I am trying to drop caffeine. Wicked hard, especially for me because I do so enjoy caffeine. I love Mt. Dew and Pepsi and Coke and Crush, it's all so tasty. Also I love tea and chocolate, which also has good ol caffeine in it, not as bad as soda but it's still in there.

So not feeling super great, limiting myself on what I can and cannot eat and now.... splitting headache, all because of the caffeine.

However.

I am going to be a grown up about this and not complain.... overly.... cause I know I've already mentioned it, and I know I most likely will again. But I won't whine and moan.... er... I'll try not to.

Wish me luck.

Lates

And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street!

Okay, to be fair, I think that street intersection is actually Jackson, but Seuss has such a way with words, it's hard to top that line.... so ..... yeah anyway.

O...


OM....

OM with a CAPITOL G!!!!

I don't know that I have laughed this hard in a long long time.

It was one of those laughs where you cry, and possibly develop the hiccups just because you are laughing so hard!

Today.... today I saw it. One of the most..... epic things I have ever seen!

Imagine if you will, a Hillbilly, hick, country bumpkin. The type that has the long snaggle tooth that he runs his tongue down as he says "Heh, your sure is purdy." . The type that wears a mesh belly tank in summer not because it's hot outside, but because it's hot, as in uber attractive, and has a mullet that's getting a little thin in the front so he wears a baseball cap at all times. The type that can nail a fly at 50 paces with the spit from his chew. The one that has the beat up huge gas guzzling Ford truck with the odd plastic purple McDonald's Grimace glued on as a hood ornament. Okay... you with me?

Now.... imagine this guy, Billy Joe Jim Bob, jammin, and I mean 'shaking his truck he's so into it' jammin, to NSYNC's: 'It's gonna be me'. And least you think that perhaps it was a random song on the radio, oh no! It was a cd, I heard the next song starting!! And he was still dancing!

It was glorious! Simply one of the most elegant things I've seen!

I think I might have peed a little I was laughing so hard. And let me tell you it's hard to laugh that hard and try to look like you aren't. I mean, the dude clearly was enjoying himself, and who am I to detract from such a simple pleasure?

If only, ah if only I could have captured on film. I would be entering it right now to AOTS's around the net. It was too die for!

Side note, I can't actually say the guy wears mesh shirts, or has a receding hair line, or says purdy, or can preform the spit/fly trick, I can only speculate. BUT the rest of the story? All true! Allllll gloriously true!!

It's a skill

I'm really good at digging in and deep cleaning..... I mean not all the time, but when I'm just fed up with it all and can't stand the state of filth anymore... I'm really good about getting in there, and over the years I've gotten a lot better at actually throwing stuff out in these rare cleaning times, I used to just find a new spot to store it. So that's also good.

But


What I'm really good at, is taking breaks from cleaning. I mean I will be hard at it for a couple of hours and then.... why I'm hot, clearly it's time for an hour break to go sit on the couch and sip nice cold water.

But after that break it's always so hard to get back into the swing of cleaning. Ya know?

Yeah, me too.

So here I am... I'm sure it's no surprise to you at this point.

I'm taking a break!

Never mind that we just got back from supper and I helped mom with her homework cause she has a headache, and that the only thing I did was take the bedding down to be washed and sorted laundry to be done.

It's time for a break.

It's a skill I have... taking breaks.


Happy break to you!

Getting ready for an overhaul.........

Warning bemoaning and potentially grossness ahead!!

It's never more apparent to me just how weak I am, than when I am in extreme pain.

It's glaringly obvious just how much of a baby I am in these moments.

I like to think that I am a calm, cool, collected person. But really in the face of discomfort I turn into another entity entirely. My emotions are running towards a very short fuse, making it dangerous to say things that will make me angry. Also I tend to feel very bad for myself, rather pathetic really.

In point of fact, I am lying here writing this, and when I happen to misspell a word or the site isn't running as fast as I want it to, my fingers can't jab the correcting buttons any harder, either the button or my finger would break. And that would just make me more pathetic.

And don't mistake me, it is pathetic.

I am trying really hard to not whine and moan about how it's just soo painful. But I am failing miserably.

