Good Bye 2011, I hate/love you

A video my niece made! <3

New Years Day!

The new year has started out with family and friends!  I was happy this year that I didn't have to work New Year Eve or New Years day.  One of the cons of being a nurse is having to worry about being off the holidays.



Last night I went to my sisters and we hung out together.  Our plan was to dance to Just Dance, Michael Jackson Experience and do some Zumba.  My niece and cousin was chatting online with people from other countries.  Then my sister ended up falling asleep on the couch!  I have picked up learning how to knit again and brought a project I had recently started.  It was 1am before I knew it!  I was ready to leave about 0130 and my niece told me I couldn't leave!  They did get Just Dance Summer Party out and they did some dancing.  Then I decided to leave after 0200 as I wanted to have some sleep!  I didn't last long when I got home.



I slept today until 1430!  I woke up to 4 texts on my phone which the last one getting me up.  My sister texted me asking if I wanted to come to dinner.  I went to dinner at my sisters.  She had also invited our parents.  It was a fun family evening!  I also made plans with my nieces later in the week for some afternoon vintage fun!

I am bummed that I have to work tomorrow but then I get a couple of days off.  I do enjoy working 12 hours shifts and having more days off in the week.  It helps keep me sane!

Till next time . . . .

Happy New Year!!

It has been a while.  I have really slacked at blogging this year but hoping to pick it back up next year.  I am thinking of doing Project Life next year and this is a good tool to assist with journaling.



I had an interesting night/morning!  I had suspected that I had a mouse in my cabinet near the stove.  I am unsure how but there must be a hold somehow and they are getting in from the crawl space.  Felix was really watching something but I went on with my business.  Later I am in bed and I can hear a commotion coming from the kitchen!  This went on for about 30 minutes till I got up to check it out.  I put my shoes on just in case but I didn't see anything but the cats had things out of place!  There had been a chase.  I am guessing the mouse was hiding in between my recycling sacks.  I went back to bed and went to sleep as it was 3am at this point.  This morning, I walking into my dining room to HALF a mouse!!!  The rest of the mouse was mutilated in the kitchen.  YUCK!!!!  I disinfected the floor this morning.

I have had some type of shoe on today just in case!  The cats keep hanging out in the kitchen like they hear something.  I wonder if they mouse came out because I had noticed last week my popcorn kernels were made into corn meal.  The mouse had also tried to eat Phoebe's dog treats!  I removed anything edible from that area.  The mouse came out to possibly find food not realizing it was going to be food!!!

I am going to celebrate the new year with my sister and one of my nieces.  The youngest niece has plans tonight.  I need to find a veggie tray for some healthy snacks!

Happy New Year!!!

Changes . . . .

I have been wanting to do the Fit Life program at the fitness center most of the year.  I was waiting till I saved some extra money to do this.  Since getting a newer car, that has been harder to do.  Just a few days after buying my newer car, I found out I was going to have hand surgery.  I ended up being off work for 5 weeks which wasn't easy on the finances but I survived.  I was glad that finally on September 7, I was able to start this program at the fitness center.

My goal was to get off this diuretic my doctor put me on in August.  He told me that I was starting to develop venous insufficiency (occupational hazard?) and put me on a diuretic to help with the edema.  I also have compression stockings to wear to help.  I am actually officially off the medication as I started having dizziness with it from possibly pulling off to much fluid.  The swelling of my legs have improved and hasn't gotten any worse since stopping the medication almost a month ago.  :-)

Fit Life is a 12 week program which you meet with a nurse, trainer & dietician.  The dietician said he wanted me to eat 1400 calories a day.  He told me about an iPhone app, Nutrition Menu, and I started using it to track my calories.  The first week I lost 5 lbs.!  That gave me the motivation to keep up with the changes.  So far, I have lost a total of 11 lbs.

