tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61539168764849465032024-03-05T01:59:45.870-06:00Crystal's MusingsCrystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-19191589013058518452014-04-15T12:53:00.004-05:002014-04-15T12:53:37.346-05:00WordPress TransferHey guys,<br />
<br />
I have been a bit MIA for a while and I apologize for that. I debated closing down my blog entirely as I wasn't writing like I wanted to, but I don't want to do that after all. I do, however, want a change of scenery. I've been using WordPress for a couple of my websites and have grown quite accustomed to it. I like it a lot and so I transferred all my entries from here over there. I will only be writing there starting today (after this post, obviously). I will be deleting this blog at the end of the month, as well. Please follow me there. Once this blog is shut down, I'm unsure if I'll transfer my domain name over or not. I may just let it expire so I can have a free blog. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My New Blog URL: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://crysrochelle.wordpress.com/">http://crysrochelle.wordpress.com/</a></span></div>
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<br />Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-84656118158588658832014-03-12T17:44:00.000-05:002014-03-12T17:44:12.500-05:00Is it wrong...<b>... to have an instant feeling of dislike when you find out someone you are acquainted with doesn't have the same views as you?</b> I'm guilty of this, but usually it only lasts for a minute before I realize that this is a free country and everyone is entitled to their own views, even if they differ from mine. I don't think I would like it if someone didn't like me because of my beliefs.<br />
<br />
<b>... to become obsessed with people you don't even know in real life?</b> I'm guilty of this... I become obsessed with actors, actresses, authors, etc... I've never met them and I'm lucky if they notice me. Monday, a tweet that I sent got retweeted/mentioned by my newest celebrity crush (Matt Lanter). I was fangirling for several hours afterword and almost couldn't sleep because I was so excited. I <a href="http://www.star-crossedfans.com/" target="_blank">created a fan site for his new television show Star-Crossed</a>. I'm not entirely sure why I love it so much, but I do...<br />
<br />
My Tweet:<br />
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<img src="http://entertainment-junkies.com/ej/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/updatedmatttweet.jpg" /></div>
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Matt Lanter:</div>
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<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BiiyuIyCEAA8Zbr.jpg" /> </div>
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I mean, c'mon... Matt is the epitome of gorgeous! I even told his wife I thought so... LOL I also got tweeted by another actor on the show Jesse Luken. </div>
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His tweet:</div>
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<img src="http://entertainment-junkies.com/ej/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/jessetweetedme.jpg" /> </div>
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I didn't come here to talk about my nerdy conversations with random actors though... </div>
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<b>... to get angry with my sister when she expects me to be at her beck and call?</b> I'm definitely guilty of this. I have a job. I work 40 hours a week, every week. Sometimes I don't want to use my gas, when I don't even have the money to get by, to run her around town on her errands. It makes me mad when she expects me to jump right to her. Yes, sometimes I'm not busy and I respond right away... sometimes I ignore her outright, which I know isn't cool... but sometimes I really am busy when she tries to talk to me and then when she gets snooty with me for not responding, it just pisses me off.
Okay, that's all I can think of for now and I need to scoot and do my work. She doesn't have a job so I don't think she fully understands what it's like.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>... to be considering deleting this blog? </b>I've had this blog for a while and I've never really been good at posting entries regularly. I always plan to post and then don't get around to it. It's the last thing on my to-do list and I never get around to it. I don't feel like I have too many followers who don't have me somewhere else. I'm going to sleep on it, but considering this site is costing me money I don't really have to operate, I'm definitely thinking I might shut it down. *shrugs*</div>
Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-64602120623506264382014-03-07T17:00:00.000-06:002014-03-07T17:00:04.369-06:00Excitement!!!I am so excited. As many of you might remember, my best friend gave birth in December to a little boy. He was thirteen weeks early at his birth and weighed only one pound and fourteen ounces. From the day of his birth, Dylan has been a feisty little guy and has completely exceeded the expectations of the doctors. Less than two hours after his birth, he was taken off a ventilator and was only using a nasal cannula to breathe. He beat all of the tasks put ahead of him... until it came to eating. He had a hard time with bottle feeding. Pam was getting frustrated because she was so ready for him to come home. Well, fantastic news! After 86 days in the NICU, little Dylan is currently on his way home! Hurrah! I'm so excited for my bestie and her husband. I can't wait to go meet the little guy! I mean, after all, I'm sure to be his honorary auntie as Pam is like a sister to me, right??? Yep! I'm going with that...<br />
<br />
I'm so proud of my boyfriend. <span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">On
Wednesday when he got up for work, he stepped on the scale and didn't
like what he saw. He decided that WE need to make some changes and
I completely agree. I'm cleaning out my fridge and pantry tonight of all
things unhealthy (we don't have much food so it won't be much of anything). Tomorrow I'm going grocery shopping and only getting
healthy foods. When I told him that healthy groceries will cost more
(cause he's about<span class="text_exposed_show"> as tight as they come
when it comes to spending money), he said that it was okay because he
also decided that he was going to quit smoking. Two days later, he
hasn't had a single cigarette even though he was tempted by stress at
work. I hope he really quits this time and, with him on board, we can
both get healthier! It's so much easier to lose weight when you have a partner to help you out.</span></span><br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="text_exposed_show">There was something else I wanted to talk about, but right now I don't remember, so this will have to work. :)</span></span>Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-59570429270429020152014-03-03T10:00:00.000-06:002014-03-03T13:26:33.031-06:00Red DyesI'm allergic to red dye. Not like, deathly allergic. I won't swell up and die if I consume red dye. My face breaks out in a rash if I eat/drink anything with red dyes...<br /><br />I figured this out when I was a teen. My mom would go to Arby's and get me a beef and cheddar (with Arby's sauce on an onion bun). About half an hour after I ate it, the skin around my mouth, my cheeks, and the bridge of my nose would break out in little red itchy bumps. It got to where I'd only order Arby's Melts (beef and cheddar on a regular bun). When I'd drink red Kool-Aids (cherry, fruit punch, strawberry, mixed berry, etc) or eat red popcicles, the same thing would happen. <br /><br />I googled it and realized that a lot of people have allergies to red dyes. Hmm... So, lately Matt and I have been drinking a lot of Kool-Aid. Don't ask why... it's just good. Being the silly person I am, I bought red flavors and ended up with a rash for about two weeks straight. Last time I bought some, I didn't get any red in hopes that my rash would go away. It did.<br /><br />Today, it's came back. I wondered why and then I realized that the Mio I bought has red in it. It's purple (mixed berry), but you need red and blue to make purple. I was drinking it in conjunction with the Kool-Aid so I didn't realize it was causing problems too... until now. Thankfully, the last of it is in my water bottle now and I won't be buying any more of this flavor. Bummer. I like everything that's red! Why do I have to be allergic to it???Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-39769234620059934072014-02-04T10:00:00.000-06:002014-02-04T10:44:24.230-06:00Whoops...I did something yesterday that could have gotten me in big trouble at work. I was very busy at the end of the day because I had procrastinated too much earlier in the day. I was rushing to get my work done (because it annoys me when I have to leave work in my basket for the next day - I feel like I'm starting off the day behind)... and... well, let me explain something first.<br />
<br />
