Gorgeous weekend

The weather over the weekend was so nice! We had our front door opened all day Saturday.
Saturday was the day to get our HD box and DVR from Comcast. Our appt. was between 9-11 a.m. The guy showed up about 10. He hooked up the box. But we could only hear the HD channels and not see them. Curt told the guy that it seemed we had the wrong box--we only had the DVR/cable box and we needed the DVR/cable box/HD thingie. Nope, the guy said we had the right box, just that something was wrong with it. He told us his supervisor had to bring him a new box (one that worked) and he would be back in about an hour. At 2 p.m. Curt called Comcast to see what was up. They told him the supervisor would be at our house before 3:30. At 4:20 Curt called AGAIN. They told him the supervisor would be at our house in 20 minutes. The supervisor actually showed up about 5 p.m. At least he brought the correct box, hooked it up and all was good. (I watched Desperate Housewives in HD last night.) So we didn't do much Saturday. (I ran a few errands. Went to Hallmark to buy cards and it was no longer there. Great!)
Sunday I had lunch with my friend Mia and her daughter Alexis. After lunch us girls went to Michaels to look for crafts to do for Lexie's birthday party, which is next weekend. We got flip-flops and all kinds of stuff to decorate them. It should be fun!
So it was a pretty mellow and relaxing weekend.

Oh, you have probably heard about the explosion near the Bay Bridge. It wasn't actually on the bridge. The McArthur Maze was blown up by a tanker truck that overturned and exploded. And part of the ramp of the freeway collapsed. It is a big issue for commuters as it is a connecter from one freeway to another. So public transportation is free today. Curt said BART wasn't any busier than normal. I take surface streets to work--so I lucked out in not having to deal with the mess.
Happy Monday!

Oh, and knee update. (Erica asked about it in a comment down a little ways--and I have been meaning to update you all on it.) It seems to be back to normal. The first week working out after I hurt it I just did toning and the stationary bike with brace. Last week I did elliptical--which is likely what I will do this week. If I work out today--which I very much will!!!!!--I will clock 17 times I worked out this month. Woo-hoo! One week I worked out 6 times! I am gonna keep the brace on for a while to make sure all is stable. Not sure when I will start running again. Maybe next week. But of course if my knee says ouch I will listen this time.

Friday afternoon treat

So my friend Sue at work asked me if I wanted to go to Starbucks. I said no. Then I decided to go on their Web site and find the nutritional information for the drink I wanted and to make it manageable. I ordered a tall, nonfat vanilla creme, no whip. It came out to 4 points.

The amount of calories and fat in most of these drinks would blow you away.

If I ordered a tall, whole milk with whip it woulda been 8 points at 330 calories and 18 grams of fat. The one I ordered had 180 calories and no fat.

It's almost Friday!

So today when I came into work there were lovely flowers on my desk with a stickie note that reads: From me to you Thanks for all you do Greg (From my boss)

He is so funny and kind. So a belated gift for admin day from my boss. My supervisor gave me a ladybug cookie yesterday. It is so cute--I don't know if I can eat it. And I can only imagine how many WW points that sucker is.

We had a delicious lunch yesterday at Oliveto. I had an arugula salad with goat cheese, delicious halibut with spinach and a yummy bittersweet chocolate cake. We were gone almost 3 hours! But it was a nice time to celebrate our hard work and to do some bonding.

Some time this summer we will have an admin off-site and work on teambuilding and other necessary things. Should be fun.

STOP THE PRESSES

****Oh, and hell froze over. My mom and Fred FINALLY got high-speed Internet. Woo-hoo!****

Happy Admin Day!

Today is Administrative Professionals' Day.
All the admins at Onyx are going to lunch today to celebrate at Oliveto in my hood. Should be a yummy lunch and a fun time gabbing with the girls.
So, if you are an admin, pat yourself on the back (you should do this every day). Being an admin can be a thankless job (I came prepared for this job since being a copy editor is also a thankless job.) But I have a good team. And for the most part they are very self-sufficient. I am one of the luckier admins. And I am happy to know that I have no idea what dressing my boss prefers on his salad. And I also don't have to wipe any butts (like some admins do) with the allotted 2-3 pieces of toilet paper. HA! (See post below.)

