Don't forget: Twitter

Don't forget, if you want one-line updates of "what I am doing" and want to set up your own one-line updates, you can use Twitter. This works just like your status line in Facebook, only you don't have to sign in to Facebook - you can send updates via text message or online. I send them from my iPhone mostly.
They appear in the right column of this blog also ------------------>
You can always check out my Twitter updates if I haven't blogged in a while to see what I've been up to!

My teeth hurt

I got my teeth cleaned yesterday and got some more tooth whitening gel from the hygenist. There was a whitening-gel explosion in the bathroom and I had to put a whole bunch in the trays and sleep in them. Now my teeth hurt. Not like my jaw hurt when I had the braces, but my actual teeth ache. Have you ever had that happen? Man, it is distracting to have your teeth hurting.

Better than "getting to know me": Getting to know my iPod

I got this as one of those emails, but I love this version! Feel free to copy and email your answers to me or answer in the comments, or post on your own blog! I seriously did not cheat either.

Instructions:

1. Put your music player on shuffle.

2. Press forward for each question.

3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn't make sense. NO CHEATING!


HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Miller’s Angels – Counting Crows

WHAT DOES YOUR FAMILY THINK OF YOU?
Redlight – Kelly Osbourne

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Tourette’s – Nirvana

WHAT DO STRANGERS THINK OF YOU?
Let’s Stay Together – Al Green

WHAT DO YOUR EXES THINK OF YOU?
All I Want – Joni Mitchell

HOW IS YOUR LOVE LIFE?
Birdcage – The Wallflowers

HOW WILL YOUR LOVE LIFE BE IN THE FUTURE?
Pulling Teeth – Greenday
(well, that’s not good….)

WILL YOU HAVE KIDS?
Beautiful Soul – Jesse McCartney
(that does not tell me anything)

WILL YOU BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE?
Breathing - Lifehouse

WHAT SONG SHOULD THEY PLAY ON YOUR BIRTHDAY?
Yesterday Once More – Redd Kross, from the “If I Were A Carpenter” album, which was featured on the movie Juno.
(I would like to point out that I got this album at least 7 years before the movie featured it.)

WHAT SONG SHOULD THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Mrs. Robinson – Simon & Garfunkel
(I agree with that choice)

THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE:
When You Spoke My Name - MercyMe

YOU AND YOUR BEST FRIEND ARE:
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word – Ray Charles & Elton John, from the “Genius Loves Company” album
(this seems appropriate if my husband is my best friend)

HAPPY TIMES:
Perfect Blue Buildings – Counting Crows

SAD TIMES:
Summer Girls – Kidz Bop

EVERY DAY:
Temporary One – Fleetwood Mac

FOR TOMORROW:
Can’t Take It In – Imogen Heap, from the “Chronicles of Narnia” soundtrack

FOR YOU:
Hamoa Beach – Gomez

WHAT DOES NEXT YEAR HAVE IN STORE FOR ME?
I’m So Afraid – Fleetwood Mac
(well, that’s comforting)

WHAT DO I SAY WHEN LIFE GETS TOO HARD?
Mai Ai Hee (Dragostea Din Tei) – O-Zone, known best for the “Numa Numa” guy in the YouTube video

WHAT DO YOU WANT AS A CAREER?
Rock This B*tch – Ben Folds
(LOL)

YOUR FAVOURITE SAYING?
Time After Time – Nova Space

HOW WILL I DIE?
Perfect Situation – Weezer
(sweet!)

I can't believe I fell for it!

A while back I joined this circuit training gym on the advice of a friend. It seemed like a good idea because the idea of circuit training is that you do weight training machines fast for cardio and then slow for resistance. And since I am about to turn 30, I will need to transition to more strength training in addition to cardio in my 30's.

The only thing that gave a me a little pause is that I couldn't try it out before signing up. I just signed up, and then did my first workout. For the first few times I really liked the variety, but then I started getting nauseated after every workout. To the point where I had to lie down or throw up. I asked the trainers about it and they said I wasn't eating enough protein before working out. So I tried eating protein bars 30 minutes before working out. Still nauseated. I tried eating fruit and other things with protein, like fat free cottage cheese. No luck.