My boss signed up for this program where we buy Visa gift cards from a company. The company then gives us an extra 10% worth of cards each month. So, my boss buys $6500 worth of cards and they send us an extra $650. He and two of my coworkers buy cards from the office for a 10% discount. The cards that are leftover, we use for anything we need in the office - fuel, coffee, soda, food, etc.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipcyXKdX9Y5VzRzKWbFsspvybuLJWc4i4KiEg90TWXSCnMH5UC8ABSzXF7SZbtM0v8ddA_YwnFWClyVdSWAp1HLoWu96mgwO22m4cH1xEDfA_eYU1VFp7K96XVGWjQRncd4_w92mjE6rW8/s1600/Paper+Shredder+2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipcyXKdX9Y5VzRzKWbFsspvybuLJWc4i4KiEg90TWXSCnMH5UC8ABSzXF7SZbtM0v8ddA_YwnFWClyVdSWAp1HLoWu96mgwO22m4cH1xEDfA_eYU1VFp7K96XVGWjQRncd4_w92mjE6rW8/s1600/Paper+Shredder+2.gif" height="191" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mainesecurity.com/Paper_and_Data_Shredders.htm" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Somehow I got chosen to be in charge of the cards. I keep all of the receipts and once a card is empty, I turn the receipts into my supervisor. Once a card has been verified as empty, I shred it... I'm sure you can see where this is going...<br />
<br />
We receive our cards in the amount $250. I gave two cards to my coworker yesterday when she left to go to the store to get coffee. One was almost empty and one was a new card. She emptied the one and used $19.91 on the second. Both cards were laying on my desk. I had put a small post-it note on the card with a balance so I could write how much was left on it... the empty card still had its post-it on it from the last time it was used. I grabbed, what I thought was, the empty card and took it to the shredder. When I got back to my desk, I saw that the card still laying there was the empty one. I checked, just to be sure, and my heart dropped when I realized I shredded the wrong card... the card I had just shredded still had a balance of $230.09. <br />
<br />
It was 4:55 pm when this happened and I leave at 5. I quickly emailed my contact at the company we get the cards from and told her what had happened. Luckily, I keep track of all of the card numbers in case anything happens... so I had that... and it came in a batch of other cards with the same expiration date... so I had that... I did not, however, have the CCID code on the back of the card. Once I got home, I logged into my work email and found the customer service number for the company. I called them, hoping to speak to a live human being. Unfortunately their offices were closed...<br />
<br />
So, I sat at home, half the night, worried about this. I mean, losing $230 of your company's money is a big mistake. I decided that when I told my boss, I'd offer to pay for it because it was my mistake. I get my tax return back this week, so I'd have the money to cover it, though I REALLY didn't want to...<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwR9ktEAUM9wqrkMNzIBrCX1agkaH0JkVZ2i5lQWSbER2anoL_SwPi1wABq40YytftpVOX3a6yXu_LnKfc6XjsshAkw0E-rxy44XG3ohM-kygs44JoBUP300QdM4muSruJFbOb1E5SEPQ/s1600/shredded_paper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwR9ktEAUM9wqrkMNzIBrCX1agkaH0JkVZ2i5lQWSbER2anoL_SwPi1wABq40YytftpVOX3a6yXu_LnKfc6XjsshAkw0E-rxy44XG3ohM-kygs44JoBUP300QdM4muSruJFbOb1E5SEPQ/s1600/shredded_paper.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.visualfusion.biz/are-shredded-papers-re-used" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This morning, while I was getting ready for work, I had a genius thought... What if I got out the shredded pieces of card and could find the CCID number? Then we'd at least be able to use it for online purchases or something like that. When I got to work, I dug around in the trash and... <b>SUCCESS!!!</b> I found the CCID number... or so I thought. As soon as I got back to my desk with some other pieces of the card, I realized that the number I found was for the empty card. So, I went and dug around some more and, luckily, was able to find the correct CCID number. Whew!<br />
<br />
I told my boss what had happened, since I knew we could still use the card at this point, and he told me that he wanted me to use that card soon... even if it was just to buy another gift card. At this point, I told him that I had called the customer service of the company and was expecting a call back telling me if there was anything they could do. Since then, they've called back, but they haven't given me an answer yet. So, now I wait... to see if they can issue another card. Haha... I'm so relieved.Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-61910070334752691802014-02-03T10:00:00.000-06:002014-02-03T10:01:41.788-06:00Weekend Recap<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBvX-tNnzCfHmKngu7HZ4NWpd1siwUardBSAx2u3OBborfdxv7sq8OFOTOLrKUqWkokQpa4nFqEWRJ_ai7fw0cjHt_uIuy3awC0SmPPeBiR01bNhwA8299OLxn3UMvot0UiFxiq7S7Xdo8/s1600/Dirty_dishes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBvX-tNnzCfHmKngu7HZ4NWpd1siwUardBSAx2u3OBborfdxv7sq8OFOTOLrKUqWkokQpa4nFqEWRJ_ai7fw0cjHt_uIuy3awC0SmPPeBiR01bNhwA8299OLxn3UMvot0UiFxiq7S7Xdo8/s1600/Dirty_dishes.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2011/11/a-scientific-argument-for-cleaning-dirty-dishes.html" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Friday after work, I met my friend Megan and we went out to eat. We went to Monical's which is a pizza joint mostly in the Midwest. We ate our pizza and then went back to my house and sat in her truck outside playing that new Facebook game "Guess the 90s". I went in and Megan left around 7:45 or so. I changed my clothes and fed the animals. My cat has a urinary tract infection at the moment. I had to keep watching her to make sure she didn't pee on the carpet anywhere. It's rather annoying cleaning up pee spots everywhere... I do feel sorry for her though because UTIs aren't pleasant. While keeping an eye on her, I started to clean my dishes. I had been insanely busy with planning my friend's baby shower and hadn't done my dishes in about a week... The photo I shared is only slightly worse than what my kitchen looked like. Taking frequent breaks to check on my kitty, it took me about two hours to do my dishes. Yikes. I'm not letting that happen again, that's for sure! It was absolutely horrible! I went to bed shortly after around 10:30.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ4px0GTLMrmECApkroVld04yFAnhuMT2Q1EdQvyYUMCjtI4fBrWQd2HIyWpUF_kHrlNB_7DqlqJzYINfhrUSFPCKksy81sD0nq0uj55252-QcpU-G66sQwO9D623iWQ8xZ9qMffMJmTCL/s1600/Monkey-Boy-Baby-Shower-Theme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ4px0GTLMrmECApkroVld04yFAnhuMT2Q1EdQvyYUMCjtI4fBrWQd2HIyWpUF_kHrlNB_7DqlqJzYINfhrUSFPCKksy81sD0nq0uj55252-QcpU-G66sQwO9D623iWQ8xZ9qMffMJmTCL/s1600/Monkey-Boy-Baby-Shower-Theme.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bigdotofhappiness.com/build-a-party/baby-shower-boy/build-a-party-monkey-boy-baby.html" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Saturday I woke up at 8 or so. I laid in bed until 8:30 and then hopped in the shower. Once I finished getting ready, I loaded up my car (in the pouring rain) to head to my parents' house. I had to run by the Dollar Tree to get some last minute things and some helium balloons. Then I went by McDonald's to get a quick breakfast and hit the road. I got to my parents' shortly before 11. I sat and talked to my mom for a while and then started decorating for Pam's baby shower. I decorated with all of the supplies I had and then made sandwiches for the guests to eat. Sarah (my co-host) arrived around 1:15. Pam and her family were already on their way, so Sarah and I rushed to get everything done. My mom's house looked adorable! I didn't take any pictures though... Sarah did. I hope she posts some on Facebook soon and I can steal a few. I was kind of disappointed with the turn out. Only half of the people who said they were coming did... the ones that did come are the ones that mattered most, but I'm sure it hurt Pam's feelings that only one of her friends came (other than the two who were hosting the party for her). Regardless, she got a lot of great gifts. The party was supposed to end at 4, but people stayed around until 6 or so. I helped my mom clean up and then left and went home around 7. I got home, relaxed for a little bit, and went to bed around 9:30. I was exhausted!!!<br />
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Yesterday I woke up around 8 or so. I laid in bed forever and finally got up. I worked on my new website for a while. I'm creating an entertainment-based website with news, reviews, previews, original articles, etc about anything entertainment-related. So far, my categories are novels, television, movies, music, video games, celebrities, etc. It's called <a href="http://entertainment-junkies.com/">Entertainment-Junkies.com</a> and right now I'm accepting applications for authors for these articles. I'm not 100% sure of how the site is going to be set up right now, but I'm working on it. If you're interested in volunteering your time (right now I'm unable to pay for help, but will hopefully be able to do so in the future), please go to the site and apply. :)<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcU8xeFxtCHY04a4d_4-oavPWbpoI9O-h0WqMrXHwfiJkktqjxbCxRt3S17NcnGD18mlpjEnz-91MfAf3W7R2g0IiLCJarvY86NrVSvfZN9AfepUPL-SqRN8rDCN7XdW6sP5MCUD77TQmj/s1600/bruno-mars-600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcU8xeFxtCHY04a4d_4-oavPWbpoI9O-h0WqMrXHwfiJkktqjxbCxRt3S17NcnGD18mlpjEnz-91MfAf3W7R2g0IiLCJarvY86NrVSvfZN9AfepUPL-SqRN8rDCN7XdW6sP5MCUD77TQmj/s1600/bruno-mars-600.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20781680,00.html" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Around 3, I showered and left my house to go to my parents' for Super Bowl. My parents' Super Bowl party was so small (my parents, my sister and niece, my friend Jen, and me) that my mom decided to make Thanksgiving dinner instead of normal SB foods... We had turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade noodles, corn, sweet potatoes, dressing, rolls... the whole shebang. LOL It was delicious and unexpected.<br />
