The New Year's Quiz That Everyone Has Done

I'm jumping on the bandwagon with this one. Why not right?

1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?
Went to LA. I think that's about it. It was part of the California leg of my husband's Great Baseball Quest.  Tried beets- I'd never had them before. While I like them, I don't like making them. I pickled some carrots. I bought an iPhone.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I'm not really into the whole New Year's Resolutions things, so no and yes or simply N/A?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My sister-in-law (married to my youngest brother) had a baby boy! The first on our side, after five girls between my sister and I.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My grandmother. She was old, and it was her time. A peaceful passing. She'll be missed. My husband's grandmother died this year as well. But I wasn't close to her, having met twice in the 18 years I've been with my husband.

5. What countries did you visit?
Does Guadalupe, AZ count as part of Mexico? Otherwise, nowhere other than the USA.

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
A waistline.

7. What dates from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Oh gods, I have no idea. It was a pretty low key year. No super highs and no super lows. For a couple of weeks in April, it seemed like we'd be transferred to Texas, but that didn't happen. Maybe my brother's wedding in May.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I'm down 11 pounds since Thanksgiving week. Go me!

9. What was your biggest failure?
I don't know. Like I said, it wasn't a bad year. DH & I got into it pretty bad in February because he was being an asshole for a protracted period of time. Maybe we weren't the nicest to each other for the first quarter of the year.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing huge. The regular aches and pains of being in my mid 30's.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
We used our tax return to buy a brand new set of Caphalon pans and a few LeCreusets. They're AWESOME.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage, daycare

13. What did you get really excited about?
The same things I always get excited about- no kids during the summer. New books by Terry Prachett and Julia Quinn. The first box of Thin Mints of the year.

14. What song will always remind you of 2013?
Blurred Lines, Royals

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Happier.
– thinner or fatter? Thinner
– richer or poorer? Richer

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Cardio

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Eating crap from the drive-through

18. How did you spend Christmas?
At our house. I refuse to leave the house on Christmas. We were up by 7. Did presents, skyped with my parents, made cinnamon rolls from a tube. Cooked a turkey. Had over some relatives and neighbors to eat dinner with us.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
My shameful secret- I love TV. The Office ending was so sad and happy at the same time. Now I need to find something else that I love as much as I loved this show.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
Eleanor & Park 
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? 
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore 

21. What was your favorite music from this year?

I loved the summer music. Blurred Lines was awesome to car dance to. Discovering the magic of Lorde. It was also the year of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
Frozen. It's really going to be a Disney classic. It was SO GOOD.
Fast & Furious 6
Don Jon
Warm Bodies
The Heat


23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned the big 3-5 in August. The husband and I went out to dinner at some point, I think.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I don't know that I have an answer. It was a good year. It would be hard to improve on it.

25. What kept you sane?
For better or worse, my husband

27. Share a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.

I have a pretty damn good life, so I shouldn't take it for granted. My husband puts up with a lot of crap and is a much better person than I am all around.


28. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
From Thrift Shop- "This is fucking awesome."

It's a Christmas Miracle!

I'm down to 197.3. Totally blew through my expected goal of 200 by year end. And, I've had social obligations where eating and drinking occurred. I've been eating really clean between social commitments, being active, everything. This is working for me, and I'm going to keep at it. 

Weight Loss Journey Has Begun

Over the summer, I went to my gyno, because I was having really irregular periods. I was on the doctor's scale for the first time in years. My state of denial of what I really weighed was shattered in an instant. I weighed 224 lbs. That's more than my Dad weighs, and he's 6 feet tall. Then, even more bad news. My gyno tells me that I'm most likely in peri-menopause, brought on by my obesity. This is what every 35 year old wants to hear. My blood pressure is also high. Honestly, I felt like shit walking out there that day.

