Pix of a pic

Yup... my oldest niece, my sistas and Mom at Knott's for a photo opt. My mom wanted to take a funny or crazy picture for her b-day and here we are. My Mom is the madame and we are her saloon gals.

House painted

It been like two months or more since we gave our house a face lift...

When we first got the keys to our house it looked like this.

The bottom and some parts of the backside even had a mint green color.

But now our house is fabulous!!!

It makes such a huge difference and even our neighbors have noticed the transofrmation.

Happy be-lated Halloween

I'm going through my camera and noticing that school and work had me so busy that I never posted about our very first pumpkin carving event. How could I forget such a momentous occasion seeing how we have been trying to crave pumpkins for forever and a day now.

I had checked out our local farmer's lot for pumpkins thinking they would be cheap and had a heart attack when some were priced for $25-$30!!! People are insane! We headed to Ralphs instead and got some for $5.00 each.

I cheated and got some stencils and made a scary monster. He made his guest appearance outside, but Jay wanted it inside so the neighborhood kids would be tempted to steal it.
I carved "Nessa" in the back.

Jay's was all done by himself. Yup, no stencils and it came out awesome looking!!!

Can you tell which team he's rooting for?

The actual day of Halloween we avoided being home and leaving lights on because we hadn't gotten candy.

First qtr down

My first quarter at Cal Poly Pomona is over! YAY!!! University life is much different then the junior college. You have to figure a lot of crap out yourself and there is definitely no hand holding processes. I never realized how much the JC helped out through process until making an appointment with my counselor at Cal Poly took me going to my major's home office, finding out who my counselor was, finding his office, finding his office hours, downloading my major's map, transcripts and some other form just to be prepared to meet him. Ugh! At the JC you walked into the counseling office and forms were there and they pulled you up on the screen. No need for all the running around and bull crap.

During the beginning of the quarter I got an email that I was accepted to some honor society. I went to two meetings and for club points gave blood for my first time. Fun thing is I stop going to the club meetings because the people were lame.
After giving blood though I got wrapped in my favorite color... PURPLE! And it's this bandage that isn't tape. What an awesome invention.

Now I have like 8 more quarters to go.

Lab final blooper

It was the day of my lab final. I had only been sitting for less then ten minutes and somehow my whole left leg had fallen asleep without me knowing. There was no heavy or tingling feeling. The teacher opened the door and people started to file in. I must have lifted myself completely up with my awake leg 'cuz when I went to step my ankle caved in, my leg gave out, I heard a pop and was thankful for the wall in front of me that I grabbed onto with dear life.

This my friends is my first sprained ankle!!!

I was wheeled into class so we could start the lab final which required me to go to 20 stations. I hopped myself to each station. Imst have looked like a funny sight.

October 11, 2009

Yup, that last picture speaks volumes about that day. It seemed like something really, really didn't want me to go that day. The night before I set my alarm for 4:00 AM to give me enough time to get up, shower, take my thyroid pill and give the allotted 30 - 60 minutes before eating and drive time. My phone has been acting up and decided not to sync with Verizon's towers and when my alarm went off saying it was 4:00 AM is was actually minutes before 6:00 AM. AHHHH!!!! I only knew this because when I woke up something told me to reboot my phone. Well... Verizon ISN'T the most reliable network after all. Somehow I brushed my teeth, put on my workout out fit, took my thyroid pill and made it to my sister's house in 20 minutes. Yes, I was doing 80mph.

The race waves started at 7:00 AM!!! I ate my apple and finished getting ready on the drive there. My sister said she woke up late too. She was worried when i wasn't there and not picking up the phone because I am normally the on-time type.

We hit the road and weren't the only late ones. As we waited to exit we saw people running in the distance... the race was already under way.

Fearing there would be no parking for this international race we parked at the first parking lot we could find and ran to the race line. By this time I had to use the restroom and we were so excited that it didn't dawn on us how far we were running.

So I found the porta-potties, stood in line and did my business only to find NO TOILET paper. AH! Well, good thing there were toilet seat covers. We were going to run the 1/4 mile to the start line and then start the race, but thought nah and started where the porta potties were. By this time we didn't know it but had ran about a mile to the race and was about 40+ minutes late.

Jay was kind enough to put new songs on my iPod the night before but a mile into the race it stopped playing... 13.1 miles with no music. Ugh! My sister and I chatted and laughed about the days events. I confessed to her that I had only ran up to 8 miles in my training. I could feel my toes hitting my shoes and regret not cutting my toe nails the night before. I had tied my shoes loose because I knew they would swell and didn't want to stop to retie them or cut off my circulation which ended up being a bad mistake.

I ran straight for about 9-10 miles and started to crash. Not eating breakfast had finally gotten to me. Plus I was pushing myself further then I had in training. Around mile 11 there was an aid station were we got a protein drink for fuel. I was happy to finish it, but bumped that it took about 3+ hours (well we think since we were late).

