My new ear piercings...

Finally decided to get two more piercings in each ear- I’ve only been meaning to do it for about five years! In an astoundingly selfish move I treated myself to an early birthday present that is purely for my own enjoyment. I love them! In about six weeks I’ll be able to take out the starter earrings and switch over to little mini hoops. I decided white gold studs would compliment most of my other earrings in the bottom hole and I’d be able to live with them for the required month and a half. They actually hurt less than my initial earrings (which I had done at 19). In fact, I barely made any faces and they just kind of felt like I had worn heavy earrings for too long. Next stop… tattoo land!

First cold of the season!

So with just a few days into the fall season I have a cold. Fabulous! I predict a long winter of bronchitis and general crumminess. Luckily, I have an awesome boss who actually believes that when you are sick you should stay home- but who am I fooling- I can’t leave this place! Especially not on a payroll week!

Chris’s procedures went fine at Shands Hospital (where I undoubtedly caught my cold) so we’re just waiting on the biopsy results as usual. No huge bleeding tumors this time so probably no surgery! We just have to keep our fingers crossed that the tumors they removed are all benign and then I think it’s time for a mini vacation- off to mooch off my Dad at the beach!

Labor Day Weekend!!!

My Labor Day weekend began with the brilliant idea to get PIZZA for the first time in seven months. My friend warned me not too, Chris was a little reserved about it, and even I was a little leery. However, we went ahead and ordered one, along with some wings. BIG MISTAKE. 18 hours later I was just finishing getting over the worst stomach ache and digestive issues I’ve had in, well, 7 months. Coincidence? I think not. Pizza is not definitely off my list. Permanently.
Sunday night Chris and I went out to a party where I did NOT get wasted- pleasantly chemically altered perhaps- and everything was fabulous. Until Chris went out to pick up another 6 pack and the car died at the gas station! Luckily we got a jump but we went home early anyway just to avoid having further issue. Monday, Chris got the car in and it WAS just the battery and not something much worse.
I did some clean up in the craft room (not too much, I’d hate to actually accomplish something during a 3 day weekend) and plan on working during the week to try and re-organize my supplies.

Random updates:

Still sitting at 155-ish (up a pound, down a pound) and looking at the last ten pounds to go. I’ve actually been working out. It hasn’t helped me lose any weight but my arms ARE starting to look a little more toned.
Thanks to a truly hectic day on Thursday I found out I can sprint a thousand or so feet without stopping or collapsing! Perhaps I will take up running… NOT jogging- but sprinting like a lion was chasing me. In some horrific way it may come in handy to be able to run quickly.
Work is still devastatingly busy- as shown by me squeezing a blog entry into a lunch period. Just routine new fiscal year horror- hopefully everything will settle down by mid September.
I’m still thinking about a weekend trip to Vermont; just have to get all my dates in order and ask for some time off (shouldn’t be an issue).
I’m hopelessly behind on my calendars- may only do a few this year and work on other stuff (namely some mixed media pieces for my December art show at UF).

July Update (a little late)

Lazy me hasn’t posted in forever, so I figure I’m well past due for updates.
I am sitting at about a forty pound weight loss now- just fifteen more to go for my goal! I have swapped out some more “thinner” clothes from the storage shed and I’m now in a 10/11 in pants (still a medium/large for tops- thanks BOOBS). I’m still sticking to a low carb diet without any ill effects. I think my tastes are changing- I avoided free doughnuts and candy bars all in one day!
I’m still doing some online developing at IMVU, practicing my Photoshop skills and all. I am WAY behind on my calendars for this year and my website has just languished in status for months.
I’m really working to try and fix up the house- the yard, wash the siding etc. One big improvement was 5 tons of gravel that I spread all down the driveway- makes a world of difference. I finished painting the bathroom a nice warm yellow with paint from a completely different project (cost: $0.00). The next area is going to be the craft room- it’s a mess like usual!
I’ve taken up cooking as a way to meet my low carb needs and I’ve found out exactly how crappy processed foods taste. Sadly, this just means more work as I have to cook much more from scratch. I suppose it’s healthier that way. I still have done NOTHING involving a vegetable garden nor a herb garden (not that I would probably be able to keep it alive anyway).
Work is super stressful right now- a new fiscal year is always murder on an accountant… Everything will calm down soon and I’ll start figuring out a small vacation!

Ewwwww- I spent Sunday sick and in bed!

I’m not sure if it was stress or Chinese food, but I was dizzy and nauseated all day Sunday. I spent a couple very uncomfortable hours in bed before Chris brought me some Dramamine and I passed out for 5 hours. Woke up, ate some dry cereal, showered, and then went back to bed.

This morning I feel just about fine, so I’m a little bothered by Sunday. No heavy drinking on Saturday night, no weird schedule deviations, nothing! Except the Chinese food…

It really annoys me being “out of commission” as I had things to do on Sunday! I did manage to get the vacuuming done early enough in the morning before the dizziness forced me off my feet but I had a ton of other stuff to get done. Hopefully I’m all better now, as passing out at work is generally frowned upon.

