eff.  It's only been a week and a day since I last ran the Durango and yet it's dead again today (needing jumped).  I'm really tired of this dren.  I only need it because of the uber crappy winters around here.  Anyone know of a job that will help me get out of the frozen tundra?

So, Danika and I jumped in the Tib to go celebrate her birthday a few days early.  We shared a McD's burger, visited Petco (where she promptly tried to poop on their floor - that was a nice touch - I guess the grease lubed up the works), and then went for ice cream.  At least I already got one walk in this morning and intend on another if the weather holds to try and compensate for what I've already eaten by 1pm.

Saffy's rather displeased, not only does D smell like all the goodies, but she doesn't want to play with her.  Poor Banany's got a front leg sore enough that she's limping.  At present D is chilling outside (since the weather is a bit cooler I won't fight her on it today) and Saffy is laying on the other end of the couch looking dejected.  I tried to get her to run around with me in the back yard, but she wasn't having it, she wants her sissy.

I wore a jacket to work today.  August 10th.  Yea. *shakes head*

Two nights this week I've needed a nap so desperately after work, tonight being one of those nights.  Unfortunately, I'm still wiped.  I visited with Mithy for a short while and that combined w/ my nap ate up most of my evening, so we only got a 20 minute walk in.  Now I feel like an incredible slacker.  I haven't lost a single pound, so that makes it difficult to stay motivated too.  I feel like all I do all week is work, make dinner, walk, shower, and sleep. When am I suppose to clean or look at job sites etc?

I have a bone to pick... and perhaps educate some folks who have never done anything with direct sales.  Note that all direct sales companies I am familiar with (this includes lia sophia and Miche) require their consultants to PURCHASE their catalogs.  That means, we buy them... yes, those ones that I put in the kitchens hoping to boost my business a little with "KITCHEN COPY - Please do not remove or discard" written on them!  So why is it when I go to put new ones in there most of them are gone?  Hell, why did the one that got put there VERY recently already disappear?  Worse still, if you're having a party with another consultant - get your catalogs from her, don't steal mine!
 
People suck.

Yay weekend!  I've been stepping up my walking a bit since my last post, Friday getting almost 5 miles in and last night with another 70 minutes.  With the wealth of veggies here at the house from the CSA I am also eating a little better.  Of course, I have a pile of peppers I need to broil and ready for soup and a pile of tomatoes to cook up into something.  I'd love to make a batch of salsa but that means eating chips, so I think I'll go the route of a small batch of sauce and a bit of pasta this weekend.  Not the BEST meal, but I've at least found a whole wheat pasta I really enjoy.

Last night I managed to stay up late enough to see the Dark Knight.  I'm enjoying this genre of films a bit more as of late.  I guess they're good until my more typical selections come out (second squee for Frankenweinie and a smile for Paranormal Activity 4).

Today the big excitement is taking Vix in for a blood draw.  I guess I'll need to walk (aaaagain), but I might need to wait until the day cools back down.  Should have forced myself out of bed early to get it over with, but that just didn't happen.

I admit it.  I have girl-love for Jenna Marbles.  She's officially made it to my routine haunts links.  If you're not familiar, be sure to go watch "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking" and "How to get ready for a date".  Crazy dog ladies unite!

My evening has gone WAY too fast... had to stay a bit late to attend the First Aid class, so I had to run home over lunch.  From there I came home w/ our goodies from the CSA... adding that to the pile of other veggies here I knew I needed to take some action, so I ended up eating a fried up (with garlic) eggplant, a sliced up cuke, two ears of corn, and a sammie (w/ some lettuce on it of course).  I also cut up more cukes to marinade.  Now I really need to get working on the tomatoes I have.  Fortunately, my tomatoes aren't even starting to turn red yet, so I am safe, for now.

During our walk tonight (70 minutes thank you very much) I noted the late August sounds already.  I hope this doesn't mean the summer will end early.  Need much more time to lose some weight.  Also realized while walking a 20 year reunion is right around the (calendar) corner.

I feel like it's been an eternity since I last posted... but here it is only Tuesday.  Saturday I caught up with Beff and Slips (finally) for us to celebrate our birthdays and I got to play w/ the no longer super wee little Puddy-puddy.  Sunday was then Doug and Gail's wedding!  I have to admit, this was probably the most fun I've had at a wedding in a long time.  They mostly end up just being a bit somber and depressing for me, but the Schmou-4 kept me moving and I've even got sore pecks from swinging kiddos around!