2-3 squares of toilet paper

OK, so Sheryl Crow is getting all environmental and stuff with toilet paper.
She proposes that we only need "one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required."
Without getting disgusting ... I don't know what planet she lives on. But that just ain't enough toilet paper for the unpesky occasions LADY!
Click here to read the Daily Dish story and all the funny comments that come with it.
There has got to be a better environmental cause to address than how many squares of toilet paper my household goes through.

Fun-filled weekend

We had a great weekend.
Friday night Curt had some work to do from home. His boss said we could get take out and expense it. Sweet! So we had sushi from our favorite place, Sushiya. Good stuff! And I was careful and had reasonable rolls, no fancy creamy stuff. Oh, and I had edamame, too. They make the best edamame.
Saturday went to the day spa and had a facial. It is so nice and relaxing and feels good until they turn on that bright light and clean out your blackheads with some cheese grater type thing. Evil! But looks good afterward.
After that came home and cleaned and cooked. Had my friend and co-worker Mia over with her husband, Tood, and two kids, Alexis (almost 9) and Cooper (4). We had a lot of fun. We ate and talked and played and watched a movie and just had a great time. Alexis was ready to spend the night--she said, I will sleep on the couch! I told her we had a futon, so she said she would sleep there. And then when they were getting ready to leave Cooper asked about a Play Date. It made me feel good that they really like us and want to come back. It has been way too long since I have had any little friends. So I can't wait to hang out with all of them again.
Sunday, met friends at the Thai Buddhist Temple in Berkeley for lunch. We love that place. Haven't been there since we moved. We used to live so close we could walk there. We had a nice lunch and good conversation. Then headed home for a little relaxation.
Then about 2 headed to Phil and Lisa's for Pie Fight Club. There were 4 different strawberry pies. We were to judge on appearance, crust and filling. It was fun and yummy.
After that came home and vegged again. Oh, I finally watched "Mommie Dearest." Have you seen that movie? That mother was psychotic. I am intrigued and I must read the book.
I have to say that this season of the Sopranos has been kinda lame. I won't give anything away for those of you who have to wait for DVD or just haven't watched yet. But it just hasn't been that good--just OK.

Funny Will Ferrell

Click here.

Too bad he wasn't this funny in Talledega Nights. That movie was disappointing. Yes, there were a few funny moments. But for the most part it just wasn't that funny.

I watched Freedom Writers last night. Wow! Pretty good stuff. And Dr. Dreamy (as Curt has referred to him) was in it, too. It was a pretty moving movie. It was amazing how a brand-new book make the students feel special. It made me a little bit sad. All kids just need to feel like they are loved. That's so important. OK, enough of that. Good movie--I highly recommend it.

Ha! Look what I found today

Relief with Aleve

I am a big advocate of Advil or its cheap generic ibuprofen. Great for headaches, cramps, etc.
Well, we have Aleve at work and I took one a bit ago for my knee. It is amazing how much better my knee feels.
I have been taking it easy on the knee. I did the boring stationary bike yesterday with a brace on each knee. My right knee is slightly sore since I have been relying on it more. But today it feels fine. So I am just taking it one day at a time.

******UPDATE******

TOTAL BUMMER

I was excited to go to WW today for weigh-in. I was sure I had lost more weight. My pants are even looser this week than last. Curt even said "you look thinner than last week" over IM. But alas I had lost no weight, but also I had not gained any. So maybe I gained muscle, maybe I was retaining water. Who knows! Even though I know it is a good sign that I didn't gain any I was still bummed. And next week I can't go because I have a lunch to attend.

Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act

Please take a moment to read this and sign.


There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the "drive-through mastectomy" where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.
Lifetime Television has put this bill on their Web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on.
PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the Web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

Click here to sign.

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf
of all women.
Thank you.

Joey and the carrot

My friend Alex came over to our hood to hang out and do girl things with me. (Curt did not participate in the girl things. He took a ride on his new bike.)

Alex and I headed to Galaxy Nails for a mani/pedi. We both got French pedis. They airbrushed the French part on. I had never had that before. It was pretty cool.

After that lunch at Oliveto's. We shared a salad and a delicious pizza. We also tried a really nice wine. (Lunch was my splurge for the week. I have been pretty on track with eating. And this meal wasn't too over the top.)

