Good Day--Weight Loss and Coffee

I've had a good day. I'm sitting at a new coffee shop that opened up. It's local. I like local coffee.

I had work this morning. Yay! I like my job, and I like money, so it was good. :-) I ate lunch in the break room. Then, I ran errands. I went to the store, went to the post office, did a little gift shopping (didn't get anything). Then, I came to coffee. I've got 23 handwritten pages (approx. 20 double spaced, typed pages). Oh, of my new story for workshop. I was going to work on it more, but I might wait until this evening or tomorrow.

Also, I've been steadily gaining weight over the last two years. My clothes were becoming too small, and I don't have the money for a new wardrobe right now. So, at the beginning of October, I started counting calories and trying to exercise more. Since then, I've lost 10 pounds, 2.5", and dropped a pants size. So, ironically, I might have to get a new wardrobe afterall. But I'm super excited. For the first time in my adult life, I'm within the healthy weight range for women my age and height. I'm small boned, so I've got more to lose, but it feels good. I walked approx. 3.1 miles this morning at approx. 3.5 mph. That feels good too.

Well, it's getting dark, and I ought to go by the library on my way home. Talk with you later!

Praises (and caffeine)

Sallie Mae disbursed my loan!!!! Finally, two months after they approved me for the loan. If you ever have to work with Sallie Mae, I'd suggest asking for a supervisor. Praise the Lord for providing! God is good.

I have a busy day tomorrow. I have to type my handwritten pages, proof my thesis, go by the bank, pick up new library books and read them, turn in old library books, do laundry, get the oil changed in the car, and pack for our trip Thursday. I'm probably forgetting something else I need to do.

I've been having a pretty good fall. I feel as though I know what's going on and we'll be moving on to the next phase of life soon. I'm over halfway done with grad school (yippee!!). My crazy health problems are pretty much gone, which makes me think they're stress/depression related.

I have a job I love, good friends, a wonderful family, and an amazing husband. I also serve a merciful God. Life may not be perfect, but it sure isn't bad. :-D

P.S. I went to a coffee shop to work on my writing. I always forget to ask for decaf . . .

I've Been At Starbuck's Since 10:30 This Morning

So I'm definitely a slacker when it comes to updating my blog. On the uphand, I've been writing in my paper journal a bit more.

I've just spent the last five hours or so--let me think--four and a half hours at Starbuck's working on my critical thesis. And guess what? It's coming along really, really well. Yay!!!!! If I had felt like panicking, yesterday, I would have been panicking. I'm supposed to have a first draft due Thursday. Until this week, I mainly had research and bits and pieces of writing. I had planned to spend yesterday at Starbuck's, but I got caught up in the morning talking about important things that needed talking about. Then I spent all afternoon trying to sort out my financial aid. And feeling sick. So I read Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. The whole thing. Yesterday. I've gotten much faster at speed reading. I enjoyed it.

Since I got back from residency, I've been getting on a better schedule, which has really helped me with getting things done--except for school. I can't seem to get my school done. But I am getting better at chores, practicing piano, and cooking. Yay!

Oh, and I'm trying to get healthier. I bought a scale for my bathroom and discovered that I'm only about 5 lbs heavier than when I got married (yay!). Unfortunately, I'm a size and a half larger, which means I've lost muscle and gained fat. I'm not discouraged though. I used Web MD's food and fitness planners to help me get ideas on eating healthy and exercising. I'd like to drop a size by the end of the year. I did great on eating well for about a week. Then I realized that my brother is leaving for college soon, so we keep going to coffee or eating out. Plus, I've found that going to coffee shops really helps me get my school done--but it also helps me eat lots more calories than I should. :-)

That's probably enough of an update for now. I'm getting sick of Starbuck's, so I think I'll pack up and leave. Catch ya later!

P.S. My new favorite hot coffee drink is a hazelnut latte. Thanks to Christy and Carolyn for introducing me to hazelnut, my favorite coffee flavor.

Spring Cleaning and Homemaking

I'm up too late. I was playing with my new craft blog. I'm not sure if it's ready to be viewed yet, but I'll hopefully post a link soon. Especially for you, Lina! I actually still haven't finished that placemat I started once. . . . I just moved on to other things.

