Hello from the Black Hills!!

My son and I are spending the week at my Dad's house. The main goal is to sort through...oh, 30+ years of clutter! My son and I worked on it a little bit yesterday morning. We're sorting toys to be given away, kept for my nephews to play with when visiting Grandpa, and kept as sentiment. Dad had made me a Barbie doll house....23 years ago? Maybe even longer. I'm going to be taking that home with me, and probably all of my Barbie stuff. I have a niece who visits often, and she will enjoy it. Although, it has a lot of sentimental value, so it may become a "showpiece" instead. We'll see.

I'm also going to be taking home stuff Mom saved from as far back as elementary school. I have no doubt I will even find stuff from before then. My brother doesn't want his, but Dad & I feel that it might be "safer" to box it up and store it just in case he changes his mind or his wife or sons have a curiosity.

Today I will get to spend the day with my sister-in-law and my 2 nephews (2-1/2 years and 9 months). I am so looking forward to it! Partially because I get to use my Hobby Lobby gift card I got for my b-day, but mostly because I get to spend time with my family. I am desperately lonely where we live. My son spent last night with one of his best friends, and I'll get him back this afternoon. Then we'll spend the evening with another friend. Tomorrow we'll spend the day working upstairs. Thursday I'll hang out with my sister-in-law at her house (and if it's nice enough, we'll go to the beach at Sheridan Lake again!!).

We'll be going home Monday morning. I won't have a weigh in until Tuesday morning. I've also decided to move my treadmill downstairs so I can watch Night Court in the mornings!! lol

Well, it's time to get going to meet my sister-in-law. Thanks for reading!!

~~Heather

New 'Babies!'

Ziggy

Izzy

Fuzzy checking Iggy out.

We got 2 leopard geckos today!!

They were on Freecycle, a lady can't take care of all her critters anymore. They are actually really sweet and *very* soft. The female is "Izzy" and the male is "Ziggy." I had them named that before I even saw them, and nothing else seemed to fit. :-) The poor cats aren't sure which is more of a curiosity...the geckos or the crickets!! (edited as my DH suggested "Izzy" instead of "Iggy" for the female, so we renamed her. Again. lol)

Things are going well. I start doing phone calls Monday. I could log in between now and then, but I think I won't. I'm just not altogether that anxious to be on the phones, ya know? I am off full QA for my medical transcription contract. That means that they no longer read all my reports before going to the hospital/doctor/clinic, but will instead randomly check them. That makes me *very* happy! I also potentially have another contract coming in...I'm still waiting to hear back.

I'm looking forward to spending a week in the Black Hills, the 21-27th. My DH will be unable to come with, but that's OK. He can take care of the new critters!

I'm slowly still losing weight. I do miss the vet clinic job in that respect. But such is life. I did notice, on my ticker from ticker factory, that my BMI is down a full 2 percentage points. I thought that was pretty amazing!!

Not much else...trying to at least make ends meet...and maybe be winter be slightly coming out ahead? We'll see what the future brings.

~~Heather

Happy July 2

I was watching a repeat of David Letterman the other night. His guest was Julia Roberts. What a fun segment!! She actually had him speechless a few times. And she looks incredible, of course. I would love to be able to sit down and have lunch with her someday. Wouldn't that be a treat?!

I'm slacking this week on movement. I'm struggling to hit 1,000 steps a day...youch!! We kind of spent a week of no schedules while my DH was on vacation. I need to get back into a routine, that's for sure. Even when the alarm is set, DH turns it off if he wakes up before it. Hello? I need it too!! Oy. It doesn't help that we've been staying up until 11 or so at night, either. Need to work on that and drinking more water and moving. I bet I sound like a broken record!! LOL

My DS will be leaving for 5 days tomorrow, to go visiting relatives. Lucky him. :-) I was supposed to go, but will be doing my training.

I read an article at the Newsweek website about the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) wanting to euthanize wild horses!! They are "overcrowded" in the corrals. Well, put 'em back in the wild, dodoheads!! *sigh* But lobbyists for the beef industry have convinced WA that the horses (27,000 left) are doing more damage to wild lands than 4+ million cattle. Hmm...let's think about this.

Some ranchers are turning to raising buffalo over cattle. Why? Well...for one, cattle will bury a watering hole/spring. Put a herd of buffalo in the same pasture, they will find it back and open it back up. Put a herd of cattle in a blizzard, they will turn tail to it and start to walk...right off cliffs, into creeks, etc. Buffalo? They do something we all should do with our problems: They face the blizzard head on and survive.

