Fun

You know what I did yesterday after school? Played video games. All day. It was fun. I played both Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and LEGO Star Wars. Isn't that exciting!

Oh wait, I did take a break to watch Star Trek Enterprise. I looked at pictures of T'Pol in real life and I like her better as a Vulcan.

Last weekend I did have lots of fun. My friends' band Parkway Wretch played on Friday at a bar, and then at a house party on Saturday night. I like house parties better than bars. It is easier to talk to people and the beer is cheaper.

We left pretty early though because Brad was drunk and tired. I think I am going to have to start drugging him with stimulants so I can stay out later. I'll admit, in the past it has always been me who has wanted to leave. I didn't want to make friends and I wasn't that in to the local scene. But now that I have convinced Brad that staying at home and watching TV is better, I am changing my tune. I want to talk to new people and go to more shows.

Up this weekend, Parkway is playing at The Vaudeville in Tucson. So road trip!

Blah

God, school is bullshit. I'm sick of it. I started with 4 classes and now have 2. Why am I so lazy!

I have a major case of the blahs. I am sick of work, I am sick of school, I am sick of doing anything. I want to be productive by knitting, sewing, cleaning; but all I do when I get home is watch tv. I never go outside unless it is going to my car. I want to do more activities, but growing up the only things I did were go to the movies, go out to eat, hang out with friends at home. That is all I do now and that is only once or twice a week. What else is there?

Blaaaaaaahhhhhh!

Children of Men

Go see this movie. It is amazing.

Top Ten

These are not in any order, just listed.

Favorite Cds of the last few years

1. When we were small - Rosie Thomas
2. Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse
3. Chutes Too Narrow - The Shins
4. Funeral - Arcade Fire
5. Rockin' the Suburbs - Ben Folds
6. Brandi Carlile - Brandi Carlile
7. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case
8. Let's Get Out of This Country - Camera Obscura
9. The Ditty Bops - The Ditty Bops
10. The Dresden Dolls - The Dresden Dolls

Top Ten from when I was younger that I still love to listen to.
1. Jimmy Eat World - Jimmy Eat World
2. Tidal - Fiona Apple
3. It Means Everything - Save Ferris
4. Sublime - Sublime
5. Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette
6. Post - Bjork
7. The Presidents of the United States of America - The Presidents of the United States of America
8. Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos
9. This Fire - Paula Cole
10. No Need to Argue - The Cranberries

New Years

Happy Anniversary Brad! I cannot believe it has already been two years. The time is flying by and I need to slow down and appreciate it.

Goals:
Continue going to school
Continue to eat more sustainable and organic foods.
Try to grow a tomato plant on my back porch
Continue to create more by knitting and sewing
Learn to embroider
Go camping
Go to the gym at least once a week

Free Time

I hope you can see this and can tell what it is. It is made out of pretzels in 7th grade, during Home Ec. I actually bit all of them into those shapes and then glued them onto this paper. I just had to throw it away because the pretzels were starting to disintegrate.

I told some of my friends about this and how I kept messing up and ate way too many pretzels. It was very thirsty work. My friend said he could picture me furiously biting pretzels saying, “God, I’m so thirsty but I just love Smashing Pumpkins so much!!!!!”

Tidings of Joy

This picture is a little dark but I just had to share it. My cats love my bra, they always hide in it. In this particular picture, I was getting ready for bed and threw my clothes onto my sleeping kitty. Instead of getting up and moving, she just snuggled up. And she is looking directly at the camera. You just can't get much cuter than that.

I hope everyone had a good Holiday. I had a great time with family and good food. Brad got me hand held tape recorder to record my verbal lists and ideas, and Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo DS, which I haven't been able to put down. I got a new tent from my Mom, so now I actually have to go camping instead of just wishing I could. My dad got me a big travel crock-pot which I love. I have already made beans in it. I will definitely use it more, now that Yami has moved in with us.

Yami is Brad's best friend and a great guy. I'm glad we had the room (and needed the extra income) for him. He eats way too much Top Ramen, so I am looking forward to turning him on to fresh ingrediants and cooking for another person. He also has a 16 month old daughter that will visit sometimes and I am looking forward to that.

Holidays

Well my camera is missing at the moment so I can't bring you pictures of my current crafts. By missing I mean, I haven't even looked for it and it is in a pile of stuff on my dining room table.

Here is a cute holiday survey that I found on Knitting Iris:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I love both, but Hot Chocolate I can drink anytime I feel cold, but I love me some egg nog during the holidays.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Growing up, wrapped. I think when I start my own traditions, I

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Well growing up they were always colored. This year my own tree is colored because the lights were free. But I may have to change next year to all white lights. My mom got a new tree this year and all the lights are white and I like that better because you can see the ornaments better.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, though it would be fun!

