Weeks Eleven and Ten

Bah, so I missed another week... and there's no picture for this week. I'm not really sure what's going on but I just haven't been feeling well lately. I went to church last week and was pretty much miserable the entire time. This last week was also pretty much miserable. I woke up and started getting ready to go to church today but decided against it. Hopefully this doesn't ruin my Christmas...

Anyway, on to the numbers. Week 10 I lost either 1.6 or 1.7 (I can't remember and I don't want to go get my weight tracker). Week 11 I lost 3 pounds... As previously mentioned, I have not been feeling well so I'm sure that's how that happened but that's the most I've lost so far. I've been planning to treat Christmas the same way I treated Thanksgiving: eat whatever but with this going on that might not be a possibility.

Hopefully this stops soon and I'm back to normal. Which includes taking pics and blogging...

Week Ten

Despite my last several posts about needing to exercise more, I have yet to do it... Unless you count work and believe me, I'm moving around a LOT! My back has been killing me this week. To make matters worse, we are losing our health insurance at the end of the month since not enough of my coworkers have signed up for it. Grrr.... I HATE health insurance and am seriously considering moving somewhere with socialized medicine so I don't have to keep putting up with this B.S. I realize this is a controversial topic but you try going without health insurance while having "pre-existing conditions" and then come and talk to me about how much better the health care in this country is. Do it, I dare you.

But I digress. This is about weight loss, not politics. This week I lost 1.8 pounds, again. I also hit my 10% weight loss (and then some). I'm about 30 pounds away from what I'd like to be but about 20 from no longer being considered overweight. Here's the pic for the week:

This post is so short because I'm tired and need to get plenty of sleep to tolerate what I do all day... I hope you all have a good week.

Week Nine

YAY! Two weeks in a row! WOOT WOOT! Hopefully I can keep this trend going next week.

This week was Thanksgiving (as you know) and I made the decision to not track on that day. I decided to have small portions (which is typical anyway since there's so much food) and skip things I didn't totally love anyway. In WW the Saturday before they gave the tip to make sure to eat breakfast and not sit down at dinner ravenously hungry. So I got up and made myself some toast using my double fiber bread and brummel and brown spread. We then ate lunch/dinner around 2:00 PM. We had pie a little later but I didn't eat anything after that. I was simply not hungry.

My leader that week asked how many of us would show up and weigh in on Saturday. I think pretty much everybody raised their hands and everybody seemed to be there yesterday. I personally lost 1.8 pounds and as a group we lost thirty-something pounds. Here's my pic for the week:

That night, my Mom and I did something we have never done before... and will probably never do again: We went shopping at 9:00 PM on Thanksgiving. Stores are opening earlier and earlier all the time and this year they all opened up WAY earlier than usual. We started at Toys R US which took us two and a half hours, most of which was spent standing in line. My Mom bought two toys for my nephews and saved a total of $40... Not worth it. Then we went to Kohls which opened at midnight. There was no standing outside in the cold there! They let everyone in and the check out line wasn't nearly as crazy. I wanted to find a gift for my little brother for his birthday this week but they didn't have it. They had one left of what I wanted: a Chi ceramic hair straightener. They're normally $140 and I got one for $70. I was on the fence about buying it since it is kind of expensive (although a really good deal) but it was the only one there so I grabbed it. My hair feels s LOT softer now! That was definitely my Christmas gift to myself this year and I don't regret it. I did run into EVERYBODY I went to high school with though which was not enjoyable...

I went to the Salt Lake Running Company and bought an exercise shirt (another good deal) so I'm hoping that will motivate me to start moving. Exercise is definitely on my list for this week. Also on my list: WORK ON GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATION. I was having a hard time deciding when to apply for and I've decided on Spring since January 3rd is just too soon to start. However, I still need to finish and submit my application.

Weeks Seven and Eight

All right so a couple of things. I was off on my weeks on the last post. It was weeks five and six, five being the week I didn't have a picture of. Also, I have clearly missed yet another week. I actually completely forgot to take a pic.

