Look Who's 40

Today I am 40 years old!  Somehow I thought I would feel a lot older when I arrived at this mythical age.  My mind is still young, but I do admit that things are happening to my body that are either out of my control or caused by things I did for years and years.  I can't say I would want to go back to my early twenties but late twenties or early thirties would be nice.  I am still learning things with age so I am curious to see what the next ten years bring! 

My Valentine

This year Manny is my Valentine.  He is so sweet and such a good sport about taking his medicine.  I have to trick him a lot into thinking he's getting a treat, but so far we've been doing well.  He has to take anywhere from 6 to 9 pills a day.  Poor little guy. For that reason, he is my Valentine.

Here he is as a kitten.

And look at the amazing fluffy tail he used to have.

 



The Holiday Hangover

What is it about the end of the holidays that leaves me feeling down?  Call it a holiday hangover or the post holiday blues.  Whatever it is, it sucks.  Today is my first day back at work after eleven days off.  It was nice to have a break, but getting up early and wearing something other than lounge pants was a downer.  For some reason my pants don’t fit me like they did before the holidays either!  I’m going to start Weight Watchers, again, tomorrow.  The weather doesn’t help.  It’s been grey and cold.

 

Yesterday I took down all the Christmas decorations.  It was particularly sad to me because my cats love the Christmas tree and we just recently learned that one of them is very sick and likely won’t see another Christmas.  His meds are helping him feel better though and he sat in a pile of tissue paper and played with an ornament while I put everything away.  I was happy to see him having fun though.

 

 My cure for this is to start planning vacations to warm and exciting places!  What do you do to beat the post holiday blues?

Happy New Year!

Ah the new year.  Everyone is full of hope and resolutions.  I'm terrible with resolutions and they are always the same...lose weight, keep it off and get in shape.  I did my usual in 2012 where I lost weight early in the year in time for my spring beach vacations, then steadily gained through the rest of the year.  I will try again though this year.

My second resolution is to try to make small changes.  Today I started using the reusable bags at the grocery store.  I admit that I get annoyed at the people who use these because it takes so much longer for the cashier to bag.  Today the cashier was visibly annoyed at ME when he had to bag my 3 bags. 

What are your resolutions???

Mother's Day Downer

Ads for flowers, jewelry and brunch are all around us right now.  After all, Mother's Day is right around the corner.  For me, it's just a reminder that I'm not a mother and I don't have a mother.  This is the saddest time of the year for me.  I've learned to deal with not having my mom at Christmas.  Her birthday and anniversary of her death, which used to make me sad, now pass each year without a thought or a tear.  But Mother's Day is impossible to ignore because it is everywhere right now. 

To anyone reading who still has their mom, cherish her.  Nobody is perfect and believe me, you'll miss her when she's gone.  I have a few friends who have issues with their moms.  I just don't understand how they can get so upset to not want their mom to be a part of their lives.  I'd put up with a lot of typical mom annoyances to have my mom back for even a day. 

I Stayed Up for This???

The choices for New Year's Eve shows last night were awful!!!  

Things I witnessed, unfortunately:

1. Ryan Seacrest doing just about nothing and making oodles of cash for it.  I'm sure Brian Dunkleman gets a stabbing feeling in his stomach every time he sees this guy.

2. Jenny McCarthy asking people on the street lames questions, such as their name.

3. Dick Clark.  He is a legend, but watching him was really sad.

4. NKOTBSB "practicing" their "dance" moves before their performance in Times Square.

5. What I think was the Jersey Shore cast talking about their resolutions. 

6. Snookie getting ready to be dropped about 10 feet in the NJ ball.  I didn't see the actual ball drop...did she ever put down that classy drink in the red plastic cup that was in her hand?

7. After midnight each station had a performer and I had no idea who these people were.  Oh wait, one had some weird pre-taped Mariah Carey video.  I couldn't watch that either.

Next year I'm going to have my own show for grown-ups. 

