Not a lot of Relaxing

It seems as though today is Sunday. I don't know where the week went. It has been so busy. I've worked every day, worked out everyday and have been able to see Chancho every day.
Work has been hectic as we are coming into the last few weeks of our Elfa Sale. The store is very crowded, but there are lots of us available to help everyone so it's been running smoothly for the most part. Today I helped a woman for an hour and a half. She had just moved into a new house and needs everything. And when I mean everything, that means she had about 3 carts full. I walked with her through every aisle of the store and she just kept putting things into the cart. Her husband called her and said "You've been in the store too long, put stuff back and get home." Her response "You don't know what is best for you, I promise, this will all make you happy." I just laughed as she continued to put more things into her already overflowing cart. She was very sweet and a little confused. She wasn't sure exactly what she needed, but she knew that whatever she put into her cart she would use it. I tried to find her the best item for the best price. I let her in on the secret of which products were worth the price and which weren't. She seemed very thankful of all the attention she got and left very happy.
Beachbody Insanity. I'm still doing it every day. It is exhausting. I am on the floor in pain by the end of each work out session. Chancho tells me every time he hates me, but we both know that it's only going to benefit us. I think my body is finally adjusting to the pain, I'm either numb from it all or my body just doesn't know what normal feels like anymore. We're taking today off because Chancho is doing a double so we won't have any time in between or after to get a 45 minute work out in.
Chancho and I have luckily been able to see one another every day and have spent a good quality amount of time together. We don't have much planned for the up coming weeks, so I'm going to see if I can sneak in a date.
I am taking care of the house while my mother is staying with my grandmother. She is undergoing surgery to remove a football sized tumor in her leg. My mother will be staying for the week to make sure she's okay and moving around well enough before she comes home again.

Looking forward to watching the Grammys tonight :)

Listening to:  "Love Who You Love" by Rascal Flatts
Quote of the Day: "Happiness will come when you are with the one who can take you to places you never were." - Midtown

Insane In the Membrane

I'm not sure if anyone's seen the infomercial for Beachbody Insanity, but I got the DVDs. It all started with me sitting in my friend Zach's basement when he put it on just to see what it would be like. I saw it and thought to myself "this looks pretty easy". It's a 60 day work out program in which you use your body strength to get into shape. You get one day a week to rest, the rest of the days you are intensely working out for about 45 minutes. The idea of it is that you work your hardest for every minute, doing the one action, it could be jumping jacks, squats, push ups, or anything else that they have you do. You take a break for about 15 seconds in between.
I started it today. I was sweating. And by sweating I mean dripping. Chancho and I have decided to do this work out together, he was drenched. It looked like he got stuck out in the rain. My legs are so ridiculously sore. This was just the fit test. Another words, this was just to see what type of shape you are in and how much you need to improve. Looks like we'll be needing to improve a lot. At one point, I couldn't get up. I just laid on the floor.
I don't consider myself to be that out of shape, but this DVD has me thinking otherwise. I figured I'd start doing it to switch up my work out routine. I was running for an hour and then doing an ab work out for about 15-30 mins a day. This, work out, is a bit more intense.
I'm really looking forward to sticking with this, for some reason I'm excited to be doing it. I find myself thinking at work how I need to get out of work to get home to work out. I feel like that's really strange. I have never been excited to work out. We'll see how long that last though after I've worked out every day for a week. I hope that Chancho sticks with it as well. I'm thinking that since we're doing it together, we'll keep each other motivated.

Day 1 Results: Fit Test
Switch Kicks: 78
Power Jacks: 35
Power Knees: 70
Power Jumps: 23
Globe Jumps: 4.5
Suicide Jumps: 6
Push Up Jacks: 2
Low Plank Oblique: 25

You can obviously see where my weakness is. It is also clear as to how tired I got as I moved on. I'll post my results for next weeks Fit Test to hopefully show improvement. Tomorrow we'll be working on cardio. Fingers are crossed that my legs can handle it.

Listening to: Insane In the Brain by Cypress Hill
Quote of the Day: "Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you." - Mary Tyler Moore

A-Z Get To Know Me

Since I have a bunch of new followers, thanks to Follow Friday, I figured I'd share a little about myself.