June update

So an embarrassingly long amount of time has passed between my last entry and today- I swear I have been meaning to post an update for about a month! A lot has been going on since April- I have now lost 35 pounds so I’ve got only another 20 or so to go before I reach my goal! I took a weekend a few weeks ago and went through all the clothes in the house- trying all of them on. Boxed up 3 big boxes of “too big” clothes and moved all the clothes that now fit me into the closet in our new bedroom. Now I’m showing up to work in clothes that no one has seen before. A coworker has coined this “shopping in my own closet” which I quite like. I’m trying very hard to walk in the evenings after dinner, though the last week that’s been almost impossible with the heat. Theoretically I could work out in other ways but I’m still being hit with the laziness factor…
Over at IMVU (3-D chat client similar to Second Life) I’ve started developing my own clothes. My current line is “Classic Companions” featuring outfits the Doctor Who Companions wore during the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. I’ve got Ace’s outfit and Leela’s outfit finished. Not bad, even if I do say so myself. I’m learning a ton about Photoshop and digital artwork (as well as RL marketing and advertising). Quite different from the accounting work I do during the day so it’s quite a nice change.
As some people realize, the end of the fiscal year is a few weeks away. This, as usual, is a fairly stressful and busy time for me. I’ve been staying late at work on Fridays to stay caught up. I’ll be able to use the overtime hours I’ve earned later (when the system is unavailable in July) and relax. Lots of numbers all day long do wear me out.
Dad is taking his annual early hurricane evacuation trip up north to avoid all the joys of Florida during the summer. We had dinner last night at my favorite Asian restaurant (Chopstix- seriously, if you are near UF it is south on 13th street and you have to eat there). He’s doing well and seemed to be looking forward to the cooler escape and a season of chess tournaments.
Chris is doing fine health wise- a little antsy sometime but that’s the price he pays for marrying a high strung AR perfectionist (oh yeah, THAT’S me)…
Theoretically I’ll be posting more after the new fiscal year as my stress level decreases and I find more joy in the computer and the Internet in general.

One of the worst days of my life...

I have had one of the worst days of my life today. My little boy cat Nefer has been hacking like he’d got a big hairball since the Florida weather warmed up two weeks ago. Since Tamses was due for a vet visit, I asked hubby to bring in Nefer too just to see if they could get Nefer to spit up the hairball. They took him in and discovered that he had fluid and blood in his lungs. They ran a bunch of tests and discovered cancer. My poor boy started to have trouble breathing and we had to put him down so he wouldn’t suffocate to death. I can barely believe my little boy is dead… I’m so completely heartbroken- like someone has punched me in the chest.

April 1st!

April 1st already! Son of a b*tch. I can’t believe we’re ¾ of the way through the fiscal year… Yes, my year starts July 1 for all intensive purposes. Sad really but that’s the daring and exciting life of a fiscal person!

I’ve now lost (and kept off) about 20 pounds doing Atkins. I’m actually getting pretty used to it and I’m eating better than before (strange as that seems). Atkins has the reputation of being a “bacon and egg” diet but it’s really easy to do leaner meats and salads with cheeses and nuts (and low carb sweets every now and then). I think my skin may also a cleared up a bit with the break from all the junk food. AND I’ve only had a stomach problem a couple times in the last 6 weeks. Perhaps I’m sensitive to gluten or flour or something ridiculous like that…

FINALLY got my act together and finished compiling all my tax and accounting records for my CPA to do my taxes (I take 8 weeks, she takes 1 night…) and *drum roll please* I DON’T owe them money this year. I came mighty close last year but this year I’m in the clear with a refund! Whooo hoooo!

Post Valentines Day

This year we did close to nothing for Valentines Day. He got me a small box of chocolates and I got him a personalized big sugar cookie (no, absolutely no thought went into my gift- they had them out to decorate when I went to lunch and I snagged one and iced it).
I actually cooked dinner instead of spending the evening working in Photoshop on some digital art. I spent all of last week with full blown flu so I lost some weight from not eating. So, to capture this weight loss, I started the Atkins diet at the beginning of this week and I've kept all 8 pounds off so far. Still have a ton to go to hit my target weight (120). Yes, I know the last time I was 120 was when I was 4 feet tall and 9 BUT whenever I set a weight goal I always get within ten pounds of it. So I'm tricking my body into a REAL goal of 130. That will put me 15 pounds under the BMI max for my height. I really just want to fit into all my clothes again and not run out of breath after 4 flights of stairs.
I picked up a small second job (I really can't seem to get away from working 2 jobs) in the mornings before my primary job starts so I have done woefully little (read: none) on my art business. I really want to update my website, retired my 2008 calendars, start working on 2009 calendars, and friggin get my taxes all sorted out and set up to take to my CPA!
Maybe I'll get SOMETHING done this weekend...

Fun at IMVU

	I'm Guest_VictoriaMasters on

First 2008 Post!

I have had a very busy December- two arts/crafts shows (my first two) and a ton of work leading up to them. Didn't do too badly- cleared expenses and a little bit over... I want to spend the first part of this year working on some experimental art pieces so maybe by the next round of fall shows I will have something very different from everyone else!

The holidays went as well as expected- not perfect but everyone at least acted the way I expected. Lots of driving and lots of cleaning rounded out the time off so I may actually be happier back at work.

I need to work on my webpage this month (and next) to get a cooler look and not have to link to premade areas of the web (pure laziness on my part).