While we are on the topic...how long after January 1 do you think it's acceptable to say "Happy New Year" to someone? 

Happy New Year!

On the Road Again

The next three months are going to be really busy, but fun.  Here's what I have going on.

1. Busy busy at work
2. Vegas with friends
3. The Friday after I get back from Vegas, my dad arrives to visit for a few days
4. Chris and I are going to Savannah, Bluffton, and Charleston from the Saturday before T-Day to T-Day morning
5. Chris' parents arrive the night before T-Day to spend T-Day thru that Sunday with us
6. The Friday after that I'm going to NY to do all things Christmas...Rockefeller Center tree, ice skating, Rockettes and looking at the Macy's windows
7. California for Christmas

Phew, that's it for now!

Fall Has...Fallen?

I like the saying "spring has sprung", but what does fall do?  Whatever it does, it did it.  Fall has arrived.  The cool air actually feels good.  Now it's raining and I'm enjoying the sound of it.  Soon the leaves will be falling and it will be dark before coming home from work.  It's time to wear sweaters and boots and jacket, and put away the shorts, tank tops and bug spray.

Things I Miss About Being a Kid in the Summer

1. Not wearing shoes.  I'd walk everywhere without shoes on.  The first couple times each summer meant blisters on my bottom of my feet, but after that I was good.

2. Spending my allowance buying candy from the liquor store.

3. Being able to watch all the Dodger games on TV, even the day games.

4. Spending $0.25 to take the bus 4 miles the beach.

5. Getting really tan without even trying.

6. All the neighbors on the street setting off fireworks at the same time on the 4th of July and my dad handing out sparklers to all the kids.

7. Staying at my best friend's house for 3 or 4 days at a time.

8. Running thru the sprinklers in the back yard with my dog.

9. Planting flowers and strawberries in the front yard with my dad.

10. Pool parties with our family friends.  My mom would always make potato salad, baked beans and deviled eggs.  The other mom would make teriyaki chicken wings and a funny jello mold thing.

What are your favorite childhood summer memories?

Happy June 1st

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. I was pretty productive over the weekend, but not doing what I had planned. Friday, both C and I got off early and we went to the nursery and planted plants/flowers in pots for the deck. Saturday was rainy so I returned a bunch of stuff to the mall and shopped for new clothes. Sunday I spent all day on my newest obsession/project...making a photo book from the pictures from our trip. I spent hours and hours on this and I actually got it done! Here it is. I want to get it printed and bring it to CA this weekend to show our parents. I thought it would be more fun to show them that way rather than looking at a computer screen. It's odd for me to start and finish a project in such a short time (if you count from Thursday night to Monday night short). Monday was more photo book and painting the trim on the front door because it got destroyed when we took the storm door off. In between all that there were some drinks on the deck and lots of chores around the house. We also watched Avatar...what a waste of 3 hours. Overall, a productive weekend, but I didn't work on Beaches & Bananas at all!!! It's doesn't have enough content yet to launch so that is still TBD. What did you do this holiday weekend???

34...Again!

Happy Birthday to me! I'm 34 years old...again!!! As I've told people who don't know my real age, I'm 34...until further notice. I've not been feeling well for about 5 weeks now and have had issues with my appetite. Luckily, my appetite came back today in time to celebrate. I'm now leading the work Biggest Loser contest without even trying! Although I'm much rather be pudgy and feeling well.

Candy Heart Day

It's That Time Again

It's time again to set new year's resolutions.

1. LOSE WEIGHT. And keep it off. This has been on my list every year for as long as I can remember. I tend to lose weight early in the year and then gain it all back (and sometimes more) in the second half. Last year at this time I weighed seven pounds less than I do now, but here I go again. My motivation at this time of the year is hoping for a beach vacation in the spring where I'll need to wear a bathing suit. I'm not sure if I can convince my husband to take a vacation this year, but I'll keep it in mind to give me motivation. I would love to be able to look like Carrie Underwood on the beach. I never have so I don't know why I would be able to by this point in my life, but I'll keep trying. I'm also running a Biggest Loser contest at my work so I'm hoping that will keep me motivated as well to be a good example to others in the contest.

