Christmas Already!

Its been a while since I blogged. I cant believe it is almost Christmas already! Where did the time go??

So since my last blog I have started a new job and so far I love it. It makes going thru the last 1 ½ years worth it. I guess going thru being unemployed and working as a contractor has made me really thankful for my new job all the more. I also think my experience at Chase also made me realize how much I was working before I moved to Dallas. I think if I had continued down the path I was on back then, I would have become burnt out.

Here is a cute pic of the babies with Aunt Amy from Thanksgiving.

Arent they just adorable?

Oh and my new favorite thing is to Skype. I got to skype with Dad and Chrissy recently and that was a lot of fun. We are going to try to do it on Christmas too!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

FINALLY...

...I was offered a permanent job last week. I start on Nov 30th. I am very excited. I will be working as an Analyst II for Conifer Health Solutions. They are a subsidiary of Tenet Healthcare. The cool thing is my aunt works for Tenet, but we will be working in different sites. So finally after 1 1/2 yrs I will have benefits again, woo hoo!

Howl-o-ween!

Gizmo decided to dress up for Halloween this year...doesnt he look cute?!?

Fill'er Up!

So I went to get my lap band filled this morning. When they do this, they take an x-ray of your abdominal area so they can find the port (which is where they inject the saline). I am always nosey and want to see what it all looks like so I turn around to see the monitor. Today when I went to look, I saw all these little fasteners/hooks (9 to be exact) in the same general area as the port. Turns out they were from my bra! LOL I got a good chuckle out of it.

Speaking of bras, did you know that VS (Victoria Secret) now has 'memory foam' bras? I didnt either until this past weekend. In fact I am wearing one now and it is super comfy!

Weight Loss, etc

WARNING: THIS POST IS ON THE GRAPHIC SIDE AS I AM POSTING ABOUT MY LAP BAND ISSUES.
Well, I have kinda hit a road block on the weight loss. No loss in the last month or so, so its time to go back for a fill. I was a little hesitant to do it since I am still having some trouble eating. On the upside, I havent really gained any weight so that is at least good.

Basically with certain foods or even with foods I have eaten successfully, I can have problems. I have narrowed it down to a couple things...I am still taking too big of a bite of food and I am not chewing enough. I have been told you should sing the ABC's while chewing to make sure you chew it enough so I am trying to do that.

I seem to be ok on what I call my 'safe' foods. The foods I eat over and over at home. However, I seem to have issues more so when I eat out or eat at someone elses house. Occasionally I will have problems when I am starving and I take that first bite that ends up being too big (and I dont chew it as well) and I know it as soon as I swallow but there is nothing I can do at that point. But I have become a little smarter and immediately stop eating because I know it will just make it worse by eating more on top of something that is already stuck. Your first instinct is to eat more to 'push' the food thru but that does not work. Your other instinct is to drink, another big no no. Basically those things will just come back up.

After some research I found out what has been happening is called 'slimming'. Kinda gross sounding but at the same time perfectly describes what happens. This is what happens when you get a piece of food stuck in the band area and your body starts producing extra saliva (it also tends to be thicker too). When this happens it buids up in your esophogas/stoma area and after a few minutes it really starts to hurt as if someone just punched you square in the chest. The only relief is to cough it up. I say cough because it really isnt like throwing up. I really just cough a little and it just comes up. And honestly its not food that comes up so I am not turning anorexic or anything. :) It is just clear slimey goo. I have also read that it helps to use Papaya Enzyme. This helps to break up the blocked food. They are chewable and actually taste pretty good.

So I am going on Tues to get another fill. There are some foods that I can totally eat and not so sure I really should be able to eat so I know its time. Plus I have found that I can eat a little more than I should too. I am also getting a little more motivated by adding a new widget to my blog to track my weigh loss. Now that the weather is getting cooler and its not raining as much I am more motivated to walk again and am also going to start up on my Wii Fit again. I am still a little scared of Jillian and her Wii Fit workout but will be trying it later today!

Have a great week everyone!

My Favorite Reality Shows…

Let’s move on to my favorite reality shows…

Let’s face it, I probably watch more reality shows than regular shows and most of them are on Bravo, who’d a thought?

