Good intentions

Last night I finally found the time to write! I've got a few entries in the works, so be on the lookout!

This morning I got breakfast ready - Fage 0% with 2 TB of oat bran mixed in, all my vitamins/allergy meds and a 5-hour energy - set up the laptop with intentions to finish up my drafts...

Then this happened:

Can't write with a cuddly kitty on my lap! This cat still has a serious "I'm an asshole" complex, so gotta enjoy the sweet side when it shows! Guess the blogging will have to wait. 

P.S. Why can't he sleep all the time? He's so sweet when he sleeps! Ha!

Dukan Update

Ryan and I are 7 days into the Dukan Diet and so far this is what we've noticed:

Stinky breath, increased thirst, a little fatigue and... WEIGHT LOSS! Ketosis (the symptoms I described) is a good thing, it means the diet is working.

I have lost almost 5 lbs in the first week and Ryan is just about the same. Our pants are fitting better and we've got the inspiration to keep it up!

I am pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to cut out bread/sugar/junk for a whole week (minus the Christmas Day food/dinner).

This next week will be our first of lean protein plus protein rich vegetables (Asparagus, broccoli, cucumbers, celery, mushrooms and a few others). I can't wait to eat vegetables again. Nom nom!

In my efforts to live a healthier, happier and skinnier life I have decided to share my experience on this blog, in sharing my weight loss journey, I hope it will provide an informative and inspirational account. Feel free to ask questions!

I grew up stick thin (Age 13: 5'8" and 110 lbs thin). I endured teasing and questions about if I had an eating disorder all through middle school.
High school rolled around and I practiced my independence (poor food choices), experimented with friends (hello munchies) and my depression hit me full swing. I didn't exercise hardly at all (huge boobs, reduction at 16 and poor body image = lack of interest to work out.).
At 19 I became pregnant and put on even more weight. After having my son, I was the heaviest I had ever been in my life. I knew this is not how I wanted to live, but I wasn't sure how to change.

I have tried a few weight loss programs:

Age 20; Optifast:
When B was 7 months old, and I was the heaviest I'd EVER been I researched and joined a Doc's office in town for the Optifast weight loss program. Out of desperation to lose weight, I chose a program that was totally unsuitable for my eating habits and comfort level. Won't be doing that again.
For me I really feel this was the worst program ever.
It was hella expensive, the "food" (boxed nutritional drinks, like slimfast) were disgusting and the rapid weight loss (30 lbs in almost 2 months) paired with being obese/having recently been pregnant caused my body to have gallstones... which led to quitting the program out of medical necessity and then needing Gallbladder removal surgery. Yikes!
The only helpful part of this program was having a medical team (doctor, nurse and nutritionist) to consult weekly, a supportive group (about 8-10 women & men) and education about nutrition, portion size and exercise at each weekly gathering.

Age 24; The Belly Fat Diet:
I heard about this through a friend. Her husband went on the diet and lost 17 lbs in a few short months, without much effort. After some coaxing, Ryan agreed to try it with me.
Basically, the diet's purpose was to cut out all carbs/sugar/packaged crap and live off of only whole grains, proteins and lower fat options aka EATING HEALTHY! DUH!
The recipes were easy to make and tasted fine (they also were surprisingly filling!) but it was a pain to need to replace all of my pantry. I live in a small town and didn't have half of the suggested food products/brands available to me. It was a stress to grocery shop attempting to substitute most ingredients (and still stay on program).
Ryan lost almost 15 lbs and I lost about 8 in the few months we adopted the Belly Fat lifestyle.
Ryan still raves about how great (energized, satisfied with smaller servings and didn't crave junk food) he felt following this lifestyle change... I didn't get those results.
I was hungry a lot, as I mentioned before the frustration in trying to find brands/products to use was annoying, and I didn't see much weight loss.

Perks to this program? No frankenfood! All the food you eat is basically organic/whole/healthy. It felt good to know I could feed my whole family (and even a few brave friends) my altered recipes and it was all natural foods.

