"all your regrets ride roughshod over me. . ."

Hey, hey my lovelies!

How ya’ll doing today? 

It’s rainy and gloomy here, the perfect day to sleep in or snuggle on the couch and watch movies.   I got woken up earlier than I had planned this morning.  *sigh*  I’ve got black out curtains in my room so while it was already 10 am, it felt like 5 and my leg was very much protesting starting about 6:30 so I took a muscle relaxer (which I haven’t taken in months) and decided a little sleep in would help.  Granted I can go to bed at 11 but I wake up about every 2 hours to shift positions cuz the pain wakes me up so I really don’t get much sleep. . .lucky for me I have a high pain tolerance and require little sleep to function normally.  Or it’s just what I’ve become accustomed to lately. . .hate to see what it’s gonna be like when I get old!

Well I’ve had yet another epic oat meal fail this morning.  I’m really learning to love oat meal in the mornings.  It’s very filling and keeps me full longer than cereal and I'm not an egg person in the morning.  I hate eggs and ham-y things.  Yuck!  So I decided to try a slow cooker recipe this way when I get up I’ve got breakfast done.  The first time I used the wrong type of oats, the quick cooking ones.  When I awoke the next morning it looked like soup.  Eww!!  I assumed that when they say use steel cut oats, they mean use steel cut oats.  Yesterday I bought some, put my oats and water and brown sugar and a little maple flavoring in the crock pot with the knowledge that I’d fixed what I’d done wrong the first time.  I set out my dried fruit and raisins and woke up to this:

That looks like baby diarrhea and I am not putting that in mouth.  Gross!  What am I doing wrong?  I’m going to try it one more time with less water and if it fails again, I was just not meant to eat slow cooker oatmeal.

*We now interrupt your regularly scheduled blog with a rant*

“I want my David Bowie DVD’s NOW!  It was supposed to be here yesterday at the latest and it’s still not here today!  One day late!  WTF?!?!  I know it’s coming from Argentina, but come on!  And I’ve ordered two other Bowie things from them, but this is the one I really want because it’s 2 DVD’s of his videos and it has Strangers When We Meet on it and I wanna watch it on my cool new big TV. . .like yesterday!  WWWHHHAAAA!!!!”

*We  now return you to your regularly scheduled blog*

I ate the most awful Healthy Choice meal ever today.  I thought the pot stickers were kinda nasty but I ate ‘em anyway, this balsamic chicken and vegetables was just evil.  I do not recommend that one.  Eww, eww, eww.  I tossed it and made me a 200 calorie Digorno pizza for 5 points.  Yum!

Ok, just got home and was starving at ate 19 points!  But it’s all good, I had more points than that available to eat but now I’m stuffed!

And I’m gonna jump off here now. . .gotta get my clothes ready for tomorrow, get a shower. . .gotta weigh in early.

Done now. . .  :)

PS  This blog brought to you by David Bowie’s Strangers When We Meet. . .just cuz I haven’t posted it in a long time. . .and because I ranted about it. . .your welcome.

"now i'm leaking life faster than i'm leaking blood. . ."

Hey there my lovelies!

How ya’ll doing today?

I’m actually feeling a little awesome.  I was away from work for 4 days.  Three I was off, one I called in cuz I thought I was gonna die, but that’s in a previous blog.  Anyway, I really missed my hair peeps!  I was so glad to go into work today!  My doctor told me on my last visit, with my back being as crappy as it is, I should really consider another profession, but I can honestly say I can’t imagine doing anything else.  So yeah.  Guess I’m just gonna have to suck it up.

Remember a couple of blogs ago I explained my absolute love got Taco Bell’s fiesta potatoes?  And I went to Taco Bell one day and there was an entire family eating them and I had to leave for fear I would attack them for their potatoes?  I’d take out the Grandma first, she seemed the least likely to put up a fight and then I’d hobble away as quickly as my back would let me.  Remember?  No?  Well I’ve pretty much told you the short version of the story so now you’re caught up. 

