BYOC

Compliments of Drazil...here we go.

1. In the spirit of back to school time - what is your favorite school supply?

I like pens and pencils...especially different colored ones.  When I was in school, I used to use a different color pen every day for notes and then start over when I ran out of pens.  My notebooks were oh-so-colorful by the end of the year. 


2. Assume your house is on fire and the whole thing is going to burn to the ground and your loved ones are out and safe….and you have a few minutes to grab 5 things. Just five. What would they be?

1. Wedding album
2. Laptop
3. I have a fireproof box so in theory, I shouldn't have to grab it but if EVERYTHING's going to burn, I guess I'd grab that (all important documents - ssn's, birth certificates) but also the girls' first favorite stuffed animal and a baby blanket
4. The girls' little bear & mooey (they just can't live without them)
5. Purse - gotta have the money to rebuy everythign

3. In the spirit of my new found love on vacation – what is your favorite drink – alcoholic or not?

This is tough for me.  I truly believe sweet tea is the wine of the south...I love that stuff so I could go with that... or ANYTHING with rum in it! 

4. When is your birthday (if you want to say, no year needed) and what is your Zodiac sign. Does your sign match your personality?


June 27, 1981 - I'm not ashamed to be almost 30.  I am a Cancer - the crab, with the ruling planet being the moon which I always found stupid because the moon isn't a planet.

Traits
Adaptable - YES
Moody - Certainly YES
Loyal - Almost to a fault
Attached to Family - Eh.  I could probably take them or leave them...I love my girls but time away is usually welcome.  Although, I can't imagine living far from my mom.
Empathetic - Not so much
Sensitive - A bit
Emotional - YES
Indecisive at times - Only when it come to where to go to eat

5. A little spin on my repeat question. I usually ask which blog or comment stuck with you and why? You can answer that as usual or how about just giving a summary of your week or how you feel about blogland this past week or anything you noticed…does that make sense?

Summary of my week?  Boring - work and liquids.  This is what my life is consumed with right now.  Can't wait to EAT! One thing I seem to notice is that there are a lot of blogsters trying to get pregnant.  I can think of at least 4 of the top of my head.  We're going to have a lapband baby boom before long.  It also seems that there's a lot of stress and stress eating going on around here also.  I'm hoping next week brings brighter days for people. 

TAG - YOU'RE IT!

And so it is Thursday.  Ugh.  Why can't it be Friday?  I am grumpy and tired and people at work are REALLY irritating me.  I recognize it's not their fault I'm grumpy but they're just so annoying.  Two ladies in front of me haven't stopped talking since they got in the office at 6 a.m.  And about stupid things like how rappers and basketball players who rape and beat up women are just oh-so-dreamy.  Gag.  Anyhoo...Patrick was kind enough to hit me with a Happy 101 Award (Ironic that I'm grumpy and accepting a "Happy" award but I digress...). 

Don't those cupcakes look absolutely delicious?!?!?  Mmmmmmmmmmm...frosting is totally a liquid right?

OK so 10 things I like:

1.  The TV show Dexter - OK...It's completely demented and psycho but I love this show!  The guy who plays Dexter is just so good at being socially awkward, a little creepy but totally worth rooting for.
2. My gym - yes I said my gym.  Aside from it being way too busy, my gym rocks.  It has lots of classes but it was just renovated so all the equipment is brand new and there are TV's on everything - each treadmill, elliptical, bike, etc has it's own TV that you can hook your earbuds or even your Ipod to.  It rocks.
3. Baseball - I played softball as a kid and teenager and this is the closest to it on TV.  When I was 8, my grandparents took me to my first major league game...the Cubs.  I've loved going to games ever since.  Watchingon TV is good too...can nap in the middle, wake up and still see who wins.
4. Blogging - just so therapeutic and gives me something to while away the hours with at work (that's a lot of w's - say that 3 times fast)
5. News - I'm a news junkie...I admit it...CNN, USAToday...you name it.  Gotta know what's going on in the world
6. Baking - Love, love, love to bake (and of course, eat what I bake)
7. Andes Mints - did you know 8 Andes mints has 2g of protein?  I found out this little fun fact when I learned that they melt to a liquid.  I only had 1 so I got .25 g of protein.  Totally worth it.  LOL
8. South Carolina BBQ - that means pork (not beef brisket, not beef ribs - PORK and real bbq sauce - not ketchupy red goop), rice & hash and skin...drooling just thinking about it.  I will be on regular food and taking a trip to SC in 2 weeks and you can bet I'll be hitting that up!
9. AZ Sunsets & Sunrises - doesn't matter which one is is...Sun coming up or going down over the dessert floor and ducking behind (or coming up from) the mountains...Beautiful
10. Dogs - I'm a dog person.  Don't have any of my own yet (we rent - waiting to buy before we get a puppy) but I think they're just so sweet and ask very little of their human family except for love and treats