A - Age: 22

B - Bed size:  Full

C - Chinese Food Dish:  Lately, I love Broccoli with Chicken

D - Dentist, like going or not:  I'm not a big fan, but I go.

E - Early Bird or Night Owl? I am most definitely a Night Owl.

F - Favorite color:  Pink, but I used to hate the color.

G - Gold or Silver: Silver is my favorite, but I have a Claddagh ring that is gold.

H - Height:  5'7...sometimes I wish I was shorter.


I - Ink as in tattoo's you have:  0

J - Job title: Visual Sales. I work at the Container Store, making sure it looks presentable to customers. 

K - Kitchen Meal or Restaurant? Restaurant. However, a homecooked meal can never be too bad!

L - Love at first sight: Skeptical of this one.

M - Month of birth: 11

N - Nicknames: I don't have too many, but one of them is Tram. 

O - On time or late: I must be on time. Nothing bothers me more when I'm late, especially for the movies.

P - Pet Peeve: When people liter.


Q - Quote from a movie: I love quotes, so this is hard to decide, but this is from my favorite movie: "This your life. Right now. It doesn't wait for you to get back on your feet." - A Lot Like Love

R - Right or left handed: Righty

S - Siblings: Older Sister and Brother

T - Time you wake up: 4am on most days

U - Urgent thing on your to do list: Take a shower


V - Vegetable you dislike: brussel sprouts


W - Wishing for:  A better job.

X - X-rays you've had: 2, 1 for my wrist and 1 for my chest.

Y - Yummy food you make: Any dessert

Z - Zoo's favorite animal: Frogs


Extra: I have a 15 yr old cat...he loves to walk across the computer.

Surprise

My cousin, whom I've mentioned in previous posts, is officially a Marine. He is home and happy. Yesterday was his welcome home party. His father took him out to lunch and BAM there were about 50 friends and family starring at him when he walked in.
I almost didn't make it to the party though. For starters, I didn't get the day off which I requested 2 weeks in advance. I had to ask around work and beg for someone to cover my shift for me. It was a full day, open to close, so no one wanted to give up their Sunday to work. Especially since the JETS were playing. However, I found someone to agree to take my shift. Thrilled to finally be able to go, I get home to tell my dad that we were going and he answers with "I'm not going." WHAT?? Here I was scrambling to get coverage and when I finally did, he is refusing to go to this party. (Background information: This is my mother's side of the family. My father doesn't get along too well with them. He has been sick for about 2 weeks now and has been going to work every day.) The problem being that the party is about 2 hours away on Long Island and he is my ride, I frantically started calling up my sister to see if she was going, but turns out that she is sick with a stomach virus, so that was a no go. Last option: Chancho. He comes to my rescue once again. He lent me his car so I could make it to the party. Another reason to love him!
Sunday arrives and I make it to the party literally 2 minutes before my cousin gets there. He walks in dressed in his Marine uniform and is shocked. He had no clue! It was great being there. I'm so happy that I was able to go. The food was good, I was able to see family I haven't talked to in a very long time, and there were lots of pictures taken. I'm so very proud of him. As he was heading out to hang out with his friends, I mentioned to him not to have too much fun and he goes "I'm a Marine now. I have a head on my shoulders." He's only 18, but in my mind he's still only 10. He's the youngest in the family so it's hard to believe that the youngest is now a Marine.

Listening to: "Free Falling" by Tom Petty
Quote of the Day:  "Every woman should have a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age."

Progress

"Babe....I have an arrest." Sigh....another night ruined. 

This is how the other night went. Chancho and I had a night planned out for us to hang out. It had really been a long time since we had our alone time. So you can imagine how crushed I felt when I received this text early on in the afternoon, messing up our evening plans. I sat there on the couch bummed. I let it get to me. It festered inside of me and the more I thought about it the more I could see the smoke rising from my head.
I had been waiting to hang out with him for about a week and a half. I wanted to spend more than 5 minutes with him. I wanted to have a conversation face to face with him rather than over the phone and not when he was falling asleep on me. Thoughts just kept running through my mind. I even came on here attempting to vent out all of my frustrations of dating a cop, thinking someone may give me some encouraging words, but in the middle of my vent I stopped myself. I reread what I had just furiously typed out and realized that at the end of it all I had said "unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to change all of this, it is what it is." and then it hit me. I was being ridiculous. That was exactly what was happening. There was no fault to this, but the idiot who needed to be arrested.

