I'm a what??? + Crafty People: Help!?

We have this customer that comes into my work. He's rather obnoxious and likes to mess with things on our counter. Usually when he comes in, he dings our counter bell (to alert that someone needs assistance) repeatedly until we want to smash him over the head with it... Now we've gotten used to hiding the bell when we see him coming in the building. Since we've been hiding the bell, he's been messing with our credit card terminal. The first time he came in and messed with it, he ran all sorts of reports and luckily didn't screw anything up, but still... The second time I'm not sure what he was doing... He would mess with it while my coworker Terry was getting his order together and he (the customer) was alone at the counter. So, today he came in and I figured he'd try to mess with the terminal so I watched him. As soon as he picked it up, I walked to the counter and said, "Please do not mess with that." I said it as sternly as I could. He put the terminal down... When Terry got back up to the counter with the customer's order, the customer told Terry what I had said and my Terry's response was, "Duh!"... Then the customer told Terry that I'm a bitch. LOL I don't know that I've ever been called that before. I guess there's a first time for everything!

Okay, I know it's early, but here's the deal. Last year, I bought the majority of my Christmas presents on credit thinking I would pay it off... I didn't and now I'm still paying on it. I've put away all of my credit cards and am not buying anything else on credit until I can control my spending better. Since I have very limited funds, I'm thinking about making homemade Christmas gifts for all of the people in my family/that I shop for... That would be: 8 women, 3 men, and 3 girls (13, 10, and 4). For these people, it would be a "big" gift as these are my family and good friends. For my mom's side of the family, we stuff stockings for everyone. These are small items. I already have a few gifts, but not many... There are 12 women, 13 men, the 13, 10, and 4 year old girls, and possibly two other little ones (under the age of 8). Do you have any thoughts for things I could make for Christmas presents AND stocking stuffers? I have a little money to spend. I have a sewing machine. I have scrapbooking stuff. I'm not really sure where to go with everything... Ideas? Thanks!

Friend Makin' Monday: Questions & Answers

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s questions on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Questions and Answers

1. What is a typical weekday like for you? I usually wake up between 6:30 and 7. If I wake up at 6:30, I usually lay in bed until closer to 7 looking through Facebook on my phone. At 7, I get in the shower. I leave my house at 7:45 and head to work which is only 4 blocks away. I usually drive only because I have a bunch of stuff to carry. I go in work at 8 and start my day. I do whatever work tasks I have to do until 1:35 when I leave for lunch. I head home and get online to read blogs and sometimes write... and usually watch something on my DVR. I get back to work at 2:35 and work until the workday is done at 5 pm. Then I head home, cook dinner, and veg on the couch until 9-9:30 when I go to bed...
2. Name one song that never fails to make you happy and one song that you always listen to when you’re sad.  Hmmm... I don't know. This is a toughy. I know right now I'm hooked on "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons. It's actually stuck in my head right now. So, I'll go with that as my happy song... and when I'm sad, I listen to "As If" or "I Am Human" by the Brian Buckley Band. Love both of those songs...
3. Did you watch the VMA’s last night? I didn't... I love music, but over time my tastes have changed and I'm not much into the newer music. My friend Megan always thinks I'm insane because I don't know a Top 40 song. *shrugs* The way I find new music is to love a song that I hear on a television show or movie... then I figure out what it is and download the MP3. Like I fell in love with "Radioactive" hearing it on the commercials for The Host.
4. Share at least two skills that you possess. I'm normally very good with grammar and spelling. Most people that I work with ask me to proof anything they've written. The only time this goes out the window is if I'm typing really fast (on a roll with something or angry or excited) or if I don't proofread things... I'm also good with designing things like blogs and whatnot. I'm thinking I might be updating my blog layout soon. I like it, but it could be better. 
5. Share one thing that you wish you had the confidence to do. I wish I had the confidence (and the wallet) to quit my job and become a full-time writer. I love writing. I just never have the time with my job. It'd be so awesome to be able to write 24/7/365. I just don't know if I'm good enough to make a living doing that or if I need a job. *sigh*
6. Tell us about one insecurity that people might be surprised that you have. I'm not really sure... I have a lot of insecurities, but I think I've talked about them all at some point or another... weight, public speaking, making new friends... The last one I'm the most awkward with... I tend to over share because I want the conversation to keep going.
7. If you could be the CEO of any company, which one would you choose to lead? I would really like to operate a charitable organization of some sort... I love the idea of charities and giving. If I had to choose a profitable organization, I think I would probably choose... some kind of technology company. I'm a big technology nerd so it would be nice to 
8. List at least three hobbies that make you happy.  Watching television... I don't know if this is technically a hobby, but it's what I love doing most. I love being transported into a different world for a while... Same reason my second hobby is reading... and lastly writing... I have FOUR books in the works and I just don't know how to go about finishing them. LOL I wish I could come up with the ideas and co-write them with someone. I have a hard time tying things together.
9. Is there someone in your life that you wish you could say “I love you” to? No... everyone that I love, I've told so... they all know... I tell everyone I love them all the time.
10. Share one cool thing that happened over the weekend.  I received all of the donated items for my Ultimate Fan Competition over on my Supernatural website. I'm going to be (hopefully) posting the prize packs today or tomorrow. Everything kicks off Sunday at midnight and I'm so excited! I love that my staff members are telling me that they're impressed with my organization of this competition! Makes me happy!