On both feet my toe nail next to my big toe are black and I was SO sore. But I was happy that through every obstacle we made it and finished the race. There nothing I rather do then set a goal and have great company along the way.

Me arrested for??

I got a text forward from Cindy which said:

FWD: PLAY ALONG: you see me in a police car, what would u think I got arrested for? Answer me, then fwd and see how many crimes you get accused of!

I had stayed home sick that day with some virus and it made my day to reply and forward it. I was getting a kick out of people responses and these were them.

My oldest sis: "U got accused of beating up a girl who was talkn shit. U put ur hair in a ponytail...took ur earrings off...and said....awww hell no...and took her to town!" OK... if you saw me at my niece's sweet 16 party you could totally believe this!!

Jessy: "For stealing an injured horse or animal from their cruel owner. Or for slappin tia Patricia in the face ;)" Yup, I have a soft spot for animals and if you knew the terrible women my aunt is, and the upsetting things she did after my father's death, you would want to slap her too!

Paul: "Sex in a public place."

Teo: "Accused of indecent exposure."

David: "Line steppin!" which I reply "what is that? Line dancing?" and he said "Or pulling a Houdini" - I STILL don't know what that means. Do you?

Cindy: "Defending ur sister in a catfight." This is so me! I would totally back up any or all my sisters, but hopefully escape before the cops come.

Natalie: "Lol oh boy just don't get arrested."

Archie: "I think you would have got arrested for beating up someone for being cruel to animals...But you would never get convicted." Damn straight.. I watch Animal Planet all the time and would love to prosecute animal cruelty cases for a living.

So all in all my friends and fam think I am a animal lovin, kick ass, sex kitten... not bad!

Last call

I have a part time training schedule next week with my replacement; however, my good-bye celebrations happened throughout this week. How awkward for my replacement to have to be there through out it all. I felt bad as people would tell her they have big shoes to fill or the bar has been placed really, really, really high as they raise their arm higher and higher with each word. Wednesday I had flowers delivered from my back up support admin and my team. I also got a sweet card and earrings from my boss's wife saying thank for taking good care of her husband. How sweet is that?

Friday I had a small group of gals (many I barely knew) give me a book with stories of extraordinary women. Only the gals that wrote it in were invited to the breakfast, so later I had people apologize they didn't write in it because they felt it was Merriann's way of saying good bye and they didn't want to spill their hearts out and have others read it and others felt like it was a homework assignment. I totally understood, but I wasn't the planner of my good bye events. Had I been I would have invited the admins and NOT my replacement. Yes, she was invited and wrote in the book. I don't get it, but I can't complain. The gesture was very nice.

The second celebration of the day was at Claim Jumper's for lunch with all the admins from my floor. My boss is a crack up and mentioned that even though he would be leaving early he wanted me to know he was "funding" all the events. What made it even funnier was we had purposely changed the afternoon celebration just so he could join, but hey he got tickets to the UCLA basketball game, so you KNOW he wasn't going to miss that just have good bye cake with me!!! Anywho, I've never been to Claim Jumper's and since it was on someone else's dime, I decided to try something new. I would be bummed if I were paying for it and didn't like it. I got the Citrus Salad and Chicken Tortilla Soup... YUM! The conversations were fun and a lot of reminiscing since three of us started at the same time. I'm going to miss these gals. Tam the most and hope my non-social self makes an effort to keep in touch.

Later that afternoon we had cake with the whole floor where I got well wishes, good bye cards and tons of gift cards. I made out like a bandit -- Target, Carl's Jr, Starbucks, and Visa, MasterCard and American Express gift cards. Shortly after that celebration some of the admins stopped by with more cards and gifts.

Here's all my loot! (minus a travel bag) :) Which reminds me... our couches came in.

Here's a better picture of the sofa. The love seat is our office, but looks the same.

I don't miss high school

School is coming along. Its definitely a completely a different environment going during the day then at night. I get to see clubs, gatherings, rallies and the social aspect of college life. It's definitely cool. We had hot dog day, with free chips, drinks, ice cream and games I was stoaked when I saw they had veggie dogs. I was so happy that I even texted a few people and thought, what did people do before texting? I guess actually call people and share with them what ever. The most annoying thing about going to school during the day is all the kids straight out of high school. This one boy sitting next to me on the first day of lab was swiveling around and around in his chair and so amazed we had lab chairs that did this. Then he proceeded to open EVER drawer that was at our station even the one right in front of me. Had I not stopped him from opening it all the way, he would have pushed the drawer straight into my stomach. Then we introduction came up, I stood up (as 1/2 the class did) but he had to comment "woe... she stood up." Needless to say the next lab I made sure not to sit by him.

Another high schooler was shocked that every hall way she passes people are quiet and studying. In high school everyone talks because if your studying you're a "nerd!" She said she just wants to talk to everyone and then proceeded to go to people that were studying and start up a conversation. In college studying and seeming like a nerd is not a bad thing!

