Sickie

Well, I managed through most of the year without catching a cold but on Tuesday I got nailed. I was up for maybe an hour and had to go back to bed. It was a jammie day and I think I was up maybe 3 times an hour each and then I just gave in. 24 hours later I woke up but wasn't wide awake. And that's the way it's been since.

Another storm hit yesterday, all ice sleet and some snow. I was going to blow out the drive and then decided I didn't really want pneumonia on top of this. I was also going to paint but I couldn't get the energy up to do anything.

So I've been on my couch when I'm up or in front of the computer.

Poor Cindy.

Yeah, I'm giving myself some sympathy.

I weigh in tonight. Up till last week I had lost 8 pounds. We'll see what this week brings. I'm thinking water weight and general sicky goo might not be working for me.

I've mentioned Slumpville a few times but now I know it's real. I was thinking that maybe I just wasn't in the mood to read anything BUT auto-buy books.

Well, I have Singh's latest book which I just couldn't wait for and ... nothing. For me, this is as bad as if it was an Anne Stuart book.

Another reason why some serious comfort food will be demanded after weigh in!

My Love My Hero

Sounds like a romance novel but it's not.

I ranted yesterday about my Bob and tonight that man straightened and cleaned like a pro. I got the ball rolling last night but he tonight he took his tools out of the kitchen and cleaned up the counters so that I can actually cook tomorrow night.

I'm so lucky. Which is why no pics this time. I'll do them soon though because I'm sure I can get a few laughs for ya.

I think I found all the blood (which wasn't nearly as much as I imagined but when does blood look good in a home?) and I dusted surfaces, got the vacuum out and did my best. No matter what, you can vacuum for hours and the minute you put the vacuum away you will see that damn fur-tumble-weed. I hate that. I have actually left the vacuum out for two nights, vacuuming more than once to only have a guest in my home look over and see a dust bunny the size of my dog. I think people probably go home saying 'sure, she vacuumed just before we came'. The sad part is that I usually do because people are allergic.

Ah, well.

My best friend offered to come and help me clean tomorrow afternoon but my clock is all out of wack and I'm sleeping during the day again. Whatever.

So tomorrow night we have guests and then one of my best buds comes down and I take her to her dentist appointment in the downtown core. Apparently she doesn't like driving down there. For a woman with panic attacks you would think I would find our down town daunting and yet, I just don't. Drove it way too much when I was younger to be afraid of them now.

And my mom's birthday is this weekend and my Dad has gone back to Malaysia. He goes into China on Sunday for a week. But this is about my mom so I need to go and get her movie tickets. I bought her some silly stuff but the woman is serious when she tells you she wants movie tickets.

See? I get people the gift certificates they want! Why do they sigh when I ask for my book certificates?

Off to make my to-do list for tomorrow afternoon so that I can be ready to serve a mean beef tenderloin with some sort of potato (maybe baked, maybe mashed - I know, you're all agog) and then veggies.

I also have to bring a dessert into the house which doesn't bode well for my WWs.

Diet Day Two

In case you need a break from the drama I'll let you know that I no longer think this diet thing is easy.

I woke up famished. I spent most of the day thinking of food and now I have an upset tummy (probably more PMS related but hey, I'm not a happy camper).

I'm going to try real oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow morning. I had a slice of toast with a tablespoon of peanut butter for breakfast today and had to eat an hour afterwards. Not conducive to weight loss. Still, I haven't blown the points budget and now that today is over, I'm hoping the next few days won't be so bad.

BOOKS!!!

Yeah, I wanna talk about books.

I need to know which books you guys are looking forward to and maybe why (is it part of an on-going series that I need to start before getting said book, etc.). I'll share a few of mine but I have a few question marks on my current TBB list because I haven't really heard anything about the authors.

January

Joanna Bourne The Spymaster's Lady - keeper review at AAR and I think two bloggers are currently reading and enjoying it. Since I need new authors I'm going to pick this one up.

Sylvia Day Heat of the Night - I have two of her books and should probably read those before buying this. Bad Cindy.

Erin McCarthy Sucker Bet - I've been meaning to give this author another shot and maybe now is a good time. Maybe I should try her 'darker side'? Any thoughts?

February

Nalini Singh - CAN'T WAIT!!!

March

MJD Dead Over Heals - don't know what it's about and will need to do some checking but it's on the list.

April

Gaelen Foley - Her Every Pleasure - I have wanted to try another Foley and this may be the one.
J.R. Ward - Uh, guys, did you know there is a Wikipedia page for Black Dagger Brotherhood? Just wondering. Lover Enshrined - not sure I'm all that fired up about this one. I may actually decide to go on a break and wait for a character I care about and a story line that won't have me screaming 'WHY!!' (I don't get the whole sleep with a ton of women so they can have your kids plot - ugh)

May

Kresley Cole Dark Desires After Dusk & Dark Needs At Night's Edge - have no clue why they have two listed but I'm hoping they are good!

Anne Stuart - Fire and Ice - yeah baby.

That's as far as I've looked and I just skimmed the authors section of the 'coming soon' books. I should find the time to read the blurbs but they tend to sound the same.

