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.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Friday, September 4, 2009
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!!
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!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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.
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.
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!
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