Earlier in the week I trained my (hopefully) future replacement. I thought it was nice of my bosses to offer her a trial run for the position before she committed. One day with me and another day on her own to see if she liked the job before giving notice to her current job in this economy. It seemed like she enjoyed herself and my bosses liked her, so they are extending the offer on Monday. She might give a three week notice, so I will be at my work for another 3-4 weeks. The money is definitely coming in handy and having access to a printer helps with homework that I need to print out.

Quarter verse semester is a lot faster. I have already had two papers due, a lab done and a quiz. I got 100% on the quiz and on the paper that was returned. Not too bad...but we are in the easier parts of the class, so I should be doing well! It would be a bad sign if I wasn't getting the material this early in the game.

Crazies thing I've experiences on campus was seeing a Caiman alligator. It was a tiny one, but it's on campus in a jungle green house.

Exciting news... tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary! :) We are playing it low key and our only solid plans are having a picnic. Maybe he will surprise me and will go take pictures. We talked about it last night, but he said he needed a haircut. Maybe the photo session will have to wait.

Also, next Sunday is the 1/2 marathon. My sister ran 11 miles on Friday and last week I ONLY RAN 3 miles. :( Uh-oh... I better do some last minute long runs to some what prepare.

Shutters are here!

Came back from the gym not too long ago. It was a good workout and I wanted to finish with a at home ab workout. I came into the office to get my weights and what do you know? A camera jumped into my hands and I decided to take pictures of our new shutters! They are finally here. Yes, the shutters that I mention off and on for what seemed like forever.

After a long wait, prepping for them to arrive twice, and a lot of BS and the run around (more like us chasing them around) from the unprofessional B&B Blinds company they finally were installed 4 months later from the original 2 months (max) we were told they would take.

It makes the rooms look so much different compared to the temporary blinds we have been living with since we moved in.

Sorry to bore you with house improvements, but I gotta show ya.
Our living room shutters. Jay is going to put up the curtain rod and new curtains on the sliding door.

Our bedroom shutters.

Jayla's room and the new shutters.

The office's shutters and you can see one of our new ceiling lamps. Another improvement I forgot to blog about. I am going to make a photo album before and afters. This used to be the purple room before we official moved in.

This is our guest bedroom. Jay put the bed together this morning. Can you believe this room used to be that half white half blue painted room? It's come a long ways since our take over.

Ok... now I am off to finish my workout.

1294

It was my bib number for yesterday's Boot Camp Challenge Race in San Diego. Like most race morning, I wake up and want to go straight back to bed, but don't. Yesterday was no exception. My goal for the race was not to walk any part of it. Granted it's not a 10K or 1/2 marathon, but 3 miles is a good distance and this one had obstacle course in between the run. I am so proud to say I made my goal!

I am not sure what my official time was since I didn't stay for the posting of the results and don't see them up on their website yet but know we started at 9:28 AM and I crossed (according to my watch) at 10:03 AM, so it took me 35 mins. Not bad at all. I'll let you know what the website says once it's posted. :)

A little hurdle

Today was the interview for the job I really, really , really wanted. What I found out during the interview was it's a "work study" program. Meaning there is a Federal Grant with X amount of money and students have to apply for a work study program and be qualified. The employer pays a portion of my salary and the grant kicks in for the rest. *sigh* I called the Financial Aid office and couldn't get through, so I think this is the Friday that they are closed due to budget cuts. :( I will call on Monday and see if I can get through otherwise I will visit them in person.

Otherwise, the interview went well. A little short, but good. There were two people interviewing me, they told me about the school, themselves and the position. Then they asked me to tell them a little about myself. I kept the answer on a professional level, talked about my employment history, current change of careers, school schedule and future career goals and that was pretty much the interview. I had a questions about the work environment, expectations, etc and then was back on the road to my job.

I'll let you know if I am qualified for the word study program and if I get a job offer.

Campus life

Today I woke up super early. Actually all morning I kept waking up every 30 mins or so and checking the time. I guess I wanted to make sure I didn't sleep in on my first day of school. Jay's alarm went off and he was too sick to realize where his phone was and that it was even his phone going off. I decided just to get up then. I made us both tea and turkey bacon and made myself some oatmeal, too. A girl needs a breakfast for champions on her first day of school. My first class was at 7:45am and I thought an hour would be enough time to drive the 17 miles to school, find parking and get to class on time. After all, on a work day I give myself 30-45 mins to drive 27 miles. Little did I know that traffic would be horrible!!!! Once I got off the freeway it took 30 mins JUST to drive 6 miles to campus. UGH!!!! Needless to say, I was late to my first class! But I was relieved to not be the only one. People we popping in 40mins late. CRAZY!!! It was my bio lecture class and the teacher seemed cool, laid back and informative. Best news she told us was the book we bought for $161 will be used for Bio 121, 122 AND 123. YAY!!! I was stoaked that i wouldn't need to buy a book for the next two quarters. Because of budget cuts there were no handouts and we were referred to an online site to download everything. I spaced out my classes with an hour between each, so I am not rushing right after one class to the next.