Flipping Out
I love love love me some Jeff Lewis. This started a few weeks ago but had to include. I am really bummed that it looks like Jeff and Ryan are headed to a falling out.
The Rachel Zoe Project
This also started a few weeks ago but wanted to include.I am also a big fan of Rachel Zoe, not sure why but I love that show too. I think I like it because I wish I could shop like she does. I think I can relate to her assistant Taylor. 

The Real Housewives of Atlanta
I think I am just about over this show…I see the same things happening that turned me off the TRHOC. They have turned into a bunch of petty, self involved, holier than thou bi-atches. I don’t find myself, waiting and anticipating for the next episode anymore. Bring on the TRHNY!

Top Chef
Even though I am one of the pickiest eater in the world, I still love this show. And as a special bonus one of the contestants in from Frederick! Actually now that I think about it, his brother would have to be from Frederick originally too even if he isn’t living there now.

Project Runway
I kinda miss this show being on Bravo. I am little disappointed that about some of the people that were sent home vs the ones still on. Also kinda diggin the models show afterwards so you can get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.

Survivor
OMG ~ Russell is pure evil. I have to say though he is playing the game though. Probably better than most others before him. Sabotaging your own team is pretty low. Not sure I could play the same way though. Not sure who I want to win yet, give me a couple weeks. Oh and McDoctor is very yummy!

Fall Season Review…The New Shows

Ok well we all know I am a TV junkie, and my TiVo has been getting quite the work out the first couple weeks of the new Fall season.

Let’s start with the new shows…(I will post another one about the rest of the shows)

Accidentally On Purpose – B
I did enjoy the show and found it to be more realistic than Cougartown. The only reason I compare them is because they do have some similarities involving older women.

Community – A-
First off I love, love, love Joel McHale from The Soup…so I went into this not expecting to like it since that is normally what happens. Secondly, Chevy Chase is one of my all time favorites. I loved the tiny references to his movies in the second episode. (a line stolen from National Lampoon’s Vacation, ‘Nooo. She’s ugly.’ And of course the nod to the Three Amigos, even though I really hated that movie.) The first episode also had a nod to one of my favorite movies, The Breakfast Club.

Cougartown – B-
While I did enjoy the show, I found it to be unrealistic. Not very many women over 40 look like Courtney Cox and further more are we really supposed to believe her character was married to that dude up until 5 months ago? Sorry having a hard time buying that one. I still enjoyed the show and really liked Busy Phillips in her role and it was great to see Krista Miller from ‘The Drew Carey Show’ and ‘Scrubs’. Oh and loved how the main character was hatin on her neighbor for dating younger women. I am going to go out on a limb and predict she will be hooking up with him sometime in the near future.

Flash Forward – B+
Pretty good show…I like the concept, but at the same time, I heard this show is similar to ‘Lost’ and that makes me a little nervous. I never really jumped on the ‘Lost’ bandwagon so I am a little apprehensive. I tried to like Lost once upon a time but just couldn’t get into it. I think its because you had to think too much trying to remember everything. When I watch a show I don’t want to have to be tested the whole time trying to remember who did what when and how, etc. So far I am hooked and hope that I continue to like it.

Modern Family – C
I really wanted to like this show more than I did. I think most of the funniest parts were in the previews leading up to premiere night. I did find myself laughing out loud but not until much later in the show. The dad (the one with the family, not Ed O’Neill) trying to be the hip young dad was my highlight for the show. And if I am not mistaken his daughter is from the now defunct ‘Lipstick Jungle’ (which I loved and am so bummed it was cancelled.).

Dog Days of Summer

Now that fall is here, the pools in the area host Pooch Pool Parties and Gizmo got to attend for the first time. He had a blast but only lasted about 20 min before he was over the big dogs splashing around. He just wanted to lounge around the pool and the big dogs slashing around kinda interrupted it for him.

As soon as we got there Giz hit the water belly first. :)

Look, I am swimming, doggie paddle of course!

Can I get out here?

I didnt get a picture of it but before this last one, he was hoping out and jumping back in a few times. It was so cute. So I think he was trying to do the same thing by this big green slide.

"So how's the new job going?"...

