School

 Okay, so I'm officially enrolled and ready for school. I originally said the nursing program, but a few things have changed. First of all, I'd have to take a year of prerequisites, then I'd have to apply to the program. It would be a few years before I finish...and that's if I get into the program. Usually it's pretty crowded. Also, with a busy and full college, I may not even get the classes I desire when they're available...you get the picture, most of you have been there. Just too much time. Maybe someday.

So, instead, I went with another program; medical transcription. Most of you may have heard of it, but a medical transcriptionist, also known as an MT (or RMT when registered), is an allied health professional who deals with the process of transcription, or converting voice-recorded reports as dictated by physicians and/or other healthcare professionals, into text format. With this job, I can work in hospitals, doctors offices, veterinary hospitals, or even from home. A lot of women who stay at home with their kids (even here), do this. So it's a good job to make some extra income while staying at home.

I received my first book today, Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary, and my anatomy book will be here soon as well. I'll be studying:

medical terminology (obviously)
anatomy
physiology
the cardiovascular, urinary, digestive, and nervous systems
diseases, tests, procedures, and terminology abbreviations
the endocrine and sensory systems;
the blood, lymphatic and immune systems
and male and female reproductive systems
dermatology
otorhinolaryngology (ear nose and throat)
ophthalmology (a branch of medicine revolved around the eyes)
pulmonary medicine
cardiology
hematology
gastroenterology
endocrinology
obstetrics and gynecology, urology, nephrology, and orthopedics.
And then of course neurology, psychiatry, pathology, radiology, and pharmacology.

So, in sum, I pretty much have to know the human body and what medicines and diseases are associated with those above. I'm excited! I would become a doctor...but that's just too much school, haha.

I began today. The first unit I'm learning is pretty much revolved around the types of learning and how to be a good student. I also learned I'm a field dependent learner. :)

Okay, so that's the update with school! I've always wanted to be in the medical field, so this is good! The pay is pretty good; it just depends on who you work for and what surgeries and procedures are being performed.

So, that's that! Time to spend time with husband.

Women and Gaming

 As a lot of you know, I enjoy video games. Now, before I met Gary, I liked them somewhat and played every now and then. While we were first married, I mostly played Wii games like Mario-included Nintendo games and such.

 The first real online gaming experience I had was with WoW (World of Warcraft). While Gary and I were living in Bakersfield, he decided he wanted to get back into WoW. I was a little hesitant at first; I had heard of the game, but mostly horror stories of how addicting it can become. But, I tossed those fears aside and told Gary he could do whatever he wants. I know many wives who glare at their husbands at the thought of them playing video games, so since day 1 of our relationship, I told him, and myself, I would never be that way with him.  If he wanted a boys night with games, it was always fine; even if the boys night wasn't at our place. I let him play whenever he wants and however long he wants to play. I wanted, and still want, to be a supportive wife of his game playing. Besides, the man knows how to prioritize, and knows when to stop playing.

At this time, I was holding 2 jobs, and he was holding 2 jobs, as well as being a full time student. So, on his days off, he filled the gaps with game-playing. Most women would demand attention from their men, but I'm a bit of a private person myself, so I never cared. I'd read books, magazines, watch TV, or go out with friends while he did this. He did always turn it off for dinner time, and usually spent the rest of the evening with me, though. ANYway, he got WoW. While he'd play, I'd be reading or doing something else. Occasionally, I'd look up at his screen and watch him play little bits at a time. These little bits became bigger bits, and next thing you know, I was quite interested myself. One morning, while Gary was attending school, and I had the day off, I decided to look into it. I created a character and began playing. I found myself on that game until Gary came home that afternoon; not only surprised, but pleased to see me playing. At this point, he went over all my skills and helped me build my character and powers. Soon enough, I had the game installed on the laptop and we were playing together. We got some friends into the game and we were all playing at different locations and times together as well.

Eventually we moved out of Bakersfield and I began staying at home. This is when it became more of an issue, lol. I'd wake up early, make Gary's lunch, then immediately begin my Wow adventures. Next thing I knew, Gary would be home soon and I was rushing to clean up the apartment, lecturing myself for being on so long. Time really does pass quickly while playing, and it's quite common to lose track of time. This went on for a couple more weeks until I decided it was time to stop playing. I uninstalled it, and explained to Gary I was done playing. This made him happy, because I just spent too much time on it.