Disappointment

I am beyond disappointed with myself. I weighed myself today for the first time in weeks. I haven't been binge eating, but I have been overeating. There is a difference. I was in control. I chose to eat like crap. I am up almost EIGHT pounds since the last time I weighed myself. I am at my highest weight EVER... it makes me sick. I need to get a handle on this before I gain anything else. I'm going to start off slow. For the next week I'm going to challenge myself to a few goals that mostly deal with my diet. After this, I have a plan in place for adding exercise back into my schedule starting in September.

Weigh In:

Starting Weight: 241.0

Last Week's Weight: N/A

This Week's Weight: 241.0

Weekly Change: ± 0.00

Total Change: ± 0.00

Goals for August 26th to September 1st:

• Log food intake each day via MyFitnessPal and stay at or below my calorie goal
• Drink 64 ounces of water each day, limit other beverage intakes
• Wear FitBit tracker each day
• Be in bed by 9:30 each night
• Wake up no later than 5:45 each morning
• The two above this are so I can train myself to wake up early enough to exercise before work as I know I will not want to work out once work is over each night. I'm not planning to add exercise into my schedule until September 1st.

Here's to hoping I can stick with this... 

Food Addiction

This Friday marks my very last Prozac dose. I'm very excited to be off of the medication and I'm very excited to be able to focus on getting healthy. For those of you who may not know, I was prescribed Prozac because compulsion runs in my family. My compulsion formed in an unhealthy relationship with food and I became a binge eater... a compulsive binge eater. I would sit and eat and eat and not be able to stop myself. My brain would tell me I needed things and not that I just wanted them... After 10 months on Prozac, I'm proud to say that I haven't had a single binge episode. I no longer feel the need to binge. If I have the urge, I am able to stop myself. It's empowering.

My next hurdle to tackle is food addiction. I am very much addicted to food. Addiction also runs in my family... there are a number of alcoholics, drug addicts, gamblers, etc... My addiction is in the form of food.

I searched for food addiction online and came across an article...

Source

Signs of Food Addiction

Researchers at Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Science & Policy have developed a questionnaire to identify people with food addictions.

Here's a sample of questions that can help determine if you have a food addiction. Do these actions apply to you? Do you:

• End up eating more than planned when you start eating certain foods
• Keep eating certain foods even if you're no longer hungry
• Eat to the point of feeling ill
• Worry about not eating certain types of foods or worry about cutting down on certain types of foods
• When certain foods aren't available, go out of your way to obtain them

The questionnaire also asks about the impact of your relationship with food on your personal life. Do these situations apply to you:

• You eat certain foods so often or in such large amounts that you start eating food instead of working, spending time with the family, or doing recreational activities.
• You avoid professional or social situations where certain foods are available because of fear of overeating.
• You have problems functioning effectively at your job or school because of food and eating.

The questionnaire asks about withdrawal symptoms. For example, when you cut down on certain foods (excluding caffeinated beverages), do you have symptoms such as:

• Anxiety
• Agitation
• Other physical symptoms

The questionnaire also tries to gauge the impact of food decisions on your emotions. Do these situations apply to you?

• Eating food causes problems such as depression, anxiety, self-loathing, or guilt.

• You need to eat more and more food to reduce negative emotions or increase pleasure.

• Eating the same amount of food doesn't reduce negative emotions or increase pleasure the way it used to.