My next class was Dance in Contemporary History. A GE class that I need. The teacher was definitely different, but in a good way. She talked about getting politically involved, so our congressman know we are not please with the recent budget cuts and how it is effecting our lives, school career/plans, etc. Since my classes land on a Thursday, I will be missing 2-3 classes because of the mandatory furlough days, so I will either need to double up in a week or miss a section completely depending on the teacher. She had a good point. Education is not cheap and we should take advantage of what we paid for, so maybe I will write my congressman.

My next class was Multicultural psychology. The teacher looked the first lady. She was very by the book, but the class seems interesting and applies for two section for my graduation requirement... NICE!

My last class was my bio lab which doesn't meet until next Tuesday. Not bad for my first day.

I do notice that I will definitely need to watch what I eat as the quarter progresses and make sure I don't gain my weight back. They have some healthy options for lunch but I want to find something I can make and bring with me without having to refrigerate. Something low calorie, high protein that will fill be up for my 3 hour class that follows lunch time. Any ideas? Today I brought two snacks with me celery with peanut butter and sliced cucumbers. The lid on the cucumbers must've came off because mid-day my backpack was wet. Arrrgggg!!! While in the restroom drying my bag a girl shared with me that something similar happened to her except it was Italian dressing. I guess my situation could've been worst. For lunch I bought a subway sandwich on campus, but can't be spending money like that every school day. Oh... and I have to confess... I bought a Starbucks drink during one of my breaks :( I know, I know... I shouldn't be consuming so many darn calories. I got the Tall size though, so my drink was 325 calories.

Well, I back to getting readying for my interview tomorrow and taking care of my love who is still sick (and may have passed it on to me).

I picked it and he loved it :)

Tomorrow is a big day, my very first day of school at Cal Poly Pomona and while I should be resting up for my 7:45am class, I can't sleep! Jay on the other hand is passed out which is unheard of for him, but he has a "cold" but I think he has the flu. Early he took his temp and it was 103 :( But took it again and now it's down 1 degree. I am trying not to get sick, so am going to sleep in the guest room for the 2nd night. Is that mean of me not to sleep with him? He normally sleeps with me when I am sick, but he does have a stronger immune system then I do.

Our house furniture is slowly making it's way back into the living room and dining room area. Here are some photos of how the texturing and paint job came out.
The entry way is yellow (I should know the names, but the paint cans are in the garage and I am too lazy to go out and see what name it is) Our lighting is those energy saver light bulbs and it brings out a duller yellow at night, but that's ok. I think the brown accent is called Eureka.

This one you can see a little better of the yellow and brown.

The more and more I look at it, I start to like it. I was a little worried that Jay was not going to like it, but he did. YAY! Good thing, because getting it painting for the third time in 4 months would be over doing it.

The TV commercial looks funny in this pic.

That is a duvet cover covering our table. Please believe we are not decorating with that Victorian scheme. Not that I don't like it, but for our every day living space, it's a little too formal.

Walking down the hall from the rooms, you can see both colors and I think that is pretty cool. The painter was loving that you could "appreciate" the color scheme from every entry way.

Shutters are FINALLY getting installed on the 28th and in about a month our couch and love seat will be here. Our house is coming together. I think our next project should be getting closet doors. We looked into custom ones, but those are ridiculously priced!!!! But we are in desperate need of some in every room because the previous owners decided to duck tape them together and make a wall in the garage, so we trashed them. Little did we know it would be hard to find the right fit, style and type.

Cell Phone Pictures

I've been having problems with my phone and when I took it in, they gave me a new phone same model. The transfer of data took some time because I had close to 200 photos. I decided to go thru and delete some. It cracked me up that I had a ton of Jayla, sleep, eating or doing an activity. On the days that Jay works and I am watching Jayla I like to update him on what we are up to and send picture of those moments.

Here are some that I wanted to share.
This table was left in my Dad's garage still in the box. My sister said I could have it for our patio and I put it together all by myself :)

These are my new running shoes and I think I picked them over the other style only because they have shades of purple through out and everyone knows I am a sucker for my favorite color purple.

When we were getting the door frames redone we needed more material and my car came in handy. I love that I can do so much with my car. I know it might sound funny but this is one of my dream cars and LOVE IT!

Jay had to spend $5 to use his ATM and super sized my Monster drink. It took three days to drink all 32oz! I am sure there are tons of people out there that gulp this puppy down in one sitting.

My niece, Lizzy, is IN LOVE with Elvis!!! The day after Lizzy's b-day I treated her to a Mexican lunch at Azteca's Restaurant in Garden Grove. It's dedicated to Elvis and has memorabilia all over the place, plus his movies playing on the TVs. My niece was grinning ear to ear until she saw a picture with Elvis and another female. She said she wished a storm would go over these women and be replaced by her. Haha... she has the jealous gene showing already!

