Furniture!

But I'll get to that later. I'd like to first add on to yesterday's brevity. I'm pretty proud of myself for my productivity level yesterday! After gardening, it's true I did come in and shower and lounge around for a bit. But THEN I cleaned the kitchen! And changed out the laundry! Then the hubby came home, and I cooked dinner. Hubby got dessert, and then I cleaned the kitchen again :-P. I finished up the laundry--empty washer and dryer yay! Of course, NOT empty hamper, but I'll work on that later. After THAT I went to the garage and painted the trim for the bookshelf the hubby has built and put in the library. Now he can finish it! Then I played moving man--well, woman anyway lol. Hubby and I moved all the furniture from the living room downstairs to the gameroom upstairs! I was very happy to find I could really help! We took the coffee table up first, then the futon inner-spring mattress and the futon, then the recliner and then the end tables!

And the hubby thought he would need to call one of his best friends. Psssh. :-P

I'm happy that the coffee table and end tables are still in good repair--and going to a good home! The Aggie who was our "little fish" last school year is now going into her junior year and moving into her own apartment! So our furniture is returning to College Station! We're also going to get her to take our old chest of drawers (also in fairly good condition) if she needs/wants it! Which will mean room in the gameroom for whenever we get around to outfitting it, and mean a start to the cleaning out of the "crap room" that I will TRY to complete this summer (though if I don't it's no big thing--we won't need it for another 4 years, when it will become the nursery ;-) ).

Anyway, on to the title! As can be concluded by previous statements, the living room is now empty except for the TV, entertainment center, speakers and DVD tower. Why did we do all of this you may ask (assuming anyone actually reads this)? OUR NEW LIVING ROOM FURNITURE IS COMING TODAY BETWEEN NOW (4PM) AND 8 PM TONIGHT!!!

Can you tell I'm excited?!? :-D

The couch is a sectional, with a queen sleeper and power recliner and is a pretty "cactus" green. The end tables and coffee table are wood with slate inlays. They are preeeetty! On that note, I'm going to clean up a bit more...and see what the hell the dogs are barking at upstairs! Oh wait, here they come.

Anyways, I was just thinking!

Accountability

This is going to be a very brief entry--TAKS testing makes me tired. The "accountability" I mention is in regards to both my gardening resolution and my workout resolution! I spent 30 minutes pulling weeds in the front flowerbeds (and got ate up by mosquitoes in the process)! I worked up a good sweat too! I'm glad the ground was wet...otherwise those weeds would have been freaking hard to pull out. So anyway, yay for holding myself accountable!

Funky Town

Well, funky mood anyway. I'm content, but definitely in an odd mood. The hubby keeps asking me if I'm sad about something today--and I'm not. I'm just feeling a bit off. I think it's because this weekend triggered a series of reminiscent conversations covering former friends and the motivations behind people distancing themselves from friends. As often happens, delving back into memories of the past leaves me feeling frustrated with those former friends, and frustrated with the lack of closure in those relationships due to my own decision to leave certain things unsaid. I don't regret that decision--it was the right and mature route to take--but the lack of having had my "final word" said/heard always results in lingering frustration when the past comes back up. Well, that's enough about that. The good news is that the husband and I renewed a friendship from college this Spring, and that friend came down to hang out this weekend. It was great! It feels as if we've hit restart on our friendship, and that the drama and hurt that was involved is truly water under the bridge (though I'm still not sure what exactly I did, other than prioritize my relationship with my then boyfriend-soon-to-be-fiance, and my now husband).

Speaking of the hubby, yesterday we helped one of our couple friends move into a new apartment. Today, it's a "lazy Sunday" for us: which means we're relaxing and working around the house instead of going anywhere. The hubby is working on finishing the third bookshelf for our library, and I'm puttering with the laundry and kitchen, and really want to vacuum the living room here in a bit. I also got out in the backyard and weeded the flower bed for awhile--but then my back started hurting, and it was really hot, so I came back inside. I think I shall set a new goal: work on weeding the garden 15-30 minutes a day for the next two weeks. That way, by the weekend after next, the flowerbeds will hopefully be ready for remulching! And I'll work towards late afternoon/early evening so that it isn't too hot.