I can answer yest to the majority of those questions. Addiction is frustrating to me. I hate when I don't feel in control of myself. Food addiction is different than other forms of addiction. I say this because alcoholics can avoid alcohol and take control of their addiction... same with drug addicts. Gamblers can abstain from going to casinos, horse races, or whatever they gamble on... Food addicts cannot abstain from eating food because food is needed to survive.

I really wish that there was an Overeaters Anonymous or a Food Addicts Anonymous around here where I could attend meetings. I cannot afford to see a psychologist or counselor for my addictions. I could see a nutritionist if I could get my doctor to refer me to see one...

I need reliability. I need someone to be there and to weigh and measure me and hold me accountable for all of my actions. What I really want to do is to organize a group that would meet once a month at my house or someone's house. We would do weigh ins each month with optional measurements. We would discuss our exercise for the prior month and our food struggles/successes. Basically it would be like a Weight Watchers meeting minus the expensive fees. It would be amazing if I could find a group that would do this! Maybe I will try to set something up!

Double Divas

Source

Have you all ever heard of the Lifetime television show Double Divas? It's about these two women Molly and Cynthia who are best friends and own a lingerie shop called LiviRae Lingerie near Atlanta, Georgia. They go around helping women find the right bra. They have bras in their shop from size AA to size N!!! Holy cow! I just became aware of the show earlier this week as I turned my TV on after work and Lifetime was on. I was immediately hooked. These southern girls are hilarious and very knowledgeable about bras and breasts. I'm amazed by them! I almost want to go to Georgia just to go to their shop! Anyway... one of the most interesting things I've learned is that 85% of women don't wear the correct size bra. I got bra fitted at Victoria's Secret a long time ago and was much thinner then. I was told I wore a 40DD then, but I didn't believe that! I wasn't that big! I ended up buying a bra that was a 38C or something like that and while I could fit in it... it wasn't comfortable.

I saw a clip on YouTube, I don't remember which one, where Molly and Cynthia were talking about some of the signs your bra doesn't fit correctly. I had several of them like: constantly pulling the band down in the back, the straps slipping off your shoulders, having to adjust your breasts inside of the cups because they move around, being able to push on the wire on the side of the breast and it move (it's not supposed to???), and a few other things. They also said that most women who think they wear a D, really wear a G. What? That doesn't sound right... I wear a D now... So, I found several online sites that tell you how to properly measure yourself to figure out your bra size. I did this and was shocked to find out that on all of them I was between a 42-44 G, I, or J!!! That is huge!!! I didn't know my boobs were that big!

Source

Yesterday I discovered that I broke the under wire on my only full-black bra. I have some black bras with designs, but sometimes you need a solid black bra. So, onto Lane Bryant's website I went. I wanted to see if they had any sales on bras. Their bras are expensive, but even when you think you wear a D, you need good bras. I found a cute bra that I liked (pic on the right) and put a solid black and cafe mocha both in size 42G in my cart. If I paid full price for these bras, I would be paying $88.50 ($44.25 each). However, they were running a buy one, get one 50% off deal AND an extra 30% off your entire cart. I got both bras for $47.26 before shipping and taxes ($23.63 each). Great deal! I put them on my Fashion Bug credit card... I know that I was complaining about my debt just yesterday, but bras are a necessity and I won't be buying any more any time soon... and I imagine I will probably be returning these because 42G just sounds really huge!

Also, on the debt front, last night I went on my Amazon account and my PayPal account and removed the cards that I could remove. For some reason, PayPal wouldn't let me remove one card because a transaction was pending... I didn't see any pending transactions! And I'm broke until I get paid tomorrow (and I'm not the only one on my Amazon account) so I left one card up on there in case anyone bought a book between now and then... or tried to... tomorrow I will be trying to remove those two cards again.

Your Thoughts:

• Ladies: Do you think you wear the correct bra size?

Major Stressor: Money

Source

I am my mother's daughter. Money burns this gigantic hole in my pocket. When I have it, I want to spend it. My father is the most frugal person I know. My mom got them deep into debt when they were much younger and my dad has worked incredibly hard for a very long time in order to make their credit score near perfect. He tried to instill these frugal values onto us children, but, much to his chagrin, we are all our mother's children.I really wish I had inherited his frugality.