I had had a cold which then turned into a lovely case of laryngitis. Don't get me wrong, I get colds a lot so I can handle them pretty well. I know people who get one and act like they're dying... If you're one of those people: Take some Dayquil and get over it! In fact, it always irritated people when I worked in offices since I would come to work with a cold. I don't have 2-3 day colds. Mine last usually a week minimum and this one has been going on for over two weeks now (I did have a two day reprieve in there but I'm not really counting it). I had a cold when I lived in Denver that lasted for over three weeks! Anyway, you get the point... But I've never had laryngitis before. It was surprisingly painful, even more so than strep, and I've also had that twice in the last year. (I clearly need to work in a less germy environment) So I spent my time not speaking and staying inside for the most part, and completely forgot about blogging. (By the way, I'm mostly feeling better, but my throat has been itchy today)

Back to the weight loss. In week seven, I lost 2.8 pounds. I lost that much in week one but that's the most after that. Week eight was not as exciting, I lost 0.6 pounds. My leader said that was good after having such a big loss the week before. This week I definitely need to step up the exercise. Especially since Thursday is Thanksgiving and I don't plan to stick to the plan too closely that day... Plus I think that exercising will help with all of the illness. Overall, I've lost 15.4 pounds. I think it's starting to look obvious in my face a little. Here's my pic for the week:

It should be interesting to see what the scale says for this week, but I'm going to stick to the plan every day other than Thursday and not overdo it on the Thanksgiving feast.

Weeks Six and Seven

Okay so I suck. Not only did I not post in week six, I didn't take a pic of myself. I was planning on having someone take a pic of me in my Halloween costume, which was awesome but it never happened...

I was A-Rod for Halloween. I printed fake money which was coming out of all of my pockets and had bandaids on my knee and thumb (since these injuries kept him out for most of the season this year). I wore my Yankees hat and bought an A-Rod t-shirt (if replica jerseys weren't $75+ I would have purchased one) and painted black lines under my eyes. It was even more awesome than I just described but unfortunately Utahans didn't get it... It's funny people, believe me... (A-Rod is the highest paid player in baseball making about $27 million a year)

Anyway, back to the weight loss, week six I lost 1.8 pounds bringing my total weight loss to 9.6 pounds which happens to be 5% of my starting weight. (I hesitated to tell you that since now you can figure out how much I weighed and what I currently weigh but it's out there now so I guess I'll just have to deal with it...)

Week seven I did manage to take a pic. My normal photo day is Sunday (since I look the nicest on Sundays) but I had a MASSIVE headache this week and didn't go to church or do my or makeup... not a pretty sight... So I took a pic on Monday after work. I work with babies so I always slick my hair back to avoid having it ripped out of my head. Not to mention, to avoid picking up lice... (I work in a germ factory and any communicable disease or condition that comes in spreads like wildfire! I have yet another cold... Thanks for coughing in my face small children! We will be having a public health intervention on Monday.) I lost 2.2 pounds bringing my total weight loss to 11.8 pounds. It's nice to have a double digit number finally and I think it's starting to become a little more noticeable. Here's the pic:

My favorite thing for the weeks is Pinterest. If you haven't joined yet, DO IT! It's awesome! It's also a huge waste of time so if you don't have hours and hours on end to spend doing nothing but playing online, then maybe you should ignore my advice. My mom was given several large butternut squash that my aunt had grown and when I saw a recipe on there for black bean and squash burritos, I had to make them! I had gone back to opening at work and was getting off usually by 2:30 so I decided to make them on Monday. When I described to my little brother what I was going to be making he said "ew". But when he tried them, he loved them! And they were fantastic! He loved them so much that he requested I make them on Tuesday. We had so much left over squash I decided to make them again. That recipe is a keeper! Unfortunately I only opened for a week before they switched me back to closing which means I won't get off until 6:00... My cooking new and potentially more time consuming things has come to an end. But it also means I don't have to get up at 5:00 AM. It's definitely good and bad.

I will be weighing in again tomorrow (technically today since it's already after midnight). I'm a little more concerned about this week, not because I ate terribly but it's been a horribly emotional week and I didn't eat enough food which can send your body into starvation mode. I guess the scale will tell in a few hours. I won't be able to stay for the meeting though since I have a funeral to go to. I will be better at taking my pic and posting on Sunday this next week, I promise!

Week Four

I'm back on schedule as promised but it's not all good news. This last week was kind of a rough one for me and the scale showed it. I didn't work out, at all. The kids at work were CRAZY! I've never wanted to just walk out in all my life! My cousin's four month old baby passed away (it was actually the week before but they had his viewing this week).

They had a luncheon at the church after the viewing and of course they had several different types of funeral potatoes. These are my absolute favorite part of the funeral dinner/luncheon. (My cousin insisted I must also have some of the jello salads but luckily I hate jello and I'm trying to lose weight. Oh Utah and it's weird traditions!) I figured the funeral potatoes would be about a billion points so my Mom and I only had about a 1/2 a cup. It still cost us 7 points. Add that to the slice of ham and roll and you're looking at like 14 points. I was STARVING that day. Next time I will skip the funeral potatoes and have a cookie instead.