Now, onto shooter games. Gary loves shooters. His favorite type of games are RPGs (Role-Playing Games), like Mass Effect 2, and Zelda, etc. I always watched Gary play shooter games, but wouldn't play myself. Finally, he told me he wanted me to start playing Left 4 Dead 2. I did, and loved it! Eventually, when I felt confident enough, I started playing online through the Steam Community (via PC). Now I enjoy playing co-op shooters with Gary, and he enjoys that too. He says it's about time, haha.

Here's the thing about my topic. I'm a woman. Often times on Wow, I'd get hit on by men. Now, playing online with Left 4 Dead 2, I use Gary's display name, because it's more dude-sounding. I've actually been kicked from sessions because they'd discover I'm a girl. Other times, I'd be talked down to, hit on, or commanded around like I'm a total clueless noob. Which I'm not, I'm actually quite skilled at the game. Now, I know I have an option to type chat, but sometimes with zombies everywhere, it can be a pain. So, it's easier to speak into the mic. Some people have been friendly, some have been girls themselves, but it can seriously be difficult being a gamer on a mostly-guy internet world. In fact, earlier today, I was being called, "Sexy voice lady." My voice isn't sexy, btw, but honestly, it's just time I get used to these things. I'm still going to game, and people are going to deal with it. Some men have gotten mad because I outscored them...and hey, I'm a lady so I shouldn't be winning.

Anyway, that was my rather pointless blog for the day. I've been invited to play a campaign, so I'm on my way.

PS- if anyone plays this game online, that would be awesome to join! :) Oh, and this is no WoW. I can pause and turn it off whenever I'd like. No addiction here, seriously.

Money and Living Better

  So, the weekend and the week have been great so far. Just thought I'd update a few things.


  On Friday, when it was grocery shopping day, I decided to try a new place. Being me, I love trying new places just to see what I can get and how well I can do. Since we're being healthier, I went ahead and did my shopping at Whole Foods Market. Everything is organic there, and super healthy. And unlike Trader Joe's, this place is owned by a Conservative :) Lol. It doesn't matter anyway, I still like TJs as well.  They had a great selection of foods, and if you do it right, you don't have to spend too much. I'm a cheap shopper, so I'm always looking to see which products have more for less...at a decent quality at least, too. I have a spending limit with groceries, but I always leave extra money to spare, like $40-60. Now it's time to see if these groceries will last us, and if leaving extra money for savings will work. Gary came home from work Friday with a beautiful bouquet of roses; which made me a happy girl indeed. Previously that day, however, I had placed a nice gift in his truck while he was at work. You know, romantic stuff like massage oils and all. But I won't go into that :) .


Speaking of money, this is a different topic now. When Gary and I were at my parents last week, before bed, we had the Suze Orman show on. You know, the money lady who gives financial advice and helps people make spending decisions? While listening to advice, we were inspired to make a budget list. We've done this before, but in the end, forget about it. This time, however, we were much more thorough. We wrote down every bill payment, tithing, groceries, spending for us, etc- completely rounding them up to "worst case scenario"- and were both completely surprised at how much money we have left over each month. Because of this, we can now add bigger chunks to our savings account, and he can contribute more money to his 401k. It will take a little extra work to keep up with it, but it's completely worth it. We also created a limit in which we can spend on each other and for ourselves, like date nights and such. This way we know how much we should be spending, and not just spending. In my ward a few weeks ago, the bishop challenged the ward to set enough money aside to get us by for 3 months if unemployment were to strike. This is our goal.


Then, of course, there's the emergency fund we have set aside; things like car repairs, hospital or doctor visits, etc. This leads me to Saturday.


