Am I back?

I've just recently started Project Life and I'm thinking I'm going to need a place to post all the pictures. So am I back to blogging? Maybe. I don't know how long I'll last but I'm going to give it a go. Why not, right? Even if I'm the only one who ever reads it, at least it will be here. I just have to convince myself that I can just say what I want and not worry about grammar, spelling, other people's opinions, all that jazz. It's my blog, who gives a hoot other than me? Exactly.

Week 4

Well, it was my birthday this week, which means people want you to eat goodies. At work, a girl made this ice cream pie (with cookie tombstones since I keep saying I have one foot in the grave, lol) and I had to eat a piece of it because they bring you into the meeting room and everyone's in there- I mean, they sing to you. You can't really avoid it. So I did have a piece of that deliciousness. My boss went to a meeting yesterday, though, and the person he was meeting gave him cupcakes for the office. I passed. Go me! I was still afraid the ice cream was going to bring me down though, but it didn't.

I'm down 3.4 lbs this week! Which brings my total to 10.8! Isn't that crazy? I almost wanted to pad it on my weight loss spreadsheet and only put 2.4 because what if it's a fluke!?! I always think it's a fluke. I always assume a big loss like that will come back to haunt me next week. Let's hope it doesn't!

Yeah, that's not my bedroom :) It's a set up in Ikea, but I took a picture because that paint color will MOST DEFNITELY be in my bedroom. Love it. Anyway, so I missed last week. What was I thinking? I was probably thinking my weigh-in wasn't that fabulous so who cares? Well, I still need to update, darn it all. Last week I was down .6 (lame!) I know, I know... it's still a loss, but it sucked. Especially because it was week 2. Week 3 kind of made up for it though. I was down 2.8 lbs this week. Woot! I'll take it. I'm finally down to one full sugar soda a week, hopefully soon I'll be able to curb it entirely. I've suddenly developed an urge for Sweet Tea's again from McDonalds. It was a long road convincing myself to stop drinking those, so I need to get back on the wagon.

Well, in other news- I've been making a weekly list of what we're going to have for dinner and using it to buy groceries. It's nice to fly through the grocery store w/o browsing- also saves money. What else? Oh- duh, most importantly- my Aunt. My mom flew down to Florida a few days ago because my Aunt was in the hospital (she's doing better now- and she better do what she's supposed to from now because we're not letting her go anywhere!), but she won't be back until February 12th. :( I miss her already! Tomorrow I'm turning 30, so she sent me some beautiful pink roses that I have sitting on my table and she promised dinner when she returns. 30 is really frightening for me, so I think she's trying to make it a little easier, which is nice. I went shopping on Saturday w/o her and it was no fun. Kohl's had a huge 3 day sale and purses were 40% off! I almost grabbed a Ralph Lauren Chaps one which was really cute and only $28 but I ended up going with a Nine West bag that is more functional. I also bought a new scale! It was a steal at 1/2 off, and it's really fun and modern looking. It's glass and the display lights up blue. I love gadgets, and it's pretty much a new gadget.

As usual, I'm babbling, but tomorrow I turn 30 (did I mention this horror!?!), and I'm trying to console myself over here with talk of deals. Tonight is my last night in my 20's. That's a really hard thing to deal with. I won't let it derail me this week- although it really wants to. I'd really like to drown my sorrows in a fat pumpkin spice frapp from Starbucks and a hot fudge cake from Big Boy. Someone stop me.

Wk 1 Weigh-In Jan 9 09

So I officially started on a Monday but I wanted my weigh-in day to be on Friday, so I weighed in on January 9th. I was a little nervous because I'd found that just one soda per day was still not enough and I'd caved to 2 per day. A small on my way to work and a small to med w/ dinner.

That was kind of making me nervous, but food wise I did very well this week. My mom made us a home cooked dinner on Friday because my little sister spent the night (delicious, mom, thanks!) so I decided to do lunch out friday instead (as I normally do a friday freebie meal). Well, on Saturday we ended up going out to lunch during our shopping trip, too, but I still did very well thank you! 

