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December 19th, 2011
10:35 pm - Happy birthday self!
I had a great birthday today. Good times at work with coworkers, a great dinner of snow crab legs at Red Lobster with my family, and birthday cake made by mom at home after dinner. Looking back at the previous year, it's hard to believe how far I've come. I'm 70(!) pounds lighter than I was last year. I am going to the gym and working with a personal trainer to keep getting healthy and fit. I have more energy, am more confident, and am just a generally happier person now than I was this time last year. I can see myself losing the last 60 pounds I need to lose to get into a healthy weight range for my height. It's the best feeling to look back and see just how much I can accomplish when I put my whole self into it. Here's to another great and successful year!
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July 28th, 2011
01:09 pm - Hell yeah!
It is official. I HAVE LOST OVER 50 LBS ON WEIGHT WATCHERS!!!
That is all. :D
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May 1st, 2011
11:01 pm - Ouchie
Managed to fall down the last couple of stairs into the basement today and broke my big toe on my left foot. Suckity suck. I did manage to avoid face planting into the concrete wall at the bottom of the stairs, so I guess that's good. Spent the afternoon and first part of the evening in the ER. Also, apparently I broke it really good. It was a V shape break instead of straight across and there were several pieces. I have to see the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to see if I need surgery to add some pins to my toe. As of now, I am in a temporary cast and on crutches. I will say that the numbing process so they could try to re-straighten the bones in my toe was WAY more painful than my broken toe was. I really hope I never have to go through that again. What a great end to my weekend.
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April 10th, 2011
07:28 pm - Cooking again and PRIDE
I have been cooking up a storm recently and figuring out lightened up versions of some super delicious things to go with my Weight Watchers points. I tried a chicken enchilada recipe for the first time a while ago that was AMAZING. It's definitely a bit of a pain to shred all the chicken, but the end result is delicious enough to make up for it.
Tonight I made steakhouse burgers topped with fried onion strings that were sooooo good. I actually got the flour seasoned really well so the end result was crispy and very flavorful. I finished my burger with 2% Kraft Single, a couple slices of plum tomato, a tbsp of light miracle whip and a bit of Supreme Garlic A1. Kind of a pain to measure the flour and the oil used to cook the onion strings, but the burger was totally amazing so again worth the effort.
I've also recently made ranch dressing from a recipe I got from Food Network Magazine. I lightened it up even more and the end result was pretty good. Too much dill for my taste, so I will cut back on that for next time. Otherwise, it was so nice to have a creamy dressing again.
In other news, I got a wicked bad sunburn this weekend. I spent most of Saturday outside, first at the local university's softball game, then walking home, then playing sand volleyball in the afternoon. Dumb me forgot/didn't think about sunscreen because it is APRIL and I paid the price in spades. I actually had to stop at the store for some after sun repair stuff on my way to the charity drag show that night. I hurt all night, but it was totally worth it to see the show! OMG, even the student performers did awesome. The hostess for the evening, Sharon Sharealike, actually had a cameo on Ru Paul's Drag Race. She was hilarious and the evening was a big hit. It sold out, which is amazing, and all the proceeds went to CISSA (Central Illinois Safe Schools Association) which promotes a safe environment for all students (especially LGBTQ students) at middle and high schools in central IL. They have also helped start Gay Student Associations at all public high schools in the area. It's a great cause and I'm glad the drag show was so successful.
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March 8th, 2011
10:14 pm - Super Awesome!!
I have lost 20 pounds in 8 weeks on Weight Watchers! I am so excited that I am doing so well on the plan. Looking forward to even more success in the future. Especially with my BFF's wedding coming up in September, I really want to be healthier. Go me!
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February 17th, 2011
07:22 pm - Drive by post...
Must remember for future reference...
I made pizza tonight on a Pepperidge Farm Deli Flat and it was AWESOME. Topped the two halves with tomato sauce, reduced fat mozzarella, and turkey pepperoni. Then I sprinkled the top with reduced fat parmesan, onion powder, garlic powder and red pepper flake. Baked it off for 6 minutes at 400 degrees. OMG it was delicious. I paired it with a salad and it was a perfect meal. Note to self: maybe try toasting the flat "bagel-style" next time before the sauce.