I think I have heard this question about a thousand times in the last 3 months and unfortunately I dont have a good answer. The problem is, I dont know how I feel about my new job. I am very happy to have a job and the money is great but the job itself...well to be honest it is not really what I signed up for. Keep in mind I changed managers 3 times within my first 3 weeks of employment. The first 2 managers told me they would hire me permanently. Unfortunately my current manager does not have a permanent position for me right now. However, I do have a job until at least Nov. Again I am not sure how I feel about this considering, I cant really say I LOVE my job. Also looming over my head is that since my COBRA benefits ran out at the end of July, I now have crappy contractor benefits. I really need a job that has benefits and with the holidays coming up, it would actually be nice to get paid for them as well as some vacation time. So at this point I am keeping my options open and will see what happens.

Its been over a year now that I have been either looking for a job or doing contract work and am really tired of thinking or talking about jobs. So the next time you talk to me, lets try something else instead of how's the new job going? Maybe ask me about my newest niece or cousin? We have lots of baby love going on in my family right now. My sister had her beautiful baby girl Ashlynn 6 weeks ago and my 'favorite' cousin Lauren had her adorable baby girl Jailynn yesterday. So fun Aunt Amy is going to enjoy these 2 new family members and spoil them rotten every chance she gets.

Family

Ashlynn is still awesome and a great baby and we all love her a lot. My sister had a little bit of a rough time and was in the hospital again for a little bit but she is home now and is doing much better now. My dad and Chrissy came for a visit to meet Miss Ashlynn. It was a short visit but it was good to see them and we had lots of fun. Here are some pics from their visit.

Ashlynn and her Pop-pop and Granny

Dad, Chrissy, Me, Michele and Ashlynn

Ashlynn and all her Grandparents

Me and Dad

Gizmo getting some extra spoiling from his Granny

21 Year High School Reunion

Last weekend I went back to MD for my high school reunion. We didnt have a 15 or 20 year reunion so a few of us got together and planned a 21 year reunion. It was a blast! We had a really good turn out and everyone had lots of fun. We had a meet and greet happy hour on Fri night and dinner and DJ on Sat night. It was so good to see so many familiar faces and reconnect with old friends.

Here are a few pics from the weekend.

No reunion would be complete without some break dancing!


And some soul train line...

Group picture of the classmates that attended Sat night.

The party planners. I am going to miss talking with these folks every Tues night. Now what will I do on Tues nights? :(

She's Here!

Well she just couldnt wait...baby Ashlynn Joy Cone was born a week ago today! I of course was out of town and just had a feeling she would come while I was away. And I was right. She was born a whole month early but is perfect in every way. She is very petite but has long fingers and toes. She also has a little bit of hair too. I think she looks a lot like Michele did when she was a baby. Plus she has a little more hair than her daddy...hee hee hee

Here are a few pics...

Slacker Blogger

Yeah I am such a slacker lately with my blog...my apologies. I have been busy busy.

I co-hosted my sisters baby shower a couple weeks ago and then the week before last I stayed with her while her hubby was out of town and in between all that I have been planning my high school reunion that will be taking place this coming weekend.

So this Thurs I will be flying back to MD for my high school reunion and am excited to see my old friends that unfortunately I have not seen since our last reunion 10 yrs ago. Since some them didnt make that one, I will be getting to see some friends that I havent seen since high school. Crazy isnt it? Thank goodness for Facebook...it has allowed me to catch up with old friends both high school and just friends I lost touch with over the years.

Its hard to believe about a year ago some of us that reconnected on Facebook were talking about having a reunion but werent sure where to start and if it was even possible, now a year later we are actually having it! The hardest part has been finding people and raising money. We basically had to start from scratch. It will be great to see everyone and catch, I cant wait.

Speaking of weight (LOL)...I hit a little plataeu in June, went to get a fill/adjustment (its where they tighten the lap band) a couple weeks ago and am back on track.

Ok I think that just about catches everyone up on what I have been up to.

New Job!

I finally got a new job. Yay! It is a contract to perm postition with JP Morgan Chase in Lewisville. I will be a Business Analyst working in the home loans division. I used to work for Chase in the credit card division so now I will be learning a whole new part of the company. I start on Mon 6/8. So I have one more week before I start. I cant wait!

20lbs!!

Yay me! I have hit a small milestone of mine...I have lost 20lbs. Bye bye, dont want to see them again! This just made my day and I wanted to share it. :) Its the most I have lost in any previous weight loss attempts. Only 12 more pounds til I hit my next milestone.

