Reverb 10: Body Integration

December 12 Body Integration


This year, when did you feel most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn't mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present?

I felt like this when I started exercising regularly. I feel like this every time. I spend the hour listening to my body, making sure everything is working the way it should. I feel strong and beautiful. I'm always listening to music, and more often than not my steps are in time with the beat.

I also love stretching while I'm in the shower. Stretching under hot running water = nice, relaxed muscles = BLISS.

Reverb 10: 11 Things

December 11 11 Things


What are 11 things your life doesn't need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?

My life doesn't need:

1. Clutter. I'm going to try not to buy things I don't need. This does not include new music, movies, or TV. This does include jewelry I don't ever get a chance to wear, extra clothes or shoes, even books about yarn that I realistically won't get a chance to use. I'm even not going to buy yarn unless I need it for a specific project. I have plenty.

2. Prejudice. I need to stop making snap judgements made from one small characteristic I see in someone, or from one little thing someone does. I don't do this often, though; mostly when I'm driving. Someone does something stupid and I assume they must be an idiot, when I do stupid things while driving just as often.

3. Food. I mean junk food. I need to fall in love with vegetables again.

4. Drama. I need to work on letting things go and on turning the other cheek. Some days I wake up and take everything personally, just because that's the mood I'm in because I'm nuts. Then I spend the whole day being mad at someone or something for no reason at all, and it totally ruins my day and stresses Scott out because he keeps thinking he did something to make me mad (you never do, Scott, you're an angel). The drama is all in my head!

5. Body fat. Gotta get rid of it!

I'm out. How about some things I do need in 2011?

1. More handmade socks. I'm working on a pair right now. I got the urge to make socks this weekend when I ran out of yarn for Mim's blanket, and when I went to grab my supplies, I had already made one sock! I had put it away and forgotten about it when I started Mim's blanket all those months ago!

2. A new floor for my kitchen. As much as I love walking around on carpet remnants...

3. I need to finish projects! This includes work on the house AND finishing as many yarny projects as I can. Eventually, I'd like to only have one or two going at any given moment. We'll see how that works out...

How will all these change my life? Well, if everything works out, my house will be cleaner, I will be happier (and have warmer feet), and I will be healthier. All good things!

Pour Some Sugar On Me

(Gotta love Def Leppard. Other contenders were "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies, "Lollipop" by The Chordettes, and "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow)

I had a dream last night that I went to Maverik in the morning before work and was choosing something to grab for breakfast. I swear the dream was like an hour long, and the entire time I was walking around the store, picking up something, then changing my mind and putting it back, choosing something else, etc. I ended up with a huge soda (not diet) and a ton of candy and donuts, and when I got to the cash register I looked at it all and said, "Scott would be ashamed of me!" and I put it all back. Then I woke up.

It was awesome.

I've been having an awful time with cravings lately. I think my body is like, "It's cold, therefore I need more fat to keep warm, therefore I must eat CANDY."

I've been a lot better about eating Halloween candy before Halloween this year than last year. A LOT. Still, I've had a bit here and there. I feel a little bit bad, since I've not been able to get to the gym much lately (but I went yesterday and my ankle didn't hurt much at all!), but I think I'll just have a few pieces over the next few days and then on Halloween I'll go ahead and indulge, and then Monday I'll bring in any leftover candy to work and make my coworkers eat it.

I was thinking about why I'm craving bad foods so much, since it's usually connected to how I'm feeling emotionally, and I find that figuring out what's making me sad/mad/whatever helps me not eat crap, even if it doesn't make the cravings go away. I'm 99% positive it has everything to do with not getting enough exercise over the last month and not having happy endorphins all over the place. I'm constantly amazed at the HUGE impact exercise has on my depression. I mean, the meds keep me at a pretty good baseline, but getting a good workout in at least three or four times a week really pushes my moods up into HAPPY HAPPY LAND (it's a really nice place, in case you were wondering).

Halloween is where it all starts. From there it just goes downhill. Halloween (candy), then Thanksgiving (pie), then Christmas (traditional Christmas Eve cheeseburgers, then traditional sugary cereal on Christmas, and all the candy), then New Year's (just another excuse to have yummies), and by the time it's January I'm usually heavier. BUT NOT THIS YEAR. I'm going to be reasonable. Treats, yes, but smaller portions, less often, and, above all, I'm going to keep exercising!

