Day 1

It's not really day 1 of my HCG diet but since the first couple days are "binge" days where you eat as much as you can, whatever you want and to allow the drug to absorb into your system, I am counting today as the official 1st day of my diet. For the next three - four weeks, I am restricted to 500 calories a day. I should lose 1 pound of FAT a day as an incentive. I am not allowed to consume or apply any oils to my body which means I had to find a new shampoo and conditioner, both without oils of any kind. I had to switch deodorant to an aerosol and I cannot use lotion. This is the hardest part for me because I have such dry skin anyway. I have to drink about 2 liters of water a day and I unless I learn to like coffee or tea, this is all I am allowed to drink. Again, this is difficult because I hate water and I hate having to get up from my desk to have to go to the bathroom so many times a day. Forget excercising. With the number of trips I have to take upstairs to the bathroom as well as letting the dogs in and out (because they can't seem to coinside their potty breaks with mine), that's excercise enough for me! But, although I was hungry and wanted something to eat before lunch, I wasn't "dying" and was able to go from 5am to 1pm without anything but water. For lunch I ate 1 apple, 1 tomatoe, 1 piece of Melba toast and 3 oz of chicken. That was a whopping 275 calories. I'm going to have to be careful for dinner since I splurged on lunch. I had a hard time finishing my apple (that I saved as dessert) but it's now 4:40pm and I'm hungry.

I told Brent about this diet needing to be done in segments and you know what he said to me? "So this is going to take a couple of years?" Gee honey, thanks for putting a damper on my enthusiasm. In all reality though,I have about 100 pounds to Looks like I may have to go about 6 rounds of this diet. Between rounds 5 and 6, I have to wait 6 months or the HCG is not effective in what it's supposed to do. Wish me luck!

Hoarding?

Although I am a little embarrassed to post about this, I'm going to anyway. NO, I'm not the hoarder but sometimes I wonder if Brent may be. This is Brent's "Library". See the books on the shelves?(all those books, he's never even read one all the way through and many are books that people at work have read and leave for the next guy to pick it up. He picks them up then keeps them...just to have them.) That's why I call it his library. The only problem is, you can't even go in there. It's piled high with stuff he doesn't use and even stuff I have thrown in the trash, only to have him pull it out saying, "Hey, I might use that some day". There's a stereo system in here that has not been used in over 2 years. It will never be used again because we now have a Bose system and "once you hear a Bose, you'll never listen to anything else". I don't know what to do with it. I don't want to bother selling it and Brent won't give it away.

What actually brought me to posting about this room is what I first saw when I walked in here to put away the laptop. Do you know anyone else that saves the used tea light candle tins? What on earth is he saving these for?
So, I'll keep the door shut and when my front room is finished, his library will be the next thing to tackle...then the garage!

On a seperate note, look what Lacy did. That's right, it's the phone book. She was trying to show Luke how she could rip a phone book in half with her bare teeth.

Just a little something to make you smile

Happy IVGLDSW Day!
Today is International Very Good Looking, Damn Smart Woman's Day: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, totally worn out and screaming 'WOOO HOOOOO what a ride!'





Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can usually shut her up with cookies.

~ Unknown~

Misc stuff

I guess I'd better post while I have a few minutes and before I forget.

Work is still work and I do not like being a manager. The owner of the company asked me what I thought of being the COO (Chief Operating Officer). Ummm, I said "NO!" to which he replied, "We'll revisit this again in a month". Hopefully, I am a dissappointment and he won't bring it up again.

The swelling in my legs, ankles and feet has not gone completely away. I went for a follow up appointment and the doc said he wanted me to do a sleep study, thinking I might have sleep apnea. I told him I don't have it. He insisted that I do although I never want or feel the need to take a nap in the middle of the day. I always wake up refreshed and never groggy. (Hey, I am up at 5 am. Mornings are my best time). So, reluctantly, I did the sleep study. Thank goodness, you can just rent a little occimeter and sleep with that on your finger for one night. I got a call from the Doctor's office on Tuesday, I DO NOT have sleep apnea. So why do I still have swelling? The doc just doesn't know. The kidneys, heart and liver are all functioning normally. I guess this is just one more thing I can chalk up to my weight!