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February 8th, 2011
11:52 pm - Go me!
Just had to say that I rejoined Weight Watchers on January 11. At my fourth weigh in tonight I am officially 10.2 pounds lighter! I am doing so awesome and I this plan is the easiest by far to actually make my lifestyle. I am sooooo happy right now!
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December 13th, 2010
09:32 pm - My BFF is getting married!
Hard to believe, but my best friend is getting married! This is the friend that moved to Kentucky with her boyfriend over the summer when I moved into my house. He proposed in September and they are getting married on September 10, 2011. That's right... 9/10/11 is the wedding date. I get to be the maid of honor! I am so excited and happy for her. Her fiance is wonderful and they are going to have such a great life together.
We are planning the wedding now which is so much fun! Most everything is going to be DIY so she has to pick what she wants early enough to be able to buy what we need in spurts and hopefully during good sales. We will be making the bouquets, the centerpieces, the favors and decorating the reception hall. I have motivated her into making decisions by promising her a cookie every time she makes a decision on wedding stuff. So far, she has booked the hotel block, the photographer, and the dj. She also picked out the centerpiece and what flowers she wants in the bouquets tonight.
Also, me, another bridesmaid and her mom took a trip out to Kentucky a couple weekends ago and went dress shopping. She found the perfect dress and bought it on the spot! Guess who picked it out... ME! I found her wedding dress which is just awesome. Her mom kept going on and on about how she wished she would have gotten a more elaborate dress right after she bought the dress. I wanted to smack her! I just broke in and said that on my bff's wedding day I would rather everyone say how beautiful she was instead of how beautiful the dress was. And that the dress she got made her look incredible. My bff said that's why I'm maid of honor; I always know exactly what to say to make her feel good.
Next we will be pricing out the flowers we need and watching the after Christmas sales for the flowers and vases for the centerpieces. It's all so exciting, but we still have a lot of work to do to make sure her wedding is what she wants.
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August 17th, 2010
09:00 pm - Holy hell...
I want more shirtless Neil Caffrey on White Collar... Good lord that man has a nice body. Do watch this weeks White Collar, just the last few minutes will do for the eye candy. Licking was only the tamest thing that popped into my head when I saw him. Yum!
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July 30th, 2010
08:33 pm - Taken from everybody...
because I'm a copycat.
Your result for The 3 Variable Funny Test... the Wit(62% dark, 35% spontaneous, 11% vulgar)your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARKYou like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat. I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion. You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais
The 3-Variable Funny Test!
- it rules -
Take The 3 Variable Funny Test at OkCupid
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July 24th, 2010
10:22 pm - Summer Update
Well, I am all moved in to the new house! I honestly love it here. It felt like home the second I got here. Art is on the walls, the kitchen is unpacked, and we are working on getting the yard in shape. The garage is up now, but the yard got torn apart by trucks when they were here. We've also had a new parking pad and sidewalk poured. What this all means is that we had to have a ton (literally) of dirt delivered so that we can fill in the ruts and grade dirt around the house, the sidewalk, parking pad and garage. We've almost used it all and we aren't done yet, so it looks like we'll have to get another ton (literally) of dirt to finish up. So far, we've gotten a ton of grass seed down with some top soil, as well as planted a shrub and some pink day lillies. Despite all the dirt, it actually looks a ton better. Baby grass is growing too! Despite the back breaking labor this has all required every weekend since we moved in, I am really having a good time taking care of the house. It leaves me exhausted though, so I'm actually not online much. All in all, this has been a good summer.
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June 12th, 2010
10:28 pm - Exhaustion is exhausting
It's my final week in my current place before moving into the new house. I am so tired now I can barely keep my eyes open. Today was spent with the dad outside cutting down tree limbs that were in bad places, such as touching the house, drooping so low they smack you in the face while mowing, etc. Lots of up and down ladders, on the roof, and lugging heavy tools and the aforementioned ladders. Not to mention the giant tree limbs that had to be broken down and dragged and piled somewhere other than where they fell. We also put together the kitchen table and chairs, as well as shelves for storage in the basement.