So I had a root canal done Wednesday and I was actually okay. Thursday wasn't so bad either.

Friday is when it all started. And I'm not really even sure when it started. I know at the beginning of the day it wasn't that bad. And by break time at work it wasn't that bad. But by the time it was time to go home the pain had begun, a dull throbbing and it just continued from there. In fact I went to bed with it still throbbing. Woke up Saturday morning and it wasn't really bothering me that much, but by lunch time there it was, back in the forefront of all my thoughts and it's only progressed to the point that I am not literally near tears, but if I let my self I could definitely cry about it.

So I admit that I am an 'oh so faithful' google-er. I love google. Look stuff up on there all the time.

I initially looked up my tooth problem because I was rather worried about how it was progressing, and what I found was that it seemed like I had an abscessed tooth. So I was one part relieved and one part freaked. The relieved because I had a Grandmother pass from cancer of the mouth and I was (ridiculously?) afraid that that was what might be wrong. And I was freaked because that still seemed like a fairly serious thing to be having wrong with your mouth. So I went to the dentist, they agreed that it was just an abscess and that a root canal would have to be done.

That was fine. And as I've stated the canal wasn't so bad nor the initial ensuing days either.

Well this pain has been so bad that I decided to google that. (incessant google-er my friends, that's me) What I found is that horribly enough it's actually not that uncommon for there to be pain. It's because of the infection that caused the abscess in the first place.

The dying bacteria in my mouth causes inflammation and that is what is causing the pain. Google says I should call my dentist and let them know that this is occurring and they will hopefully prescribe an antibiotic that will help get rid of the bacteria more quickly and thus the pain will go away!

Now, to be fair, my parents have been telling me this whole time that I need to call the dentist and let them know what is happening, and I've not been opposed to this line of thinking, other than I hate the phone and I hate complaining (not that you'd know that from reading this blog) and I dislike that so frequently the dentist in question isn't there. Older gentleman I suppose he gets to set whatever hours he likes. And I haven't actually been disagreeing with the oh so knowledgeable parents. I just haven't done it.

But "knowing" what the problem "most likely" is makes me much more likely to call. Except I can't because now it's Sunday and I can almost guarantee the dentist won't be there today. So instead I will suffer at least one more day of pain and hope that with enough drugs I can at least manage it.

And you might be happy to know that now that I've reached the end of this post, my typing has returned to normal and my anger level has simmered. I think maybe the pain has placed me in a stupor and I am just going to try and sleep it off.

Maybe soon I'll blog about the fun time Josh and I had at the Last Comic Standing Finalists show we went to. Ya know, if I can stop whining so much.

lates.

Oy Vey!

I just don't understand it.

My room.... which I admittedly spend a lot of time, takes approximately two minutes to get dirty. And I MEAN dirty. Like snap your neck your because there isn't anywhere to walk dirty.


Like things disappearing at random because it's so stuffed full of stuff....'n stuff.

It's crazy.

Happily I found the dvd's that I was missing.... and a few things that I forgotten I had.

So that's cool.

Now if only I had magic and was able to clean in that way.

Welp..... let's see how far I can get this time.

Lates!



OH, and if you happen to hear a really loud crash... you might check that I'm still okay... just ya know to be on the safe side.

Wait so long

Oh!

Hello!

I didn't see you there.

See I thought that maybe people had forgotten this place.

Know I kind of did.

I mean..... that's sort of obvious isn't it?

Last posting?

August?

And it wasn't anything ground breaking.... but there you are.

And here I am.

Funny how we are here again.

Do I really have anything new to report?

Well???.... uh....

Yeah maybe I do.

Let's see what I can find in here.

Mom and Josh had birthday's. We went out. Food was eaten and stuff was given.

Transferred stores. I like it in Robinson. The first week was cake. I mean the literally have about half the customer traffic that Olney had. So that was interesting. I've gotten to know some of the people somewhat so I have people to talk to while standing around.

I was sick for a while there. Allergies. So I actually missed a couple days of work. But I'm good now.

Brook had a birthday. We ate German food. I had never had actual German food. It was quite tasty if I do say so.