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to realize this. I have sat there time and time again thinking about how frustrating the situation is, but nothing and I mean nothing can be done about it. I've been wasting my time over something so frivolous. It feels like a big weight has been lifted. I was able to continue my night, just as though we didn't have plans, I wasn't left there being miserable thinking about how good of time I could be having and how annoying his job is. I was able to have a productive night and that has encouraged me to see that this is how it really can be. I don't need to be that girl that gets upset every time he gets stuck at work late. Another big step towards figuring out how life is, with dating a cop, is being accomplished.

I talked to Chancho about this over dinner last night and I think he really appreciated hearing it. He knew as he was typing the text out that I would be upset and he was doing everything in his powers to get out early at work. That could easily lead to mistakes or something going wrong. I don't want him doing that. Work is important and he should be doing it right, not rushing because his girlfriend at home is upset that he had to stay late. I think now that we talked about it, he's comfortable with staying late when he has to and doesn't have to fear what my reaction is going to be. I'm sure there will be bad days when I just want him home, but I think I can expect a lot better days down the road.


Quote of the Day: “The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.” - Will Durant

Hoppin Around

I know this was supposed to be for yesterday, but it got a bit hectic, so here it is a day late.

Thank you to all of you who decided to stumble on through and follow me. I promise I'll get to you all today. Just say hi and I'll be sure to get back to you.

Well Worth The Wait

Date night went extremely well. In fact, the entire day went well. We were busy all day. Chancho had a few errands to run so we did them together. Gotta make the most out of our time. In amongst our travelings across town and back, I wound up having to drive Tank. Tank is what Chancho refers to his Honda Pilot as. I had said previously that I wouldn't drive it on the street until I felt comfortable enough to, but the occasion arose that I needed to and I managed just fine. I was being such a baby. My favorite feature, is the camera that turns on when you put the car in reverse.

But anyways onto dinner. We at Alaroma. It is a quaint little restaurant. It's a casual, but neat setting. Definitely a family restaurant. There were a lot of families there with older children. The food was delicious. It is prepared fresh just like their website said. I ordered the lasagna and it was great! I was able to bring some home for lunch today. Chancho had chicken with pasta in Alfredo sauce. For dessert, Chancho ate chocolate cake topped with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. I had a cannoli with whipped cream. It wasn't too badly priced either, especially with our gift certificate we only spent $15 out of our own pockets or I should say Chancho's pocket. However, we both decided it wouldn't be a place that we'd go back to. We didn't like their selection of food. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm not huge fan of Italian food or if it they really didn't have that many options. Either way, it's been tried, we liked it, but on to something else.

The next movie that we were supposed to watch from Netflix before Chancho canceled the membership was 4 Christmases. (My pick) It arrived in the mail, but he had to send it back right away before he got charged for it. I was really disappointed and made him promise that we would watch it eventually. I think he figured that he could get away with not watching it because when will there be a Christmas movie in the RedBox after Christmas? Welll we stopped by the RedBox for our movie after dinner and low and behold there was 4 Christmases. Turns out, Chancho enjoyed and I had already watched it, in theaters no less, when it had first come out. I had completely forgotten. After all that fuss about NEEDING to watch it and I had already seen it. At least it was a good one.

Tonight we have plans again, just us so far, but we're thinking of practicing our skills at Taboo. It's a fun game that we sometimes play when we get together with our friends and because there is sometimes a language barrier for Chancho, we figured we'd practice on our own time.

