Friday, February 27, 2009

Happy B-day, Pop!

It's my dad's birthday this weekend. He's a leap-year baby, so he doesn't actually have one this year, but we celebrate anyways. He's going to be 77, and he's going strong! My aunt (his baby sister) and her gentleman friend are here from Holland. They got in late last night. We're all getting together Sunday for an early dinner down in Federal Way (it's about half-way between their house and ours). I'm excited to see my aunt. Now that I've lost so much weight, I look like I could be her twin. Very easy to see the family genes. Gonna try to get a picture of the two of us, so we can see the similarities, side by side.

Quiet week - had a tooth pulled and an abscess lanced. My mouth is much happier now. And snow - two weeks away from Spring and we had about 3 inches yesterday. Except for some left on lawns and trees, it's all gone, thank goodness. It's so pretty, but it's hell to try to get around with the streets all slushy and icy. Plus people (not all, but most) just don't get it. They drive like there's nothing there. So many accidents on the roads yesterday morning. We stayed home until we saw most of the road again, then we headed in to work.

And today, the weather is beautiful - hope it lasts through the weekend.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Yea! Stall broken...

I hope. Another pound gone this morning. Very happy to see that. I know I say I'm ok if I don't lose any more, but I really would like to get down another 20 or so, whatever that size 10 takes. I didn't realize that this part of my journey would be harder than the first part; I wouldn't have thought that possible, but it is. Since my appetite has returned with a vengeance, it is so hard not to continually snack. And I keep thinking if I keep busy, I won't have time to think about food, but that's not the case. It's all consuming, sometimes. Very disconcerting. When it gets really bad, I drink some water and start thinking about all of my new clothes and shoes and how much better I feel.

Sometimes, that works. But sometimes, the cookie wins.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

A meme...

These are fun. Found this on another blog and thought, why not? Will give folks a little more insight about my love and me:

What are your middle names? Kathy's is Joyce and mine are Maria Renee Jacoba

How long have you been together? Wow - over 12 years, now; will be 13 in July.

How long did you know each other before you started dating? Kathy answered an ad I had put in the L.A. Times - we started dating right off.

Who asked whom out? Kind of mutual, actually, since she answered my ad. Our first contact was a 4-hour phone conversation, which at the end, we agreed to meet for coffee a few days later.

How old are each of you? I'm 50 and K is 56, soon to be 57 (in March). She calls me her young chick.

Whose siblings do you see the most? Mine - my brother lives up here in the NW, so we see him frequently. Hers are all out of state.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? My want to spend and her want to save, although she can be a little shopper in her own right, and I've begun to like the saving part.

Did you go to the same school? Nope - she grew up in Milwaukee and I grew up in New York/Miami/Los Angeles.

Are you from the same home town? Nope. See previous answer.

Who is smarter? K, most definitely. She reads everything she can get her hands on and retains the information. I call her my good-idea honey.

Who is the most sensitive? Tied, I think - we're both pretty sensitive (give us a good tear-jerker and we're both bawling.)

Where do you eat out most as a couple? Varies - we like to try new places.

Where's the furthest you've traveled together as a couple? Milwaukee.

Who has the craziest exes? Haven't really discussed those at length, so I don't think either of us have had any crazy exes.

Who has the worst temper? That would be me. But once I blow, it's gone. K has a tendency to hold it inside and let it fester, although she's getting better at expressing herself.

Who does the cooking? We both do; depends on who feels like it. I make great breakfasts, and K's good at experimenting with new recipes or coming up with cool ones on her own.

Who is the neat-freak? Me - I like everything in it's place, where K lets stuff pile up. I've mellowed a lot to where it doesn't matter as much any more, and K's gotten better at not stock piling everything.

Who is more stubborn? mmmm, Dutch stubbornness here - German/Welsh stubbornness over there - tie, probably.

Who hogs the bed? Sparky. Definitely.

Who wakes up earlier? Me. I love getting up when no one else is up yet; have my coffee, read the paper on-line.

Where was your first date? The Swing Cafe (coffee shop) on Santa Monica Blvd in West L.A.