Went to the Covered Bridge Festival. That was pretty cool. I got a really cool old postcard. It's really pretty, Bird and flowers and a .... church(?) in the background. (I like to say that it's Hogwarts in the background though) The letter on the back seemed nice. Nice lady that Bernice.

Speaking of Hogwarts....

Who else is super excited about the Deathly Hallows Part 1 coming out Nov 19th? Just me?

Naw, can't be! I am so stoked! I've just recently finished re-reading all of the books.

Good news? Ended just the same as last time! Glad things go so well.

I heard in the rumor mill that Rowling was possibly going to be delving into the world of Hogwarts again. Wouldn't that be fun. It wouldn't have to be the same set of people. I just enjoy her writing and world so much that I think all of her books would be fantastic. Who knows though, that could be totally wrong.

Read Cassandra Clare's 'Clockwork Angel'. Also an excellent read! If you've read her Mortal Instrument series then you know what I'm talking about. I was kind of worried about how much I'd like this one because it's an historical where the other is a modern series. Same "world" I guess you could say. Meaning same mystical world of hunters and demons and angels and what not. Anyway I really liked the book. It had a kind of different feel to it which it most likely needed with being a different series but still really exciting and entertaining.

I didn't know this was going to become a book review type of post.

In fact I was going to (hopefully) in come clever (unknown to me) way work the title of the post into a blurb about Trampled by Turtles. Which is a country(?) group that I've been enjoying. 'Wait so long' is the current song du jour for me. So fast and just an awesome song.

Anyway I'm going to end it here, because I have to go to work.... and I feel like I've just been torturing you all anyway.

So yup.... Ima head out!

Lates!

Update about life so far...

So first full week of school is now over for me.

And so far? I haven't hated it! Which is sort of amazing.

Kim, Sarah and I have been going together (except the days where I work) and that's fun, people to talk to on the way, there is the reliability issue and it's nice having people I know in the classes.

The classes themselves have been pretty good too. The one that's the most, I guess "trying" would be the word, for me has been the Interpersonal Communications class. It's not even that I dislike the teacher, cause honestly she seems pretty cool. It's not so much the course context... more than anything? It's the other students that are causing me grief.

Today it was like we had group therapy. I don't want to be a part of group therapy! I just want to learn what we are supposed to learn and move along. And I am okay with people providing examples of real life to further prove the points in class... but going on and on about your personal problems is not cool!

We should have been able to get through most of the chapter's notes but instead we had to hear all about issues with parents and money/boyfriend issues. It was annoying. I was annoyed... and I didn't hide it very well.

Orientation to Pharmacy Tech was actually a good class. I love the teacher in there. She's also our teacher for Pharmacy Calculations too. Exact same students in both classes too so that's kind of nice. I mean I can get to know the students and I'll be able to go to them if any issue comes up in class. Whether I've missed one and need the assignments or I don't get something and need assistance. Course I have my girls for that too, but it's nice to have multiple options.

Pharmacy Tech class might get a little more difficult when we actually have our textbooks. Which we will by this coming monday, and also we'll have our first quiz then too. On the first 13 brand name drugs and their generic counterparts.

By the end of class we have to know the top 200 drugs on the market... and the generic counter parts.... I'm sort of stressed about this. I have the first 13 down.... spelling might be a little sketchy but I know what they are supposed to look like... but 200! That's crazy! But I'll just take the words as they come and do my best. I can do this! We'll see what else class will be like monday, the history of pharmacy techs and the current day practices.... we'll see.

Pharmacy Calculations again was pretty easy. It might get more difficult but so far it's good. Roman numerals, fractions and decimals. Nothing to earth shattering. But it's probably going to get more difficult as we go on.

Another bonus to these classes/teacher is there is no midterm! How sweet is that? There will be a final and it's comprehensive. The teacher is really nice and wants to see everyone succeed so she works with you if you are having issues. She has a pretty dry sense of humor too, which is cool cause it fits my sense of humor just fine.

So to recap? School while not my favorite thing necessarily? Yeah I'm actually kind of enjoying it.

And I would rather only go to that and not still have to work.

Yeah that's kind of the downer part of this whole thing.

I finally got my job offer, which means my transfer has been finalized. Which will be nice won't have as far to travel every day. Also have new hours which will be sweet because I won't have to worry about finding people to swap hours with anymore like I've been having to lately.