Listening to: "I Just Love You" by Five For Fighting

Date Night To Come

It's been a pretty hectic 2 weeks. Chancho and I haven't seen a lot of one another, except for the few precious moments here and there. Not a lot of quality time. I'm itching to have some alone time to catch up and reconnect. Perhaps tonight will satisfy that itch, but most likely, I'll have to wait til tomorrow. I've put Chancho in charge of creating this date night. He really only needs to call and make reservations, but we all know that sometimes that can be too much.
We received a gift certificate from our dear friend Zach's parents for the holidays. It's to a restaurant called Alaroma. We both have never been, but it's right down the road from Chancho's place. Figured we'd give it a shot, plus how can we pass up a free meal?? From looking at the website, it seems to be an Italian restaurant and we must have driven past it at least a hundred times. Hopefully it can turn into a good night with dressing up and ending with a movie. And on that note....Chancho did decide to delete the Netflix account. I was devastated to find this out. I watch movies online all the time from there and I am addicted to the seasons of Law and Order SVU. I had been watching it from the beginning and only made it to the end of season 2. We'll be renting from the RedBox instead now. It is a lot cheaper (dollar a night!), but not convenient. I think he secretly didn't want to watch the movies I put on the list. They'd just show up and he'd have no say in them. At least now we have to have a discussion about which movie we'll be watching or a good old fashion game of rock, paper, scissors will suffice.

I'm starting to feel a lot better. I have most of my energy back. I'm still coughing up my lungs here and there and my nose is running all over the place, but I can get out of bed and do what I need to do. I was lucky to make it to work and back again without making a mess of myself.

Listening to: "The Joker" unplugged by Steve Miller
Quote of the Day: “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others.  If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use.” ― Emily Post

Room ReDo

I know that I've been talking about redecorating since August or probably even sooner, but it seems that I just haven't gotten around to it. The thought is just always there, but no action behind it. I'm determined to have it all finished by the summer. That should give me plenty of time to get it completed. Except now, I have more plans to add on to my redo. I've decided that it's time that I have my own desk. My mother's desk is in my room taking up a large quantity of space, where I'd like to have my desk, but since she's not going anywhere, I have compromised and have figured out something better for myself.
Right now at work we have this Elfa sale going on. To sum it up quickly, it's just a closet component system that makes you super organized and looks pretty. We are so involved with this sale that I'm starting to dream about it and it's coming up in almost every conversation. Pathetic I know. I do however get 50% off of it. Sooooo my dream plan is to make a closet/desk out of it. I have a 6 ft wall space that I can use. I figure I can somehow fit a closet and desk in there. I may be dreaming too big, but at least there's a dream right? I'm going to speak to one of our closet designers tomorrow during or probably after work to see what they can come up with to make me dance every time I walk into my room.

Before I can actually go through with all of this I need to:

• paint the room white
• paint one wall a shade of red (still to be determined)
• refinish the floor
• donate a coach (Anyone in need of a coach?? It has a queen bed that pulls out)
• donate an armoire
  
• buy a new comforter or duvet cover
• buy new sheets to match new comforter

Then I can finally hang up my pictures and posters. That can be easily done by June right?? Chancho will be gone for a whole month, I'm thinking this will be the thing to keep me occupied from missing him too much during that time.
Now all I have to do, is get it done.

Quote of the Day:   “Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Last Upgrade

I am definitely, officially sick now. Nothing more than a cold, but it sure is dragging me down. I don't have much energy, but yet I have enough to function through the day. I pulled myself out of bed this morning at 4am to get to work. I had a rough morning, as the cold medicine wasn't helping that much. I was sniffling all over the place. Hand sanitizer was my best friend. I didn't have any patience whatsoever for any complaining customers today, especially when they're complaining that we don't have the same shipping policy as another store. Tough luck lady, go to the other store.
Straight from work Chancho picked me up to head over to Honda. We spent a lovely 3 and a half hours there. He got one two new cars! That's right, not one, but TWO.  He somehow managed to get a deal to get the Pilot and the FIT. He traded in his Accord and his Mitsubishi Endeavor. The Pilot is massive. I can't see myself driving it, at least not yet. I'm sure once I get used to it I'll be fine. He got that one fully loaded, minus the navigation, in black. The FIT, he got the basic model, in blue. I truly struggled to stay coherent while we waited for everything to go through. I really wanted to sneak out and lay in the backseat of one of the cars til everything was final. It was worth the wait though. Chancho is very happy and that's all that matters. He swears to me that these are the last new cars that he's buying for another 17 years. I'll give him another 2 years, if that. What Chancho wants, Chancho gets.

