Still “Lost”, Among Other Things…

I finally got all caught up on “Lost” today and watched the series finale.  Don’t worry, no major spoilers here if you are a fan of the show and haven’t caught up yet.  But I must say this about it: HUH, WHAT?!?  I thought the finale was going to tie up everything and answer all, but I’m still left with a lot of questions and confusion…  Do any of you watch the show, maybe have some insight on the ending?  Please comment if so!   I sort of understand the very ending, but it makes me question most of the entire series and things that happened – not really sure if I totally understand any of it now!

I’m also not very pleased with a lot of the season finales at the moment.  I feel like in almost every show I watch, someone was either shot or hurt in some way, all of which were good characters who I want to see come back next year!  Again, no real spoilers here, since I know I absolutely hate it when someone spoils it for me.  Also, how on Earth is Supernatural coming back next season – where do you go from the Apocalypse???

I am very excited for this summer of talent shows, including:

and 

I have always loved SYTYCD, and I’m very curious how they are going to run the competition this year by bringing back past contestants to partner with new finalists.  I’m also excited to see Mia Michaels on the judging panel.  Mary Murphy is obviously great at critiquing ballroom dances, but even I was starting to get tired of her constant screaming/screeching!  I will miss seeing Mia’s choreography though – hopefully she will at least create a group routine or something.  As for America’s Got Talent, I have watched every show of every season so far, but have not always been a great “fan” of it due to some of the ridiculous acts they pass through while saying no to some acts that clearly have more talent.  I started liking the show a whole lot more the year they passed through the very first baton twirler, a male twirler at that!  They still say yes to some pretty outrageous acts in the initial auditions, but at least the finalists have been much better and much more deserving (unlike Boy Shakira and Leonid the Magnificent, if you watch and remember those “guys”).  I am glad to see “The Hoff” go and Howie Mandel taking his place.  He should make for some very comedic and entertaining judging.

So, what are some of your favorite shows?  Anything in the finales that you would like to comment about?  Oh – and also very upset that “Heroes” was canceled!  They even showed the preview for the next “chapter” as they call it, but my hubby informed me the other week that it has now been canceled…

On a side note, nothing relating to TV, I had some very yummy peanut butter frozen yogurt on a cone from Schell’s Dairy Swirl tonight.  I had a very low-cal day today, and finally had some calories left to indulge in a sugar free/fat free Rita’s gelati, but they were closed when we got there, so we ended up with the frozen yogurt instead.  However, I have no idea how many calories were in that treat, but it was so good, and I enjoyed every lick of it!   :)  Not sure how the Wii Fit Board will respond to it tomorrow though…

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!  No plans here this year.  In a way I wish we did have something planned, but no one was doing a picnic this year, and we don’t have the outdoor space ready for something nice yet.  We should start to get somewhere with that on Wednesday though – but I’ll save all that for another post!  Thank you to all the men and women who currently serve or have served our country!

(TV Show logo photos courtesy of their Wikipedia sites)

Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

TGIF!  I hope you all enjoy your 3 day weekend, if you are lucky enough to have Memorial Day off.  We don’t have any special plans this year.  My uncle did a little picnic last year, but is not able to this year, so at the moment, no plans. 
Here is my pick for the day:
Jaspy sleeping – he looks so sweet when he sleeps!  I just love this picture of him (looks awesome in B&W too!).  He’s definitely a “Momma’s Boy” – an entire house to lounge where he wants, but he always seems to be near me.  He’s sitting on the floor next to me as I enter this!
Enjoy the weekend!

Bad Ending to a Good Trip

So, I would like to thank the woman who did the Invocation at my brother-in-law’s graduation ceremony for totally ruining the finale of “Lost” – thanks, lady!  :(   Some of us have been busy and are not quite caught up with our DVR…I mean, she didn’t give every little detail away, but decided to start her entire speech by giving away the very premise of the finale and then somehow relate it to the college graduates.  I was very upset about that!  Overall, however, the ceremony went pretty well – the honorary degree recipient/guest speaker was actually easy to listen to and made a very fitting and interesting speech geared towards the graduates and their life as it begins now that college is over.  Her name is Jane Bryant Quinn, if you ever heard of her.