They even sell Elvis glasses, which I couldn't resist purchasing for her.

Jayla had to go in time out and it cracked me up to see this view of her in her Mini Mouse ears and Christmas necklace.

Jay and I at Raquel's wedding.

The before picture where Jay was being Jay and making a funny face.

I was *trying* to be cute and text Jay this picture. If you are like Jay and can't see it, my stuff is spelling out "I miss u." Jay thought I was cleaning and showing him all the crap I was getting rid of.

At Cindy's B-day bash, this was one of the shot glasses. I though it was awesome and went with the theme of the party.

Picking up Jayla from daycare one day she said she drew something for me, took me by the hand and showed my the beautiful yellow flower. How touching!!!

He trusts me to pick it out

Jay at work today and is leaving tomorrow very early in the morning to AZ to visit Jayla, so today's decisions were all left up to me.

We are getting the entry way and living room/dining room textured and repainted and *I* had t pick the color scheme. It was a lot of pressure for me because I'm not really go at being able to see the end product. I have not 1 great decorative gene in me and for heaven sakes I was raised mostly by my dad who had a single's pad.

The guys came in, did the prep work and painted some color samples. We were going to go with having an accent wall, too, so that meant I had to pick two color. Ugh...

I text Jay and he gave little to no input and wanted and trusted me to pick them out. Dunn Edwards is closed tomorrow so the color I pick is what we are stuck with since the painter was going to the store TONIGHT. Talk about pressure!!! Not only that, but I had to envision our future couch and make sure the walls complimented it. Here's what our future couch looks like.

Out house has very nice warm earth tones with accents of medium to dark wood furniture. Here were the color schemes I was choosing from.

I ended up going with the top left corner yellow sample for the main color of two walls of the living room/dining room area and entry way and accenting the other two walls with the warm brown on the top right corner sample.

The painters left and will return tomorrow. This is how our house looks now, but tomorrow it will be an all new color scheme.

I hope I picked the right colors. I'll make sure to take some after photos.

Foot in the door

I was seriously praying at my desk today asking for a really good job to call me back after sending my resume out earlier this week and wouldn't you know right at the moment the ONE I really, really, really wanted to call back did!

I have an interview next Friday with my #1 choice for my future vet school. When I saw the position I was really excited. I would be a "Student Research Assistant" working in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The job seems very scientific and maybe something I would need extra training on, but I hope I get offered a position!

The description says I would participate in educational and research projects of their Disease Investigation Laboratory and their Wildlife and Environmental Health lab. Some of the responsibilities listed were

- isolation, identification and propagation of bacterial species of veterinary importance
- Participate and conduct restriction endonuclease analysis and other diagnostic methods
- Actively participate and assist in the field collection of samples, including blood and tissue collection and necropsies

Even though I am not familiar with a lot of what I will be doing, I am thrilled they even considered me. I am going to do research on the procedures and words I didn't know and of the facilities, so I go in prepared.

Wish me good luck!

Silencing the fat girl in me

My oldest sister always talks about the fat girl in her that is trying to come out. The fat girl is the one that tells you to go back to sleep when you are waking up early to work out, or the voice in you tempting you to stuff your face, etc.

I have a fat girl inside of me and for most of this past year she has been successful coming out. Around mother's day I signed up for for a 1/2 marathon to motivate me to slim down. It didn't do it's magic. End of July I joined this weight loss competition at work and it was just what I needed to silence the screaming fat beast that was inside of me.

Yesterday was the final weigh in of the 2-month weight loss competition. The past two weeks I must admit I was less motivated, but still made it to the gym and watching what i was eating. I recall talking to my sister on Friday before going in and complaining that I was tired but because of this competition I was going to the gym on a Friday night. Although I was complaining, I was happy that it was motivating me not to go home and be lazy.

Here are the weigh in results:
KT: GAINED 5 lbs (+2.8%)
MR: Lost 0.5 lbs (-0.4%)
DE: Lost 3 lbs (-1.7%)
AZ: GAINED 3 lbs (+1.5%)
JC: GAINED 5 lbs (+2.9%)
TS: Stayed the same
and me... Lost 2 lbs (-1.8%)

Wow... I BARELY won this past weigh-in. According to the spreadsheet I lost 10.2% of my body weight, but I think their calculations are wrong. When I did the math it was 9.63%, but either way I did win by a long shot because the next person had lost 4.2% of their body weight. I was shocked that so many people gained weight and one guy left the competition (with out paying any Chunky Monkey $$). Nonetheless, I won $240.00. Now I just need to go collect.

To keep me going, I signed up for the Boot Camp Challenge which is next Saturday and have my half marathon October 11th.

In search of my replacement

We had 3 interviews for my position on Monday. At first it was just my boss, HR and one of the VP's I support doing the interviews. But soon I was added to the mix along with the 3rd VP I support. All three candidates were different from each other and NOTHING like we expected!