For now, we're watching Happy Gilmore, and I'm trying to shake this funk. I'll get up here in a minute and change out the laundry, and empty/load the dishwasher. Tomorrow I'm going to a conference with several other department members, and I'm looking forward to that--especially because I won't have a "normal" classroom day next week! Tomorrow was the only normal schedule day--the rest is TAKS. Which means test administration, not actual teaching--yay for a mindless, if tiring, week! Wednesday our living room set will be delivered, and this weekend we're flying to Wisconsin for another couple friend's wedding (the hubby is a groomsman--yay for seeing my handsome man in a tux!!!). So, I've got a great week coming up, and today is a wonderful day too...I've just gotta get out of this mood. So, here I go! Wish me luck lol

Day Off

I burned today--doctor's appointment and all this morning. They're running all the blood tests, like they do every 2 months. And this time they're running a test to exclude gout. Woo. Not that the doctor thinks I have gout (and I'm about 99% sure I don't--I'm classic RA), but my kidney stone in December made him want to rule out that possibility. Apparently, gout can increase the uric acid (spelling?) which in turn can lead to kidney stones. I think mine were caused by a build up of the calcium supplements that I was on, but I appreciate him ruling out the possibility.

After all, gout is an "old people's" disease! (And only old people have RA, right? lol)

So I got home from that, and have been watching movies--Merlin (which I LOVE) and Merlin's Apprentice. The latter is an "alternate time line" plot from Merlin, and enjoyable, if not quite as awesome as Merlin. But that's ok--it's entertaining! After it ends, I'm going to go clean the kitchen, and probably go putter in the garden for a bit. Then I'll shower, because a college friend is coming into town tonight and I think we're going to get dinner! Of course, I'd shower anyway after working in the garden.

I've started rereading the Twilight series again--mostly because I can't get enough of it! I've even watched the commentary on the DVD of the movie, which I've never ever done before. I just love the way the author develops the story, and the characters. I love the was she sets the tone and the atmosphere, and I enjoy the twists she's put in traditional vampire mythology (though I have a friend at work who has completely renounced the series--without having read it by the way--because of those very twists). I can't wait for the next movie (this coming Fall!)!!! And I can't wait to finish this reread :-).

Oh I had a thought. I might leave garden-puttering until tomorrow when the hubby is working on the bookshelf...and today I'll work out with the Wii Fit! I like that idea! My mama-in-law was in town for the past week (up until yesterday) and since she's a message therapist and had clients/friends coming in and out (she was working out of our upstairs) I felt it would be inappropriate for me to be working out in my usual attire, so I just didn't work out. It was wonderful having her here though, completely worth the postponement of a workout routine. We got to chat and catch up, and spend time together, and it was all around wonderful! I really do love my mother-in-law (all of my in-laws really, but she's the one I haven't seen in the longest lol). So today, I think I might make a start again. Especially since my lunch was a bowl of salsa with cheese (otherwise it's too spicy). The rest of my food today has been a thing of yogurt and an apple, so I haven't done too horribly. But I need to get active!

Or I might read/nap. Lol. I'm feeling lazy. We'll see after the movie ends and the kitchen is clean. It'll probably either be Wii or garden...I want to feel like I've been somewhat productive today, and all I've done is go to the doctor, watch movies and surf the internet. Anyway, I'm gonna wrap up this ramble and finish my movie! Yay movie!

Me Time

I have enjoyed this evening! Well, most of it. After work I ran by Babies-R-Us to pick up a couple of shower gifts for one of my mentors at school and for the wife of a fellow Spanish teacher. I'm actually in charge of throwing the latter a shower--on Thursday after school. So tomorrow, I will buy some decorations and hopefully some bottles...and I want to play a "guess the number" game with a bottle full of candy!!! And I'll call H-E-B either tomorrow on go by during 1st on Thursday to set up for the cake!!! Others in the department are pitching in other things (this whole shower coincides with our monthly department meeting so everyone should be there) so I'm hoping it all turns out fun.

One thing the Babies-R-Us trip drove home: Yes, I want a kid...but I'm perfectly fine waiting the four years the hubby and I have agreed on!!! Lol.

After that, I came home and played with the 3 puppies---that's right, I said 3. My "fuzzy nephew" Tiberius stayed with us from Friday night til this evening when his mama came and got him. He's a very good chocolate lab puppy :-) and he and our girls had a ball playing together--especially on Saturday while it was shit-storming.

After his mama picked him up, I cleaned the kitchen and Swiffered! And started some laundry! In other words I've been nicely domestic. When the hubby got home, we went grocery shopping. I picked dinner tonight--sushi! And my amazing husband (who is not fond of sushi) went along with it and tried a type that he actually didn't hate. We had a nice dinner, and then he left for a friend's bachelor party tonight.

Which = Me Time.

It's been nice--I've kept the laundry going, showered and cleaned the shower. And now I'm watching Twighlight, which is the perfect "me time" movie, since the hubby won't watch it with me :-P lol. I've also fed and played with the pups and taken them outside.