I like beef as much as the next person. However, I don't think 27,000 mustangs are harming the federal lands (you know...the lands we *all* pay taxes on) more than 4+ million cattle.

I could go on and on, but I won't. It's frustrating to me. I've never been into politics, but some things just irritate me.

At least it's a nice day today. Yesterday got a little warm for my taste...almost had to turn the AC on!! :-)

~~Heather

End of June Already??

I can't believe this is the last day of June. The year is half-over. Where has it gone???

At least I'm moving down on the scale consistently. That is nice to see again. I am eating less, and not feeling hungry, so that's an improvement. I am going to try to drink more water & less soda. I'm also going to move more. Really, I am. :-) I've already sorta started. I need to increase my steps on my pedometer, so when I'm walking around the house, I double-step everything. My family looks at me like I'm crazy, but they should have already figured that out by now, right? :-)

I got to do the self-paced training for my project for my employer. It was tough. The desktop didn't want to let the program run properly, so I ended up doing it on the laptop. At least I was able to get it done.

Yesterday was a rough day. I wanted to make oat banana breakfast cookies (for ease of grabbing as I walk out the door to walk is the theory) and I mixed up the wet ingredients, then started to combine the dry. Only to discover I was out of dry milk (which my son and I were certain we had) and baking soda. Who doesn't have baking soda in their house?!? (Turns out, my friend Bryan, doesn't. But he's a bachelor. That doesn't count.) My DH was able to get some on the way home from work, so they got made in the end...at midnight! lol

I was also making a photo album for my 2 year old nephew, and the printer kept jamming on the non-brand paper. I finally got it to work, but that 30 minute project took last night and today to finish. But they're both done, and that's what counts.

(Oh yes, the cookies are wonderful! AND they have 4 g of fiber AND I wasn't hungry - as in no stomach growling - for 3-1/2 hours!)

Tomorrow will be a "town trip." I'm going to go in, donate blood, pick up my final check from the vet clinic, and my son will take the aluminum cans to be recycled.

Then home again to work. :-)

~~Heather

End of June already?

Time just seems to fly by, doesn't it?

I couldn't stay on as a kennel assistant. Because of my weight, and the nature of the job, I developed prepatellar bursitis...aka "housewife's knee." If I wanted to continue working, it would have eventually meant steroid injections. Not fun. That, and every other weekend I would have had to drive 20 miles, worked 2 hours, come home, drive back and work for an hour and a half to 2 hours, or stay in town for 6 hours between. That's a lot of gas spent, or time wasted. Between the two, I made the difficult decision to leave. I was bummed, as I was losing about 2 pounds a week with that job!! lol And I truly did love it, and loved the people I worked with.

But I am still working for the medical transcription service out of Phoenix, and I love it. I am seeing that I still have a lot to learn, and I need to proofread a little better. :-) I love the flexibility of it. I did test with 2 other companies today, but if they don't come through, I'm OK with that.

The telephone surveys job has me doing the last of my training this week. It's been a long wait, but I am anxious to get started. This one will be my bread and butter while I continue to improve my transcription skills. It is also weekly pay which will really be nice!! :-)

We'll be staying here for quite awhile. Things are just too iffy right now to try selling this house and getting another one. We're OK here, and so we will just run with it. I was a little upset that our "balanced budget" electric bill went up $70 a month. They dropped it from $189 to $154 in January (we went to balanced budget in October of last year) and now it is up to $219. I know it's in part due to the late-starting long-lasting cold weather, but it is still frustrating. Had they never dropped it before, we wouldn't have the large "debit" on our account. Oh well. What do you do? :-)

Hope all is well with everyone!!

~~Heather

Great start to June!!

Yay!! I haven't been posting at any of my forums much...I am so sorry. With starting a new job (the call center I work for moved 60 miles away...not happening!!) and trying to land a medical transcription position/contract and trying to make ends meet....well, I've been busy. :-)

So right now, I work at a veterinary hospital as a kennel assistant. This is part time, 20 hours guaranteed with occasional weekend work. And the best part? Since I started on May 12, I have lost almost 4 pounds. Yay!! It is cleaning indoor and outdoor kennels, plus smaller cages, assisting the vets, and the nefarious "other duties as assigned." lol

My first MT contract is with a company in Phoenix. It is part time, although if I want more work and it's there, I am welcome to it. That is always good! I do have feelers out for other companies too, so we'll see what happens.