I'm finally home, snuggled in my bed, dayquil taken, ate some chicken noodle soup, the cat is fed and I'm ready to watch some Law & Order SVU on Netflix. Hopefully I can rest up for another 5am shift tomorrow.

Quote of the Day: "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people." -Martin Luther King Jr.

Lots to Talk About

Lots to post about. First I guess I'll start with Chancho's grandfather passed away last week. He wasn't doing well from what I heard, but it was still a harsh reality to hear that he didn't pull through. Chancho decided not to fly to Peru to attend the wake and the funeral. It just wasn't doable, but that is the cost of living so far away from family. However, his family had the whole thing video taped and sent to Chancho on DVD. We spent the other night watching it. I learned a lot about the differences of their culture and ours hear in America.
The first difference is that the wake takes place over two days. It's located in the home. The casket was laid out in the living room for all to view. The whole wake seemed more like a party than mourning. They had a band playing and they also closed off a section of the street for family and friends to attend. The casket was also paraded around the streets. The funeral part was the same. They watched the casket get lowered into the ground. Chancho's handling it well. He does feel bad about not attending the funeral, but I think he has come to terms with the fact that it just couldn't happen.

Next, Chancho is looking at buying another car! Yes, that will be his 4th car in under a year. Honda contacted him and gave him a deal that he can't refuse. He is at the appointment right now speaking to the car dealership. He's interested in the CR-V, fully loaded of course. He wants something that he can just zip around town in, but still has space in case he has to fit something in it. He really wants the Pilot, but in all honesty there is no need for such a large car. He doesn't have kids, and he doesn't drive around that many people. We'll see what comes of it.

Final news about Chancho. The NYPD is recruiting men and women to send over to Haiti. Chancho's unit hasn't been asked yet, but he thinks they may be soon. We discussed it and he said he would jump at the chance to go. I knew right from the beginning that he would. That's just the type of person he is. He would be gone for probably a week to two weeks. He hasn't heard anything more about when it would happen though.

As for me. I'm sick. I have an awful sore throat. Everyone in the family has a cold, I'm hoping that it's quick and I'll be back to my old self soon enough. I bought a wireless adapter so now I can bring my computer anywhere in the house again. It's so nice to have that option back again. For some reason my wireless card in the computer doesn't work in this house. I needed a new one for it to work. That seems to be all that I can think of for now.

Quote of the Day: “Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like.”

Sneezes

I was reading through The Fierce Beagle's Blog when I stumbled across BookSneeze. It's a website that will mail you books for free. The catch you ask? Well you have to write a review of the book on your blog and a consumers website such as Amazon.com. I'm thinking about it. I don't have much free time already, but I do like to read so it's tempting. I have a feeling I'll do it anyways. It can't hurt any. I just don't want it to seem like it's homework doing book reviews. If it does come across as that, screw it, I'm done. 

Valentine's day seems to be sneaky up around the corner. It will be a month away tomorrow. Chancho and I decided only small gifts and they need to be homemade. My gears are turning already in my head. I have a feeling that it will have something to do with pictures. Last year I made him a book it was called Chancho A to Z. It obviously began with A and I chose a word that described him starting with the letter of the alphabet and then I wrote why I chose that word. In between letters I pasted a picture of us. So it was every other page, letter, picture, letter. I loved it, I'm not so sure he did though. I think it was more of a girly gift than anything. My gift from him was 2 dozen roses and a visit from 8 hours away. I was at school at the time so he mailed me a dozen roses and then he showed up at my door step with a dozen roses. Hopefully this year I'll come up with something better. I'll have to brainstorm later.

Sleep is in order as I need to be up at 430am to drive a coworker to the airport. A thank you drive since she drives me home from work when I'm too lazy to walk home.

Who Are You Sleeping With??