Tonight was a quick turn around and back out the door to spend some time with Mithy and Miss Addie and some incredibly yummy Applebees.  I feel like I've been quite the busy gal with little time left in the evenings.

Been faithfully walking, still not seeing any weight dropping, go figure.  Just started up another exercise tracking thing at work on Monday, so I am encouraged to go a little further/longer each night, hopefully it will help.  Other than that there is just work work work... been waking up a bit before the alarm and thus in a little early (today thanks to Saf yacking first thing) and working through lunch (yesterday snagging chinese - yum) to try and get further for my upcoming deadline/cut.  Noting both the Applebees and chinese comments kind of screams why I am not dropping weight, right?

Received a bit of good news this week, buying me until the end of September before I need worry immensely.  That additional coverage at least makes the piss me off factor today a little easier to swallow.  My doctor called in a script that didn't have a generic, so it autoprocessed and shipped along with a $120 bill for a 90 days supply.  Boo.   Any other time I'd get a prescription and they'd shove the generic down my throat to the point that I didn't even always get the same thing each refill.  Now they say there isn't a generic... but yet their website does suggest one as a viable option.  WTH.

I cheated on Friday and didn't go for a walk, that was my gift to myself.  The one day off from walking was enough to leave Saffy so wound up that she was digging in the yard repeatedly on Saturday.  I was about ready to knock the fuzzy out of her and refused to take her for a walk on Saturday as well - instead I went with D, who, as I was afraid she would be, seemed to be a bit stiff on Sunday.  I think she's no longer on my walking companion card.  Of course, on Saturday I snapped and made a bit of cake and circumvented the ongoing walks anyhow.  But it was my birthday damnit, a girl with a blog partially named for cake should get a little bit of it on such an occasion.
 
Got to visit w/ Angela for a wee bit this weekend as she stopped in to return a loaned item, Kirkus for ice cream (more evil and decadance I shouldn't have allowed), and mom.  Despite it being a bit of a depressing weekend, it was a good one as far as they go.  I could still use a few extra hours every week.

There are 4 things someone can bring up that will rip me to shreds and make me beat myself up...
1).  How dumb I am... which, despite great effort remains the same.
2).  How fat I am... which I've been trying to work on and I just can't get back where I want to be.
3).  How ugly I am... which obviously, the years don't help... which brings me to...
4).  How old I am... and yet, here it comes again.

I think it was pretty mean for a friend to bring up #1, even joking, while I'm mentally already struggling with #4.  Yes, I know I'm dumb, I know I'm not as smart as you.

...and, people don't understand why I'm snapped at the prospect of less than 3 weeks of tasking remaining and saving and not wanting to do anything.  What they don't see is that if it happens, I know it's going to take me back a good 10 years to a really really bad time.  Thinking about it puts me damn near into a panic attack.  It makes it hard to breathe and it even makes me wonder what other two things will happen to make it the second worst point in time in my life.  At least I am still confident it can't top that other time frame.  The worse part is that _this place_ was my backup.  I'm here... I don't have another backup.  Where does that leave me?

Dear Amazon, the plans to implement a sales tax for PA in Sept means only two things.  1).  I need the funding situation resolved quickly so I can do my Christmas shopping before then and 2).  After Sept, 2012 I will be buying significantly less from your company as I start to see less 'better deals'.  I will miss you.

The good news today is that I got a call stating I was awarded one of the new scholarships that we've implemented at work, for a program I was looking at to go after a second master's degree.  This doesn't do much for the larger issue at hand, but I am seeing it as a victory, even if I can't follow through with it.  It's definitely a program I can't get through on my own funding.

I'm finding it hard to find motivation to make dinner tonight, much less prep for a walk.  If the heavy rain storms keep up I don't know how far I'll get anyhow.  I'm on such a roll though that I can't afford to miss a night.

Motivation took hold suddenly this morning.  I can proudly say the hallway is finally repainted.  It has been sitting, waiting for attention since the kitchen was finished which has been quite a while ago at this point.  A little fear of no work and a need to sell a house got that job off of the to do list in under 2 hours.  Why on earth did I put it off so long?

For the record they shouldn't call the painter's tape "low tack" - I think "no tack" is more accurate.