Plus-Sized Pin Up

It's been awhile. The internet really hasn't held any interest lately. I've been primarily working on cleaning my house, filling out job applications, and reading. LoL, I got through about 3-4 books in about 2 weeks! Yes, I am that nerdy!

I am still pounding away at the gym. It has been a little hard coming back after being so sick, but I've been able to rise to the challenge. My food intake kind of spiraled out of control after being so sick. I know I need to get back to eating correctly, but $$$ might not allow that. Since I don't have a job, $$$ has gotten really, really tight. We relied too much on a credit card to bail us out every month, and now we've maxed it. I feel so ashamed to even admit it, but it's the truth. *sigh* We might have to return to a diet of boxed macaroni. I'm hoping that we can actually sit down and start making a budget again. Hopefully things won't look quite so bleak.

In less serious news, I got called in for a job interview!!! I applied to work as a custodian at WyoTech, and I got a call back this morning! It is fully benefited and full-time. I've worked as a custodian before, so it isn't new territory. The draw back is the hours are 10pm - 6am. I've never worked a night shift. I figure I can sleep while hubby is at work and spend the evening w/ him before I head in at 10pm. *shrug* I don't know. Either way, I'm seriously thinking about taking the job on the spot -- if they want me that is. It pays nice and the benefits will cut some of our expenses and cover the $500+/mo payment on my student loans.

Angel and my brother have been here all weekend. Angel came to celebrate her birthday with us, so my brother drove up from Colorado. It was a lot of fun. My brother decided to leave around 11:30 last night. It looked as though it was going to start raining/snowing, so we wanted to go over the pass on 80 before anything hit. I guess he hit a bad patch for about 10 minutes. Aside from that, the drive was uneventful. Angel is leaving this afternoon. We're planning on heading out and renting a new Batman cartoon and chilling before she leaves. It was a freaking awesome weekend, but I'm glad to start back into normal life.

Prednisone took all of the swelling down pretty quickly. I'm not sure if the antibiotics are doing anything or it is just time passing. Unfortunately, my tongue is super sensitive and it hurts to eat certain foods. My mom assures me that it is normal. She says something about the skin coming back after being pretty swollen. *shrug* It feels pretty raw at times. I need to eat a lot slower and softer things. Sadly, hot food hurts :( I love hot food!\

On Monday, I'm starting back on my regular gym workout. I still need to go a little slow since this past week has been a bust. As funny as it sounds, I'm actually looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. The gym is like a constant. I can listen to the music I want to, zone out, think of things . . . Everything is free and just mine.

In rather strange news, I've been thinking this week about entering one of my short stories into a writing contest. I'm not sure whether I should send it into the never-been-published for $6000 or the annual fall contest. Getting back into the story is rather exciting! It was went over really well in my fiction workshop class. There are some things that need to be polished.

Angel is coming to visit me on the 22nd for her birthday! We're going to a friend's dance performance of Alive in Wonderland. He is the Cheshire Cat!! So happy!! I'm excited! LoL, I even motivated myself to finally start working on cleaning up the kitchen. The next biggest job will be the carpet. Juneau still has accidents if she is not watched pretty closely (*ahem* like when hubby has to watch her), so the carpet needs to be scrubbed. We clean up after her, but there is a point when it needs to really be cleaned. Hey, heehee, cardio ^_~

Anyways, I have a date with my book ^_^

Arg! The nurse has decided that I am not having an allergic reaction to the prescription meds. She thinks that my swollen tonsils, inflamed glands, and swollen tongue are all cause by the same thing. The diagnosis: I'm sick . . . Man, I've never felt so good! Sheesh! Anyways, she is putting me on antibiotics and steroids in hopes that the swelling in my tongue and throat will go down and that it might kill anything lurking in my system. She thinks that it is possible that I have a virus. In which case, antibiotics won't do shit. She also thinks that there might be a possibility of mono -- oh yay . . . -- however, it cannot be tested for 10 days after symptoms start. I guess it will give a false positive. *shrug* She wants me to call on Monday to check in. Hopefully the meds and rest will kick this thing out. (Oh, she did also mention that she has been hearing about people around town getting swollen tongues and needing to head into the ER. She definitely wants me to monitor that and head in if it gets more enlarged. But it makes me wonder whether there is something lurking around.)