Good news! Great news even. Chancho got back his yearly report on how his performance has been. The scale ranges from 1 to 5. 1 is hardly ever given out because that means you really fucked up and are on your way out. 2 is when you're put on probation. 3 is usually given out the most because that's average. 4 is when you're above average and doing things pretty well. 5 is hardly ever given out because that means you worked your ass off and your Commanding Officer needs to approve it. There are a bunch of categories that you're rated on and you can get any one of those numbers and at the end they average those numbers out to get your final number. Chancho's number for this year??? A FIVE (5)!!! I automatically asked him who he was sleeping with to get that number and then called him a kiss ass. He laughed and said that's what everyone at work was saying to him. But all jokes aside, I am very proud of him. He truly has worked his ass off this year. He has brought in his numbers every month, gotten a new position, which he has transitioned into nicely and even was apart of bringing in a gun. It's been a big year for him and I'm glad that his hard work is being acknowledged. So kudos to Chancho and hopefully he will have another great year coming up!

Listening to: "Whataya Want From Me" by Adam Lambert
Quote of the Day: “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” - John Barrymore

Procrastinating

I really do have a busy day ahead of me. I slept for about 19 hours in the last 24 of them. I'm not sure what came over me, but I suppose my body needed the rest. I have a very long list of things that need to get done. Starting with:

• Vacuuming the living room. 
• Finish putting away the Christmas decorations :(
• Wash sheets
• Put away clean clothes
• Clean the bathroom
• Work out

I got up early enough to accomplish all of these things before 5pm just in case Chancho makes it out of work on time today. However, here I sit typing away rather than actually doing any of those things. I will give myself credit for putting away the ornaments and tossing the tree out, but somehow that killed my energy. I would love to go exercise, but I need to update my ipod so that I have something to listen to and that takes up some time. I need the perfect playlist to work out to otherwise I get frustrated that I have to keep hitting the next button. I've been doing okay regarding the work out resolution that I set up for myself. It's been pretty cold out so I have been slacking lately, but I know that isn't an excuse. I walk to and from work for a total of 2 miles. I figure that while I'm at work, I'm burning calories as well. I don't sit at a desk, I'm on my feet all day lifting heavy boxes and merchandise and I am constantly walking at a fast pace.
This is what I have so far for my playlist:

1. Whataya Want from Me by Adam Lamber
2. Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects
3. One Week by Bare Naked Ladies
4. I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas
5. Ever Ever After by Carrie Underwood
6. Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship
7. Cupid Shuffle by Cupid
8. Sexy Chick feat. Akon by David Guetta
9. Dance Floor Anthem by Good Charlotte
10. Longview by Green Day
11. Basket Case by Green Day
12. Empire State of Mind feat. Alicia Keys by Jay-Z
13. Leavin' by Jesse McCartney
14. Better Than by John Butler
15. Tik Tok by Ke$ha
16. Red High Heels by Kellie Pickler

I guess that's quite a few songs, but I still need more for it to last an hour and a half. That's usually how long I work out for and once I hear a repeat on a song I know that I've accomplished that goal. I should get back to my chores. 

Day 3

Today is day three of not seeing Chancho. I think this is probably the most we've gone since he's gotten his new position. And oddly enough, I'm doing fine. I have been able to keep myself occupied to keep my wondering mind to going to that "crazy" place of needing to see him or talk to him every 2 minutes.

It began Saturday when he worked OT driving his Sergeant around from 11pm to 2am. He decided to work a double so he started his Sunday shift at 8am, which meant he didn't get home until 9pm because he had loads of work to do. Then yesterday he did Paid Detail in the morning and straight from there he began his regular shift. Which as he called it "couldn't get any worse", he had to secure a crime scene (which he was very nice to describe in detail for me), voucher evidence and when he was finally done with this work he went back to the precinct to start his regular work only to have to arrest a woman and then transport her. It was one of those days that just didn't end. From my end, this seems like how all his days should be, him working, but normally this is an overload of work compared to him sitting at his desk watching TV with the occasional arrest here and there. Today he's working an earlier shift to get out at 5pm but he plans on making an arrest so he probably won't be home until late again today.
I feel exhausted just writing about it all. I can't believe how tired he must feel.