As posted before, we went to The Chart House for dinner, and were seated at one of the tables right at the big windows overlooking the river and NYC.  Menus are printed daily at this restaurant in order to list the fresh fish catches for the day.  When my MIL made the reservation, she told them we would be celebrating a college graduation, so for the special occasion they printed special menus just for our table:  (Must be something new they do, because we didn’t get this when we went for our first wedding anniversary, and they knew about that.)  I ate entirely way too much…a couple of the family even left feeling ill from overindulging.  Very easy to do there.  We started off sharing fried asparagus in a bleu cheese butter sauce and crab stuff mushrooms.  Then came the best lobster bisque I have ever eaten (they even give you your own pewter crock with lid and all – sorry, no pictures – I was too eager to start enjoying to remember to take one!).  After that was our main courses, I ordered “Shrimp Fresca”, which was angel hair pasta topped with a very light cream sauce, tomatoes, and 5 very large butterflied shrimp that were panko breaded and fried.  Again, sorry no picture – still too eager to enjoy and remember to snap one.  Half of that went home, in order to leave room for the specialty dessert, so special that it must be ordered at the beginning of the meal in order to have enough time to prepare it.  This one I got a picture of:

Chocolate Lava Cake!  They even specially decorated Al’s dessert plate to say “Congrats Graduate” in chocolate (well, really the plate decorator screwed up a little and wrote “Congrat Graduete”, but it’s the thought that counts, right?), and put a candle on top to blow out.  My in-laws have the picture of this.  So, all-in-all it was a wonderful dinner, and I apologized to my Wii Fit board in advance!   :)

The drive home, however, was not so wonderful.  After today I have now told my hubby that I will not drive to his parents again, unless his car is so broken down that we won’t make it there.  This is now the second time that I’ve had a car issue on I-78W coming home from his parents house.  Today’s issue was nowhere near as severe as the first time (e-mail me/comment if you are curious about what happened then), but still distressing.  I now have to take my car tomorrow morning to replace one of my tires, hopefully at no charge if I’m lucky enough to be within the warranty.  I got a flat tire – air leaking from the valve and collapsed/deformed sidewall.  Not sure what caused which, but it was not a happy find.  I had to drive the rest of the highly traveled, very speedy highway at about 20 MPH less than fellow drivers with my four way flashers on.  Thank God for AAA!!!

So fun day ahead – taking my car in the morning for the tire, then taking my hubby to the dentist in the afternoon.  Sounds like a fun-filled day to me!  Please note the sarcasm….

Celebration!

I’m currently in NJ at my in-laws for my brother-in-law’s college graduation tomorrow. Not that it matters much in my scheduling, but why does a college think it’s a good idea to have a graduation ceremony on a weekday during working hours? Most parents and important relatives should have no problem getting off work for this occasion, but I still just don’t get it. I’m guessing it’s not going to be a huge graduating class, since it’s only scheduled for about 2 hours, and I’ve never heard of the guest speaker, so hopefully she’s interesting…

After the ceremony activities, we will be going to The Chart House for dinner. I have only been there about 3 times, mostly due to it’s location and the fact that it’s a fairly pricey restaurant. But it’s delicious and holds special meaning for me – it’s where my hubby proposed to me the day after Christmas in 2005, and where we went to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. It’s a beautiful restaurant with an awesome view of NYC. It's located right on the water’s edge of the Hudson River, and is gorgeous at night. They have delicious cuisine and a great atmosphere. So – goodbye diet (for tomorrow evening anyway)! I plan on enjoying every bit of an amazing meal.

So congratulations to Al, receiving his BA in Applied Psychology and minor in Computer Science – best wishes and good luck in future endeavors!

