Backpack

I had plenty of time to blog today, since I was at work, and we were a little slow. but I have been busy setting up my new fun toy! probably not as fun as whatever you are thinking, but quite cool to me.

I have been looking for a good organization/to-do list/calendar program. simple, cheap, and something i don't have to carry around. well, i found one. it is like i am the one who invented this program. they must have read my freaking mind. it is EXACTLY what i want. how cool is that. It is a program called backpack by 37signals. I haven't had enough time to get it ready for other people to see yet, but it is quite handy. head over and check it out. I'll let you know how it works out for me, and post a review later.

hope you all have a SAFE and happy new year!!

Don't know what title to give this

I have been lacking in the blogging department. We are staying pretty steady at work, and doing the normal holiday activities. We aren't terribly busy, but I just haven't had the gumption to type a blog.

Things are going quite well. We are almost done with our christmas shopping. Hopefully everyone likes what we got them. Chris' parents will be with us for the next week, and then my parents are coming down for New Years. The house is decorated, and clean (for now). We have all of the presents wrapped except for the ones that haven't arrived yet. I'll be mailing my siblings' gifts today.

I've been busy working on some knitting projects, but you will have to wait till after christmas to hear about those (don't want to give anything away).

Life is good. Weight watchers is holding steady. haven't gained or lost for the last 3 weeks, but I'm okay with that. Pretty good for me during the hoidays. Plan on hitting it hardcore this week while I'm off. Hopefully I'll have a chance to hit the gym in the mornings. I think I'm going to make a vow to not watch tv during the day while I'm by myself. It's usually just crap anyway. . . we'll see how that goes. I'm going to try and get some scrapbooking done while I'm home too.

Entry for November 30, 2006

I just wanted to let you all know something very good that I found out about Ruby Tuesday. Most restaurants don't provide nutrtional information at all. Some will provide the information for a select few items of their choosing. But Ruby Tuesday has provided the nutritional information for their ENTIRE MENU!! That is incredible. It is so freeing as a weight watcher member, because I don't always want to stick to the few items that are the "healthy choices". Sometimes it is a special occasion, and I want to get what I want. But it is hard to make that choice when you have NO IDEA what the nutritional info is for that item. The freedom with weight watchers is that you can choose to splurge, you just have to know how much so you can work it into your points. Even though there aren't too many low points items at Ruby Tuesdays, I will still be going there more often, because I will have an exact idea of what I can and can't have. I have already sent them an email thanking them for providing this, and if you are a ww member, or just like having the nutritional information avaialable, please send them an email from their website as well.

That being said, it is SAD that the Carolina Chicken Salad has 26 points. That is just wrong.

sorry i've been M.I.A for so long

Things are trucking along over here. My weight loss is staying steady. I've lost 14 lbs so far. I have this horrible cold that is going around. I've had it for about a week. I was home from work Wed, Thur, and Fri last week. I could barely talk at all. I'm still pretty croaky, but thankfully we haven't been too busy at work, so my voice has had a rest. Getting ready for my parents to come for Thanksgiving, and then a few days later, Chris' parents fly in. They will be here on and off throughout December. And then my parents will be here for New Years. Busy busy few weeks, but I'm really looking forward to the company. The house is ALMOST ready. Just need to clean the guest bath tonight and do some generally straightening. We spent most of Sunday re-organizing Chris' office because that is where our guests will be staying. It looks really good now. We are also going to make Chex-Mix tonight, and maybe some homemade cookies! Hope things are going well with everyone out there, and I will try to post more regularly.

Check this out!!

Okay, if you are at all like me, then you will want to go check out this link.

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/EverydayDinner/ShoppingListSplashPage.htm?e=email

They have made up 10 weeks worth of menus, and combined them in this very nice pdf file with a shopping list!! They include all of the nutritional information. They also coordinate together, so you don't have to buy as many groceries!! As much as I love to plan, sometimes I get too overwhelemed when trying to create a new menu each week (too many choices). This is going to be fabulous for the next few months. They have a really good variety, and most of the recipes are short and easy!!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is my five year wedding anniversary. On the one hand, it doesn't seem that long. On the other hand, I don't remember what is was like before Chris was in my life. We are the best of friends. No marriage is perfect, but I know that mine is perfect for me. We fight, we laugh, we love, we cry. But we are always honest, and always there. We seem to make our decisions a little bit slower, but we know they are always the right decisions for us. We are so different, but we know each other so well. No one gets me like he does. I never want to take it for granted that there is someone out there like that. And that he loves all the quirky, weird, stupid, and annoying things about me. And he makes me laugh. My life is so full and fun with him. I love you Chris!!

This is a picture of what Chris got me for our anniversary. It is called a Pandora bracelet. The "S" is obvious. He got the hedgehog bead because he once told my mom that the animal that I remind him of is the hedgehog (because they have a tiny head). The blue glass flowered bead is because blue is my favorite color. And the flower bead has 5 petals for our 5 year anniversary. One of the things I love the most about this is that Chris customized it just for me. And he will be able to add to it as we experience life. And I will be able to tell a story about our life when I explain the beads.

i've been a bad blogger

Sorry I haven't updated lately. I was doing good about updating for awhile, and I've been kind of lazy for the last few weeks. Things just got really busy here. We have been putting some finishing touches on our house, and it is really coming together. There are still some more things that I want to get, but it is starting to look really neat. And I have some cool ideas for my office that I want to do. :)

Chris' birthday was this weekend, and we had some people over for a cookout. I got Chris a homemade pasta maker and two cds, and a gift certificate to a woodworking shop. Our anniversary is this weekend, so we are going to a cabin for the weekend. It should be very fun! :)

I've been doing okay on WW. I have stuck to my points this week, but I didn't feel like I had lost anything. According to the scales this morning, I have lost, so we will see how that works out tonight on the scales. I'm still trying to find the good balance between protein, carbs and veggies. Cause sometimes, I feel like I'm eating all empty carbs and they don't fill me up very much. So I had more protein this week, and it helped keep me satisfied.

10 lbs gone!

Well, last night's weigh-in was successful. Down another 1.4, for a total of 10 lbs in 3 weeks. So I got my little 5 lb star to add to my bookmark (you'll know what I'm talking about if you are a ww member - past or present). I know that my weekly losses will start to slow down, so I think I need to be more intentional about adding activity. I was supposed to last week, but it just didn't get down. I'll work on some laundry tonight, and pack my gym bag tonight, and reset the alarms for early. Then I won't even have time to think about it in the morning.