Age 26; Weight Watchers:
I don't think I have to explain much about WeightWatchers. I know lots of friends/family who have followed this eating program and have seen wonderful results.
My Poppa offered to pay my membership fees, as long as he was seeing some results. I was so motivated to lose the weight (this took place right after my Nana had died, from health complications due to years of Diabetes) because I didn't want to end up with Diabetes (I still don't!). I wanted to make myself and my Poppa proud by finally taking off the weight I'd gained the past 6 years.
I joined the online program (you can go to meetings if you want, but it's not required). I loved it!
It was so simple to use their website, browse through their recipe archives (lots of yummy ones!) and to track my daily intake on my profile/iPhone.
I tried this for 3 months, to the letter. And guess what? I lost the first week (about 4 lbs) and then gained. Yes, that's right. I gained weight for the next 11 weeks. 14 lbs total.
Besides feeling like a total failure, I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. WHY wasn't I losing weight, when I was striving so hard to adhere to the program? I'd seen people around me lose lots of weight and keep it off.
Out of sheer frustration and wanting to save my Poppa money, I stopped the program after 3 months.

Perks? The ease of logging your day (the website helps keep you on track for daily intake/exercise/water etc) was great. I loved that aspect of the program.
The recipes tasted great (again, my friends/fam braved the lifestyle change with me) and we were eating real food.

Since May of 2011, I have been introducing actual exercise (see this for some background info) back into my routine! The Elliptical at home, walks a couple days a week and LOTS of house cleaning (clients, family and my own) has helped me maintain my current weight. I fluctuate by a few lbs every few weeks, but I am not seeing anything major.

A coworker and I have been talking about The Dukan Diet for a couple of months. There is a teacher at one of my schools who has lost 57 lbs in less than 7 months following Dukan. My coworker started the diet, and within the first week lost 7 lbs (then, had a death in the family and had to travel for 2 weeks and went off program).
I researched the program online, ordered the book (which is a combo of the diet book and all his recipes) from Amazon, and after a 4 week wait it finally arrived!

Ryan and I started the diet yesterday (Tues the 20th), my philosophy is it never hurts to try a life style that has worked so well for someone you know. Look for a follow up post in 7 days.

Here goes nothin!

Not the only one!

A friend posted on Facebook the other day about how emotional she had been lately.
The everyday beauty in the world, or the sadness in a child's eyes, or even the sweet lyric in a pop love song was sending her into tears... I thought I was the only one who had days like this??

I suppose I've heard from family and friends that I sometimes have a flare for the dramatic - as if! - so I'm glad someone else can relate.
I often find myself misty-eyed just because I daydream of a sweet moment, or have let my mind wander to the future and get swept up in an awesome fantasy about what the world has to offer. I'll find myself with tear filled eyes, lip trembling, heart moved. Oy!

Yesterday was one of those days.

I was at work (on a weekend? Yes. Le Suck!) and had just finished a craft project (Christmas gift for Heather!) that I had put a lot of time and energy into, so I was already feeling a tad sentimental and weepy when my sister sent me a text. She had come across this poem earlier in the day and knew she just had to share it with me (I love how well she knows me).

I Love You

I am your parent, you are my child

I am your quiet place, you are my wild

I am your calm face, you are my giggle

I am your want, you are my wiggle

I am your dinner, you are my chocolate cake

I am your bedtime, you are my wide awake

I am your lullaby, you are my peekaboo

I am your goodnight kiss, you are my I LOVE YOU

- Anonymous

I shed a few tears each time I read this. I hope those of you that have children enjoy it as much as I do. 

I have an intense love for my child, and although times as a parent are more often than not extremely difficult for me (I'm debating divulging more personal details about my life/child on this blog) I love my son and being a mom more than anything in the world. I wouldn't trade for anything!

If you are a parent, and you are not tearing up after reading that poem... you suck the big one. Plain and simple. 

More jewels of the Interweb

Shit on the web is whack. That's all I'm gonna say!

SERIOUSLY!? I keep watching this over and over. I'm more in awe every time I watch.

YOU asked for it! 

WIIIIIIGLES!

HA!

Whoa... this never gets old. Ever.

Neither does this

Thanks for your patience...