Which brings me to another thing. My daughter has friends that have done the HCG diet but with HCG drops instead of injections. My daughter is trying to talk me into doing this with her. I read through the plan and it just seems too... I don't know. Every time I lose weight, I gain it all back and more, putting me in a worse situation than before but with where I am now, I am beginning to notice shortness of breath and other little things that are just annoying. Maybe I will try it for a few weeks, just to see if it works at all on me.

TODAY is (or would be) my mom's 89th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. I love you and miss you everyday!

Me, Mom and Linda. Mom's 80th birthday, The last birthday she celebrated in this life.

No longer home

Earlier this week, I had to take a "trip" out of my city and travel a whopping 26 miles to Bountiful to do something for my job. I called this a "trip" because the city I live in is all inclusive. Everything you need is within 3 miles of my house. I rarely need to go outside my comfort zone.



Bountiful is the city that I used to live in and since I had to go there anyway, I decided to make a five minute detour and go see my old house. Although I only lived in this house for 4 years before I got married, it was still my "home" after I moved out. My dad designed and built this house. It was the first house in the the area and we lived with dirt roads for about a year, I think. I loved this house and it held so many memories for me.



As I drove up through the neighborhood, I had lots of flashbacks of my teenage years. Learning to drive my VW superbeetle on those hills. Walking to and from school and yes, I could tell my kids I walked uphill both ways, to and from school and it was at least a two mile walk each way too. I remember trying to ride my bike on these hills and finally deciding that walking was much easier and soon gave up bike riding. I remember walking back and forth up and down those hills to my friends houses, several times a day during the summer. I remember my friends, Michele, Chris and CoLene, and how important they were in my life.



Then I arrived at the house. I'll admit it, I got a bit teary eyed. It wasn't because of how the house looked. It didn't look that much different from when I lived there. I think it was because it made me think about my mom and dad. I think about them all the time and miss them dearly. Somehow, seeing the house again reminded me that it just wasn't "home" anymore.

My excuse

I have an excuse for everything. This time, I think it's a valid one. Don't you?

My reason for not cleaning out this shelf in my fabric closet: Paisley has made herself a nice cozy bed out of all the fleece.

My son

On Jan 23rd, I was sitting in the airport in Orlando, waiting for our flight home. I received a text message that said, "Good morning Daddy". I replied back, "Huh?", to which was received, "That was the text I received yesterday morning". I in turn replied, "So,is this an announcement?"

And so it was. My son's girlfriend is expecting. It was totally unexpected as she was on birth control but I guess some things are just meant to be! We are certainly happy for them. I only wish they lived closer. Being in Arizona doesn't make it too easy for me to spoil the baby but I am sure I will manage. I will just require photos weekly.

Congrats to Jeff and Jessica.

No rest for the weary

There's no place like home. But coming home means back to work and work. My first day back, my boss sent me and Jenny and IM. (Jenny is my daughter and works for the same company that I do.) He wanted to meet with the both of us so he came here to my house. We covered the typical issues, concerns and some new changes then he announced that he will be going to 3 days a week instead of 5. He's past retirement age and has finally decided to take it easy so with that, I knew what was coming. He started in with how we now need a manager and as he is speaking, I am motioning with my head and finger over to Jenny. She really deserves the promotion however, he chimed in and said, "Sorry Terrie, it's you". Crap, I hate this. I really don't like or want to be a "manager". Team lead is good enough for me. He even bumped up my wage but to me, it's not the money. I just don't want the responsibility. But, I didn't see that I had a choice so I told him I would do my best. Friday, I had a meeting with my boss, the programmer and the owner of the company. I can't tell you how many times I heard from the owner that the reason that "so&so" from the other company was let go was because he didn't know how to prevent "forest fires" and he didn't know how to effectively monitor the employees by tracking the amount of work each employeed did and making them accountable for their own jobs. This got my stomach turning in knots because I am not a numbers person. I stink at spreadsheets and if I have to manually count each and every order, well, I simply don't have time for that. The numbers game won't happen if it's not automated. He agreed with me there but since automation of reports takes time and takes the programmer away from other items that are at the top of the list, I am afraid that I will have no fighting chance. In any event, we began our changes last Tuesday. I have finally had the chance to look at some of the old orders that are sitting out there and I am baffled as to why. I guess this is what is meant by making each person accountable. Problem is, if I fix the problem simply to get it out of there, the person who should have been responsible will never learn. If I tell the person what to do, it's going to take that much longer to have them resolve the issue and realize what went wrong. I can't win. My only hope is to point out the issue then deal with the problem myself and hope they catch on.