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The game, in my opinion, sucked. It didn't even seem like the Broncos showed up. The commercials were okay... I LOVED the halftime show though. I thought Bruno Mars and the Chili Peppers nailed it. Jen and I were talking about going to see Bruno Mars in concert when he comes to Chicago this summer. Tickets should be on sale right now. Haha.<br />
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I got home late and went straight to bed pretty much. I didn't sleep the greatest last night, but I'll survive. I am going to Curves tonight. I signed up for a gym pact. If I don't go to Curves three times this week, I'll owe $5 for each day I miss. Considering I can only go to Curves three days in a week (because of their hours), I HAVE to go tonight. My gym bag is packed and in my car. Once I get home, I'll make something for dinner, clean up my mess, watch a little TV, and go to bed early... Hopefully... That's my plan anyway. Haha.Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-47280245761504928172014-02-02T10:00:00.000-06:002014-02-02T10:00:57.054-06:00GoalsSo, I realize most people talk about their goals at the start of a new year. I didn't make any resolutions for this year really. I always fail so I thought I'd let myself get by without any this year... But here are some goals I'd like to achieve:<br />
<br />
<b><u>Money:</u></b><br />
Have you heard of the 52 Week Money Saving Challenge? Basically each week, you deposit into your savings the same amount as whatever week it is. So the first week of the year, you deposit $1, the second you deposit $2, the third you deposit $3. This goes on until the last week when you deposit $52. Well, I get paid bi-weekly so I made my own Excel file with how much I should deposit each pay period. Now, the problem is that I always run out of money by the end of the year and start off the year with more money, so I did the Excel file in reverse as well:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6GIynwgIuEjYZw8R_AYdyOPvtWkxNokgKqlEMugeiGHVXTQKw3io1dfefJk_SYs_m35qwwdHuowHraWPHgrb2qEmsMod6H479LYL_2JPXTnEragC2uoL1WGhIckZ0kHJgQNfPNXdu0YAb/s1600/decrease.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6GIynwgIuEjYZw8R_AYdyOPvtWkxNokgKqlEMugeiGHVXTQKw3io1dfefJk_SYs_m35qwwdHuowHraWPHgrb2qEmsMod6H479LYL_2JPXTnEragC2uoL1WGhIckZ0kHJgQNfPNXdu0YAb/s1600/decrease.jpg" height="400" width="242" /></a></div>
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I haven't started off the year with any money so there's nothing in my savings as of yet, however, I will be putting almost half of my tax return in savings once I get it back (by Friday). I've already done my taxes and they've already been accepted by the government with a deposited by date of the 6th. I'm also putting in a little extra because I would like to have $1500 in my savings by the end of the year and, with the extra from my tax return, that's where I would be. I've never had any money stay in my savings for an extended period of time because money tends to burn a hole in my pocket. This is going to be huge if I accomplish this. *fingers crossed*<br />
<br />
<b><u>Health:</u></b><br />
I want to try to get myself on a healthy schedule of sleep and such. I want to go to bed from 9:30 pm to 6 am every day. This gives me half an hour to fall asleep… and if I sleep from 10 pm to 6 am every day, that’s 8 hours of sleep. I want to get up at 6 am instead of 7 so I’m not rushing around every morning. I want to maybe do a workout video in the mornings or go for a short walk with Rusty when the weather is nice. Then I want to get ready for work and have plenty of time to make breakfast and pack a lunch and snacks for the day. I want to go to Curves after work and then go home and make something for dinner, clean up my mess, and watch a couple of hours of TV before bed. I watch too much TV, I’m too lazy, and I’m tired of always feeling like my life is a big mess. We’ll see how this works, but that’s my new plan… starting ASAP.<br />
<br />
It's back to Curves tomorrow, eating healthier, and being healthier in general. Let's do this!Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-69478249396031471602014-01-29T10:00:00.000-06:002014-01-29T10:00:04.276-06:00What qualifies a binge?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNQb68430zAXiDEFhg5Itgzj00nggRkH3uLGHfFSBUQocpZ-vgC1t5UCxz_ythFz8qeHsx682R_1jqGUGJOwa0LXvn0pJ7l-xTtwX1rUhIlQW5yRMpZCZB4nwwD4PcemjVHHZmNLUaQQEN/s1600/bingeeating.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNQb68430zAXiDEFhg5Itgzj00nggRkH3uLGHfFSBUQocpZ-vgC1t5UCxz_ythFz8qeHsx682R_1jqGUGJOwa0LXvn0pJ7l-xTtwX1rUhIlQW5yRMpZCZB4nwwD4PcemjVHHZmNLUaQQEN/s1600/bingeeating.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.healthydunia.com/article/1186/18/how_to_control_binge_eating_.html" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In mid-September of 2012, I apprehensively went to a doctor's appointment. I made an appointment to discuss my high blood pressure, but really for the sole purpose of talking to my doctor about my binge eating episodes. My doctor and I discussed what happened and how I felt during a binge. After discussing how compulsion runs in my family, it was determined
that I needed to take a low dose of Prozac to help combat my binge
eating episodes. Since compulsion runs in my family, my doctor thinks that mine comes out in the form of compulsive overeating and binge eating episodes...<br />
<br />
I took my Prozac for about nine months total which includes about two months of weaning myself off the pills... With my personal definition of binge eating, I have not had an episode since my doctor's appointment in September of 2012. But, what constitutes a binge? According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binge_eating" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Binge eating</b> is a pattern of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disordered_eating" title="Disordered eating">disordered eating</a> which consists of episodes of uncontrollable eating. It is sometimes a symptom of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binge_eating_disorder" title="Binge eating disorder">binge eating disorder</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_overeating" title="Compulsive overeating">compulsive overeating</a>
disorder. During such binges, a person rapidly consumes an excessive
amount of food. Most people who have eating binges try to hide this
behavior from others, and often feel ashamed about being overweight or
depressed about their overeating. Although people who do not have any <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder" title="Eating disorder">eating disorder</a> may occasionally experience episodes of overeating, frequent binge eating is often a symptom of an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder" title="Eating disorder">eating disorder</a>.<br />
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
About one in five young women report that they have had binge-eating
symptoms, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Women
account for about 60% of binge-eating disorder symptoms.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Binge-eating disorder, as the name implies, is characterized by
uncontrollable, excessive eating, followed by feelings of shame and
guilt. Unlike those with bulimia, those with binge-eating disorder
symptoms typically do not purge their food. However, many who have
bulimia also have binge-eating disorder.</blockquote>
In my previous searches for binge eating information, I saw that some people classify it as eating more than 2500 calories in one sitting while some people say it's 3000 calories. There are a lot of different sites with a lot of different information regarding binge eating.<br />
<br />
<b>What do <u>I</u> think constitutes a binge eating episode?</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8FYnpV-wsYvu8nLduaDJBNFlJc4pNx8amFoA6XQ1tRo0aZBo18pNAsLoGQ2uVe7QDDqkFnGTZ3wYGpNdAzL_FVhNnZcPdnrTp742xQ0tsx9PAQU-JU278X07LosYyREphfa_Ww0PXvmnw/s1600/lossofcontrol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8FYnpV-wsYvu8nLduaDJBNFlJc4pNx8amFoA6XQ1tRo0aZBo18pNAsLoGQ2uVe7QDDqkFnGTZ3wYGpNdAzL_FVhNnZcPdnrTp742xQ0tsx9PAQU-JU278X07LosYyREphfa_Ww0PXvmnw/s1600/lossofcontrol.jpg" /></a></div>
<b>Loss of control and being ashamed.</b> Those are the biggest factors to me. I still overeat and I overeat often, but I do it consciously not because I lost control. I do it because I'm in the habit of eating more than I need to survive. I don't hide in my house alone when I want to eat... I don't feel ashamed after because I lost control... I feel slightly ashamed when I overeat just because I'm never going to lose weight if I keep overeating, but I'm not ashamed in the actual act of overeating...<br />