I have a goal of doing 3 cardio workouts a week.  I have been doing water aerobics as I feel like I get a full body workout.  I love it!!  Then I am also trying to do 3 weight training days as well.  I love doing weight lifting and could see me being like the women on Muscle and Fitness Hers!  I love that magazine!  It reminds when I used to workout hardcore with a personal trainer 3 days a week.  <3  I really want to be strong and fit as I was in 2003-2004.  I need to find pictures of me when I went to Cancun.   I do have a goal of being that fit in the next couple of years as I plan to go St. Lucia to hike and bike in the rainforest.  :-)

I have found that my biggest struggle has been finding time to workout.  Since I work the night shift, I am tired most of the time.  I wasn't doing as well getting workouts in the beginning but then decided to do them after work.  That is doing a little better but yet at the same time, I am tired when I am finished.  I am doing better with getting 2-3 workouts in a week but want to make it 3 days at least.  Then I might start increasing it to 5 days a week.

Till next time . . . . . .

I am still here

I was off work for about 5 weeks as I had surgery on my left pinky to have a cyst removed. Since returning to work almost a month ago, it has been busy!! My summer schedule isn't good the way my work schedule ended up. I really like my days together so I can group my days off but it didn't work out that way except the week I have vacation. In less than one week I will be on vacation! I am looking forward to it.



I need to gather the pictures I took of my finger as it was healing.  I was using Instagram on my iphone to document the healing process.  I need to share them in a post and share my Michael Jackson experience I had during surgery!!  It wasn't very funny at the moment but I have to kinda laugh now.

I have been sleeping to much on my days I get off and 0700 and I am off that night.  Then I am not sleeping as well at night and then need a nap during the day.  I was hoping to nap at Moonshine Beach today but I slept to late at home and my towels were still drying and needed another hour of drying time.  I decided to just hang out at the Mudhouse instead.  Prior to coming to the coffee shop, I went to the Bistro Market for a veggie grill sandwich.  I had this sandwich before and loved it.  This time it wasn't so good.  It actually cost $1.00 more than the turkey burger I enjoy and it was horrible.  I had a couple of tomato slices, 3 cucumber slices, humus, basil mayo and leaves (aka field greens).  I hate leaves!  They have never made it this way before.  Yuck-o!  I was a disappointment today and I won't order that again.  My veggie sandwiches are much better.

I am going to do some scrappy blog searching for a bit and then it will be time soon for the Mudhouse to close.

Camera Critters!

Last night, my sister and I took our dogs to a pet stroll on C-street.  My dog, Phoebe, cracks me up!  She is an a/c dog for sure!!  :)



Phoebe was drinking from the water dish then sat down and leaned against the planter! I think she was telling me it was to hot for a pet stroll. :-)

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Artsy Weekend!

It has a busy but fun weekend!  I always enjoy the first weekend of May for Artfest on Walnut St.!  Friday night was the Downtown First Friday Art Walk the the weekend was the Artfest.  Also on Saturday was National Scrapbook Day (NSD).



My sister and I went downtown and checked out a few venues full of art.  It was really busy so it was hard to see all the art.  Parking is always an issue downtown.  There are no cruising signs up every where but I am waiting for the day that I get stopped for cruising when I am only trying to find a place to park my car!  It makes me wish I was able to push a button in my car like George Jetson.  He turns his car into his briefcase.  I never understood why he was always trying to find where he parked though.  Shouldn't he just have a button in his briefcase to turn it back into his car?  I didn't notice that till I was older and watching The Jetson's one day when my nieces were younger.

Saturday I went to the LSS to celebrate NSD.  I attended Super Saver Scrapbooking, did the make-n-takes and then did a little shopping.  I almost over slept as I decided to take a nap and slept through my alarm.  I am glad that I woke up and made it to my class!

After my scrappy fun, I went home to pick up my dog and went to Artfest!  It was a fun adventure but Phoebe always gets so hot!  She makes me nervous since pugs can't tolerate heat well.  I was glad that various artist had bowls of water out for the dogs.  I will often buy bottled water and make sure she gets lots to drink.  We will also sit in the shade and just enjoy the people and music!  Phoebe just loves adventures!

Then we went home to chill for a bit and then I took Phoebe to the park.  We just walked around and I was noticing some areas to do some photography someday.  Since we have had a lot of rain, the ground was quite soggy!  Here is a picture of Phoebe in my car.  She gave it her pug approval!  :-)