I had been in denial since my youngest was born in 2007. I didn't gain anything really during that pregnancy, but I started the pregnancy at 193 lbs. I was up to 195 at my heaviest, and actually walked out of the hospital at 193. But, then, I went back to work quickly, had three kids ages four and younger, and a husband who was never home. The older kids were/are picky eaters. It was no surprise that I cooked comfort, carb heavy foods, and the weight started piling on. Fast forward to 2013, and I'm barely able to button a size 18 pair of jeans, and most of my t-shirts don't fit. I feel gross. I hate my body and I hate myself. It's awful.

The first thing I did after leaving the doctor on that day in August was to swear off fast food. Since August, I have not eaten french fries or anything else that I can buy through a drive through window. This means I've been making my lunches and taking them to work. Upside- it saves money. Downside- it's boring, and when I forget, I wind up eating oatmeal. The good news- 13 lbs fell off quickly. But, I plateaued.

Step Two- a month ago, I joined Weight Watchers. The online tools make me aware of what I'm eating and make me make better choices. But, I fall off the wagon during the weekends. Therefore, I'm putting this out there on the internet for everyone to read and keep me honest. During this holiday season- from Thanksgiving week to today, I'm down 7.8 lbs, to 203.6. Today I wore the same pair of size 16 jeans to the meeting that I wore to my first meeting. The first meeting, those jeans hurt they were so tight. Today, they went on and buttoned easily. I'm not down a size yet. I can't claim to be in a size 14 yet, but I'm getting there. My first goal is breaking that 200 lb barrier. I hope to be there soon after the first of the year. According to the BMI chart my highest healthy weight should by 146. I still have a long way to go.

Bring Back the Words- Favorite Foods!

Love this prompt-

Prompt 1:

Make us all hungry–what are your top 10 favorite foods (individual foods, or full meals, your choice)? (Ginger's Bring Back The Words)

1. Lobster. Boiled lobster with butter to dip it in. Freshly boiled is divine. But I also like to eat very cold lobster in hot butter. The temperature difference makes it even better. My absolute favorite food of all time.
2. Strawberries. Fresh. 
3. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
4. Steak. Barely grilled. Filet is nice, but doesn't have the best steak flavor. Rare to black and blue for temperature. Over-cooked steak is a travesty. If you're going to get it Well Done, you might as well eat a shoe.
5. Apple pie. My Mom makes the best one in the world. Macintosh apples, strussel top.
6. Fried egg. I love a good fried egg. Just a touch runny in the yolk. 
7. Gnocchi. 
8. Caviar. I'm a horrible person, but I love really expensive, black Osetra caviar. We had an amazing tasting menu at Cesar's Palace in Vegas, and the caviar course was the thing that dreams are made of. 
9. Tuna sashimi (again with the raw)
10. Sweet Italian Sausage, with peppers and onions. Served as a sandwich or alongside some soft polenta.

Bring Back The Words- Where Have You Lived?

From Ginger's Bring Back the Words- Right here!

Prompt 2:

A getting to know you list–share all the places you’ve lived (and if you want to, how you got there, and why you left). Bonus points for expanding on whether you plan to stay where you are now, or if you have a dream location you still want to get to.

Aug 1978-June 1999- Weymouth, MA. A quaint town of 50K+, with one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the area. I grew up there, on a suburban almost farm (we had chickens and horses). It was a nice place to grow up. I had lots of friends, tons of family around. I met my husband during our senior year of high school, in November 1995. 

Sept 1996-June 1999- Amherst, MA. Does college count? Because I went to UMass Amherst. Got a degree in accounting. Continued to date husband long distance (he went to Johnson & Wales in RI). It was fun. I coasted through college. It was easy. Especially because I did not want to be a CPA.

June 1999-July 2001- Providence RI. Did an internship at a company in Rhode Island. Husband had quit college after his associates degree, and had an apartment. I moved in with him. He supported me the last year of college, while I commuted from Providence to RI twice a week for my classes (100 miles each way, door to door), I continued to work part time for the company that I had done my internship with. They would hire me at graduation for a full time staff accounting position. Husband and I got engaged in January 2000, and married in October 2000. The years in Rhode Island were really fun. We had a lot of disposable income, and very few expenses. Husband knew a bunch of chefs in the area, so we were always going out to eat, and meeting with people for drinks. Providence is small, and our area of the city, Federal Hill, was even smaller. We walked everywhere. We vacationed a lot. But knew that we didn't want to buy a house in Rhode Island, so we were looking to relocate somewhere. In June and July 2001 I took a bunch of job interviews. Took a new job, and relocated.

