Dangerous and Stupid

Yesterday Cecily posted about things she has done that are Dangerous and Stupid. Sheesh, I am such a little wimp that I can't even think of a single thing that would fit into her post. Don't get me wrong, I have done quite a few stupid things, but nothing really dangerous and stupid.

Probably the stupidest thing I did was take almost 20 years to finish my college education (yep...I have about 10 thousand credits). Then the next stupidest was to wait for a man to make up his mind. If he can't make a decision after 2 years, hit the bricks, buster!

Well, Wait a minute, I did think of something. We - the three women I went to Hawaii with WAAAAYYY back 25 years ago - did pick up a man at the Honolulu airport and let him spend the night in the house we were at (he slept in a room alone - really). That was pretty stupid, I guess. We were lucky his name wasn't Ted Bundy.

Oh, yeah. I lost 1 (one) pound. Oh, well, down is still down, I guess.

Not so much...

Don't really have a lot I want to post about. I have spent far too much time this week looking in on other people's lives. I think that I might be a cyber-stalker in disguise.

I missed my Wednesday Weight Watcher meeting. I am going to one this evening and will post the results then. I was doing real well and then B wanted to go out for breakfast this morning. BLECH!!! I usually love breakfast but not when I can't order something great. I wound up eating something I probably shouldn't so i will see how it affects my loss (or lack thereof).

My in-laws get into town this evening. Oh, joy. This should be a fun couple of days.

Since I haven't put up a picture of my gorgeous son recently, I will do so now. I asked him to strike a pose and this is what I got.

I took a quiz and it seemed to hit me pretty well. It got my major and minor switched but they were at least numbers 1 and 2. Results follows:

What is your perfect major?

You scored as Mathematics. You should be a Math major! Like Pythagoras, you are analytical, rational, and when are always ready to tackle the problem head-on! Mathematics 100% Engineering 83% Philosophy 67% English 67% Linguistics 58% Chemistry 50% Journalism 50% Sociology 50% Dance 42% Biology 42% Psychology 25% Theater 25% Anthropology 17% Art 17% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com

Four things...

A meme from Tess

4 Jobs I have had

1. Waitress
2. Baker
3. Receptionist/helper for an ophthalmologist
4. Software Engineer

4 Neat places I have vacationed

1. Greece
2. Belize
3. The Yucatan Peninsula
4. England

4 Foods I love to eat

1. Fresh tomatoes just picked off the bush
2. Flan/custard/crème brulee
3. Mashed potatoes and gravy (actually potatoes just about any way…including raw)
4. Ice cream (there is this Ben & Jerry’s flavor that is vanilla ice cream with chocolate and caramel….YUMMMM…just rub it over me and watch me squirm to lick it all off…what an image)

4 Television shows I don't like to miss

1. Monk
2. ER
3. Boston Legal (William Shatner is great in this...he pokes fun at himself in almost every episode)
4. Leno on Monday nights so I can watch Headlines

4 Movies I can watch again & again

1. The Shawshank Redemption (what is it about this movie??? I just love it)
2. Casablanca (call me a hopeless romantic)
3. Chicago (great music…Catherine Zeta-Jones is so gorgeous that I would almost turn lesbian for her and Queen Latifah is great in it)
4. Mame (The Lucille Ball version - again I just love the music)

4 Cities I have lived in

1. Seattle
2. Portland (OR)
3. Dallas
4. Jacksonville

4 Book I love to read

1. Anything from the Dragons of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
2. Just about anything by Andre Norton
3. Anything by J.A. Jance (or Sara Paretsky or Sue Grafton)
(…oh! Oh! Or Tony Hillerman)
4. Asimov! Heinlein! Clarke! (okay…classic SF…okay modern too)
5. Also history…especially books on the US Civil War; US Revolutionary War and classic Greece and Rome and ...
6. Archeology!!

Okay…I can’t pick just 4 books.

Pictures Tell the Story

I think I must be reverse-anorexic. You know how anorexics look at themselves in the mirror and see a fat person while the rest of us see a concentration camp survivor? Well I look at myself in the mirror and say to myself, ‘Gee, I don’t look all that bad.’ Then I see a picture of myself and reality hits me in the face like a cold salmon in a fish-slapping contest.

Damn! I’m FAT!!

Well, here are the ‘before’ pictures. Judge for yourself.