Then I took this job in November. My hours are now 9 AM - 6 PM, which means I have less hours in the evening, even on the 2 weekdays that I do not have standing after-work commitments. This gym closes early on Saturdays, but I wouldn't go on Saturdays anyway because that is the day Christian and I usually do walks around White Rock Lake. The gym is closed on Sunday altogether. I would love to work out in the mornings but they don't open until 8:30 and I have to be at work at 9 AM (20 minutes away).

So, not only does the workout make me nauseated every time, which has really conditioned me to fear the workouts, but also the hours the gym is open are not compatible with when I need to work out. But here is where I feel stupid. I signed a contract that waived the join fee as long as I did 100 workouts. If I cancel now, I have to pay the join fee, which is either $150-$200. Christian pointed out that it is probably cheaper to just pay that fee rather than try to get in 100 workouts in the next 10 months. I know I wouldn't be able to do them all due to time constraints and nausea anyway.

Well, I feel dumb. But I guess I'll know better next time. :-(

7 Quirks

So, I am going to participate in the 7 Quirks thing that Interstellar Lass put on her site. I know the rules are to "tag" 7 other people, but you readers don't have blogs, you just read my site, so I don't have anyone to "tag".

The rules are to list 7 quirks about myself.

1. I love to clean. Seriously, sometimes I have to restrain myself from cleaning or tidying things in public. I get some kind of weird enjoyment out of it. I realize most people think this is sick.

2. I am a people pleaser. This is not a positive thing, and that's part of the reason I'm in Celebrate Recovery for the second time. If I don't go through Step 3 about every single second, the people pleasing will eventually control my life.

3. I have to closely monitor my tendency to over-commitment when it comes to social activities. At this point in my life, I realize and admit that I require down-time in my life or I start to go postal. But because of #2, I feel guilty for saying "no", and will instinctively say "yes" even at the expense of my health or sanity. There was kind of an awkward moment this week where I had to have my husband re-neg on one of our commitments because I had scheduled things back-to-back for 4 days in a row and I was going crazy just thinking about it.

4. I will not knowingly eat anything with partially or fully hydrogenated oils in it. I will not buy anything and allow it in my house that contains PHO's. I also do not believe in feeding anything with PHO's to children.

5. I did not grow up wanting to get married and have babies. This is quirky because I live in the South and apparently every little girl here grows up with that desire, but I didn't. I am married now, and I love it, but we still don't know about children.

6. I think Asian children are much cuter than Caucasian children. Part of the reason I am not sure I'd want to have a child is because it will never be as cute as its Asian equivalent. It makes me sad that neither my husband or I are Asian so I can't have biological Asian children.

7. If someone grabs my big toe unexpectedly, I cannot breathe.

Feel free to write your own 7 Quirks in the comments, or email me!!

I am giving up Arbonne for New Year's

Last night we took at look at our budget for 2008, and reviewed 2007. We have also begun the process of searching for a financial planner (which is SO fun, let me tell you). We have to be honest with ourselves and realize that going to Japan will not be cheap, and we need to rebuild our savings as soon as possible from that expenditure.

All these things combined have lead me to conclude that, as my part of contributing to our re-savings efforts, I am going to need to give up buying Arbonne products. I did renew my status as a consultant in November, meaning I still get the discount. But, in the end, I am spending hundreds of dollars that we need to save this year. I have never actually sold anything to anyone, I just use the consultant discount to buy things for myself.

I am definitely grieving this loss, because I LOVE Arbonne products. They don't have any harmful chemicals, are completely plant-based, and using them has replaced moisture in my skin that I didn't even know I was missing. I have a little bit of fear that my skin is going to start aging more rapidly, breaking out, and drying out when I stop using Arbonne. Fortunately, I just stocked up on my favorite Ginger Citrus sea salt scrub during the holiday promotions. It should be at least a few more months before I run out of it. And we have also stocked up on the body wash, because it has really helped Christian's skin. He seems to be allergic to most bar soap and body washes, I think because of the fragrances and chemicals they use.

I am going to tell myself this is also a "green" effort because I will not be paying to have products shipped from Indiana directly to me, but will start buying products locally at Whole Foods and drug stores. Those items are already shipped en masse, so I won't be increasing the carbon expenditure by purchasing them.