And on a side note, I made myself some new pretties to wear tomorrow too! Look for them to be added soon to my Artfire site (http://www.artfire.com/users/MyStyleCrafts) – but for now, here’s some pics:

Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

It’s Friday again! I hope you all have something fun planned for this weekend.
I thought I would feature Dusty again this week, since Jaspy (Jasper’s well-used nickname) had the spotlight last week. Here he is, with all of his cuteness:
Way back, when we first brought them home, they had a small bed to share. This picture was taken when the boys were a little over 3 months old, so they no longer fit in the bed together anymore. But Dusty still loved sleeping in their bed, that is until it had to be thrown out because Jasper peed it in and totally ruined the foam structure! My dad was visiting us in NJ and decided to tuck Dusty in with his raggy cuddle towel – I thought it was adorable, since he slept right through it and stayed that way, so of course, perfect photo op! However, to this day, we have not been able to have a bed for them because Jasper likes to pee in them for some reason. He even cost us a $40 dog bed once, which they only had for a week or less! Same issue – the foam was ruined and could not be cleaned well enough for continued use. I’m still looking into ones that can be thrown entirely into the washing machine, but haven’t decided on splurging for it yet.
I hope you enjoy his adorable face as much as I do! Have a great weekend!

20! And other things…

I finally reached 20! Not 20 years old…hit that almost 9 years ago. 20 pounds! I finally made it to the 20 pound mark in my weight loss, yay! I struggled a lot to reach that over the past 2 weeks. Even when I was really good with what I ate, I just seemed to stay kind of stagnant, or even increase in weight, but I finally made it today! I certainly have a long, long way to go, even a lot more just to reach the shorter term goal I had, but 20 pounds shed seems like a good milestone to me. I was very happy with my Wii Fit today. :) I’m headed to my in-laws on Sunday until Tuesday for my brother-in-law’s college graduation, and low-cal eating is never much of an option at their place, so we’re trying to plan in advance and take food options with us, hoping to avoid any big setbacks. I really need to stay on track as much as and as often as possible, so here’s hoping for the best from this visit!

I also got my biopsy results yesterday from my dermatology appointment, and I’m very happy to say that everything came back normal! That’s a huge sigh of relief on my part. I do still have to go back in November for a re-check on all my current spots, but if everything still looks good then, I most likely will only have to go back once a year or every other year.

Happy news all around so far this week. Tomorrow is Favorite Kitty Pic Friday, so remember to check back for your weekly dose of cute/funny! I still need to pick a photo, thinking I’ll feature Dusty again since Jasper had the spotlight last week.

New Craft Item

I’m actually posting twice today! The Chinese food post was supposed to get put on here yesterday, but I was having photo problems, so you get two today. Something might be wrong with the orientation sensor in the camera. :( My very computer savvy hubby saved the day yet again by figuring out how to correct the camera’s issue in the computer, so I have some sort of fix now for any future problems (yay, thank you!).

Anyway, back to this post – I finally made a new catnip cat mat! I’ve had the material for a while, but just no motivation to make it. I have a very old sewing machine, handed down from my parents, and it gets the simple jobs done, but sometimes it’s a real pain to deal with. The yard sale this past weekend was finally my motivation to get it done, since I was setting up with some of my handmade items. Unfortunately, I didn’t sell it at the yard sale, but that means it’s still available!

It measures approximately 34.5 inches long by 21.5 inches wide and is made from cotton fabric, and to attract the kitties, 100% certified organic catnip. If you’re reading this, and interested in this item for one of your own feline family members or a friend’s feline family member that you think deserves some spoiling, check it out on my craft selling site:

http://www.artfire.com/users/MyStyleCrafts

There’s only a few other items on there at the moment, but check back often because I have a few new things to work on and add in the, hopefully, near future!

At Home Chinese “Take Out”

I recently discovered Hungry Girl, and I absolutely love her! My hubby and I love Chinese food (he loves it even more than me), so I have been trying to figure out Chinese-like recipes to make at home since we are dieting, with no great similarities to really satisfy the craving. Hungry Girl does a lot of healthier, lower calorie alternatives for favorite fast foods and restaurant meals. So I turned to her website for recipes for some of our favorite Chinese take out choices. I found some awesome recipes, and we tried them 2 nights ago. We picked 4 items off the "menu", which now in retrospect was too many. Each individual recipe seems fairly quick and easy enough, but combine all 4 together, and it took a couple hours to prepare! Thankfully, my hubby was a great help with chopping, prepping, rolling, and even made one of the recipes totally by himself! Anyone that knows us knows that he does not cook at all, so I was pleasantly surprised and grateful. Even with his help, however, we still didn't eat until about 10pm...
Our meal consisted of:
-"Wowowow! Wonton Soup"
-"Shrimpylicious Egg Rolls"
-"Crab Rangoonies"
-"So Low Mein w/Chicken"
(all named by and courtesy of Hungry Girl)
The amount of food was ridiculous! I couldn't even finish it all, and neither could he, but the meal was supposed to be 611 calories for one serving of each item. The serving sizes were as follows:
-2 wontons with 1 cup of "soup" (broth and veggies)
-2 egg rolls
-4 crab rangoons
-1/4 of the total amount of lo mein (I used my very large chicken fryer pan to make it, and the whole recipe filled the pan pretty well)
Imagine what the calorie count, fat content, and sodium would have been for the same amount of food from a real Chinese take out place!
The egg rolls were probably our least favorite part of the whole meal, especially because I'm not a huge fan of egg rolls to begin with, and Joe is so he had high expectations for them. Our favorite part: the crab rangoons! They were awesome!