I apologize about the long wait, I have been extremely busy these past couple of weeks, helping every person I know with this, that or the other thing.
I love to help people, and it is nearly impossible for me to turn someone down in a time of need... but I really need start saying "No" to people... Life would be much less busy, and I would have some "me time" for sure! But, alas, I do not have that word in my vocabulary so I have been cleaning houses, hosting family from out of town, working 7 days a week (at two jobs) AND trying to maintain my home/parenting duties. Oy!

Time to throw this out here, or I might not ever get to it!

As I mentioned in my last post,  a few weekends ago I had a life changing experience, which has helped me figure out my career ambition. Here's the short version:

Ryan and I went to a friend's house to hang out, and within an hour of being there, her baby started seizing.

While all the adults ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, I called 911. 

Once the paramedics arrived and decided that baby needed the ER, I followed the ambulance to the hospital.  Ryan, dad and son stayed at the house.

Once at the ER, the baby's condition worsened and she was very unstable for a few hours.

I was in the ER with mom & baby for 6 hours (until they were medevaced to Anchorage), and in that time I observed every procedure (which included; blood draws, spinal tap, seizures, CT scan, IV's, and even intubation), comforted the family, and a few times I even helped the medical team when it was needed.  

That night being in the ER, being a part of the team saving this sweet little baby's life stirred something inside me... opened my eyes to what I hadn't ever considered once before.

I want to be an ER nurse. 

All around me was chaos, but I have never in my life felt so at peace, so enthralled, so excited by any other experience.

I shared this with my mom (who is a RN at our hospital), one of the pediatricians who was at the ER that night (she is a very close family friend, and Braeden's doc!), and my family. They all support this decision 110%

I have registered for some classes at UAS and will start my journey on Jan. 17th!

Wish me luck!

P.S. Mom and baby went to Anchorage, spent 5 days getting tests, and came back home all in one piece :) Let's all believe this was a fluke event and won't happen again!

All grown up

What do you want to do when you grow up?

All of us have been asked this before, right? I know I have, and now that I'm a parent, I like to ask my son B a few times a year.
I've always expected him to change his answer, but interestingly enough he always says the same thing;  "I want to be in the ARMY." This answer has not changed in a few years (he is 7.5).
Do you remember what your answer was as a kid?
This is what I can remember from when I was a kidlet. I'm pretty sure I wanted to be a singer, Ariel (the little mermaid), a secretary, and as I got older... a teacher, a speech therapist, even a forensic scientist.

It is interesting to me that some people (like B) seem to know right off the bat exactly what they want out of life... and then others (like me) seem to "roll with the punches" and change interests/adapt depending on where life takes them.

After having my son (at age 20) I went to UAS for almost 2 years, but full time work, full time school and full time single parenting was too much for this momma (yes, I am human after all) in the future I need to remember this and not burn myself out.
I put my education on hold and instead of going to school just to go, I opted for real work experience (in the special education field) for almost 5 years now.
Although I love my current job, and I am grateful for the experiences I've had in the school district, I am almost 27 (23 days until my bday!) and realize that I need to get back to school. I have been seriously considering going back to college so I can complete my education for about a year.

Here's the problem; no idea what I want to 'do when I grow up'.

I have toyed with a few options, but nothing has really kept my motivation for more than a few weeks at a time.

Well, last night I had an experience that sparked something deep within my being (I know this sounds totally cheesy, but I am totally serious). I know exactly what I want to go back to school for, and I have the motivation (and support!) to start the process tomorrow.

Details coming soon!

* Sorry for leavin' ya hangin', but after the weekend I had, this momma needs to power down.

Dutch the devil cat

Dutch is now closing in on 13 weeks (this has got to be the "Terrible Twos" stage, right?!) and from what my family has been experiencing, we might as well say that our sweet little kitten is now the devil incatnate. Seriously.

Although most of the time he is still a cute little fluff ball (who is growing at alarming rates!), he sure as hell has his moments.

I'm not regretting my decision to add another fur baby (I've mentioned before how I never wanted to be that person who uses the term "fur baby", right? Don't judge me!) into our family, but I am seriously needing some kitten rearing advice! I've had kittens before, but this is the first who is this mean. This momma cat needs help!