The first interviewee was super nervous! To the point that she wouldn't answer my questions, go off on tangents and kept clicking her fingers nails together. From her resume I would have thought she was going to be the strongest candidate because she has worked on temp positions in our company before, but in person she lacked the confidence you need in this position and we all felt that she was competent enough to do the job, but people would walk all over her.

The next interviewee was GHETTO! She was rough around the edges would lean back in her chair and kept saying "gurrrrlllll!" An she was doodling on her notepad. There were awkward silences and she used too many acronyms from her Army days. On top of her not being a good fit from how the interview was going she had no admin experience. My main boss loved her mainly because she was the daugther of another VP here at work, but everyone else had her as their bottom pick.

The final person was my #1 choice. She seemed confident and competent. She answered all my questions with good answers that had examples and she really wanted to make sure she could picture herself with us.

The group of interviewers got together and decided on girl #3, unfortunately we scared her away! She said that the job seemed more stressful then she thought she could handle. My bosses painted a realistic picture and started each interview with saying they have lost many of their admins within the first year because of the work load, stress or personalities. Back to the drawling board.

During the candidate review meeting I received a lot of compliments from my bosses. I guess I always thought I was just okay in their eyes, but now I hear feedback of what they think of me and what they are looking for. They said out of all their admins I have handled them best, I am professional, but laid back and not stressed out easily by them and their demands. I thought that was super nice for them to point out.

Even though school starts next Thursday and my last day is supposed to be this coming up Wednesday, I am staying on part-time until they find someone. I will be in Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next 2-4 weeks. I don't mind it because having a job and insurance for one more month is a good thing!

Random tid bits from the pasts week...or so

So much can go on from post to post. Where to start?

Well, congratulations are in order to Natalie cuz the girl just got engaged (in American culture). She is Armenian and she is in the "promised" stage of a 3-step process of getting married. In her culture girls get three rings. The promise one where both families agree on the relationship and it's more of a promise to each other, the next is the engagement ring at a formal engagement party which is being scheduled for November and the rings are blessed by the priest and her vow/marriage ring on wedding day. She designed the three rings to compliment each other and it came out really nice. Funny we had met up for dinner earlier in the week and she said "he better do it soon because I have no patience and I know he picked up the ring!"

Jay has been working mad OT to improve our home. In the next month we are having our shutters installed, our cracked garage window fixed, entryway and living room walls texturized and repainted and we ordered beautiful new couches, and bought some art work and draped too. The couches should be ready in about 6 weeks. It's sweet to see how excited he is about projects in the house. You can smell the testosterone. At times I know I am not in to it as he is, but he does remind me of my Dad and the house projects that he would think of and do.

Today marks the count down of my first day of school. Yup, it's ONE WEEK away. Yesterday I downloaded my class schedule and mapped out the closest parking lot, building locations, etc. Next Thursday is gonna be fun, but long. Class starts at 7:45 AM and last class ends at 6:50 PM. I plan to hang out after class most days in the library and get some work done. Now that we have an office with a desk, I will able to be more successful at getting work done at home too.

I went in for my thyroid check yesterday. This is my first 6 month check verses the 3 month ones from last year. My medication is to stay the same, the right side that wasn't taken out has grown but I am told it's normal because it is trying to compensate for the left side that was removed. If I have to have surgery again (later on of course) I am going to be pissed! The doctor did note from my last visit I lost 8 lbs and from a year ago 20lbs. It's amazing how easily I pack on weight. I expressed to Jay that granted some weight gain was from my surgery and me having hypothyroid symptoms, but I did snack here and there and that definitely contributed to it as well. Jay cracked me up as he looked at me and said "let's call a spade a spade, there were more snacking here then there." Haha!! True... I must confess. After leaving the doctor's office it really hit me... soon I will not have medical insurance. I could do COBRA for 18 months, but will have to pay the full premium or I can be a cash only customer. YIKES! That is no fun! My thyroid doctor is giving me a 6 month prescription and I could probably get my primary doctor to do 3-6 months one too, so that would get me through almost a year with out having to pay full cost for a doctor visit and save for the costly appointment. I guess time will tell.

And finally the long awaited 2 month end date. The weight loss competition is over. YAY! I did like the fact that it motivated me to workout and make better health choices, but there were days that I just wanted to sleep, go home or do something else. The hardest thing was having to get up early and make my lunch and breakfast and all the cooking and dirty dishes that need washing afterwards. This last weigh in wasn't my most impressive. In my defense I still loss some weight and was fighting a cold which I fed to help my body heal faster. This weigh in I lost 2 lbs (1.2%) and the grand total for the 2 months is 18lbs lost (9.6%). I'm happy with that. I wanted to do 10% and came pretty darn close.

Stars on my heaven's report card

Saturday I headed over to my sister's house to go through one more filing cabinet that belonged to my Dad. Originally I had planned to do a morning boot camp with her and her friends and then head straight over to do it, but slept in because I was fighting a bug.

