What A Weekend

I needed a cheat meal SO BAD last week, so Friday night BF and I went to Chevy's and I had some amazing mexican food.  After our lovely dinner we met up with friends at Big Al's and played arcade games and cashed our tickets in on some funny things.  It was a much needed fun night and the perfect ending was the waffle cone of birthday cake ice cream, complete with sprinkles and ribbons of blue frosting mixed in.  I was in heaven.


Saturday morning came and BF still was not feeling well- he hasn't been feeling up to par for about 2 weeks.  I think I fought off this cold-thing two weeks ago while BF's kind of hung around. His throat has been bothering him, but he's not running a fever so we know it's not strep.  We ran errands and sort of cleaned around the house.  The dog jumped on my face (not intentionally) and gave me a fat lip, so I look ridiculous right now because the swelling hasn't completely gone down.  When BF and I sat down for dinner I got a text message from my mom asking me if I would go to the ER with her.  I HATE it when she does that!  If there's an emergency I want a call, not a freaking text message, but oh well.


Anyhow, so we raced around the house and packed an emergency bag with snacks, books, etc as we didn't know what was going on and I called my mom back.  They thought my dad was having some heart problems so the doctor advised them to go to the hospital immediately to have an EKG and labs done. 


We picked up my mom (my dad got an abulance ride) and rode out to Clackamas.  It was nerve-wracking AND boring, (if that's possible) to wait in the ER waiting room.  We were only there for a few hours but being there at all was mostly crappy.  Turns out my dad tore a muscle in his back, but the pain was in an area that they use as a red flag for heart attacks, etc.  I'm glad they took the precaution and did their due diligence at the hospital to see what was going on, but I'm mostly glad my dad is ok and it's just a muscle tear, not a more serious problem.


After that drama BF and I went home and crashed!  Sunday was a boring catch up day for laundry and what not.  BF is feeling much better, my lip swelling is going down and I'm down a total of 8 lbs since the beginning of the year!  That averages to about 2 lbs per week which is just right.  I am aiming to get to an intensive cardio class this week so hopefully that will help with a few extra lbs!

Dear Dani,

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

I cannot freakin post a comment on your blog (even though I try to comment on EVERY POST, EVERY TIME, WITHOUT FAIL) but whatever.

So I'm posting what I would've commented on your blog as a post on my own blog- that's how much I like you.

I agree with your whole post.  ALL of it.  I feel exactly the same way and it's super frustrating.  We are starting an annonymous blog that you can use to rant and rave and complain about people and things as much as you want- and by "you can use" I mean we all can use, just annonymously.

Also, I love my puppy too and we need to have a puppy play date.

You should call me or I should call you.  We alway say that but we NEVER do it mostly because we are old and lame these days, but that will change when I get my iPhone this weekend. 

Now to start brainstorming names for our burn blog or whatever we want to call it.  It's like therapy in blog form.

Somebody Send Me This

I was at home being lazy the other night watching MTV's Cribs.  That show is pretty dang lame, but this particular episode featured The Flaming Lips' frontman, Wayne Coyne. 

If you know nothing of the Flaming Lips I emplore you to google them.  They sing that song, "Do You Realize" that was popular back around 2005.

Anyhow, so they show his ridiculous house (in an awesome nerdy "ridiculous" way), but the best part of the whole home-tour was what he was wearing.  A red Christmas sweater with SKULLS on it.  I immediately starting searching for one to buy BF.  He would TOTALLY wear it all the time.  To school to teach the childrens, even. 

The problem is that I cannot find one, or even one similar to what I want.

Here's a clip of Wayne talking about some ornament thingy they had for sale a year or so ago, but he is wearing that totally amazing sweater so you can kind of see it:

A. MA. ZING.


I found these:

The last one is a kid's sweater, but you get the idea.

Anyhow, if anyone can knit a sweater similar to what I want, I will totally trade you something super awesome for it.  Or if you find a really cool sweater similar to what I'm looking for tell me about it ASAP and where you found it so I can figure out how to procure one for BF to wear the rest of the winter... and maybe one for me.

And Then My Head Exploded!!!

You guys... I am SO EMOTIONAL and AGRESSIVE this week.  What is up?  I feel like I'm on the 'roids or something (I'm not, don't worry).  It's insane.

BF says that this means I'm doing the diet and exercise thing correctly.  It's "80% mental right now", he says, so here's to my mental fortitude and hoping that it lasts until March. 