July 2001- Present- Phoenix, AZ. We moved because I got sucked into a too good to be true job offer, in the then booming mortgage industry. Of course, it was a failure. But, by the time that company failed, we had purchased a house, and I was pregnant. And, the husband had started working for the Sheraton company in a venue that was starting to generate a lot of press. So, we hung on. Then, got pregnant for a second time. Sold the first house, bought the second house. Then, got pregnant for a third time. Husband now works for a very large food service company providing food services for an even bigger technology company. I manage a landscape company. The kids are all in school. We're stuck in the desert, and I hate it. We are holding out hope that husband's company transfers him anywhere but here (and New Mexico. I'm not moving to New Mexico).  

Cut Down on Spending Money Week 1

I've put a goal to myself to stop spending money on work lunches. This week I brought my lunch from home 4 out of 5 days. The day I missed, I actually made my lunch, but forgot about it, and left it in the fridge (Mondays, they're a bitch).

Money that I Spent (outside of necessary items, like household food)
Monday- Lunch from Q'doba- $7
Wednesday- It was my turn to buy the office candy- $20
Thursday- Bought The Brothers Sisters from Amazon, Kindle Daily Deal, $1.99. I heard it was good.
Friday- Breakfast sandwich- $5 (we ran out of eggs when I put together a bread pudding last night)
Total: $35.99

Things That Are Going To Screw Up My Budget

Philosophy. They have a good sale going on, and while I don't exactly NEED anything right now, I WANT some things right now. But, I'm resisting. So far.

Old Navy. Again, things I WANT rather than NEED. So, I've been doing the old fill up the online cart, and then forget about it trick.

So, why am I saving money? Well, the time has come to take my darling children to Disneyland. We've promised them this trip for Christmas 2014. That gives me a little over a year to sock away money, and do this trip right, because we're only going once. I have no love lost for Disney. The thought of spending thousands of dollars on this trip to hang out in lines with horrible screaming children- my own and other people's- basically gives me hives. To even begin to deal with this, I'm taking my parents along for moral support. That means we need three hotel rooms, or a family suite and a room. I can't sleep for a week in the same hotel room as my kids. I just can't. So, it's adjoined rooms or a family suite for us, and a separate room for my parents. My Dad also has limits, and staying in a hotel room with children is one of them. My Dad also will not be going to Disney. He'll hang at the hotel pool or find other things to occupy his time. He did Disney with us when we were children, he has no want to do Disney with his grandchildren.

What’s your very earliest childhood memory?

This is part of Ginger's Bring Back The Words Prompts

I'm not taking part in this on a regular basis, but my Earliest Childhood Memory is really specific, and strange, so I thought I'd share with you all.

My earliest childhood memory is from when I was about 3 years old. We apparently went to Disney World for the first time (I've seen pictures, I was there for sure). But, the only thing I remember is getting off the plane and walking across the tarmac. It was so hot, and the smell of asphalt was so strong! I remember nothing about Disney- this is why I've waited so long to take my own kids, I'm not dropping thousands of dollars on a trip I'll hate and they'll not remember. But I remember walking across the tarmac.

I really don't remember much about my childhood. Honestly. There are a few memories that stand out, but things are pretty blurry until maybe 10 or 12 years old. At the same time, certain things will trigger very clear memories of very specific events when I was much younger than 10 or 12. For example, when we buried my grandfather in 1998, I got a very clear flash of going to that very same cemetery with him. We- my brother and I- were playing around the graves, and I remember watching my grandfather plant flowers on his mother's grave. I was only 4 or 5. I can remember what I wore that day. What we ate for dinner. What he wore that day. But I can't remember Christmas of that year. It's strange.