Like I said, nice. Except I'll head to bed within the next 30 mins...alone. It's not the first time, even since we've been married---work and work travel sometimes conspire to keep my husband from our bed. But I still don't get used to it. I get to where I can sleep---and I'm hoping I'll sleep well tonight though I'll probably be half-listening for him to come home until he's beside me. I know he's having a ton of fun right now (or at least I hope)--there's probably lots of drinking and a strip club of some sort involved (knowing the bachelor lol). I'm fine with the strip club thing (except for the slightly jealous/insecure part of me that doesn't want him seeing other women naked--but hey, what girl doesn't have that? lol), so that's no big deal. I just wish he was coming to bed with me :-). Oh well, I'll cuddle my teddy bear! And on that note, I'm going to finish watching Twighlight for a bit, and then go to sleep!

***EDIT***
I slept like crap until the hubby got home around 3 am. Then I slept amazingly for the next 3 hours until the alarm went off! And there were wonderful cuddles :-). Yay! Lol.

Sail on, sail on sailor

Gotta love that Jimmy Buffett! His songs always bring to mind being out on the open water, traveling from place to place, taking life as it comes at you and refusing to play it too safe. I really need to pull out my Far Side of the World CD, and listen to said song, and find the Southern Cross song on the other CD. Hearing Buffett always brings back wonderful lake and beach memories from college...after all, the sailing club required at least some Buffett music! And of course there was Great Big Sea, and the Corsairs, and several others. Ah the good old days lol. Though some were less good than others--but then, thats where jerry-rigging came in. I swear, we could fix just about any minor (and some major) problems on those sailboats with a spare ring or shackle, duck tape, and (of course!) rum. Or beer. Or whisky. Lol, and don't forget the requisite bad language...after all, we were sailors damn it!

Well, those days are past, but the hubby and I are going to get to embark upon some newer sailing adventures ourselves! We bought a boat!!!!! She's a '73 Chrysler 22. And before you give me that look, let me point out that Chrysler made some damn fine boats before the government forced them to do away with that part of their operation in order to save the car portion. Anyway, the individual who designed this particular hull designed/built tanks...so she's a pretty sturdy vessel, to say the least! Her name is Sophia (yes, boats have names). I find it interesting that her name means wisdom--I'm definitely interpreting that as a plea for wisdom, instead of a claim. ;-) She's fairly beamy, but we definitely don't need a super-fast boat. Just one that we can get out on and fish, or go for a weekend sailing trip, and other such adventures.

Husband and friend are moving her from the slip she was in to the slip we're renting for (get this) $75 a month! A steal, I tell you, a steal!!! And it's in a beautiful and beautifully quiet marina (unlike the original one which had more hustle and bustle than we enjoy). So, we're going to get to spend some time cleaning her up--a good deck scrub, fresh deck paint, a new main sail cover and canopy, washing the seat cushions, figuring out how to hook up a music player of some sort, and many other fun little mini-projects. I'm so excited!!! I can't WAIT to get on the water again!

And my new cousin comes in about a week and a half! Yay baby Joseph Max!!!

Also exciting, our living room set comes in at the end of this month, and we should be able to order our dining set by the end of June!!! Then we'll save up for the entertainment center (that'll take about a month) and then the downstairs of our house will be fully furnished!!! THEN I can start putting the furniture money back into savings, and hopefully rathole enough that when we want to have a kid (we're talking years here folks lol) the financial part won't be quite as difficult. And we'll be able to finish up some other small projects around the house--the bookshelves and chairs for the library, the various items for the gameroom, replacing some of the lesser-liked curtains, etc.

And in the beginning of May, we're flying to Wisconsin for our friends' wedding! Hubby's standing as a groomsman, so I get to see him all decked out in a tux again *swoon*. Lol. And on Saturday I'm going out with the bride-to-be and a group of her friends (one of whom is also one of my friends) for a bachelorette celebration involving drinks, appetizers, and who knows what other kinds of fun!

AND THEN SUMMER!!!! I sure do feel blessed lol. Anyway, I was just thinking about all the wonderful events coming up in our immediate future.

Well, expletive

This is sort of an addendum to the whole "Battle of the Bulge" series I started posting awhile back. I hate to admit it, but I fell off the metaphorical wagon with a splat. I was doing so well too! Gah. Long story short, over the holidays I fell completely out of the work out routine. Sad. And then the Spring semester of school started. Folks told me that the Spring would be a lot harder than the Fall, and I didn't believe them. Silly me. Even though I'm not a TAKS subject, there's so much more to do, and it's a lot harder to motivate the kids when they see the end in sight.