I'm down 3.8 lbs this week. I have to say I'm happy with that. Of course I'd love if 30 lbs would just drop off overnight, but who wouldn't? They say that 1-2 lbs is average so I'll take the 3.8. Very excited and I think this week I'll be able to handle 1 soda per day. We'll see, I'm not making promises- almost 30 years of non-stop access to caffeine is a huge habit to break.

Lunches are kind of hard for me. I can eat Lean Cuisines w/ salads a couple days and then I'm flat out sick of it. Very bizarre because I could eat McDonald's chicken nuggets every day and not get sick of it. I think that's just crap my mind does to me, so instead of caving in, I brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches one day last week and that worked well. I'll mix it up a bit next week, but keep a tight grip on my point intake.

Day One....So Far So Good

Well, it was good other than the fact that I could not make it through the day without a fountain soda. I seriously could not make it, it was headache city. I'd even had a cup of coffee and a Cherry Coke Zero on my lunch- no dice, I needed a regular coke. I finally succumbed and said -Okay, one a day for the first week to help the cravings. It was the craziest thing- I stopped at White Castle and got a small coke and actually shivered when I took the first drink. That's a freaking addiction people. Good gawd.

Food-wise, I did well though. I had what I wanted for dinner because I'm not eating anywhere near enough points for breakfast or lunch. I know that's not the healthiest way to do this, but that's what I want right now. But, dinner was something I made here- definitely not going for fast food.

Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.

A New Year

I'm dieting again. Finally. I'm going to be 30 at the end of this month and I've got to get myself under control. This happens every new year. I get all motivated to get my diet on, go back to school, be more active and I fold after a few weeks (sometimes days). So I'm not making any promises here, ya know?

I wasn't going to blog about this here. I was going to start a whole new blog so people who might have this blog's address wouldn't be able to read about my dieting. But in all honesty, who really cares? If someone does happen to check this like once every six months and sees I'm dieting- who's it going to hurt? Why does it have to be some secret? So I'm not going through all the drama of creating a new blog. It's here and I don't really care what anyone thinks of that ;)

Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and do Weight Watchers again. I briefly considered South Beach Diet but changing the entire way we eat, having to get rid of all that we have in the pantry already and rebuying just isn't an option right now. I might change to it later if I find myself having sugar issues, but at my last test the Dr found my sugar levels were normal so that's awesome. She still wants me on Metformin, but I'm not starting that yet. Maybe next week.

Alrighty so wish me luck, my non-readers :)

**Oh, by the way- I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I read the first Twilight and figured I wouldn't bother with the others. It was okay, but some parts were kind of dumb and I figured it'd be a waste of my time. Well, someone convinced me to read #2 and here I am on #4 which was a gift from the hubs for Christmas. I'm 3/4 of the way through and I'm freaking out because there won't be another one for a while. I'm addicted to the story and characters now. I think I'm in love with Edward Cullen, by the way. Team Edward!

I will post more often...

That's my goal right now. I've been posting on my myspace page but that doesn't really count- what if myspace were to close up shop? I suppose you could ask the same question of Blogger- but at least I'd probably get the option here of transferring over to something else.

So I'm going to post more often. Our lives are not really that exciting at the moment, but I'm going to focus less on what's going on with us or the world (since that equals fewer posts) and more on things that I'm into. Things like music, shopping, reading, makeup, scrapbooking (which I get a big FAIL at recently) and weight loss. Weight loss is important because it coincides with lowering my blood sugar. Lowering my blood sugar means I'll have more of a chance of ovulation. Ovulation gives me more of a chance of getting pregnant. We're dealing with the male factor too, but any extra shot is one we need right now.

I'm rambling. I've had the past four days off and I'm really not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I love my job but after 4 days off, it's not sounding exciting. The weekend was filled with Christmas shopping and family time. I scored two pair of pants at Old Navy for $4.99 each after a bit of haggling with the store mgr. I don't usually do such things, but it was Black Friday, they were in the clearance section of the store and they don't carry this line instore any longer. I basically just said the same thing to the mgr, and he knocked them down from $19.99 to $4.99. SCORE! Also nabbed 3 Wallflowers and 3 refills from Bath and Body Works for just under $10 after coupons. Rock on.