But back to the weight loss, I only lost 0.4 lbs. It is definitely better than a weight gain but I was very disappointed. And yes that means that as far as WW is concerned, I'm still obese. I weighed myself this morning (after using the bathroom, completely naked, and before eating or drinking anything) and I was actually about 2 lbs lighter so I'm going to go ahead and say I'm no longer obese! Today was stake conference so I didn't take a pic until after church which will explain the awful hair and dark circles under my eyes... Seriously, I should not have to leave my house at 8:00 to make it to a 10:00 meeting and then have to sit there in a dark room for two hours and be expected to stay awake!!!

This week I'm going to aim for making it to Zumba at least twice and then maybe walking on the treadmill or outside in the morning on the other days. It has been somewhat nice for October but something tells me that that won't last long...

Weeks Two and Three

One week into my new blogging and I didn't even keep up... But it wasn't totally my fault. The power cord to my laptop died. This is the second time this has happened to me. Apparently Dell is fully aware of the problem but refuses to fix it. So I was stuck forking out $70 again to replace it. I will DEFINITELY buy an Apple next time...

Anyway, week two I lost 2.2 lbs. I definitely should have cleaned the mirror before taking this shot! My apologies to everyone. One thing I rediscovered that week was Zumba. I had purchased a Groupon that was about to expire so I decided to use it. It was so much fun! I only made it once that week since my friend from Colorado came to visit me briefly and let's be honest, I'm lazy.

Week three I lost 2.4 lbs. Which brings my grand total to 7.4 lbs lost. I'm almost not obese anymore!!! One more pound and I'll be back in the overweight BMI category. Oh the things that excite me... You still can't see too much of a difference but maybe in a few more weeks.

I had great intentions of attending more Zumba this week. I went on Monday and my knee started hurting again. Yes, the same one that was hurting me a few months ago when I was simply walking briskly. I don't know what the problem is. I really do wonder if I am too heavy and need to stick to low impact exercises like walking until I'm thinner. One rediscovery from this week was the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies I got from my WW leader five years ago. One can of pumpkin, spice cake mix, 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips. That's it. They were one point a piece and since it seems that everything went up about one point, they're probably two points a piece.

I should be back on track posting on Sunday. I may start going to a different meeting since I hate early mornings but I haven't found one that will work for me this week. Maybe next week...

The Weight Loss Journey

So as I mentioned in my last post, I just joined Weight Watchers. I had participated in the program five years ago at work and lost 25-30 pounds (I can't remember the exact amount). I kept it off for a little while (almost a year) and then slowly the weight started coming back on. I had gotten to be really skinny so when I put on 10 pounds, it wasn't that big of a deal. But here I am five years later, 60 pounds heavier.... (Wow! I just calculated that and can't believe it!) I have 35 pounds to lose until I'm in the healthy weight range again so this could take a while...

The point of all this is that I thought I would start posting about my journey here every week. This will include a photo of me, how things are going, and some insight I learned from the previous week.

Since I just started, I will put some before pics:

This was me (and some of my family members) at a family reunion this July:

This was me (and more of my family members) at my brother and sister-in-law's sealing in June:

I may or may not have gained even more weight since these photos but I probably looked pretty close to the same.

Here I am after week 1, losing 2.8 pounds. Not enough to tell a difference but moving in the right direction:

I apologize for the mirror shot but that's just the way it's going to have to be.

A couple of things I discovered (or rediscovered) this week. The first: steel cut oats! They're delicious! One cup with 1/2 cup fat free milk and splenda= 5 points. Not too shabby! The second: Michael Jackson's The Experience for the Play Station Move. What a fun way to get some exercise! I LOVE MJ and dancing to his music is just plain awesome and what a workout! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise... I was SWEATING and unable to sing most of the time. I'm going to try some different exercises this week but will definitely keep doing that one intermittently!

Summer is over...

Summer is now officially over and I like and dislike a few things about this... The likes will be first: 1-Cooler weather! I can finally break out the sweaters and stop having to change shirts several times a day because I'm too sweaty! 2- The year is almost over which means I'm getting closer to going to graduate school! 3- We're coming up on a LOT of paid holidays! Dislikes: 1- Getting closer to winter! Unfortunately in Utah, Fall is one of the shorter seasons (along with Spring) and Winter seems to drag on and on and on... 2- Driving in the snow is a concept that keeps me awake at night, literally. People just don't know how to do it. 3- We can't take the kids outside at work. And they get CRAZY if they can't get some of that energy out. 4- Baseball season is almost over. Don't get me wrong, the post season is awesome and probably the best part but it is always too short. (GO YANKEES!!!)