This weekend we had a successful garage sale. The proceeds will be going towards new furniture. Just the little incidentals that we have been living without. The plan is to get two bookshelfs for the living room (one for dvds and one for games), two endtables, two nightstands, a table for the entryway, and shelving for my office. If we have anything leftover, some more art for the living room.

I went to Meijer and bought 2 bookshelfs for 19.99 each. We were at Meijer on Saturday night and saw the same bookshelfs for 49.99. I wanted to sleep on it, so we came back on Sunday to get them, and they had been put on sale for 19.99 each! We came up empty at Garden Ridge and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Last night we went to the other Meijer to see if they had any matching endtables, and came up empty there too. We headed over to Target, and found a console table for the entryway on sale for $80 (originaly $99). So, the next priority is to get two nightstands. We may wait awhile on the endtables. They aren't as necessary as the nightstands.
So right now, this is what I'm considering getting for nightstands. What do you think?

Option 1 IKEA Hemnes

Happy Days

My weigh-in last night was very successful. Last week I was only down 1.4 lbs, but this week I was down 7.2 lbs for a total of 8.6 :). Not bad for two weeks. I think I actually lost about half of it the week before, but I had some major water retention during last week's weigh in. I'm hoping for about 2 lbs a week for the next few weeks, and then about a pound a week. I know I can do it if I stick with it. But it felt good to see it pay off. :)

I hate weigh in days

Sometimes I hate them because I know I didn't do well. Sometimes I hate them, because I think I did well, and I don't want to get my hopes up and then be disappointed. In both cases, I guess I just hate the waiting. Its not like there is a lot I can (besides staying within my points, but that actually won't affect tonights weight that much). I had my hopes up so high last week, and then only came away with a 1.4 pound loss. Good for one week, but not so good for the FIRST week on weight watchers. Now I truly feel like I have made up for that this week, but the point is, I don't know, and I just have to sit here and wait. and wait. and wait for 5 o'clock to roll around. Then Missy will pick me up, and we will be on our way.

3rd time is the charm?

I have been trying to post this blog since I got here this morning (45 minutes), so we will see if it works this time. I got my daily email from Hungry Girl, and thought I should share it with my oh-so-few (but greatly appreciated) faithful readers.

Choc-horrific Calorie Catastrophes!

Outback Steakhouse - Chocolate Thunder From Down Under
(Approx: 1,220 calories, 78g fat, 130g carbs, 0g protein = 31 Points)

This evil Aussie dessert is legendary! No one stands a chance in a face-off with this 1,220-calorie thunder blunder. By the time this storm settles, you’ve been slammed with nearly 80 grams of fat! Board up the windows, or at least stay far away from the Outback.

P.F. Chang's - Great Wall Of Chocolate
(2,240 calories, 89g fat, 376g carbs, 20g protein = 52 Points)

If you find yourself at the foot of this frightfest with a fork, it may already be too late. There’s no escaping the colossal 2,240 calories and nearly 90 grams of fat this wall weighs in at. They must’ve built this thing with bricks made of carbs…it’s got 376 of ‘em!

On the Border - Chocolate Turtle Empanadas
(1,280 calories, 81g fat, 440mg sodium, 131g carbs, 4g fiber, 11g protein = 32 points)

Toss out any superstitious notions that turtles are a symbol of long life, health, and
cleverness. These turtles deliver 1,280 calories and 81 grams of fat to your dessert dish! It’d take more than a slow ‘n steady pace to burn off all of that!

Ruby Tuesday - Brownie
(1,030 calories, 43g fat, 138g net carbs, 8g fiber = 23 Points)

Nope, the scariest sweet on Ruby’s menu isn’t that Chocolate Tallcake. It’s the plain ol’ Brownie lurking quietly in the corner of the menu! This terror packs in 1,030 calories and 43 grams of fat. Um, no thanks.

Freakish Cake 'n Pie Blunders!

Applebee's - Sizzling Apple Pie
(Approx: 1,085 calories, 56g fat, 580mg sodium, 146g carbs, 7g fiber, 14g protein = 26 Points)

Apple desserts are safer for you, right? Uhhh, guess again. Run for cover – the Weight Watchers section of the 'Bee’s menu is an especially safe haven!

Macaroni Grill - New York Cheesecake w/ Caramel Fudge Sauce
(1,760 calories, 113g fat, 710mg sodium, 168g carbs, 1g fiber, 19g protein = 44 Points)

It’s no secret that cheesecake has lots of calories (doy). But we are truly in awe of the 1,760-calorie and 113-fat-gram price tag on Macaroni Grill’s cheesecake. Yowsa!

The Cheesecake Factory - Carrot Cake
(Approx: 1,510 calories, 84g fat, 600mg sodium, 179g carbs, 6g fiber, 129g sugars, 18g protein = 36 Points)

If you thought cheesecake was all you had to fear at the Factory, guess again. One slice of their carrot cake’ll cost you about 1,510 calories and 84 fat grams! No amount of superstitious safeguarding will protect you from those nightmarish nutritionals. Those POOR carrots...

Johnny Rockets - Apple Pie a la mode
(1,450 calories, 91g fat, 940mg sodium, 140g carbs, 6g fiber, 134g sugars, 15g protein = 36 Points)

J Rockets' Apple Pie a la mode contains a ghastly 1,450 calories and a morbid 91 fat grams. 91 FAT GRAMS?!?! Are they kidding???

Macaroni Grill - Dessert Ravioli
(1,720 calories, 89g fat, 770mg sodium, 214g carbs, 3g fiber, 16g protein = 41 Points)

This unconventional dessert may sound enticing, but with a horrifying 1,720 calories, 89 grams of fat and 214 grams of carbs, we think this pasta pastry dish must be possessed. Skip it, peeps!

I stick by my opinion that this is the reason that restaurants don't release nutritional information. It isn't because they don't have it, it is because if people knew how horrible the food was nutritionally, most wouldn't get it.

I'm doing well on Weight Watchers. I meant to post after my first WI (weigh-in), but I didn't lose as much as I thought I would. But instead of letting it get me down and pigging out, I chose to stay strong (might seem small to some people, but for me it was a big deal). I'm going to be extra cautious this weekend, and strictly count my points, cause I want there to be some major movement on the scales this Monday.

holding steady

Still holding steady. I think some of my water weight from last week is gone. I came up with a reward structure for my weight loss. I've come up with these before, but they never really seemed to be too much of a motivator. Especially because I usually end up buying the "rewards" for myself instead of earning them. So I came up with a non-food reward structure that isn't the typical rewards I would use. I usually just get my haircut at Great Clips, and have never been to a salon/spa before, so I thought going there would be fun, and different, and something I wouldn't normally do, but should enjoy. I will probably get all of these done at the Planet Salon and Spa in Beaumont.