I have been so unmotivated for school the past two weeks. Spring came, and I went into Spring cleaning/homemaker mode. All I want to do is clean, organize, throw things away, and especially, SEW! Yay for sewing! I've been making some things from patterns, but I'm also playing around with freestyle type sewing. Not clothes, though. I'm not up for clothes yet.

So this week, I really need to buckle down. I have got to start my new story so I have something to send to my mentor. It's been simmering the past two weeks (hey, I'm amazed that I came up with something at all!). Before I can start, though, my MC needs a name . . . I also have to read a bunch of stuff and write my essays. I'm kind of excited about the essays, though.

And when I'm not doing all that (when will I ever not be doing all that???) I need to clean up the house 'cause Harry's coming next week! :::waves arms like a puppet::: YAY! At least I'm in a cleaning mood, right?

I also have work this week (like tomorrow morning--I need to get to bed!), but not too much.

Oh, and after two weeks of feeling mostly normal (yay!), I've started feeling dizzy and feverish again. I hope I get our insurance info soon so I can make a doctor appointment. And my symptoms aren't flu-like, so NO I don't have swine flu.

That's what I've been up to! Someday, if I can ever get my craft blog working, I'll post pictures of all the cool stuff I've been making! (Unless it's a present for someone . . .) I hope you all are doing well.

Annie

P.S. God made me laugh today.

Homeschool Fiction?

Dear Avid Readers, ;-)

I got sick the day I came back from residency, and I was in bed for a week. This week, I'm feeling better, but I'm having trouble getting back on a schedule. I feel really tired. I have a school/cleaning schedule that I'm trying to get going. I'm hoping that the more active I am the less lethargic/depressed I'll feel.

I'm trying to find out if there's much fiction written about homeschoolers. I mean where a homeschooler is a main character. Counting series as 1 book, I've found 8 middle grade books, 2 young adult books, and 1 picture book. I also found 6 Christian homeschooling books. That's not a whole lot. I haven't read those, but from the synopsizes, some of them don't paint a very accurate picture of homeschooling or aren't really homeschooling. Some of them say they're homeschooling but it's really more of a home-bound tutorship or a private school that meets in a home.

Have you read any books with a homeschooler as the main character? If so, would you mind commenting with the title and author and, if possible, a brief synopsis.

I'm also looking for books where a side character or friend is homeschooled and books where homeschooling is mentioned. For example, I just read My Last Best Friend by Julie Bowe where a new girl moves to town and starts going to the main character's school. She says she used to be homeschooled. That kind of thing counts in my mind.

Thanks for your help! I really appreciate it.

Another Christmas Come and Gone

Well, it's been almost another month. Crazy! Christmas was really good. I enjoyed having Karen, Dave, and Harry home for Christmas. And me and Paul, too! I was going to work on Christmas Eve, but I got sick. I'm just now getting over it, so that part wasn't too fun. Karen and Dave left last Monday (I think), and Harry left yesterday. We had a lot of fun together. I'm sad that they're gone now.

I got to see my cousins from my Dad's side (not all of them, but several of them) this Christmas. Even though I live in the same town as Tiff and Liz, I've been very bad at keeping up with them, so I hadn't seen them in awhile.

The day after Christmas, Karen, Mom, and I drove down to The Valley for Holly's wedding. Karen and I got to stay with Audrey at her in-laws. I had a blast. I actually got to talk with Holly some (for those of you who haven't been to weddings, catching the bride for a chat is a challenge). I loved the wedding. It was so perfectly Holly. I also enjoyed the atmosphere and being in the Valley again. Karen and I had a lot of fun spending time with Audrey. Oh, and of course, we ate El Pato and brought some back for our boys.

Paul and I had a date today. He doesn't like shopping, but being the sweet man that he is, he took me to the mall to look for a wallet. I've been wanting a new wallet for ages (I wanted one as a college graduation present to myself, ha ha), and now that I have a little Christmas money, I thought I'd get one. I found one that I like, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with Paul.

I have a lot to do this week to get ready for school. I am NOT ready for another semester to begin. I haven't even recovered from the last semester. And I still haven't been writing. I've been sick and spending time with family. Oh, and making wedding presents and stuff. Oh well. I'll survive. I just hope I get over the remnants of this cold before I have to leave.