And I also will be contracting for a company doing outbound telephone surveys. Both this one and the MT are at-home positions. The nice thing about this one is it is hourly pay with a differential on weekends.

My goal is to start getting ahead to the point I can clear up my credit again, save up, and move. I like my house here, but I just can't afford the high utilities and the cost of driving to town every day. We'll see how it goes. :-)

~~Heather

If at first you don't succeed.....

Well, I regained 4 pounds, but was back down 3 earlier this week. We'll see what tomorrow's weigh-in brings. This week I am going to start following Leslie Sansone's 6-week program. I will start with a WATP dvd or hit the treadmill every morning, and then in a notebook I will follow her journal outline and reading her tips, etc. (Call me silly, but I don't want to write in the book itself! lol) I am eating enough, although not as many veggies as I should be. The calorie counts each day are good, unless I'm missing things. So, in the calendar I keep in my purse, I will just start jotting down every little thing I eat.

I have started applying for MT jobs. I've even gotten 2 rejections! :-) Not a big deal, and it was because they weren't hiring "newbies" at the moment. I did bite the bullet and applied for the 2 that I really want to work for. I'm also debating on whether I can "handle" being a statutory employee, as far as taxes go. I'll have to do some more research on that. If I think I can do it, then I will apply for another company that really looks promising.

I had a productive weekend. I did some decluttering in my office and my room. I even got my rocking chair in my room like I've been wanting to do! Now I can sit in the chair and journal at night, or read, or whatever. That is a nice feeling.

I think by the time spring comes around (it was snowing again today, but nothing stuck) I will have a van-full of boxes of stuff to get rid of! haha And I'm not done yet. That's pretty scary. :-)

~~Heather

Seedlings :-)

OK, only because you may ask where I got these, I will include links for my employer's sites. I got these through the Antique Home & Hardware catalog, my employer is VanDyke's Supply (Vandyke's Restorers, Antique Home and Hardware, VanDyke's Taxidermy).




Today I started a mint Eggling pictured to the left, and a mini Tomato plant, the two pictures on the right.

Hopefully they will do well.

I'm putting out feelers for jobs, and I've already had 2 "rejections." :-) I'm preparing for the RMT exam as well. So I'm still keeping busy. I'm anxiously awaiting warmer weather so I can start some yardwork and garden work. Not to mention take my dog on long walks so she can run!! :-)

With the rising cost of gas, I will be grateful for being able to work from home. Wish me luck!!!

~~Heather

I have no accent. :-)

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Boston
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I'm down 2.4 pounds since Feb. 25th, yay!! I've just been watching what I eat, smaller portions of everything. I know I need to add exercise in, and that is my goal this week. But 2.4 pounds, yay!!

Also, I took my finals for my Medical Transcription course through Everett Community College and now I am done!! I can officially start job-hunting and by summer I WILL be working from home!! No more 1/2-hour commutes each way, no more office politics, and no more dumb people on the phones!! lol But best of all...my "office staff" will be thrilled that I am working from home!! (That's my Fuzzy-kitty in the picture, sleeping on my desk while I study!)

~~Heather

Uff da!!

Well...I"m having a rough day. I really don't like my job anymore, and so after being ill the last 2 days, it was harder than ever to go back. I'm sure the 40 below wind chill factors had nothing to do with that, also. ;-)

I am a bit more stressed as of late. I am in the last 4 weeks of my MT course. Finals are right around the corner!! Not to mention then taking employment exams, the RMT exam...uff da!! I am pulling all As right now, so I'm not overly worried. But they are not as high as I would like. I'm keeping in mind that in the field, my accuracy has to be 98% or better.

So I know that exercising will help me relieve my stress, and I am another step closer to having my workout area. My son & I cleaned the upstairs den, we call it the Broncos room because that is where my husband's Broncos stuff is. The bike is now set so I can watch TV while exercising. My goal was to ride it while watching the evening news, when I get home from work. The floor is cleaned up enough that I can do a WATP dvd, or a bellydance dvd, or whatever. Where my treadmill is located is good, it just needs some tidying up. But I can use the treadmill. It's just that my waterbed is so much warmer!! lol

I do have a positive, though. For the first time, my 2 year old nephew said he loved me!! We live 300 miles away, so it's hard to see him as much as I would (and his little brother!!). My brother called me, and at the end of our conversation got his attention enough to get on the phone. I said "Hi Chad, I love you!" And he said "I love you, Bye!" lol So sweet, though!! So that will be my happy thought for the night!!!