What does all this mean? Damned if I know!

I'm still pushing fluids and resting. Tomorrow I'm heading back to the gym. Being able to finally eat normally, will help me out. However, after yesterday's adventure of over doing it, I'm not going to push myself through 5 laps again. We'll see how everything is feeling and looking on Monday.

With that, I'm going to locate my book ^______^

BTW

Lane Bryant is having a killer sale! Just thought I would pass the news on ^_~

I woke up to a swollen tongue with a yellow coat. I took an antihistamine and my tongue has shown massive improvement. This is the second side effect from the prescription that I am showing. Yesterday I talked with her about my dark urine (possible side effect of the drugs), and she felt I needed to give it until Friday and push as much fluids as I could. She was concerned that it might be due to my inability to get a lot of anything down. Even though she thinks that my throat could be an allergic reaction to something (since I had not other symptoms of being sick. I felt good, but my throat hurt like hell!), I'm more likely to believe that my swollen tongue is an allergic reaction to the medicine and is independent of the initial reaction (the tonsils and glands).

I'm not taking the pill until I can talk to her on Friday. When I called on Tuesday, one of the nurses was convinced that my dark urine could not be a side effect (even though I had the paperwork from the pharmacy stating that it could be one, she had never heard of it, so it wasn't an issue). Needless to say, I would rather talk to the lady I went to in the first place. She isn't in until tomorrow and she said she would make sure to keep a spot open to see me if I needed to come in.

Until then, I am going to continue pushing the fluids and taking the antihistamine. Hopefully not taking the pill stop the problem. I would rather have bad indigestion than continue taking a pill that is causing my tongue to swell!

UPDATE:

I called to schedule an appointment for tomorrow. The nurse I talked to this time felt that I needed to come in this afternoon. Here's hoping that they can figure out what's going on!

Walked 5 laps this morning. After stopping to find some tissue, I decided it was important to stop and work on stretching. Man, I over did it on the walking. When I stopped, I started to feel lightheaded and woozy. I still need to keep going to the gym, but I'm not planning on doing as much walking on Friday. I've been trying to get in cardio 5/wk, but I'm taking it easy on Thrs.

Still surviving on applesauce and pudding. I was able to upgrade last night to hot and sour soup from the Chinese place in town! It didn't burn and it went down! I'm leaning towards garlic mashed potatoes for lunch :9

Arg! Now it looks as though I have swollen tonsils and glands! I don't feel sick, but . . . The nurse wants me to try and push the fluids (even though it HURTS), suck on cough drops, and drink some warmer fluid. The indigestion doesn't seem to be an issue after I took the Prilosec last night.

Am I sick? I wish my body would just decide on one or the other and just be that!

I'm still planning on the gym tomorrow. I think walking a lap or two and doing stretching is a good idea. Pushing myself through 20min on the elliptical, doing weights, etc, might be too much for my physically after all this crap. Hopefully it will get my lymph fluid flowing and push all of this out of my system.

*sigh* Looks like applesauce and pudding for me, New diet? LoL

The nurse gave me a prescription strength Prilosec and a cocktail numbing liquid so I can get stuff down my throat. Excited, I ate leftover tacos after using the numbing agent . . . That went over like a lead zeppelin! It hurt so badly that it took me quite some time to get it down. It acted as though I hadn't even taken anything. I'm forcing water down, but it still hurts. So, in the last 24+ hours, all I've eaten is a few crackers, ice cream, and two tacos. The ice cream goes down better because of its liquid state. Hubby has gone to the store to get pudding and some Campbell soup. Hopefully, they will work.