Speaking of Black Friday, though- a man got killed in NY at a Walmart. There was a stampede to get in the store and this man is dying on the ground and people are running past to get to their deals. I understand the sportsman like fun of black friday- but there is no deal worth someone's life. Let's get a grip- and Walmart? Get a damn plan together so this won't happen again.

Anyway, that's about it- I'll post more soon and maybe actually invite people to read this thing. Maybe.

Obama 08

I know I haven't posted in quite some time, and that's just disgraceful. I mean, really. Recent obsessions- couponing, Obama, pumpkin spice frapps at Starbucks, Anderson Cooper. Still no babies, but still working on it. Will update w/ more soon.

Wk of 10-19 through 10-26

First let me touch on last week's amazing deals. I mean seriously. AMAZING week if you're a couponer ppl. Let me show you (or feel free to skip ahead to this week's so you can get in on the goodness)...

Walgreens
-Robitussin- got paid $7.50 for every 3 I took off their shelves. Caught wind of this deal late in the week so I was only in for 3 transactions- but that means I got paid $22.50 for picking up 9 bottles of Robitussin. YES, you read that right.

CVS
-Free Always Infinity. In for four boxes. These require using your extra care card.

Target (hello, lover)
-Purina Dog Chow -crap but doogie likes it-
20lb bags for $3.50 each. Would explain but it's over so what's the use? In for 6 bags (would have bought more but DH protested when I wanted to go to Target yet again)

K-Mart (I know...ewww... but I thought that when I was 16 and now I'm almost 30 with a mortgage so I'll brave the mess) In about 3 trips- I got $430 worth of stuff for about $45 out of pocket. How, you ask? Read on...
DOUBLE COUPONS up to $2. That means a $2 coupon is worth $4 off. There was free stuff aplenty! I'll list a few of the highlights-
-FREE Dove Shampoo/Conditioner
-FREE Dove Body Wash
-FREE Bottled Water (Nestle)
-FREE Lipton Tea
-FREE Tylenol
-FREE Advil
-FREE Glade sprays
-FREE Vegetable Steamers (I think they're Green Giant)
-FREE Ore Ida Steam and Mash (new potato thing)
-FREE Endust
-FREE Scrubbing Bubbles
-FREE Resolve Carpet Cleaner
-FREE Glade Carpet Deoderizer
-FREE Ronzoni Pasta
-.99 Bags of cat food (the 3.5lb bag of Goodlife Recipe- in for 5 bags)
-2 for $1 Revlon Hair Dye
-2 for $1 Revlon eyeshadows and lipglosses
-.99 Almay Makeup remover wipes (love these!)
-.50 Pillsbury Ready to bake cookies
-.75 Ragu
-.75 bags of Halloween candy (like the real deal, no cheap crap)
and a ton of other cheap stuff to be had

NOW -----something more useful to you----- THIS WEEK'S DEALS

CVS
-Free oral-b toothbrushes
-Free just for men hair dye (you into that?)
-Free stuff for kids
(you do need ECB to make these officially free, but if you spend the $10 to make an initial purchase- I'll give ya stuff to use it on next week to keep the freebies coming)
-FREE Excedrin- no ECB needed. They're on sale for $1.99, use $2 coupon that came out this weekend. Free baby, free.

Walgreens
-Free Pert Plus (Dh likes this crap) use the monthly easy saver coupon (found in store) combined with the manufacturer coupon in this weeks paper. Yes, you can do that- it tells you in the Walgreen's ad this week to do it. FREE! Free is good, my friends.

Kroger
-Free Sally Hansen Nailpolish
-Free Scotchbrite Nailsaver Sponges
-Free Celestial Seasonings Tea
-Free Whisker Lickins Cat treats
-Free Cottonelle Toilet Paper
-.35cent Sizzle and Serve Armour sausages
-$1 Energizer batteries (4 pack)
-$1.50 Poptarts (try the chocolate chip one..mmmm)
These are all with coupons that came out recently (most are THIS WEEK. Buy a newspaper- get freebies....pretty simple)

I know there are more freebies to be had but I haven't got my plan going for the week yet (behind!). Heads up.... K-Mart will be doubling again starting the 26th. Rumors are that either A) they're going out of business and trying to get rid of stock or B) they're making one last ditch effort at getting back some momentum. If it's B, it's working- I haven't seen that many ppl in K-Mart since I was a kid! Anyway- go get your free toilet paper and cat treats!!