Now excuse me while I go eat one of the Halloween cookies my boss brought in today.

Don't worry. I'll burn it off later at the gym.

The Universe Wins Again

Singing has always been something I enjoyed immensely. I remember when I was very very small I had all the musical movies I watched memorized (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, etc.) and I would sit around and play with toys and sing to myself. There even came a time when I wouldn't stop singing music from The Nightmare Before Christmas and it was driving Mim so crazy that she told me I wasn't allowed to sing that music anymore.

Mim has played the piano since she was very young, and when I was old enough she started teaching me to play. I hated it. HATED. I just always felt like there were better uses for my time, and why should I learn this because it will never help me in the real world or anything-basically any little kid's thoughts when they're made to practice something over and over again.

Eventually I quit (Mim wasn't happy about that) and now that I'm grown I regret quitting terribly. I can still read music, albeit very slowly, and I still have a few sonatinas memorized, but other than that I really can't play anymore. But music didn't disappear from my life.

In 7th grade I took my first choir class and from the very beginning I was hooked. I continued to take choir until my senior year in high school, when I didn't participate. I joined the Jazz choir junior year (as an alto, strangely enough)(I usually sing high soprano)(apparently if I sing low I sound sultry and jazzish) and senior year I did a song for the homecoming week talent show ("Winter" by Tori Amos).

In my high school there were basically three levels of choir classes: open choir, Warrior Chorus, and Concert Choir. The last two required an audition, but the first was open to anyone who wished to enroll. So freshman and sophomore years I was in open choir, and junior year I auditioned to be in Warrior Chorus and made it in, and when senior year rolled around I auditioned for Concert Choir. I didn't make it in. I should have. In junior year we had a Christmas concert and I had gotten a solo, beating out all the Concert Choir sopranos who auditioned. When it came time for the concert, I (somehow) got hand, foot, and mouth disease, and was forced to stay home and give up my solo to someone else. Universe: 1, Anna: 0. Either way, it was clear to everyone that I should have made it into Concert Choir. I think the director must have had something against me (and I don't want you to think I'm just saying that to make myself look better or anything, it's just truly what happened).

When they posted the lists of who got in to which choir, and my name wasn't on there, many many people were outraged. When senior year started I went to the director (who was new; the old one got fired for BIG TIME extortion) and asked to re-audition and he refused, so I decided that the drama wasn't worth it, and I didn't want to settle for being in Warrior Chorus again, so I quit. That was it. I'd had it. So senior year I didn't sing in a choir at all. Universe: 2, Anna: 0.

Then I went to college, and immediately signed up to audition for the many choirs there. And you know what? Auditions were right before the semester started and Utah has a very high elevation compared to South Dakota, and guess who got altitude sickness and couldn't sing? Yep. Universe: 3, Anna: 0.

So, I did the next best thing: I signed up for a small group vocal music class, and I loved it. It was nice because I got a lot of personal instruction from the grad student who was teaching the class (because the class was so small) and I improved my classical technique, determined to try again next year. I then spent the following summer taking private voice lessons back in Sioux Falls. I was ready to audition, and when I got to campus in the fall I went to sign up for auditions. BUT, every single choir was scheduled to meet for practice at the exact times I was in a chemistry (and therefore necessary) class, so even if I did get into a choir I wouldn't be able to come to practice unless I gave up chemistry. Universe: 4, Anna: 0.

I love singing. I always have. And I tried for eight years to make it work. But it just isn't meant to be. I got the message, Universe. You win. You freaking win.

I hope you're happy.

Meme: Because I Can

1. How much would you have to be paid to eat a human cadaver's finger?

I don't think so. Just...no.

2. Describe the worst physical fight you've ever been in.

When Kwiddens and I lived in Idaho (I think) she pushed me down and walked all over me and gave me a black eye and a bloody nose. I don't think I fought back though.

3. Name one song that if you never heard it ever again, you'd be thrilled.

That "According To You" song is so obnoxious and repetitive I wish they would just stop playing it a million times a day.

4. Describe the "drunkest" situation you've ever been.

Ok, this one is interesting...one time in high school my friend had a birthday, so we all went to this restaurant and had dinner, and I ordered drinks but specified that I was underage so DON'T ADD ALCOHOL PLEASE and what do you know, they actually did put alcohol in it (by accident, I assume)(I hope), and I was so sleepy I just went home and slept very soundly all night. Then I woke up and had to go to church in the morning and OH BOY did I have a headache.