5. When do you put your decorations up? Sometime during the weekend after Thanks

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Well I can't choose, I adore food. Probably cookies, all kinds. Amber's Molasses cookies.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Well I remember when my sister and I would lay in bed with my Mom and could not go to sleep, we were just too excited to see Santa. So we would close our eyes just to pretend to be asleep, but then we would actually fall asleep.

8 . When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My parents used the same wrapping paper for

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes. Always.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Well beggars can't be choosers. This is my first year having my own tree and all I have are hand me down colored lights and no ornaments (my cats like 5 of them before I just took them down). I think next year (if I have more money) I will make some of my own and use white lights.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I dream about having a white Christmas, but I don't know if I could handle it. I don't have any memory of being somewhere while it was snowing. I have been in snow, after it is on the ground but never seen it snowing. I live in Phoenix, Arizona.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but I have only been twice at a skating rink

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Not really.

14. What's your favorite thing(s) about the holidays? Sitting in front of the fire, listening to Christmas music, being with my friends and family.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Cookies

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating the tree with my mom.

17. What tops your tree? A hand me down Angel from my mom (not a keepsake), but I think I will change to a star next year.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I like giving. One thing I don't like about the Holidays in my family is that my parents ask me what specifically I want. So then when I get it on Christmas day it is not a surprise. I wish we could all get to know each other better so that they would know me well enough to know what to get me. I like gifts better when there is love and though put into them.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Last Christmas-Wham or Baby, It's cold outside or The Christmas Song, or....ok, pretty much all of them.

20. What is your favorite holiday book? I don't think I have one. Just another tradition I will have to start when I have kids.

21. Candy canes yuck or yum? They are yummy but I can only have like one a season, or I get sick of them.

21. What's number one on your Christmas list this year? An Ipod, which I am getting handed down from Amber. A mixer for my kitchen, a Mr. Bento, knitting supplies.

To Come

Look forward this weekend to pictures of some finished crafts and a mind numbingly cute picture of my cat.

Quiet

I really enjoy Christmas time. But it has just not kicked it completely. I kept trying to chase it by watching Christmas movies like, The Grinch, Miracle on 34th Street, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. But nothing was working.

I have been bombarded with TV the last few months. I was have been pulled thin between work and school and when I get home, I would just veg in front of the TV for hours at a time. Thankfully school ended for the winter break this week and I already feel the difference.

We went to the library, I actually got my sewing machine fixed, I have been knitting and I pulled out my lonely quilt that has not been worked on for at least 6 months. I have been doing crafts without the TV on and with the Christmas tree lit. This makes me stop and think about the feeling I want for Christmas, and I am actually starting to feel it.

This weekend will seal the deal because I am going to my Mom's to sit in front of the fire, knit, and think about the spirit of Christmas.

Parenting

I hope to have children someday, but the more I think about it the more scared I become. I have only recently started to be around babies. I never babysat or was around young children. Thanks to SouleMama, I have a jumping off point.
She recommended this book, You are your Child's First Teacher, by Rahima Baldwin Dancy
It is very easy to read and is teaching me a lot. I don't know much about the Waldorf Education philosophy, I think it is more a homeschooling thing, but I'm not sure. This book is just my jumping off point for research, so any ideas would be helpful.

Jive Turkey

Ok, I really am probably the last person to see this:

http://www.gizoogle.com/

Check it out. If you can't think of a website to translate, use mine URL.

So funny

Veggie Eater!

Brittney posted about becoming a vegan and there is a discussion of it over here. I completely support anyone's choice to do that. I am just going to post some of my thoughts and choices.

I have never been a vegetarian. Brad and I have thought of doing it, but it is hard to start something you have never been exposed to and wouldn't even know where to start.

If I were to become a vegan/vegetarian, I would do it specifically because of the mistreatment of animals. I did not know some of the things that Brittney mentioned in her original post and I hope to read that book soon.

Now that I know some of the options that are out there, I don't think I will become a vegan/vegetarian; I will buy local/organic/free range. I do not see a problem with eating meat; I like meat and I feel I even crave it sometimes. I think it is the natural order of things, the "circle of life" if you will. I know that I am the top of the food chain and that when I die, I will feed the earth and other animals. I do not want to contribute to a industry that I do not agree with. That is the same reason I don't like to shop at Wal-Mart.

But you know what, right now I am not eating organic and shopping at Wal-Mart; and the reason is because I am poor. Since Brad and I started going to school again full time we only work part time and the student aid is just not covering it all. I don't even have the two extra dollars to buy free range eggs.