1. 10 lbs - essential Manicure ($22)
2. 20 lbs - eyebrow waxing ($12) and haircut ($30)
3. 30 lbs (also my 10% goal) - Detoxifying arometherapy body wrap ($70)
4. 40 lbs - makeup lesson ($50) - (i suck at putting on makeup)
5. 50 lbs - rainspa manicure ($30) and rainspa pedicure ($65)

After I reach that point, I will come up with some more. I didn't want to focus on the big picture, because I have so far to go, it is easy to get distracted.

first weigh in

Well, my first WW weigh-in was tonight. I was down, but a lot less than I thought I would be. I thought I had lost 4-5 lbs, but I only lost 1.4. I'm really hoping that a big part of that is because I started my period yesterday and I usually gain a few pounds (water retention) during my period. I WILL stay on task this week, and we'll see what happens next week.

I'm starting a new bible study tonight. Hoping that will give me a little bit of focus.

Easy Chicken and Dumplings

I decided to try some new recipes. I have never made Chicken and Dumplings before. I came across the recipe in "Kitchen Comforts by Gay Boassey", a cookbook that I picked up at a book sale at work. I tried to find someplace online that sold it, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Anyway, when I figured out that it only had 3 points per serving, I decided it was worth a shot. It was relatively simple to make, and it was super yummy.

Easy Chicken and Dumplings
1 rotisserie chicken (traditional or
herb)
3 cans fat free chicken broth
2 cups water
2 tbsp salt (we will actually reduce this to 1 tbsp next time we make it,
it was a little salty)
1 cup fat free half-and-half dash pepper

DUMPLINGS
2 cups flour
1/2 cup plus milk

Remove all meat from chicken; discard skin and bones. Place broth,
water, salt and chicken meat in a large soup pot and bring to a rolling
boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.

Mix dumpling ingredients in a medium bowl until stiff dough
forms. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch
thick. Cut into strips.

Return broth to a boil. Holding strip of dough in your hand, pinch
into 1-inch pieces and drop into boiling broth until all strips are dropped in
broth. Lower heat to medium-high and cook for 10 minutes.Add half-and-half
and sprinkle with pepper.

Serves 8 (3 points per serving)

Roly Poly Review

Thought I would review one of my favorite casual restaurants in Lexington. Roly Poly is a sandwich/wrap restaurant. They have a huge variety of wraps available, over 50, and almost all of them are healthy. The nutritional data is available on all of their selections. They have a lot of unique combinations. One of my favorites is the Turkey Applejack. It contains turkey breast, melted jack cheese, apple butter, bacon, onion, mushrooms, basil mayo, and it is lightly grilled. SOOOO tasty. And it is only 8 points for a regular wrap. According to my weight watchers guide, all of the wraps at Roly Poly are between 4 and 8 points. Chris' current favorit is the Delhi Chicken (curried chicken salad, fresh basil mayo, cashews, spicy thai sauce, avocado, lettuce, tomato and sprouts). It has 7 points. For all of you in Lexington, the Roly Poly is behind the Liquor Barn on Harrodsburg Rd. Follow the road right next to Liquor Barn back to the Kroger. The Roly Poly is the in shopping center in front of Kroger. I would be absolutely EXSTATIC if they built a Roly Poly at the Brannon Crossing shopping area. I would be eating there all the time.


edited to add: Well I blogged before I read by email. I subscribe to a daily newsletter from Hungry Girl. She regularly reviews "diet" products and sends "tips and tricks for hungry chicks". I regularly find good advice and new products from her site. This is what was in today's email.

Noodle SHOCKERS!

Think a little pasta dish here and there can't do any damage? Noodle THIS...

Ruby Tuesday - Baked Chicken & Broccoli Pasta (not including bread or dipping sauce served on the side) has a completely INSANE 2,119 calories, 135 grams of fat and 53 POINTS (if you count)! This disaster of a dish consists of pasta tossed with Parmesan cream sauce, fried chicken breast and marinara sauce, which is then smothered with Parmesan-Romano and Swiss cheeses and baked. Um, yikes.

Chili’s - Cajun Chicken Pasta isn't exactly diet-friendly. With its cajun-seasoned chicken, penne pasta and creamy alfredo sauce, it racks up 1,460 calories and 75 grams of fat. Oh, it also manages to pack in 5,800mg of sodium. That's just scary.

Macaroni Grill - Spaghetti & Meatballs w/Meat Sauce is the most offensive pasta dish we've ever come across. How a simple dinner of spaghetti and meatballs can manage to pack in 2,270 calories, 115g of fat, 5,330mg of sodium and 206g of carbs is perplexing to us. Seeing these stats scared us so much we may never step foot inside a Macaroni Grill again.

Now, I knew the pasta wasn't the best thing for you, but I honestly had no idea it was this bad. Now we know why most restaurants won't include their nutritional info. NO ONE would eat this crap if they knew how HORRIBLE it was in regards to calories, fat, sodium and carbs.

Popcorn Facts

One large, butter-soaked, movie theater popcorn contains more than 1,500 calories and over 115 grams of fat! Even if you skip the butter, that tub'll cost you around 1,150 calories and 75 grams of fat.

Got that little factoid from an email newsletter. . . how is that even possible?!?

Best 2 point snack EVER

ok, as some of you know, I'm back on weight watchers. I failed MISERABLY trying to do it on my own, so we will try again. a friend from work is going with me, and i know that that is going to help me enormously.

got through yesterday okay, especially considering i didn't have a chance to get to the grocery store before i started. so last night, because i was lazy, i went to the close kroger instead of going to walmart. i probably spent about $20 bucks more than if i had gone to walmart, but i didn't feel like driving across town (that is sad i know. walmart is really on 10 minutes away, but kroger is 2 minutes away). Plus, I would have ended up getting some other stuff at walmart that i need to wait on (new purse, video card, etc). anyhow, all that to say, that i discovered THE most fabulous 2 point snack. They are the new fruit parfaits from Dole. I'm not terribly fond of yogurt, so I don't usually go for the parfaits, but this one said that it wasn't yogurt, but cream. I saw that it was only 2 points, and I needed to get a wider variety of snacks (thank heavens for the 100 calorie packs, but they get boring after awhile). it was delecious. fantastic. didn't know a fruit cup could taste that good. probably making more out of this than it really is, but if you have ever done weight watchers, or any weightloss program, you know that what food you do get to eat is cherished. you have to make every bite count, cause you don't get as many. why would i waste my points on something that i didn't really like??

anyhow. free advertising for them. they were pretty cheap at kroger (looking at my receipt, they were . . . 1.96 for four, so not that cheap, but not bad). i'll try and post some weight loss stories (the positive ones) when they happen.