Catch you all later!

God is Good and I Have Friends. Yay!

I happened to notice that it’s been a week since my last post. I needed a break from homework anyway. So it seems like all of a sudden, a ton of stuff is happening every weekend. I’m afraid to keep asking off for work. I don’t mind working weekends, its just that stuff keeps happening on them. Nothing’s going on this weekend (as in tomorrow), but next weekend, I’m heading out to a Renaissance Faire with Sarah/Katra/Ashatan/and-I-forget-what-else. I’m excited! Yay! I need to get going on my Pirate costume, but I thought I should do my school first.

The weekend after that, Alisha, Shawna, and Jennie are coming to visit! Yay!!! I’m really excited about that. They’ll be here a couple of days. The weekend after that is the air show that Paul wants to go to for his birthday (which is that Tuesday). I guess nothing happens for awhile after that. Then, the Saturday after Thanksgiving is a family reunion. That would be really fun to go to. But of course, the weekend after Thanksgiving is peak time at the retail stores. So I don’t know about that one.

I’m excited that I’ve got so much going on, though! Yay!

I have a lot of friends who need prayer right now, for various things. Some aren’t feeling well, some have big decisions to make, and some are going through rough times. If you think of it, would you pray a blanket prayer for my friends? Hey, you could be one of them!

On a similar note, I’d just like to mention how awesome God is. He has taken such good care of Paul and I. I needed new clothes and a winter coat, so God got me a job at Eddie Bauer. I needed new glasses, so God led me to a place (through Abby) where I could an eye exam and a pair of glasses for fairly inexpensive. Paul and I both needed to see the doctor, so God got us into a place that is less expensive than others and has a need-based payment plan.

And that leads me to my last point. I’ve decided that I like vets better than doctors. No offense is intended for all of my medical friends—you all are competent! But out of the doctors I’ve been to and the vets I’ve been to, the vets seemed to know what they were doing. The doctor yesterday said, “I don’t know” a whole lot more than I thought she should have. ^o_o^ oh well.

And that’s this weeks Really Long Update in the Life of Annie

Having Friends is Nice :-D

You know what's funny? That book I told you about in the last post is still bothering me. :-\

So things have been going pretty well here. A week and a half ago, Kyle and Lisa came for a Sunday and we hung out together. We went to lunch, Best Buy, Borders, and downtown to the Riverwalk. We had a lot of fun. I've missed hanging out with friends. Of course, that night I had a dream that a 747 landed on our roof and Paul nearly got squished 'cause he was too busy goggling at the plane to run away. :-D

Last Friday, my cousin Abby texted me and asked if I wanted to go see Fireproof with her. I hadn't heard of Fireproof before, so I watched the preview and thought that it looked good. It was a good movie. It was fun, too. It was a Christian movie, but they did a pretty good job of not beating the audience over the head with the gospel. The acting was a little cheesy, especially at the beginning, but overall, it was good. The guy--I always forget his name--Kirk Camero--is a good actor. The girl who played his wife could have done better, but it wasn't bad. And it had some good comedy relief. After the movie, Abby and I went to Chile's and talked until around midnight. I had a blast. I hadn't been to the movies with a friend I'm not married to in awhile.

Work is going well. I get a good discount, so I'm going to buy a new winter coat for January in Vermont. Also for visiting Montana in the winter, which will hopefully happen soon. Grad school could be going better. I don't know why I'm having so much trouble getting things onto paper. I think part of it has to do with the fact that my glasses are 4 years old. I only realized that about a month ago. They've been giving me headaches and making it hard for me to do anything that has to do with computers, books, television, or writing. So basically, I can play the piano, do housework, and sometimes crochet. Paul my sweet and wonderful husband is going to take me to the eyedoctor's, even though we don't have insurance. He's so sweet!

Paul and I have both been feeling overly tired lately. I'm not sure if it's a lifestyle thing or if we're sick or what. It's been very frustrating though. If you wouldn't mind praying for us to figure out what the problem is so that we can fix it, we'd really appreciate it.

Well, that's probably a long enough post for now. Talk with you later!

Annie