After lunch we did a little shopping. We stopped at Tootsies and looked at lots of cute and expensive shoes. We didn't buy any. Tootsies also does pedicures--but they don't have someone on Sundays, yet--cuz we tried to make an appt. there. Maybe next time.

We also stopped at the fuu-fuu pet store called Redhound. Since it was Joey's birthday I thought I would buy him a little toy. I bought him a furry mouse with feather tail (he loves those things) and cloth carrot with catnip in it. Joey LOVED the carrot.

Happy Birthday Joey!

Today is Joey's birthday. Curt likes to remind me that we don't actually know that today is his birthday.
So here is the story: At the beginning of June 1994 I was working at Petsmart. People used to find animals and bring them in all the time. We would tell them they had to take the animals to a shelter because we had nowhere for the animals. Then one day two men brought in a litter of kittens they had found in a Dumpster. Joey was so small and the only gray one in the bunch. Can you believe someone threw him away? I took him to a vet and the vet said he was about 6 weeks old. So April 15 ended up being his birthday.
So my little (16-pound) cat is now 13--a teenager. I can't believe that I have had him for almost 13 years.
And I like to remind Curt that Joey has been around a lot longer than he has.

HONKIN TV

And we got our new honkin TV delivered yesterday. When the guys set it down on the TV stand I couldn't believe how big it looked. I am sure I will get over that soon.

Ahhh ... my knee

I am already injured. I think I am too old for this exercise stuff.
Anyway, my left knee was bothering me a bit while walking/running yesterday. (But the other day my foot was bothering me and I kept on trucking and it was fine later on.) After my workout last night my knee was hurtin a little. Well, when I woke up this morning it was stiff. It is feeling better now--still bothering me a bit. So no gym workout today. But I will do some walking and stretching this weekend.

2.8

So my weight loss had been on a little hiatus recently. I would lose a little, gain a little, lose a little, etc. It was getting frustrating because I wasn't going anywhere. I reevaluated and decided I needed to start tracking my food again. (And I recently was overindulging in the food dept. Gotta stop that!)
At weigh-in today I was down 2.8 pounds from last week for a total of 22 pounds lost! Just 7.6 pounds to go. I can see the light!!!!
Plus I have been exercising a little more rigorously. Doing more of the walking/running. I am still only averaging about 3 workouts a week. I would like to be at 4 a week. But I am slowly working toward that.
I can't wait to be able to go shopping soon for some new pants!

Dog and Cat Diary

I got this in an e-mail. This is hilarious and so true! Enjoy!

THE DOG'S DIARY

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Dinner! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

THE CAT'S DIARY: day 983 of my captivity

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.
The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates my capabilities.
However, they merely make condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards!
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs.
I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released, and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody
for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe, for now...

And then there were 5

OK, this is really gross. But by Saturday we will own FIVE TVs. One for every room in the house.
Remember how I talked about my bonus and how we wanted to spend it on some crazy TV? Well, we did. We went to Best Buy on Saturday to look at TVs. Curt got some ideas and there were 3 he was thinking about. We decided to go back Sunday. Best Buy is closed on Easter Sunday we found out in the ad Sunday morning. But while we were there Saturday we found a nice flat screen 19" TV out of box on sale. If you bought it you would receive a $70 Best Buy gift card. So we bought it for the bedroom. (I went back today to get a DVD player with the gift card.) I had been wanting a small TV with DVD for the bedroom--my present for my birthday last year. (Curt and I usually do gifts from each other, then a bigger gift that we pay for.)
Anyway, so yesterday Curt found out Circuit City was having a sale if you bought online. He found one of the TVs he had been eyeballing at Best Buy. So we bought it. It will be delivered on Saturday and installed. So now we have to save up for Bose's amazing home theater system. Man, it sounds SOOOOOO good. I think this is the one.
So before the weekend purchases we had 3 TVs. Big one in the livingroom and a small one in office/spare bedroom and our bedroom. (We of course will be getting rid of the two older ones that were in the bedrooms.) But it still feels gross!

We have hot water!

A plumber came over yesterday to look at the hot water heater. He was able to do a temporary fix so we would have hot water until we got our new unit today. Right before I left work he showed up to install it.
Last night when I came home from the gym I was all gross and sweaty. So I jumped in the shower and took a wonderfully hot shower.