I'll miss most of the people that I work with but all in all I'm glad I'm swapping stores. I am a little nervous about it though. New store and all. But it'll be fine I'm sure.... I hope

So that's about it for me lately.... school work and home again.

Maybe next blog I'll discuss people's birthday's and how they were celebrated.... If I remember it all.

Lates!

Good news all around

So let's start with the mediocre and build from there.

My goal of a two pound weight loss for this past week? Not achieved, but I did lose 1 pound and that's loads better than nothing/gain.

My car got new brakes put on it, and today it's to get a new compressor, which is supposed to fix the a/c, the defrost, the power steering and possibly a whole host of other issues! So that's ya know pretty sweet.

My cousin told me she had over heard people talking about me. Now normally I could find this very unnerving and possibly insulting. But in this instance it was a good thing. You see my cousin Lisa works at the store that I am trying to get a transfer to. So them talking about me, saying that I was a cashier... and whatever else they were saying, it's hopefully a good thing.

Which leads me into the another couple of good things. My transfer date has been approved and set, so that's me working in the Olney store for a little less than a month and then I'll be at the Robinson store. That is apparently as soon as they give me a job offer. Even my personal person doesn't know where they are hiring me in at.... so that should be a surprise.

And speaking of Robinson.... Had my first day of classes today. First time, in a college setting that I've actually had a teacher keep me the full time on the first day. Usually they just cover the syllabus and away we go. Nope this lady talked and talked then had us all introduce ourselves, speed dating style to each other then she gave us an assignment for some easy points. I'm still not convinced that this class is going to be easy. She said that there well be very little actual homework, but several instances of roll playing. I don't really know which is worse. I suppose it all depends on who I get to interact with.

Knew Sarah was going to be in the class with me, after all we signed up at the same time and purposefully chose the same times, but was pleasantly surprised to learn that a girl from school was not only in this class with us, she's doing the same program too and has all of the same classes we have. Times and everything. So that's really sweet! The only difference is that she is taking an online class. So she lives in this area too and that's another person to add to the carpooling. Hopefully even less gas we'll have to spend!

Kim is living with her dad, Sarah is living with her parents and I live with mine. And not that we don't love all of our parents, we think it would be really awesome to find a place that we could all live together in. Especially if it was in Robinson, then we wouldn't have to drive through all that road construction everyday and that would be so much less driving time. But they both have to find jobs, so it may be awhile until something like that happens.*

Found out how much I was approximately approved for, for FASFA. Awesome! I think it's to be divided up between semesters but I'll still have money left over to be able to use on things that I need outside of the actual school expenditures. The downer on all of that is. I don't actually have it! I just want my money people, what ever amount it may be. Called Tuesday and the helpful financial aid lady told me that my appeal had been approved, but that I needed to fill out some paper work proving my state citizenship. (I don't know that that's what it's actually called but that's what I'm calling it) I told her that I would be in the next day to get books, could I just fill it out then? She said that would be great, and that she wouldn't have them mail me the papers.

So just to keep you in the loop. Tuesday called, told them I'd be in Wednesday to fill out forms and get books, Thursday is the first day of classes.

So Wednesday got up early, Sarah came and picked me up and away to Robinson we went. Her a/c is giving her fits, it was hot and road construction was occurring. (I just want you to have the full picture here) Se we get there, and I know it's busy, lots of kids with lots of last minute things, but I had called people, I had called. So I go in tell the lady who I am and what I am there for. First apparently she thought I was too young? I don't know. She asked if I had brought my parents' id or tax returns for proof.

uh..... what?

Lady I'm 25, I have a valid license, and I work. I brought my own paper work.

So I filled out her paper work, easy peasy... lalala.... Hand it in. I ask about being able to get my books. She tells me that if I come in before my class the next day she'll at least have a voucher for me so I can get said books, in leu of my FASFA check. Ok whatever.

Thursday up I get nice and early, get ready and away I go once Sarah picked me up. Got there at least 30 minutes early, plenty of time to get this voucher thing and to get my books! Woo-hoo!

