the next chapter begins

well, i'm all moved-in and completely exhausted (even after taking yesterday off - i still worked on unpacking/organizing for most of the day)... all in all - things went well, minus it raining on friday night and all day saturday, and i have to thank eric for being so incredibly helpful, patient, and just plain wonderful throughout this whole process... i totally redid the kitchen yesterday and he loved it, and continuously tells me that he's glad i'm there (and that max is finally with his brothers and no longer has to go back/forth every weekend)... i'm also limping because an 8-pound hand weight fell on my right foot on sunday afternoon, and now it's bruised and slightly swollen... i'm not sure if it's broken, considering that toe is fused together anyway, but i guess things could've been worse... i'm going to have to lay-low re: exercise until it's better, but don't feel bad since i got a ton this past weekend while moving... :)

next on our to-do list is paint the bedroom, so we can clear-out the garage... i was amazed that all my clothes actually fit into his closet (huggable hangers are a life-saver!) but could use about another 2 feet for my shoes... then it will be to tackle the pantry - it needs reorganized and painted so for now - my stuff will remain in boxes which is fine... i can live with that but could not live w/out having an organized kitchen - even my new mixer fits on the counter now and looks quite nice!

since i was out yesterday, i have some work to catch-up on but wanted to share some pics... i wish i would've taken some shots of eric's house and the utter chaos this weekend, but i was too busy wondering where all my crap was going to go... :)

yes, eric is actually using the vacuum...



my LR on saturday...



my LR on sunday...



max and i will miss our little balcony...



goodbye #226 - it's been fun but it's time to move on...

TGIF

all the packing/moving talk will be over soon, so just bear with me for a few more days... i got rid of 3 items this morning (microwave cart, vcr, and old tv) so that's 3 less things to move over the weekend... last night, i boxed-up what i could so when eric comes over later to get my bed frame/mattress - we can move as much as possible... rain will be lingering both sat/sun so i want to take advantage of today's sunny and mid-60 degree weather... whatever we don't get tonight, we can grab tomorrow and/or i can grab on sunday when i clean - not looking forward to THAT but it must be done... hopefully, i can still take monday off but will have to see how full my plate is before leaving for the day... :)

last night after my final chiro appt, i ran over to big lots to get a few things (found more huggable hangers) and unknowingly - grabbed a small bag of cheddar cheese combos... this would definitely be an item on my list of 'what 5 things could you not live without' because i LOVE them... when i got home, i didn't feel like cooking (or using anything that i had to pack) so i had some lucky charms... what kind of dinner is that!? i counted the points at least but damn, that blows... :(

hope you all have a great weekend and i'll be back after the move... :)

happy friday...

p.s. if you need some kitchen items - pfaltzgraff.com is having a great sale!

*whew*

for what it's worth, thank-you scale gods for being so nice to me this morning (2.4 pounds gone!)... :)

had a busy day at work but managed to squeeze-in a 30 min. treadmill workout (intervals)... :)

mom came over to help pack-up my kitchen, she made dinner so that was nice (pork, sour kraut, and mashed potatoes - yum!)... we used up most of the boxes i had, so i'll have to bring more home this week so i can finish up tomorrow night and friday... my bedroom and closet are still a disaster area, but think i can just throw stuff in shopping bags, etc. and call it a day on saturday... i'm hoping to have most everything out by then, so all i have to do on sunday is clean and remove anything that's still here like food in the fridge, etc.... poor max is so confused - all the furniture is gone and he keeps walking around like he's lost... i can't wait til he's with his bothers 24/7... :)

oh, and check-out what was waiting for me on the front steps when we got home from work yesterday... eric said that i kept talking about wanting a real mixer, so he bought me a belated bday present - how awesome is that! now i just need to figure out what recipe i'm going to christen it with... and yes, it's sitting on our new baker's rack since it's too big to fit on the pantry shelf - this sucker is heavy too! :)



happy hump day...

are you kidding me?!

i caused a stir at work today - all i was trying to do was point-out that it would be nice to know the status of things, on this huge project i'm working on... the person i deal with, in editorial, is notorious for saying things like, "you'll get file X tomorrow" and then i don't, and i have no idea when i will be getting it... so i wrote this email this morning, with my boss's help, and sent it to all parties involved... i guess someone got their panties in a bunch and was upset, and then had the balls to lie and say she HAD been telling me things... both my coworker and boss heard her in my office yesterday and know that's not the case, so why bother lying? i just don't understand... later, my boss got an email that said a list has been in the works - meanwhile, i've never seen it and it would've eliminated everything that happened this morning... c'mon people - work with me here! we're all on the same team! :-p