Dutch gets more and more feisty each day. He bites/claws/scratches and attacks anything that moves... while I understand a cat's desire to play and hunt moving things, I am tired of getting kitty teeth/claws stuck in body parts. We are all covered head-to-toe in scratches, and Braeden has already had a few melt downs because he is convinced the cat is against him, and hurts him because he doesn't like Braeden (because kittens have motives, you know?).
I'm pretty dead set on declawing his front paws, but in the back of my mind I can't help thinking how mean that would be. Ryan likes to argue that one day when he is an "outside cat" he will need those claws... I like to remind him that Dutch will not be an "outdoor cat".
* Ryan grew up with only outdoor cats. I grew up with only indoor cats. We both think we're right in this argument...

Besides the cat thinking we are human scratching posts, he is also completely obsessed with food! I've never seen a cat act this way... it's like having another Lennie pup only worse, and untrainable!
A couple of my cats growing up liked dairy, another really liked brined foods (olives, pickles, tuna fish water), but they never begged or were as relentless in scoring a treat like Dutch is.
Every morning, when we feed Lennie, Dutch races to the dog dish for whatever morsel of food he can sneak away from the dog... every time I open the fridge, Dutch literally hurls himself into it, and then will try to hide from you if you attempt to remove him! He relentlessly tries to eat food right off your plate/out of your hand, and when you scold him, remove him or spray him with water he is immediately back where he was 5 seconds prior! Gah!

I got lots of great advice on Facebook regarding ideas for discipline, exercise, food, (my personal favorite?) getting another kitten for Dutch to play with hehe.
I will attempt anything at this point, because for as fast as Dutch is growing, I can't imagine him acting this way in a couple of months when he's double triple his size (remember he's supposed to fill those "Double Dutch" shoes!)!
Last night in bed, as Ryan and I were both being terrorized by le kitteh, we were teasing each other that pretty soon we'd have to dress in full leather... and shield each other from the cat when he is 15 lbs and hurling his adult body, claws/teeth and all at our faces as we sleep.
Problem is, I don't think we were joking as much as we were serious... I'm scared! Ryan too!

Having said all that, please take a look at my sweet Dutch boy, because despite what I say, he's not always trouble... just most of the time!

Silly kitten, love how he sleeps!

Here's Dutch, as I mentioned before, he tries to eat Lennie's food. We now have to hold him while Lennie scarfs down his food... 

Aww! Kitten thinks he's a pup!

Braeden has requested the cat doesn't sleep with him anymore... Dutch likes to play with his face and wake him up in the middle of the night (Ignore the mattress sans sheets. Laundry day!).

 So sweet when he's unconscious! HA!

On the left: innocent pet fish, enjoying a swim

On the right: adventurous devious kitten, about to take a leap to the fish tank

Thank goodness he couldn't jump that far... yet!

In the morning when I shower, Dutch sits next to the tub and meow, meow, meows until I get out. It's like having a crying infant all over again! 2 minute shower GO!

Here's Dutch in the fridge, hiding behind the salad bowl... is it animal cruelty to shut him in the fridge for a minute?? Think it would deter him from jumping in again?

My favorite photo from this week :)

Lennie and Dutch, spooning. I laugh every time I see this.

This is NOT Dutch (and that is NOT my pipe!), I found it on EPICFAIL but couldn't help but see the resemblance between this kitten and Dutch. It's uncanny! Also, they both try to steal drinks!

Any advice on kitty parenting is greatly appreciated!

We we we so excited

Have you ever seen the "Friday" video on YouTube? From the minute I heard this song, I couldn't help but think "R.I.P Music", but at the same time I really truly love it. I crack up every time I hear this song and can't help but sing "Friday...Friday..." to myself every Friday. Go ahead, watch... I dare you not to get it stuck in your head!

So ridiculous, yet I can't stop loving this song... until I found this, which I love almost as much. Cute nerds singing about how much they love school? Yes please!

This one is pretty great too (Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert always cheer me up!):

Honestly though, this has to trump all other Friday parodies I will ever see. Thanks to my dear friend A for discovering this. Prepare yourself...

Oh boy

20!

If you have read this, then you know why I am so thrilled with myself to have made it to 20 minutes!

My knee seemed to do alright, just needed a little ice that night. My ankle on the other hand was a bit sore/throbbing. Needed ice, rest and a pain pill. oops
I think I'll stay at 20 min for a while, let my ankle rest in between workouts. I'll try to maintain at least 3 time a week for the month and see where I'm at in December.