10 Fantastic Bloggers (hard to choose 10 but here we are):

1. Lynda
2. Jen
3. Mary
4. Lori
5. Amanda K.
6. Grace
7. Amanda M.
8. Jennifer
9. Kristin
10. Colleen

So there you have it.  Thanks again Patrick!  Still on liquids.  Still hating protein.  Tried 2 different kinds of greek yogurt...not good.  Not sure if it's the flavor or the brands.  May try it again.  We'll see. I told my sister about the lapband yesterday.  She was a little hurt that I didn't tell her earlier but she seemed to understand why I kept it to myself.  She was actually very supportive and said she'd probably do it too if her insurance covered it (she's battled her weight as well).  So it's all good! 

Went to the gym again yesterday.  I was able to do 20 minutes on the elliptical and 40 minutes on the treadmill.  Both at lower levels and speeds than before surgery but there was no pain so that's definitely progress.  I think I need another 2 weeks or so and then I'll be back to where I was.  Have a great day everybody!

First Workout & Telling

So yesterday was my first day back at the gym.  PITIFUL.  I knew it'd be a very light workout, being the first one since surgery, but jeezaloo!  I made it about 30 minutes on a treadmill at 2.5 before I got this pain on the left side of my abdomen.  Thinking it might be a cramp, I tried to walk through it but once it got a little worse, I stopped.  I didn't want to push too hard.  I am only 2 weeks from surgery so don't want to tear anything or do anything to mess stuff up (even though doc says exercise is fine at this point).  What I can't figure out is what the damn pain is.  There are no incisions there or anything.  Hmmmm...am going back tonight.  Hoping I can do a little better.  I only have 2 1/2 months until my big walk and I have A LOT of work today.

In other news, I've been debating telling my sister about the band.  I know we've all had the conversations, blogs, feedback about telling and how it's really up to the individual and what they feel comfortable with, yadda, yadda, yadda.  I knew I wasn't going to tell her before the surgery because she would be super judgmental and I wasn't looking for negativity while I was preparing for surgery.  That being said, I always figured I'd tell her after I had it done and she couldn't try to talk me out of it.  I figured if she wanted to get the negativity off her chest, she could talk to my mom since she already knows and didn't want me to do it either.  Now that I've actually had the surgery, I'm finding it difficult to tell my sister.  Not because of reaction but of a graceful way of turning the conversation towards the subject.  So the question for today is...

How did you tell someone about the band after you already had it done?

I'm sticking to the whole liquid thing pretty well.  So tired of it though.  I have one more week of this stuff.  My doc is a little more strict than others I think when it comes to this.  Next week I get to move on to mushies but I only have to do mushies for 1 week as opposed to 2 like some people.  I guess it all works out in the end...instead of 2 weeks liquids/2 weeks mushies, I get 3 weeks liquids/1 week mushies but whatever.  One more week won't kill me...maybe.  What I do find kinda annoying is that I haven't lost any weight in the last 3 days.  I don't know how this can be possible since I'm barely eating anything.  I know I'm not getting enough protein in.  I HATE protein shakes.  If they all don't taste awful right away, they all leave a nasty after taste in your mouth.  BLAH.  So that's probably part of the problem.  I also know that I shouldn't be worried about weight loss right now as it's all about healing, blah, blah, blah.  I'm not really worried about it but my curiosity gets the better of me and I want to know what's going on with the scale.  OK...I'm a scale whore and must get on it every day.  There...I admitted it.  Hope y'all are happy now. 

I guess that's about it.  Not too much going on one way or another.  Recovery is going swimmingly.  No pain at all unless I'm walking on the damn treadmill.  I hope everyone's week is going OK.  Can't believe it's September already.  This year is just flying by.  Happy Hump Day!