Authors I'm curious about:

Cheyenne McCray - the covers of her books look awesome but for some reason I have never bought one. Thoughts?

Gina Showalter - again, another author I have yet to buy or try.

Jill Shalvis - I may have a book by this author somewhere but I can't recall.

So what books are you looking forward to? Any newbie authors coming up through the ranks that you think others should try?

As to reading I'm catching time in between running around this weekend but I'm hoping on Monday I can get some quality time with the book cause, DUDE, I so want to read!

Coming Around

We're on day three of recuperation and I think I may have found my stride again. Getting up at odd hours and crashing at all different times for the last 5 days may have finally got me all caught up on whatever shortages happened over the holidays.

Looks like I'm back to nights for the time being. I enjoyed the daylight, especially today but my sleep cycle konked back out tonight. Meh.

Cody had a complete work up today. Basically he's a medical miracle cause he just keeps chugging along. His face is now slightly deformed as the tumour has come up over his eye (inside so you can't see it). I tried to take a picture of it but you really can't see it, you can only see it in person. I think he had all the technicians and the vet around his back paw. They gave him so many bickies while we were there I was afraid to give him his dinner tonight.

Basically, he's got that tumour thing, the liver looks odd and he has swallowed a sewing needle. Since I can't remember the last time I sewed anything I'm banking it's been there for a while. The vet said I could try giving him more fiber (at which point I looked down at my pup and thought 'what? I'm to give him salad?' and figured he was beyond that) as needles are very dangerous. Yeah. 'kay. Then she admits Cody isn't a candidate for surgery since he can't breath out his nose. I figured.

Oh, we could see that his (dangit, I know the name but can't remember right now) breathing tube or airway is slightly constricted as it comes out of his lungs. May explain why he has always been a heavy breather. People can't help but ask what the hell is happening in the background when I'm on the phone. I'm not sure they believe me when I say it's the dog snoring. The other day I reminded my friend that the excessive noise was Cody and she laughed and said she thought Bob had a saw running.

I think Cody will be much like Rocky. He'll just have a bad day. At least I hope that's how it will be because other than that, as long as he's eating and his tail is wagging I can't see making any huge decisions. The vet did say that the cancer hasn't spread anywhere else either and for as pleased as she looked I was exponentially pleased. Cute puppy.

He might look a bit Frankenstein-ish but his mama still loves him. Bob's a given ;)

As for other things Christmas is almost all boxed up. There are a few things out that need to be put away yet. I'm thinking this weekend we can get a smack down on it.

I realized today that my Dad leaves again for Malaysia on Monday. Holy cow! That came up real fast so I'm scrambling to find out if we're all getting together or if I should have everyone over here for dinner and games. Crazy! Just when you think things are back to normal you get side swiped. My Mom's b-day is the following weekend so it looks like it's family 24/7 again.

Didn't we just do this?

I've grabbed a book and started on it. I'm not going to say anything yet including which book cause if it fails it could just all be me.

Crap. I have to book a doc appointment also.

OH!

Tomorrow is WW day.

Weight Watchers starts officially on Friday as I weigh in and get all that stuff tomorrow night. A few of my friends have decided to try it also. I've never gone with other people before so I'm kind of happy about not being alone at the meeting. We'll see how long everyone else lasts, I know I'm going to be committed to it. I've eaten all my favourite foods for the past few weeks so it's all about to change but by this time next year I'm hoping to be at a healthy weight and not feel like I'm missing huge chunks of food.

Completely do-able.

Whoops

Hmm, I've fallen into a rut of not blogging. Who knew I could be susceptible?

In all honesty, my back has been giving me some problems and sitting in front of the computer is agonizing. I'm trying to sit properly in the computer chair (usually sit with my legs up on the desk) and since I'm not in bad shape right now I thought I would do a quick post.

So my back was fine and then I went for a massage. The pain crept back until I was in killer pain again on Wednesday night. Back to the heat pad and muscle relaxers. I was supposed to go to the docs on Friday morning but I was sick to my stomach all night Thursday so I didn't want to leave the house. Now I have more anxiety (which is not fun) but my mood is definitely better without adding anything. So I'm thinking of just upping the dose over the holidays and then weaning back down after the New Year. Then I will make a follow up with my doc.

I'm not sure why the anxiety came up (other than the drop in meds) as I have the tree up and decorated in what I consider a tacky navy blue - then again, everyone else loves it. What do I know? There are a few ornaments that Bob put up that are purple and green but he thinks they are blue and I didn't bother changing them. I went with navy because Bob wanted the tree to be blue and it's the one colour he likes at it's darkest.

You can see Emma under the tree. That is her new spot and she will even hold her ground against Cody. They usually wouldn't be seen in the same room but she has made an exception for the tree.

The dining room and the rest of the room in that picture is taken in look like a tornado hit so that's eating up brain space. I need to get some of the clutter out but getting the tree done and some of the other stuff up was enough moving around for one day.

The dining room table is covered in gifts needing to be wrapped but hopefully I'll put a huge dent in that tomorrow. Then again, you remember how Rocky and Cody used to eat my books? Well, Cody has moved on to eating anything in his path. He found a wrapped gift and tore it up while I was out. OUCH! So I will have to keep the gifts up from the mutt. Silly puppy.