:)

Crisis averted! (New Recipe)

So, I found this great website (through Pinterest), which is basically a mish-mash of all websites with good recipes. It's called FoodGawker. I don't know how I never new about this, but I am so glad I do now!

This is NOT part of my "health kick", but it looked damned good and I new Ryan would eat it up...plus Braeden is at his dad's tonight, so I can experiment in the kitchen!

On the menu tonight...
Chicken Cordon Bleu *I made this recipe cause it looked great... but honestly, saying bluuuhh is fun too!*
Hasselback Potatoes *I didn't know why these baked potatoes were called Hasselback, but this blog explains it.*
Green salad with veggies

To start, I washed/patted dry/sliced thin 4 potatoes (which is a little harder than you'd think! I cut all the way through a few times). Then I drizzled the potatoes with a bit of EVOO/melted butter and sprinkled with salt/pepper. Once those were in the oven I started on the filling/dredging station.

One dish with flour, one with egg, one with breadcrumb I always use seasoned Panko for my breadcrumb needs.

For the filling I used hamsteak from Costco, sliced thinly *because I already had part of one in the fridge* steamed spinach and shredded Mozzarella.

Here is where the dinner crisis ensued (ok, it wasn't a crisis per se but I am a bit of a perfectionist and I was really mad at myself that I wouldn't be able to make this recipe correctly... especially because I had company over tonight. Grr!)

This recipe calls for chicken breasts. Not chicken tenders. Guess what I brought home from the store? Yep, tenders. 

I figured it would be damned near impossible to roll up the ingredients in the tenders, but *as my boyfriend so sweetly said tonight* "You are an experienced cook, and you'll find a way to make it work... and taste GREAT." Aww! Dinner challenge is a Go!

I layered the tenders with plastic wrap and then tenderized/flattened with a rolling pin. 

I used two tenders, overlapped at a bit of an angle and put a few slices of ham, a few spinach leaves and a hefty sprinkle of Mozzarella. Rolled up, dredged in the flour/egg/panko and then stove top fried for a couple minutes on each side.

Since the recipe didn't specify an oven temp (silly online recipes), I just popped the dish into the 425f oven where the potatoes were baking. Left them in for about 15 minutes (because they were tenders they cooked very quickly) and voila!!

YUM!

We all thought it was mighty yummy. Let me know if you try it!

New

Fall is my favorite season. So much to love about Fall!
The beautiful colors - the weather is down right awful where I'm from, but the foliage was gorgeous. For a week. Ha!
The scents - pumpkin, nutmeg and cinnamon yum
Warm clothes - can you say boyfriend cardigans?!
Another reason I love Fall time? I start work again (I'm off every summer). Money is always a good thing to have, no?

Since it is Fall time, that also means lots of birthdays/gifting is right around the corner. There are 13 birthdays from Oct-Dec in my immediate family/friends. Oy!
I am feeling pressure all around me to buy, buy, buy! This year my goal is to shop locally and only gift things that are of true function for the person on the receiving end. I'm sure I will succeed with this, although it might take a little extra planning/shopping time. I'm slowly working through my list and hope to be finished two weeks before Hanukkah & Christmas.

Since I am spending time/money on friends and family, I made the executive decision to buy some goodies for myself too.
Btw, I have this habit (which my therapist told me isn't good :p ) of putting everyone else in my life above my own self. All.The.Time.
I have been trying to work through this for months... unsuccessfully I might add. I'm trying to sneak in bits of "me time/appreciation" wherever I can, but it's so hard when I'm a mildly OCD stricken-people pleaser who expects nothing less than perfect for everyone/everything around me.
I'll consider this little shopping spree progress :)

New dress. I am seriously in love with purple. All shades. Almost every accessory/clothing item/purse/outerwear I've purchased/received in the past year has been purple. I can't get enough of the color. I wore this dress on an impromptu date night last week. Ryan loved it, I felt pretty, it was super cheap. 

Win-Win-Win

These boots I found in clearance on the Target site. I don't shop for shoes locally because I can hardly ever find a size 12. These aren't as cute as in the online photo (and the materials are CHEAP) - but they're black ankle boots, weren't a kajillion dollars and that's what I've been looking for.