The first weigh-in? Well that came in at a whopping 218.8.

DAMN!! I’m FAT!!!

The Great Weight Debate

Okay; on the Weight Debate. I can’t resist jumping in here. I first saw references to this at Tertia’s. Then I read the links she had (Go ahead. Take a look. I’ll wait). Than I read Cecily’s. Then I went back to Tertia’s new post.

I am glad that Tertia clarified it. She said

“This was not supposed to be a debate about being overweight. My point was about taking pride in yourself, feeling good about yourself, whatever your weight is. Whether you are 100 pounds or 300 pounds (am v bad at the conversions!), you can be beautiful, attractive etc. The issue about not taking pride in oneself was directed at people of all shapes and sizes. “

I am glad about this because I had a friend (sadly I lost touch with her) who was a very large woman. I would venture to guess that she easily topped 220 on a 5’4” frame. But she was a gorgeous woman. She always dressed impeccably. Her hair and makeup always looked great. She was confident and strong.

I also know someone of average weight who does not seem to care about appearance. Clothes are always sloppy; hair uncombed; always looking dishevelled. Now I don’t know why her appearance is so bad but to me she always seems a little distracted and self-doubting.

For myself, as I have said I am a large woman but I think for the most part I am confident and strong. Most of all I really like me. I think I am a really terrific person. Now that being said I would like to lose some weight for health reasons. I would love to cut down on my blood pressure meds and lose the Lipitor if I could. I also recognize the prevalence of diabetes in this country and would not like to join the horde (glucose level is fine right now, thank you).

On that note, I am announcing that I am going to join Weight Watchers again. I leave for my meeting in about 10 minutes. Since oftentimes making it public helps in achieving one’s weight loss goals, I will post weight and progress on this blog.

Stay tuned.

A Home at last

It looks like we might finally be getting ready to close on a home. The house that we put in an(other) offer on is a 3136 sq. ft (yeah...way more than we need) all brick new home on just about a quarter acre (about as big as the other houses we have owned). The schools are all great; there will be a new elementary school completed by the time E needs it and the community is very kid-friendly with lots of activities for children, 2 swimming pools, 2 water parks and many parks (one just across the greenbelt from the house).

The house itself is rather plain with real basic fixtures (no upgraded lights, kitchen or bathroom fixtures) which is a change from our other houses which all had nice features like crown molding, hardwood floors, columns, etc. With this home we have given up amenities in exchange for square footage (3136 sq ft!!).

Then there is the yard, of course I can just see my little guy running around that big yard. I can picture the sandbox that he can get really dirty in (hey, B!! Little boys get dirty…leave him alone!!) and play with his trucks; his dump trucks and diggers and backhoes. He can catch geckos (yep, it’s Florida…we got ‘em here), snakes and bugs while I try to keep them from invading the house.

And it’s only 15 minutes from work. Good for me too.

A Little Miscellany

I am going on a business trip to Philadelphia. I will be there until Friday. I never minded making short business trips. I hated it when I was gone for 3 or 4 weeks, but a couple of days is not bad.

I did hate telling E though. He cried and said, ‘Mommy, don’t go.’ It is really hard for me to hear that little boy cry *sniff*.

I am taking my laptop so I may make a post while I am gone. I found this little meme the other day that I thought was kind of cool. It is to list five quirky things about yourself. I really had a hard time thinking of five.

Five quirky things:

1. I count the stairs as I go up or down.

2. I try to make words from license plates as I am driving down the street and am very happy if the plate makes a word without needing an extra letter.

3. I carry dental floss around with me constantly. I have a couple of teeth that have a larger gap between them and hate hate HATE having food stuck between them. If I have to I will use a toothpick, but I really prefer the floss.

4. I work better if I can listen to music. The problem with that is if it is music I really like I always wind up singing to it too. Now I don’t have a problem with this but I have to make sure to keep it quiet so I don’t disturb my co-workers.

5. I hate having a dirty bathroom. I clean my bathroom every day. Now I don’t do a super bang-up job every day. I keep a brush next to my toilet and swish it out every day, wipe down my shower wall with the soap left in my washcloth and swish the sink out after brushing my teeth. It takes me maybe five minutes a day but that way my bathroom is never dirty. I blame the Flylady.

What are your 5 quirky things? Let me know if you take up the challenge