Hot Deals At Kroger

I'm sorry I've been neglecting this blog!!! I'm going to start posting again. Beauty stuff, book stuff, baby stuff- I promise.... (you- my one reader-should appreciate it lol)

If you didn't know it already, I'm a cheap bitch ;) If I can avoid paying retail I'm all over it. Well little lovelies, there are some pretty good beauty bargains at Kroger this week if you have one near you.

Before I get into the deals I used coupons on, let me just tell ya about this sweet find because I know some of ya aren't couponers and all the crap below this will be totally confusing. L'oreal Skin Genesis (new moisturizer that is all the rage on the beauty blogs/forums) was closeout for $8.28. Kroger's probably not the first place you'd think to shop for items like that- so that's probably why it was a closeout. I did actually have a $1 off coupon, but even at $8.28 this is a steal! Kroger's regular price is $21.69! CVS and Target are a little cheaper at around $19 but for $8??? Holy guacomole that's a good deal people. Get you some.

Okay, onto the coupon deals. I totally prefer Tigi Bed Head or Matrix products for my hair- they just do something for me. However, being that Dh is currently unemployed and the magazine is just starting to shape up- I have to be cheap and get drugstore brands. So back to Kroger- they're doing this buy 3 participating items get $3 off your order- here's what I got

3 Secret Deoderant $2.57ea
- $3 from promotion above
- $3 from $1 coupons that came out last Sunday
$1.71 for all three

3 Pantene Shampoo or Conditioners $3.33ea
- $3 from promo
- $6 from $2 coupons that came out last Sunday
.99 for 3 Shampoos or Conditioners

6 Herbal Essences Shampoo $2.50ea
- $6 from promo (each time you get 3, you get $3 off)
- $9 from $3 off 2 coupons that came out last Sunday too
FREE!!!!!!!! (Awww shit! ...likin that ain't ya?)


This and the free Covergirl lash blasts and eyeshadows I got at CVS last week has me all geeked and I had to share. I don't normally post any deals that I get here, but I'm going to start from now on (maybe?). Anyway- get thee to a Kroger and get some cheap stuff!

McDonalds Sweet Tea

Is bad ass. Seriously, I think I have a problem. 32 oz in a styrofoam cup that keeps it nice, icy and fresh? For a buck? Who can pass that up? Who, I ask you? Not me. Another score for McDonalds in the beverage department. You all know how I love their fountain soda. The tea may have just as much sugar but it has less calories and it’s cheaper. Yeehaw.

I know I haven't updated in a while, I've been reading like crazy and it's taking up all my blogging time :) I'll update soon.

Oh Kwame

Give it up already. Step down. We knew it was a matter of time before you pulled the race card. I consider that your way of trying to "rally the troops" and make sure black people had your back. It's insulting imo. No one's going to back you because of the color of your skin, especially not when you're dead wrong. My gawd you are a hot one though, aren't ya? DAYUM!

First Infertility Appt

So I have to use a pic with each pic or it just doesn't feel right. Hence the beautiful gal I added from Pinkytoast's etsy page. Cute. I've had so many doctor appt's this week. Monday was the finishing of my root canal. Joy. He needs to do a couple more fillings and wants me to get Invisalign (clear braces that are just a panel that goes around your chompers- no actual brace). This sounds good, but the price does not. $2700 for just the top and my insurance doesn't cover a bit. One cool thing is you don't have them nearly as long. Six months is the maximum. Nice.

Next up- they eye doc. Not too bad, my right eye needs just the tiniest RX and my left eye is bad but not bad enough that I have to wear my glasses 24/7. Yes, I went with glasses. I've never had them so they've taken on this kind of uber cool persona for me. Next year I'll do the contacts. My insurance rocked with this. Covered pretty much every dang thing I could have wanted. Transitions, glare reduction, coatings and whatever other things they like to overcharge for. The glasses are pretty pimp, too, imo. I went for square brown-framed Guess beauties, where the lens stops just shy of the frame (cool effect). Will post pics when I have them :)

Now for today. We met Dr. Maria Hayes for the first time today. If there's someone who can get us pregnant it will be this woman. She's very no-nonsense. She asked why I stopped Prozac and when I told her it was because I worry about getting pregnant and the baby and breastfeeding... She said- don't worry about it until the last month of pregnancy. That I'll do much better through this if I'm back on my Prozac. Can I just say thank GOD! I miss my psycho drugs, for real. Anyway, she has a whole plan. I'll be in her office several times over the next month for more tests and blood work and Dh has to have his own special "bonding time" with the office as well, if you get my drift. Teehee.