<br />
Since September of 2012, I haven't sat at home eating because I just cannot stop. I haven't eaten until I'm physically ill and then felt so ashamed that I did it. While I do overeat, I don't believe that I've eaten more than 1500 calories in one sitting since my official diagnosis. The meals with that kind of calories intake are usually when I eat out at a restaurant or have seconds of an especially decadent dish I made at home. I don't eat an entire box of macaroni and cheese, four waffles with butter and syrup, and a ginormous bowl of cereal within a two hour period. That's the episode that made me realize I needed to seek help...<br />
<br />
I think that that Prozac really helped me to understand when I was in a binge. I can now consciously make myself stop eating if I feel a binge coming on... and I do it often. I fought the urge to binge just the other night. I wanted to eat everything in sight even though I had just had a delicious and semi-healthy dinner... I forced myself to go to bed instead of binge. It has taken a lot of work, but I honestly feel like I've conquered my compulsive binge eating.<br />
<br />
I just wish I could figure out how to control my overeating. While I no longer binge, I am still highly addicted to food. I feel like I need to discover a diet that tells me what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat it. I think that the less control I have over what I can eat, the better I would do. People always tell me to buy only healthy groceries and to plan my meals in advance... and this works for a few days, but then it doesn't work anymore. I need a meal plan where I have no choice as to what I eat. Anyone know of any healthy meal plans like this???Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-55894436224193038132014-01-27T10:00:00.000-06:002014-01-27T10:00:10.152-06:00ObsessionsI said in my <a href="http://www.crysrochelle.com/2014/01/overwhelmed.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> that I have a new celebrity obsession. Those of you that have read me for a while may know that I tend to get a bit obsessed with things. OCD runs in my family and mine comes out in the form of celebrity obsessions... (and compulsive overeating)... I'm not some crazy psycho stalker, but I get obsessive about certain people. For example, every show I watch, I get a crush on someone in it. I'm not sure that I can name any show where I haven't gotten a crush on one of the characters on the show... About 95% of the time, that person is a guy. Once I become obsessed, I watch everything that I can find with the actor/actress including interviews I find on YouTube. I also scour the web for other like-minded fans of said actor/actress... mainly in the form of fan pages.<br />
<br />
My newest television show obsession is <i><b>Freaks and Geeks</b></i>. I had it on my Netflix list for a long time. I was looking for a show with only one season after watching eight and a half seasons of <i><b>How I Met Your Mother</b></i>. I wanted something short and awesome. The cast is what got me to watch the show to begin with. I mean, c'mon... <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0290556/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">James Franco</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0736622/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Seth Rogen</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0781981/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1" target="_blank">Jason Segel</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771414/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Martin Starr</a>, and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0197855/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">John Francis Daley</a> with guest stars like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0429069/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Rashida Jones</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0479471/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Shia LaBeouf</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0135221/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Lizzy Caplan</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0263881/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Kayla Ewell</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004936/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Ben Foster</a>, and many more. I immediately thought, "This show has to be good."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGXPhKuCTU1K04AaCXGi8MOzR1GAjUM5Gq2X86xkdXDyBiIhpmQFoW2d-6wlAvrYx9nMxxJnlSo95-rSli_NAF-vnCPxZP5jdUh_pPcVJwfSTRM9L5vM0Bk_R6JceI3uOoW47MtTdtY_y5/s1600/Nick%252BAndopolis%252Bnickandop.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGXPhKuCTU1K04AaCXGi8MOzR1GAjUM5Gq2X86xkdXDyBiIhpmQFoW2d-6wlAvrYx9nMxxJnlSo95-rSli_NAF-vnCPxZP5jdUh_pPcVJwfSTRM9L5vM0Bk_R6JceI3uOoW47MtTdtY_y5/s1600/Nick%252BAndopolis%252Bnickandop.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jason Segel as Nick Andopolis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I started it around 11:30 am on Wednesday, January 1st and was immediately hooked. I watched it (almost nonstop) until 1:45 am on the 2nd. I even had to work that day, but I didn't care... I was finishing this series! <b>I LOVED IT!</b> It's such a great show.<br />
<br />
If you don't know what it is, the show centers around Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) who is a smart and goody-two-shoes high school student in 1980. She starts hanging out with the burnout "freaks" Daniel (James Franco), Ken (Seth Rogen), Nick (Jason Segel), and Kim (Busy Phillips). Her little brother Sam (John Francis Daley) is a freshman and considered a "geek" along with his friends Bill (Martin Starr) and Neal (Samm Levine). It pretty much describes my life in high school and I can totally relate to it...<br />
<br />
My crush from this show? You might think James Franco's Daniel because, c'mon, James Franco is pretty good looking... but you'd be wrong. My nerdy 16-year-old self fell in love with Nick Andopolis (Jason Segel). I actually posted this on Facebook at like 2:30 in the morning after I finished the series:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I find it amazing how different television shows make you feel differently about the same actor... I finally caught up on </i><b>How I Met Your Mother</b><i> recently and, while I enjoy Marshall on that show, he's definitely not my favorite character... yet today (or yesterday I should say), I discovered </i><b>Freaks and Geeks</b><i> and I absolutely loved the character Nick. I was rooting for him throughout the entire series... which I watched all in one day because I got hooked and seem to have insomnia. I wasn't really happy with where they ended it, oh well... but now, I gotta say, I'm a huge Jason Segel fan... and a big fan of </i><b>Freaks and Geeks</b><i> as well.</i></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIiWFC_9CL7LkGnQx-3BttWvZprKscT2BPU68GX61xZ7R7YQuoEGvE_ocNJhSFobkFF_hcggMXnPnl0ycLTZBDhCRjOhayF0oN8CtpU06PubbFs8l75sd_IC6TAIHNd6lG6ia_aH3todUU/s1600/jason-segel-pictures-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIiWFC_9CL7LkGnQx-3BttWvZprKscT2BPU68GX61xZ7R7YQuoEGvE_ocNJhSFobkFF_hcggMXnPnl0ycLTZBDhCRjOhayF0oN8CtpU06PubbFs8l75sd_IC6TAIHNd6lG6ia_aH3todUU/s1600/jason-segel-pictures-2.jpg" height="320" width="218" /></a></div>
I mean, here's the deal... the dude is totally my type. I've always been attracted to tall (6'4"??? Yes, please!), lanky (which he usually is), and hilarious guys... Jason does not disappoint in any of these aspects. I also think he’s just really adorable in general. I love the photos of him with his sexy ginger beard… (as pictured to the right) or clean shaven… or just about any way, to be honest.<br />
<br />
Did I mention the guy is hilarious? Wait… I did, didn't I? Well, he is. Since discovering my love for him as an actor, I have watched just about everything he's been in. This includes many hours of interviews he's done on YouTube. Never has anyone made me laugh as much as he does. The interviews he’s done with <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0748620/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1" target="_blank">Paul Rudd</a> are so funny my sides hurt from laughing so hard. Out of all of his movies, my favorites are <b>Jeff, Who Lives at Home</b> and <b>I Love You, Man</b>.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Jeff, Who Lives at Home</b> is about Jeff (Jason) and Pat (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1159180/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Ed Helms</a>) who are brothers. Jeff is a 30-year-old pothead who lives in his mom's basement. Pat is fairly well off with a good, professional job. Jeff thinks that everything is a sign. The entire movie, pretty much, is based off the fact that Jeff gets a phone call and the guy on the phone asks for "Kevin". He's positive that it happened for a reason. I definitely thought it would be more comedic than it was with Jason and Ed as they're both known for their comedy stuff, but it wasn't hilarious. Yeah, there were funny parts, but it was mostly a drama. I even cried at one point... I'd recommend it though if you haven't seen it.