Well, I'm back at Weight Watchers. I failed miserably trying to do this on my own. So I decided to head back. A girl at work is doing it with me, so that should help quite a bit. I'm going to a different meeting. For some reason, I was having a hard time with the last meeting that I was going to. I'm not saying that as a valid excuse for me to quit, but it did make it a lot easier.

These are my starting pictures. Not really in the mood to do a full body shot just to do a before picture. These are the best full body shots I have from our vacation (usually avoid the camera like the plague if I can help it.

Since no one reads this site as of now, and even if it does get more popular (yeah right), hopefully by that point, I will have lost a bit more weight, so I won't be ashamed at my starting point, I'm going to go ahead and put my actual weight on here.

Starting weight: 294 (3 lbs more than the last time I started weight watchers).

Today has gone okay so far. I waited entirely to long to eat (well after lunch), but I didn't have a chance to go shopping last night, so I knew I needed a good amount of points for lunch.

Hopefully now that I'm doing weight watchers, I will be updating this more regularly.

We are Back!

Just wanted to let you all know that we just finished unpacking the Jeep.
We woke up in Nebraska, and will go to sleep in good ol' Kentucky.
Hugs!

We are Here!

We made it to Colorado. It was a very interesting drive. We got a bit of a late start, but it ended up being okay. However, in the late afternoon, I started feeling crummy. I had a headache, and it felt like my whole body ached. We stopped to get some advil, and I realized that I had a temperature. Go figure. I haven't been sick for ages, and now I am. Anyhow, we got some medicine, but my temperature keeps getting progressively higher. I got some zicam, and that seemed to lower the temperature and get rid of the aches, but if it wears off, then my temp is up to 100.3 or so. Needless to say, I'm trying not to miss anymore doses.

Kansas was interesting at first, but then it was very very boring and hard to stay awake. We are absolutely in love with Colorado. When we got here last night, it was dark, so we didn't really see the mountains then. When we got up this morning to head to the campsite (we stayed at my friend Shandra's last night) Chris is like "OH MY God" and I thought he had fallen, but he had gotten his first good look at the mountains surrounding Colorado Springs. At campsite is at 9500 feet elevation, so it was hard to setup the campsite. WE ended up having to buy a new tent because our tent is too big for the site, and it is about to blow away. So.

Sorry this has been all over the place. Please pray that I will get over this flu quickly. I'm frustrated that I'm sick, but I'm still trying to enjoy myself.

Love you all!

And We Are Off

So far, so good! Everything fit in the car, and we are on our way. Please pray for safe traveling and relaxing time!

Sarah and Chris

New Carbon Leaf CD TOMORROW!

My favorite band is releasing their new cd tomorrow!

Chris and I will be frantic-ly downloading the cd tomorrow night so that we can listen to it on our trip. Please check out their website. If you click on the launch player button from the main site, you can listen to the cd. It's awesome. So far we have seen them live twice, and we will be seeing them again on October 7th in louisville! Super pumped about that!

We are sooooo close to being completely ready to go. The plan tonight is to finish up all our laundry, and get our bags packed. I know pretty much what clothes we are taking, they just need to be clean, and then we are good to go. Tuesday night we will run any last minute errands, but I am soooooo excited :)

16 Days to Go!!

Woo hoo! That picture is from our last big camping trip to Townsend, TN/Great Smoky Mountains. I'm so very excited. Things are coming together quite nicely. There are a few more things that we need to purchase, but everything is still a go. I spent some time yesterday organizing all of my notes and/or printouts into one binder, so I can start condensing. Chris claims that I enjoy preparing for the trip more than the actual trip. I do enjoy planning, so its like I get to enjoy our vacation that much more! Anyhow, I am doing a lot of planning, but its not like I'm micro-scheduling every minute of every day. There is actually big blocks of time, where it will just be free time. I'm just trying to think through as many things as I can, so there will be less chance for a disaster. Plus, some of the things that we want to do require reservations.

I have posted a poll below. We have one day of sight seeing in Colorado Springs. In the morning, we will be visiting the Garden of the Gods. At lunch, we will grab something simple in Manitou Springs, and then head to Pikes Peak to ride the Cog Railway to the top. Right now, I'm trying to decide what to do for dinner that night. I'd like to do something fairly nice/unique, but we will also be dressed for outdoorsy stuff, so I don't want anything too fancy. I did some research and came up with the following choices. The first one has been recommended to me by multiple people. The next two are ones that I found on the internet, and look really interesting. Can't promise that I will abide by what the poll results are, but it would be nice to get some other feedback!

***poll removed****

no officer, i don't know why you pulled me over

continuing saga of the wedding programs. we got the black high yield ink. it worked great, but it did NOT print the stated 1200 pages that the review said it would print. more like 700. so I had to make another walmart run at 11:30 at night. I HAVE to get these programs done tonight. so i decided to stop at Kroger since it is much closer and see if they have it. right as I was turning into Kroger I saw the flashing lights and heard the siren. i have to admit a few choice words slipped. turns out she pulled me over because we have a head light out. when she asked if i knew why she pulled me over, i said that i didn't know. kind of a fib, cause i had a good idea, but i didn't KNOW for sure. she gave me a warning for the headlight. i knew there was a chance when i went to kroger, because sometimes there is a cop across the street clocking people. but i so desperately wanted to get it and get back home. still ended up at walmart, cause kroger didn't have it. grrr. so i'm finishing the programs. should be done a little after 1:00am. I hope.

procrasitnation + treen/amrine luck = bad combo

A friend from work is getting married Saturday. Way back in December when she got engaged, I volunteered my husband to make the programs. So we had MORE than enough time to do them. But of course, as usual, life got in the way, and we put them off until the last minute. Chris started the drawing about a week ago. He completed it last Saturday (and it looks fabulous - see picture). I finished up the layout using publisher the day before. We wanted my friend to approve it before we started printing it, so I showed it to her at work and we made our final edits. It turned out REALLY cute. So tonight's plan was to print a big batch of them.