Rangers in the Rain

This past weekend I met up with a few fellow FHS (Frederick High School) Alumni. We met up at the Rangers baseball game on Sat. The game was supposed to start at 3:05pm however it was delayed by the rain and didnt start until almost 4:30pm. We still had fun despite the rain and it did taper off as the game started. We played Wingo which is a form of bingo using baseball plays. It was sponsered by Hooters Wings hence the name Wingo. We had really good seats behind right field and they were cheap too! We went to Humperdinks afterwards to grab a bite to eat. Here are a few pics from the day.

Jeannie Shaw Sessums, me, Craig Bowie, Devin Sessums

Zac Thomas, Karen Lease, Greg Lease

Jeannie Shaw Sessums, Greg Lease, Zac Thomas, Craig Bowie, me

Girls Weekend

Last weekend a couple of my friends from San Antonio came up to visit. Teresa and Lynda were also part of the group that I went on my cruise with last year. In fact Lynda and I were roomies on the cruise.


We didnt really have a set agenda of what we were going to do for the weekend but one thing we knew we wanted to do was chill, relax and catch up. One cool thing was that Teresa had gastric bypass last fall so it was good to get some pointers from her on snacks, protein shakes and other eating tidbits.


One thing we had to do was to drop off my neighbor Candace at the airport on Fri afternoon. She was going home to NY to visit her family for a long weekend. On our way back we decided to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. It was yummy and we got some cheesecake to go which we nibbled off of all weekend. (And yes I still lost weight after this weekend :) )


The gals came prepared with lots of wine that we started out with on Fri evening. We also played some Wii with our wine. I only had a little since I am not a big wine drinker. It was fun and although Teresa had never played Wii before, we had a hard time believing her since she was did so well.


Then Sat morning we checked out the complimentary breakfast at my apartment complex clubhouse. (The first Sat of every month they bring in a couple chefs to make specialty pankcakes and made to order omelets and fruit and mimosas. They also have a coffee bar featuring Starbucks coffee available all the time.)


After we filled up on brunch we decided to head out to Southfork Ranch. For those of you that lived under a rock in the 80's and 90's it was the house from the TV show Dallas. I hadnt been since I was little. We just thought we would be able to see the house from the road and take a few pics. Boy were we wrong. They have really made it into a tourist attraction now complete with tours, gift shops, a deli and banquet halls. So we decided to do the tour. We were surprised on how small everything looked. Teresa took pics so I will post them once she has them developed (yeah we were all dorks and forgot our cameras and had to buy a disposible one.). A photographer was there as well take pictures before you start the tour (kinda like at an amusement park) and of course they were for sale after the tour. Teresa and Lynda both bought one, but I didnt really have the money to buy one so the photographer gave me one for free. Wasnt that nice? Here is the picture. Kinda funny how the backdrop doesnt really reflect anything about Southfork or the show.


Then once we finished up at the ranch and Teresa bought a few Mothers Day gifts for herself ;) we decided to skip going to Billy Bob's in Ft Worth since we were at the ranch a lot longer than we thought we would be and we could see storms were coming. So instead we stopped off at the mecca known as Sam Moon. It started to get cloudy while we started out at Sam Moon and once we got done it was really dark out and just starting to rain, so we decided to just go back to my apartment and chill for a little while before dinner. As we were driving home the weather just kept getting worse and worse, sheets of rain, lots of thunder and lightning. After we got in my apartment the tornado sirens went off which was a first experience for them. We also had the TV on and heard about the collapse at the Cowboy training facility. Crazy time!


Once things cleared up we decided to head out to dinner before the next storm was supposed to come thru. We went to Texas Land and Cattle which was also very good. Between that and The Cheesecake Factory, I had my meals set for Sunday with the leftovers.


It was great to see my friends and we definately had a great time even though we didnt do a whole lot.

Weight Loss Update

I am now under the 215lb mark which I havent been below that in I dont know how long. Yay me! So far my total weight loss is 17lbs. I also got a Wii Fit this week (Thanks Dad and Chrissy!) so that will also help with the exercising I should be doing.

I also had 2 friends from San Antonio come to visit this weekend. I will post more about that later. But even with eating out a few times I was still able to loose a couple pounds. It was also good to compare notes with one of my friends that was here since she had gastric bypass last fall and has been very successful. She looks fantastic. Yay Teresa!