~~Heather

Monday, Monday....

Well, I'm up a couple pounds. No biggie. I mostly expected it. I didn't feel good a lot of the weekend, ate more than I should have, and just went off-kilter. I could beat myself up over it, but what's the point? Learn from it and move on.

Part of what killed me was having the fiesta platter at Taco Bell. For future reference, eat 1/2 there, and the other 1/2 for supper! lol It really was very good, though.

I didn't make my goal of exercising 3 days last week, so it will carryover as my goal this week. Also will be my goal again of limiting myself to 1 soda per day. I love my Diet Dr. Pepper, but I'm sure the sodium isn't helping!! :-)

I'm staying home today. My son went to his first dance last night, it didn't get done until midnight. While my DH took him and picked him up after, I was doing homework until 11 pm anyway, so figured I would just stay up. I thought I would be OK going to work today, but ultimately decided against it.

That means I can get a little ahead on my homework this week, right? ;-)

~~Heather

p.s. - That's my hedgehog, Tiggy. I should start to follow her example! She runs on her wheel for 1/2 hour every morning!! :-)

I did it!!!

OK, so it's not a huge deal, but it still took a lot for me to get up the gumption to do it. I don't like to exercise where anyone can see me, I never have. Probably goes back to 5th grade gym class. lol

I have this nice, brand new treadmill and recumbent bike upstairs. The bike I've used a couple of times, the treadmill...NOT ONCE. Until today. (You know where I'm going with this, right? lol)

Today, it was about 11:30 a.m., I was at a good stopping point in my studies (still home with a sick child), so I went upstairs and did 20 minutes. Go me!! Now, granted, no one can see me up there. But it is the thought of them listening to me that gets me "buggy." Go figure. My DH has even told me he can't hear the treadmill. So then it is the thought of them just "knowing" I'm up there exercising and being all fat and scary looking. LOL

I did it anyway. Then I took a nice long bath, and for lunch I had soup and salad. Back to the books!!!

~~Heather

Motivation? What's that??

Well, as most of you know, I've been struggling a long time with my health, primarily my weight. I have all the tools I need, I just need to get up and use them. I have a brand new treadmill. Brand new stationary bike. Strength-training progam lined up. Weights where I can use them.

The alarm goes off at 4:55 (I have to be up at 5 to ensure my son gets up and is on the school bus at 6:20), my workout clothes are sitting right there on the dresser. I go downstairs, and curl up under a blanket. That doesn't get much accomplished.

So I found the above motivational quote, and hopefully I will use it to inspire myself today.

In the meantime, I'm home for the 2nd day in a row with a sick child. I hope he gets to feeling better soon!!

~~Heather

My yarn is here!!

Well, I was going to start this out with saying how happy I was my yarn is here and post pictures of my new stash and WIPs. Then I found out that blogger thinks it's really cool to have everyone's pictures on a scrolling thingamajig, if they've been uploaded to the site. So instead, I will upload my pictures at photobucket and then link to a slideshow of them instead. I'm just not sure how I feel about my pictures being flashed around, and there is no opt-out. I understand I'm putting them up on the WWW for the world to see, but there's a big difference between someone actively searching for my posts and pictures and a corporation deciding to flaunt them for us.

Anyway...here's my stash! :) $87.42 from yarnsupply.com. :-)

I will start the 2 flannel-ghans today, and rotate projects. The baby hearts 'ghan should be done this week!

~~Heather

Happy Thursday!!

I got my yarn today, I'm so excited!! I have to flannel-ghans to make for Christmas. One I won't be able to post pictures of until after Christmas, in case the friend I'm making it for decides to read my blog. :-) The other one I will be able to. It was sooo nice to see that big ol' package when I got home!! I bought enough yarn for the 2 flannel-ghans, a sweater, and what I thought would top off what I needed for a hoody pattern. Turns out the pattern was written for larger skeins, so I only have about 1/3 of what I need. Not good!! But I've already started one, so... :-)

I will be finishing the baby-ghan this weekend, so I can start the other 2 with a good conscience. :-) I still have the cross stitch sampler to work on and school starts next week!!!! Yipes!! :-) I have it all worked out though....exercise....school work....work....supper...school work....crafting...bed. See? :-)

I just wanted to add my thoughts on Britney Spears. See, I'm a 33 year old who enjoys listening to her. When I saw clips of the VMA show, I felt so sorry for her. Yes, there are lots of celebrity kids who turned out fine. Have you noticed, though, that those are also the ones who are not hounded by the paparazzi? I really hope she pulls together, because she is really very talented. I think that people just need to back off and let her live her life. I'm not a perfect mom, and we shouldn't expect celebrities to be perfect, either. She's made some mistakes, but who hasn't?