Our book/movie/video game collection in the living room outgrew the shelf we had, so I picked out this one at the local furniture warehouse. I should have bought two. I wanted two, but I was trying to be frugal... they completely sold out that day (and come to find out, the manufacturer will not be making more). I'm so upset I didn't buy two. See where shopping responsibly gets you? Grr

When I sent a photo of the new shelf to my Momo (my mom), she asked if there was anything else I had had my eye on. In fact, yes, there was! I have needed a dining room set for a few years. At my old rental, the landlords had a set that we borrowed. After moving to the new condo, my Poppa lent me a card table. A couple of months ago I scored a free table off of Craigslist, but to be honest, I would have rather kept the card table. Ha.

My Momo (being the amazing person that she is) told me to come pick her up and we would go shop for a new dining set... her treat! Wow! Here it is folks...

I love it! My very own dining set! Isn't it funny what will excite you as an adult?. 

The support of the table is a four-leg storage pedestal (with two shelves). 

The chairs have leather seats. Ooh la la!

Psst Don't get leather furniture with a kitten in the house. Bad idea. Dutch's claws have already left a couple little punctures in the seats. Waah

I am very pleased with my finds and hope to have an update soon about some really neat local gifts for the holidays.

Happy Halloween!

It's that "sexy" time of year again...

Well, my blog followers, I'm sorry to say that you are about to read my first rant opinionated piece.
I wanted to make sure, when writing in this blog, that the content was light hearted. Interesting. A window into MY life... but without over sharing. Good goal, no?
I have seen too many blogs (and lately, FB updates. What's up with the Debbie Downers?) that have rants and raves, which honestly I don't mind too much, but a constant supply of negativity is never fun!

With that being said, and you fully warned, here I go!

October marks the beginning of my holiday season: Alaska Day, Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, MY BIRTHDAY, Christmas and New Years.
I really love all of these holidays, but my favorite of all, besides my birthday *hehe* has got to be Halloween... There's only one thing wrong with Halloween.

SEXY costumes. Uggh

I've never understood the need to dress up down for Halloween. Granted, it is more likely to want a costume that is flattering vs a gorey disgusting one, IMO there is no need to be showing as much skin as if you're in a bathing suit!

A good friend texted me the other day:
"Since when did this holiday give license for otherwise nice girls to be slutty? Save the slut for the bedroom!" HAHA
I share her view on costume choices 100%.

Why do women feel the need to sex up whatever their costume idea is? For example; why is it ok to dress up like a librarian, teacher, nun, kitty, mechanic, vampire or indian... but have the emphasis of the costume be on which body parts are showing, rather than using creativity?
Probably because these women are too worried about being judged for dressing so slutty any other day of the year. Well, news flash! Besides your s/o, creepers and Hugh Heffner (have you seen what his entourage wears on a daily basis?!) no one else wants to see your hoo hah and tits. Even on Halloween.

I was browsing a few costume websites the other day, in search of a costume for a friend. I hadn't looked for costumes online in a few years and was quite appalled at all of the crap that passes for a costume idea (not just on this one website!)

Here are a few of my favorites. Ha.

Sexy shark
Sexy mustard
Annie Annie is a CHILD!? WTF?
Sexy credit card, really? I didn't realize inanimate objects could be sexy
Sexy pineapple. What!? How is that possible? Pineapple is a fruit, and I'm almost positive that anyone who thought one was sexy, would be considered certifiable.

By now hopefully you can agree that people have reached an all new level of ridiculousness in thinking that anything can be made into a sexy costume.
If you want to be a pineapple, be a damn pineapple, minus the sex appeal.

Jewels of the Interweb

I might have too much time on my hands. You're welcome.

Seriously? I didn't know what to think about this one. I giggled a lot, and was actually surprised by their grace (cause if this was me, you best believe I'd be flat on my face in 2 bounces), but am impressed with the workout/choreography. Have any of you tried Kangoos?

This website always gives me a good chuckle. I personally try not to be passive-aggressive towards anyone because I had a 5 year relationship that was real tough because of it. This website though, oh man, I eat this up!