I got there before noon after finally peeling myself out of bed. I got caught up on everyone's life, saw my youngest niece's new bunny which she names Cuppy Cake and got $70 from my oldest niece as our "compromise" deal for her grade last semester. Our deal was if she got ALL B's or better I would pay for her driver's ed and behind the wheel class. She got all A's and B's except for one class, so we compromised and divided the cost of the course by the total classes she was taking and she had to pay me 1/6 of the price for her C. It was a good deal I thought because she really tried this past semester and I didn't want her work to go unnoticed.

I eventually made it to the garage where I needed to go through the last cabinets of my Dad's stuff. I was in a rush to get the papers before I quit my job and no longer have shredding bins easily available. The cabinet was behind some stuff and was the type able to hold legal size folders. I feared that it would be full, just like the garage once was with boxes. Surprisingly most file folders were empty and I only had one box to fill. It was a relief to be able to finally be done with shredding and going through so much paperwork.

Before I left I chatted with my mom a bit. She laughed when I called my Dad a closet pack rat and even jotted it down because she had never heard that phrase before. She hugged me good bye and reassured me that my Dad was giving me tons of stars on my life's report card for all the boxes I properly shredded and didn't just throw away.

Know your audience

Texting is a different language on it's own. It's filled with short hand, words and numbers mixed together to create words and all sorts of funny things.

When I texted everyone last week I was trying to use as little "text" talk as possible so all the people I was texting would get that I gave my intent to quit notice to my boss.

My niece who is 17 text back "what's a notice?"

My Mom text back (like 2 days later) "what's dropped signal?"

I guess I didn't know my audience 100%. haha.

A Scare

Last night I had hit the hay earlier then usual because I wanted to wake up early and do a work out before work. I had drifted off to la-la land when all of a sudden I her my phone chime letting me know I got a text. It was 10:36 PM, so not super late but since I was already asleep I felt like it was late. It was my niece asking if I had heard from my mom. I instantly was awake and we exchanged texts on when was the last time she (anyone) saw her, if she normally comes home late, if she had any plans, etc. My mom normally comes home between 6-9 PM, had left that morning before my niece was awake but told my sister that she was off to work and no one heard from her the whole day. To make matters worst her cell phone was off and going straight to voicemail. I was really worried! I told my niece to hang tight until 11 PM and then we could call hospitals to see if she checked in. I laid in my bed and cried. I thought about the thought of losing my mom and being parentless. I thought about how I wanted to get my mom some new work shoes and should've. I thought about a lot of things.

Even though yesterday was a holiday, my mom worked. She loves her job and believes in going anywhere a client can meet her. She works with a lot of abused, raped/molested, neglected, homeless and/or unfortunate kids and gives them physiological help and shows them resources that the city/state has for them. Knowing that she could be with one of the kids and someone could have hurt her was a real thing to be worried about. My niece called two hospitals and I called 5 or so. All said the same thing, no one by my mother's name had checked in. By this time my niece was awake worried and my sister asleep. I told her if by mid-night my mom was not home that we would call the local police department and proceed with a missing person's report. Just shy of mid-night I called my mom's phone (probably for the millionth time that night) and it rang, rang and rang and finally I heard my mom's voice. My mom had been at the office almost the whole day and had planned to head home at around 7PM , but got lost in her work. She had her phone in front of her, but the battery must've died. It was a relief to hear her voice and ask she bashful laughed and promised to check in more often and let people know where she was going.

This is what parent must feel whenever their kids don't call or check-in.

3rd place but still happy!

Earlier this week someone left brownies to all the competitors and KT sent out pictures he googled of kids eating chocolate. This is supposed to be me...Too funny!!

Yesterday was weigh in and it seems the main girl who does the spreadsheet is out on those days. Arrggg! So all the competitors were calling each other to see their weight loss number and do the math. It was a close race and think it's funny that *I* motivated a guy to eat lettuce and plain chicken for the last two weeks just so he can say he beat me. To think I lost 1lb less then him and was able to eat 6 sensible meals per day. If he only knew he didn't have to go to that extreme.

So this is how the team did.

KT: Lost 7 lbs (-3.8%)

MR: Lost 1.5 lbs (-1.0%)

DE: Gained 2 lbs (+1.1%)

AZ: Gained 3 lbs (+1.5%)

JC: Lost 7 lbs (-3.9%)

TS: Lost 3 lbs (-1.9%)

and Me: Lost 6 lbs (-3.4%)

Next weigh in is the final. A lot of the guys are already crunching numbers to see how much weight they need to lose to catch up to my percentage and trying to figure out how much weight I will lose. I am thinking of adding a few workouts in the morning before work, like swimming and doing push ups and sits up every night or every other. I'll let you know how it goes in two weeks.