My First 'Fill'

Last Fri I had my first 'fill' or 'adjustment' for my lapband. This is where they add the saline thru the port to tighten the band. The reason it is also referred to as an adjustment is because they can also remove saline if the band is too tight.

When the lapband was originally put around my stomach during the surgery they do not keep saline in it because there is already a lot of swelling going on for the stomach due to the invasiveness of having the band put on initially. So with the surgery they place the band around and attach the port then test the band by adding saline to make sure it will work. Then they remove the saline and stitch ya all back up.

So now that I had my fill, I feel full a lot faster and definately feel a difference if I eat larger bites. So far I have lost a total of 15 lbs. Yay me!

Catch Up

I didnt have internet or home phone for a few days so I am getting caught up.

Once again I was denied DirectTV. This time my apartment building was in the way by a couple feet. UGH!!! Last year it was because I was facing north and the dish needs to face south. So I was excited when I decided to move apartments and my new apartment was facing east. Unfortunately I did not factor in that the building would be in the way!!!

Then when AT&T tried to hook up my home phone and internet they ran into a problem because the building was wired wrong and guess who was the first person in the building to have AT&T service? So that took a couple extra days on top of them not being able to set up my initial appointment for a couple days after I moved. It made it a bit harder to look for jobs without internet. I am still getting a few nibbles a week but so far no interviews which is pretty frustrating.

Weight Loss Update:
Its now been 5 weeks since my surgery and I have lost a total of 14 lbs so far. I am still trying to balance getting my 60 grams of protein and staying within 1000-1200 calories. I have been so scared of not getting my protein that I sometimes go over my calories. I have heard a lot of stories about not getting enough protein post surgery like your hair falling out or your finger nails getting very weak and falling off. So I am glad that I have prevented any of that.
Also I have not thrown up which has been my other biggest fear. I also get to start exercising more this week so that should help too. Fri morning I have my first 'fill' which is when they inject the saline into the band to make it tighter.

Packing, Packing and More Packing

This weekend I am moving apartments. My lease is up at the end of May and I decided I should downsize from my 2 bedroom to a 1 bedroom and will save over $100 a month in doing so. I am staying in the same complex but moving to phase II which just opened a couple months ago. Last week the Apartment Office called to ask if I could move earlier than 5/2 since they have someone that wants to rent my apartment. So I decided I would rather make some money back by moving out earlier so this weekend was pretty much the only weekend my moving helpers are available.

I am recruiting Mike and a few Young Life kids to help with my move. In exchange I will be donating money for the kids to be able to go to camp. So its a win win for everyone. :)

My new apartment will be brand new which is exciting for still being in an apartment. It is also more energy efficient with a more open layout and oddly no bedroom door. I guess that is ok since it is just me living there. :)

Grammar Test

I got this spam email the other day and couldnt help but laugh at the grammar. I may be desperate but I dont think I would be this desperate. :)

• Hello!!!!I the lonely girl. To me of 28 years. I have found yours E-MAIL in agency of marriage. I have addressed in agency of marriage to find the man. I have paid to agency of marriage 8 $ to make questionnaire. I have in a stock there data and a photo. To me have shown photos of several men. I at once have decided to write to you the letter. Thus I have found you! But I search only for serious attitudes, please answer me. Harmony, understanding and belief also very much it is important. If you interesting corresponder with me also. Write to me on my personal e-mail: mmarinochka28@yahoo.com I hope you to me, you will answer!Your friend Marina!!

Week 2

So this week I went back to work. They werent very supportive and kinda gave me a hard time about being out for a week due to the surgery. My contract expires on Tues 3/31 so I decided not to stay. This will allow the temp agency to look for something else for me. I had to let them know I wasnt interested in renewing before they would be able to start looking for a new position for me and they also have to find a replacement for my current position.

I also had my post op visit with the Dr and he said everything looks good. I only lost 2lbs this week for a total of 12lbs. I think it has a lot to do with the protein shakes. I really havent found one that I like that I am supposed to have. The one I really like is higher in calories so I think that is what is making the difference.

Well thats about it for now.

Week 1

So I weighed myself today and have lost 10 lbs since my surgery. Yay! I have also learned that I am allergic to adhesive.