Except... I get in the office and ask the lady about the voucher. First she didn't recognize me, which I honestly didn't expect her to know my name, but I would have at least realized that I had just talked to a person the day before. But she's probably had a lot, I mean a lot, ALOT of people go through in the past few days. I don't hold it against her for that.

But she seemed annoyed that I was asking about a voucher. I was thinking to myself, look lady you are the one who told me to check back before class! But I kept my cool and politely waited like she asked. Not long after she decided I should just go to class and come back afterwards to get it so they could look it up. *gritting my teeth* Fine.

Class was as I mentioned above.

After class Kim, Sarah and I talked for a bit then we all headed over to the office. Me for voucher... again and Kim to find out the status of her FASFA.

Again lady didn't know who I was. Fine I'm not a memorable person. I again ask about this stupid voucher and again she tells me they don't have it ready.

Look I'm not saying she has to drop everything and get this voucher for me. What I am saying is that I've been told to come and get it twice now and now twice it hasn't been made available to me. If you can't get it ready in the time allotted then don't allot that time! Tell me it's fine but come in Monday, what ever. Quit stringin me along!! GRRRRRR!

Kim just wanted to talk to the financial aid lady, office lady told her she was busy. Then not even five minutes later we saw the financial aid lady leave the office... and not return again. Again... quit stringing us along.

We told Kim adios and headed back towards Newton. Got our lovely Huck's drinks (I love huck's drinks... you can add different flavorings to your soda!! and they have the good ice!) Hit Walmart, because I can never get enough of that place! (but I did need stuff so why not) then we grabbed some McDonald's and away we went. (don't judge me... you know you want some mikyD's too!)

So... that rather ended sourly.... I mean the huck's and walmart and McD's was all good.. but the voucher business wasn't... let's see.... what's good news again.

uhh...

mmmm.....

Mom had a good day at work today! That's good news.

Oh and tomorrow Mom, Miss Tiff and I are going out for a celebratory birthday lunch for Mom's birthday! That's good news too!

So there... back to good news all around!!

So now you should share your good news! I love good news! It's so fun!

Lates!



*There was a listing for a three bedroom house for rent!! Hiy-0!

Trips and Goals

I haven't blogged in a while. I guess (although I did stuff) I felt that I didn't have stuff to blog about. So maybe this will be a twofer.

So this past weekend, several of my girls from high school got together for a fun filled weekend.
We went to Evansville. We ate lunch then hit the mall and then that evening we got (as it was termed by Kaylie) 'hookered up' and went out to eat at O'Charley's. We thought about catching a movie or mini golfing or even finding a karaoke bar but we just ended up heading to our hotel and hanging out there, which was fun. Apparently groups I am with have a tendency to skip out on staying out in the heat when there is a nice cool hotel room available. Heee! No midnight McDonald's' runs, and there was even a Steak n Shake less than a block away which would have been great. Guess we had enough supplies that it wasn't necessary. Saturday got up bright and early (yes I was the first person up!!) got ready and then we all headed to HOLIDAY WORLD!

This is becoming something of an every year thing for us. Ok so this was actually only the second year in a row, but a similar group has gone before. I think we are really going to try and make it an every year thing now though. It's just too much fun not to.

Invariably we manage to pick the busiest weekend possible. But it was still fun. First we dropped our stuff off at Splashin Safari, last year we carried it and that just wasn't happening this year. And then back to the main park. I think that was actually the smart way to do it. Lines weren't horrendous I think because mainly people were in the water. Sure waits were typically around an hour but really that was much better than last year. And with us all talking and laughing it really didn't seem that long.

Here are the rides we hit (in order)

Legend, Gobbler Getaway, Voyager, Gobbler Getaway, Pilgrims Plunge.

From there we went into the water park. I love that pilgrim's plunge leads right into the water park. We changed and went and climbed into the newer wave pool. I love this thing. We spent a good time in there just goofing off and splashin around. Then we got in the newer lazy river, the Bahari. Love love love lazy rivers! So relaxing, and fun to boot. Sarah, Kaylie and I like to go under the waterfalls and all the added stuff. Lindsay and Abbie did not. TOO BAD! We were all in a circle (don't worry there weren't a lot of people in the river we weren't obnoxious) and if one went it was hard to not get them all.