KT just passed by and we were chatting about the competition and he said JC (the guy that was eating lettuce) also started smoking to help him curb his cravings. WTH? That's too bad that he is starting all these unhealthy habits for a competition that is trying to support the complete opposite.

Wish me good luck!

I gave my notice

So I finally grew some and gave notice yesterday. It's a three week notice with the offer that I can come in part-time to train, so it's not that bad. I spoke with HR and asked for advise since my boss was out of the office on vacation. At first she told me to wait until Monday, but once I explained to her that it was a holiday and we had Board of Directors meetings next week she told me to email him telling him to call me. I did and waited. 15 minutes before it was time to leave he called. He said he needed to talk to me too, but wanted me to go first. I took Cindy's advice and took the approach of "I have exciting news..." and after I told him I heard "wow... (pause)... wow.... (phone breaking up)..... (silence).... " and then the phone disconnected. I waited for 5 minutes and then called him back and it went straight to voice mail, so I left him a voicemail and followed up with an email since he has a PDA.

After work I headed to Santa's house for a workout. She recently found out she is pregnant and wanted to get moving to have a healthy pregnancy. Man, the girl can power walk!! We went through the hills of Yorba Linda for about an hour and half. It was what I needed to get the nervous jitters out of me because had you seen me at work you would've thought I was a mess!! I had hot and cold flashes and my hands would get super cold. The walk helped me think about everything and it helped to have someone to talk to about it, too. Oh and the chicken dinner helped too :)

Today, I came in and saw an email saying my boss had called 2 minutes after I left and he would be calling me back in the morning. Talk about phone tag.

The bad thing about my position at work is I support 3 VP's, so I had to give my notice 3 times!
As they came in, I delivered the news to each and all were sad to see me leave but happy for me. One said it's better to see someone leave because of something like education verse they don't like you.

Later on I finally spoke to my main boss, told him I was working on updating my "how to" Admin binder, had HR working on a temp to permanent requisition for my replacement and already talked to the VP who has signature approval on his behalf to get him in the loop.

So it's official... I am leaving my job that I have come to like and starting a new adventure really soon.

Hospital on Friday

Friday I planned to leave work 10-15 minutes early to make it home on time to meet a painter who was giving us a quote to paint the outside of our house. Good thing I left a little early because traffic was horrible. Half of my drive is on a toll road which is normally traffic free but last Friday it was backed up. Soon after I got an urgent text from Jay saying Jayla fell at day care and was being sent to the hospital. I know he was probably busy with getting coverage at work, letting people know he needed to leave and getting the details from the day care lady, but not knowing all the details was killing me. Luckily traffic lightened up as if knowing I had an emergency and I was in our side of town in no time. It got a little confusing on where I needed to go as Jayla was still at day care but in the ambulance and originally I was told that she was going to the local hospital, but I had recommended going to the local Kaiser since it was her medical group and didn't know where to go. I got a call from Jay saying he got through to the day care lady and Jayla was on the way to Kaiser. I love having a GPS as it guided me to my destination.

When I got there I was asked my relationship Jayla and knowing there are restriction on who can see patients, I naturally said her step-mom. It didn't feel weird but knew people would get a kick after the matter.

I was whisked about to see the lil tyke who had the ambulance person standing guard at the door. Can you believe she was there all alone? No one from day care had accompanied her on the ride there? I was pissed! (Later we found out the day care assistance leave at 5PM, so the main person couldn't leave because she had 4 other kids that needed to be picked up).

It seems all the nurses and doctor came to see me enter the room and watch Jayla's reaction. She burst into tears when she saw me and everyone reassured me that it was normal for patients to lose it when they see someone they know but they told me she was stellar all the way in and while waiting with no tears. My immediate thought was of course she would cry!! She's a kid who has cuts from her nose and forehead and blood everywhere. We talked about what type of ice cream she was going to have afterwards and that seemed to calm her down and excitement grew when she asked if she could have sprinkles too and I told her of course.

She explained to me that her and her friend were in those play cars pretending to shop. Jayla wanted to sit on top of the car and was unsuccessful. She fell face first on hot cement and broke beads from her hair, had to cuts that later needed stitches and was bruised and burned all over. Poor girl!!

Jay arrive within the hour and then the hospital staff proceeded with mending Jayla. They were going to try to numb and stitch her without knocking her out, but once she lost it with just the shots to numb the area, the doctor decided to give her Katamine (sp?) It was weird to see her on it because she would twitch and not blink. They did the stitching right in front of us, too. It was neat to see, but when I stood up I could see Jayla's face, eyes wide open but her totally out of it, the cloth covering her view from the procedure and the stitching being done and that view made me light headed and I had to sit down. It took her about two hours to come to and then we were on our way home. The next two days were filled with soft foods, spoiling, TLC and Jayla watching all the movies and Noggin she wanted.

(Jayla a day later)

She went back home early with her mom on Sunday and yesterday got most of her stitches out. They couldn't get one of them out, so she has to go back. Talk about traumatic!