One negative about the whole experience- if I want coffee- I get one cup per day and no other soda or any caffeine. If I want a soda- no coffee that day and no other caffeine. Come on, is this even possible? Anyone else been through such torture? Did you survive? I mean, I just can't live in a world without a hot coffee in the morning followed by several (hundred) ounces of soda. ;) Guess the choice isn't really a hard one. Baby? Soda? Yeah, baby. This applies to dh too. Ha- join me in my hell.

But I'm glad we went. It feels like we're doing something. Makes me nervous as hell, but this puts us one step closer.

Deliciousness

Um...yowza! Awesome little etsy shop (etsy-as in where I found my ghoulies) FatDaddyBakeShop Tell me they don't look delicious and yummy and oohhh. This girl has done so well that she's opening her own little retail shop. Smart woman! It's a double layer cupcake in a jar and that come in some awesome looking flavors. Must get a couple soon. Another mad cool thing that I've been checking out is the new Pink Paislee Live site (scrapbooking)...it's like facebook but for scrapbooking. It rocks. LivePink Check it out if you're into scrapping and add me!!

In other news- another one of my best friends (Dawn) just found out she's pregnant. I am so super happy for her. She'd been trying to get a hold of me all weekend and finally emailed me while I was at work on Monday. She said "John and I will be joining the mini-van club in November."

Let me just say, though, that I'm glad I found out in an email. I am truly happy for them, and so excited- but I spent pretty much the rest of the day bawling every time I thought about it. I called her on my way home and she could sense I was down but I was not about to ruin her special time with my unfair jealousy so I wouldn't tell her why. It IS unfair, I know that. And it's not that I'm necessarily jealous, it's just that they basically "weren't really trying too hard, but weren't preventing" and here Tom and I am- charting and temping and everything else. It's just not happening. This will be their third child...it's virtually effortless for them. Why is it so fucking hard for us?

It's horrible to feel this way, horrible. But I just can't help it. I called my mom on my lunch break because Tom wasn't in his office and bawled to her. Then emailed Tom and bawled to him. Then I traded emails all day with Greg (another one of Tom's best friends) who was cracking me up and made me feel a lot better. Got home, cried to Tom some more and felt even better. Yet, still, here I sit getting all weepy. Hopefully coming here to admit that I'm a rotten friend for being sad while she's so happy will make me feel better or at least less guilty. It's not fair of me, and I know that. But, I'm just getting it out- I certainly didn't let her know that. I just wish it would happen for us.

One Republic and Water for Elephants

I've been wanting to post about One Republic for a while. They piss me off. Every time I hear them on the radio being interviewed about Timbaland and his remix of their song, they're bitching about it. Shut the fuck up. (Sorry non-cuss lovers). But for real. He didn't just add the "Eh, eh" thing like you said he did. He totally re-arranged the song and gave it the beat that it needed to be a hit. Get over yourselves. It's a good song- it is. Your version is good. But it's very GeorgeMichael-ish and he got rid of all that. IT WOULD NOT BE THE HIT THAT IT IS WITHOUT TIMBALAND'S REMIX. That bears repeating. IT WOULD NOT BE THE HIT THAT IT IS WITHOUT TIMBALAND'S REMIX. Your next single is really good, so don't worry about your credibility as artists-it doesn't matter that you have a hip hop song. Suck it up- you needed him. It's ok. Quit making it sound like you didn't because you look like assholes. **ok, stepping off soapbox**

Water for Elephants. I never would have read this book had it not been for the book club I'm in. I'm horrible about judging a book by it's cover and the cover of this one just did not seem like something I'd be interested in reading, so I never even picked it up to see what it was about. Shame on me. The book is amazing. I never thought I'd enjoy reading about circus life, lol..... but it's filled with romance and mystery and is reminiscent of Moulin Rouge. It's seriously one of my favorites ever now. If it's something you've passed up before- pick it up and read a couple pages. I was so wrapped up in the people's lives that I didn't want it to end- which is what makes an awesome book, imo.