On Saturday, Gary decided to take his truck to Pep Boys (since we had a discount from using them while in Bakersfield), to have his brakes looked at. While that was happening, we went to different places and did a little shopping for ourselves, even went out to lunch. Soon the guy called back, and informed us of the work which needed to be done. I'm not a mechanic nor a car person, so I can't explain everything; but in the end, we payed $400 to get things done on his brakes. That won't be all, however. His shocks are leaking, so we'll have to take care of that within the next month or so- and that will be about $350. So, that was a good chunk of our emergency fund. We began discussing his truck in general. He was curious to know the value of it, and if it's even worth these repairs. It's a '94 (or '93? I never get that right) Toyota Pickup. It has almost a couple hundred thousand miles on it. It's never had anything done except routine maintenance. We joke it will outlast our Saturn, which has been a very reliable car thus far. Because, well, it's a Toyota. We did discuss selling his truck parts and getting a new vehicle, but that probably won't be anytime soon. So, that was our exciting Saturday.


Sunday was pretty good as well. I felt a little lightheaded in the morning, but we both went to church. Nursery seemed to be a crying, screaming day for a couple of the kids (and I mean screaming), but besides that and the smell of poopy diapers, all was well. Megan made super delicious heart-shaped cookies with frosting for the little ones (and for us, the bigger ones), so yum! After church, Grannie came to visit around 4:30, and I cooked up an Italian dish for dinner. Chicken sun-dried tomato vegetable pasta, with a side of red potato soup; all organic might I add. It was delish. I had a great time catching up with Grannie, who left Monday morning after a nice long walk around the lake. I had driven to the lake this time, because I didn't want to make her walk too much, but we did lap around the entire thing, so it was probably too long anyway. Sorry, Grannie!


Last night, after our chicken quesadilla pizza, I started to feel a little off. Gary wasn't feeling well himself, and took a long nap on the sofa while I browsed jobs and a few other things online. We both headed for bed, and I suddenly had a terribly sore throat. I ended up getting up in the night to drink some Theraflu to help. That knocked me out, but this morning it feels even worse. My chest hurts, my throat is on fire, and my ears are hurting. Oh, lovely cold. I know I have a crap immune system, but I still wash my hands every chance I get, especially in Nursery. But, I shall fight it today and hopefully feel better for the weekend. And that's exactly what I'm going to go do.


Until then, later everyone!

Month of Love; and Life Catch-ups

Ah, the month of February. Such a great time of the year! Okay, so it always hasn't been this way, but being married, it definitely is now!




 Speaking of love: I want to thank everybody for the prayers and love given lately. I kid you not; the following morning after posting that blog, I had an incredible peace within me. I knew that Heavenly Father was listening to all prayers being said. I felt very comfortable about our decision as well. So thank you! Thank you for your comments of concern and advice as well! Erin, I definitely thought about what you said when it came to stress...it made perfect sense. I probably would be stressing over the money and test results, so this is much easier on my health.




 As for the progesterone, I have already noticed a bit of a difference, if just a hint. Insomnia is one of them, but I think that may be due to the possible conflict of my thyroid meds. It's not serious, though, I am still sleeping. I also have more energy as well. Hopefully a new cycle will begin, and I'm thinking soon because of some recent mood swings. :)




I guess you could say, at the same time, I've been dealing with an early-life crisis. I'm 24 years old, and I was looking back at my life at all the things I haven't accomplished; and got angry with myself for it. Occasionally I'll feel like I'm going nowhere. I want a job so I could get out and do something, but that's difficult, which leads me to regret not finishing school. I didn't finish school, I can't find a job, and I can't have children; and with all those thoughts in my head I began to feel sorry for myself and got upset. I spent maybe a couple of days crying over this. Finally my husband had to sit me down and snap me out of it. He partially lectured me for acting that way, while at the same time, made it clear he still sticks to his decision to be married to me. He told me I deserve everything good and how he hates to see me hurt. Then pretty much told me to stop whining and DO something about it. It was romantic in a way. That's what I love about my darling husband. Good ol' hubbies.