(end of rant)

eric and i got anxious last night and decided to move my bedroom furniture (sans bed) and my tv... this week may be crazy and with the threat of rain on sat/sun, we thought we should take advantage of what we could last night... it's now in the garage, and my couch is now in the LR which the cats have been LOVING! to them - it's something new to play under, jump-on, and most of all - cover with hair! wahhhhhhh! we stopped at panera bread on the way home but they were closed, so option B was chipotle. (eric was considerate enough to ask which was a better option for me)... i did fairly well considering their menu, and i skipped both the sour cream and guacamole (which is a first)... :)

tonight, i'll be heading home and i have to clear-off my bed since we dumped all my drawers on there last night... i also need tackle my kitchen, walk-in closet, bathroom, and eventually - dismantle the computer... i told eric i wasn't sure how i was going to watch tv in bed now since my dresser is gone (and the tv is now sitting on the floor)... oh, how i'm going to miss watching tv before going to sleep... :(

happy tuesday...

weekend recap

i treated myself to some vera bradley stuff today, but only because it was (1) on sale and (2) i have yet to spend the $50 i got from work at christmas and the $25 i got from my dad for my bday... i'm so good at justifying things... anyway, i really loved the bag that i bought a few years back but the straps were worn out and i had to stop using it - never thought i'd buy vera again but there was some really cute stuff to be had... if you don't believe me, check out the sale and you'll see what i mean (though most are retired patterns, but still!)... and just in case i don't like what i ordered, their return policy seems pretty good so what's to lose! merry christmas and happy birthday to me! :)

my weekend was busy - we moved my couch/chair on friday night, after picking-up the new chest freezer (which is just adorable)... the chair is now in eric's LR and the couch is in the garage, since we have no idea where it's going to go so, and there it will stay for now... but then again - since there will be no room for my bedroom furniture come this weekend, we may need to put the couch somewhere else... oy, the fact that i have less than a week is starting to get to me - the weather isn't looking good for the weekend but i know it's only monday and things could change... worse case scenario - eric said we can rent a U-haul so perhaps i should stop stressing... but i DO have a lot to pack yet - pantry, misc. cupboards, LR closet, BR walk-in closet, and my whole BR - zoiks! i also have some things that i want to get rid of (via freecycle) so there's that stuff to deal with... and calling my electric/cable companies... wahhhhhhhhh! :(

on saturday - i painted the spare bedroom closet and then helped eric go thru all his clothing since we'd be going by goodwill... after dropping off some things at the dump - we made our donations and then ended up buying a baker's rack for only $30! it's in really good shape and will work great in the kitchen... since i'm not liking the green though - i'm going to paint it and considering they're about $100, i'd say that was our best score of the weekend... after goodwill, we went to home depot which was actually pretty painless, then back to the house... and to celebrate the first weekend of spring - dinner was grilled shrimp and veggies... :)

on sunday - i hit the grocery store, painted the 2nd coat on the closet, and then for about 4 hours we worked in the back yard... it's amazing how much better it looks and it was so nice to be outside since it was in the mid- to high-60s... eric said he hoped it was okay that we were doing yard work and not moving furniture, but i really didn't mind - i love doing that sort of thing... and since we have plans on reconfiguring yet another flowerbed - i ordered a bunch of flowers/plants today (roses, s butterfly bush, s snowball bush, and some giant peonies)... i also bought 2 red azaleas for the front flowerbeds... next-up, the herb and veggie garden... :)

hope you're having a great monday!

