Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That

I say it every time, but it's true every time: it's been AGES since I last posted.

So much has happened, though looking back at it, it seems like piddly stuff.

Also, I forgot how to code a cut, so I apologize in advance for the length.

Boychild: IS EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD. Seriously, where the eff does the time go?! He VOTED in November. (Not for the JOKE currently in office, TYVM. Kid is a hard-ass lefty. Why, yes - I AM proud of it.)

He also has been on meds since about September of 2015; he definitely hits the ADHD scale, though noticeably without the H. Doc's got him on 20 mgs of Adderall a day, with 5 mg supplements as needed after school for homework. It has definitely helped to start, though he may actually need to up it a little, as we are still having to drag him through getting homework turned in and remembering things.

Hubby: Had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy in March 2015. He's since lost about 200 lbs, can buy clothes at regular stores now, and no longer hits the diabetic scale. He was off all diabetic meds within a couple months of the surgery. He is basically the poster boy for "Doing This Right;" I've never seen a surgeon bounce on his toes with pleasure before.

He's hit a plateau now, and has fallen off the diet changes a little, but is getting back on track now with this unseasonably nice weather. It's been a total life change for him, and he's really happy about all of it.

Me & Food: As part of the process (and in the name of being supportive), I started watching my diet, too. I hated every effing second of it and it didn't matter that I continued to lose weight, it took all the effing joy out of food and I hated everyone and everything. We bond over food, come together as a society over food, and having to watch it carefully like that - and deny myself of everything I love because everything that tastes good to me is "bad" - is the absolute worst. And it was harder, too, because Hubby was having the easiest time of it, and couldn't understand how it could possibly be difficult. I stayed silent about a lot of my anger over it.

I had actually started losing weight the previous August (2014); suffice it to say I had a week where Imodium was not working, so I just had to suffer through it. I must have lost ten to fifteen pounds that week alone, and so I continued to lay off the soda so much and stopped eating the snack cakes and stuff entirely. So when hubby started his pre-op diet, I started actually using the My Fitness Pal app every day, and it mostly sucked. I was almost always hungry, meals generally did not last me till the next one. I had enough calories available to me that I could have snacks, but I really had to watch it. I'd switched to diet sodas, which sucks because they all taste terrible, but I want soda more than I want to avoid the taste, and regular soda has too many calories, so-.

Since then, I've lost a total of about 80 lbs, give or take 5, and gone down 6 pants sizes and 3 shirt sizes (depending on the brand). Other noticeable changes are that I can sit in a chair with arms and the arms no longer dig into my thighs, and all my rings are too big, as they keep sliding around my fingers willy-nilly.

I don't religiously record my calories each day, and I stopped denying myself of all the things I love, because I've always said that's no way to diet. I do try to be very reasonable about how much I eat, and I try to avoid too much bread, because it's a freaking killer (even though it's OMGSODELICIOUS). I may not be actively losing weight now, but I'm also not gaining it back, so I'm much happier. We try to walk more, too.

Work: Never dull. I've done so much since my last work-related post. We've lost two supervisors, a manager, another supervisor, and plenty of people have retired because they just couldn't deal with the stress anymore. Another one is leaving in the next 45 days or so. It's sad, but maybe it will help mgmt (wishful thinking, right?) to reorganize the way they want. Some things are better, others are as bad as usual. But hey, I've got 18 years under my belt now, and am currently only minorly stressed, so I'll stick with it.

Also, I now work from home full time. It's AWESOME. They provided us zero clients, two monitors, keyboard, mouse, all necessary wires, a really decent phone with a headset, and anything off our desks we needed; I came home with well over $1.5K worth of equipment. We have flex time on top of this, so as long as I get my 40 hours in M-F between 6A and 6P, I can do it almost any way I like. This, of course, means I roll out of bed around 5:45 in the morning, lurch into the bathroom, pull on pants and shirt, then stumble to my desk, turn on the computer, and clock in by 6:00 AM. It is the BEST THING EVER.

I might not have gone home full time, though, without my two best friends leaving. One (CK) quit September 2014...about 3 hours after I unwittingly provided the clinching argument for it. He is SO. MUCH. HAPPIER. now; it is amazing how relaxed he is now without this place eating holes in his stomach lining, among other things. We try to get out for lunch or dinner (and in one case, breakfast) every other month or so, and chat via FB messenger quite a bit - which is good, because it took me a long time to get used to not having him there at work.

And in November 2015, the other (MG) quit. Also a good thing, she was much happier at a new place - understandably, as my current coworkers, by and large, were absolute DICKS to her the entire time she was employed. An old supervisor (who, incidentally, was fired for having sex on her desk and bragging about it, and also for calling someone in mgmt a "bitch" in an email that replied to all instead of one person) had actually known MG, and told everybody so, and so most people assumed MG only got the job because she knew said supervisor...and everyone hated that supervisor, to be clear. It was awful. So MG finally left, but now I can't even see her like I used to because she moved out of state in December 2016. So sad.