Anyway, according to the Wii Fit, I've gained about another pound since my last post on this topic in January (at which I was back up to 165). Which really isn't a very big deal. BUT I realized the other day when I set up my Wii Fit profile, I put 5'9" in for my height, not 5'8". So, basically, my whole BMI calculation has been off this whole time. With the correction, I'm a little bummed/peeved at myself about that, because that meant I actually let myself cross over the "normal BMI" line into the overweight line. Crap.

But, it's not like me to dwell too much on those kinda things (lol or at least not too much). There is a positive! I started working out again last week! And trying to do a better job of watching what I eat! And so far, it's payed off! I've lots about a pound (a little more) in the last week. And yes, I'm fully aware it was prolly pure water weight coming off from starting a new exercise routine AND it being "that time of the month". But hey, it's a start. The trick will be sticking with my routine to reach my goal.

Speaking of, my goal is not as ambitious as last time. I simply want to lose 5 pounds in a month. That's not overachieving at all. So, basically, I have another 3 weeks to lose about 4 pounds. And since it's reasonable to expect about a 1-2 pound a week loss with a regular exercise program and good eating habits, I'm optimistic about my success! So hopefully, at the beginning of May, I will be back down to a consistent 160. Then the next goal will be to get down to 155 by the end of June...and since that will be summer time, I'll have more time to go on walks, and use the Wii Fit, and work in the yard! And hubby and I will still be playing (though, in my case, the term "play" does not always mean "play well" lol) softball so there's another source of activity!

So, at my goal weight of 5 pounds a month (only a little over 1 pound a week), I'm hoping to be down to 145 by the end of August. The trick then is going to be keeping it off!!! Lol. Seriously though, I'll settle for being in the 145-150 range by the end of the summer. That's where I generally feel/look my best. I'd love to get down to 140-145, but I do want to keep my ass and my boobs (and my hubby wants me to keep them too lol), and the last time I was down to that, they went away lol. Looking at general BMI charts, they mostly say that, for my height and age range, I should be around 145...that said, I have a medium-to-large frame, and I've always carried weight well (as in, I don't necessarily look like I weigh as much as I do).

On a different health note, I'm going to have to remember to be careful and not push it too hard to quickly. With the RA, I have to confine my workouts to low impact exercises. AND my joints can't take heavy weight lifting. That said, I have already started adding light hand weights (3 lbs a piece) to my aerobics and strength training. I WANT TONE BACK!!! lol I might work up to 10 lbs eventually, but I don't want to go too much beyond that for fear of overstressing the joints.

All that said, I have my goal! 145-ish by the end of August. That said, I'm going to approach my goal in 5-pound increments. I really just want to feel good and feel like I look good again, instead of just ok.

Anyways, I'm going to try to recapture my accountability on this thing...it really helped last time. Time to go from just thinking about it, to actually pursuing this goal!

RAWR*

*RAWR means I love you in dinosaur. <3

I saw that on a T-shirt on Friday, and absolutely love it! I'm thinking about trying to track that shirt down and buy it online somewhere.

Other than that, I don't have a lot of deep thoughts today. It has been a wonderful weekend though. Yesterday, hubby and I worked in the yard. I picked up all the dog shit before he mowed, and then weeded one of the side flowerbeds. We really need to get some ant poison...the fire ants are getting ridiculous! And don't tell me "It's Texas, what do you expect?" I've lived in Texas my whole life, and the fire ant infestation we have in our yard is ridiculous. Other than that, we also bought some citrus spikes for my baby orange tree :-). Thanks to the stakes and line hubby but up and around the tree (in the dark, as it was raining no less...he sure does love me!!!), it no longer is growing horizontally! It's actually starting to straighten and strengthen its little baby tree trunk! And it's recovering from the underwatering I inflicted upon it :-(. The leaves are all a nice green color again! Last night, hubby cooked a wonderful meal: marinated venison steaks, green beans, hominy and wine! I made sour dough rolls (I used the bread starter mix and yeast pack, added water, and actually MADE bread--dough kneading and the whole nine yards--it was fun!). We had a wonderful dinner and watched a movie, then went to bed.

Today we rolled out of bed and went to see the new Fast and Furious movie...and it was AWESOME!!! They definitely did not disappoint, and I love how the wove enough details from the other movies into this one to make the entire series a cohesive unit!!! I'm going to have to eventually buy the other movies in the series--except for Tokyo Drift. We already own that one ;-).