It was pretty amazing.<br />
<br />
<b>I Love You, Man </b>has Jason and Paul Rudd as the main characters. Paul plays Peter who is a real estate agent. He gets engaged at the beginning of the movie and, after realizing he has no close friends, goes on a mission to find a best man/best friend. He meets Sydney (Jason) and yeah... It's hilarious. I love it and could watch it over and over again. Haha. Great movie.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRN-5LtgSoUm0O90yLPqkAUvAXaIkcmHnP96CHreYtpAzoT5kPd0IkhvhxyIstzr_fHV7FzFkm1iARQ0nI6ioHN8oS-Cz8phj_ndW6X_4Y5j1M6fNR9AWHTInP8KGeP5Z2hRUYP3rXQ1Iy/s1600/Walter_and_gary_pose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRN-5LtgSoUm0O90yLPqkAUvAXaIkcmHnP96CHreYtpAzoT5kPd0IkhvhxyIstzr_fHV7FzFkm1iARQ0nI6ioHN8oS-Cz8phj_ndW6X_4Y5j1M6fNR9AWHTInP8KGeP5Z2hRUYP3rXQ1Iy/s1600/Walter_and_gary_pose.jpg" height="189" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gary (Jason) and Walter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jason has also said my new favorite quote from a movie:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>You always believe in other people, but that's easy. Sooner or later, you gotta believe in yourself, too, because that's what growing up is. It's becoming who you want to be. You have to try.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
- Gary from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1204342/?ref_=nv_sr_1"><b>The Muppets</b></a></blockquote>
I watched this movie because of my Jason Segel kick... Heck, I didn't even know the movie existed. I did watch <b><i>The Muppets</i></b> as a child, but I hadn't seen anything related to them in years and years. I can honestly say that I loved the movie. It made me cry to see something so iconic from my childhood brought back in a beautiful way. I adored it... and I loved the cameos from some amazing actors/actresses. Just an all-around fun, family movie!<br />
<br />
So, as you can tell, I am still pretty obsessed with Jason Segel. After scouring the internet, I was incredibly surprised to learn that he didn't really have a fan site! There are a couple of websites with his name attached, but they are either not up to date or not finished. An amazing actor and comedian like Jason deserves to have an amazing fan site… I can honestly say that I have had crushes on a lot of celebrities over the years, but none have singularly gotten me hooked enough to make a fan page for him/her. From what I've seen, Jason seems like a normal guy who has an awesome job. He comes off as being so laid back, down-to-earth, and sweet. He seems humble even though he's turned into such a well-known celebrity. It also amazes me how open he is. I mean, he doesn't shy away from being a grown man who cries... and he's said in several interviews that he has cried... like when Kermit first said a line he wrote or when his best friend moved out of his house to go to medical school... He’s said numerous times how he feels honored when people want to work with him... It's pretty cool.Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-81857322108204103212014-01-24T17:00:00.000-06:002014-01-24T17:00:04.309-06:00Overwhelmed<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvWZ7IKNxRhXHCOayZxsu62SJQthT4EuQequb9fjFAXOTT32fiJaoXK_4qedi6TxH3WbbraULnSUJprFZjF2KnuzZuSXtq8_bJ5BswuEqZwSflpcDS9V1dqixGbjTFgydx5hwFjDPNjaV/s1600/overwhelmed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvWZ7IKNxRhXHCOayZxsu62SJQthT4EuQequb9fjFAXOTT32fiJaoXK_4qedi6TxH3WbbraULnSUJprFZjF2KnuzZuSXtq8_bJ5BswuEqZwSflpcDS9V1dqixGbjTFgydx5hwFjDPNjaV/s1600/overwhelmed.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://schoolinginthesun.blogspot.com/2013/10/overwhelmed.html" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I am majorly overwhelmed at the moment. I have this habit of biting off more than I can chew and getting stressed because I have too much on my plate. When I get into this place, I tend to shut down. I don't know where to begin to accomplish my too-ambitious to-do list so I do nothing.<br />
<br />
I <i>need</i> to work on my <a href="http://www.supernatural-fandom.com/" target="_blank"><b><i>Supernatural</i></b> fan site</a>. My website hosted a photo scavenger hunt that ran from mid-December to early January. I was hoping to have the results posted by the 12th of this month. Almost two weeks later and I'm not anywhere close to going through all of the photographs submitted for it. I still have a couple of week's worth of work on it, I'm guessing. Though I'm planning to spend quite a bit of time tonight and tomorrow working on it. Also, I do a whole new layout on my fan site each year. I haven't even updated a single page yet. Yikes. I need to do that as well. I'm basically going to be wiping away the entire site and slowly re-uploading all of the pages. I feel like I need to do this so that all of the pages are completely fresh. It's going to take a while. I'm hoping to work on that again within the next couple of days as well.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZRV8uI2UBo9Hi7oGQtqcgswo4r7Ol4T8H5Lg3mImRJtlaY5O0jsUAmZ6ZoYb19a-qlUvPBHVFMBbL7dwI0QQ7RMhCAJTQs9kKsnIMsKsuvYXw4c1yJbGTGbFOMA7hFtimdNLiK-MULb5/s1600/jason-segel-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZRV8uI2UBo9Hi7oGQtqcgswo4r7Ol4T8H5Lg3mImRJtlaY5O0jsUAmZ6ZoYb19a-qlUvPBHVFMBbL7dwI0QQ7RMhCAJTQs9kKsnIMsKsuvYXw4c1yJbGTGbFOMA7hFtimdNLiK-MULb5/s1600/jason-segel-17.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
I also started a <a href="http://www.jasonsegelfans.com/" target="_blank">Jason Segel fan site</a>. I have never considered doing a fan site for a single actor/actress before as most of them already have amazing sites and it's hard to keep a site like that updated. Well, when I became obsessed with him earlier this year (I don't even think I talked about that, I'll save it for another day), I searched for a great website for him and found nothing. We can't have that, he's an awesome actor and comedian and seems like an amazing guy. I started a site for him and hoped to be almost done with it by his birthday which was January 18th. That didn't happen. Bummer... I need to work on it again soon, but considering it's a new website with no followers as of yet, and I have so much to do on the <i><b>Supernatural</b></i> site, I'm placing this one on the back burner for a little while... This doesn't mean I love Jason Segel any less though. Haha. I would marry him and have his babies if he asked me to... Yeah, I'll definitely have to do an entry about him soon. I think I posted one on my other blogging site, but was too embarrassed to share it here. I've decided that part of what makes me who I am is my obsessions so I need to discuss that too... and I shouldn't be embarrassed about who I am. So, that's that...<br />
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I have been planning a baby shower for my best friend as well. She gave birth on December 11th, 13 weeks prematurely, to a little blessing named Dylan. Her baby shower was originally planned for February 1st and, after Dylan was born, she decided she wanted to keep it that date. It's hard to believe that Dylan is already a month and a half old... or 32 weeks, 5 days gestation. He's doing wonderfully... he's just over 3 pounds and off his nasal cannula for oxygen. They're guessing he'll go home between 36-40 weeks gestation. Since he's doing so well, my fingers are crossed that he'll get to go home closer to the 36 week mark. I haven't gotten to meet him yet! Any case, our mutual friend Sarah and I have been planning the shower. It's going to be at my parents' house next Saturday from 2-4 pm. Sarah and I are going out Sunday late morning to do the shopping for it. I'm excited! I just wish the people invited would RSVP already. We need a semi-accurate account of who's coming so we don't go overboard on food and supplies...<br />