5. What's your biggest regret?

I have so many that it would make me sad and angry at myself to try to single one out so I'm just not going to think about it. For now. Because I'll probably obsess over it sometime soon.

Tag, I'm It!

PCL tagged me for a meme, and I love me a good meme! (It's because sometimes I want to post something, but my mind is being stubbornly boring)

1. When was the last time you played air guitar?

That would be...the last time I watched "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" many, many years ago. That will (somehow) always be one of the best movies ever.

2. What's the oldest thing in your fridge?

That would be...a jar of sauerkraut I opened probably more than a year ago. But that stuff doesn't go bad...I don't think. Maybe I should throw it out just in case.

3. Vampires, zombies, or please make it stop?

Well, I must say that I love zombies. Zombie movies, zombie games (Plants vs. Zombies and Zombie Flux)...you name it, I'm there. It's pretty hard to make a bad zombie movie, because even if your zombie movie sucks, it still makes for awesome zombie movie marathon fodder.

4. If you had to change your current profession, and you could do anything, what would you do?

Sing. But the universe has made it quite clear that that isn't my fate. Maybe I'll tell you all about that some time.

5. Undergarment of choice?

Strange question. When you have a favorite pair of underpants on, you feel secretly awesome underneath it all and your day goes better. My favorite underpants are hot pink.

6. What is the tackiest thing you own?

If it's tacky, I don't get it. I don't like tacky.

7. Summer with no air conditioner or winter with no heat?

Winter with no heat. The theory is: you can always put more clothes on, but there comes a point where you can't take more off, either because there aren't any more clothes on your body or because you're in public and don't feel like getting arrested for indecent exposure.

8. There is a band that will play whenever you snap your fingers and it's your favorite. Who is it?

Tori Amos, although I don't think that counts as a "band". So if I have to choose a band, I must say Carbon Leaf has been a favorite lately.

Emotions...So Complicated

When I was growing up and my life was a living hell and I hadn't found the proper medication (or the proper psychotherapist, for that matter) I had to come up with some way to cope with all the crap and the only way I could was to shut out as much emotion as possible and just try to feel numb. For the most part, it worked. I studied a lot, which ended up being a very good thing, and kept me hidden away in my room most of the time I was at home, and I had friends, but I think I didn't know how much they meant to me until we were thousands of miles apart.

Now that I'm properly medicated I have the ability to feel emotions like "normal" people do. Antidepressants (and mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics, oh my) aren't "happy pills"; they simply give me the ability to feel happy when it is appropriate. While this is a beautiful, beautiful thing, these magical little pills also give me the ability to feel immensely sad at times, but about things that I should feel sad about.

So lately I've been a little bored, mostly just because I've been working fewer hours and am less motivated to work on the blanket (which is coming along beautifully, by the way, I'm just feeling quite blah about everything) and so I have more time to think and hang out on Facebook.

And lately what I've been noticing is that I feel immensely sad when I think about the friends I had back in South Dakota and how much I miss them, and even more sad when I think about how I'm stuck here in Utah and will probably never see most of them again.

I had one friend, Jacee, who was in the theater department with me and we had so much fun all the time having sleepovers, renting movies, going on bike rides, etc. My boyfriend and I went to the prom with her and her boyfriend. We were together the night of the senior class party and all the times we went to that nasty old pancake house on 10th Street.

Another friend I had was Cali, who was and always will be the most beautiful person I have ever known. She introduced me to so much amazing music, and she always let me be myself when I was with her. We had so many inside jokes, and we knew all about each other's pasts and heartaches. We even had a notebook (that I found the other day...forgot I still had it) in which we wrote our "Complaint of the Day" every day in lit class.

There was Shelby, who has always been an inspiration to me. She lives every day to its fullest..."No Day But Today" was plastered on the top of her mortarboard the day we graduated high school. She has always been a good person to talk to, to bounce ideas off of, to cry or complain to, because she loves listening and truly cares.

I had a lot of friends like this in college as well, and it's always the same story...we grow up and move on and try to keep in touch but life gets busy and it's never the same again.

I am so incredibly sad about this.