Yesterday seemed to be the height of my craziness.  Everything pissed me of and I felt all worn out and cruddy and I had virtually no energy for anything other than sitting and staring off into space.  It was also a very odd day because there were a few medical emergencies at work (none of which had anything to do with me) so the mood was just off and somber.  I didn't get a lot of anything useful done and then I went home and crashed on the couch for like an hour and a half.  I woke up to BF making dinner, which strangely upset me a little because dinner is my  job, darn it!  But I caught myself being stupid and upset before I said anything to BF so that was good.

After dinner we went to the gym and something horrendous was happening.  The women's locker room had flooded.  I am assuming it was because they had replaced some of the facets on the sinks and something must have gone wrong- I assume this because we have had 2 broken faucets for the past couple weeks in there.  Anyhow, so they had a big sign as you walk in the gym saying , "Caution, Women's Locker Room is Flooded".  They weren't joking.  Every inch of the floor was soaking wet so I went into the bathroom part to change instead of the carpeted area with the lockers.  Also, there were GUYS in the ladies locker room!  They couldn't find a lady that could run a shop vac and suck up the water?  COME ON!  So even if I wanted to change in the regular area, I couldn't.  It was pretty dang uncomfortable. 

Also, I felt like people were looking at me strangely while I was working out.  I was probably being paranoid.  But then there is a middle aged lady at the gym that sometimes "follows" me when I work out and will blatantly wait to use machines right after I use them.  One day I was running on the treadmill and she came upstairs and got on the treadmill RIGHT NEXT TO ME, even though there were only 2 other occupied treadmills with plenty of open machines all over.  During my interval run I noticed that she kept looking over to my machine and then changing hers depending on why mine was doing.  It was super annoying.  Anyway, that lady was there last night so I felt like I was hiding from her going all over to different parts of the gym so she wouldn't see me and follow me again. 

Here's where you realize that I am crazy.  Go ahead, I already know this.

So to deal with my crazy feelings of agitation and hatred I decided that I would try to wear myself out while doing cardio so that I would be too tired to be mad anymore.  And that's when my body told me that it was too tired to go as fast and I know I can go.  My legs just wouldn't move the way I wanted them to!  Which, of course made me even more upset.  I tried talking myself out of being so upset, thinking things like, "You don't hate other people, you are just tired and hungry".  When we went home I was completely exhausted and felt sick.  We went to bed after watching I Used to Be Fat (which is a great show) and I was so upset about being upset and tired. 

BF did a pretty good job of trying to make me feel better.  He just let me talk about how I was feeling and he listened. He also knows how I feel because of his body building stuff. 

Today I feel better, but I'm still super tired.  I wanted to take a sick day and just stay home, but I have to get a few things done at work so I didn't. 

On a side note, I'm awesome and found some workout DVD's that I want at FYE that were USED so I am sticking to my "Nothing New" strategy pretty well!  Only new stuff so far this year are dog things (because they were necessary since we previously didn't have any dog stuff) and freebies I got from work which I didn't have to purchase, so no money was spent.

I'm worried about how long my clothes are going to make it.  I'm wearing pants that were tight a few weeks ago that now no longer stay up without a belt.  I haven't weighed myself this week, but BF says I'm noticeably smaller. 

Here's to being happy and stable!

Going Backwards...

In a sense.

Today I popped my headphones in and listened to my iPod on shuffle to see what came up.  I have quite a mix of music and it's been years since I listened to Death Cab for Cutie in large doses, but after hearing the song "Title and Registration" I had to switch from shuffle so I could hear the rest of DCFC's "Transatlanticism" album.

It was like going back five or six years.  I wanted to sing out loud to almost all of the songs and when I was done I continued on and refreshed myself with some Nada Surf. 

Oh you guys, I just love it when I remember music I loved so much at one time.  It brings back all of the feelings and memories from the first go-round. 

Also, why don't I play my guitar anymore?  That's going to start happening again.  Fo' sho. 

I shall continue my journey backwards as the week progresses just to see what I find.

Too Big is Better Than Too Small, Right?

I bought a really nice pair of jeans online this past fall.  I knew they'd be a little tight but I also knew I was going to start getting back in shape and lose a few pounds.  When they arrived I tried them on and they fit in length and waist, but the legs were SUPER TIGHT and the behind was a little snug.  I was sad, but since they were so nice I figured I'd keep them instead of returning them.

Today I decided that I would try those nice jeans on since I've lost som weight and tightened up.  They totally fit in the legs and butt!  However, now the waist is a little to big. 