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AND I've been slacking around my house. My to-do list there is extremely long. My bathroom needs thoroughly cleaned. My bedroom closet needs gone though... both the clothes and the non-clothes items. I need to finish rearranging the living room. My parents got us a new DVD stand for Christmas... previously our DVDs were just on a bookshelf. I need to finish moving all the stuff off the bookshelf so I can get rid of it and move some tables and whatnot around so the living room isn't all cluttered. I need to get caught up on laundry and dishes. I need to clean out my fridge... Ack. Why can't there be more hours in the day!?!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/KaleidoBooks" target="_blank">Source</a><br />♥ My nerd worlds colide... books and Doctor Who! ♥</td></tr>
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I've also let this blog go and I'm super sorry about that. I love writing in any form and I feel like neglecting this blog is neglecting myself. I don't know if that sounds weird or not, but I feel like I need to keep this blog up and write about my life just to be sane. I have been slacking on my book writing as well. Writing in general just isn't happening for me right now. That makes me incredibly sad. Writing is an outlet for me... I need to really put it on the front burner and quickly. <br />
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On the plus side, I've been reading more. I've already read three books this year and am about halfway through a fourth. Reading is the most wonderful thing. I love when I really get into books. I read a couple of books in a series that really hit home to me. I'm going to have to do some research and look into things... which I hope will help me in all aspects of my life. I know this is vague, but I'm not getting into anything about this topic on a public blog. *shrugs* I just wanted to bring it up to say that I know because of this series, my life is going to be bettered and that's an amazing thing... It's so completely mind-blowing that a series of books can affect a person the way the series has influenced me. Just sayin'...<br />
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Okay, I really think this entry is long enough and I'm hoping to have more up and running soon. Talk to you all later! :)Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-37494988194563140162013-12-31T20:00:00.000-06:002013-12-31T20:00:00.570-06:00New Year's Link Up<div style="text-align: left;">
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<b>A bad habit I’m going to break: </b>Using my credit cards. I know that sometimes credit cards can be helpful, but my debt has gotten out of control. I need to get a reign on it. As soon as I think about it (while I'm at home), I'm going to take all of my credit cards out of my wallet and seal them in a box. Then I will put this box on my bookshelf and not touch it unless it's an absolute emergency. Not having my credit cards in my wallet will definitely help quell my spending habits. I also need to remove all of my credit cards from all online shopping sites (PayPal, Walmart, etc).<br />
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<b>A new skill I’d like to learn</b>: I would really like to learn a new language. I'm not sure if and when it would happen, but I would like to learn to speak Italian. I think it's such a beautiful sounding language. Ideally I would use Rosetta Stone or another like product to learn as they get the best results. I would also like to learn how to speak sign language. The community college in my town offers a couple of sign language classes. I just haven't had the time or money to look into taking one yet.<br />
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<b>A person I hope to be more like: </b> I'm not sure that I really want to be more like anyone. I would like to be a better version of myself though. I would like to spend less on junk that I don't need and give more to the poor. I would like to get rid of the many pounds of excess weight that I've been carrying around for far too long. I would like to learn more and actually do what I aspire to do... write. I would like to better myself and become the best version of me that there can be.<br />
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<b>A good deed I’m going to do: </b>I left this question for last. I skipped it and came back. I'm not really sure what good deed I will do this year. I fund raise for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I donate my gently used clothes. I'm not really sure what I could do. I suppose I could look into volunteering somewhere. I've always wanted to do that and haven't. This one is really making me ponder.<br />
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<b>A place I’d like to visit:</b> I would really love to travel to many places. I'm not sure that I will get to visit anywhere this year. I said last year I would be more mature and not recklessly spend my money so I could save up and go to Los Angeles. That's not going to happen any time soon, but I would love to go there. My friend Rick lives in LA and he told me if I ever made it out there, he would be my personal travel guide. He's an actor so I think that would be amazingly fun. BE MATURE, CRYSTAL!!! STOP BLOWING YOUR MONEY!!! I would also like to visit some random other places within the United States (Niagara Falls being one of them) and some other countries (Ireland being top of the list).<br />
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<b>A book I’d like to read: </b>Wow. My goal is to read two books a month this year... I honestly don't know what's on my list. I'm currently in the middle of <i>Allegiant</i> (the third in the <i>Divergent</i> series) and I would like to finish it tonight or tomorrow so I can start the new year with a fresh book. <br />
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<b>A letter I’m going to write: </b> I don't have any letters that I feel need to be written for any reason or another. I would like to start sending personalized birthday cards to my friends and family members. I'm actually going to create a Google document that my friends and family can fill out that will have all of the information I need to send cards and letters to them. I'm excited to get that started soon. :)<br />
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<b>A new food I’d like to try:</b> This year I tried Thai food for the first time. It was incredibly spicy though delicious. I'm not sure what food or ethnicity of food that I would like to try this year. I guess I would like to try Indian food. I've never had Indian food before and it looks yummy every time I see it anywhere. I'm not sure that we have any Indian food places around me though. I guess I'll have to look into that.<br />
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<b>I’m going to do better at: </b> Not procrastinating. I tend to have big expectations and make huge plans and then don't follow through. This means in regards to my job, my writing, my fan site, everything. For example, I was supposed to be launching a new layout for my fan site today and I haven't 100% figured it out yet. I'm currently working on it while watching Christmas movies. Good times.<br />
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Anyway, this was fun, and ...<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!</span></b></div>
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Be safe and have a great night!Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-56198113463373020142013-12-16T20:00:00.000-06:002013-12-16T20:00:02.739-06:00Winter Wonderland!!!We were put under a Winter Weather Advisory on Thursday for Friday afternoon into Saturday around noon. It was already snowing when I got off work on Friday. I went home and didn't leave the house. When I woke up Saturday morning and looked outside, this is what I saw:<br />