The thing is, I didn't quite realize how many programs we would be printing. She is having a rather large wedding, and wants 350 programs. We are printing them on our inkjet at home. The programs are 2 pages, front and back on each. That is 700 pieces of paper, but 1400 prints. Dude. Thats a lot. Never fear, Lexmark has some high yield ink cartridges. I told Chris to pick some up at work since he gets a nice discount. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the number of the ink cartridge for the black cartridge, and the stupid girl behind the counter didn't know what she was talking about. When I tried to install the new cartridges, oddly enough, the black didn't print. AHHHHH. Did I mention that I have to have the programs done to take to work on Wednesday so we can fold them. My friend is only work a half day thursday and taking Friday off. So it is imperative that I at least get some printed tonight. SO I headed back into Lex to try and find a high yield cartridge. Couldn't find one anywher. Not Best Buy, Office Max, Office Depot or Walmart. So I headed home empty handed. There was still a little black left in the current cartridge, I would see how far that went. Not too far, only about 25 pages. Not good. So I head to Walmart to get a normal cartridge. 250 pages later, and the black ink is almost empty. Worthless cartridges. (BTW, I also spent about 1.5 hours trying to install office 2003, couldn't get the download to work, then I couldn't get the cd to burn, then I couldn't get the product key from my email).

So. It is 10 till 1:00 (am) and I'm still printing. I am going to be dead tomorrow. But I'll have even more stuff to do then. Here's hoping I have used up my allowance of bad luck, and tomorrow will go smoothly.

YEAH RIGHT!

Colorado Trip

We are still planning our trip to Colorado. We ran into a bit of a road-block when I re-examined our budget. Apparently when I was figuring out the cost of gas, I used the gas mileage for Cora (the corolla) instead of Ghengis (dodge ram). Quite a difference. Almost a $400 difference.

So after stressing for awhile, and throwing up every conceivable option, we have decided that we are still going, but we will be renting an "intermediate SUV". All of our stuff won't fit in Cora, and taking the truck could turn into a disaster. I was talking over all of this with the people at work, and my boss has offered to let me work some overtime on a special project. So cool beans. Very generous of him. Chris may work some overtime as well. We will also be tightening our belts for the next month cause there are a number of things that I would like to purchase. Right now, the plan is for us to camp in Colorado Springs for 3 days, and then go up to the Cache la Poudre area, and camp for 5 days.

I will post more details in the next few days. I may be posting a few polls so people can vote on what they think we should do in Colorado. I will also be finishing up our road trip saga. :)

Finally made it to the gym

Well, we made it to the gym this morning. Yesterday was a disaster. We got up and got dressed for the gym, but DH forgot to put his tennis shoes in his bag, and it took 20 minutes to find them. Then we left, and we were running very late when I remembered I left something for work on the kitchen counter, and I had to have it. So we gave up and went home and just got ready for work.

We did go today. I almost caved, but I wouldn't let myself. I only walked the track, and I didn't even keep track of how many laps I did. My knee started to hurt after 2 laps, so I didn't push it too hard. However, it was very empowering to be there and doing anything. I thought about how far I have to go, and how will I stay motivated. I still have my big goal of 120 lbs. However, I just can't focus on that because it is so far away. So I'm setting up a mini-big goal:

I WANT TO LOSE 20 LBS BY THE TIME WE GO ON VACATION (SEPT 12).

So that is the first milestone that I'm working towards. It will give me something to focus on. It isn't so tiny that I think it is inconsequential. It is a decent goal.

I will try and take a picture and post it on here to help keep me motivated.

Road Trip Part 2

Friday:
We woke up around 8 or so, and got ready to leave. The motel had the lamest continental breakfast ever. It started raining as we loaded the car. Our first destination was Milwaukee. We had picked up a number of brochures in the hotel, and decided to try and visit the Miller Plant (beer) in Milwaukee. Of course, it proceeded to pour down rain. We also re-discovered, that you really can't trust the maps on the backs of brochures, because they are very rarely accurate. After getting twisted around, and instead of finding the Miller Factory we found the Miller Memorial Football stadium (quite nice), we decided to stop for some breakfast. We stopped at an iHop, and Chris decided to try and mimic the Wisconsin accent throughout the whole meal. It was quite entertaining. Milwaukee as a whole was kind of nasty and not very impressive. I didn't help that it was raining like crazy. We finally found the Miller Factory, only to discover that the tour was an inside/outstide tour, and it would take an hour. We poked around the giftshop and then decided to get back on the road.

We noticed a town on the map called "Osh Kosh" and decided it wasn't very far out of the way. We headed that way. The Wisconsin country-side is SOOO picturesque. We kept seeing all of these gorgeous dairy farms. Big red barns, and rolling hills, and quaint farmhouses. It really was beautiful. Chris hadn't got much sleep the previous night, so he tried to nap. We made it to Osh Kosh around lunch time, so we had a lunch in an interesting little coffee shop. Osh Kosh definitely had the college-town vibe going. Lots of little shops, but not a lot of people shopping. I always wander how places like that make it. We got back on the road, and headed to Green Bay.
Now, one of the appealing things about Wisconsin, is that it is well known for its CHEESE! And we all know how crazy I am about cheese! We had only passed one open cheese place so far, and I didn't stop, cause it was really tiny, and we didn't see it till we passed. I was so sure that we would see tons more. I didn't see ANY cheese stores on our way to Green Bay, and I was begining to think the made up the whole "cheese state" thing. We got to Green Bay, and went to the visitor's center, to see if they had any brochures on cheese places to go. We didn't find any that would be on our way, so I decided to stop worrying about it. We got to see Lambo field, and it was really cool. Now we were on our way to the UP (upper penisula) of Michigan. We stopped in this tiny town called Menominee in Wisconsin before we crossed into MI to get gas. I stayed in the car while Chris paid. And he came out with TWO kinds of cheese. My thoughtful honey. The first one was a cheddar mixture, and the second was a smoky mozarella. The cheddar was great, but the smoky mozarella was VERY salty, and it was hard to eat more than a few bites.

to be continued . . . .

blech

so far, not so good. didn't really "start" trying to lose weight. not seriously, at least. i brought a WW meal to work today, but i didn't bring any snacks, and i didn't eat breakfast, so that didn't work.

but i'm going to the gym tomorrow. and i will try and plan my meals/snacks ahead a little bit better.

Road Trip Part 1

Thursday:
Well, the first stop was to get our oil changed. We were already 3k over the time to change the oil, and knew that we would be adding quite a few more miles on Cora (the name of our corolla). So off to Valvoline (dude, it was very expensive, now I remember why we were over). Chris, the navigator, took charge and said to head to Versailles. We went Route 60 to Interstate 64 to Louisville. In Louisville we took the bypass (I265) to I65. We took I65 all the way up to Chicago. We passed through Indianapolis, but didn't stop. We had both been there before and weren't too impressed. Indian wasn't all that great, but we were so excited at the thought of what we were doing that it didn't bother us that much. Right outside of Chicago we got on I94. At this point, it was probably 7:30ish. Traffic was pretty heavy. Thankfully we had switched so Chris was driving. I drove most of the time, until I was either too tired or we were going through a big city. I don't handle big city/ heavy traffic that well. Chris was a little nervous becauseof the traffic. We could see the skyline of Chicago and were frantically trying to decide whether to go INTO Chicago or just stay on 94 and get to Wisconsin. I could tell Chris was having a rough time, so I said I was fine either way. I'm not sure I would have been willing to go downtown if I was driving.