Winning! Or not!

These are all over Etsy. Eew.

Last, but certainly not least, I found this on Gawker. Saves me from having to post 100 links!

More fun when you're drunk?

I'm almost 27, and in my professional "grown up" opinion, I shouldn't be condoning drunken activity... but I firmly believe that any activity is better enjoyed with an alcoholic beverage in hand :)
DodgeBall or softball, sledding, dancing, sex (ok, maybe not with a drink in hand), board games, family dinners, first dates... you get my point, no?

My best friend invited me and the bf to an "Adult Pumpkin Carving" get together.
Just a few close friends, a few drinks and some pumpkins to carve. Nothing crazy, right?
Wrong!This was the equivalent of a late-twentie's house party. SO much fun was had!

I'll give you the night in photos... since photos are seriously better than trying to explain in words.

Ryan went on a pumpkin hunt (for those of you in other parts of the world than Alaska, this might entail a trip to a pumpkin patch or perhaps a farm, but no, not us Alaskans) at Safeway. $18 dollars for a pumpkin. The Fuck? I don't think so! We decided to skip the carving portion of the night and just get drunk.

Steffani found this (just like a gingerbread house kit!) and let me put it together. So fun to mix frosting and assemble while drunk (not). I'm pretty sure I made the biggest mess of my life... and left it. Oops.

Pretty Pumpkin Princess!

Which is better? Spider or ghost? Ha, inside joke. Had to be there for that one.

Tom working hard on his AWESOME pumpkin. Will show the after picture in a minute!

The boys (and girls) decided drunk seed baking was a must. Great idea. Second worst mess of the night! But... considering all of the seeds were devoured, I'm pretty sure they were delicious... that or you can apply my theory that anything is better while drinking. Even pumpkin seeds.

Ever reach that point where a couple drinks turns into too many drinks, and all of a sudden, things get very drunk GOOD?

"HEEEEY YOOOU GUUUYYYSSS!!!"

Here's another "inside joke" moment. <3 you Ranaughty!

(Stair sliding seems to happen a lot when I'm drunk)

Weeee for Drunk Wii!

I'm not even sure how I got this shot

Honey Badger don't give a shit, neither does Steffani.

Ryan passed out early, in a toddler bed. Thank goodness it held him (must be my awesome assembly skills, I put that bed together for Steff's family this past summer)!

I went to bed before I got to see the end product. This is Tom's Goonies pumpkin! Nice work, Tom!

New Obsession

I have known about Pinterest for quite a while. Lots of friends on FB have posted pictures from and told me about what a great a site they'd discovered.

At first I wasn't interested, but then curiosity took hold and I decided to look into Pinterest.
Why fight an awesome thing any longer??

I am awaiting my invite *grr* and will have to designate an hour or so a day to exploring the site/pins... I can see myself getting totally sucked in. Yikes!

Do you use Pinterest?

13

Today's post is dedicated to my major accomplishment... no matter how small it may seem to other people!

While at work in Oct of 2008, I fell and injured my knee traversing a muddy/rocky hillside (gotta love that Alaskan terrain!) in an attempt to coral an escape artist (you've also gotta love kids that run away from school!).
A torn meniscus *which I was told (by many medical professionals) is a simple fix with a very unlikely chance of re-injury* took me on a magical journey...
One which included re-injury 2 times, 3 surgeries, months of physical therapy, months of chiropractic care/massage, and every cream/steroid/injection/pill you could think of... oh, and let's not forget two out of state IME's *Workers Comp's way of trying their best to disprove you are injured and require medical care*.

Post surgery loveliness

The 3rd surgery, which took place on my birthday 12/13/10 *Happy 26th!* fixed not only my meniscus but some cartilage damage to the knee cap. Hence the robo-brace for 12 weeks. That was fun. not

Besides lots of aches and pains, lots of medical bills *after Workers Comp made the decision that the two re-injuries were in no possible way related to the first injury and they would no longer cover any treatment o_o* and lots of lost time having fun with my son/friends/family... the worst part of it all had to be the 60 lb weight gain. Long bouts of almost complete inactivity over 3 years has not been kind to me.
The last physical therapy session I completed (in May of 2011), my therapist had me try an Elliptical. I made it to 1 minute and had to quit. My knee had made drastic improvement over the past 2.5 years, but still wasn't ready for working out :(

Over the summer I conditioned my poor knee with lots of walking, stretching and massage. I even found a used Elliptical on Craigslist for $30! SCORE! By August I was able to use the Elliptical for almost 3 minutes. Slowly but surely I was improving my stamina. Go me!