Next it was on to Bed Bath and Beyond where I spent an obscene amount of money buying yet more curtains (thermal this time for the upstairs bedroom to try to keep the heat out), shower curtain, garbage cans, a new fan for the sister, a coat tree, and art. Tomorrow will be spent on more packing and moving and cleaning, etc. Sister and I will be moving the entire kitchen later this week.
I am dreaming of the actually living in the new house and trying to forget the horror that is actually moving myself in there. I'm going to go collapse and try not to move til morning.
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May 11th, 2010
09:57 pm - House and Art!!!!
I am closing on my house on Thursday!!!!! YES! It's stressful but sooooo exciting. And I will have plenty of time to start moving stuff out of my townhouse before the lease is up at the end of June.
I've been looking for art to hang in the new house for a while because right now the house is very....beige. The main problem I was having was finding things that I liked and my sister liked (since she will be living with me) and I could afford. Apparently I have expensive taste. While googling to find more websites with art (since there are 0 art places in town here), I clicked on eBay. And I found gorgeous art that I had loved on other websites that were being auctioned with no reserve. With dad's help, I sniped an auction and got the one I loved for about a quarter of the price elsewhere. I'd post pics but I don't know how to do a cut and don't want to spam the flist.
I am super excited. This house is actually going to be a great home!
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May 2nd, 2010
01:02 am - Bad and worse...
Some teenage douche bags broke the basement window at 1130ish tonight. A neighbor saw them running away afterwards. It scared my sister to death cuz she was in bed and it was her bedroom window. Called the cops, they took a report and pictures, but said without more info the case would be closed. Why do teenagers have to be such douche bags?
Worse...My bff is moving to Kentucky in a month! I'm going to miss her so much. We're going from living together to living in separate states. I'm happy for her but I wanna cry for me, ya know? I'm hardly ever going to get to see her.
What a crappy night.
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March 22nd, 2010
11:40 pm - PRIDE and house stuff
I'm going to the PRIDE charity drag show at the local university on Saturday! I'm totally excited! Plus, all the proceeds go to the local AIDS task force, which is a great cause. I've never been to a drag show before, but I'm reasonably certain it's going to be entertaining to say the least.
Also, measured out the rooms in the new house and all my furniture to make sure it will fit well. Turns out, I need to replace some stuff. Just my kitchen table (which needed replacing anyway since a leg is falling off), and my coffee and side table for the living room. And possibly my couch. The thing is, I love my current couch. It's soooo comfy. But I bought it when I had a huge living room, so it is huge. It fits fine in my current living room, which is just large. The new house is older, so the living room is smaller. Things are going to be cramped if I keep it. I also already found possible replacement couches, which range from 700-900 dollars. Those prices are amazing because my current couch cost over 2000 dollars. The new couches will also save me almost a foot in depth and several feet on both sides of the "L" shape in the sectional. Decisions, decisions. I've also already found my new dining table, which will double as additional work space for $140. Why does furniture cost so freakin much?
In other house news, I purchased curtains for the main floor of the house this weekend too. The windows on the upper floor all have blinds, but the main floor windows didn't have anything at all. I got some silky navy blue curtains for the living room and some light beige curtains for the dining and laundry rooms(they are quite small rooms, and I went with curtains that are the same shade as the rooms to try to make them seem bigger). I also managed to find kitchen window curtains that are NOT ugly. I wasn't sure that was actually possible but I did it. They are a plain white with embroidered dark blue flowers in a single line across them. They don't evoke "country kitchen" to me, which is nice. Best part is the the curtains were all on clearance for 9.99 each!