So, at the last minute Chris decided that it would be worth it to go see the sights. Neither one of us had very high expectations for Chicago, but we were both pleasantly surprised. We saw the Sears Tower, the Chicago Stock Exchange and lots of cool architecture downtown. We poked around a bit, and then decided to follow Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan. It was absolutely gorgeous!! There seem to be so many things to do in Chicago. There was a long foot path/trail/park between the road and the lake. We spent about 2 hours poking around. The only frustrating part is that it took a long time to get back on the interstate. We hadn't any dinner yet, and it was getting dark. We finally found the interstate, and were headed out of Chicago. We stopped at a sub shop (I'll add the name later, I can't think of it now) and then headed to Wisconsin. One of the things that we didn't expect on the trip was the number of toll roads. So there were a number of times where we were frantically search the car for just a few more dimes. Thank goodness we are so messy . Anyhow, they were doing some major road work on 94/41. They reduced the 3 lanes, into 1 lane. It took us an hour to go 20 miles. And they still made us pay 1.50. By this time, it was very very late. We were both exhausted, and realized it was time to stop. We made it into Wisconsin, and set out to find a cheap motel. Now I was always under the impression that a Motel 8 was a cheap motel. However, I don't consider 54.99 to be a cheap price. However, we were too tired to care. It was probably the worst night sleep in a long time. At home, we have a sleep number bed with a 3 inch memory foam mattress topper. We have a FABULOUS bed. I wasn't expecting anything even close at the Motel 8, but seriously, would have been more comfortable sleeping on the floor. The temperature was really impossible to regulate. And Chris discovered that I snore LOUDLY when we stay in beds that aren't our own. But he couldn't nudge me to get me to stop cause we were in seperate double beds. Chris also had stomach problems, and probably didn't get more than 3-4 hours of sleep.

more to come . . . .

The Journey Starts

Well. I'm starting a seperate blog to record my weight loss journey. I don't plan on telling anyone that I know in real-life about this blog (at least not yet). I have had so many failed attempts at losing weight. I've had some successful ones, but I have gained back the weight plus some. So I'm going to start this site. And hopefully updated regularly. With my progress. With my failures. With my thoughts and feelings. I'm just going to let it all out. And I seriously doubt that anyone will read this. But who cares if they do?! They don't know me anyway. I will probably tell my husband, but that is okay, cause I will have probably already told him how I feel anyway.


****edited to add that I have now combined all my blogs ***** 6/3/08

canada trip

We had quite a road trip. It was a fanastic trip. We traveled over 1400 miles in 4 days. That is a ton of driving, which we normally hate, but for some reason, it wasn't that bad. I think it was a combination of seeing completely new things, and a sense of awe that we were actually doing a spontaneous road trip.

On Thursday morning, I headed to Wal-Mart to pick up the groceries for our camping trip, while Chris was going to mow the lawn. However, it was raining so hard when I got back, that I knew that we had to talk about canceling our trip. We looked at the weather channel and the internet forecasts, and realized that if there was even a remote chance that it would rain as much as they said, and it was as hot as they said, that we would be completly miserable. I flippantly said that we should go on a road trip.

An hour later, we were re-packing to go on a road trip to canada via a trip around Lake Michigan. It was very exciting, and kind of out of charachter for us. Over the next few days, I will try and post a re-cap of our trip.

On another note, I tried to order a digital copy of "Dragonfly in Amber" by Diana Gabaldon from amazon.com, and I am having all kinds of fits trying to actually get it. I placed the order, and got the email saying that I should be able to download it from amazon.com's media library. However, when I signed in there is nothing there. I have sent an email to amazon with no response. I found a customer service number on the internet for Amazon, and called and talked to someone, and I am still waiting to get the stupid book. The whole reason I bought it was because I wanted to start reading it immediately, and I didn't want to download an illegal copy. Now, I'm almost ready to head home, and I could buy the stupid book at Joseph Beth. Grrrr.

camping has been nixed

our plans have changed. because we have the worst luck possible, it is going to rain for the next 10 DAYS!! so we are going to be spontaneous and go to canada. yup, you read that right, canada. wish us luck! ;)

- sarah

: well it seems the fishing trip was a wash.. couldn't really plan on rain for 2 weeks straight in the middle of july.. we didnt want to go south because thats been the default direction for all of our endeavours.. so we're heading north through Sault Ste Marie and see what the road brings us.... i figure I have a much better chance of fulfilling my lifelong tream to fight and eat a bear if we go to canada.

camping

I love camping. I have convinced Chris that he likes camping too, because he gets to go fly-fishing when we go camping. I'm afraid if I removed the fishing part of the camping trip, Chris wouldn't be as thrilled.

We are going on a short camping trip next weekend (we have a house sitter). I'm very excited. Today I planned our meals. Chris always complains that I try to make meals that are too complicated when we go camping, so I tried to keep things a lot simpler. The menu will be as follows:

• Breakfast: Omlet in a ziplock, Breakfast Burittos, Squaw corn
  
• Lunch: PB & J sandwiches and snacks *3 (we are having that meal 3 times), pizza burritos
  
• Dinner: Frito Pie, Pork Chop Foil Dinner, Hot Dogs & Chips & Snacks
  
• Snacks: trail mix, cut veggies, fruit, cheezits, diet coke, vitamin water and assorted other beverages
  

I will hopefully get to spend some time tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday going through our camping stuff, and adding in the new stuff Chris' parents gave us. I also plan on setting up the tent in our backyard this Saturday so I can re-seal the tent. I did a weather forecast for our camping trip, and it says "scattered thunderstorms" every day. Go figure. Well, the 10-day forecast isn't usually very accurate, so hopefully it will change before then.