Now here’s the Rose Nylund version of my new fiesta potato story:  When I got off work today we had to take Bug to Fazzoli’s to get her some alfredo.  It smelled so delicious in the car and I didn’t have lunch so I decided on a couple of tacos from Taco Bell, 4 points a piece.  Get me the tacos, a diet coke and when we get to the window for her to give us the food she says, “There’s a potato in your bag because we accidently made extra.”  Wha?  What?  A free fiesta potato?  That I’m not supposed to eat?  Oh the irony of it all!!!!!  I even said out loud, “man I want a fiesta potato, but I really don’t need it.”  And it was like the powers of the universe answered back, “yes, you need this fiesta potato!  Go forth and eat it!”  So yeah, anyway, they are 7 points.  That’s an entire Smart Ones, Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine meal.  And I ate it.  And just one taco.  That’s an 11 point lunch and lunch should be around 12 so it’s all good.  Quite literally.  Those were the best fiesta potatoes ever!  And they were so hot and fresh.  Yeah.  My fiesta potato monster has been satisfied for awhile.  lol

Yeah.  That’s the end of my blog now.  Enjoy some David Gray.

Done now. . .  :)

PS  This blog brought to you David Gray’s The One I Love.

PSS  This is my all time fav DG song and one day it will be a tattoo. . .

"and the sound of tomorrow, like a black hearted vile thing. . ."

Hey hey my lovely blog readers!

How ya’ll doing?!?!

Random thought on my brain:  The mom in Raising Hope (which is freakin’ hilarious) played in The Goonies.  Who’d have thunk it?

Today started out super crappy.  Had to get up early and go to a hair class (which was super AWESOME; we learned all about the Sexy product line, a new way to cut hair, an up do and got a goody bag.  Yays!) and the chair I had to sit in for 2 hours was absolute torture on my back.  Then me and my friend went to Cracker Barrel to eat and those chair were worse if that is at all possible!  I was so miserable!  But I took some meds and felt a little better, tolerable anyway and managed to make it to the hair store to get color for my hair and hobbled my way through the craft store long enough to get some pink buttons and ribbon.

And I am so proud of myself when I went to Cracker Barrel because I looked up all the nutrition information the night before and while I didn’t get the oat meal as planned, I just wasn’t in the mood for it, I got a small breakfast of potatoes and steak biscuit.  12 points.  And it was deelish and I didn’t feel guilty afterwards.

Last night's dinner was pretty yum too.  It seems since we’ve been dieting our food horizon has broadened and we’re not eating the same ‘ol things.  Mainly because we can’t eat it.  Cuz they be bad.  We had steak fajitas and refried beans.

One thing that did make me uber happy today. . .I got Bowie in the mail!

That is a 45 I believe.  And yes, I do have the thingy to play it on, it just needs a needle.  So yeah.

I also got the Live Aid DVD from Netflix, but when I read the Netflix description, it said ‘highlights of performances.’  I didn’t think it meant a whole DVD of like 45 second clips of the performances.  Poor Bug was so disappointed.  She said she was sad and wanted to throw it out the window.  Guess I’m gonna be adding the 4 disc one to my queue. . .

Well, my back is killer right now.  Think I’m going to make it an early night.

Done now. . .  :)

PS  This blog brought to you by David Bowie’s You’ve Been Around, a left over song from Tin Machine.

PSS  Gotta love his suhweet dance moves. . .PSYCH!  Like how I did that?  That was pretty cool, huh?

PSSS  There is also a duet version that he sings with Sirius Black from Harry Potter ie. Gary Oldman.  And yes I know he’s not just Sirius, he’s also the cool Dracula and the awesome villain in The Fifth Element, my personal fav, but that’s what he’s most known for right now. . .and that version is much more rock and I enjoy it immensely. . .and Gary Oldman has some singing chops too. . .

"sometimes you get so lonely, sometimes you get nowhere. . ."

Hey there my lovely blog readers!

It’s been a few days since I’ve blogged.  Sorry.  Mainly because it’s been kinda depressing around here for me.  Where to even begin?  Wednesday me, Tiffers, mom, Granny and Bug all went to see Tiffers and Chris’ new place and out to eat with his parents.  That was lovely.  The ride there not so good.  Three hours in the cramped backseat was not good at all for my back.  By the time I got home I thought I was going to die.  At one point, it hurt so bad I thought I thought I was gonna puke in the back seat.  Not cool.

Then I had to work the next day at 9.  My back is 10 times worse in the morning anyway, but this day it was like 50 times worse, but I totally made it cuz I’m stubborn like that.  Cut some hair, made me a little cash, came home and rested all day. 