Of course I regret not finishing school, but I have time, I really do. I'm highly interested in the nursing program at our college, and told Gary I want to pursue that. He said okay, so that's my future plans with school. Hopefully I'll get started this fall. I'll have to start clean, unfortunately, but that's life. I have 40 units from BC, but I hate BC and would rather not deal with them anymore. In fact, I partially blame them for me not finishing school. They kept repeatedly sticking me on academic probation. I saw a counselor a few times to get it cleared, since it was a mistake. In fact, no joke, I'm still on academic probation from that school. Apparently I owe the school money. Of course, when I contacted BC and explained that's not possible, they checked my records and discovered, obviously, I never owed them any money; it was a computer error. Because of these stupid errors, I was unable to register for my classes on several occasions. Eventually I got sick of putting up with them, and gave up. At the same time, I was supporting someone financially who was having issues, so that person became my first priority. I don't blame anyone or anything. It was my decision to give up. But it feels nice to place some blame on that terrible school who continually screwed me over, lol. But who knows? I may not have met my husband had I been a full-time student.




Obviously, one of the greatest ways to feel accomplished in life is service. I'm definitely going to have to kick that up a few notches.




 Anyway, onto a new thing. This last weekend was great! We spent most of our Saturday visiting Gary's parents, then headed to my parents house that evening, where we spent the night and spent Sunday with them. Gary was a part of a baby blessing at my parents ward, so that's why we spent time there. Gary had taken Monday off a week prior to this, so he could have a day to himself we when got back. Which he totally did. He finished his Mass Effect 2 game and spent a little time with me. I didn't care he spent a lot of his day on his games. Some women can't stand when their men play video games, but I've never cared. He has a great job, he's active in the church, and he's a good man...so he gets to play games all he wants in between. Of course it would be a different story if he put game playing above top priorities, but luckily my man can prioritize.




The weather here is silly. One day it's raining, then it's sunny, then it's raining again. In fact, it was raining this morning, but now it's clearing up and the sun is coming out. The temperatures have stayed within the 50's, so it's pretty cold, but the sun is wonderful. In fact, the weather is just simply beautiful here. All of you probably know by now I'm a huge weather fan. The weather can seriously affect my mood. The poor little orange cat hasn't been able to go outside as often as he wants to, but it's just too cold for that. Poor baby.




Let's see, what else? There's really not much else to update right now. I need to charge my camera so I could start taking random pictures of things again! Oh, and Grannie will be here with us on Sunday to visit our ward and the singles fireside that evening. It would be great if she could meet someone here.




K, that's all for now. Later!

Prayers are Needed

  Here's the update about what's going on.

 First of all, I know my blog is public. I figure the only people who read it anyway are close friends and family...who already know the struggle Gary and I have been going through concerning infertility. People who are not close who often read my blog probably know anyway as well. This is our family blog, so I do my best to talk about other things. I took down my other blog because I simply didn't want to update everything in that field. So every now and then, I'll post appointment updates and other things. So I apologize if for any reason this bothers you.

 I made the appointment with the specialist. However, considering we don't have anybody within our medical group in that specific field, the only available person is outside the medical group. I called, put in an appointment, and just when I was about to hang up, the receptionist says, "Okay, you're 20%, so it will be a $130 copay." I said okay before I really processed it, then hung up. All I could do as this point was take a deep breath and go over it in my head. Discouraged, I sent Gary a text message.

 $130 just to see the guy. Chances are, he wouldn't be able to do much until a new cycle begins (it's been 4 months), send me home with possibly an expensive pill that would get me going, then bring me back in every few days throughout my cycle to run tests. If it's just $130 to see the guy, I can't even imagine the cost of the tests.  In the end, it would be at least $1000 just to get me tested; not to mention the following treatment. We just can't do it. We're not getting much back from our tax return (since we've moved up in the tax bracket overtime), and we really don't want to take out a loan. I'm sure they have payment options, but it's just too overwhelming.  Much too overwhelming. All I could do at this point was cry. And pray. And cry some more. Then pray some more...you get the picture.  I began looking for jobs; if we can save up a good chunk, we could possibly go back in the near future.  I don't want to put Gary through that financial stress; and he doesn't want to see me through the emotional stress (although it's a bit too late for that).

I haven't canceled the appointment, because I guess some part of me hopes some miraculous thing will work out.  What I need to do is pick up that phone, call the office back, and ask some questions about pricing, just to be completely certain that canceling would be smart at this point. A part of me is hopeful that I just misunderstood the lady. Paperwork, she said, should be here soon...today or tomorrow with the details. I want to see that before I cancel. I just need to be sure.