I am so stressed out about money at this point in my life. Three years ago, I had no debt for the first time since I was 18 years old. This only lasted a matter of months before I took out an unconventional personal loan to attend a convention for the television show Supernatural. My bank wouldn't loan me the money because my credit was still so poor, but I was advised to take a loan if anyone would give me one because it would help my credit score. I took an unsecured loan from a credit card company with a completely ridiculous interest rate of 36%. Since then, my spending has spiraled out of control and I have racked up so much debt that it's hard for me to survive.  I don't know what I would do if I didn't have Matt.

I'm embarrassed to post this, but I think that if I do, it will help me follow my goals for the remainder of the year because other people will know what I'm keeping secret... Please no harsh comments... I know how terrible it is to be this much in debt. So, here is my current debt as of 10 am this morning:

Click on the picture to make it bigger if you cannot read it.

The percentage in the black bar at the bottom is my debt to credit ratio on my credit card accounts... extremely high. Makes me sick thinking about it... To make matters worse, and I'm not exaggerating here, I have $1.49 in my checking and $5 in my savings which is the minimum amount to keep it open. I am beyond broke and I'm tired of being that way. I would like to be able to do fun things with friends without struggling to pull together even $100. It would be nice to be able to just breathe...

I spent some time looking into Dave Ramsey's method of getting out of debt and I believe that it makes sense. Your first goal under his method is to have $1000 in your savings. Once you achieve that goal, you start to "snowball" your debt. This means you pay of your account with the lowest amount owed and work your way up until you have paid them all off. This is the reason why my credit accounts are listed smallest to largest. After that you try to save up three to six months worth of bills into your savings. For me, this would be $2700 to $5400...

This past weekend, I spent several hours working out my budget for the next year.I put my paycheck each month at the top and then wrote down each bill due each paycheck. I included minimum montly payments on all of my accounts for the next year. If I don't need to apply that money to my credit account, then I will apply it to the next debt on my list until all are paid off. Doing my budget made me realize how little money I will have for the remainder of the year... I honestly don't know how I will be purchasing Christmas presents for anyone this year... Maybe I will be creative and make things for people...

Anyway, I will be barely getting by until I get my bonus at the end of the year (last paycheck of the year). People always say, don't count on bonuses, but this one I can count on as I've earned it. My boss tries to reward people who don't call in all the time by offering a bonus at the end of the year. Basically it is cashing in all of your sick time instead of just losing it. In five years, I have only called in once so my "sick bonus" is pretty much a definite. You're actually better off not calling in because my boss only pays you 60% of your pay when you call in. Your first year of no call ins, you get $500. Each subsequent year you don't call in, you get an additional $100 added onto the $500. After taxes, my take home bonus this year will be about $425. All of this will be going directly to my savings. Then I will be broke again until I get my tax return back in mid-February. Once this happens, I will be able to get my $1000 in savings and then I should be okay.

The hardest part is going to be not spending what I have open on my credit cards. I have already removed everything that I used to have directly billed to any of my credit cards. Those items now are directly withdrawn from my checking account. I suppose I should probably go to my PayPal, Amazon account, etc... and remove all cards except my debit card. Then I should take all of my cards except my debit card and care credit card (for unexpected health related expenses) out of my wallet and store them somewhere. I don't want to get rid of them in case I need them for anything important. It's going to be tough, but I'm adamant to make this happen.

Your Thoughts:

1. Have you ever been in debt? Are you still in debt? If not, how did you get yourself out of debt?
2. Do you have any advice (not lectures) that may help me while struggling to get out of debt?

Weigh In + Sick Pets

A while back I discussed moving my weigh in days. I used to weigh in on Fridays, but that gave me the excuse of eating like crap the entire weekend since I had a week to fix my mistakes. I would eat way too much during the weekend, gain a few pounds by Monday, and then work all week to get just below where I was the week before. It's a viscous cycle that just doesn't work for me anymore.

Then came the decision of what day to pick... Mondays are rough just because it's the first day of the week so I didn't want to weigh in on Mondays... On top of that, I'm liable to forget if I choose Monday as my weigh in day since I'm half asleep while getting ready in the morning... After some contemplation, I decided my new weigh in day will be Tuesday... 