After the steri stips came off, I tried putting band-aids over my incisions but ended up breaking out where I put the band-aids. Something similar happened when I had my knee surgery so this just basically confirms it.

My incisions are healing nicely. My only complaint is the one that is near my bra line. Its easy to tell my surgeon is not female. ;)

Owie!

So I had my surgery a week ago today. I was no way prepared for the pain....OWWWIIIIEEEE! The worst area of pain is where the port is for the lap band. The port is actually stitched to a stomach muscle which is why it is so painful. I really wish someone had warned me about how painful it was going to be. I would have been much better prepared for it. A lot of people I have talked to said it would get better and it has. When I asked in my support group why no one warned me they said they didnt want to scare me. Well I wish they would have so that I would have been prepared for it.

Oh well its over now and I am on my way to a healthier me!

Back to Square One

So today I was supposed to have my Lap Band surgery...but I didnt get to.

Let me start by saying how much I despise United Healthcare and their evil ways. So back when my Drs office spoke to them to get them to send the denial letter and the person at UHC that they spoke to told them I didnt have an exclusion and that they would approve it. Too bad that person is a liar!

So now I am back to paying for the surgery myself and had to reschedule it for the 3rd time now. I will be having my surgery next Fri 3/13. I am trying not to be superstitious.

I have started my Favorite Foods Farewell Tour in which I will be having my 'Last Outback Supper' Sat night with family. Yum-o!

Scared the Crap Out of Me

Thurs night at about 1:15am, I am woken up by a knocking noise. Sounded like someone either knocking on the wall in the hallway of my apartment building or someone maybe falling down the stairs which run along my bathroom wall. Then someone bangs on my door a couple times but when I look out the peephole no one is there. I started to freak out. It wasnt normal knock on someone's door kind of noise either. So I went out to the living room so I can peer thru my blinds and before I can even get to the blinds I notice someone is shining a light into my window. I really started to freak out so I called 911 for the first time in my life. The operator was really nice and took my information and then went to see about dispatching someone.

Meanwhile the banging keeps happening every few mins or so I keep looking out the peephole and no one is there. The operator comes back and says that its the police outside my door. She said she would stay on the line with me as I opened the door and sure enough 2 officers are outside my door and I tell them 'Y'all scared the crap out of me!' They said that they received a call for my address (and apt #) and I told them that it wasnt me, I was dead asleep until I heard the pounding at the door. So they took my name and number and turns out the number they said that called them was a totally different number than mine.

Needless to say I had a hard time getting back to sleep and didnt sleep well at all.

Bariatric Support Group

So tonight I decided to go to my first Bariatric Support Group Meeting at Plano Presby (actually the name changed, its like Texas Health Plano Presbyterian Hospital now). It was good to go and get an idea of what I am in for with my upcoming Lap Band surgery. The group was pretty split between those that have had the Lap Band vs the 'sleeve' (the sleeve is where they actually cut out part of your stomach to make it smaller) vs re-routing (aka Gastric By-pass). Most of the people had their surgeries in Dec or Jan. There was one person that had it in July and a couple people that had it in Sept of last year.

Well they didnt scare me off with their stories yet and I did pick up a few tips for when I have my surgery. Only 2 more weeks!

Updates...

Several weeks ago I blogged about my unhealthy self and my decision to have Lap Band surgery. Originally when I decided to pursue the surgery back in Dec, I found out that my insurance would not pay for the surgery and I was really upset about it. However I was determined to do what I needed to do to turn my health around and was exploring options to pay for the surgery myself. I applied for financing but was declined due to some information on my credit bureau that I didnt know about. So I needed to get that cleaned up.

You may remember my extreme dislike of Time Warner Cable...well it has deepened even more. Apparently I still owed them $200 from almost 2 years ago when I lived in San Antonio and had switched cable companies. Unfortunately they never bothered to tell me I still owed this money and turned it over to collection agency who also never contacted me either. To top it off, when I was forced to use them again here in Plano they still neglected to collect this money. Now dont you think it would be in your best interest as a company that when you have someone over a barrel so to speak that you take advantage of that and get the money that someone owes you first before giving them service again! What a stupid way to run a business and even furthers my opinion of why I dislike them so much.