I believe I have settled on a Graduate Program... But I change my mind by the second so who knows? I haven't even started the application process but I will start that ASAP. I also joined Weight Watchers yesterday (well on Saturday). Good thing too since I've officially reached obese status... I officially start the program tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. It's a lot different from before but it seems like it will be a good change.

Bah....

Well after I made that lovely list on my last post, guess how many of those things I did every day? None... Several of them I did fairly regularly and a few of them I didn't do at all so the rest of this post shouldn't come as a surprise:

I took the GRE on Friday AND... I didn't do very well. I won't receive my official scores until November but they gave me a range based on the old test's scoring system and I will more than likely have to take it again. You can only take the test once every 60 days now so I can't take it until the end of October at the earliest... And scores will still not be available until November. I can take the prep class at the U as much as I want for the next three years and not be recharged. Or I can wait and see what my scores are and if some school out there will take pity on me and let me in. Another option is to find a grad program that does not require the GRE, one of the few I've seen is Social Work. Or find a second bachelor's degree that has better job prospects than the one I have and go for that... Ugh...

I won't lie to you, when the screen showed me my score, I was very disappointed... So much so that I cried the entire drive home. I really did not want to have to take it again. My verbal score will probably be okay but the quantitative was horrible. If I score in the upper part of the range I might be okay, although based off of the average scores from grad schools I'm looking at, my score is still below it.

I blame myself for sure. I definitely did not study as much as I should have and didn't follow the tips I learned from my prep class at the U. BUT many people have to take it more than once so it shouldn't make me look like a total idiot... right???

Motivating???

So I have still been having a hard time studying for the GRE. I know, shocking right? Thursday I finally made a list of all the things I need to do before I'll be prepared for the test. This has helped a little bit, as now I can see it spelled out and know what to do each night, although wanting to do it still has not happened.
Here it is, as you can see, I have plenty to do in the next 3 weeks (eek!):
1- Watch Algebra iTunes videos (iTunes U has free videos of many different subjects.)
2- Finish Geometry book (I ordered "Geometry: Tutor in a Book" from Amazon.com after I couldn't figure it out. It has helped out quite a bit and was definitely worth the investment!)
3- Read "Vocabulary Builder" (I got this from the GRE prep class I took at the U.)
4- Do more practice problems from the ETS GRE book. (Another book I received in class.)
5- Obtain list of root words and study their meanings. (I plan to look for these online. I also believe there's a list in some of the materials I got from the class.)
6- Read the New York Times every day. (One of the ways to prep for the test is to read lots of new material. I have been trying to read the NY times daily but with our current economic situation, this has become increasingly difficult.
7- Begin making flash cards of the important math formulas. (I will use the ETS GRE book to help determine what those might be. Also, internet searches)
8- 5 paragraph essay (Since the test starts with two writing questions, I will use the High School method of writing papers or the 5 paragraph essay. I mostly remember how to do that but I'll need to look it up just to make sure I have the formatting correct.)

So that's what I'll try to do between now and August 26th. I may ask for the 25th off as well so I can have an extra day to study. I do actually feel better seeing all laid out so I know what needs to be done. I will also be limiting my extracurricular activities as I clearly need to study a LOT...

Also, I have been back in Utah for a full year now. Sometimes it feels like forever, other times it feels like I've been back for a week. Even though I lived in Denver for 15 months, there is plenty of stuff I never did that I may have to go back for.
Here's my list for that:
1- Finish the Celestial Seasonings tour in Boulder. My friend Amanda got really sick right at the beginning.
2- Eat at Snarff's in Boulder. They even put one in Denver and I never ate there! I blame you Chipotle!
3-See Pike's Peak. Apparently you can drive up to the top if you want but there are also other ways to get there however I still never went there. I did see Garden of the Gods (which is basically like hanging out in Southern Utah) so I did spend a little time in Colorado Springs.
4- Go to Red Rock's amphitheater. I seriously can't believe I never did this. When there were no events going on you could go hike, run, walk, etc. They also had cheap movies there in the summer.
5- I wanted to go to Elicht Gardens until I went to Lagoon a couple of weeks ago. I have apparently developed motion sickness because I wanted to die when we got home. Maybe if I can find a decent motion sickness pill I will go to Elicht's...
6- Go to Aspen. Nothing more specific, I would just like to go there.

That's all I can think of for now. If I ever go back there, I'll have to try and cross some of this off my list.

I'm thinking I will also have to make a similar list to my GRE one involving my fitness goals.

I digress

I really didn't mean to go on and on in that last post about how much I hate United but clearly, I am not a huge fan of the airline and I'm still enraged by the poor way they treated me!