And still no rest for the weary, when I came back from Florida, I had six order for doll clothes waiting to be filled and Brent and I came down with terrible colds. I've been so weak and so tired, I have really struggles with keeping up on the orders. I've been coughing so much and so hard that my sides and ribs hurt. I just want to go lay down...in fact, I think I will do that NOW! Goodnight.

The rest of the week

Needless to say, Brent's boss kept insisting that all the hotels were booked given the fact that the PGA conference was also this week so we kept our room. I had the sheets changed and with me being in the room while they were cleaning, I kind of kept my eye on them to make sure it got done. I still didn't sleep well any of the nights for multiple reasons, mostly because the beds were so uncomfortable. Oh well, what can you expect from a hotel that's basically a super 8 motel but has a few more floors?

I was faithful to my job and worked my full shift each and every day as I had promissed my boss. Monday evening, I was invited to join Brent and his bosses and the head of the compost site in FL with a few other people to go to dinner. We were takne to a place called Maggiano's. I have to say without a doubt, this was the best Italian food I have ever had. The dinner lasted 3.5 hours and although it was so good, they were so busy and the kitchen staff was short handed so we waited nearly an hour between our appatizers and main course. Our dinner was ordered "Family Style" so we were allowed to order 2 appatizers, 2 salads, 2 pastas, two meats and 2 desserts. Boy oh boy, we were so full by the time we were done.

Tuesday and Wednesday were somewhat uneventful. Brent's boss wanted to show us Downtown Disney which is a shopping row of disney stores and eateries. Had I known we were so close to that, and had I know there was a shuttle service from here to there, I would have done that on Sunday.

Thursday, Brent took his bosses to the airport and then came back to pick me up and we headed to Epcot. Honestly, I don't think this is somewhere I would go to again but the fireworks display was truly awesome. I never did understand what Epcot was all about. Now I know.


Friday, it was off to The Magic Kingdom. My feet have been swollen pretty much the entire trip and though I brought my water pills with me, I couldn't take them Thurs or Friday because of the number of trips to the potty I have to make for at least 5 hours after taking them. Stupid pills, they make me go but they don't get rid of the swelling in my ankles like I think they should. So, because my fee are so swollen, I had a very difficult time walking. My sweet husband carried my big pink bag all over the park because it had his water in it and it was too heavy for me.

We had a great time but I have to say, Disneyland in California seems to me to be a better park than Florida. The rides are basically the same but Florida doesn't have the matterhorn. January is definately the time to come though. The weather was beautiful and the ride lines were never more than 15 minutes.