And the heartbreaking part is, I don't have very many people like this in my life any more. And I don't know where to find them, now that I'm out of school, and that makes me feel kinda...pathetic. Like, I've turned into this lonely person and now that I can actually feel emotions and have lasting relationships all the relationships I had before are all but gone.

Isn't life awesome?

Anniversary Time!

So Scott and I have now been married for three years. Our anniversary was this past Tuesday, May 11.


These three years have been amazing and crazy and happy and sad and stressful and peaceful and always an adventure.


When we first got married we were broke, I was sick, and my family was exploding. Yet Scott stood there with me. He laughed when I laughed, held me when I cried, and took me to the doctor time after time until we figured out what was going on.


After things with my family calmed down and I found a job (and stopped getting sick-turns out anxiety can physically cripple you), things got really good. Scott and I were still learning about each other and learning to live with each other.


We made smart decisions and we were careful. We dreamt of so many wonderful things for our future together, and soon we began to make them all come true. We bought a house, we got a dog, we started living. Actually living.


My family is still insane and dramatic, and I'm still a basket case, but I'm properly medicated now (WOO) and so we have gotten into this rhythm where we are almost always perfectly in sync with what we want and how we feel. And we always love each other dearly.


Scott is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met. He is kind and caring, never selfish and always generous. He has always put me, my health, and my happiness first, even though I don't ask that he do so. He's goofy and sweet and just seeing him smile makes my day. He's strong, physically and emotionally, and he's been there for me whenever I need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on.


He treats me like a queen and values my opinions at the same time. I'm his sweetheart and his equal, in perfect harmony. We have inside jokes and favorite shows we quote at each other all the time. We jokingly make fun of each other, and in our family that means "I love you".


It's been a good three years, even through the bad times.


Here's to another three years. And three more after that. Etc.


So here's the stack of anniversary presents I got from my Amazon wish list as per tradition:




There was also some Vanilla Lace lotion from Victoria's Secret, but I forgot to put it in the picture. The funny thing was, even though Scott ordered "The Pursuit of Happyness" with Will Smith, they sent us this weird old movie called "The Pursuit of Happiness", and when we asked for an exchange, they just gave us our money back and told us to keep it. So Scott re-ordered that one for me.


We went to a nice dinner at Corbin's, a more upscale steakhouse close to us. The atmosphere was fun, our server was amazing, and I just felt like it was an extra special meal. We got some amazing crab stuffed mushrooms:



And since I'm on the no carbs phase of the diet I could only stare longingly at this:

Sourdough. Oh yes.


But the most special part of this anniversary was the real present Scott got me:

New wedding rings with more sparklies! And check out that paper cut on my middle finger. Oh yes.

Ten Things

So I just have a few things to post today, with no apparent theme.

Scott is almost finished sanding, bondo-ing, and priming the 'Stang so soon he will be able to paint it. He doesn't think it's going fast enough, but I think we should take our time and get it done very well the first time. We're looking to sell this thing for quite a chunk of cash, so it needs to be as authentic and carefully done as possible.

I hate tailgaters. When someone is that close behind me, the evil part of me wants to just SLAM on my brakes and pretend there was a deer in the road or something, because more often than not the car behind me is much MUCH more expensive than mine. Ha. But then there's that whole whiplash thing...

Diet Mountain Dew isn't very good when it's flat and warm.

I really really want to know who the final Cylon is, but I promised Scott I wouldn't go online to find out before we finish watching the series. It's just about killing me.

One of my friends' husband is a structural engineer and was kind enough to come over the day before yesterday and take a look at our sub floor and support beams in the basement. It turns out that if we replace one beam with steel and add one more on the longer side of the basement, we might not have to replace the entire sub floor before we can put the wood down.

Mim called me yesterday and asked me a chemistry question (I love when she does that!). Someone had told her that aspartame decomposes to make formaldehyde in your stomach and poisons you so you shouldn't drink diet soda with aspartame in it. Number one, there is no known one step acid to aldehyde reduction. Number two, if you did want to make it into an aldehyde, you would have to eat some lithium aluminum hydride tetrabutyl oxide or else some palladium and quinoline, and if you had eaten these formaldehyde in your stomach would be the LAST thing you should worry about. So there's your chemistry lesson for today: aspartame will not turn into formaldehyde in your stomach. The end.

I have been walking on the treadmill on my lunch breaks at work and sometimes again when I get home. I just pop in some Scrubs or Stargate or Gilmore Girls or whatever and walk while I watch and it makes it go so much faster. I feel like I have more energy and I don't feel so bad about having a cookie for lunch yesterday.

