Comfortable?

KP is okay. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. He's in some discomfort, as to be expected. He has moved from the couch, which is his favorite place to be in the entire world, to my chair, which seems to allow him to get up and down with more ease. Gus Gus is now allowed to sit at his feet while he plays Maze on my Ipod.

For kicks, here's Zeus. I am not sure if he's comfortable or not, but this position deserves witnesses.
Mac is attached to my hip, as usual, and I am not in the mood for self-portraits today. Happy Friday.

Please Keep KP in your Thoughts and Prayers

Kevin is going into surgery for a hernia this morning. I took this picture last night. I was on the phone with Aud in the bedroom when KP kept calling my name. Finally I asked, "What?" And he said, "Can you please get all of the dogs? I am trying to teach them that they cannot sleep with me after surgery." I laughed and said, "It's a little late for that. These dogs have been cuddling up with us since the day we brought each one home." Then I walked into the living room and saw this:

Absolutely precious! Then Aud, who was still on the phone during our conversation, my trip back to my office to get the memory stick, finding and turning on the camera, my ooh's and ahh's, and snapping this pic, asked if I have a case of adult ADD. Shut it.

Please think of Kevin today and pray for his speedy recovery.

New Me - Week 3 Update

I skipped week 2...I guess I was just trying to get it together. Things have been going okay. I have not been great at entering all of my food into my food log, but I have been counting my calories and working out. Sounds like things have been going great, right? Wrong. I had major slip-ups this past weekend.
First, Friday night I went to hh (happy hour for you non-committed to drinking people). I drank beer because it seemed too early for wine. And too casual. So, one beer turned into several and then my good-time loving friend ordered me a margarita later in the night. I put up no fight and proceeded to have another. No, I was not driving. I woke up in the morning feeling just awful. Saturday, good-time loving friend and I went to the gym, burned off those bad calories for over an hour and then I crashed. Oh wait, I ate Chinese food and then crashed. Another good choice. Sunday I woke up all refreshed and committed to a healthy day in great weather. KP and I went shopping and about two hours into the adventure, he said he needed a beer. Yes, it was the afternoon! So, we went over to Doc's has some beers, I ate fajitas, and then we had more beers!

All night Sunday night I kept waking up with feelings of serious disappointment in myself. I don't do failure well. And failure in my book is anything that is not success. I feel like I let myself down so terribly that it wasn't even worth the good time.

So, I am on the wagon. For at least a couple of weeks. I want to see some dramatic differences and drinking and eating crap is not going to get me there. I am committed at least until next weekend, the 31st and if there aren't some noticeable changes by then, I will commit to longer.

I have lost one pound in 2 weeks. 16 to go till goal.

Dust Mites, Cats, and Mold, Oh My!

It might be hard to see and I should have taken the picture right when I got home, but this is six hours later and my arm is still swollen! I had allergy testing done for the second time in my life and it seems I am still allergic to cats, dust mites, cedar, and mold (and maybe dogs too, but please don't tell my boys).

When I went into the doctor's office, the nurse asked how the test went last time. I was in high school and had plans to head to Galveston that afternoon. When I went in, I put on a gown and laid on a table, face down. They took these plates, covered with small needles filled with serum, and pricked my entire back. The nurse then marked each prick with a purple sharpie. I then waited. And waited, and waited. When the nurse came back into the room, she took note of my allergies, and cleaned my back. When I went to the beach that afternoon, I sported my purple marks like a badge of honor!

Today was different. The nurse said, "oh you had them in your back last time? We aren't going to do that today." She then proceeded to prick each of my arms with six plates, eight needles on each plate. She set a timer, wheeled the TV in from the lounge so that I could watch the inauguration, and left. Within a minute I knew why people usually get them on their backs. They FREAKING itch. If it's in the middle of your back, you can't scratch it. On your forearms that are required to face up for twenty agonizing minutes, you are aware of every passing second while you imagine little bits of the things you are allergic to passing through your veins. Did you know that they test for a reaction for cockroaches? Gross.

After the nurse determined my allergies, she cleaned my arms with cold, delightful alcohol and rubbed some nasty antihistamine all over them. Then the doctor came in, looked at the huge swells on my left arm, and popped me a Claritin redi-tab, which I am extremely thankful for.


Back to adding Zyrtec to my diet, while evaluating if my insurance favors allergy shots. "New Me" update coming this evening.

Wordle

This is a visual of all of the words on my blog.
Create your own here. Thanks, Maple!

I Like my Girls a Little Bit Older

If you are already humming, you may have already experienced what I am about to detail.

Months ago, one of the hip-hop stations in ATX went off the air. In its place, a tejano station was born. I, like Zeus, am an old dog and cannot learn new tricks. Instead of reprogramming the station, I left it alone. With each car ride comes a constant changing of the radio stations, thanks to the conveniently located buttons on my steering wheel. That tejano station was tricky. It played songs that were originally recorded in English, but have been translated into Spanish. I so easily was fooled and found myself listening to words I could mostly not understand.

A few weeks ago, KP replaced the battery in the Honda. This left me with no radio; they call it theft protection. I had to call Honda and get them to give me a secret code that allowed me to turn my radio back on. (Do people still steal factory radios?) After breaking the invisible barrier into my sound machine, all of my favored stations were lost, as was the tejano station. I programmed all of my buttons again, opting to leave that tricky one out, but one button was remained. I programmed the mix station.

For days the mix station has been luring me in. It is pleasant. I know the words to the songs. Memories flood my mind with each new ballad. But there is nothing new. I mean NOTHING. There is nothing hip. There is nothing that cool me would want to listen to.

I felt fooled by a radio station once again. In the split second it takes for me to lift my thumb to press the button to take me to some Beyonce or All American Rejects, these lyrics filled my car and my mind, "Josie's on a vacation far away, Come around and talk it over. So many things that I wanna say, You know I like my girls a little bit older."

I AM OLDER. While coolness is self-judged, I firmly believe, I am the mix station crowd. Don't get me wrong, I am not anywhere ready to give up on pop and hip hop, but I think I can enjoy the mix station too. If you feel me, even just a little bit (or you are still confused about the song that rocked my day), please enjoy:

F.A.T.

I feel like Oprah. Except that I am not 56 and have not been battling my weight for 40+ years. And I am not a multi-millionaire. Nor do I have my own TV show. Ok, I feel like Oprah in one way. I am tired of battling my weight. Just last week I told my sis-in-law (SIL) that I think I might be a yo-yo-er for the rest of my life. Being the nutritionist and personal trainer that she is, SIL told me that that was not going to happen.

Today, I am recommitted to getting in shape. According to my other favorite TV personality, Dr. Phil, you have to give yourself a measurable goal with a deadline, in order to succeed. You also need a plan. So, here she blows:

1. I will lose 17 pounds by June 2nd (KP's bday). My goal weight is 130, you do the math.
2. I will enter my food and drink in thedailyplate.com daily.
3. I will complete at least 1 hr of weight training and 2.5 hrs cardio per week.
4. I will post a picture of myself in a bikini on this blog by June 2nd.
5. I will maintain my goal weight for the remainder of the year, unless the stork visits.

That's it. That's my plan. Many, many thanks to SIL for her support, including always being cheery, a discounted gym membership, random exercise names, a meal plan, letting me use her mask to look like Darth Vader, setting work-out appointments via outlook, toots, and being super-supportive.

I will keep you all updated, I haven't decided how often, on my progress. Hot by June.

Happy 2009!

We went to the Gourd's Masquerade Ball last night at Waterford House in South ATX. It was a great party, filled with friends, music, drink, and costumes. How better to pass the final hours of the old and begin the new year?