I think this is the situation that a lot of America is in. Even if you show them the truth about farming practices, they cannot change the way they eat because there is not enough money. It is hard enough to eat healthy with no money. I do buy fresh fruits and veggies instead of canned but it is pushing my budget limits. The choice of whether or not to buy free range organic beef instead of normal ground beef does not even enter the equation. I don't have the luxury of choice right now. But I look forward to the day when I can stop feeling guilty every time I eat and stop living paycheck to paycheck.

Young Folks

By Peter Bjorn and John.

Wow, I adore this song. Here is a list
Clapping
Xylophone
harmonies
Whistling
synchronized dancing
Duet (girl and guy)

If a song (or video) has one, or many, of these features, there is a %90 chance I will like it. When it comes to the singing voice of a band I can't really describe what I like.
Bands who's voice I like:
The Knife
Camera Obscura
Peter Bjorn and John
Tilly and the Wall
Bjork
Arcade Fire

I can only think of one band right now that I don't like, only because of the voice: Death Cab for Cutie. I should love them, but I just don't like the lead singer's voice.

If I could give you one piece of advice, check out Camera Obscura. They are amazing!

Weak

So, I have been going to the gym. At least 4 times a week. For joining my gym, I got two personal training sessions. I went to my first one yesterday. Ouch! I guess when I was working out on my own I was not pushing myself hard enough. After he was done with me I could barely life my arms. He pushed my so hard that my face started twitching as I tried to get those weights up just one more time.

There is something that annoys me that I have run into with two different trainers I've talked to there: the meal replacement pushing. I try to eat natural foods as much as possible. I know calories are king, but I still think its better to eat 500 calories worth of strawberries than 300 calories worth of pork rinds. My body knows how to digest natural foods better and I will get more nutrients. The trainer didn't seem to care and just kept telling me to buy meal replacement shakes. Not going to happen.

I don't think I've really lost any weight, but I do feel a shift in the way my fat is proportioned and my confidence is already greater. I am feeling great!

Why you gotta be hatin'?

Reading Dooce.com is what got me into reading blogs, I became obsessed with reading her archives so that I could get up to date. It was amazing to watch her go from a single girl in LA to having a baby with a great guy. I don't think there has been one post I have not liked. Her writing can be hilarious and touching in the same post.

I never knew there was such dooce haters out there. I know from her posts that some unintelligent people have sent more than a few mean emails, but I never knew that there were other bloggers who did.

She is going through something hard and deserves support. If you don't like her, why do you know so much about her life? Have you been secretly reading her blog? When I find a blog I don't enjoy, I stop reading it. And that's it.

P.S. Leave Leta out of it.

UPDATE:
To give background on what I am talking about, see the original Dooce post and then some of the backlash.

Fatty McFatterson

I joined a gym today! I am so happy that I am actually working towards something that I have wanted for years. Anyone can tell that I am overweight, but I don't think it looks like I am extremely obese. Thankfully my fat deposits evenly over my whole body and I look completely symmetrical. I still have an hourglass figure and a smaller weight so I think that detracts from me looking completely fat.

Or I could just be deluding myself and I actually do look totally obese and no one has ever told me.

Ever since high school Amber and I have always been, "next summer we will be in bikinis!" But we never reached that goal. This time I want to strive for smaller goals so that each time I reach it, I feel great. Right now I would be ecstatic to be back in a size 16. My mom, who has lost weight recently, said to reward yourself after each 10 lbs. I will definitely be doing that.

I remember hearing Dr. Drew, from Loveline, comment that the #1 reason people finally decide to lose weight is because they felt disgusted with themselves. I am at that point. I am disgusted by my body and my lack of energy and my low self confidence.

Deep down I am an out going person but I don't show it because I am afraid of being judged because of my body. I want to be confident and strong (literally) and I want my outer beauty to match what I am on the inside.

Yes, I watch TV

I watch too much TV.
Before last season, I didn't really watch too much primetime TV. That was because I worked at night, but now that all my nights are open I can't help but sit my butt on the couch and not move for a couple of hours. Well as most other people know, the new shows start this week and I am very excited.
Mostly for The Office, CSI, Grey's Anatomy and Lost. Those are the main shows I watch. I am also willing to try out the new shows. Last night was The Class and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
The Class was not that good. The best part was Lizzy Caplan, her mean quips brought some much comic relief. But really, that was the only good part. Skip it.
Studio 60 on the other hand was amazingly good. It was created by Alan Sorkin, who also created The West Wing. It has that same West Wing feeling, fast paced and great jokes. The characters are already great and i love Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford, and Timothy Busfield(hello, thirtysomething!). I am so excited to see where this goes.

Debbie Downer

If this doesn't make you laugh, I'm not sure we should know each other.

Beautiful

Wow, this is great.