I wish I were a size 8. Or a 6. Whatever.

Kwiddens asked me to knit her special socks to wear to the hospital when she goes into labor. They will be purple. Also, I am stalling weaving the ends into her baby's blanket by starting a new lace scarf.

I'm in love with my new phone, but I miss waking up to Hedwig's Theme as my alarm. I will have to download a new tone.

Thanks A Million

I am thankful for:

• Diet Mountain Dew
• Cinnamon bears
• New equipment at work
• An awesome husband
• A great job
• Del Taco
• Not having french fry cravings (but the taco cravings are still quite intense)
• Buster
• My mattress heater
• Tax returns (even though the date we're supposed to get ours keeps getting pushed back...)
• Hand sanitizer
• Kleenex
• Yarn
• The internet and e-mail
• Good books
• Music
• Battlestar Galactica
• Being able to get done at work in six hours since it took me SO LONG to drive to work today (a 3000 gallon diesel tanker got smashed up on I-15 this morning and it took them ALL DAY to clean it up!)

Birthdayness

So for birthday week there were many festivities.

Last Friday Mim took me out to Applebee's and we had tasty steak and had so much fun talking to each other. While we were there, a little girl at another nearby booth hurt her finger and it was bleeding profusely, and she was crying (and I wasn't mad because she had been behaving super well for a girl her age before she got hurt, and dude, if I were bleeding like that I probably would have cried too) and right in the middle of it she said (in the most comical but sad way possible ) "Geez Louise!!!" and Mim and I just totally lost it, and we looked over and the mother was trying so hard not to laugh. It was hilarious. And sad, because I'm not totally heartless.

So then that weekend Scott was going to take me to Red Lobster for our birthday dinner, but when we got there it was going to be like an hour wait and we were feeling particularly impatient and hungry that day, so we just went and got Chinese at our favorite place. I thought that was my birthday dinner, but on Tuesday Scott convinced me that I wanted to go to Red Lobster in the first place, so that's where we were going. And I posted about that. But I left out another funny thing: A lady came out from the kitchen to get some lobsters from the tank in the lobby, and some little kids were watching her, and she pulled out three and then asked "Would you like to say goodbye?" And I don't know why that struck me as so funny but it was awesome.

So then Thursday was the actual birthday. It was my turn to bring treats to work, so I went to Krispy Kreme. I went through the drive-thru and she took my order and then when I pulled up, she was so confused that she had to take my order again, and because of this she gave me some of the donuts for free. And she didn't even know it was my birthday! So that was some good birthday karma to start out the day.

Then at work, my coworker so astutely pointed out that we hadn't ordered pizza for lunch in a while, and what an awesome thing to do on someone's birthday, so we did, and then I finished work early and went home and took a little birthday nap!

After she got off work Kwiddens came up to take me for another birthday dinner (I'm sensing a theme here) and we went to Applebee's again and just split an appetizer so we would have room for COLD STONE OH YES. And I got some Birthday Cake Remix.

And that was the end to birthday week.

I didn't want presents from people, because I have enough stuff, and I just want to spend some quality time with people I love whom I don't get to see often. But, as per tradition, Scott got me lots of presents from my wishlist and let me order some birthday yarn.

He got me several CDs, including a Ditty Bops, an Avril Lavigne, and a Vertical Horizon, and a few movies (Never Been Kissed, Step Up, and While You Were Sleeping), and a copy of The Hitchhiker's series (and Scott's parents also got me this book, leather bound with gold embossment, really awesome), and three awesome books about knitting socks!

I ordered rainbow sock yarn, and then some pink, green, and purple yarn that all mathces so I haven't decided if I want to use it for a big something or three little somethings with the individual colors.

So the moral of the story is:

I am SO spoiled. And I am okay with it.

Musical Me

So there's a lot of music bouncing around in my head lately. Here's a new bit that I found on Amazon mp3 and couldn't resist downloading:

Meaghan Smith - "Heartbroken"

I'm also on a Lady Gaga kick. I bought her album "The Fame Monster: Deluxe Edition" and I LOVE IT SO BAD. SO BAD. I've had "Teeth" stuck in my head for days. I've listened to this album twice a day for two weeks. It's that catchy.