Sunday in Orlando

Brent was up and out the door for his first day of training before I got out of bed. I had a horrible night, not sleeping much at all and when I did, I had bad dreams about my poor kitties missing me at home. I got up, showered and dressed and decided to do a little work. I worked for almost a couple hours then decided I needed to go find what was out there. Saturday night as we were coming back from dinner, I noticed that Sea World was a short distance from the hotel so I decided to take a walk. From the hotel to the entrance (through the parking lot at SW)it was about 1.5miles. When I got there, I noticed the prices. $80 for one person to get in. Since I was there only to get some lunch and do a little souvenier shopping, I decided that wasn't worth paying. So I loitered around a little bit, took some photos to say I'd been there, looked in the one gift shop that is outside the gate (didn't buy anything) then left. I walked to the big hotel that is next to the one I am in and went inside. Again, I was hoping for lunch and a gift shop to buy a t-shirt. I only have cold weather clothes and it's too warm here for them. (FYI, all my spring and summer clothes have little holes in the belly from the button on my pants rubbing on the fabric and wearing it out so I didn't pack any of them.) I found a little shop inside this big hotel, bought a t-shirt and headed off to find some lunch. I had some fish and chips at a little bistro in the hotel, nothing to brag about then headed back to the hotel I am staying in to work some more. I worked another couple hours or so and then went out and sat by the pool and read a book. I bought "Dear John" to read on the plane but didn't get to it. Brent got out of his class a little early and was back by 4:15 or so. He came to get the GPS because the big boss called and needed to be picked up from the airport. The rental car is in Brent's name so he had to go. We were to meet them for dinner in 15 minutes.

Boy, dinner with 4 men from a waste water treatment facility is so much fun! At least Tony Roma's was good. Every big Hotel we passed, the "big boss" would say, I tried to book our rooms there but they were all booked up. I counted at least 4 different hotels he said that about. Then we passed the Wynhdham, where we were originally booked and where the convention is, and I am just shaking my head. Why oh why did he think this one would be better? And unless he had as bad of a night's sleep as I did, I think we're stuck here.

After dinner, I Brent stayed in the sports bar in the lobby with a couple of "them" and while he was there, I checked the internet. This room is $109 a night. The hotels right in Disney World are $89 per night and they look much nicer. Besides, they are right there in DW so they have to be clean. I tried to talk Brent into moving for our last three nights here but he said we can't because the company paid for the rooms and we paid the company for our share so it would be too hard. With Disney only 8 miles from where we are, he thinks we are fine.

I decided to go to bed. This time, I pulled the covers down from the side I hadn't been on the night before. We have two double beds so Brent sleeps in one and I in the other. I noticed a crusty stain on the sheets in a place that I had not been. Who knows what it was but I also noticed a smell of mens cologne on one of the three pillows. Brent doesn't wear cologne and hadn't been on that bed. Again,I didn't sleep much at all.

Monday morning I requested the sheets be changed on both beds.

Orlando-the hotel

Brent's company sent him to Orlando FL for a training seminar. Since I'd never been to Florida before, I decided to tag along. My plan is to work, as usual but from the hotel room while Brent is in class on Mon, Tue and Wed then on Thur and Fri, we could go to Disney World. Brent was told that they originally booked everyone's rooms at the Wyndham Hotel but because the big boss preferred the Hilton, they changed us to the Hilton Garden Inn. They told Brent that it was a newer, nicer hotel so I'm thinking... well, since Brent's class starts on Sunday, maybe I can schedule myself a spa day or maybe even just go walking around, souvenier shopping. A whole day to myself... this could be fun.

Then as we are getting closer and closer, I began to realize that there is NOTHING around for me to walk to. No shopping, no spa, no souveniers. As we walked into our room, this is the first thing I saw: A lumpy bed...oh great! Then I thought, hum, a feather bed. then I laid on it. Nope, it's just the bedspread that they've washed and the fiberfilling matted up into clumps and the bed, hard as a rock. Brent opens the curtains and this is what we see:
and if you press your cheek up agains the window, you have a lovely view of the pool:


One of the other bosses that came on the same flight we did felt the same way we did about this place and thought for certain that as soon as the big boss sees this place, we'll be out of here. He has a great view of the business right behind the hotel; a "Behavioral hospital", complete with barbed wire fencing and all!

Two Saturdays

These pictures are in reverse order but they are too hard to change on my mini netbook so I'll just deal with them the way they are. The week before last Saturday when my son was in town, we went to our oldest daughter, Kim's house. Kim is the one that just had a baby. We had dinner (KFC) and played Rock Band. I have to tell you, or rather brag a bit that my two grandchildren, Zach and Aubrey are Beetles Fans now that they have been exposed to this version of Rock Band. They now know all the Beetles music, thanks to their dad.