I did also mean to give a few updates. And when I say few, I mean very few since there seems to be nothing going on in my world, at least not that I haven't mentioned. As I've stated before I don't work until 12:00 every day so I had a lot of great plans for that time: working out, applying for other jobs/grad school, study for the GRE, and other great industrious things. Sounds great right? Well most of this time has been spent sleeping in or playing around on Facebook. Not such great use of my time. Don't get me wrong, getting enough sleep is very important but if I would just go to bed at a decent hour I wouldn't need to sleep until 10:30 to receive a healthy amount of sleep.

I take the GRE in exactly one month from today and you think that would be motivating right? Well since I'm blogging instead of studying you can see what my answer is... I took a 6 week prep course and discovered I don't remember math a whole lot beyond basic arithmetic. The GRE also has algebra (I remember a little) and geometry (I remember even less). I ordered a book online from Amazon on Geometry but I have the hardest time studying it! Hmmm.... Hopefully there's a grad school out there that will take me...

One of the other industrious things I was planning to do in my mornings was exercise. I finally got the motivation about two weeks ago and got up and hopped on the treadmill. After about 15 minutes my left knee started to hurt so I jumped off. I was only walking at a fast pace, not even running or jogging yet so I'm not really sure what happened. Maybe I didn't stretch out enough prior to starting? Or maybe I'm too heavy right now and need to lose weight with lower impact exercises first? Maybe I'm just not meant to be a runner and should find a different form of exercise. Not really sure. I may talk to a personal trainer about it and see what I may be doing wrong and see if it makes a difference. The problem with that plan is that my paychecks have been severely lacking since moving to 30 hours a week (not surprisingly). I've thought about getting a second part-time job since I can't find one decent full-time one but I'm having a hard enough time studying for the GRE as it is!

So that's what's currently going on in my world. If anyone has any tips on running or studying for the GRE, PLEASE let me know!

I hated United!!!!

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to California June 9th. My trip did NOT start out well. My original flight left here at 6:00 AM. Yes, despite my better judgement, I booked this flight. I figured getting up at 4:00 would give me enough time to get ready and go. My family was already in Cali and I didn't want to torture anyone else so I decided to park there in the econo lot. I made it in the doors at 5:20 and waited in line until 5:30 at which point I was told I was unable to catch the flight... Really United Airlines? I caught a Southwest flight back to Denver at Christmas time with only 10 minutes until departure time! Not only that but the counter person was a total biotch and was completely unwilling to help me and actually suggested I try US Air. Thank you bitch, from here on out I will!!! (I apologize for the language but even just thinking about this has made me furious all over again!)

So I came back home and called United customer service. They tell me the next flight into San Luis Obispo is a flight out at 9:00 PM with a connection in LA (there's no direct flight from here to there). So I ask to be put on that flight...until... she tells me the price.... An additional $1,000!!!! I was OUTRAGED!!! I had been pretty nice up to this point but as soon as she said $1,000 I LOST my mind! Things were coming out of my mouth and I wasn't even thinking it through first. I'm not really sure I've ever been this pissed off before. Eventually I got everything out of me that would come and then asked how much a flight out tomorrow would cost. She either anticipated this reaction beforehand or while I was yelling at her looked up my cheapest option because she then offered it to me. I could fly to Denver at 5:00 and then to Santa Barbara for $400 more. I would arrive close to midnight and my brother's house was an hour north of here (hence the reason I wasn't flying in here). So I begrudgingly booked that flight and gave her a pretty nasty customer service survey at the end (where I also yelled at, telling them how much I hate them and will NEVER fly them again!).

I waited for two hours to call my parents (since it was still like 6 AM here, 5 AM in California). My Mom was like well what about flying here or there, etc... Finally I was like Mom, they'll charge me an additional $150 to change my flight again plus I had a hotel booked and since it was less than 24 hours couldn't cancel it so you'll just have to come and get me. Then I took a little nap since I only got about 4 hours of sleep and being that mad is exhausting. After I woke up, I was able to find a friend to take me to the airport at 3. I wanted to make sure to get there with plenty of time and lo and behold I get there and there is no line to either check in or go through security. Whatever... So I sit in the Salt Lake airport for 2 hours, have about an hour flight in the wrong direction to a city I'm not too fond of and then sit in that airport for another 3.5 hours. I would have called a friend there but I was too worried about missing another flight that I ate at McDonald's in the airport (that's actually become a DIA tradition for me), purchased a magazine, and people watched for the 3.5 hours I was there. Every United flight that night had been delayed. One man's first flight was so late he missed his connecting flight and he was berating the gate agent. I had to refrain from joining in... Luckily my flight was on time and we actually ended up getting into Santa Barbara 20 minutes early.