Then came the disastrous hiking adventure... *small detour, to explain the second half of this post!*
I went to visit my boyfriend Ryan in Wrangell, AK for 2 weeks of commercial fishing.

Fact; fish are slippery

Fact; Killary is a salmon slayer

We took a trip up the Stikine River

Fact; I fall. A lot. 

I took a dip, more than once, oops.

We hiked up to The Tubs (a naturally occurring hot spring which has been routed to fill hot tubs out in the boonies).

On the hike back from The Tubs I sprained my ankle. Not just a sprain, no. Leave it to me... I tore both tendons off my ankle and pulled out little chips of bone too. Yay!

Being the badass that I am I <s> cried, crawled and fell some more</s> hiked a mile back to the jetboat, gill-netted for 2 days and THEN took a trip to the Wrangell ER.

This is what my ankle looked like after 2 days

Fast forward to 8 weeks later (after wearing a monstrous aircast boot, a slimmer in-shoe aircast, and now no aircast with only minimal swelling)... I hopped on *cautiously. Remember my tumbling talent?* the Elliptical and did 13 minutes! 13!!

13 minutes is a major improvement from the 1 minute I could do just 5 months ago.

I am so pleased with my knee/ankle performance, and can't wait to workout again tomorrow!

Let's all cross our fingers (and eyes, toes, arms etc) that I don't fall any time soon and start the vicious cycle of injury, treatment and recuperation all over again!

Meow

Growing up my family had 5 cats - Cloi, Darby, Luna, Fred and Jo.
I haven't had a cat as a pet for over 5 years, but I have very fond memories about each cat and miss them all dearly.

My little family already has a Golden Retriever but I've been wanting another pet to love... we don't have enough yet. can a person ever have too many pets? Yes. Meow.

I've been on the look out for a kitten for months...
This weekend, while I was browsing the Gastineau Humane Society website I happened to stumble across an 8 wk old kitty!
A baby kitty who is litter trained... who is orange (orange cats = winning)... who is an animal in need of a home?! Winning x2!
I literally jumped off the couch, ran around hooting and hollering in excitement and then drug Braeden and Ryan out of the house. We were at GHS in record time, and luckily we were the first people to put in paperwork for the kitty.

The paperwork went through and about 5 days later we adopted our furball :)

We had lots of time (and lots of suggestions) to think of names:
Mr. Bojangles, KittyKitty, Mr. Kitty, Lionel, Taco, KitKat, Pawsy, Aslan, and Houdini (because of his numerous attempted escapes the first night)... but we decided on Dutch. Double Dutch for when he gets fat. Dubs for short.
Dutch is the sweetest, most lovable, cuddle, crazy, funny and adventerous kitty. We are all so in love!

Ahh! Kitty jail!

The first afternoon he was home, we had him cornered (a LARGE space) in Braeden's room. We wanted to make sure he could use the litter box/eat before we let him explore the whole house.

Another reason for kitty jail? Lennie (our 2.5 yr old Golden). We weren't sure how both animals would react to each other. Some sniffing, licking and cautious play took place the first couple of days.

Toys! Kitties love toys! (Note to self: Buy a laser pointer!)

Braeden, my 7 yr old is head over heals for this little kitten. He wants to do nothing but play. All day. He even has gone as far as trying to convince me that he can't go to school because the kitten will be lonely without him. Nice try, buddy!

Silly cat! First habit to break... drinking out of human water glasses. Although very cute, and resourceful on the cat's behalf, thinking about dirty cat tongues in my water is not something I want to worry about when I go for a drink!

Progress!

Success! 

The best part about this whole adopting-a-kitty business (besides all of the snuggles, cute kitty faces and watching my son get so much joy out of his new pet)? My little fur babies get along... for now! 

We'll see what happens the first time Dutch scratches Lennie...