I found this cool website that will generate a map of the usa, based on where you have visited. A lot of people on the Camping Life forums use it to show what states they have been camping in. So I have decided to create one for Chris and I. We have been camping a lot in the state of Kentucky. I'm kind of fudging a little, by checking off Ohio. I have been camping in Ohio, and I know that Chris has as well. And when we were dating, he came and visited me and my family at the campsite (I think we were dating, NO! we were engaged, and he brought the new truck out to visit us!). Anyhow, I'm going to count Ohio, because we were at a campsite together! It's my map, I get to make up the rules. And later on this summer, we will get to check off Colorado!! It will probably take a long while to get some of the other states, cause right now we primarily do tent camping, and we just go on long weekends. But hey, it gives us something to work towards!

busy busy

wow things have been busy lately. we are still trying to fit into our new routines, and it is exhausting. we were never very good at keeping house at our townhome, so now, when we are trying to maintain our house, we are getting overwhelmed at times. Plus, we are trying to do the "summer" things. tonight, the plan is to move a bookshelf into my office, and try to unpack most of the stuff in my office. I will have to figure out a temporary location for a few things, because I still need to get a table for my scrapbook stuff. plus, the extra bed is propped up against one of the walls in my office. we are planning on selling it, but didn't want to leave it in the garage cause it would start to smell like the garage. anyhow, i want to finish my office tonight. I also need to pick up a few things from the store. i think the plan for saturday will be to get the rest of the stuff from our storage unit, and to semi-organize the garage, and definitely organize all the camping stuff. We are going to be taking an extended weekend camping trip to the Great Meadows Campground from in the middle of July. So I need to have the camping stuff organized by then.

finally blogging from the new house

oh, the adventures in setting up a home wireless network. my FIL bought us a wireless router and a wireless adapter, and i was thinking it would be easy-cheesy to get it setup. initially, it was really easy to setup. i followed the instructions for setting up the cable modem, and for configuring the router, and everything worked peachy keen. the problem came the next day when chris hooked up his computer to the network. for some reason it kept dropping the connection, or it would say that it found the access point, but couldn't see the internet. a frustrating 2 hours later, and it just started working. who knows. at least now i can sympathize with some of the users that i talk to. i was ready to pull my hair out, because it wasn't working, but there wasn't an apparent reason why it wasn't working.

anyhow, i am on my new computer (new to me, thank you very much mom and dad treen!) i haven't really got it configured for me yet. it is my MIL's old computer and she has some stuff she still needs to get. i tried to "clean" it as much as i could, cause she had some invalid shortcuts and spyware and such, so i got most of that off, without deleting anything important (don't worry if you read this, i seriously didn't delete any personal stuff). the new computer is a cute "cube" computer. chris and i are talking about getting him a new high end computer, and then he has to "pay" us back with his freelance money till it is paid off. don't worry, we would pay cash. :) we are too far along in paying off our debt (minus the house) to get into anymore debt. if we do get a new computer, we may donate Chris' old computer to our church. it is a very nice computer, and would be good for the associate pastor. i wander if we could count that as tax deductible??

i haven't been feeling very good lately, so keep me in your prayers. it isn't anything major, just enough to make me feel like crap. i have done something funky to my back and it is bothering me on a semi regular basis now.

i will try and borrow the digital camera in the next few days and post some pictures of the house and of Lucy (oh, didn't I tell you? chris has named the lawn, Lucy!)

entry for june 09, 2006

i had all of these ideas/thoughts to blog, and i totally let time get away from me. hopefully we will get our computers set up this saturday and i will be able to get online at home! :)

btw, i did have my ingrown toenail operated, so i'm limping a little, but it went really well.

whew

well its done. we are in our new house, and we have finished cleaning the townhome. sorry for the delay in posting. i promise a nice, long, juicy post of the following topics

• the adelphia cable/internet drama
• the uhaul saga
• the never-ending cleaning journey
• saying goodbye to Chris' parents as the move to northern africa

Needless to say, everything didn't go as planned. But the good news is, we are done. The closing went perfectly, and honestly, only took about 30 minutes. The actual move itself went really good, and we had the most amazing helpers. I can't thank them enough!! It is just the OTHER things that went down this weekend that made my life a little stressful. But like I said, we are finished with all of that!

Now we get to unpack the house, but we are taking it one step at a time. The kitchen is completely unpacked, and that is the most important. Our clothes are accessible and the tv/dvd/cable is hooked up. We are good to go. We did find some time to go furniture shopping, and we think that we have our dining room chairs picked out.

My parents got to come down and help, and it really meant a lot to me that they were here to share this with me. I'm such a sap, but when my dad told me he was proud of me, I wanted to bawl.

I know this post is all over the place, but that is where my brain is right now. Part of me was relieved to get back to work, because the work would be easier than what I have been doing!

Here we go

Well, we go to sign the papers tomorrow morning at 9:00. Everything is in order, and it should just be a matter of signing our names a trillion times. I'm allowing myself to be excited! I have all kinds of ideas, and I'm so ready to be in my new house, trying to make it our HOME!

We are getting hooked up with high speed internet at home on Friday, so the next time I post, it will probably be from our new house! I will finally be able to post and do stuff online from home, and not just at work.

Thank you to everyone who has been following this journey with us, and I will try and post some pictures from the actual move!

only one day left!!

i can't believe it is almost here. in the back of my head, i almost thought that something was going to happen and prevent our getting this house. but everything has worked out, and to my knowledge we are a GO! i'm so very excited. i'm a lot calmer than i thought i would be, even though i still have some boxes to pack. it will all work out. i have two days off to finish up the last of everything. most of thursday will be spent shopping and getting the rest of the utilites switched. i already went ahead and had the phone turned off and had the cable switched . . . don't worry, they won't turn it off at the townhome until thursday morning, we have to be able to watch the LOST finale!!

chris' family is here and we are spending most of our time with them. it has been good and bad. it is nice to be with them, but hard knowing it is the last time (at least for a good while).

ack got to go, will post more later!

deep breath

wow. so much is happening right now, it is hard to wrap my brain around it. Becca and Isaiah had their baby, and he is adorable!! I'm a little afraid when Chris and I have our first kid. All our friends are sucking up the cute baby genes for Kentucky.

We are progressing on the packing. I'm afraid to say progressing well, because I can't tell if we are doing okay or not. To me, it feels like we have a ton more to do. To Chris, he thinks we have tons done. We didn't pack too much this weekend, but we had some much needed relaxation (after a few heated discussions). Hey, this is one of the top 5 most stressful life events. So today I am going to make up a list of everything that is left to do, and then divide it up. I think it will help both Chris and me to see it on paper. It will help me, cause I will have a clear idea of what needs to be done. It will help Chris, because he will be able to see how much is left. I may not get as much sorting done as anticipated, but at this moment, I'm okay with that.

whew

After a stressful couple of days, things look like they are coming together. I think I have finished up all the list of things to do paperwork wise.