While in the midst of my tears, and after saying serious prayers, I remembered something...a small article in a womens magazine that I came across the other day. I grabbed the magazine, and flipped through the pages. And I came across this: "Exercise to curb excess estrogen: Research suggests working out for three to five hours a week halves your risk of breast cancer by reducing tumor-promoting estrogen in the bloodstream."  Now, it wasn't the breast cancer part that caught my attention, it was the exercise part. As some of you know, one of the most successful ways I've gotten my body to ovulate is strenuous exercise around that time. If for any reason I slack off or skip on exercise, my body refuses to ovulate.  I could never find answers as to why that happened until I saw this article, and light bulb flicked on. I thought to myself, "Could it be possible I ovulate after serious exercise because I have too much estrogen to begin with? And the workouts lower it, making me normal?"

With all these thoughts and ideas in my  head, I used Google to guide me through the rest of my research. When I searched and read several articles and facts about Estrogen Dominance, it felt...like I was receiving answers. Like I was being lead to read these things. The symptoms matched, and things just made sense. All I could think was "No wonder I'm always a mess emotionally. This would make sense."

And then another thing caught my attention. Dr. Lee, who has written several books on estrogen and womens health, had a lot of information on a health site. Here's what I saw...different chunks.

"Thyroid function and its relationship with estrogen and progesterone: Excess estrogen may have had a hand at triggering antibodies on the thyroid gland, which cause common thyroid diseases such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune inflammatory process of the thyroid gland. Estrogen causes food calories to be stored as fat while thyroid hormones causes fat calories to be turned into usable energy. Thyroid hormone and estrogen therefore have opposing actions. Progesterone, on the other hand, increases the sensitivity of estrogen receptors for estrogen and at the proper levels, inhibits estrogen's negative side effect. Estrogen opposes progesterone. In my experience, when women with Hashimoto thyroiditis are given progesterone for things like osteoporosis, there results a gradual diminution of the severity of the disease and sometimes a complete resolution of the thyroiditis problem."

So, it could be possible, I have too much estrogen, which has actually caused my Hashimoto's. Another proof was when I was having my annual with my doctor; she made a comment about, well, my breasts, about them being fibrocystic...which happens when a women has too much estrogen. I'm super sorry if that was way TMI. Good thing you can't tell they're that way by physical appearance. ANYway...

Here's the plan. My ultrasound ruled out any physical problems; like endometriosis, cysts, blocked tubes, etc. In fact, I was told they're in great condition. This leaves hormones, and of course, the man's side of problems. I found online, hormone test kits, that even Target sells, that are proven reliable to test hormones by using saliva. Things like estridol, progesterone, testosterone, etc. Many people who don't want to pay hundreds to have those run by a doctor have claimed great things about these at home. I know a doctor is always better, don't get me wrong; but I'm willing if it means saving a butt load of money. I also did a bit more research, and found progesterone cream I'm going to be using...that I started using.

So, yes, we're going down a more "natural" route, and while doing so, we're going to save up money until we can afford this specialist. My diet is going to have to change, too. I believe Heavenly Father lead me to read these things; Gary agrees he thinks it's the problem as well...and Gary's never sure. Hopefully this is the trick and we won't have to see a specialist later. I'm hoping within the next few months there will be an improvement. Besides, honestly, I don't want to get pregnant at this weight. I'd rather not gain more weight during pregnancy and get diabetes or something. No thank you. Plus, since I don't have any life threatening illnesses or problems physically, there's no rush to see a doctor...especially one this expensive. There are many success stories of women who have gone down this natural path; let's hope we're one of them.

In the meantime, we're asking for prayers. I would really appreciate us in your prayers during this. It would mean a lot to us.

Anyway, that's the update.

PS- Just so you know: this doesn't mean I'm going to stay away from doctors. If for any reason I'm getting sick or get in pain, I'll always go see my GP or GYN. I still believe in doctors, so don't think I've lost interest and want to be "all natural." Not the case.