Friday.  The only good thing about Friday was my tax return came in.  Suh-weet!  We had an entire days worth of shopping planned.  I’ve been putting off all kinds of things I need to do and buy until my taxes came in.  For example, I’ve been watching a blue tv for months!  Plus my meds, for a one month supply is like $70 so I’ve got without for a little bit until I had the cash to refill it again.  It sucks not having insurance.  Someday though.  First thing we did was weigh in.  I was so freakin’ disappointed that when I talked to my WW leader, I could have cried.  I didn’t lose anything.  I’d maintained my exact weight from last week to the decimal.  I’d been following my plan exactly.  So yeah.  That was that.  And by the time we’d been done shopping, I was dead.  Quite literally.

Saturday I get up to go to work and my leg is screaming in pain.  I get my shower, hair done, make-up on.  I can’t bend over to put my socks on.  I try a couple of times and just cry.  I’m miserable.  You have no idea how horrible it is not to be able to put your own socks and shoes on.  (Lots of thanks to my mom and Tiffers for helping me out some mornings!  *muah*)  Finally get my socks and shoes on. . .by this time I’m still kinda crying but I’m dressed, got my apron on and ready to go.  Poor Bug is freaking out because I’m crying and keeps asking, “Is she gonna die?!”  I’m in the car, still crying and finally it’s like, “I just can’t do this today.”  So I didn’t make it to work Saturday.

Pretty much had a crappy, crying in my chair, sleeping most of the kind of day.  But Tiffers brought me home a get well gift.

And I got prettied up and took this today.  It only took me like 3 hours to get ready is all. . .

Today has been better.  I feel a little better, probably thanks to my meds I haven’t had in awhile and I absolutely had to go out and buy diet food.  Had too.  There was absolutely nothing here to eat that was good for us or wasn’t some sort of snack that would fill us up for a long period of time.  And I am definitely NOT going to screw up again.  I better lose at least a pound next week or I’m just gonna bawl.  We’ve all been working so hard at this. . .

As for my back, I think my biggest problem is that I have been feeling so AWESOME the past couple of weeks I just completely over did it, to the extreme.  I’d been shopping, work has been super busy, went on a cleaning spree (not because it was dirty, but because it’s exercise) and overall just trying to MOVE.  I am very limited as to what exercises I can do, per my doctor, but as long as I MOVE it counts, right?  Yes, but I’m paying for it now.

And everyone in this house needs something done with their hair!  Grrr!!!  Except for Tiffers. . .this time anyway.  And I be owy and no one seems to care.  *sad face again*

Also, my new fav Bowie song, Be My Wife.  Why yes, yes I will.  Love it.  It’s super simple, one verse, one chorus repeated but timed differently.  It’s one of those songs you wish was longer, but glad it isn’t.  Muy excellente!  Bug said she doesn’t like it.  I’m hoping I get some of my Bowie in the mail tomorrow.  That would be a wonderful pick me up.  Music is definitely a drug for me that makes me feel better. . .

Done now. . .  :)

PS  This blog brought to you by David Bowie’s Be My wife.

PSS  The guitar on this song is killer.

PSSS  This is how I want to be proposed to. 

PSSSS  check out the “aww” moment at 2:27. . .

"she'll turn the radio high, find a station playing sad sad soul, just a little bit louder now. . ."

In the words of Fat Albert, “hey, hey, hey!”

How goes it everybody?!

So far so good. . .woke up to some craziness this morning.  The first time I woke up was around 5ish and my back was hurting so bad that just blinking was making me she shake.  Went back to sleep a few more times and finally I had to get something to drink so I could take some meds.  Then after I did that, I had this crazy, crazy dream.  I know right?  Mandy?  Having a crazy dream?  Impossible!  But yes it happened! 

I dreamed I had this huge bedroom, but I’d never noticed it was so huge before and people had been cramming their stuff in there.  So I’m like, “Oh, this has got to go.  I’m going to rearrange.”  Then I’m rearranging furniture, throwing out everyone’s random stuffs into the hallway and then it’s time to tackle my closet.  I begin taking things out and I notice that there is a black toy snake wrapped around one of the clothes hangers.  Most of us should know my feelings on snakes.  I HATE them.  Enough said.  My mom comes in and is getting it off the hanger when suddenly it moves and lunges at me and at that instant my alarm goes off which is, “She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean. . .”  (Yes, my alarm is set to You Shook Me All Night Long because it is one of the loudest ringtones on my phone.  It used to be the guitar riff to Sweet Child ‘O Mine, but now I hate that song because it has interrupted my sleep for months!)  Anyway, that literally scared the crap outta me and jerk up screaming and because I screamed I freaked out even more and Craig comes in there barking like he’s about to take control if the situation.  Whatevs. . .good thing no one else was home or I’d possibly never live this down.

