Getting to know me better!

I read this questionnaire this morning on Ginger's blog (waving)...so since she "tagged me", I figured I better post it here! :)

1. What is your occupation? Secretary (Assistant) and Office Manager when the mood strikes to a law firm (yawn);
2. What color are your socks right now? socks?
3. What are you listening to right now? nothing - not even the birds are up!
4. What was the last thing that you ate? pizza for dinner
5. Can you drive a stick shift? yup, but haven't done it in years (remember when we had to pay extra for automatics!
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? uhhh ... one of the blues
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? my sister (who ticked me off)
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? She tagged me - but yup, I likes her alot!
9. How old are you today? 48!
10. Favorite drink? Vanilla Coke Zero - oh how I miss it! I'm still buying it even though I can't drink it! I'm telling myself that crystal light is just as good and better for me ... still working on that!
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? you have to ask? NASCAR baby!
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? yes, especially when Mom is coming to visit!
13. Pets? 2 dogs (1 aging chocolate Lab, Hershey; 1 very loving border collie mix Zeke; 2 black cats - Max and Sabrina
14. Favorite food? Mexican - but we are sadly lacking a great Mexican restaurant in Simi.
15. Last movie you watched? No Reservations with Catherine Zeta Jones. Very good - and not as fluffy as I thought it was.
16. Favorite Day of the year? hmmm... not sure. Any day I don't have to work is on the list!
17. What do you do to vent anger? Yell, cry, pout - and then I get really quiet.
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? Breyer horses - had a whole bunch of them before my sisters broke their legs
19. What is your favorite season? Spring
20. Hugs or kisses? Hugs
21. Cherry or Blueberry? neither! I agree with Ginger - strawberry or raspberry!
22. Do you want your friends to respond? yes
23. When was the last time you cried? in January - recovering from surgery and wondering what the heck I had done!
24. What is on the floor of your closet? stuff that should be tossed out!
25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? whoever reads the blog!
26. Favorite smells? freshly mowed grass in the morning, and flowers in a florist shop.
27. Who inspires you? lots of people
28. What are you afraid of? car accidents
29. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? cheese!
30. Favorite car? Lexus anything!
31. Favorite cat breed? your basic domestic shorthair - 2 of them are running around my house!
32. Number of keys on your key ring? about 6 along with too much other stuff - it bugs my hubby!
33. How many years at your current job? 27 years
34. Favorite day of the week? Friday absolutely!
35. How many states have you lived in? one
36. Do you think you're funny? yes - humor gets me thru pretty much anything!

Okay, and now you've been tagged too! If you have a blog, pay it forward and play! If not, just have fun with it!

Trish

Sleep?

Well, true to the name of my blog, I'm having sleep issues. Today was yet another morning when I awoke at 5am and just couldn't get back to sleep. I'm sitting here watching dawn arrive (albeit a gloomy one) and so wishing I could just sleep for a bit longer. SIGH. The rest of the house, except for 1 dog and 1 cat are snoring ... Zeke thinks its time to play, and Max the cat is just being Max the cat and finding ways to irritate me even at this early hour.

Trish

where has the time gone?

Yikes! Time has flown and sitting here watching American Idol tonight, I suddenly remembered "hey I have a blog"! Then I forgot my logon (a bad sign!) and then couldn't believe the last date - yikes yikes yikes!

Anyway ... first off the weight loss! Yay - how fun is it to say "loss"? woohoo!!! To date, I've lost 26 lbs (give or take a couple either way) and can't wait to get a fill this Saturday. Yeppers, we're heading to Mexico - land of way too many earthquakes lately (none on Saturday please!).

This will be my first fill in the lapband and I'm not sure what to expect - I just don't wanna look at the needle! LOL! I have enough trouble with blood getting drawn - I certainly don't wanna see something going IN! I'm hoping the fill will give me some restriction - right now I've recovered from the surgery (thanks to Michelle and Buffy for ears, hearts and shoulders that I leaned on a LOT during my bouts of insanity and panic attacks); felt great when I didn't have hunger (mistakenly thought "hey whadya know, this is easy"), and then sadly discovered the thing they call "bandster hell" ... ay yi yi - the hunger comes BACK - and I think its very annoyed to be ignored so long! LOL! Sadly, I can eat pretty much anything I want ... not a good thing, but most days I do okay. But I've hung in (I've read that lots of people gain back all the weight they lose post-surgery) and I'm patting myself on the shoulder that I'm swinging only a couple of pounds up and then down. Good job me! hee hee hee

Second -- NASCAR is back!!! Waving to Dani (wooohooo chica, its baaaackkkkk!!!). The boys have been very busy with scout stuff so I've been watching the races alone, and totally enjoying it! First off, ESPN is nowhere around and Fox is back in control - yay yay yay! I love the crew - they are the BEST! The boys are off to the California race this Sunday (yet another meet and greet with hubby's man-wife Jimmie Johnson!) and great seats as well. Hopefully it won't rain (egads, hadn't even considered that thought - they'd have to go back on Monday? Yeah, that would be a fun excuse to tell the school huh?) Dani and I are hoping Tony wins soon so he can cut his hair! By the way, check out the funny Toyota commercial - http://youtube.com/watch?v=FNgalNFZt-c Gotta say the hair looks good on Tony in that one!