PSS- Yes, I am bummed that after all this time I finally get the guts to make an appointment with a specialist, only to turn it down later. Yes, there are thoughts flying through my head that make me worry and think, like, "It would just be faster to see a specialist", or "He could find the problem and you could stop all these other things yourself", etc. This is the hardest part.

Thanks for reading all of this if you have!

Little Updates

 Hello, blog world. So sorry to have been neglecting you.

 There's really not much to say nor update, but I thought I might as well post a blog anyway since it's been so dang long.

 1. I'm down 17 lbs! I've been dropping weight without even trying. I really keep procrastinating the exercise part (last real workout was the night before Thanksgiving). I'm proud nothing's come back; in fact I keep dropping. Now, if I actually blended in exercise, I would probably get better results! No more excuses, Emilee! Of course, one excuse I use is...

 2. My foot. It's not working properly. Not only did I fracture the Sesamoid bone (a round bone located under the ball of your foot where your big toe is), but I've been dealing with horrible Plantar Faciitis. It's gotten to the point where standing and walking on it causes nerve jolts and pain. Completely awesome. Eh, I'm sure it will heal eventually, I don't feel like going to a foot doctor. Lol. When it gets to the point where I literally can't walk, then I'll drag myself in to see a doctor. I mean, I can walk just fine. It's just if I'm standing too long or walking too much it starts to hate me. No excuse to not exercise, though; I can pull through.

3. Gary's raise. Wahoo! He got a raise 6 months ago, so another one is pretty sweet. He's doing incredible at his job. He has a great relationship with his boss, gets along with all his co-workers, and always designs his own ideas to make his and other people's jobs more productive. He's even had meetings with the big bosses to present his ideas; which always leaves them not only impressed with him, but they use his ideas! It's wonderful. He's an excellent programmer. I think what's even more wonderful is the fact he's being trained in so many areas of programming, he's getting the feeling they're preparing him for a bigger position. His boss even told other workers, "If you need something done, take it to Gary." Employees are constantly coming to him if they need top priority things done quickly. He's such a hard worker, and I'm very proud!

4. Good ol' doctors.  Here's the update with my appointment setting: We're waiting for about $300 worth of rebates to arrive in the mail within the next week or so. After these arrive, I'm going to go ahead and make my appointment to see my RE. He's a specialist in the Los Angeles area, and got top ratings for being one of the most successful doctors in that field. We're not sure how much we're going to have to pay out of pocket for things, so we want to be prepared. His name's Dr. Gary Hubert (he's all over Google). Hopefully this guy, with his knowledge and experience, can find the problem asap.  I have no doubts, though.

5. I'm sure there are other small things, but I can't remember anything, haha. Cats are doing fine; I switched their food to Science Diet (Adult Light formula), because I felt they weren't getting everything they need. I've also even been focusing a bit on their dental health. There's no vet visit planned for teeth, no need unless there's a serious issue, but I've been feeding them treats that clean their teeth, and yes, I even bought a little toothbrush and paste kit. This started when I noticed Dexter's upper canine accidentally punctured his lower lip. I kept an eye on it to make sure it didn't get infected (good thing my care at home caused it to not infect and go away). Lila's teeth aren't as well as they should be. She was a stray for the first 6 or so months of her life, so that made a difference. Dexter's are white and fine, but I still want to keep his mouth clean enough. So yes, cat health! These are my children for now, and I want them to live a long and healthy life. So there :P

 Oh, and the lovely rain. It's been raining for quite some time now; 3 days in a row now? It's wonderful. Okay, so for some people it's not wonderful, but it is for me. I love it! The sound, the smell, etc.

So, life is good! We were planning on having a trip over the weekend, for the 2 of us to get away; but we didn't plan anything. My car needed a new battery, so we bought one, and other things just popped us that kept us from planning our mini-vacation. But instead, we went back to Canoga Park and strolled around their mall on Saturday. But there's always time to have a mini-vacation. This time we'll actually plan one out :)

I suppose that's all for now. Bye!