Last night I made some chicken salad.  Usually I loves the chicken salad.  (Can ya see this is already going to be a sad whiny story?)  But I this night, I made it healthy.  I used my usual chicken breast, grapes, pineapple and celery seed, but I measured out the walnuts and that nasty low cal, low fat, no taste mayonnaise.  When it was all done, it still smelled like it usually did so that was good, but I decided to give the Butt!Bread one more chance.  Someone told me that when you offer a child food, it takes 3 tries before they can make a decision on it.  So, I am sometimes still child like so I apply this logic to myself and my enthusiasm to conquer this double fiber wheat Butt!Bread.  I measure out my half cup of chicken salad, put it on my Butt!Bread and take it to my room.  The chicken salad was ok (the mayo sucks, but I’ll live) but that bread, oh that horrible, horrible Butt!Bread ruined it!

I mean look at that, it’s practically oozing fiber!  You can see the bits in it!  And when you first take a bite of it, it’s all soft and airy, but once that air is gone, it’s like chewing on a tree trunk.  But I forced it down just so as not to waste it, but no more Butt!Bread for me.  I gave it my child like 3 tries and that’s it!

Oh my gosh. . .and just give me my moment to whine (again). . .*moment begins*but my back hurts like 20 times more than it has in awhile!  Geez!  And I really don’t wanna take anymore meds but I haven’t found one spot that’s comfortable since I’ve been home!  And all I wanna do is lay down in my bed and sleep, but that ain’t happening!*moment ends*

*takes a deep breath*

Time for Bowie.

Done now. . .  :)

PS  This blog brought to you by David Bowie’s She’ll Drive the Big Car. . .

PSS  Love his intense harmonica stare at 2:47.  lol

PSSS  Thank you for letting me whine. . .twice.  

"fall dog is cruel and smart, smart time breaks the heart, fall dog bombs the moon. . ."

Hey hey my wonderful blog readers!

How goes it?

Been another couple of days since I’ve yacked at ya, but to be honest, I haven’t felt that good.  Wanna hear about?  No?  *in ominous echo*  Then turn back now!   So anyway, very early Sunday morning I wake up with that feeling in the pit of my stomach that I’m going to be sick.  I proceed to go back to sleep.  Number 1:  my back hurt and I didn’t wanna get up.  Number 2:  I don’t sleep very well at all and didn’t wanna get up.  Well, by the time I absolutely had to get up and get ready for work, I barely made it to the bathroom before the contents of my stomach rebelled.  Two more times before I even made it work, too. . .and I was late.  So yeah, crappy Sunday for me. . .

Why was I sick?  The flu?  No.  The stomach virus?  No.  I blame it on my fiber baby.  What is a fiber baby?  Let me tell you.  It was a grilled cheese sandwich I made out of gross tasteless cheese and double fiber wheat bread.  After I ate it, it expanded in my belly and became a fiber baby.  I regretted eating it immediately.  Now, the only reason I even ate the bread is because it is only 1 point per serving whereas regular wheat bread is two.  I thought I was saving myself two points by being healthy and awesome.  Not at all.  It just made me sick and made my back hurt even more than usual from heaving.  But to be honest with ya, I’ll probably eat it again.  That stuff is expensive for it to just sit there only to get thrown away!

Me and Tiffers have dubbed it, Butt!Bread because it tastes like butt.  When I made my grilled cheese I used spray butter (0 points) with a little garlic powder on the outside for some flavor and it was basically as if someone put a clove of garlic in their butt and let it ferment for awhile and I took it and rubbed it on my bread. . .I’m guessing anyway. . .in reality, I would NOT rub Butt!Garlic on any type of bread I was about to eat. . .on somebody elses?  Maybe.  Mine?  Definitely not.

A first for me today, I ate my very first veggie burger and. . .it wasn’t that bad.  I can totally handle a veggie burger.  And I did indulge in tator tots.  They were the appropriate portion size, 10 per serving, and I didn’t use ketchup.  Not because I didn’t want to, but because we didn’t have any.  *whine*  But my dinner only amounted to 14 points (2 servings of tots) and I am uber full.