Other Stuff: Dad had a heart attack Thanksgiving night, but is doing okay now; it wasn't massive, and the blockages, which range anywhere from 30-80%, are all down in the smaller vessels at the bottom of the heart, where they can't put stents anyway, so they're treating medically. He's doing taxes again for H&R Block, managing only one office this year instead of two. And thrilled as hell, because he and Mom turn 62 this year and are taking early Social Security, so he won't have to work at all next year.

Mom's doing well; good days and bad days with fibro and diabetes. She had a month-long bout with seizures in August 2013, but hasn't had any since then, and is now off the seizure med entirely. She's mostly back to baseline (by which I mean she feels as good as she did before the seizures, but has less of a filter). The seizures at the time seemed to have caused a metric shit-ton of brain damage, but she gained all of her faculties back for the most part.

One of my sisters is pregnant with her fourth child, another had her second a few years ago. Yet another is happily living with her boyfriend. And the other one is still living with our parents.

TV: Missing DWTS right about now, but loving BBT still, as well as Flash, Mom, Two Broke Girls, and Brooklyn 9-9. Also really enjoying The Grand Tour on Amazon. Have also finally started watching bits and pieces of HIMYM with Boychild. Pretty good.

Man, I forgot how time can fly when you're typing up a post like this!

I hope everything is well with all of you! ♥

*frowns*

All right, we'll try this again. Note to self: Copy entire post before hitting the "post" button, just in case the entries page eats the damn thing again.

FLIST! It's been a while! I've been coming and reading entries, and keep telling myself I'm going to post "as soon as I have some time," but that never seems to happen. *rolls eyes at self*

( Cut for length. )

I am sure there a million and one more things I could put here, but am drawing a blank. I find myself doing that more and more often...which is kind of sad, considering that two weeks from today, I will only be 34.

If you want an update on anything I haven't rambled about in this post already, please don't hesitate to ask! I want to get back into the habit of posting again, so hopefully it won't be so long a wait. ;)

EDIT: Dreamwidth People: Does anybody know why, when I move the mouse out of the entry box on the create entries beta page, the text in the box leaps upward? I don't mean the words switch places or anything, but the whole text body itself scrolls up each time I move the mouse out of the box, and never just stays where I left the damn cursor. I can even stop typing, move the mouse out, then back in and back out a couple times without typing at all, and it will keep scrolling up a bit with each movement in and out. I'll check the bug list thingy later, of course, but thought I'd pose the question here, just in case anyone has a quick, easy answer. ....I wonder if it does this from home. I'll have to check; at work I'm forced to use IE8, but use firefox at home.

Cleared a quarter of a million dollars out of old accounts so far, and it's only just coming up on lunchtime.

I should not be this hungry, but oh GOD, I am starving. The kind of starving where you feel the first couple bites moving all the way down your throat. I can hardly wait the five minutes left to go scarf that damn sandwich my hubby so thoughtfully made me this morning. EDIT: Obviously, it's well after lunchtime, now - that sandwich was way good.

1. ( Foooood. )

2. ( Shopping. )

3. ( Christmas Cards. )

4. ( This Song. )

So despite the inherent craziness of the holiday season, I think we're probably ahead of where we usually are at this point, and that's pretty cool. :)

It's Friday, it's payday, and I'm mostly relaxed. My irritating coworker is gone today and I'm looking forward to the weekend - even if tonight's adventures include Thing 1 and Thing 2 spending the night at our place with Boychild. I foresee much noise and probably a bit of shushing, among other things.

Sarah, mother of Things 1 & 2, just had surgery on Monday. She had a melanoma on the bottom of her pinky toe, and had to have a biopsy and then most of the pinky toe amputated. The biopsy on the lymph nodes and surrounding areas came back negative, thankfully. Even so, we're giving her a bit of a quiet break by taking the boys overnight, which is nice for both her and Boychild, even if noisy for hubby and I.

Think I'll make this for family dinner on Sunday - sounds full of awesome.

Just got off the phone with my sister; apparently, Dad just missed the last step at home and is being seen right now for a swelling ankle. Shit. He already can't walk very well - although truth be told, that surgery has done wonders for him. He's lost over 70 pounds now, and was doing better. We'll have to see what the doc says; might have to do dinner at their place on Sunday instead!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Seriously, this winter has just been hanging on and hanging on. It's been Spring for a month and we've had snow several times since then.

Which, yes, I know is fairly common around here, but still. I love Winter, I love snow, I love the cold - but even I have my limits. I am ready to stop putting on socks every day, and to stop wearing a bulky coat.

( This was Wednesday morning where I live. )

Just. Yikes. NEED SPRING, PLEASE.