everything tastes better when it's free

rita's is giving away a FREE regular size italian ice to each and every guest to mark the first day of spring... to find one that's close to you, check out their website... :)

today has been extremely slow at work, like snail's pace, and i hate days like this... esp. when there's a huge project on my plate and i can't work on it, because the research is behind schedule, which makes editorial behind as well... i know i shouldn't complain but damn - there's only so much web-surfing a girl can do! at least i'll have my hour at the gym but still - makes me wish i was home packing, or at eric's house organizing! :(

weekend plans: move some furniture, maybe do some painting, and work in the backyard - it's time to start thinking about our garden for this year... we made a list of everything that we'd like to try growing, but this will involve making the current plot much larger... i found a few tips on what to plant, when, so we'll see how much progress we actually make... we're definitely going to do LESS tomatoes and squash, that i do know... AND eric bought a small, chest freezer yesterday so we'll have more room to freeze veggies, fruit, herbs, sauces, etc. - yaaa hooo! :)

have a great weekend and happy 1st day of spring! :)

what is your mantra?

found this graphic on a website (see below) and thought i would share... it seems to have a lot of positive words/phrases and think we need to remember enjoy the simple things in life... i complain about having so much going on but seriously - life is what it is, and i'm going to make more of an effort to slow down... so if YOU had to pick 3, what would they be? even though there are some really good ones, i would chose:

> schedule ME-time
> remember, you only live once
> take nothing for granted

since i had some down-time at the chiro yesterday - i was flipping thru fitness magazine and found a few websites that are worth mentioning (and some i have found on my own)... i used to do this more often, so maybe i'll work on that too... :)

> wize.com - buying a new product? see what others have to say first...
> lobotome.com - cute notepads that you can use for all sorts of stuff...
> fmylife.com - having a bad day? there will always be someone who's had it worse than you...
> fatwallet.com - great bargains on all sorts of things...
> freecycle.com - looking for something or want to get of something? try this first...

eric came over last night and took a truck-load of bins/boxes back to the house... i had to put max on the balcony, so we could leave the door open, and he howled the whole time... he just hates being locked-out of anywhere, not sure why - and god forbid i close the door to the bathroom cus he has to be right there with you... :-o

happy thursday...

why did i just eat that?

ugh, i'm just not working WW like i should be (gained 1.6 this week), and i have no real excuse besides (a) i've been lazy, (b) i tend to stop tracking on the weekends, and (c) other things have been made a priority... like packing & moving, but even then i can't blame that 100% because it hasn't been taking up all my time - just bits and pieces... i hate complaining and giving excuses, but that's part of the weightloss game - facing your issues, accepting them, and then moving on... always seems easier to type, then to actually do - funny how that works... anyway, i'm going to make a conscious effort to track all 7 days this week and just take things one day at a time... :)

update: i got back from a great weight-workout and found one of those big chocolate chip cookies on my desk... apparently, a coworker didn't want to feel fat on her own, so she bought one for each of us... and i ate it... the whole damn thing... WTF! :(

anyway, i have a chiro appt. after work and then it's home to maybe see if there's anything else i can pack... the weather is supposed to be really nice this weekend so we'll make as many trips as we can - i keep telling eric that i have NO idea where all my stuff is going to go... and that we need a bigger house... he thinks i'm joking - a woman needs space! ;)

i can't wait for LOST tonight! whoo hooo! :)

happy hump day....

are you wearing green today?

Happy St. Patricks Day!

i have on a green sweater today, and that's about all you'll be getting out of me for st. patty's day - never been my thing really... wasn't really the 'bar' type person in college and even after, i thought irish bars smelled funny and i hated the music (sorry!)... i don't even like guinness - never have, never will - just too damn bitter for me (you're talking to someone that adores bud light lime)... so for those that will be celebrating later - have fun and be safe... :)

sorry for the lack of posts - this weekend was a flurry of activity, though no moving was involved because of the weather, and sunday was pretty much shot because of my niece's bridal shower... i did take a car-full of stuff to goodwill on saturday though, and i mean a carload - even the front passenger seat had stuff on it... and just when i cleared out my DR, i cleared out my balcony closet and now the DR is full of bins and more boxes again... eric may come over tomorrow and take a load to the house, and that will still leave at least 3-4 loads til my place is empty... having 2 full weekends left is comforting to know, and they say it will be warmer and sunny on sat/sun so i think i'll be okay (crosses fingers)... i spoke w/the rental office on saturday and i have to do my final walk-thru on 3/30 with the head maintenance guy - i will have to make sure that any sign of max is gone since he's been living there illegally for 5 years... shhhh.... ;)

like i mentioned above - my niece's bridal shower was on sunday in harrisburg, which meant a lot of driving in crappy weather... it was your normal event with food, games, cake, etc. but not very organized or well-managed time wise... we got there around noon and i think she finally got around to opening gifts around 3:00... she got a LOT of pyrex but then again, you can never have too many mixing bowls or baking dishes, in my opinion... it seems like yesterday when i got the call, at my boyfriend's house, that she was born... 21 years sure goes by fast (sniff*sniff)... :)



happy tuesday...