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We were in a Winter Wonderland! It was so pretty!!! I can appreciate snow when I don't have to leave the house. Haha! It was so beautiful outside. It also helped put me into the Christmas spirit. I grew up in a family who always put up the Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. That didn't happen in my house this year. </div>
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My boyfriend has been incredibly busy at work and didn't get out my Christmas tree (from the shed which I rarely go in) until last Monday. I had planned to put the tree up Friday, but didn't. With the snow outside, I wanted to get my tree up fast. I turned on the TV and found the holiday music station, but it wasn't working. I was confused for a minute until I realized our dish was probably full of snow. I bundled up, took Rusty out back with me, and cleaned out the snow in the dish. It worked after that! I went in and started putting up my tree!</div>
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I think my tree is defective. It's a pre-lit tree and when I put it up last year, for the first time, there was a section that I couldn't get to light for anything. I finally messed with almost every bulb on that section and it finally lit. The same thing happened this year... I finally finished fighting my tree and got all of the ornaments on only to realize that I didn't have my tree skirt or topper (I use a Santa hat). I donned all of my winter attire and ran out to our shed. It didn't take me long and I found the bag they were in... I went in, put on the skirt and the topper, and decorated my house with the little bit of decorations I put out. Then I took pics of my pretty tree:</div>
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The one on the left is with a flash and the one on the right is without. I love it! After that, I took a little bit of a break to eat some lunch and straighten up. Then I got to work on wrapping what presents I could. If you could look to the left of where my tree is, there was a huge pile of presents that needed wrapped. I got all but three or four presents wrapped and they're now under my tree. When I was done wrapping presents, I put together the quilt rack I bought myself. It was super easy and looks great so I can't wait to display it in my living room. Right now it's in the bedroom because there's no room in the living room with the tree up! </div>
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After being so productive on a weekend (usually I'm super lazy and don't do much), I decided to take a relaxing bath as I hadn't done that in about a month. I soaked in the tub for a good hour and a half while I watched a few episodes of <b>How I Met Your Mother</b> on my Kindle. I'm finally on season 8 and can't wait to get caught up on the current season. Haha. I showered and put on some pajamas and then worked on my <a href="http://www.supernatural-fandom.com/scavengerhunt.htm" target="_blank">Supernatural site's scavenger hunt</a> until about 10:30. Then I laid in bed and watched a few more episodes of HIMYM. </div>
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Sunday wasn't as productive, but I did a lot of work on my website. I did a load of laundry and the dishes, but other than that, all I did was worked on my website and watched television. We still don't have a new clothes dryer and there are some things that just aren't as soft when they aren't dried in a dryer. We should be getting a new one no later than this weekend which is nice...</div>
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Today has been dreary in a wintery sense. We've had a chance of flurries all day and it's foggy out. My favorite phenomenon happens when it's foggy in the winter...</div>
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I LOVE when the trees look like this. I'm not 100% sure what causes it, though I'm sure there is a cause... I just don't know it. :) Okay, I better go. I have work to do. </div>
Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-41949533695577164382013-12-13T21:00:00.000-06:002013-12-13T21:00:00.032-06:00Baby DylanMy best friend had her first child at 26 weeks, 3 days gestation a mere two days ago. He weighed a mere one pound, 14 ounces at birth. In the first twenty-four hours of his life, he was able to be taken off his breathing tube. He is using a nasal cannula only, but at the first signs of distress, he will be put back on the tube. He is doing amazing and is super-duper cute! Please continue to pray and send well wishes to Dylan, my bestie Pam, and her husband Patrick. He's got a bit of a fight ahead of him, but he's feisty and doing so well! The following pictures were taken by Pam's sister-in-law Amanda. I haven't had the chance to go see him yet, but as soon as I'm allowed, I'll be there!<br />
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<br />Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-48727058209527699982013-12-12T21:00:00.000-06:002013-12-12T21:00:01.183-06:00What motivates you?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bo0E6GMBqKESZLwbCu-Y9jeykVxhWF3X5h6g3Q8SePPS8cRlPxxUEoUr6M2y52-OWL2boCzGhgBFnK72ODRywQfLuuZw46IgBIabzzNV07ejqrVbI2nrZlBkPpxnJFQP6tJJlXgjyMV_/s1600/280771357988950708_hiBs5Ay3_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bo0E6GMBqKESZLwbCu-Y9jeykVxhWF3X5h6g3Q8SePPS8cRlPxxUEoUr6M2y52-OWL2boCzGhgBFnK72ODRywQfLuuZw46IgBIabzzNV07ejqrVbI2nrZlBkPpxnJFQP6tJJlXgjyMV_/s320/280771357988950708_hiBs5Ay3_c.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vt247.net/97/what-motivates-you/" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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I've been severely lacking in the getting healthy department. I was hoping that <a href="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/elf-for-health/" target="_blank">Elf4Health</a> would motivate me, but with the holidays, it hasn't. I'm completely bummed over this because I am needing a huge push in the right direction.<br />
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My weight is hovering around its highest ever. I didn't weigh myself this week so I don't officially know where I am, I just know that I feel super heavy right now. I <b><i>want</i></b> to be healthy. I <i><b>could</b></i> be healthy, but I just don't have the willpower right now. I can't get myself in the healthy mindset. I know I've done it before, but I'm struggling so much this time around. I look in the mirror and I'm disgusted at myself. I don't have a chin anymore... I've never NOT had a chin.<br />
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I really need to kick my butt into gear, but I'm really not sure how to do it anymore. What motivates you? What keeps you on track? I'm looking for all of the advice I can get so give your ideas!Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-33373702527530912932013-12-12T12:38:00.000-06:002013-12-12T12:42:39.589-06:00Prayer Request<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6fv6CSgjyD0TP17_IA2bOQRwdlG_1TR2aUYqTB0fWyqOBKOB8r1MW99XDBNQGlPaEjzcsp-dsGASg8mkzH-Ueh8VqWX01pvLXWWsNaeh2MPQyUOpl05WfUyuHtJAtwRenGsADJYPxG3I/s1600/Boypray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6fv6CSgjyD0TP17_IA2bOQRwdlG_1TR2aUYqTB0fWyqOBKOB8r1MW99XDBNQGlPaEjzcsp-dsGASg8mkzH-Ueh8VqWX01pvLXWWsNaeh2MPQyUOpl05WfUyuHtJAtwRenGsADJYPxG3I/s1600/Boypray.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://grandmamasstories.blogspot.com/2012/05/prayer-request-sunday-may-20th-2012.html" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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My best friend gave birth last night to a baby boy named Dylan Michael.