               

I don’t know much about her copyrights and such, so if I’ve peaked your interest in her at all, just search for “Hungry Girl”, and you should have no problem finding her site.  She also has books published available for purchase at multiple locations.  I’m excited to try her version of corn dogs next – I even bought the appropriate hot dogs already!   :)

Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

TGIF! Which also means favorite pic #2 of my kitties...hope you all have a great weekend!

This is just too funny! I caught Jasper bathing himself in the recliner one day, and was just snapping pictures of the funny way he was "sitting" (I've read they call this the Buddha position for cats) and managed to get this shot. Cracks me up every time I look at it!

Big Sigh of Relief

I had my appointment with the dermatologist today - his name is Dr. Daniel Shurman and he is with Family Dermatology of Reading. After just one visit, I highly recommend him to anyone needing this particular specialist, and I thank my aunt very much for recommending him to me! He was very nice, and knowing I was extremely nervous about this appointment, tried to keep me at ease. The assistant, Nicole, was absolutely wonderful too. I told her how nervous I was about the visit, and that I can be a big baby when it comes to needles, and she was very caring and understanding. They were both very easy to talk to and really listened to everything I said - and sometimes I probably talk too much to doctors, which most of the time is just nervous chatter. But anyway, enough flattery to my doctor - on to my appointment...

I had to fill out the usual paperwork, they asked the usual questions, and he did a quick skin check all over. He said that it's perfectly normal for skin tags and freckly spots to change and/or grow over time, as long as they are not multi-colored or asymmetrical. He felt as though all my spots seemed to be fairly normal and of no concern at this time. The mole that started off all of this panic was removed (I will spare you the gory details - and no icky pics of any of it either), mainly because it was becoming larger and could eventually get snagged on or irritated from rubbing on my clothes. Overall, he said it looked to be a typical mole, worthy of no other cause for concern. It will be sent for testing anyway, as is office policy with any biopsy or removal, and I should know the results either way in about 2 weeks. I was in and out of the exam room in about 25-30 minutes, and only waited about 5 or 10 minutes after finishing the paperwork. I felt about 50 times better after the visit was over - it's amazing how anxiety can wreak havoc on you! Even my hubby said "welcome back" later on and how he could see the difference in me compared to how I was earlier today and yesterday.

So the worst part of the whole visit was the local anesthetic. The needle was nothing compared to the actual anesthetic itself - that stuff can really burn! Kind of makes me feel like it contradicts itself...supposed to be numbing, but causes a decent amount of discomfort to get there! Now the numbness has definitely worn off, and I feel pretty sore in that area. It started feeling mostly like a bruise, but it has gotten a little worse as the night went on, and cleaning with peroxide didn't feel too great, so I will be taking some pain medicine and hoping for a restful, comfortable night. Now I just wait for my test results and hope there's nothing abnormal about them. I'm not nearly as nervous about that, especially since he seemed to think it was pretty normal, but I'm sure some worried thoughts might creep in there every now and then until I know for sure. Keeping my fingers crossed and thinking positive!