Before I post my embarrassing weigh in, I want to point out that I got a new scale. My old scale was a cheap one from Walmart. I couldn't test to see how accurate it was because I only have 2 and 5 pound weights and it didn't weigh anything less than 50 pounds. When I got my new scale, I tested the accuracy by placing two of my two pound weights on it. It read 4 pounds. That proves that the new scale is correct and accurate. My old scale was way off... I mean *WAY* off. The first time I weighed on my new scale (the Friday before last), I weighed on my old one too. My old scale read 221.0 and my new scale read 236.8... My old scale was 15+ pounds off! WHOA! 

Anyway, that being said... here is my weigh in for this week:

It's up from my old scale still, but down from 1.5 weeks ago, so I'm happy with that... Oh! The bottom number on my scale, if you can't tell, says that I'm up 83.2 pounds from my goal weight. It's cool that it tells me that!!!


I am such a worrier when it comes to my pets. I love them, they're like my children, and I'm sad when they're hurting. We think Lucky got into a cat fight. She's an indoor cat, but sometimes goes outside with Matt or me. Matt let her out the Saturday before last and forgot she was out. She was outside for 8 hours. Ever since she's been acting really weird... hiding a lot and being needy. Before this all happened, she was exactly the opposite of a cat... hostile and anti-social so this is really weird behavior for her. She has finally started to venture out of her hiding places and Matt was checking her out the other night. She has scabs all over her neck. She's eating (though not as much as usual) and using the bathroom regularly. She doesn't want our attention as much, but I keep finding her in the weirdest places. The other day, I literally thought, I should start a picture feed of the weird places I've found her . LOL I hope she starts feeling better soon... if not we're going to have to take her to the vet.

Rusty has a vet appointment at 5:30 on Thursday. The other day Matt found a lump on his rib. I had noticed the lump a month or so earlier, but thought it was the way he was sitting. I didn't realize it was an actual lump. It's about the size of a dime and hard like bone. It doesn't move and it doesn't hurt him at all... I keep hoping it's nothing, but then I think, "What if it isn't?" *sigh* Rusty is my buddy and I would be devastated if anything bad were to come of this...

So, fingers crossed that Lucky starts feeling better and Rusty's lump isn't serious.

Friend Makin' Monday: My Community

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s questions on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

My Community

1. Where were you born? Did you grow up there? I was born in a small town in east central Illinois. I lived in that town until I was 19 and then my family moved to an even smaller town about 20 minutes away to live on the lake. A year after moving with my family, I moved back to the town I grew up in with my boyfriend. I've lived in that same town ever since!

My mother took this photo on the lake where they live. Beautiful!!!
(I turned it into a postcard. Anyone want one?)

2. Tell us about your favorite spot in your city.  The lake would probably be my number one favorite spot, but that's easily followed by our local coffee shop. About 8 years ago, I worked as a barista at Common Grounds. It has a bright and fun atmosphere with some really tasty foods and drinks. I really loved working there but had to move on to bigger and better things. My favorite thing is to take a book in, find a booth in the corner, order a latte or chai tea and relax and read for a while. Amazing!

Source

3. Do you volunteer for any organizations? If so, will you tell us about it? I don't, but I would like to... I actually saw an article in the paper where they were requesting people to sign up for the Big Brother/Big Sister program. I think that would be an amazingly fun time. I just haven't gotten around to signing up for it!

4. Tell us about your favorite local restaurant. Just one? Nahhh... I'm going to pick three... in different cuisine types. First off, American food. The ORIGINAL Burger King (not the chain) is in my town. They actually went to court against the chain (copyright laws) and won! A chain restaurant cannot open within 20 miles of our restaurant. They have amazingly good burgers that make your arteries clog just thinking about them. The restaurant has earned the name "Greasy Burger" in my family. LOL

Source

Next I'm going to go with Mexican food. I love Mexican and my favorite place has gotta be this local joint called Don Sol. It's the newest Mexican joint in the area, but their food is so good! They have a great menu and good prices and it's the only place in town to get horchata... Never had it? Try it! It's this Mexican rice milk. To me it tastes like you're drinking a cinnamon roll. So good!!!

Source

Finally, probably my most favorite place in town is an Italian place known as Angelo's.  They have the best Italian food in town. I actually went out to eat with my friend and her parents on Thursday night for their lasagna special. It was delicious as always! The waitstaff is super nice and I love going there to eat... Oh, and they have the best stuffed pizza south of Chicago. No lie. :)

Source

5. Has your city ever experienced tragedy?  If so, how did it recover? No, it hasn't experienced any huge tragedies. There have been several crazy events, but nothing huge. The biggest event I can remember is the murder of a bartender that took place a few months ago. They figured out who the murderer was and he got killed in a police shootout in Alabama. Crazy!