This week we were supposed to go on a date, but I have a feeling that that will be pushed back to next week. That's fine with me, it'll give me more time to come up with something fun for us to do.

A side note, my cousin will be graduating from the Marines in a few weeks. He is do home the 22nd and I hopefully will be able to make his welcome home party on the 24th. I think I have to work though. I'm very proud of him, this was a great accomplishment for him. Therefore, I'm doing everything possible to make it to his party.


Listening to: "Carousel" by Buckcherry
Quote of the Day: “Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile...initially scared me to death.” - Betty Bender

Only a few mishaps

Tonight was the first official babysitting night. I had been over a few times to allow "Buster" to adjust to me. He is the sweetest 7 1/2 month old baby boy. He's got blond hair and wide blue eyes. He is starting to get in 2 teeth on the bottom. It was the parents anniversary tonight so I was called in to watch over. It went very very well.

The night started out with us playing with a million of his toys, all of which make noise. He is very active so he wasn't entertained very long with any certain toy. He is dying to crawl, but just hasn't grasped that concept yet. He's humping the floor more than anything. The parents left and we decided it was time to dance. I played a few songs from Owl City and he loved it. He started bouncing away. I'm sure in his mind, he was dancing quite nicely. I fed him his bottle in hopes that it would fill him up and he would start to get sleepy. Not the case. (He was napping when I arrived at 6:30pm) We played some more, while the dog was pacing around the house. He giggled and squealed, as the dog walked around the dinning room table. We clapped hands, sang songs and changed a poopy diaper, as the dog walked from the kitchen to the bedroom and back. We danced some more and played airplane and then I saw the dog peeing on the living room carpet. I don't have a dog, never have, but I always thought that dogs go near the door or bark or do something more significant to let you know they need to go out. I will give her her age as an excuse, she's quite old and has cancer, but I hope in the future, she will tell me before just going.

Buster would not fall asleep as the hours ticked away. I was starting to get nervous that he wouldn't wind down at all. I attempted to put him to bed twice, but he would not have it. I finally turned on the white noise, shut the lights off, turned the mobile on and rocked him back and forth for a good half hour. He finally got to sleep. Once he let the sleep take over he was out cold. His parents were home a half hour later.

They gave me a future schedule. It will consist of 12 hour days and I'm looking forward to them. Never thought I'd say that about taking care of kids, but I guess this first night didn't scare me off so I'll come back.


Quote of the Day: "She was the arm that held him close in times of trouble, she was the whisper on the pillow beside him at night." -Nicholas Sparks "The Choice"

Film Strips

I got a scanner for Christmas and I have been scanning a few things here and there, but I'm really waiting until my external hard drive comes before I do any heavy work. My ultimate goal is to scan the million pictures that the family has so that they will be organized and saved. So far I am loving the scanner. It has the capability to reduce the fading on the pictures, remove scratches and fix the backlighting problems in some photos. It also allows me to scan the negatives. There are a bunch of negatives just laying around that we don't know where the pictures are to them. This was my practice run at using the negative holder in the scanner. I am also practicing on how to use the photoshop program that came with the scanner. The pictures that I scanned were from a roll of film that I had in my purse for over a year and finally decided to get developed. I picked out a few to share.

 Listening to: "Save the Last Dance For Me" by Michael Buble

Quote of the Day: "I don't love you because of what you do, or what you don't do. I just love you." - Alias

 

Determined

The Biggest Loser season started yesterday. I've been a very big fan of the show since season 2. My roommate got me hooked. I even started to schedule my classes around it, that's how hooked I got. It's a 2 hour show, but it's so inspiring. As most seasons go, the contestants get heavier than the season before. This season, I could not believe it, the amount of weight that these contestants weigh is just unbelievable! I'm so happy that they are doing something about it and helping not only themselves but others in their lives and ultimately everyone who comes across the show. It's too early for me to pick out who I'll be routing for the most, but I have an idea in mind.