OK...that came about because I heard part of one of her songs on a commercial for "Meerkat Manor"....I need a life!! lol

~~Heather

My Daemon

From the movie "The Golden Compass"....




What do you think? :-)

~~Heather

'Tis Tuesday

Not much new on this front. I did take the initiative to join RichardSimmons.com this past Sunday. I am feeling it out, but so far I like the people there. It seems like everywhere I go I find more snippiness than friendliness. Maybe it's just me? :-)

I was pretty tired of thoughtless (aka brain dead!) people on the phones at work today. You simply can't call up a catalog company and ask them to send a product without paying for it, for the love of pete!! Or take 20 minutes asking the order entry rep to place an order and then say "Oh, I don't have my credit card!" and hang up!! Oy.

I am steadily working on my niece's blanket (at least we think it's a niece...unless baby's hiding something! lol) and it is so pretty. I can't wait to post pictures!!

DH was out of town last night, so I didn't sleep as well as usual. We've had reports of a peeping tom who also will walk on into houses in the area. So much for feeling secure. :-( But, miserable as I and DS are, not feeling safe anymore, DH doesn't want to move. So here we are. Such is life.

On a positive note - it was a beautiful fall day today!! :-)

~~Heather

Happy Weekend

Yay! It's finally not hot hot hot!! It's actually rather chilly!! :-) It's my favorite time of year, though. One of them. Fall and Spring. And winter, when it's not horribly cold (like below zero cold!!).

Of course, this means that I have no excuse for not exercising. I finally got my beloved Yourself!Fitness, and I've used it all of once. :-( My dog practically BEGS to be taken for a walk or bike ride, and there I sit, making idle promises. I have not lost a pound in months, my knees hurt, I'm tired all the time, my cholesterol is still up. *sigh* And who do I have to blame for it? Me. :-)

I've come to the conclusion that I need some help in this venue. SparkPeople is nice, but I had some problems fitting in I think. TOPS doesn't have a meeting that I can attend within 40 miles. Same with Weight Watchers. No Jenny Craig nearby, nor an LA Weightloss. I'm really thinking again about Richard Simmons. Yes, THAT Richard Simmons. :-) Hard to believe he will be celebrating his 60th birthday next year!!!

So, if there is anyone reading this, please let me know your thoughts and/or opinions!!!

~~Heather

Shhhh...it's me again... :-)

But don't tell anyone!! lol

I really need to get better about this whole blogging thing. Go figure. :-)

I have 1 quarter (out of 3, plus a test prep course) done in my medical transcription course. I passed...yay me!!

I quit the hospital and am now working at VanDyke's. I work in a call center, and enjoy it and the co-workers. One reminds me of a gal I worked with back in the Black Hills, and she's just as nice, so that's all good!! :-) It's also "steady" work, M-F 9:30AM-6PM, no weekends, no nights, no holidays. :-) It will also be easier for my course, as I can work on it for an hour in the mornings and a couple of hours in the evenings and then on weekends as well.

We transferred Ori up to the Huron High School. He has lots more friends up there, most from Bible Camp, and there is more that he can do up there. He is really happy, by the way things are looking, and I am really hoping that his grades will reflect that.

Scott is still at his job, and another chef has walked off. It sounds like they won't replace that one, but split the duties up between him and the head chef. As if they were not understaffed enough??? Oy.

Otherwise, we're pretty much status quo. I did get Yourself!Fitness for my laptop, and I love it!! Now I just need to get into the habit of USING it. LOL For some reason, I can't lose weight unless I DO something. Go figure. ;-

On the upside, I just found out that I CAN upload videos to Google and keep them private...too bad I had to go through a search engine then to About.com to figure it out! Sometimes I wonder... :-) I love Google, though, so no complaints now that I've found it!!

Cheers!
~~Heather