The water park was closing at 7:30 that day so we got out when we started to get chilled (6:30ish?) and changed back to normal duds. Then back to the main park it was. Some of the girls wanted to get fudge/cookies but Abbs and I wanted to ride the Liberty Launch... So we DID! I love that ride. (I don't think there wasn't a ride I went on that I didn't love) And the line was very small.

Oh oh oh! Abbs and I had respect crushes on the young men operating the L. Launch. First a kid had climbed under all the turnstiles(is that what you call the poles that direct the line) and Nick (I read his name tag) made this kid walk back out and then walk back in going through the whole thing! Yay! Then Ethan (what I read one but not the other I don't think so!) made all the little kiddies standing on the bars to get down! And the guy up in the booth (sorry booth dude I couldn't see your badge) was being really fun and interacting with the people on the ride. They were doing their job, enforcing the rules and still having a good time with the people riding. That's awesome!! I love when people are like that! *respect crush just made a reappearance*

So all in all Holiday World rocked! Oh! And we got our picture taken with Holli Dog! SU-weet!!

On the return trip we played catch phrases, which was funny... we get very excited, and it's funny to hear what everyone guesses from the clues you give.

So having told that story rather quickly I'll try and segway into the other half of the post title.

So last year I was at my heaviest weight... the one I was at for so long. While I was able to go on the rides, I do think it was a near thing, I really wouldn't want to be much heavier (and I think there are frequently people who are) So this year! This year I was down in weight.... I wasn't as far down as I could have been had I been following the program and exercise regimen as I had been doing. But still 30lbs is 30lbs! It made a big time difference! Rides were more comfortable/less painful and I didn't feel as hot this year although I think it was as hot if not hotter and I didn't feel as embarrassed to be seen in my swimsuit. All really good things!

But mom and I both are determined to do much better with the program than we have been doing. Suffice to say that I don't think I've really been to the site in a month, and that's just dumb to not go/do something you are paying for! So there is goal one! Do better on Weightwatchers! And the bonus of having lost all that weight will be next year I will be even more comfortable and I'll have no problem what so ever fitting in any ride seat!

Next... before the Holiday World trip I registered for classes with my buddy Sarah! Woot that's one goal DOWN! I can take it off the little side goal there! Now I have to GO and EXCEL!!

I'm trying to keep those words (and words like them) in the forefront of my mind. Making me well.... go and excel. I so want this job, I so want to be done with school (having actually finished a degree) and I want to kick this courses booty! I mean I want to be leader of the pack!

So it's undoubtedly going to be hard, Medical Terminology alone will probably give me headaches, but I WILL do this! (yay go team!)

Lastly my goal for a clean room just doesn't seem to happen. I try and I try and I try.. but eeeeeeverybody wants to put me down. They say I'm going crazy... wait... sorry *ahem* Slipped into song mode there for a second.

I get so far... and then I lose focus. And I really want to paint this puppy too! I've had the stuff for quite a while now... it's totally time.

So that's it.... follow program, excel in school, and clean the blinkty blankin room!

Happy blogging fellow bloggers!

Lates!

I love the funny!

So on the Chicago trip we had that time at the hotel, around the time of the midnight McDonald's run.

In that time Brook and Jacob shared this glorious beauty!----> Double Rainbow

It's so funny, and there are even remixes of it. That song is pretty sweet.

Well then today on Cake Wrecks their blog is called The Rainbow Connection. Suffice to say they are making fun of rainbow dude too!

Ah I love when a good plan comes together!

I am obsessed

I love a show.


It's over now this show, but it's still really good.


Avatar; The Last Airbender. It's just so funny. I think I've watched all three seasons at least three times now. Because...


Ya know...



I'm obsessed.




*Clears throat all embarrassed like*



Ummm.... Bought some fun Bands! Birds (cause I love me some birds! Totally obsessed with birds too) and Jam Session. I was totally mislead about the Jam Session one. It showed a piano in the group, there was no piano! It had a dude jammin on a guitar instead. Harumph!



But they came in awesome colors, ones that match my polka dot colors on my nails, and they were only a dollar each, which with my discount was even less so... YEAH! Bonus!