On that note, the pup went for a spa day so he is squeaky clean and doesn't smell like butt anymore.

It's the little things in life, you know? Dog not smelling like ass? Priceless.

I have been toting around Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night by Kresley Cole but finding the hero speaking in deep brogue is enough to have me wondering if this is the book to crack the slump. Since this ain't no ordinary slump, I'm not sure it is.

And finally, we're bracing for a winter storm. I love snow storms and the weather people are all in a tizzy about this one breaking records. Yeah. Heard that before. Bob and I are ready to bundle up and watch movies tomorrow and I have a nice roast I can put in the oven.

Sounds like a perfect kind of day.

Edited: Weight Watchers is now on hold until after the holidays. I have the system and will scout out and buy the stuff I need but right now, I can't see going to meetings about maintaining weight over the holidays. So, pfffffft.

I Am Not A Liar!

Being the forgetful monkey I am, I was reminded of a baking party I was invited to on Monday.

The irony is pouring itself on a bit thick around here.

On Tuesday the Christmas train rolls into town and Bob wants to go and see it. I figured what the hell, maybe the Christmas Spirit will roll in with it and I won't have to hunt it down and shoot it like most years.

So Wednesday night is D-day for Weight Watchers.

With that in mind I have been watching what I eat. I have watched two cokes get poured, four cookies hit the hatch and some fries and gravy. Can't wait to see what Bob'll help me with when he gets up. I'm thinking breakfast of champions at our favourite restaurant. (When I did WW years ago I discovered very early on that our Saturday morning breakfasts used up all the days allotted points so unless I wanted to eat air for the rest of the day I had to stop. And we did. We go very rarely now but I'm thinking it's called for this weekend!)

The pop is going to kill me. Bob 'splits' things with me so even though I will pour two cokes, I'm not really drinking two. Still, I'm not sure what I am drinking but when Bob went to reach for the pop (I take lots of ice and drinks when we're shopping so when we get back to the car we can soothe the parched throats from shopping malls and their dry air to help force their patrons to buys drinks - ooooops, there's my conspiracy nut hanging) and it was empty - I turned to him and said, 'I'm not going to be counting those kind of points! You totally hooved (as in Hoover) that down.' To which I get 'It wasn't me Hoove!'

I'm just saying. Someone has to count those points!

I told Bob no chocolate or anything sweet for Christmas (I usually get sugar overload from people - seriously, quit buying the fat people on your list chocolates. We'll eat them but we'll be cursing you the whole time)

I would update you on my back but I'm dodging the Irony gods, the 'Ohnoyoudinit' gods and the Careful What You Wish for gods.

So on a completely different topic all together, those stick on heat pads are fantabulous! Except for the one that left a huge red mark on my skin. It did help me to place the new stick on though.

Enough jibber-jab, off to try and read. Oh look! It's 5am already? I'm thinking breakfast will be soon so maybe I should go and watch more bad TV.

Blergh.

Lock and Load

You guys ROCK!!

I will weigh in on Monday and join a Weight Watchers meeting thingie ( the meetings are important for me - I gained my weight back after I stopped going). That way I get one more weekend of sloth and gluttony before I bring the pain.

I told Bob tonight and he is always supportive but he's worried because it's before the holidays. Unlike most people, I might eat more turkey, potatoes and such at Christmas but I don't eat nearly as many sweets as I think other people get roped into eating. Since I have so much anxiety around food and Christmas anyways, I eat less of the junk and more of the good stuff. Even so, I won't beat myself up if I gain weight over that week. It's just gotta end.

Also, I can't wait until the New Year to start losing weight. I get something in my brain and I have to act while my feet will still follow the path. I give myself an out and I'll take it and then some. Like, 'Oh, I meant New Years 2020'.

Holly and Mollie and anyone else, if you want to play then climb aboard but I'm not a pressure kind of gal and know all about the food demons.

Holly, isn't if awful when you have been so good with your food choices only to not lose weight. Course gaining 10 lbs while eating just fruit and yogurt?!! I would have taken out a small village in my rage.

And no one worry, but my back is much more painful that it was the last few days. Most of my friends (and Bob) have had huge ordeals with their backs and although I was sympathetic I just didn't 'get' it.

Sue told me I had to ice my back as well as putting heat on it - she used to get - I wanna say cortizone shots - directly into her spine to relieve the pain. The last time her back went out she ended up on morphine (she was pregnant) and it was the craziest thing I had ever seen. I would go and visit her and her legs would twitch (from the pinched nerve) while her eyes were rolling into the back of her head.

Meanwhile my best bud had a bad back because her breasts were too big for her frame. She had breast reduction surgery about 6 years ago but her back will probably never be right. She told me it had to be 'hot' on my back.

Both said to get some drugs. Yeah. Just what I need. More crap in the old system.

I'll get Bob to pick me something up tomorrow and I already have a Doc's appointment for Monday so unless this gets drastically worse I'll hang in. I'm putting on heating patches before going to bed later.

Maybe I'll wake up pain free.

Hey, if you're going to dream, dream BIG!