• Home Inspection - check
• Pest Inspection - check
• Appraiser - check
• Money for down payment - check (thank heavens)
• Homeowners Insurance - check
• Switched car insurance too and saved a bunch of money - check

Whew. We are still packing (of course) but that is coming along quite nicely. I may not get some of the stuff sorted that is already packed, but not because I'm out of time. I'm just tired of sorting. LOL. We'll see when I get to them. We pretty much have everything done except for the Office and the decorations (pictures, flowers, etc). I will be glad when we are finally moved in, and we can start feeling at home.

pictures

Hey. I added inside pictures of our new house to my picutres albums.

I'm a little out of it today. We were out pretty late last night helping Chris' parents unload their stuff into the storage unit that they have in Lexington. This morning my back seized up. I think I pulled something last night, and just finished off the job this morning. So I took one of my pain pills, and now I'm feeling a little loopy. Probably should have eaten some food before I took it.

Has anyone ever tried the fruit juices blends that are from "odwalla"? Our cafeteria just started selling them. Generally I stay away from fruit juice because there is so much sugar in them. But I needed something with some pep in it, so I got the "mango tango" fruit smoothie blend. It is really really good. It was kind of thick, but it tasted fantastic. and like I said, I generally don't like fruit juice or smoothies that much.

packing is coming along quite nicely. the goal is to have everything done by May 17th so that we can spend as much time as possible with Chris' parents before they leave. it is possible. i may not got as much of the storage stuff sorted as i had wanted, but i'm being flexible. ;)

lease

Tiny Glitch in this whole process. We have been in our current town home since 10/1/01. We signed a lease at the begining that was not renewable. We haven't signed a lease since, and we have been month to month since then.

I (foolishly) assumed there wouldn't be a problem when the time came. I called today to let them know that this will be our last month. The women on the other end of the line informed me that we would be breaking our lease, and we would owe 1200. Well thats just crap. She said that she would check with the owner and see. I am hoping that the owner will be reasonable since we have lived here the longest of the rest of her renters, and we have been consistent with our rent. It is just frustrating that this is even an issue.

We had a really nice weekend. We went to see Les Miserables in Cincinnati with the Surbrooks. It was fabulous. I haven't wanted to see Les Mis since I was in high school. It is one of my favorite musicals (Phantom, and Godspell are the other two). We went to a matinee (Isaiah got really good tickets through the seminary). Sunday we hung out with some friends after church, and Kim and I went to Michaels to get scrapbook supplies. Always fun to do. We didn't get much packing done, but I am determined to get a lot done tonight.

we just scored a nice couch

The house inspection was Wednesday, and it went beautifully. We only found 3 minor problems. An interior door needed to be replaced, a window needs to be re-balanced and a leaky outdoor spigot fixed. Definitely less than $200 worth of repairs. Chris jokingly mentioned to our realtor that if the seller left the couch, we would take care of the fixes. The seller took us up on it!! The couch is really nice (chris thinks it is a lazy boy couch) and its not very old.

I finally have some REAL furniture!! Now we can get a nice loveseat and comfy chair to go with it.

woo hoo

well shoot

i just wrote a long blog and it disappeared when I tried to post it, so maybe I wasn't meant to post the info that I did. here is the condensed version.

i'm a little stressed right now because of the house, family, friends, packing, work, etc.

i have a dr appointment tomorrow to get an ingrown toenail removed.

we are getting the house inspection done tonight.

We close a month from today

Everything is moving smoothly so far. We are doing the house inspection tomorrow. We have already lost one tape roller, and ran out of tape on the other (can't find the refills). My pile of empty boxes that I thought was so big is quickly dwindling.

Forgive me if I don't update this regularly, or respond quickly. I intend to, but I haven't been able to log in the last few days. We are having problems with yahoo sites and our firewall.

We GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow. Almost unbelievable. We made the offer, and he countered, and we have accpeted his counter. Wow. I'm very excited. Everything has come together so smoothly this time. I know it isn't over yet, and I know that there are other things that have to happen, but it feels really good. This has been a long 2 years of trying to buy a house. Between all of our money issues, and credit issues, and finding great houses and then seeing someone else buy them. And the best thing is that Chris and I have come through this TOGETHER and stronger than ever. We could have used our problems to attack each other, but we faced the storm together and have come out better on the other side. Okay, I'm going to stop being corny.

Thank you to everyone for their prayers, and advice, and encouragement. It has helped to make this process smoother and sweeter. I promise to post pics of the inside of the house as soon as we have them. I may even entertain you with packing/moving pics.

offer

We put in an offer on this house last night. It was awesome. It was nerve-wracking. It was unreal.
And now we wait.

Alias

ALIAS is coming back tonight. That makes me very happy. I'm sad that the series is ending, but I'm glad that we are supposed to get a good ending. Why do shows seem to end after I get really really into them? lol.

spoke too soon

I am very sad to say, that 319 Weil Lane is not our house. It was almost heart-breaking when we saw the inside of the house. The previous owners were evicted because they foreclosed on the house. Before they left, they decided to destroy the insides. There were huge holes in the drywall where they had kicked/punched the walls in. An animal had deficated on all of the carpet. They had knocked holes in the bathtubs, the cabinets, the fireplaces. Two of the bathrooms were unfinished (one you could see daylight, one you could see rafters and wiring). All of the carpet would have to be replaced. Some of the flooring on both the first floor and the seconf floor would have to be re-done. All in all, way way way more than we could afford and/or would want to do. The one positive thing about this is that the damage was so bad we knew there would be no way that we could have handled it. If there had been a good bit less damage, we may have tried to fix it up ourselves, and had a huge headache on our hands for the next 3 years. Plus it was going to be a nightmare trying to get it approved with our FHA loan (because apparently, they can be kind of strict). The house was being totally sold as is. The layout wasn't the best either.

But the good news is, we saw two other houses that we really liked, and we will probably be making on offer on one of them in the next week or so. We want to find out a little bit more about it. I'll post a picture soon.

319 Weil Lane

We may have found our house. I don't want to jinx it. We haven't been inside yet, hopefully we will do that today and/or tomorrow. Our realtor sent us this listing, and we drove by it last night. We love the neighborhood. The weird thing is, that we felt a connection to this house. It does need some work, but honestly, if we like the inside, unless there are major problems with it, I feel like we will buy it. We have seen other houses that we have liked, and could totally see ourselves buying, but we felt like there was something about this house. It just screams "CHRIS". :) Wish us luck. Here's hoping no one has already put a contract on it.

today

Pray for me today, I'm stressed.

Alias

According to the Lexington Heral-Leader (local paper), in May, ABC will offer the whole season of Alias to watch online for free for two months!! Cool Beans. They will also show, LOST, Desperate Housewives and Commander in Chief.