The rest of the trip was pretty good. We didn't do much on Friday but run errands and took the kids to Chucky Cheese. My nephew Logan was a little scared of me... Sad. Saturday we drove down to LA and went to the temple. My sister-in-law went for the first time and they were sealed afterward so it was a long day. We then drove back to where they live and said our goodbyes Saturday night. Sunday night we got up early and drove back to Utah. It's roughly a 12 hour drive and I slept a little over halfway... It was awesome! I figured I'd never get to sleep that night but I had no problems!

Here are some images from the temple:

Downtown LA from the temple steps:

The temple from the back:

My brother and sister-in-law sharing a moment afterward:

In the foreseeable future I will only be going places that I can drive to... And will definitely NEVER FLY UNITED AGAIN! I'm pretty sure Satan himself is running that airline...

Summer!!!

Despite the fact that I'm already roasting to death, I'm really excited that it's finally summer! Mostly for the fact that I have one upcoming vacation and have just come back from another! We'll start with the vacation I just came back from:

Over Memorial Day weekend, I went up to Seattle to see a friend and see my beloved Yankees take on the Mariners. Getting out of Salt Lake proved to be a slight headache... My flight was delayed by an hour and 40 minutes which meant I would miss my connecting flight in Las Vegas. So I called and got put on the next flight in Vegas, but would still be cutting it close. I had to book it from one end of the airport to the next but they were holding the plane for us and several other people who were delayed so I was able to get on. This was on Friday night.

Saturday morning we drove to Seattle and went to the temple. Next we checked into our hotel and went down to the waterfront area and drove around for quite some time looking for parking (not an easy thing to do). We walked around the waterfront a little, had some seafood, then went to the game. The Yankees lost in the 12th inning... The next day we got up, went to McDonalds, did the Duck tour, then went to the game. The Yankees ended up crushing the Mariners this time, which was sadly not as entertaining. We then headed back to Tacoma (where my friend lives), had some really nice seafood, then went to bed. The next day we went back to Seattle and did the Space Needle and walked around a little bit. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for a rushed lunch so I could get to the airport on time. Well just like the incoming flight, my flight back out was delayed. Luckily it was a direct flight so I didn't have to worry about missing connecting flights. Some pics:

Seattle skyline from the top of the Space Needle

Safeco Field prior to the Saturday evening game

Space Needle (obviously)

Derek Jeter getting ready to bat during the Saturday evening game

Seattle skyline from the Duck tour while we were in the water

This Thursday, I'm headed to California to visit my brother and his family. He and his wife are being sealed in the Los Angeles temple on Saturday and I'm happy I will be able to be there! My parents and little brother are headed out tomorrow morning which means I'll be home alone until I leave early (5 AM) on Thursday. They're driving out and I'll be flying out and driving back with them next Sunday. Should be fun!

The rest of the summer, I won't be going into work until noon. This excites me for a few reasons: I will be able to sleep in a little, I will be able to wake up and work out, and I will be able to search and apply for more jobs. This doesn't make me happy for about one reason: less working=less money.

But mostly, YAY for summer!!!

I'm glad I paid $20,000 for this...

Today I was spit up on, almost pooped and peed on (luckily my reflexes have gotten to the point where I can divert this), kicked and hit... Driving home tonight I couldn't help but think: "man, I'm glad I paid $20,000 to get a degree to do a job I didn't need a degree for." I came home and was finally able to cry it out when I turned on the news and they had a story of a girl with terminal brain cancer... Great. Can't I just be upset for a little while? I understand things could be much worse for me but I just need a good cry... And rant which is why I'm writing about it. I applied for three jobs today. We'll see how many of them call me back...

One more step in the right direction...

Not this past week but the week before I was furious with my employers... FURIOUS!!! I was supposed to have been given health insurance in March but since they messed up it hadn't happened yet and it appeared it wouldn't be happening... I was not happy! I had been paying for it since March and they hadn't bothered to say anything until I asked why I hadn't received a card in the mail. If I weren't the responsible person I am (and hadn't spent 6 months last year being unemployed) I would have left at my break and never come back. So I called the insurance company myself and they basically said there was nothing they could do blah blah blah, so the fury continued. I had been looking and looking for other jobs to apply to... Something, anything else! There's nothing but crap out there folks! So I decided this was my sign to go to grad school and enrolled in a GRE prep course at the U. After hearing the GRE is changing, I looked into it and found out that it's half price if you take the revised version in the first two months so I jumped on that. I will be taking the GRE on August 26th and I think I have 4 programs I'll be applying to. I started the first prep class this past Saturday and got about half the score on the practice GRE that I'll need. I have a lot of studying to do!