Also, I know it's totally after the fact, but I downloaded Tori Amos's Christmas album "Midwinter Graces" and it's totally a non-traditional spin on traditional Christmas tunage. Awesome.

But definitely check out Meaghan Smith. It's Norah Jones meets The Ditty Bops, if you can even believe it.

Did and Will Do?

Ok, so everyone and their mom is doing a New Year's post, so I might as well jump on in. Four days late. Oops.

So, here are some highlights of this past year:

1 Year at my job

Bought a 1968 Mustang

Had carpal tunnel surgery

Bought A HOUSE

Got 2 new instruments at work

Read all the Harry Potters (again)

Knitted my first sweater

Kwiddens got married

Had to go to court

Drank WAY too much egg nog

Learned to knit socks

Learned to knit mittens

Had our first yard sale

Pierced my ear

Vacationed in Vegas

Got a new baby pink laptop

Got a concealed carry permit and bought a gun of my very own

Buster got a tragic haircut

Had Li over for a week

And here are some things I hope to accomplish or experience this coming year (these are not resolutions, mind you, just some ideas):

Get the rest of the way down to my ideal weight

Wear makeup to work more often (try to look like a girl for once)

Renovate the kitchen

Continue to build my movie/music/TV show collection (I'm thinking about buying Dexter...)

Put more money in savings

Pay off our car

Get a new cell phone

Spoil my new little (NIECE OR NEPHEW) that's coming out of Kwiddens in June (I know the sex but it's a secret for now) (I already started the baby blanket and it is going to be GORGEOUS and expensive...silk bamboo fiber, oh yes)

Keep knitting and crocheting and everything else I love to do

Build up my hand-knit sock arsenal

Get more sun

Work more on the Mustang (although Scott will be doing this more than I will)

There's more, I'm sure, I'm just having a little brain freeze and can't think of any more.

So Happy New Year to everyone. Hope this one's better than the last!

P.S. I wrote 2009 like ten times today in my lab book and kept having to correct it. Oops.

Tori

I love music. Ever since I was a little girl my Mim made me (I say "made" because I didn't want to...and now I regret quitting) take piano lessons and so I grew up learning music. I also remember that when we were little Mim would stay up late outside of our bedroom playing music on the piano so we could fall asleep, and when she couldn't she would put the stereo in the hallway and put on Enya (hence my lifelong obsession). To this day, whenever I have problems sleeping, I listen to Enya or something else that's soft and relaxing. I have a lot of anxiety problems, and music has never failed to calm me. Likewise, whenever I am angry, or happy, or nervous, or really whatever my emotional state there is always music to match.

This weekend I relaxed, but I went to West Valley to spend time with Kwiddens, and that was a couple hours of driving total, and driving stresses me out, so when I got home I hooked up my headphones to lappie and I have been listening to Tori Amos, who has an album for every mood. Lately my favorite is The Beekeeper. It's mostly soothing and delicate and her voice is just beautiful no matter what she sings.

It makes me want to sing again.

Bunny Bunny Bunny

I went down to Mim's house for the Memorial Day weekend. I left Friday after work. I thought that since I get off work earlier than most people that I would miss traffic...yeah, no. It usually takes me about 80-90 minutes to get from my house to my mom's, but this time it took more than two hours...I know that's not really a long drive but I HATE driving so it seemed like FOREVER. So I got down there just in time for Mim to have to leave for work. Scott had spent time this past week getting Baby Lappie set up, but I hadn't organized any of my files or imported my music into media player, so Em and I sat up late talking while I put all my music in, which took FIVE HOURS because I am a music freak and have a zillion gigs. Before we did that, though, Em and Jorg and I went to the theater to see Night at the Museum 2 and it was really funny. We get in to see movies free because Mim works there, and we get free sodas too.

Anyway, Mim had to stay late, so we were all up way too late, and slept until 1:00 the next afternoon, which is amazing because my body is programmed to wake up before 8:00 no matter what. Weird.

Saturday Mim and I went grocery shopping at the new store in Salem, which she and Em say is really creepy for some reason, but I didn't sense anything. Anyway, we went home and made some yummy salad and then Mim had to go to work again. Boo. I took a nap and then when Mim got home (late again, some girl cut her hand and had to go to the ER and Mim had to fill in) we went out for giant salads at the truck stop in Payson (our favorite place for some reason...the service sucks but the food is ridiculously good somehow) and then we came home and watched the pink Pride and Prejudice (the one filmed in Provo) and of course it was hilarious.