mmm cake

dinner was great last night - we went for seafood and i chose the crab cake, grilled shrimp, and rice pilaf... we also had calamari for an appetizer and it was a bit salty & greasy, but the real topper and eric surprised me with a birthday cake... i was shocked at how tasty it was and we all know how terrible restaurant cakes can be! leftovers, for those of you wondering, are in the office kitchen right now - there was NO way that i was keeping it at home... all in all, it was the perfect ending to a great night - thank-you, darlin... i love you! :)

i hate even numbers

so today is my 38th birthday - seems odd to write that number since i certainly don't FEEL like i'm that old (okay, maybe on some days)... and honestly, i don't think i LOOK 38 either but i guess i'm a little biased... according to my spreadsheet from 2008 - i weighed 155.2 and as of this morning, i was down to 163.0 (7.8 pound difference in 1 year)... ugh that's horrible, but i'm not going to dwell on it because i'll be there again eventually... i had one of my faster jogs yesterday though - only had 30 mins to workout so increased my treadmill speed by a few notches... i did pretty well so i'll take that as progress... :)

i've had several texts, phone calls, and facebook messages this morning, which has been nice, and eric is taking me to dinner after my chiro appt. tonight... i'm leaning towards seafood, since that sounds more healthy, and if the desserts look good - then i may just have to splurge... he already said that i won't be getting something 'sparkly' for my bday, but offered to buy me a nice desk from IKEA since the one i'll be using at his place isn't very modern (or feminine)... hey, i can't hate him for being honest and letting me know ahead of time - you know how girls like to expect things to happen... ;)

happy hump day...

what time is it?

i am thrilled with this warmer weather, but not very happy that my allergies are starting-up and that i'm still adjusting to the time-change... it's so easy to forget how great it feels when daylight lasts longer - so much more can be done, especially outside... eric grilled steaks for dinner last night and i'm looking forward to doing that much more this spring/summer (i couldn't grill at my place)... we also took a nice ride in the country, on the harley, and still had plenty'o time to do other stuff when we got home... :)

we made a lot of progress this weekend but more on the moving side than the painting side, which is fine since that needs to be a priority anyway... yes, i still feel that it would be better to handle it beforehand but i'm going to work at being more realistic too - my life won't end if the walls are the same color come march 31 (ha!)... i should thank my lucky stars that he has a house and a full-basement, so it's not like storage space is hard to come by - granted, it's already filling up but there's still room... on saturday, we moved a load of bookshelves and boxes and then yesterday - we grabbed my oak hosier cabinet, table, and chairs... by 9:00 last night - i had completely unpacked all my dishes, and the cats had found their perspective chairs under the table... now that's making progress! :)

supposed to be in the mid-60s today so i'm going to make a point of getting outside for a nice, long walk... i didn't go for one this weekend but with all the moving and walking up/down the stairs - i think i did pretty well...

happy monday...

TGIF

21 points... no, that's not my total for yesterday but rather how many i had for dinner last night (and how many points i tracked in eTools, thank-you very much!)... let's just say it wasn't one of my best days, and since pizza is my ultimate comfort food and i knew i had some points to play with... and yes, i did compare brands and their nutritional value... so was having pizza THE best option? probably not, but i'm okay with that right now and i'm moving on... :)

eric and i were going to go see 'the watchman' tonight but decided against it since it's pretty long and i've read so-so reviews... we're still doing dinner w/some of his friends but then it's home to pack more stuff... eric's coming over with the truck tomorrow and we'll be taking what i have already boxed, and maybe some shelves, and who knows what else... part of my meltdown yesterday was realizing i have less than a month to get everything out and my apartment cleaned, as well as get things done at his house... his argument was that i'm trying to make things perfect and adding more stress to my life... my argument is that why move stuff into his place, to only have to move it back out to paint? and i KNOW things won't be perfect - but there's nothing wrong w/being practical... so maybe after moving tomorrow, we'll be painting as well - not sure yet... ;)

as for the rest of the weekend - i plan on getting my ass outside for a nice walk/jog and then we also plan on taking the harley out for a nice ride... it's supposed to be in the high 60s tomorrow and low 70s on sunday - crazy weather but i'm not complaining! :)

i hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and don't forget to turn your clock forward on sunday morning! :)

happy friday...