Yesterday I had a really horrible day with eating.  I didn’t eat anything bad, I didn’t go over my points, but all I did was snack all day.  I didn’t  really eat one proper meal and I consumed most of my food that night.  Remember I was sick most of the day and by the time I got home about 3:30 I was raging hungry!  I had a Smart Ones meal, some Pringles, string cheese, coffee, whole wheat bagel and cream cheese. . .later on I had some Smart Ones bagel bites, more Pringles. . .see how this is going?  So yesterday I decided that I absolutely have to have meals.  This snacking just isn’t going to cut.  I felt like I ate from the time I got home to the time I went to bed and I was still hungry.  Today for breakfast I had oatmeal from McDonalds, 7 points, and kept me full until I got home!  Then for lunch I had a Smart Ones meal and I already told ya what I had for dinner.  Snack later and I should be fine.

Onto other things not food related, I got another Bowie CD in the mail. . .Reality.  Yays!  And I’m loving all of it!

I am really loving, at the moment, She’ll Drive the Big Car and Fall Dog Bombs the Moon.  I have no idea what FDBTM is about or means (I’ve already tried looking it up, but this is a Bowie song and they’re all up for interpretation) but I love the music and melody.  And it’s got the newer version of Rebel Rebel that he played on his last tour. . .whoop whoop!  Damn I wish he’d tour again.  If scrawny ass Mick Jagger can get up on the Grammy stage with his old self and colored hair and sing a 2 minute song 6 minutes too long (seriously, I thought it was never going to end!) then Bowie could do it.  Then again, I’m not Bowie, maybe he doesn’t want to tour anymore. . .which makes me sad.  Although I did hear he’s supposed to have a book coming out soon. . .

Oh and check out Bug’s Valentine.  This is Jareth the Giraffe. . .

And this is her David Bowie Valentine card.  There is a fan made video she likes to watch on youtube of Labyrinth clips set to Taylor Swift’s song Love Story (this is a musical card) so when I found the card last month, I knew exactly what I was going to do!

OK, done now. . .

PS  This blog brought to you by David Bowie’s Fall Dog Bombs the Moon. . .it starts at 4:05.

PSS  There are moments in this song where it almost sounds like they could break into Hard Luck Woman by Kiss. . .

"oh no, not me, i never lost control, you're face to face with the man who sold the world. . ."

Hello there my pretties!

How are ya’ll this pretty Saturday?

Well. . .my closet fell last night.  And it made me sad.  So I ignored it until early this morning when I absolutely had to get something out of it.  This is what it looked like.

(after I removed the stuff that hurtled itself at me when I opened the door)

Let’s begin the very long detailed version of how this came to pass, or as my family call many of my stories ‘the Rose Nylund’ version.  Now, I just cleaned it out a few months ago and got rid of a lot of things in there, bought under the bed totes and hid away a ton of random stuffs that I like to hoard.  So it was very roomy. . .or so I thought.  Last night we all went to Barnes and Nobles and I told the Bug that maybe we could find a Bowie book. . .looked and looked and looked.  Didn’t find a thing.  That is until Tiffers nonchalantly walked down the middle where all the bargain books are and found this:

(look at that smile!)

In my last blog, I talked about how I needed a Bowie shelf.  Well, this book just drove that point home.  I decided to get rid of my book shelf and what better place to hide them away than in the closet, right?  Wrong.  So very, very wrong.  Got ‘em all in there nice and neat, got my Bowie shelf set up looking all spiffy. . .

10 minutes later. . .BOOM!  I knew instantly what is was.  But I mean, I really didn’t have that much in there.  Right? 

(that's definitely not too many books)

Right?!?

(or too many clothes. . .and easter baskets. . .and board games. . .)

Well, maybe I did have a few too many things in there.  My bad.  But was the tiny Bowie shelf with less than 10 CDs worth it?  Most definitely.

On a happier note, I’m down four more pounds!  Yays!  And to celebrate I had 10 points at McDonalds and it was totally deelish!  Yays for McDonalds!  Yes, it’s the worst place I could have possibly gone, but the ice cream cones there are only 2 points. . .but I also had me an 8 point french fry and it was totally worth it.  Didn’t even go over my daily points.  Yays!

Well, my daddy put my closet back up so I’ve gotta get all this stuff crammed back in there. . .well, less.  I bought me two totes to hide some more of it away. . .no more room in my bedroom though, this stuff is going in the shed.

Done now. . .  :)

PS  This blog brought to you by David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World. . .

PSS  My fav part is the 'oh's' at the end. . .