By the way, they were able to work it out so I do have health insurance and they're going to back date the coverage to the first of March. I should be getting my card sometime this week and then I'll be scheduling an appointment with my Dr ASAP. After two years, I'm sure she's missed me ;)

Finished!

Unlike the rest of the items on my resolution list for this year, I have accomplished one! I finished reading the entire Harry Potter series before the last movie comes out in July! If you haven't read them and are on the fence about reading them, I HIGHLY recommend it! Okay the first two weren't that great, I struggled through them GREATLY! I was constantly wondering how the series did as well as it did based on those two books. The third was better but I still wasn't in love. The first half of the fourth was about the same but the last half I could not put down! I had to know what happened! The fifth, sixth, and seventh were all the same! I have lost countless hours of sleep reading these books because I simply had to know what was going to happen and couldn't wait until the next evening when I would have the opportunity to read it again! I finished the last book tonight and couldn't stop crying! You really do fall in love with all the characters and feel for them! Even though they're not real! I was actually dreading coming to the end but I'm actually a little relieved. It ended well and I don't have to worry about what will happen to each of them anymore.

The new movie comes out July 15th and I just requested the day off from work so we can go to the midnight showing! I have seen two Harry Potter movies at midnight and after the last one I had decided I would never do it again. But after reading the books, I don't think I can wait. Although just from watching some of the previews I can tell they're going to add stuff that wasn't in the book but I guess it can't be perfect.

JULY 15TH!!!!!

Update on the resloutions

The what now? I made resolutions this year? Oh yeah... Well that should let you know how they're going or more accurately NOT going... But I thought it would be fun (or more accurately motivational) to revisit what my plans were for the year and how I'm doing on each one:

1- Get into better shape. I would like to be able to finally run that 5K with my brother and I'm determined to make it happen this year! I would also like to be able to go on a bike ride with him and not have to stop every five feet!

I received new running shoes for my birthday and have used them a grand total of once... I am seriously considering hiring a personal trainer for this!

2- Along with getting into shape, I need to lose the extra weight I've put on. I'm officially the heaviest I've ever been and not proud of that fact... My BMI is over 25 now which means I'm considered overweight so don't bother telling me I look fine.

I have barely even thought about this one until more recently. I have been noticing I'm constantly sweating to death and I'm thinking it's my size/caloric intake. I'm going to join Weight Watchers either this week or next!

3- Give up the diet soda! Or at least the vast majority of it! I have pretty much lived off of it for the last 5 years and it's disgusting! I finally figured out a couple of months ago that my favorite (diet Dr Pepper) was causing little sores on the roof of my mouth. They wouldn't happen all the time but probably at least once a month. I switched to Coke Zero and have not had the same problem but I want to get off of all of it!

HAHAHAHA! This is one that I only sort of want to do because I know it's the healthy choice but I absolutely don't want to do it. I don't know what it is, I have some sort of emotional attachment to it or something but deep down, I still want to drink it... All 6 cans a day of it! That's right, 6 cans a day! I'm not proud of it but I do LOVE it!

4- Get out of debt! I've put far too much on my credit card and then paid the minimum due for way too long. It ends now. I'm going to start paying the amount I paid in rent to all of my bills and they should be paid off by the end of the year (hopefully sooner with a good tax return since I didn't work for a lot of the year).

This is one that I've actually made some headway on. I'm about $130 away from paying off one bill leaving me with two bills left. I filed my taxes last week and will be receiving a tax refund which will pay off one other bill and I can then focus on the last remaining bill.

5- Go to grad school! I need to finish my application(s) and I plan to do that this month (January).

I don't even really want to discuss this one... I had decided to study Social Work at USC but it wasn't feeling 100% right so I let the deadline to apply pass by... Which I don't regret that but I regret not taking a GRE prep course last year, taking the GRE test, and applying to grad schools because at this point, it will be for the fall of 2012 that I can apply for anything...

6- Finish the Harry Potter series by the time that last movie comes out (July). I have the first three read and have just started the fourth. They keep getting longer and longer though which is intimidating...

This is the other one that I've actually been doing. I just finished the 5th one today so that leaves me 3 months to read two books. Judging by the fact that the 5th one was the longest (the 6th is about two hundred pages shorter), I think I will achieve this one!

4- Go to bed at a decent hour (at least before midnight). When I didn't have a job I would stay up all night and then sleep through the afternoon and I think my body is still kind of wanting that pattern. I don't even have to be to work until 9:15 and I'm still constantly exhausted! I can't even watch a TV show or movie at night without falling asleep. My goal is to start being ready for bed at 11:00.