Finally: Getting this house was totally meant to be. We saw it on Thursday, and called that evening to say we would be making a full price offer. On Friday evening, another man who had seen the house a few days before faxed over an offer for the house. He had been sick for a few days and hadn't gotten around to sending the offer before. We hadn't signed any papers yet, so the seller could have made us bid against each other for the house. Which makes sense since he is flipping the house and wants the largest profit possible. BUT since he knows my dad from years ago, he told the guy that he had a full price firm offer already and he was taking it! That was amazing!
Inspection is set for Wednesday. Hope there's no surprises!
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March 19th, 2010
07:14 am - HOUSE!!!
I am getting a house! And I love it! It's so cute, lots of space for the sister and me, tons of storage. Plus everything in it is new! New flooring, new paint, new bathrooms...new new new. So awesome! And scary. Very scary. Hope inspections and everything goes well and don't find any hidden issues. Made a full price offer, contingent only on them finishing the work they had planned anyway. (A couple of guys who flip houses is selling it. My dad actually knows them both, and knows the work the do. Definitely no worries!)
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March 9th, 2010
11:57 pm - Woo!
Got pre-approved for a $60,000 mortgage today! Now all I have to do is find a house I want and can afford. Which is hard when it will likely need a new roof. Here's hoping!
Btw, my realtor SUCKS.
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March 7th, 2010
01:28 pm - Cooking and moving...
Today I am trying 2 new recipes: barbacoa and baked potato soup. Both are made in the crock pot, so I actually had to break out both of my crock pots today. I wanted to try them while I was home to watch, but I like the idea of being able to prepare these to cook while I'm at work so I only have to eat when I get home. I've also got a low fat chicken and black bean chili that I want to try making sometime. Oh! And a spicy sloppy joe recipe. I really enjoy Recipe Zaar. It's super easy to search and I can go through tons of recipes for the same item, comparing and contrasting, and finally combining several into something I think sounds awesome. I love cooking!
Also, me and my sister will be moving in June. Our other roommate is moving in with her boyfriend and we don't want to live with a stranger. Our other friends can't afford to move out. *sigh* I really HATE moving. My parents want me to buy a fixer upper house instead of finding another apartment. I'm not really sure how I feel about buying a house for 40,000 dollars. They said they will help with the repairs and all that, but I'm still really leery. But I can only get the first time home buyer credit if I close by the end of June. Guess I better make a decision quick. And my sister may not have a job next year b/c of all the cuts in the education budget. So having a house may be our best bet. My monthly mortgage payments on one of those houses would be way less than $400/mo so I could easily afford it on my own. At least if I have a house I won't have to worry about moving for a while.
I've gotta start cleaning so that our landlord can show our townhouse to prospective renters. I hate cleaning even more than moving. Grrrr. I'm just going to enjoy my cooking for now and deal with the rest later.
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March 2nd, 2010
12:40 am - Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
OMG! This book is amazing and disturbing and wonderful and......there are no words. I couldn't put it down. Read all 374 pages in one go tonight. GO READ IT! NOW!
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February 17th, 2010
10:57 pm - Yay!
One of my good guy friends told me he was bi tonight. All I have to say to that is...FINALLY. We actually thought he was in the closet since we met him. Apparently he really wanted me and my sister to be some of the first people he told because he knew we would just accept it without question. He knows we both read slash and I have many other gay friends that hang out with us all in a group. My second thought after he told us was I know some guys he can date! Apparently he's found a guy he's interested in so good for him! His dad is being horrible, which is no surprise cuz he was already horrible to him anyway, and told him he's not a son and sold off all his savings bonds. I want to punch him in the face. Mom is being supportive though! That's something, though she'll probably change her tune to match the dad's because that's the way that "family" works. Here's hoping though! I'm glad he finally felt comfortable enough to say something. Apparently he talked about having boyfriends when he was really young and his parents put him in counseling to deal with the problem. Did I mention I don't like them? He's worried about telling some of his other friends and is gearing up for it. Apparently he wanted to tell everyone he thought would be supportive first so he would feel more comfortable telling people who may not react so well. He's one of the nicest guys you could meet so I really hope it all works out well and everyone accepts him without question. And if not....well, let's just say I will express my displeasure at great length and volume to those individuals.
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