Day 2 without hot water

This morning I was a little more inventive with the "shower."
I washed my hair in the tub with the freezing cold water while I had the tea kettle on the stove heating up.
Afterward I filled the bathroom sink with hot water and stood on a towel while slathering with soap and a washcloth.
Our landlord called this morning. She apologized saying she had been out of town. And someone is coming to look at the water heater this afternoon.
So hopefully no more sink showers for me and Curt!

Running, I must be nuts!

I started running. Yesterday. I had been fast walking for about 4 weeks. So I told myself April was when I started running. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I still felt a little akward while running. I am not exactly the most graceful and coordinated person. But I started out walking for 5 mins. Then I would run for a minute, walk for 2, run for a minute, etc. The last 3 minutes I walked. I was all sweaty and gross. But I felt good afterward. My goal is to eventually run the whole 30 minutes. Once I am better I will run sans treadmill. There is a beautiful path along the Bay right near work. So eventually I will take my running out there. For now it is the good ol' treadmill.

BRRRR

Last night one of our upstairs neighbors came down to tell us we all had no hot water. Something is wrong with the water heater. Curt tinkered with it--but couldn't get the pilot light lit. The landlord has been called and someone is coming to look at it today. So I took the coldest freakin shower of my life today. If it is still broken for tomorrow's shower I am taking the tea kettle in the shower with me to ease the pain of the ice cold water.

SURGERY

My mom had minor surgery today. She has Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. She was having a lot of numbness and tingling in her right arm. Her doctor told her surgery was her only option. She has lost some muscle mass. And if she didn't have surgery she would eventually lose the use of her thumb. She called a little bit ago to tell me she and Fred were on their way home. She sounded good. So now she just has to take it easy for a little while.

What the H???!!!

The increase in lost bags comes as at least one domestic carrier — Spirit Airlines — plans a new fee for passengers who check their bags. Come June, Spirit will charge $5 each for one or two checked bags if the ticket was booked online and $10 each for passengers who do not book online.
To read the whole story click right here.
So does Spirit (never heard of them) reimburse you the money if they lose or damage your bag?

Promotion

These are the beautiful lillies Curt sent me to congratulate me on my promotion at work. When I got them Thursday they were all closed up. I came in to work this morning and this is what greeted me! Nice greeting, esp. for a Monday. Curt is so sweet to send these!
Anyway, so I got a promotion at work. My title is now Senior Administrative Assistant, Legal & Compliance. Talk about a long title, eh? Anyway, my boss told me that I am thoughtful and smart and a hardworker. He wants me to get even more involved with contracts that come our way. The simple stuff I can do. And he kinda wants me to take that over so our paralegal can work on the bigger, more complicated agreements. This is great for me to learn more things (I have learned so much already). The bad is that I still have to do my other work. So I need to get better with time management and prioritizing things.

We had a good weekend. Saturday we drove to Livermore to attend the Nationwide Tour (golf tournament) at Wente Vineyards. Curt's godmother's stepson is a professional golfer. We watched Tag Ridings from Holes 4-9. Then we took a break and had some lunch. Plus there was no way I was going to climb this gigantic steep hill to get to Hole 10, rightly named Lombard Street. We crossed over at one point and met him back at Hole 15. After he was all done we met up with him and had lunch. I had never met Tag before but had heard a lot about him. We went to downtown Livermore and had Italian outside. It was a beautiful day. And it was nice to sit and chat with Tag. Tag ended up tying for 26 overall in the tournament. Not too shabby. I have to say golf is much more exciting in person than on TV. And it made it more interesting to be rooting for someone I "knew."
Sunday was a lazy day. Curt went riding (on his new bike) with our friend Cyrus. I was supposed to take Joey to get his nails trimmed at Petsmart. When I was getting dressed he knew something was up and hid. Little jerk! He hates having his feet touched--so we can't trim his nails at home. But he also hates getting in his carrier. So we have to trick him to get him in there. We will try again next weekend. So I did laundry, cleaned a little--did dishes, vacuumed and straightened up. Our house was a pig sty.
I also did some knitting. I am working on a baby blanket for a co-worker. We were gonna have her work shower Thursday, but she has to go to the doctor. So now it is Wednesday. So Ihave one less night to work on it. Gotta get crackin' tonight.
And now back to another workweek!