Third -- Brian helped me clean out my scrapbook room ... oh my gosh ... so so so so much stuff and way too little a room for it all!! We set up crates like they do with Clean House all labeled and we just tossed like crazy. I'm donating quite a bit to our Troop fundraising garage sale - yeehaw it'll be out of the room! I still have to go thru all the magazines and idea books (have 3 crates of those -- goodness), but most will be trashed and recycled. It felt SO good to finally see under the desk and in all the boxes ... ay yi yi ... yet again, so much stuff! LOL!

We all worked in the front garden this Saturday morning - our yard made the house look like it was in foreclosure so we all went out (yes, even me, for the first time in at least 5 years) ... we hacked, cut, sweat and filled up 2 huge trash containers with weeds and dreck ... and there's still more to go! Yeah, it was bad, but at least now it looks somewhat improved. We would have done more but we had an Eagle Court of Honor to attend (congrats to our 51st Eagle Scout, Jonathan), and then had to run out to the Scout House in Camarillo. It was a really nice day out ... we'll have to do that again! LOL!

Trish :)

And so ... my journey officially begins

Well, I'm here.

I'm standing near the start line. For those who are familiar with Nascar racing, the command to Start your Engines has just been shouted! Now to wait for the green flag!

I am officially scheduled for weight loss surgery at the end of December. I have researched methods of surgery, locations, doctors - you name it, I've checked it, read about it, printed it, memorized it and even dreamt about it. I have checked so many BMI calculators (and yup, you'll be happy to know they all say the same darn thing -- irritating things, should be banned); weighed myself on the mega scale I had to have - no getting around THAT number ... but I know that its the last time I'll see THAT number so off with its head!

SO with all that said and my humor a bit wonky but still firing ... I'm ready!

I admit that I wasn't quite so ready for the emotional roller coaster that picked me up! I came home on a total high from meeting my surgeon (who answered every question, had no ego, and just put me totally at ease) on Saturday, and I have been up and down to extremes ever since. As I told El tonight, I might have to to back on prozac for awhile in order to protect those around me! Ack!

Brian told me tonight he is so proud of me for making this decision ... my darling hubby is my rock. He just thinks it will be fabulous to have me next to him in bed instead of piles of laundry! Course, I may have to get some Downy perfume so he doesn't miss the laundry, but we'll cross that road when we get there!

To those who have listened to me lose my mind these last couple of days - thank you from the bottom of my fat little heart! I promise I'm going to get a handle on this ... but just knowing you're there is so unbelievably comforting. When I start to lose it, I think of all of you and what you all mean ... I am blessed to be surrounded by so much love.

Trish

Fires and the Winds - never a good mix

The winds are unbelieveable and so many fires are going it seems no matter where you look there's smoke and ash.

My friend Marie's husband Tom is up flying his water dropping helicopter for L.A. County today - he was on the job until 2am this morning. How he flies in this wind, and then gets the water dropped right on the spot where its supposed to go is simply amazing. Meanwhile, my friend's mom's neighbor's house burned to the ground last night out in Canyon Country; thankfully her Mom's home was spared. Tom did a flyover and checked on it for her so she could rest easier too.

Meanwhile my friend Heidi is in escrow for a home that has now been ordered for voluntary evacuation. She says that maybe closing escrow now isn't such a good idea! Oh my.

For those in the area of these fires or for those who are fighting them or have loved ones fighting them - be safe.

So where did this month go to?

So, I FINALLY check my blog and see my last post was October 4th.
Its now October 21st - how on earth did that happen?

I know I lost a lot of time simply because the charming kidney stones came back with a vengence, and I didn't want to do anything at all with anyone at any time! LOL Anyway, after a couple of lost weekends, I seem to be back to Trish's version of "normal" this weekend. And (woohoo) I've even had some diet vanilla coke (I know, I know, but geez, its diet coke and it calls me!) but I've learned to balance - have a diet coke, then crystal light to wash it thru those mean, stone-producing kidneys of mine! And thanks to some advice from my "island" friend Karen, I'm including a lot of orange juice. Acidic drinks are my friend! (grin)

So here's a quick rundown of what I would have posted about had I not resembled a pathetic mound on the couch ....