I'm reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I've read it before, borrowed it from Sarah and it's AWESOME *sung in a overly exaggerated manner* Thing is, I think I might have purchased the first one already... which means I now own two. Unless I didn't in which case, hooray!



Have/had been doing weightwatchers.... sort of.... well let's face it I feel off the bandwagon again.


And I know, how often do I say 'oh no, I did bad, now I need to get re-motivated...' blah blah blah.



Truth is... I've just been enjoying eating to much to care. But I told mom tonight that I want to start walking again come Monday. Not because I necessarily want to start walking again (it's hot out and walking takes energy so ewww) But because I want to be 'skinny'. There I said it. I do want to be skinny. I mean not uber skinny, like 115 or anything insane like that. I don't think I can even fathom that number on me. But I do want to be as in shape and trim and tiny as is healthy for me to be. But let's face it.... I am so not that now. So it's gonna be a long long, longlonglong road to get there. I was doing a good job and then..... eh I guess life sort of overwhelmed me, or something. But I will do this! Because I am tired of my belly giggling when I laugh. And I'm tired of feeling like I look like I am pregnant. And I'm tired of being so uncomfortable in not only size 18 clothes but also my own skin. And I'm tired of all my stupid stretch marks. (possible over abundance of knowledge there but it comes with getting a glimpse into my mind)



I feel like all I see when I look in a mirror lately is stretch marks, rolls and a very large number.

Which is not a good vision to have of yourself, but I'm just laying everything out there for you tonight. So if you are still reading this... Sorry!!



On the happier side of things, I set a goal for myself to only spend a certain amount of money until my paycheck on the 6th, and so far I've done a bang up job! So yay me!



Also I only have to work a 4 and 1/2 hour shift tomorrow. Sweet!



And... uh....



I re-painted my nails! So yeah... no more chipped messiness!


Well... I think that's all I got tonight.

Did this blog post seem whiny to you?

Sorry I still didn't write the return trip, I guess there really wasn't that much to tell... really.

I'm still working on the photos, there sure were a lot of them. I went a little camera happy.

Lates!

You Capture Black and White

So I've never participated in this before, but I had so many photos from our weekend Chicago trip that I just had to join in.





The view from the top of the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier.

Cause you know, Bear's got to earn a living too.

I just want to say that this is a frequent pose for us, the fact that the statue was there was just happen stance.

Me and my beautiful mother, cause we can do serious too.

My brother and his girlfriend, they are so adorable.

You Capture

Day 2

So day two started out rather leisurely, got up sort of when people felt like it. We all got ready and headed out for another fun filled day.

Went and ate breakfast at Ihop first, where the food was tasty but they denied Brook her Cinna-minions which was just mean. Then we went to board the Metra. Apparently there are only 'permit required' parking lots there... so we drove around and around and around until finally father went into city hall (?) where they gave him a one day permit thing. So yay! But we had literally just missed a train heading to the city so we had to wait an hour for the next one. Luckily they had some lovely flowers to look at, so that killed all of 5 minutes. Books were retrieved from the van and reading commenced. It was a nice day so it's wasn't so bad waiting around.

By the time the train came the station was pretty crowded, pops wanted to sit on the upper level of the train if possible, it wasn't. They were full. So we just hurried to find seats and sat. Dude behind me? Yeah grunty, wheezy, sniffy guy. Sort of annoying and gross. But other than that nice ride. (Jacob and I had been on the Metra before... Not sure if Mom rode that our not)

Came in to Union Station and we had pre-decided to catch a water taxi out to Navy Pier. So we totally did! Oh by the way, always a good idea to watch where you are going and not be staring at a map.... cause then you don't notice those three stairs you are about to walk down-- whoops! Didn't fall though, just... took a jump. My bad! Some comic relief for you there folks.

There were some (I can only hope) teenagers getting on the taxi ahead of us (same taxi, ahead in line) and they seemed to be having some sort of feud with some other kids ahead of them, behaving in a very immature manner. And it continued the rest of the time they were on the boat. Did your mother not teach you manners? Oh wait that's your mother/guardian with you behaving the exact same way? Question withdrawn.