I haven't posted in a while - last time, I left y'all with woe about our car. Things are better now, I'm just finally taking a moment to post.

( Car and California. )

( Foooood. )

( What is the world coming to? )

( Haircut! )

OK, I think that's it for now; I will have to come back with pictures next time from California, and of my hair. I hope y'all are having a nicer warm-up for Spring than we are (I know, Wisconsin, believe me - I know), and hopefully I will be back here more often to post. XD.

1. Just had a sobbing phone call from my sister; apparently Mom and Dad just left to take the dog to be put down. The medication wasn't helping at all, the dog refuses to eat and the surgery wouldn't be worth it.

I am full of sympathy for my mom and my sister because I know that they really loved Sami. At the same time, I am relieved, both for the dog's sake - she will not be suffering anymore - and for the sake of their household budget, which really cannot withstand a pet's illness.

EDIT: It took me so long to type up this post that the deed is done. Dad just texted me to say Mom's devastated, but that it was her own decision, so while I am so, so sorry she's hurting, I am pleased that she was able to see - and make - the right choice.

2. I wonder how long it will be before Dad gives in and lets Mom get another dog.

3. We went to Boychild's school yesterday after I was done with work. He has decided he wants to be in band, and after several weeks of learning to play the recorder and then trying out different instruments, he has tested very well in low brass, specifically in the baritone. Added to that, he actually really likes the feel of the baritone, both holding it and using the mouthpiece.

Going into this, he thought he'd want to do percussion or trombone, and was leaning toward trombone. He decided, however, that he didn't like the way the trombone rests on the one shoulder, and prefers the baritone.

So at his school last night was the company the school goes through for band instruments, and we were able to rent a baritone. It's actually a really good idea; we paid $65 for a four-month trial period, which includes any necessary maintenance, and after that, it's $42 a month, plus $5.95 if we want the maintenance plan to continue. And every payment - including that original $65 - is applied toward the purchase of the instrument, though we are not at all obligated to purchase it. AND if we want to pay it off early, we get a 20% discount on the remaining balance, and there's no interest at all during the life of the rental period.

The only thing that was kind of a shock was the total price of the instruments - my GOD, have they gone up since I was first in band!! A new baritone retails at around $1595. We could have gone with "like new," but at $1395, we didn't quite see the point - he may as well have a new one.

But price aside, I'm really glad he wants to be in band; I think music is so important, and of course both hubby and I were band geeks ourselves. It's kind of lovely to see the tradition continuing.

4. I kind of want to see if I can find a secondhand flute and maybe take some lessons again. I still have my piccolo, but it needs a complete overhaul...and besides, I should really relearn what I've forgotten on a flute, first.

5. We get to do the bulk of our Christmas shopping this weekend; my stability pay came in yesterday and payday is this Friday, so Saturday will be fun. Now I just need to make a frigging master list so all the info is in one place - HEE!

We have picked up a few things here and there already, of course, but the majority of the fun is yet to come. ;)

6. OHMYGOD. This cocoa is AMAZING. We had a holiday party on Sunday and one of the take-home things were packets of hot cocoa; I got one that's DARK CHOCOLATE, and I just made it, and I think my eyes crossed with unadulterated joy.

Yowser, it's been a busy few weeks. It never seems like it, though, till I get down to the wire (aka Three Days Till We Leave For The Lake). This is when it seems like there are a million and eighteen things to do.

So, like any self-respecting journaler, I am putting it off for a little longer in order to recap here. Duh.


( Boychild Went to Camp )

( I Finally Pamper Myself )

( We Make Cookies )

( I Kick Vacation Planning Into High Gear )

( I Find My Muse )

( Speaking of Reading... )

( We Drive A LOT )

I'm straining under the weight of so many things to get done before we leave on Saturday, but I know that once we leave, it's going to be a great week.

So we were out and about yesterday, gathering the various things the boy needs for camp, and we stopped at Goodwill last to find a sweater for him. Not only did we find a sweater, but we scored a bread maker for $4.99. All the parts, and today, we discovered it works PERFECTLY:





Waiting for it to finish was excruciating, the smell was SO GOOD. We had some hot, and then some later when it cooled. The only downside? We DEFINITELY need a decent bread knife! *HEE*

And just a bit ago, in an email from wandaxmaximoff, I found this ridiculously cute pair of shoes:



And it kills me a little bit that they're all the way in England! I'm trying to decide whether or not I'm willing to have her pick them up and send them! Went to their website and found this gorgeous pair, too:



I have to pack up the boy's duffel bag for the week yet, and bake another loaf of bread before bed, so I'm off. I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend! ♥

1. So I'm lagging behind again, as per usual, but that makes this no less heartfelt. To all the moms on my flist, whether your children are human or otherwise:

Happy Mother's Day!!