Beautiful Day

  Wow, it's so perfect outside! I wish it could be like this all the time, with occasional rain. Cloudy, but not too cloudy with a bit of sunshine. Mid to high 60's, a cool breeze. Wonderful! Not to mention the air is so fresh, too. I think one of the biggest reasons why Fall is my favorite season, is because it's after the dreadfully hot days of Summer...it's always a nice change. And of course the colors. But now we've been in Winter since mid-December, and by far this is probably the best weather I've seen within a year. So, after a shower and everything this morning, I went for a stroll. Not, no exercise walking or I would've put off the shower. It was a nice stroll, and the weather's cool enough to wear a light jacket and not break a sweat. Okay, so I was out for close to a couple of hours, but most of the time was observing and enjoying instead of walking. And you could probably guess I strolled over to the lake. And yes, I was talking about the weather :P

 It's not as summery-green as it was earlier, but it's got a nice winter/autumn touch to it, and it's even more beautiful in my opinion. There were many people out today, walking their dogs, walking as families, bike riding. There were also a good chunk of children playing, too. Not to mention the friendliness of everyone as well. It was also probably one of the first times I actually saw the residents of the lake homes outside enjoying their Saturday; yard work, lounging; mostly yard work, though. But still, they smiled and waved and said hello as I strolled by. Nice people, lol.

 

 

 

 And then a couple more:

 

I know, I was across the street from our place,but the mountains look so blue and gorgeous, I just had to.

 Anyway, yesterday was quite the day as well. After I kissed Gary off to work, I went to work myself. Well, at home anyway. I did what you would call New Years cleaning as opposed to Spring cleaning. I spent quite some hours cleaning, organizing, and even did a small bit of rearranging. It wasn't real bad to begin with, but it was enough to keep me busy for awhile. Then, I had an even more exciting task (sarcastic). I decided that since I was done cleaning, it was time to vacuum the floor. Now, as most of you know, the vacuum I was using was terrible to me. I took the darn thing apart, covered myself in dust and other nasty crap (probably got some disease from it), and cleaned it out and unclogged it. This wasn't the first time I've done this. I felt disgusting. Finally, I went to vacuuming to realize it started immediately backing up again and not doing a great job. So, I got a screwdriver, took off the entire back, and realized it was an electrical problem. The main hose doesn't have any suction. The circuit boards looked fine, but there was another layer within the vacuum I could have opened, but I'm not an expert with wires, so I passed. I finally had to accept it was broken, due to electrical issues. Frustrated, I put it away, and finally got in the shower and rinsed all the dust and everything even out of my eyes, mouth, and nose.  When Gary came home, he completely surprised me and bought me a new vacuum! A Dyson! It's the DC25 Animal.

 Obviously, I was thrilled. I took it for a "spin", and was surprised at all the crap it picked up. Half the bin was filled with dust and dirt...probably added up over the 6 months we've been here, lol. You know, since the other vacuum hated me. Yes, this vacuum was very expensive, but it will last us awhile. It's coming out of our tax return, lol. It has a 5 year parts and labor warranty, so it will last that long at least; good investment. Although I had been thinking about getting something like this for awhile, I always put it off and never mentioned it to Gary. Guilt, I'd say. The other vacuum he bought me at Best Buy was about a year ago. It was an improvement from the last, and I loved it as well. It had nice features, but went downhill rapidly. Gary knew I had issues with it, but I felt too guilty to complain, so I dealt with it. I promised myself I'd do everything to see if I could fix it myself before mentioning a new one. So, that's why yesterday I took the whole thing apart...so I would know I did everything I could. Anyway, I made Gary a promise I would vacuum everyday, lol. But it feels so nice to have such a clean floor.

Well, I suppose that's all for now. Time to enjoy this beautiful Saturday. I've had the door to the deck opened all morning, and Dexter's in heaven. The wind chimes Gary put up sound relaxing, too :) Oh, and speaking of cats, they look so good! Lila's weight has gone done quite a bit, and she's "healthy" looking again. I've been giving them weekly baths, so their fur is super shiny and soft. It's important I have healthy cats. I've also been giving them dental treats, which have been good for their teeth health. And speaking of weight loss, I've dropped another couple of pounds...15 lbs down! And I wasn't really doing anything except eating healthier. Looks like I can lose weight without trying finally; but I'm going to add in serious exercise and watch the results from there.

Time to vacuum, then run off and do some shopping with the husband! Bye!