Haha, judging by the fact that it is passed midnight and I have to get up and go to work in a few hours we know this one is not going well...

I definitely have a lot of self improvement to work on!

New tips

After moving back to Utah in July, I decided I would start to prepare to take the GRE (haha). I wanted to take a class since I had tried to study for the test while in Denver and did it for a little while but eventually gave up. I knew the U offered classes and found out that members of the Alumni Association were given a discount. So I signed up but still couldn't afford the class, let alone the test. But then a new incentive was brought to my attention: the Alumni Career Services program. It's a six month program and you're given the opportunity to attend two workshops. I have been trying to attend one for a while but they've been repeatedly canceled. This Monday I was finally able to attend one titled: "Troubleshooting: Why You May Not Be Landing a Job".

A couple of helpful tips for me personally (or what I thought would be helpful, I guess only time will tell if it pays off or not):
-Join LinkedIn. But not just join, have a complete profile, join groups, connect with people you know, etc. I have now joined so if you're on there, look for me!
-Be more aggressive during interviews. Obviously you don't want to be overly aggressive or they will be put off by that but go into an interview like it's a discussion. Not only are they trying to see if you'll be a good fit in their organization, you want to see if they'll be a good fit for you. Don't wait for them to ask every question, follow up their questions with yours, if you have them. And above all, ask for the job! This is one thing I've failed to do, not because I didn't know you were supposed to but because I have not really known how to do it without coming off desperate. I know the person who took my place at the health department was given the job because she said "I really want this job" during her interview. Seems easy enough but I will want to phrase it differently. Once I meet with the counselor for the Alumni, this is something I will be asking her.

Stay tuned! I meet with her next week and post anything that might be useful for others out there.

What's that smell?

This has been a particularly fun month for me... A couple of weeks ago ALL of our babies at work were sick. Literally ALL of them either were sent home or had just stayed home at least one day, if not the entire week (okay there were one or two out of seven that weren't). One of our babies (well he's actually a toddler) had been out with strep so when my throat started hurting I was a little concerned but when my nose became plugged on Friday and started running on Saturday I figured I had a pretty bad cold. There were a couple of things different about this than a cold though: 1- I had a massive headache and 2- it stunk! So I figured I had a sinus infection and thought I'd wait for a little while to go the Dr since I don't have health insurance yet (I qualify next week) and I didn't think I had it long enough for them to prescribe antibiotics. By that next Wednesday I couldn't take the smell anymore! It stunk! So my boss let me off early one night and I decided I was going to go the Urgent Care by my house, even if I had to embellish how long my symptoms had been going on, I would get some antibiotics! So I went in and they asked if I had been exposed to strep and since I had they tested me for it. I figured I didn't have it but hey I was paying $99, they might as well test me for whatever that will pay for (no matter how unpleasant). The Dr came in and we talked for a while about what was going on and she said something that made it seem like she didn't really want to give me anything but left the room and came back a couple of minutes later. Then she said "so your strep test came back positive"... I was a little in disbelief... I had no symptoms of it other than a sore throat. I mean, my nose was running! If your nose runs, they tell you don't have strep, you have a cold! But she said that strep can do that. So that explains the smell. Instead of me having horrible breath, I had that smell in my nose. Bacteria stinks! Literally! So I got on antibiotics and took the next day off at work despite the fact that I had already exposed everybody there. I am feeling better but not 100% there. The antibiotics have upset my stomach a little bit but that seems to be getting better. The smell has mostly gone away but I can still smell it a little bit... working with children may literally kill me!

Why I Hate Utah

Okay so there are several things that I really dislike about Utah but this one ranks top 2, if it's not the thing I hate the most: "you are 20__ (insert whatever age beyond 20 that I've made it to so far) you need to get married." WTF? (excuse my internet speak foul language) I'm comfortable with who I am, why does it bother you? I had a 19 year old girl tell me this the other night as I was dropping her off after a church activity... Really 19 year old girl???!!! You're young, dumb, and naive! But it's not limited to just her. I've gotten it from a wide range of people. Seriously, if I never get married and reproduce does that make me less of a person? HELL NO! If I never get married and reproduce and that bothers you does that make you less of a person? HELL YES! The reasons I wanted out of Utah are becoming so clear to me...

Bad Day

Few days make me miss Colorado anymore but today was one of them! The song "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter came on while I was driving home from work and I couldn't help but feel it was totally appropriate. GRRRR!!! Why can't I find another job? I don't get it! I apply! I interview! No job offers! I understand the economy is still bad but then shouldn't that have made all those people who said I was overqualified think I was appropriately qualified for the current job market?