*sigh* Needless to say, I'm tired and weak. She said I could go back to normal exercise, but I think I need to get some food in me before I start pounding away again. One lol, I lost weight :P

Pain came back. I'm seeing a nurse this afternoon. Hopefully they will be able to find a solution.

This morning, I felt a lot better. My throat is still kind of sore, but I don't have the feeling of something stuck in it and it doesn't feel tight. The weird burping sensation hasn't really reared its ugly head. Every so often, after I swallow, I feel it a tiny bit. I took some Prilosec this morning, and I'm gonna give it a little time to see if it helps. I'm trying to decide if I should still see a doctor or see if time and rest will straighten everything out.

Everything is now out of my system. It has left me feeling wasted, achy, and chilled. I bath is really needed tonight. Unfortunately, my throat still feels pretty tight. it also feels as though I have something stuck under my Adam's apple, and that need-to-burp feeling is still there. It hurts to swallow and breath really deeply. I'm hoping the steam will help. If nothing has changed, I'm heading to the doctor as soon as she can get me in. Either way, I am seriously thinking about staying home and resting instead of gym.

I should crawl in bath and then bed.

I don't know what's up. Sometime after eating dinner last night, I got pretty bloated. I went online to find some immediate relief solutions. The only thing I could find suggested drinking a glass of chamomile tea. It was enough to lessen the bloating pain so I could sleep.

When I woke up this morning, I was in a lot of pain. I took a laxative in hopes that I could purge my system. It didn't even start working until late afternoon. It has been hard to drink or eat anything. It has felt like gas is building up to burp, but I can't It is really, really painful. Swallowing much of anything makes that pain start. I was able to get down some ice cream due to lack of substance. Hubby got me cola, which has been helping me burp. It has helped.

I took some antacids to see if it would help my throat stop hurting. My mother, who has similar issues, suggested I try a suppository. I just did . . . I'm hoping it helps. If there isn't any improvement tomorrow, I'm calling the doctor. I might or might not make it to the gym. Exercise has been keeping me regular, so it might help. Either way, I am not pushing myself really hard. Maybe a little walking and stretching.

*sigh* I spent the whole day on the couch. I still have some cola and hubby got me some crackers. Hopefully I will get better . . . .

Anyways, time for Dexter :)

I got a text this morning from my older brother. He wanted me to check out the A&E show Hoarding. He said it was available to stream on Netflix. I watched the first episode and asked him the point. He felt it was extremely hilarious. It saddened me. I suffer from OCD, which is also an anxiety disorder. There is a sense of control when you're out buying things. Unfortunately, all control is lost in the home. It becomes a vicious cycle: buy to find control, house makes you feel out of control, buy to find control . . . It just goes on.

I admit that I have never been the cleanest person, but I thrive in a clean environment. After my house burned down when I was 11, I started hoarding just about everything. I would pick broken things up off of the ground, go scrounging for junk in the dirt hills behind our house, save huge old pickle containers. You name it, I saved it. However, when I started cleaning everything out to move into my husband's house, I realized how much junk I had. There wasn't necessarily an emotional attachment to things. I honestly couldn't figure out why I was hanging onto even half of the crap I had. I just felt as though I needed a change. I needed to start purging things from my life. It as time to let go.

It hasn't gone well. My husband is a classic hoarder. He won't accept it, but our garage would stand as witness. Over 95% of the junk in our garage are pointless things he insists on keeping. He claims that he forms an emotional attachment with anything that comes into his possession. This includes piece of broken junk on the ground. I cannot even begin to imagine how many pigeon feathers he has packed away. Our garage is a one-car and heated garage. He wants to eventually put his computers and servers out there. We want to make it into a pseudo-rumpas (sp) room. At the moment, we have to walk sideways through it and hope we don't knock anything over. He can't set up one of the spare bedrooms as a computer room, because he is hanging onto useless old computer parts. Even though he won't use these 20 year-old parts, "They are a part of" him.

