I was tagged by Mandi, who’s site I stumbled on while browsing and I instantly liked her. Her little one is cute enough to gobble up for dessert.

FOUR THINGS: For Anna.

Four jobs I’ve had in my life:

• “Office Girl” at Reeves Appliance Service. That means that I answered the phones, scheduled the calls, ordered/tracked the parts, made sure the boys were on track, helped do the taxes, cleaned the office, etc. I basically did everything BUT fix the appliances.
• I’m not sure what my official title was at what is now Elite Computer/Fluxar but it really didn’t matter. I had a lot of fun at that job.
• Sold computers at Best Buy. In Silicone Valley. Where most men think that women are just be there to look pretty and smell good. Probably the worst job I’ve ever had considering I knew more about computers than my Supervisor did.
• Currently: Credit Balance Rep at ‘Major Medical University’ that rhymes with Hanford. Pretty decent job making decent money. Free benefits and off at 2:30 to pick up The Princess.

Four movies I can watch over and over:

• Gone with the Wind
• Batman Begins
• Love Actually
• Anything LOtR

Four places I have lived:

• A lot of years in Bakersfield, CA
• Pennsylvania in second grade
• With my dad in Escondido in third grade
• Currently: San Jose, CA

Four places I have been on vacation:

• Florida (Disney World!!)
• Emerald Isle, NC (Every summer growing up for two weeks)
• Canada
• Mackinac Island (My favorite so far)

Four of my favorite dishes:

• The dish that almost killed me pictured in the post below
• Garlic Chicken Calzone from Frugatti’s
• Any steak as long as it’s rare. And dripping blood.
• Godiva Chocolate Soufflé from Bella Vista. *drools*

Four websites I visit daily:

• The Superficial
• Slashdot
• MSNBC
• BakersfieldBS

Four places I would rather be right now:

• A nice hot bubble bath.
• My completely painted living room.
• I can’t really think of anywhere else I’m rather be!!

Four bloggers I am tagging:

• Eurcynia
• Kristen
• Jessica
• Traci

P.S. - I’ve been trying on and off all day long to get the main wall that extends through the kitchen/dining area/living room prepped to paint. Spackled, taped, taken down curtains and blinds, removed outlet/light covers… All. Day. Long. I think I might get one coat on the wall tonight. The last wall with pink on it took three coats to cover. I have plenty of before pictures so will snap some of the after. The only reason I didn’t take any of all the prep is becaue I can’t find the damn camera battery. I know it’s in the charger… somewhere. I used it to test if some outlets were “live” or not while installing some new white sockets yesterday. I’m sure I set it someplace “safe” so I wouldn’t lose it.

The blond it me totally lost that battle

Today is our “free day”. Before, when I was doing BFL I’d dream of the free day. I’d long for it. I’d dwell on it. And live in it. And that was completely wrecking the rest of my diet. That was before the Great Stomach Beast though. Now, while I’m excited it’s here, I know it’s going to make me feel like hell so part of me almost just wants it to be a “free meal”. I can’t take that much bad food in one day.

This morning we met my mom and Cameron at the Lost Gatos Cafe. They have, undeniably, the best breakfast in the Bay Area. The place is famous. The wait is alyaws long but they have benches outside and complimentary coffee while you wait. Since it’s on the main drag of a quaint little town and we get to see cute botiques and the Ferrari’s, Ford GT’s and other random super cars driving up the street, the wait isn’t too bad. And COMPLETELY WORTH IT.

I’m partial to any of their hollandaise covered dishes. Mainly Eggs California and Eggs Alexandria. I ate this entire plate of food this morning. We got home about 30 minutes ago and I’ve been to the bathroom twice and feel like something is twisting my belly into a knot and pounding it with a 20 pound sledge hammer.

And I can’t wait till tomorrow when I know that even though my food won’t be as rich, or as pretty, I’ll feel like I don’t have to live at home or within 20 yards of a toilet…

This post is going to be all over and around the corner and up the hill and back again. Stick with me.

*puts the post in gear*

I’ve started to add the finishing touches to the layout. The site section is up and running. I’m adding content slowly and as it’s completed. I feel good about how organized and pretty all the site info looks. Well, now that I look…. there should be bullets in front of the “Software” list. Dammit. Ah well, work in progress!!

I also have started the color change (links, title, etc.) Menu looks different. Still working. Might be finished tomorrow (yeah right), or next week, or next month (which also happens to be…. NEXT WEEK. HA!). The good thing is that I’m coming up on the one month mark and I’m still head over heals in love with kiwi. If it could snuggle with me at night to keep me warm Ben might find himself out of a job.

Kidding!!!

*shifts into second*

The New Girl became and American citizen yesterday. I decorated her desk with red, white and blue streamers and starts and balloons. It was cute and she was really surprised. I’m so happy for her. She really is my favorite co-worker. What’s amazing to me is that I can talk to her about current events. All the American born people there are clueless about politics. I’d bet over half of them didn’t even vote in the last presidential election. *shakes head* AND! She makes lumpia. So she wins COOLEST CO-WORKER EVER by default.

*shifts into third*

I’ve lost an additional two pounds. That’s 8 total so far. I feel better and better every day. I think I’m going on a week+ with no ‘Attack of the Killer Stomach’.