Sunday, we slept in until noon (again, WEIRD) and did pretty much nothing all day. Mim had to go to a meeting, so I took a nap, and then we decided to go to bed at a reasonable time.

And then this morning I slept late again and I think I did more sleeping this weekend than I have in weeks, which is great because I'm almost always tired.

So that was my weekend.

Em got a new bunny named Desu:

I am DONE with the diet! Well, I can't eat carbs for another two weeks, but for all intents and purposes I'm done. I've lost 35-40 pounds, depending on the day (water weight changes with hormones, you know) and I feel so amazing.

Christmas Fun

So, it's been a while since I've written. It just seems like nothing is really happening worth mentioning. But, then I sit down to think about it, and that's not really true. I just don't know how interesting anyone else would find it!

So...we're going to Mim's for Christmas. Scott has to work Christmas Eve, but only until about noon, so after we will go down to her house. We will have Christmas Eve cheeseburgers as per tradition, and then we'll probably play games and stay up late and just have a blast hanging out with each other. Scott and I got awesome presents for Em and Jorg and Mim and we're just so excited for it all to come together!

So, big news! Not really. My instrument is acting screwy again. Yes, AGAIN. And, of course, my tech is on vacation this upcoming week...haha. I'm going to try to reprogram the darn thing on Monday, but we'll see if that actually works. But, I only have to work Monday and Tuesday this week, and then I get five days! Woo!

We had our company Christmas party on Friday, and I won a basket with all sorts of candy and goodies, and so I have eaten SO healthily this weekend...heh.

Here is a cute picture of Buster sticking his head out of the window:

It's been snowing! Finally! I've had to shovel four times, and it's still snowing, so I'll probably shovel again tomorrow! I know it's work, but I just love shoveling!

And Scott got me Jewel's and Sarah McLachlan's Christmas albums. Happy day!

Mercury and Sugar Free Candy

GOOD NEWS: Lamictal went generic! Now, instead of paying at least sixty dollars a month for it, it's ten! I win the race!

Today went ok. I had 23 samples, which isn't too bad...the other analysts think it's too much but it doesn't bother me as long as everything runs smoothly. BUT, after my 23 samples, I had another 14 because every month at my company the water from every faucet has to be tested for heavy metals, and, oh, look, that's my job. OH WELL. It wasn't a problem. The problem was, the mercury AA didn't want to play nice today. I checked everything and replaced the tubing and everything, and it still didn't work. I thought maybe it was something to do with my prep work, but after about an hour of messing around with it, it just all of a sudden started to play nice. Everything came out just as it should, so I'm sure I'm prepping right.

Last night I took Nyquil, since the last few nights I haven't been able to sleep. I felt terrible this morning, since it doesn't wear off for me in six hours like most people. For me, it's more like 12-14 hours. So, about eleven this morning I started to feel not dead. I had to take a break this morning and run to the gas station and get a diet Dr. Pepper (mmm, favorite) to help wake me up. You can't be messing with concentrated acids and be sleepy. Bad mix.

The Atkins diet is hard because I crave carbs. Mostly, I just really want a biscuit. I had a dream about biscuits the other night. The diet is easy in one sense: I have a problem with portion control. Instead of seeing Oreos and thinking, oh, I'll just have one, I have twelve. So, on this diet, I know that if I take even one bite of forbidden food the whole diet will crash, so I just don't. And there are cravings, but no temptations. However, I do have a sweet tooth so I have bought stuff to make low-carb fudge and the other day I tried to make low-carb chocolate mousse, but I whipped it too long and it turned into chocolate butter. But, I have bought some sugar-free candies (which are meant for diabetics, but some of them are ok for this diet, too), like Yorks and chocolate covered caramels. HAPPY DAY!

Right now I am listening to the soundtrack for Prince Caspian, and it makes me so happy. I grew up with the stories in the Chronicles of Narnia, and I was so afraid that when they started making them into movies that they would butcher them. They didn't! They did such an amazing job! I know that some people were disappointed that they changed the storyline of Caspian, but as long as I look at them as different stories, I don't mind. The music is beautiful, they chose perfect actors and actresses, and the costumes and computer imagery...wow!

I better get some sleep. Work is early. I don't like early. Boo.