I love that they are doing more and more for the contestants with each season. Instead of just sending them home to do it on their own, they have given them guidance and support, even a little competition to keep them motivated. Each season I feel like they learn from the past and are able to adjust to making things better for those that really need help. I'm really glad that they've started doing the "Trainer Tips", which gives you a 30 second snippet of how to work out better. I also like the tips that they give you on how to eat better. It airs every Tuesday night at 8pm on NBC. Give it a trial run.

I am determined to loose the weight this time around. Not that I need to loose a whole bunch of it, but I do need to loose 30-35 lbs. I find it so hard in the winter time, I am not a gym person. I'd much rather be outside running than inside on a treadmill. Chancho has set his goal and is considering joining a Court Gym. I'm not really sure what that is, but from the sounds of it, it's a place where you can place basketball, tennis, soccer, any group sports along with having the traditional weight room available. Our friend Zach and him want to join together. Chancho suggested I join with them, but I'd much rather join a regular gym so I can go while Chancho's at work or on my own time. I've never been big into working out in front of people, however, maybe that's what I need in order to keep myself motivated.

We shall see how it turns out. I might have to make a competition between Chancho and myself to keep us both going. It's definitely something for us both to work on.

Listening to: "Bitter Sweet Smphony" by The Verve
Quote of the Day: "Chances slip away while you're looking for guarantees."

Independent

I have never really considered myself an independent person. I definitely like to have that moral support beside me, but if something needs to get done, I'll suck it up and do it.  I've secretly envied those people who could just do anything without the fear of being laughed at, making a mistake, or whatever else. Most times when I do try something new or out of the ordinary it goes just fine, so I'm not sure why it bothers me. However, dating a cop has helped me immensely in this department of developing my independence. For the first time yesterday it dawned on me how other people are very dependent upon their spouse, partner or significant other and it irritated me.
Chancho made plans, yes he made the plans!, for the group of our friends to go bowling. I needed to know the people he called just to make sure he didn't miss anyone and in figuring that out he mentioned that he wasn't sure if two of our friends were coming. Conversation went as so:

Me: "Are Zach and Savannah going?"

Chancho: "Zach said he wasn't feeling well and didn't know if he was coming."

Me: "Does that mean that Savannah isn't going?"

Chancho: "Probably, I can't see Savannah going without Zach."

It bothered me that Savannah wasn't going to join us for bowling when it was a big group of us, all her friends, just because Zach wouldn't be able to go. There have been so many times that I have gone to outings without Chancho that I can't even count anymore. I guess it just amazes me how attached people are to their surroundings and comfort zones. I can completely understand how they feel, but as I have stepped out of my comfort zone, I assume it's just harder for me to see how others can't do the same.

Listening to: "Miss Independent" by Ne-Yo
Quote of the Day: “One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: to rise above the little things.” -John Burroughs

Harold's NY Deli

January 2nd is my father's birthday. We usually don't do much for it because it is right after Christmas and no one ever has enough money to spend on anything extravagant, but this year we all saved a little extra so we would be able to go to Harold's New York Deli. It's a restaurant, but the portions are ginormous! And I mean ginormous. They are made to serve 2-3 or 5-6 people. It was so funny watching everyone's face when the food arrived at the table. Even the drinks were giant sized. You never want to order anything large because it will come 3x the size you want it to be. They also have a pickle bar. I never new there were so many different pickles that you could make a bar out of them all, but there are! They also have extra bread so when you order a sandwich you can make smaller sandwiches. We ordered an eclair. A simple eclair and out comes this 18" eclair. It was bigger than my cat. It probably weighs more than my cat too. We got plenty of leftovers, which will probably feed us until Tuesday.
The entire family was able to go, including my dad's sister and her husband. Chancho wasn't able to make it because he signed up for overtime. Here are the pictures of our meals.

 This was my dad's meal that he shared with his brother-in-law. So this is only half.

French fries for the table.

This was my meal that I shared with my mom. (Roast beef with cheddar cheese and bacon)

My sister and her husband's meal. (Bacon hamburger)

My brother-in-law ordered chili fries

My brother and his wife ordered a meatball sub

And here it is! The eclair!!

Listening to: "You Can Count On Me" by Default
Quote of the Day: “Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” - Hal Borland