My mother and father keep pestering me about when we sill start the adventure of cleaning out the garage. I don't know . . . I think I'm going to have to sit down; go through the boxes; one-at-a-time ask him whether it is kept, thrown, or given to charity; etc. His parents also feel that this is a good idea. I'm afraid that I'll have to be the bad guy and throw it away no matter what.

Sorry, I'm ranting.

My point: I am starting this change in my life to better my health. How can I come into this house that causes me stress and expect it to feel like a haven? I have a hard time sleeping in my bedroom, because of the mess. This has an impact on my health. Starting Monday morning, I am putting down my food and dealing with the things I can do. I have done this before and been successful. My husband wasn't really willing to help last time, so it shall be my mission. Like getting in the habit of going to the gym 2x/wk and getting cardio 5x/wk, I can make this a habit as well! And, hey, it will increase the amount of exercise I am getting! LoL ^_~

Well, I think that's just about covers it. I'm planning on returning to FlyLady. When I worked through her methods previously, they really helped. The question is whether I have the discipline to continue following it. Since Angel is coming on the 22nd, I really need to kick stuff into high gear. Hopefully, following the FlyLady steps, I'll be able to keep a handle on things. Plus, it will give me something to do instead of stressing and feeling depressed about the no-job situation. All I need to do is come up with an awesome cleaning playlist ^_^ I have no shortage of good music!

After I watched Honey, I Shrunk the Kids for the first time, I caught an ant, put it into a jar, and called it Anty.

If you don't understand the above statement, I suggest you watch the movie ^_^

I did it. I did what I promised myself I would never do. I applied at MacDonald s. After working at Subway as a teenager, I promised myself I would never go back to fast food. Well, with student loans looming int he immediate future and money being really short, I need a job. I'm also applying at Applebees. I wish I would hear back from the other jobs I applied for. It was be a blessing if I got a job working for the University, but I don't see that happening :( I know God has a good job out there for me, but it is hard trusting and having faith when every door is closed in my face. *sigh*

Went to the gym. Did the full time on treadmill. Worked on extra leg stretching. I am sore . . . Time for shower and figure out lunch

Kim Kardashian Butt Sculpting is amazing! I read some less than positive reviews about the DVD online, so I was really hesitant to buy it. Luckily it was on VOD on the Exercise TV channel. If you really want to focus into your core (working mostly your butt and thighs in this exercise), this really challenges that. Working through pilates, I thought I was working on my core, but I really feel the burn and the muscles working in this workout. I think sticking with this 2/wk and gym 3/wk will work on my core and keep up the cardio.

Working through this video for the first time was hard. A lot of the stretches I didn't feel ready to do. Also the cardio was really kicking my ass. You wouldn't think I spend 20 minutes on the elliptical 3/wk and treadmill 10 minutes 3/wk!

On Thursday, I need to remember to set up a chair for the balancing exercises. I also want to challenge myself to make it through the whole workout.

Now to cruise the other programs to see what I am working with for the next month (VOD usually keeps programs for a month before they change them out). After that, my book waits :)

I just discovered Exercise TV on Video On Demand! Some of the exercise DVDs I looked at are on the channel for free! I enjoy pilates, but I want to mix it up a bit. Working through the Never Say Diet book has challenged me to get cardio 5 days/wk instead of 3. Tomorrow I'm getting my sweats on and working through one of programs. Yay!! I'm excited!

Weight: 257

I need to buy a new scale. The one I have is telling me that I'm sitting around 260ish. The cool scale at the gym told me that I lost 3lbs! I'm totally sticking with that reading, lol.

The week wasn't the best for eating, but I still lost some weight. I want to concentrate on drinking more water and eating better. Luckily I froze a lot of leftover enchilada filling, so that will be good for dinner tonight. I think I also need to work on making food that can be frozen.
Nothing really to comment on.