Well, wish me luck! Any advice on night moisturizers, facial wash, etc are always more than welcome!

Reasons Not To Eat Meat

I bought a whole chicken a while back and preparing it reminded me of many good reasons that I do not eat meat:

• Tendons
• Globs of fat
• Muscles, torn
• Skin
• Snapping bones
  

Update on tummy

Thank you to those of you who have asked and were praying about my stomache medication issues. I went to the doctor today and he confirmed that what we've been treating me for is typical acid reflux. Which is funny because for the 10 years I went to doctors before this doctor, general MD's kept telling me that I had ulcers, when the endoscopy this doctor did showed that I have never had an ulcer in my life.

We are going to try Nexium (which the insurance pays for...yes, their nefarious plan to make people buy the medication offered by the company that pays them the most money is working) and see how it goes. It is possible the Zegerid has helped heal to the point where more typical meds can be used. Another advantage of Nexium is that it is considered a Class B pregnancy medication which means I could continue to take it if we ever decide to have children. The Zegerid was Class C, which means it was more risky to take during pregnancy, and not recommended. Now just because I said that, nobody go getting any crazy ideas!

Scrapbooking

We've spent a lot of this New Year's weekend working on clearing out stuff we don't need from our spare room storage closet. I went through a lot of old memorbilia, pictures, etc. and kept only what made sense to hold onto. We should be able to fit most of our things in the closet rather than having to store it in the actual room soon. We also plan to rearrange the furniture and perhaps get a futon instead of the mattress we have on the floor right now, for the guests we never have. It seems like a futon would be a better use of less space.

Anywayz, that brings me to scrapbooking. A lot of the stuff in the memorbilia category has been lurking in the closet, with the intention that it should be scrapbooked. I have come to terms with the fact that I am not a scrapbooker. I am OK with this. I have a full time job, I clean the house, do all the grocery shopping, volunteer in 3 different ministries, we travel 1-2 weekends out of each month, and I still have to maintain friendships with a number of people on a daily basis. I have a huge respect for people who scrapbook well and enjoy it. I really think it is a form of art that should not be disregarded or taken lightly.

But scrapbooking, to me, is something that takes time away from laundry, cleaning, and errands. It's not bad when I'm actually forcing myself to do it, but it's not something I do well, either. I finished about 5 pages last night in about 3 hours and I think I can finish the rest tonight. I don't feel like they are masterpieces. What I feel is a relief that these pieces of paper and ticket stubs and wedding invitations are not sitting in a corner staring at me and making me feel guilty anymore. This year, I resolve that my Pro account at www.Flickr.com is enough for me. If we feel the burning need to have photos laid out in a book, I will order a photo book from Apple.com from iPhoto.

Happy New Year!

American Health Care stinks

As some of you know, I have had severe stomach problems for most of my life. In the last few years it got so bad that I went to a specialist. I hadn't been able to live without pretty crippling pain for several years. My boss at the time suggested a great stomach doctor who did some testing and then put me on a medicine called Zegerid which has magically cleared up all my stomache issues! It was a complete miracle and I have been so thankful to live like a normal person without the persistent pain.

So, we had to switch health insurance again when I changed jobs - we went to Christian's company's insurance. They are something like the 3rd biggest company in the world, so I expected their insurance to be pretty good. However, I tried to refill my Zegerid prescription through them and today they told me that the insurance company has a deal with Nexium, so that they will not cover Zegerid. Zegerid costs $127/month without the prescription. Needless to say, we can't afford that.

Apparently if my doctor called the insurance company and tried to fight it, they might allow coverage of Zegerid. But the stomach doctor's office has a policy that they will not talk directly to insurance companies at all, for any reason.

I have been trying to read on the internet about the differences between Zegerid and Nexium. I can tell they contain completely different drugs, but I don't understand the differences. I can't understand most of the articles.

I have about 6 more Zegerid pills left. As soon as I stop taking them, the pain will come back. This happened the last time I switched insurances and had trouble ordering Zegerid from the mail order pharmacy, so I know how long it will be until the pain hits. I am really worried about this because the pain is very distracting. I usually stop eating much of anything because I am not hungry due to the pain. So, if you think about it...say some prayers that Christian and I could maybe figure out what to do. I am really dreading the return of the pain.