I feel like this happens a lot, I find jeans I like, try them on and find that the cut is just no made for my body type. I've tried many different styles and cuts of pants, but the only things that seem to fit me well are old lady jeans and I hate that.  I think it's because I'm curvy but modest.  The super low rise jeans fit me well, but I don't want to have to worry about what's showing when I bend down .  I also have an irregular length- 33", so regular length pants are usually just slightly too short while the long lenghts are just a tad too long (because I've found that most inseams are 31-32" for regulars and 34"-35" for longs). 


So today I'm wearing a longer shirt to hide that my awesome jeans are too big in the waist, but they look really nice everywhere else.

If anyone has a favorite brand that fits them well, let me know!  I'm game to try anything. 

I won't be buying any new jeans yet (until I reach the goal weight), but it doesn't hurt to start looking and planning ahead!

What Good Is A Diagnosis...

... when you cannot treat the symptoms?

When I was in 5th grade I was ready for the summer of my life.  We were moving to a new town and my parents were busy building our new house 2 hours away from where I had gone to elementary school.  I had made some grand plans to see my old friends before moving on to better, brighter things.  The summer started with the usual activities- squirt gun fights, endless days spent running around the neighborhood, going to the waterpark in Denver... and then one day I noticed some itchy spots on my stomach and back.  My mom assumed I had developed a rash from my severe allergies and running around outside in the weeds certainly didn't keep me safe from pollen, dirt and dust.

A few days went by and the rash spread all over my back and a little to my upper arms.  It stopped being so itchy, but the rashy spots were bright red and after a few days they would get scaly and dry.  I felt like a lizard.  My mother quarantined me to the house and slathered me in calamine lotion. I was not to go outside, I was not to touch anything, I was not to get to participate in anything fun until this rash cleared up.  A week or so went by and when nothing changed my parents decided to take me to the doctor.  My mom was sure I had some crazy contagious rash and I was handled like a leper, kept away from the family and everything I touched or used was promptly washed. 

The doctors thought it was just an allergic reaction, but assured my mom it was not contagious.  I was to avoid anything I was or could be allergic to and I was to avoid the sun and swimming.  UGH. 

A few weeks went by and I stayed mostly inside, but got to have friends over and go on some fun outings.  Still, the rash persisted.  I went to the pool with my family but brought books to read and sat at the edge fully covered and not enjoying the heat from the sun or chlorine smell I once had loved.  My family lovingly called me Lizard Girl for a while and I stopped crying about it after a few days.  Right before we officially moved my mom took me back to the doctor who had me see another doctor who told me, "I bet you have Pityriasis Rosea," which meant absolutely nothing to me.

He explained to my mom that it was a skin condition that came from who-knows-what and would either get worse or get better, but really there was no telling and there really was no treatment for it other than hydrocortizone cream if it was too itchy.  It would, "Clear up on it's own," if we just waited it out which could be, "a few weeks or a few months" away. 

So now I was moving to a new town and starting a new school a lizard skinned freak.  I thought my life was over.  But sure enough a week or so after that doctor's office visit the red spots started disappearing and before school started my skin was a perfect as a new born's. 


This was 1996.  It is now 2011, fifteen years later and I had pretty much completely forgotten about that summer being Lizard Girl.

Until today.

I've told you about the weirdy rash thing on my face/neck/chest/torso (it has spread), and I've been covering it with ointments and looking up naturopathic and homeopathic remedies to try.  Nothing has really worked.  I called the doctor a day or so ago and explained what was going on, and she told me to come in on Friday (today) and she would take a look.

I've been researching what this could be and what the cause of it could've been and I had a whole long list of possibilities.  Upon my arrival to the Dr. office I started telling her what I'd researched and what I'd already tried and how long I'd had the rash and where it started and where it had gone and where it seemed to be headed.  She took a look at the rashy bumps and said, "I've seen this before and it is not what you think it is.  It's nothing on your list that you researched and it's not contagious so don't worry too much about it."

Pityriasis Rosea.  Ah!  Mystery Solved!

Now I know.  It is not really treatable, per se, however there are some things that may help aid in soothing the skin.  Cortizone cream, UV light treatment* and warm baths.  OMG, I'm going tanning!  Not really, but maybe.  And then I'll sit in a nice bubble bath and slather myself in Cortizone 10 cream.  Awesome. 

Until then you can call me Lizard Girl if you want, I don't cry about it anymore.

*UV light treatments don't really refer to tanning, it's a special UV light laser that a dermatologist can use to help lessen the redness that occurs with some skin conditions.