Then just last Saturday, we went to our youngest daughter's house. She wanted to try a new recipe so we all went there for dinner and more Rock Band. This time, I bought the Rock Band Country version since I prefer country music.Three piece girls band, Aubrey on Drums, Kim on Guitar and me singing a "white trash version of Shania karaoke".
Brent, Zac and Shawn playing a Beetles favorite
Jase, pretending to play guitar
Aubrey, just looking cute
Jase, he's really not mad, he's jumping on the ottoman.
Miss Mollie on the drums (She's 18 months old...a child prodigy in the making)
Aubrey on the guitar, Jenny singing "She thinks my tractor's sexy"
Kim on guitar
Jase loves his new baby cousin, Jacob
Cute baby Jacob

Brent on Drums, Jeff in the background on bass and Zach on guitar. Zach was also the singer. He can play and sing at the same time on a hard level and still get over 90% score.

Uncle Jeff with the kids. We're trying to get them all to pose with him but either one or the other refused to cooperate.

Miss Aubrey singing. She can't read but she knows the words to the song and gets high scores!

Mollie...Say "CHEEEEESE"
I just love my family. I am so lucky and so blessed!

I'm Baaaack!

Well, sort of. I have been so busy at work, training a new employee only to have to let her go after a week and a half then trying to catch up on my own work that doesn't get done while I am training and now having to find another new employee to start training on Monday. I interviewed a gal today that may work out.I kind of got the feeling she wasn't over excited about the job, having to be on the phone all day but she said she would call me to let me know this evening or tomorrow morning after she discusses it with her husband. She has to be trained by the end of next week because I will be in Florida the week after. I've even been getting orders for more doll clothes since Christmas so I've been continuing my 15 hour work days. Today is the first day I have not needed to do something for someone else.

Last weekend my son came to visit from Arizona. It was a very short visit and I think he was sad to leave. We just did family stuff and as soon as Kim sends me her pictures (because I forgot my camera) I will post pictures.

About Florida, Brent is going for a work convention and I am tagging along. Since his convention will go from Sunday to Wednesday, I will have the day to myself on Sunday then Mon thru Wed, I will be working my regular job from the hotel room. Then on Thursday and Friday, Brent and I will do some sight seeing.

I went to the doctor for the swelling in my feet. He gave me some water pills and the swelling is going down a little but not as quickly as I had hoped. I still cannot get my shoes on so wherever I go, I have to wear my slippers. I am really hoping that by the time we leave for FL on the 23rd, my feet will be back to normal.

Pictures and more posts to follow in the next day or so.

Happy BIRTHday baby Jacob

My newest grandson, Jacob Benjamin Royer
Born 12/31/09
2:10pm
7lb9oz
19.5 inches long

Mom and baby are doing well.

Come and gone

Christmas has come and gone. My tree was up for less than a week, decorated for less than three days. I don't think I had any Christmas Spirit this year. I have learned my lesson though. I will not take any orders after Dec 1st. I think I just over-extended myself and I didn't have time to enjoy the whole meaning of the Holiday. Being in business for yourself, by yourself has it rewards and I certainly didn't expect to have such success but I have to say, it just didn't feel like Christmas to me. In fact, I have not sewn a stitch since Tuesday night and I feel like something is missing. I walk around the house and know that I need to clean but I feel like I should be sewing. Sewing for 6 hours a day and working my real paying job for 8 hours a day for the last few months has gotten me into a mindset that I am having a hard time breaking free from. At this very moment, I feel so unproductive, except that I may now have time to keep up with blogging. My plan for the upcoming year is to have some sort of inventory on hand. The items that sell real well will of course, be my primary inventory and then I think I may be looking for opinions from all of you to help me know what other items I should have on hand. I am thinking of offering new items at a special introductory price then after a month or so, increasing the price. My plan is also to make a line of clothes for each of the historical dolls. If any of you think of outfits that you think I should make, I am open to all suggestions. You may click on the link at the right to go to my website so see what I have already and what I can/should expand on.