2. RELAX. I really need to worry less. Anxiety is becoming a bigger problem in my life so I need to find ways to worry less. I'm going to try another yoga class to start with. The last try didn't go so well, but this new place I'm trying has a class that specifically says "gentle yoga"and for chronic pain.

Here's my motivation for # 1















What are your new year's resolutions???

Happy New Year!

Holiday Recap

My trip to California has already come and gone. The last week or so has just flown by. The new heater was done being installed at 9pm the night before we left. Phew! Then we were off in the early morning darkness for the airport the next day. The flight seemed long and uncomfortable for some reason, but we arrived without any problems and met my family for lunch. They followed my instructions and had a table waiting for us in the restaurant. =) I only asked them to do this because they tend to lolly gag and I knew we would be hungry when we got there. Each day consisted of going back and forth between my family's house and my in-laws' house and having one meal with each. We ate so much that I haven't really been hungry since we got back. I eat just because it seems like I should now, rather than when I'm hungry. The weather was much warmer there...in the 60's and sunny, so I spent part of each day sitting in my dad's front yard in a camping chair just enjoying the sun and watching my nieces play. It was 13 degrees when we left Virginia so 65 felt like the beach. We were only there for a short time, but I was ready to come home to my own bed. The flight back was uneventful. We got to the airport way too early since weren't sure if the attempted attack on a plane on Christmas day was going to slow things down. We did not have any lines so we were at the gate about 2.5 hours early. The flight back seemed short and was much more comfortable. I could have gone another 2 hours without a problem. Not sure why some flights feel more uncomfortable than others. The worst part was when we got back to the car in the airport garage...and had a flat tire. Not entirely unexpected since I knew it was leaking and was filling it up at the gas station once a week. I meant to take care of it, but with the snow storm and the broken heater, I didn't get to it and it was completely flat. My husband was upset with me for not taking care of it, but knew I had a lot going on lately. He wanted to use this as an opportunity for me to learn how to do it in case I ever needed to if I were by myself (although I would just call AAA). He had problem though because the jack would not get the car high enough. After trying a few things, he finally gave up and let me go get the airport assistance guy, who knew that Toyota changed things a few years back and the jack had to go in a specific place under the front of the car to get the SUV to go up high enough. All this took about 1.5 hours instead of 15 minutes due to the jack problems, but we made it home at about 10pm. The house was still intact, the cats were alive, the basement was not flooded and the heater was working. I was happy for all that.

Here are my favorite gifts this year...an amethyst ring and a Kindle! Thank you to Dad and my in laws!

Merry Awkward Christmas

Here is the Kardashian family's Christmas card. Why is Ryan Seacrest in their picture???

Santa's Workshop is Closed

I finished all the gift wrapping today and brought it to UPS to get to get shipped to California. All the paper and bows and boxes are put away...much to the cats' dismay. I feel good having all this done. There are a couple loose ends, like a gift card I need to get and mail and one of my dad's gifts has an unknown arrival date, but I will just put that in my luggage with a gift bag. I got everything shipped to be able to send it "ground" which was my goal since last year I was utterly shocked at how expensive it was to ship "air".

Thursday Thirteen - Holiday Songs

Here are some of my favorite holiday songs. I have also included a link for each on YouTube in case you want to listen to any of them. What are your favorite holiday songs?

1. A Great Big Sled - The Killers

2. Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses

3. Mele Kalikimaka - Jimmy Buffet

4. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - U2

5. Last Christmas - Wham!

6. Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonite) - The Ramones

7. All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey

8. Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC

9. The Chanukah Song - Adam Sandler

10. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - The Temptations

11. Christmas Don't Be Late - The Chipmunks

12. Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano

13. Tie between the Jingle Dogs and the Jingle Cats

Wordless Wednesday - Ditto