People are commenting now. Like, seeing the difference. It might be that since I’ve started shedding the pounds I’ve become somewhat obsessive about skincare again. Working out will really play hell on your complexion! I have some Mary Kay Day and Night solution on the way. That stuff is fucking fantastic.

*slams it into fourth*

Tonight Cassidy made this face and I had to capture it. This is the face she makes instead of saying ‘You adults are out of your minds.’ She’s starting to master the art of saying such things with body language.

I need to start taking more pictures again. I was obsessed for awhile but I kinda got sidetracked. I’m ready to start the obsession again. One part of it, I’m sure, was that I tend to… take pictures of myself (shut up, Ben) and I was just not happy with what I was seeing. I’m feeing better and better about that now.

*finds fifth*

Ben’s recovery is going quite well. He’s getting around sans crutches and the flexibility is getting better and better every day. He has aches and pains here and there but that’s to be expected when you don’t really use your leg at all for a week straight.

He was able to get into the M3 tonight. So for him at least, all is right with the world.

*engages cruise control*

I don’t usually do this because I find “plugging” people and site’s kinda… trendy-ish but what the hell, right? I can jump on the bandwagon for one post.

If you haven’t already, go check out becca. I’ve become a daily stalker of hers. Sooner or later I’m gonna have to start commenting. Well, commenting more. I’ve gone off track…

She makes me literally laugh out loud and it’s refreshing to see another young mother who’s so real, and a geek, and who takes lots of pictures, and plays video games, and is such a fantastic writer, and has a secret shrine set up to worship her skinny jeans. Okay, maybe that last part isn’t true but since we have so many other things in common I figured I’d throw that in there to make myself feel more non-lunatic-ish. Plus, she has some of the cutest little rugrats ever!!

As of yesterday I’m down six pounds. *is proud*

Typical meals for the day:
Special K w/ Red Berries & Fat Free Vanilla Soy Milk
Lean Cuisine
Fajitas (lean chicken, red and green bell peppers, mushrooms cooked with salsa and taco seasoning)
1-2 snacks during the day between meals: Plain tuna, soup, etc.

So, yes. I AM eating. Some of the girls are work are idiots. They spent about 10 minutes telling me that THEY eat healthy and don’t loose weight that fast so I MUST be starving myself.. PFFT. While they do this they are all stuffing birthday cake into thier mouths.

Anyway, my biggest feeling of accomplishment has come from the gain in fitness I’ve had after jsut a few weeks. Compare:

01/10/2006
1.96 Miles
341 Calories
32.50 minutes
Level: 8

01/19/2006
Eliptical Machine
2.14 Miles
341 Calories
35.00 Minutes
Level 9

When I was at the gym with Ben on the 10th after that workout I seriously felt like I was going to hurl. No joke. Like, I was swallowing it back. Now I’m going almost half a mile farther and upped a level. AND! That workout yesterday wasn’t my best because I’m fighting off the remnants of a head cold. Yes, I got miserably sick while trying to take care of BenTheGimp™.

Anyway, I have a LONG way to go till my goal weight (about 40 more pounds) and I didn’t want to really post about this till because I didn’t want to jinx myself but I’m just so proud and motivated and OFF TO THE GYM! Later!

I’m laying on the couch typing this from the laptop that Ben brought home from work to keep him company while he recovered. This is the first time in a week I’ve gotten to lay on the big couch. I don’t quite understand how this is a BAD way to spend three days!!

We had a bit of a scare yesterday. Ben had been complaining about his left leg, the surgery leg, being colder than the other. I figured it was a mix of the Vicodin and laying on the couch for three days making him delirious but I finally decided to see for myself Tuesday night and it really was cooler to the touch than his “good” leg.

Thursday he ended up at the doctor getting an ultrasound to check for blood clots while I stayed home and wore a rut behind the couch I’m loving so much right now.. Blood clots. The thought of it scared me. A lot. He had all the classic symptoms. Cold, pain in the calf, numbness. I was convinced that the next call I’d get would be from his doctor telling me to meet them at the hospital.

In that 30 painful minutes of waiting and pacing and calling him and waiting some more then messaging him then pacing then calling my mom and pacing… I was just overcome with this feeling of dread. What if something happens to Ben? Ben is my rock. He’s my solid, thoughtful, rational, responsible, completely sane rock. And how would I explain it to Cassidy?

Ben and I don’t have the “perfect” relationship. I realize it can come across that way on my blog because when it comes to him I tend to write about the good stuff. The happy stuff. The stuff that is frosted with goodness and coated in sugar. It’s the stuff that I want to look back on in 3, 10, 25 years and remember.

But we do have hard times. And like the really good times are euphoric and warm, the really bad times are low and powerfully painful. We are two very opinionated individuals. And while we have many similarities, we have just as many differences too. He literally is the Yin to my Yang. Or the Yang to my Yin. I’m not exactly sure how that works.

Anyway, he’s fine. At least he seems to be. They didn’t find a clot but they haven’t offered an explanation yet as to why his leg is running cooler and his calf is so sore. Hopefully the doctor will have the answer we are looking for tomorrow.

The reason I wanted to write this out was to remind everybody to find your Yang and hold on to them tight. Because the bad times pass, and the good times are what make life worth living.