On Saturday afternoon, the boychild decided to get a subtle hint across:

Boychild: "Mommy, you can sleep in as long as you want tomorrow."
Me: "I can? As long as I want?"
Boychild: "Yup." ... "But you should sleep on your BACK."
Me: *trying hard not to snicker and giggle*

Now, I would say that maybe only moms might understand the reasoning behind that suggestion, but my cousin's wife, who is a mom herself, didn't get the implication, so I can't assume everyone reads into it what was so easy to see. It was his way of ensuring that I would be in the proper position for him to set a tray on my lap in the morning, brimming with "breakfast." ROTFL.

I got scrambled eggs with cheese melted on them, pancakes nearly drowning in syrup, bacon too crisp to eat and burnt toast slathered with butter and strawberry jam. Despite some of these unfortunate things, it was still the best breakfast ever. And he was so excited to have done it. ♥♥♥

Hubby made a fabulous roast beef with potatoes, carrots and celery for dinner, and Yorkshire pudding to go with it, and there was ice cream for dessert. We invited my parents and sister over to join us and had a lovely evening.

2. We didn't go to the church yesterday. We'd planned on it, quite forgetting that it was going to be Mother's Day. So we intend to aim for NEXT Sunday. Hubby already has another church picked out to try after that one. He's leaning hard toward a United Church of Christ church, because based on what he's read and his growing-up-experiences, they seem to be most closely aligned with what we both believe.

I have a hard time in the whole church/religion department. Do I believe in God/Jesus? Yes. Do I subscribe to one set of rules for how best to follow Him? Hell, no. I don't always have the greatest amount of faith, I don't habitually - or even easily - pray (though that's a whole other kettle of fish), I don't believe that to be a good Christian, you have to go to church every Sunday. From any church I attend, I expect to be accepted however I choose to arrive, whether I am in formal attire or rags. I expect that my thoughts and opinions are respected, whether or not they are agreed with. I expect that ANYBODY is welcome to join in, regardless of age, race, religion, sexual orientation or anything else that I'm currently forgetting to include. I expect that questions are accepted and considered thoughtfully, if not encouraged, and I expect that should I choose to regularly continue attending the church, I am not required to TAKE A CLASS.

I know I'm kind of all over the place with this whole discussion, I haven't exactly thought my points through very clearly, so bear with me, here. This whole "You have to take a class before you can be a member of this church" thing...NONONONONO. I want no part of any church that requires me to attend a class in order to be fully welcomed. That's not acceptance, that's not CHRISTIAN. My parents' church made them take a class in order to be members. My dad said it was "to make sure they believed what the church believed." *snorts haughtily* I was so offended on their behalf, because God knows they didn't have the sense to be offended themselves. *rolls eyes* I love my parents, don't get me wrong; I simply despair over their version of "Christian."

So to sum up: If I'm attending a church, they need to accept me no matter how I look or what I believe, as well as any other human being. If they can't or won't, then it's not the church for me.

Reading back over this whole section, DUDE. Help me flesh this out. Ask me questions. Make me think about it. It feels like random points with no concrete frame, no solid foundation. Wait, scratch that last bit - my foundation is simply that we are all human, and all of us are worth the same, regardless of choices we make throughout our lives. But still - point out my wobbles, ask questions, help me firm this up into something that makes a little more sense. Or tell me if it already does (but I don't think so).

3. thefourthvine posted a FABULOUS rant Here. Fanfic lovers, enjoy. ♥

4. Speaking of fanfic...I have so many ideas, but so little motivation. I have chapters in my head for my next-gen, but the first sixteen need some overhauling before I put any of it down. I've been going round and round with some founders fic in my head, as well as a Rowena Ravenclaw one-shot that's trying to form. On top of all that, I've been reading a little bit of Narnia fanfic, and now have a couple one-shots in my head! I've never written fanfic outside of HP, so if I ever manage to sit down and just write, it should be interesting.

I think part of the whole motivation thing is not really knowing who - beyond myself, anyway - would want to give reading it a go. I mean, why bother penning it out if I'm the only one who cares anymore? *sigh*

But also, part of it is just knowing I have to overhaul what I have before moving on. I could write it down, but I just can't let what's come before sit there and continue eating at my brain - I have to fix it. asdf;lkj

5. I'm having an aversion to cuts, lately. Sorry.

6. I finally - just this morning, actually - found out what "tl;dr" means ("too long; didn't read"). And I have to say, I think sometimes my own entries get like that! *snerk* But oh well. If you regularly make it to the end of my entries, kudos to you. If you don't, well, at least it's still here for my own perusal. :)

7. My books are all due in 3 days. Boo. Now I have to gather them and go back to the library because I'm out of online renewals for all of them. *sad face*

8. That must be all for now. You know me, I'll post again if I feel the need. I hope you all had a good weekend!