Go Patriots!

It's the Superbowl....the hottest and best quarterback is playing today -- Mr. Tom Brady .... if they pull this off they will be only the second team ever to have an undefeated season in the NFL. Come on boys. Do it!

Politics

I'm not a fan of talking politics, and I only really pay attention when it's time for an election. However, I do vote- I research and analyze my choices and do feel that I make an educated decision. I just wouldn't say I'm hard-core.

I'm Republican *shock* and my Husband is a Democrat. This leads to some interesting discussion and sometimes arguments. I would say that I'm liberal, and yes I believe you can be a liberal Republican. There is only one main issue that I disagree with Republicans on- and that is gay marriage. Sure, whatever, if you don't want to use the term "marriage" because of the religious implications- fine. But they deserve the same rights as a marriage. PERIOD.

Moving on. I'm Republican. I've said it. But if it comes down to Clinton/McCain, I'm voting for Hillary. (I know you're clapping, Tree). The most important thing to me in this campaign- above all my other convictions that probably won't be changed in the next four years, is that we make every effort to remove ourselves from Iraq. I realize it won't happen overnight, but I truly believe every effort should be made to bring home as many troops as possible and keep as few there as possible while finishing what we need to finish. McCain feels very strongly that we do not have enough troops there. He'd like to send more troops to Iraq. I repeat that because it is SO disappointing to me.

It would appear that the Democratic party will have my vote again in the coming political election. I know, I know- it's no one's business who anyone votes for. But I'm not a super polite rule-follower and I'm telling you regardless of whether I should or not.

If you are a super polite, hush hush, rule follower and don't want to specifically say who you're voting for- please comment and at least say where you stand currently. (I posted this blog on my myspace, I highly doubt anyone will comment here. Matter of fact, I doubt anyone will there either lol)

New Acrylic Layout

First time using acrylic on an actual layout (I've used it on a card before). I like how it turned out, but I'm surprised I picked such neutral colors. I've been loving the bold colors lately, but I was working with my Studio Calico kit again and this is just how it went ;)

I'm sick! I hate it, I was sick yesterday too. Doc says it's an upper resp. infection so she gave me some pills to kick it. I hope it's gone soon, I can't hear a dang thing because I'm so congested!! I hate being sick!

Happy Birthday To Me

Tell me Christopher Robin's momma isn't awesome? Mr. Christopher had her make me a birthday cake and he printed off a pic of what he refers to as "my ghoulies" to put on it as decoration. What a flippin thoughtful guy! Of course it was delish, as her cakes always are. She made our bridal shower cake and wedding cake, too. Yummo. Thank you!!! ****Need a cake soon? I'll get ya the number, lemme know****

I'm 29 now. Goodness, how time flies. Seriously, you hear that when you're younger and you're like- yeah, right. But it's so true, and the older you get the quicker it goes. One year and I'm 30! 30! That's freakin madness. It feels like yesterday that I got my license. Wasn't I just turning 21 and hanging out of a car, throwing up in the parking lot of the Blind Pig? *sorry for the visual*

I think part of the reason it seems to be going by so fast is because my biological clock is ticking like a time bomb right about now. Please, Lord, please let me get pregnant this year. If it doesn't happen soon I'll be at their graduation with my walker and Tom will be completely gray. <--not to call you out on that little gray patch, dearie, I've got a streak myself.

Heath Ledger Died Yesterday.....

I can't believe it, it's just crazy. First Brad Renro earlier this week and now Heath. They're not sure of the cause of death yet, but people are thinking overdose. There were pills found around the room. He was only 28, and has a 2yr old baby girl. RIP.


These three images are just beautiful aren't they? Must have them. Have hinted (it was a smack you in the head kind of hint) to DH who will no doubt forget about them. But I have to buy them at some point for my future scraproom. Ya know, when we buy our 30 year house.