(Speed - this one is for you!) Talledega race ... only ABC could make this race boring and teamed with the COT, its turned into a virtual slumber fest. NASCAR needs to fix this. When Jr. got out of the car and said how bored he was (and he's driving), there's a problem. Ack. I did like the finish - Jeff is definitely on the fast track to a championship. Last weekend was the Lowe's race - Jimmie shoulda, woulda, but apparently couldn'ta! But Jeff, now in full Chase mode, won another race which brings him closer to another championship. He is, as they say, on fire! I read online today that Rusty Wallace is gone, gone, gone from the ABC booth so we'll see if that improves, but I really don't think he was "the" problem. Basically, ABC just needs to hire the Fox Nascar crew for the season and then it will be fixed! Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, bring back Darryl Waltrip boys!

(and now for the non-racing news!!)

Brian has found something at school to be excited about - working on the stagecraft crew! Oh my gosh - I think this is the most excited I've seen him about school in ages! This entire week he has gone to school at 7:15 (he prefers to drive with Dad in the mornings cuz he said he isn't late that way - harumph). Most days he is in class until 5pm, but this week his 8th & 9th stagecraft class didn't end until 9pm each night since they were in rehearsals for a play this weekend. I was very worried about the hours, and the balance of homework, etc., yet Brian just rose to the occasion. He had a blast, he was exhausted, and he loved every darn moment of it. He thinks the actors are totally cool, the crew is cool, everything is so darn cool! Well, except me most of the time! Brian's friends think I'm very cool which makes him question the sanity of his friends! LOL! They got the news last night after the final show that they have been asked to present the same play at a local middle school. Brian was asked to participate and is just thrilled.

The big eye opener this week was realizing that other parents simply don't think their child needs to eat - despite the child asking for dinner while having a similar school schedule and working until 9pm with Brian. Brian's friend's parents told their son "we're busy" so he wasn't going to get any food. What the heck is up with that? So, 3 days this week, I picked up dinner for him and Brian. I then found out the boy's parents were too "busy" to pick their son up at school at 9pm and expected him to walk home. He lives at the east end of Simi ... approx. 5-6 miles from the school. He didn't walk home - that is just unacceptable to me. The last time I drove him home, their car was in the driveway. Busy, busy, uh-huh sure.

(and now a little proud parent moment) Brian went to an "after show" dinner with his tech crew at Denny's. He wanted to be sure he had enough money to tip the waitress. He even called me to verify how much he should tip and said okay, he had enough. Yesterday, he told me that the waitress told him he was one of the nicest, most polite young men she had served (and that was before the tip!) I tell ya - you hope and hope that some of what you teach sticks ya know, and when you hear something like this, it fills up those reserve tanks that get depleted with all the "but Mom, you don't understand" arguments!

Grocery shopping - is anyone else noticing the prices? Yikes! It finally got me back into couponing this week and shopping the specials. So our fridge, freezer and cupboards are packed (and dare I say it - we even bought lots of healthy stuff) and hopefully I can keep up with boring coupons (it was a lot more fun when they would double them without all the restrictions - aah, those were the days!).

Moving out of state - yep, we're still thinking about it. The only thing we seem to lack is a firm destination at this point! We were so positive about Prescott, AZ, but now we wonder if making a living there is indeed feasible. I really hope so, as even with all the growth, its a place we really do love. I've been playing around online and re-checking Oregon as we both loved it up there. I have just decided to adopt this philosophy that when its time, we'll figure it out, make a trip to Prescott and check out employment areas. Until then though, we'll enjoy ourselves here.

I'm hoping to go to a crop on Nov. 3 with Ginger. Its close by and even though most of the divas can't go, it'll be a nice day out and I get to see Ginger, Ginger's Mom and Diva Kathy. Just knowing we can kick back, laugh and focus on scrapping for the day sounds great to me! Meanwhile, I'm planning yet another trip to the Ikea store after realizing that the current set up in my scrapbooking room isn't working and won't work. So, time to take stuff down and store it until we move, and time to put something in that will work. You know I think the money in scrapbooking is in organizational items - none of which seem to work for everyone or for very long so we buy more! (Okay, so maybe they're not used to scrappers having so much stuff!!!) Anyway, regroup and restart, that's my motto!

Have a great week everyone ... and hopefully I'll check back here a little more often!

It's Almost Here ...

I admit it, totally and completely ... I'm SO excited about Sunday and the Nascar race from Talledega! woohoo!

Speed -- hey girl it's almost time!!! woohoo!

Life would be just perfect if ABC/ESPN weren't involved - what'd I'd give for Fox Sports to be broadcasting on Sunday.

Trish