I didn't get any crafting done today due to this appointment, lack of concentration, and no motivation, so I'm hoping to accomplish a lot tomorrow for the yard sale at my parents on Saturday. Also, I will be making a made-over Chinese takeout dinner tomorrow, courtesy of recipes from Hungry Girl. On the menu: wonton soup, crab rangoons, shrimp egg rolls, and chicken lo mein. 1 serving of each item comes to a total of 611 calories! It's a little more than my usual calorie count for dinner, so I will have to adjust my calorie intake accordingly earlier in the day, but could you just imagine what the calorie count would be at for all that food from a Chinese takeout place?!? Maybe I'll figure it out and post it with an update on how everything turned out.

PS - Happy Birthday to my dad! Didn't get to see him today, but possibly will tomorrow evening. Hope he likes his gifts!

Oh, anxiety!

I have an appointment with a dermatologist tomorrow...this appointment makes me very nervous because I have no idea what to expect from it or what the outcome of it will be. If it were for some silly little rash or acne, or some other general cosmetic issue, I wouldn't have this nervous feeling. However, I am going to have some "spots" checked out that don't necessarily fall into the "normal" look for these types of things. I have red hair and light skin, so I have always had a lot of freckles all over, and I have always had skin tags, as I call them - whether that's what they're really called or not - and moles tend to run in my family. But there has been one more recently that has caused some concern due to how it's changing, which then brought my attention to a few other spots that should probably get some medical attention as well. I am very nervous for this appointment for a number of reasons:

1. I have always had a fear of needles or anything else sharp in a medical setting. This has gotten better with age and experience (I can handle vaccines now, and I know what to expect from blood tests), but I have had a few very unpleasant, if not traumatic, other experiences/procedures as well, so that fear and anxiety is still lingering. Especially with the unknown.

2. The fact that this appointment is new and unknown to me. I do not know what they will think, I do not know what they will need to do and if it will involve those unpleasant pointy or sharp objects (biopsy, scraping, removal, etc.). Simply put, I do not know what to expect in the least.

3. I do not know what the outcome of the appointment will be. I am a graduate from the Muhlenberg School District, and even just from that aspect, my thoughts go to worst possible scenarios. If you are not familiar with why I say that, let me explain. The high school discovered some very nasty things buried in the grounds when they went to renovate athletic fields and such. Since finding these things, and graduating from there, I know quite a few people from my class and the class after me that have been diagnosed with some form of cancer, one of whom has even passed away. So, what they will discover, if anything, worries me a great deal.

To some people, having some spots or moles checked out might not seem as big a deal as some other kind of medical issue, but to me it's very scary and nerve-wracking. I will update the results of the visit after tomorrow - wish me luck!

Weight Loss and Family

I haven't heard it much lately, but people have already asked me when I plan on having children. My response used to be "When I have a house". Well, we now have a house, so now my response has been "When I lose some weight". I will not mention actual weights in this post, but I was always a healthy weight (actually perfect weight) through my childhood and high school days. After starting college, my freshman 15 turned into a good 30, and continued higher and higher from there. Part of my weight gain was the fact that I wasn't eating very healthy, which I never did during my younger years, but combined with a sudden decrease in activity, it was a very bad combination for my metabolism and body. Since graduating high school, I have gained a total of approximately 97 pounds in 10 years. Over the years I have tried a few times to lose weight, with some success here and there, but that not-so-good-for-me-but-oh-so-yummy food always called to me and roped me back in to gluttonous eating habits, making the pounds come back with extra friends. One year I was even tested for thyroid problems and diabetes, since they run in the family, and thankfully the tests came back negative. So, in looking to start a family, I did not foresee having a healthy pregnancy with the extra weight I carry around. All I could imagine was bed rest and all sorts of complications due to hypertension, gestational diabetes, etc.

So my husband and I have started "dieting" yet again. We began back in February, and our weight loss plan is based on counting calories. We have figured out how many calories we are allowed to eat in a day in order to lose a certain amount per week. I'm allowed 1121 calories/day, which is no problem most days, and some days very hard. We do "cheat" every now and then, but since starting I have lost 18 pounds (he is down 20!). I would probably have lost even more by now if we hadn't cheated as much as we have, but for the most part I am on my way. We have tried this method of dieting before, with success, but holidays with not-so-healthy foods always tempt us back into weight gain. Other than just wanting to lose weight, I never had a serious motivator. Until now. Wanting to start a family has been my main motivator this time, and keeping healthy as well as raising a healthy family will continue to be my motivation in the future. I had a goal to lose a total of 40 pounds by July, which seems like a lot, but was attainable at the time I set that goal. With some of the cheating we have done, I still have approximately 25 pounds to go by then, so it may no longer be attainable at this time, but I'm certainly going to try!