back and forth

i'm thankful that the scale was kind to me this morning and only showed a .4 gain this week... with everything that i have going on these days - painting, packing, moving - it's easy to put exercise on the back-burner on the weekends... but my goal this week is to get outside at least once on sat/sun, esp. since they say it's going to be in the high 50s... though i feel like i've done okay with WW since re-starting in january - one can see that i've had more gains than losses so i need to pick-up the pace a bit... i could easily put the blame on my body, since it's still adjusting to no b/c and being on synthroid again, but i feel that's a cop-out and need to take more responsibility for what i'm doing... i stopped tracking last weekend and understand that's not an option if i want to be successful at this game, so off to eTools i go... :)



my apartment is starting to resemble a war-zone - boxes everywhere, stuff on my dining room table, and piles of things going to goodwill... the only room that looks semi-normal is my bedroom and will probably remain that way until closer to moving day... i was going thru the drawer of my hutch and found a bunch of pictures that my sister had given me - most were of me when i was very small, some with my beloved dog, sandy, and some with my hamster, spot... one picture made me choke-up for some reason - i was maybe 3 or 4 and it was of me, helping my mom icing a cake in our kitchen... funny how things like that can affect you 30+ years later... there was also a photo of me wearing a sombrero and one of me sitting next to a b/w cat on the couch - it's obvious my love of mexican food and animals started early... so after i had a good cry - i cleared out some kitchen cabinets (how much corning ware can a girl own?) and a shelf in the kitchen - tonight, i will tackle my walk-in closet... :)

and yes, i watched that stupid after the rose show last night - i think i'm going to be sick...

happy hump day...

but i love you both

i'm not one to watch reality shows - only watched the first season of survivor and said, "enough is enough"... but for some reason, i got sucked-into watching the tail-end of the bachelor finale last night - why, i don't know considering i hadn't watched it all year... then i had to watch the show afterwards to see if they were still together - holy cow, what a twist that was! i have to say i'm a bit torn - sure, he's the jerk for having feelings for one girl and asking another to marry him BUT i also think it was noble of him to say he made a mistake and that he still had feelings for the other one... i mean, yea, it's just a show and who knows how much is real/fake... and it does suck for melissa but would YOU want to be with someone that wished he had chosen someone else? and how excited was molly - you could just tell that she knew he'd come back to her in the end... stupid show and yes, i'll probably watch tonight's episode too but only after i pack some boxes... :)

my back has been feeling much better and i'm looking forward to tomorrow night's adjustment (only have 4 more)... i probably overdid things two weeks ago and need to accept that it won't heal as quickly as it used too... i felt fine during my jog yesterday so let's hope it feels okay during weight-lifting too...

i'm SO not looking forward to weigh-in tomorrow but will keep plugging-away... i have so much going on that it's hard to focus sometimes and have to admit it was eaiser when eric was away (less temptation)... :(

happy tuesday...

weekend update

not sure what i'm more happy about this morning - that the dining room is done or that tickets for depeche mode are going on sale march 13th... ;)

yesterday was pretty busy - i got up early to head over to kohl's (needed some bras), then came back here to touch-up some of the trim before going back to my place and pack... my mom came down to help and we used most of the boxes just for my dishes - yikes... it's not that i have THAT many but because i have fiestaware, it's heavier than most so we had to pack accordingly... we went to lunch at this old restaurant not too far from my place, and then stopped by a consignment shop where i grabbed a sweater for $5 and some bare minerals eye shadow ($6/ea which is very cheap)... after we were done there - i ran to the store, grabbed some stuff for dinner tonight (lasagna), finished the laundry, cleaned-up the dining room, took a bath, and then waited for eric to get home... he pulled-up around 10:30 and have driven almost 15 hours straight - made it just in time since the weather turned and it had begun to snow... i'm happy he's home and so are kitties... :)

well, the long-awaited pics of the dining room are below... eric put up the new light and dimmer switch this morning - thank you, darlin... as you can imagine, i'm glad that it's done and very happy with the results... :)











enjoy the rest of your weekend... :)