6. Share at least one unique thing about your neighborhood. Probably the neatest thing in my neighborhood is the mural. An older street on my town has a very old world feel to it. They took this huge open brick wall on the side of a building and painted a mural on it. The people in the mural depict real people from our community. A boy I went to high school with who was killed in a motorcycle accident is on that wall.

Source

This really isn't related to my neighborhood, but my town is also the "Bagel Capital of the World" and currently holds a Guiness World Record for largest bagel ever created. Each July we hold "Bagelfest" which is exactly what it sounds like. A festival to honor bagels! There are carnival rides and fair foods and vendors and bands and a free bagel breakfast and even a Miss Bagelfest is crowned! It's the biggest event in my town each year.

Source

7. If you could do one small thing to change your community, what would you do? I would add more teen-centered activities. There isn't much fun to do in my town. The nearest town to do anything is over 45 minutes away. To do something even more fun, you'd have to go at least 2 hours away. I think we need a youth center where fun things could be done by teens... I think it would help lower the amount of delinquents we have around here.

8. The Powerball is currently up to 400 million dollars. Would you move to a different place if you won? I more than likely would stay where I am. I would just buy a nicer house and donate to more local charities and help my town grow and prosper more. I love where I live and, while there isn't much to do, it is home to me. It has potential to be a great place and I think with more donations it could be amazing!

Blood Donation

I received a phone call on Monday night from my local chapter of the American Red Cross. They were notifying me of a blood drive held at my church on Wednesday (yesterday). The lady on the phone told me that there was a shortage of blood in the area and they desperately needed donors... especially those with O negative, A negative, and B negative blood types. My blood type is A positive, but I still like giving blood.

When I was about 21, my church was having a Red Cross blood drive. I decided to donate. A little while later, I worked at Home Depot and they were having a blood drive and I donated there. Then I got my tattoo and couldn't donate for a year. When I went back to try to donate at my church again, I had a fever... I didn't feel sick or anything, but I had a fever. The next time I tried to give blood, I had high blood pressure. My bottom number was 104 and it has to be less than 100 to donate.  I have given blood probably half a dozen times. I could have given more, but I forget when I'm available to give again. Which is not a good excuse, but it happens...

The last time I gave blood was almost one year ago exactly... I went with my friend Megan on my lunch hour. I got back right after 3. At about 3:30 or and it started getting pitch dark outside… My boss was getting worried which made me get even more worried. He was saying “shit is about to get serious here”. All of us at work with smart phones got this pop up thing that said “TORNADO WARNING ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA UNTIL 4:30. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY." Terry (coworker) told me I should go move my car out from under the tree and I told him I wasn't going outside. So, he went to move my car for me... Everyone else was going outside to look at the weather and I was the only one in the office. The phone rang and it was my dad. He said, “What’s it doing there?” I said it was getting dark and scary looking. He said, “Did you know there is a cloud with a lot of rotation coming right down route 16 towards you?” (Our building is on route 16.) I said no and then the wind blew so hard that the entire building moved and every door in the place blew open. I yelled, “OH MY GOD!” and started to slide under my desk. My dad said, “What just happened?!?!” I told him about the wind and the doors and told him that looking out Tim’s office door I couldn’t see ANYTHING. Dad said, “I’m getting off the phone, but get under your desk if you have to!” That scared me even more because my dad doesn't worry... Then the power went out. It was like 3:40 by this time. It was so dark in the building I couldn't see anything! Luckily I work for an electrical distribution company and my coworker brought us all flashlights. My phone was blowing up with people sending text messages saying there was a tornado warning and to be safe. It was raining and blowing SO hard.

My mom found this video: Click this link... I can't figure out how to embed it. 

Pretty creepy... Anyway, after receiving the call, I decided to give blood yesterday. I'm always nervous when giving blood because for some reason I always have a fever and/or high blood pressure. The lady who helped me yesterday was named Jennifer. She took me into the little private room and did everything but my blood pressure first. I checked out on all of that. Then she went to take my blood pressure and the cuff wasn't working so she went and got a different one. She used a big cuff on me right away and my blood pressure was good! I was able to give blood. It was quick and painless and I helped save lives. Makes me feel good!!! I checked and I'm eligible to give blood again on the 25th of September, so I'm going to look into it again around then.