We went to go visit my grandmother yesterday for Mother's Day. I have not seen her for about a month. One of the first things she said to me was "You're getting skinny!". That made me feel so good, especially coming from her! Keep in mind, this is the same grandmother who went prom dress shopping with me in high school and decided to "announce" from the dressing room that I couldn't fit into a certain dress because I was "too chunky" (style of dress didn't fit my body shape). I was kind of embarrassed at the time, but she was only being honest, and I love that quality about her. I can always count on her to tell me the truth, whether I like it or not. I get enough of the typical grandmotherly love from my other one - you know, how you are perfect to them in every way, no matter what. So to hear that from her, to have her notice that I'm losing weight just by looking at me and not knowing that I did lose or how much, made me feel really good. It's hard to visibly see it myself, since I look in the mirror everyday and there's not a huge difference from day to day, but I have noticed some extra room in my clothes lately.

So I will continue to try my best to meet my goal by my deadline - it might not happen at this rate, but I will be very glad to lose whatever I can by then. I have a long way to go, so that is just my short term goal, but it's a start! Stay tuned for updates...maybe even some before and after photos later on when I have lost enough to show off some "after" photos!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms or soon-to-be moms reading this! I hope you all feel appreciated and loved always, but especially today. Enjoy the day and time with your family!

My mom and I always clashed a lot when I was younger and still lived with my parents. To this day, we still have our arguments, but our relationship is so much better now that I live on my own. Whether she knows it or not, I do appreciate her, probably a lot more now that I am not with her 24/7. Certain things she does still drives me nuts at times, but she is also very giving, caring and understanding. We're not a very sappy, "lovey" family, so it hardly ever gets said out loud, but I love my mom very much, and I hope she knows just how much, and how she is appreciated in my life.

And if it weren't for these mothers, my mom wouldn't be my mom (aka my grandmothers!):

My mom's mother - Grandmom Boyer

My dad's mother - Grandmom Weaver

So again, Happy Mother's Day! :)

Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

So, I decided to do what I mentioned in my previous post introducing my kitties, and even kept the name. Every Friday, if possible, I will post a favorite picture of one or both of my kitties. I will try to tell you something about the particular kitty or give an explanation of the photo. If I can't think of something to say about them that day, there will be another fun cat fact or saying - and if I really can't seem to pick a picture of my kitties for the day, I will share a different funny or cute kitty picture that I find elsewhere. So to kick off Favorite Kitty Pic Friday, here you go!

This is Dusty during one of the first few days after we brought them home. We were living in our apartment at the time, and Joe walked into the bathroom to find this! Dusty apparently found the tissue box on the back of the toilet very cozy and comfy. I caught him in there at least one or two other times after this picture was taken. He was so little and cute! He's a bit bigger now, but still the smaller of the two, and definitely still cute! :)

They both bring a smile to my face at least once a day, so I'm hoping in sharing some of their cute or silly photos, they can at least bring a smile to you once a week. Enjoy Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

Allow me to introduce....

....my kitties! :) Meet Jasper and Dusty - they are wonderful additions to the family (well, most of the time)! The boys are 3 years old now, and will turn 4 around the end of August. They are like my children, especially since there are no real kids yet...


When we first brought them home....I can't believe they were so small then! Jasper is at the top, Dusty at the bottom.










And now...


All grown up! Dusty is on the left, Jasper on the right. They look mean in this picture! I don't have very many pictures of the two together in one shot though, so I picked the clearest one. I promise, Dusty is a sweetheart, and normally very adorable in his pictures. He kept his "kitten-face" as I always say. Jasper on the other hand can be a bit of a grump with anyone other than Joe or I - so beware when petting!


Since some of my posts will be about these guys, I thought I would give them an introduction first. I will share some stories of their life, as well as mine - think "Marley and Me" - and some of my favorite pictures from kitten onward. Look for "Favorite Kitty Pic Friday" or something along those lines in the future! I love my boys! :)