In addition there were 2 other companies that reported 1 late payment each which occurred when I had issues with the post office in San Antonio. I basically was not getting mail at all or when I did it was very late. I filed a complaint with the post office not that it really accomplishes anything and also contacted the companies that I received the bills late for to let them know what was happening. It sucks though because it still has an impact on my credit even though it wasnt my fault. I can understand the companies point of view since it isnt their fault either but it sucks because the post office is the one who is reponsible for the problem but it doesnt impact them at all. Just doesnt seem right.

Anyway I still decided to go ahead and use some of my savings to pay for the surgery and I would treat it as a loan from myself and pay it back over time. I scheduled the surgery for Fri 2/20.

I found out a couple weeks ago that when my Dr called the insurance company to get the letter of denial for the surgery, they said that there was not an exclusion in my policy and that they would be able to approve the surgery as long as we could provide my weight history for the last 5 years and as long as it reflected that I have been overweight for those 5 yrs. Apparently there was a change in my policy on Jan 1st. YAY! So all I had to do was track down information down. A little easier said than done. But I am happy to say I was able to track it down. I almost had to hop on a plane to retrieve my old MD files from a Dr that they were sent to in San Antonio since they would only release the info to me, in person. But with the help of the surgery coordinator at my Dr's office she was able to persuade them to release my weight info for 2004 which is what we needed.

The only drawback to this has been that I had to push back my surgery 2 weeks and it is now scheduled for Fri 3/6. I am very excited and am still a little cautious that the insurance company may change their mind again but at least I have a back up plan if needed.

Sorry for the long post but a lot has happened since my last post. :)

Gizmo is 2!

Its hard to believe that Gizmo is already 2. So he is either entering the terrible 2's or is a teenager if you convert it to human years. Yikes, either way it doesnt sound like fun. But I am not worried, I cant imagine him being a terrible 2 or a teenager so I think it will be ok.

I am attaching the pictures the breeders had sent me when I first found Gizmo, so I guess you could say its his baby pictures. :) Its crazy since he doesnt hardly look like this anymore. All his colored markings have faded. The 4th one from the left, he still does this when he wants to play which I think is really cute. Oh and the breeders had named him Scotty, isnt that funny? He definately does not look like a Scotty. ;)

The next couple are from when I first brought him home...

To think I almost called him Bandit because of the dark coloring around his eyes.

Who could resist a face like that?

A year old...you can see the subtle changes in his colors.

Another pic from 2007.

More recently...

My Unhealthy Self

So I think I am officially falling apart, getting old or I am just very unhealthy (or maybe I am all of the above). Back in Nov I had a physical (couldnt even tell ya the last time I had one).

So this is what I have found out about my unhealthy self...

• In the last year I have broken both heel bones (a year apart). The one I broke this year still hurts from time to time, a little more than I would like. I also learned I have Planter Facilitius (sp?) in that foot so that doesnt help.
• I have had upper back issues that started about 2 years ago.
• I am now considered 100lbs over weight. Its kind of taken a while for me to actually come to terms with being fat. In all honesty I look in the mirror and think I look ok. The best way to explain it is that its kind of the opposite of how an anorexic looks in the mirror and thinks they are fat. Its not until I look at pictures of myself that I realize 'wholy crap what happened to me!'
• I now have high cholesteral and have started taking medicine for it.
• Today I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. For the month of Dec I had to monitor it and of course it didnt get any better. So now I have added a new prescription to my collection.

Now I have tried different diets and in fact tried Weight Watchers 4 times and the most I have ever lost was 8lbs in like 6 months. I have also tried the gym route and even spent a lot of money on a trainer and lost a total of 15 lbs in 10 mos. So needless to say I have been very discouraged and that is why I decided I needed to go see my Dr and get a physical. I had also started researching Lap Band surgery prior to my physical. Ironically when I went to the Dr before I could even ask him about it, he actually suggested it to me.

I will write more about my quest for the Lap Band surgery soon. The Biggest Loser is on and I want to watch. :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I am hoping this year is a lot better than my last year. :) I spent New Years Eve over at my sister and her hubbys house. We watched some Dick Clark (and Ryan Seacrest) and played some Blokus. Gizmo got to play with his cousins. They played a little bit of tug of war but Calvin and Hobbs are so well behaved they didnt want to hurt little Gizmo so they would let him win, and Gizmo wanted them to drag him around. It was kinda funny to watch. :)

Well I hope everyone has a great 2009!