Who is more jealous? Neither of us have a jealous nature, but if I had to pick one, I'd say K - she thinks folks are always on the make for me.

Who eats more? That would K now that I have a pouch smaller than half of my fist.

Who does the laundry? K, usually, but I'll do it when there's a need and she's busy. But she's better with the laundry, while I'm better in the kitchen (cleaning-wise).

Who's better with the computer? I used to think K, but I'm finding out it's me. She knows more about innovative stuff/technology than I do, but it's usually me setting up the pc or new software or explaining applications to her.

Who drives when you go out together? Usually, me. K can drive, but she's a very cautious, slow driver, which would drive me batty. I'm the more forceful, aggressive driver, so I get us where we need to go.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Big 5-0!

Had a wonderful birthday weekend. Lunch with the folks on Sunday, Special K took me to SeaStar for lunch on Monday (we both took the day off), saw a movie, played some bingo (didn't win), and shopping. Lots of shopping! So much fun. I actually almost have a full wardrobe again. That was my gift from K - clothes and a couple pair new shoes. God, I love new shoes.

And our party Friday night was a lot of fun. Seemed like it kicked off the weekend just right. Even though it was our team's holiday celebration (original date was snowed out; the second date was flooded out - three times the charm), they also had a card that everyone on the team signed (except for K - they didn't want her to know) and they collected money to give me a very nice sized Sears gift card. So very sweet. Oh, and they had a "princess set" for me to wear:

Came complete with a tiara, broach, earrings, necklace and a ring. So cute. Very nice of the team to do all that for me - I was blown away.

Teetering up and down between 177 and 180. I really have to watch the snacking. It seems all I want to do is eat these days and it's scaring me. Each day I wake up and say to myself that today I'll be good. But then the day gets underway, and it's a cookie here and some crackers there. I know I said I'd be fine if I didn't lose anymore, and that is certainly true. But I don't want to gain anything back. It would be so easy to let go and not be careful and end up pretty much where I was before, and that's just not an option.

I long for the days where food just did not interest me.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Roses!

I get into work this morning, and what's waiting for me on my desk? A beautiful bouquet of roses/carnations; very pretty pinks - love them! Plus a couple of mocha cups; little chocolate coffee cups filled with mousse - yummy! Gonna have one with Special K today and one Sunday when Mum comes (she loves these, too). All from Miss P - thank you, P! So sweet of her to remember my b-day.

Made me smile and I love starting the day smiling :o)

Monday, February 2, 2009

No Mouse Ears :o(

So, I don't get to turn 50 at Disneyland. That was the plan. Until T-Mobile/TLC Marketing messed it up.

We had free flight tickets from a promotion at the end of 2007. The forms asked for 3 different destinations, 3 different departure dates and 3 different return dates. I put in LAX only and gave a few choices for the dates, but not all that they asked for, as we don't have the luxury of going whenever we want. With that mandatory vacation that work made me take in December, I'm short vacation days for this year, and I certainly don't want to go in the hole with my 2010 vacation this early on in the year.

I even enclosed a letter, explaining why I wasn't filling in all the fields - told them I wanted to spend my 50th b-day at Disneyland. Think that mattered? Not a bit. They've got sticks up their collective asses - so rigid. I called both TLC and T-Mobile; no good. Very disappointed in T-Mobile - they've been great as our cell phone provider, but what good is a promotion if you can't use it? I don't get how they can ask for 3 different destinations. They don't let you know what you get until 2 weeks before - how are you supposed to plan for something like that? And you can't tell me that there aren't enough flights going between Seattle and L.A. to get us two little measley tickets. But because we didn't fill out all the fields, we "disqualified" ourselves. Bullpucky.

We could buy two tickets - would only run $300 - $350, but we didn't budget for that, and our car already bit a big chuck from our vacation funds a couple weeks ago. If we bought tickets, it wouldn't leave us much to play with.

Ah, well. We'll have a nice day, anyway. Folks are coming to take us to lunch and then Special K and I will go out that night (we're taking Monday off to recuperate :o)

As for T-Mobile? Come November, when our contract is up, it's Verison or Sprint for us.