But it was fun to head down the river and to see all the buildings. I sort of wished we had been able to do a water tour instead, then you get to see a little more and you can actually hear the guy when he talks on his little intercom thing.

Navy Pier was nice, they have a big noodle like is in front of Wrigley so the kids posed in front of that, Jacob tried to eat it. They had this statue of kids playing.... ring-around-the-rosie? Anyway we thought it'd be fun to pose with it, or at least mimic it, so we did! Cause we're goobs! But I like it!

Jacob, Brook and I went up on the ferris wheel, the rents weren't real keen on the idea. That was sweet, but they were trying to educate us about the city and all of the directions they were giving seemed way off, and how hard can that be to give directions from Navy Pier?

So we went inside to eat at Capi's. They have some serious pasta making skills. Very delicious.

We happened to notice that there was a red carpet laid out. That's very curious. And there was a sign about the Stanley Cup, wait... that means....

That's right the Blackhawks, Champions of the Stanley Cup we're going to be at Navy Pier!! Talk about awesome!

Unfortunately they were supposed to have been there at 3 (? this is the story I heard it's not been confirmed) but it was past that and they still hadn't shown up. We needed to catch our trolley to get to the L station to get to the game. So we quickly looked through the shops there. One store had a top that I LOVED but the color I wanted only came in smalls, plus it might have been a kids shirt... the other color's extra large seemed small. So I just came away with some sweet post cards.

The trolley was fun, wicked crowded but fun. The driver was funny, he said I'll call out the stops, if you need off just pull the cord, or if you can't reach that 'dingding' works for me. So we got to hear lots of people yell out 'dingding'. But Jacob was disappointed, he wanted to pull the cord for our stop but almost everybody got off there and they all yelled, so no cord pulling for him. :(

Hopped on the L, red line just so you know. Well actually the first one was so crowded we decided to wait, the next one was better but only slightly. Standing room only here kids, and it's a bit of a bumpy ride. But I was ok with it. One of the ladies next to me was not, she was very annoyed that the train was so full. (that's right I read her text over her shoulder... but just the one!) Got off at Addison and we were there!

Wrigley! I love that place! It's so fun. So we walked around the whole thing, Brook had never been. And we looked at shirts and I really wanted a couple. I so wanted one with a name on the back, but I'm not allowed. Every time, every time that I've ever gotten anything with my favorite player's name on it, they get traded. EVERY TIME! I got a pin once like a lapel pin? It looked like a jersey and had Michael Barrett's name on the back, figured I'd be ok since I wouldn't actually wear it? Nope I don't think it was even a month later they traded him.

No shirt names for me!!!

But I did want another shirt, but they were all like 40-50 bucks, and I am cheap, or poor. Depends on how you look at it. I didn't really want to spend that much, but I didn't really have that much to spend anyway. So... yeah.

So game was good... though the Umps were bad, calling people out that were safe and what not! And the starting Cubs pitcher did not have a good inning. But there was a home run or two by the Cubs. But ultimately? Yeah they lost. *sigh* I blame Starlin, he had some really horrible plays. And I just don't understand. If someone is having that bad of a day why do you leave him in?!?! You took the pitcher out when he did bad, and the next one... so why leave in the bad short stop player? Who knows?

Funny story, cute family in front of us? The dad reminded me of my Uncle Tim. He seemed to really love the ladies of his family which is just super sweet. (Again I was being nosy) He was texting someone about the game and said 'I have much to teach my daughters. Meg just asked if it's half time' I love that he found that cute. Cause it totally is!

We actually had to leave before the game was over to catch our train back. But I don't think we missed much. At one of our stops we got to see a GIANT EYEBALL! There should be more of those in the world. It was some art they had on display. Got to see the Public Library which had some sweet architectural elements. And then it was back to Union Station. Again had to wait an hour for our train, literally just missed the one before. (it's a knack)

Train ride back we sat up top. Not sure Pops enjoyed it as much as he thought he would. Ours was the second or third to last stop the train made so we got a nice long ride. Then into the van and back to the hotel. Where we all just pretty much crashed. It was a long day and full of fun but finally time to end it.


Travel back story tomorrow? Not much to tell really but I might post some pictures there.

Late!