Dylan was born at 26 weeks, 3 days gestation and weighed in at 1 pound,
14 ounces. Pam is doing well and says the doctors say Dylan "will be [in
the hospital] for a while, but he's doing really well". Regardless,
please keep Pam, her husband Patrick, and baby Dylan in your thoughts
and prayers. Thank you!Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-75408141665646936392013-11-27T20:00:00.000-06:002013-11-27T20:00:03.991-06:00Giving Blood, the Dentist, and Other Happenings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCIMKeS_G0ZLhc_EdZSxP2o8uEH2J21Y99AHnaEFNskIlWTJuU5MvjXPf-1vDyyZitgy8WcCKcTKjmrgJfZ7livqQCQLuw456ngL0hfhuI63DQahh1FjIiiklz4bF7qfa8U5xN0VNS7Th/s1600/blooddrive.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCIMKeS_G0ZLhc_EdZSxP2o8uEH2J21Y99AHnaEFNskIlWTJuU5MvjXPf-1vDyyZitgy8WcCKcTKjmrgJfZ7livqQCQLuw456ngL0hfhuI63DQahh1FjIiiklz4bF7qfa8U5xN0VNS7Th/s200/blooddrive.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
Yesterday when I was at work I got a call from the American Red Cross. They had called me several times within the last couple of weeks and I had been unable to answer. This time I could answer so I did. The lady on the phone informed me that there would be a blood drive held at my church today between 10 and 2 if I was able to donate. I told her I just got a new tattoo a couple of months back so I would be unable to donate for a while. She then informed me that the Red Cross has changed their policy on donations for tattooed individuals. This is taken from their website:<br />
<br />
<b>Tattoo:</b> <br />
<ul>
<li>Wait 12 months after a tattoo if the tattoo was applied in a state that
does not regulate tattoo facilities. This requirement is related to
concerns about hepatitis. </li>
<li>Acceptable if the tattoo was applied by a state-regulated entity using
sterile needles and ink that is not reused. Cosmetic tattoos applied in a
licensed establishment in a regulated state using sterile needles and
ink that is not reused is acceptable. There are 40 states that currently
regulate tattoo facilities. You should discuss your particular
situation with the health historian at the time of donation.</li>
</ul>
This makes me so happy. I love being able to donate blood and was so sad when I went through a period when I couldn't donate. I love making a difference and helping others out. I went and gave blood on my lunch with my amazing friend Megan. She's my blood donation partner and the last three or four times I've given blood, I've gone with her. We got there and, being as I was on my lunch, we weren't sure if we were going to have time to donate. There was a man in front of us and both of the interview rooms were full. We sat there for a few minutes and then I was called back. I got my finger pricked (my iron levels were great), got my blood pressure taken (it was okay), my temperature (normal), and took the survey. Everything came out well and I went to give blood. The Red Cross volunteers were hilarious. I apparently filled my bag rather quickly so they timed Megan's to see who gave their pint quicker. Megan did... of course. Bummer! LOL Then we went to the snack table. This time the church had chili and peanut butter sandwiches after donation instead of cookies and raisins. Margene, a really nice lady who goes to my church, got me a big bowl of chili, a peanut butter sandwich, and some apple juice. I ate that and then waited for Megan to get done. She took me back to work and went home. I'm super excited because I got my first donation t-shirt today. It's pretty nice and I'll feel good when I wear it out!<br />
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I had a dentist appointment last night. I dislike the dentist. That's not to say that I actually dislike the people there. I love my dental hygienist Kaylea. I really enjoy my dentist Dr. Phillips, but I don't like the actual process of going to the dentist and last night was no exception. I got there and one of the account managers told me the amount of my bill (out of pocket as I don't have dental insurance). I might have sobbed a bit as I told her it was fine and I would use my Care Credit card (and get interest free credit for at least 6 months). There was still a few minutes before my appointment time so I went to the little girl's room. I had only been in my seat in the waiting room for a minute or two when Kaylea called me back. I needed new x-rays done. This is one of my least favorite things. I have a small mouth and fitting the little camera thing into it is difficult. After trying not to gag as the x-rays were done, I was lead back to Kaylea's chair. We small talked a bit while she got everything set up and then she got to town cleaning my teeth. She scraped them, polished them, and flossed them. Then we updated my medical history and she went and got Dr. Phillips. He came in and joked with me. He asked if I've been starving myself like had to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. I laughed and asked him if it looked like I'd been starving myself. He laughed really big and said he was just kidding with me too obviously. Haha! He looked in my mouth and poked around with his pointy thing. Apparently a filling that they did a couple of years back (it wasn't a new filling - a loose amalgam one) wasn't good and they need to replace it. They're doing that one free of charge. Then another old amalgam filling on the other side of my mouth isn't doing its job either so they want to replace it. I said okay. Dr. Phillips gave my shoulder a squeeze and told me to have a happy Thanksgiving and left. Kaylea took me out to the account manager who scheduled me two appointments (one in a couple of weeks for my fillings and the other in six months for a cleaning). Then she charged me just under $300. This covers my exam, cleaning, x-rays, and the filling I have to pay for. Not too bad, I suppose. Because the amount of my charge was high, she asked if I wanted 6 months no interest or 18 months no interest. Um... 18 please. LOL It'll be paid off before then, but at least this bill I don't have to worry about should I decide to pay a different one first...<br />
<br />
I have to take just a moment because my eyes have become full of joyful tears... My dad's cousin's wife has been battling cancer for quite a while. If I remember correctly, she was first diagnosed with breast cancer (this is the one I'm unsure of). Then after beating that, she was diagnosed with liver cancer. She is still battling that cancer, but it had moved to her brain. Her daughter just told us all that her scan today showed her free of brain lesions! What an amazing Thanksgiving announcement! So excited that this amazing woman that I know has beat cancer again! YAY DEBBIE!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1Dt5oyv82fykvi4jF-iOqHWu1v963JlrZ7omeuE-joac-8qHBcoocbHaNryAosad_SV6S36uAwGRmBW9rMa-sOqiEOKnaMpia4TRWe80-CWTEOWmHLvD8tT2bbntRmjej5TIv-lfvujF/s1600/newsletter-header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1Dt5oyv82fykvi4jF-iOqHWu1v963JlrZ7omeuE-joac-8qHBcoocbHaNryAosad_SV6S36uAwGRmBW9rMa-sOqiEOKnaMpia4TRWe80-CWTEOWmHLvD8tT2bbntRmjej5TIv-lfvujF/s320/newsletter-header.jpg" width="320" /></a>My Elf4Health has been going great. The first day was to go meatless and I accomplished that!!! I felt amazing after working out and eating a big salad for dinner! Yesterday was to unsubscribe from mailing lists you are on. I unsubscribed from literally 40-50 lists yesterday and this morning. It's ridiculous how much my email inbox was cluttered with junk mail! I also have a small stack of paper catalogs on my counter that I am planning on unsubscribing from soon. I haven't had the time to do it yet, but it will get done!!! Today's challenge was to try a new workout. Considering I gave blood earlier, I'm not allowed to workout today. I can honestly say that giving blood has got to be one of the best "excuses" for not working out that I've ever had... I'll get back on that train, no worries! I doubt I work out tomorrow, but my mom is dragging me Black Friday shopping with her - even though I have no money to spend - and I'm sure we'll walk miles! I'll wear my <a href="http://www.fitbit.com/user/22QRFR" target="_blank">FitBit tracker</a> and let you all know how much I walk, for sure...<br />
<br />
I also want to give a shout out to my awesome elf buddy <a href="http://chubbyashley.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ashley</a>! She's been a great help to me these first few days with cheering me on and writing me novels (which we obviously can see that I enjoy writing, haha!). I'm grateful to have an extremely nice and talkative elf this go around! <br />
<br />
<br />
Oh and finally to my fellow Americans:<br />
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Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-29473995275217309492013-11-25T12:00:00.000-06:002013-11-25T12:00:01.212-06:00I am alive... + Elf4Health... but extremely busy. That's why I've been M.I.A. This is a busy time of year for me and I'm trying my hardest to just stay afloat... I still can't believe that it's been almost a month since I've written. Crazy!!!<br />
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I went back to Curves a couple of weeks ago. I haven't had much success yet, but this is only the third week. There are new owners and they changed their hours of operation so I'm unable to go as much as I liked to. Pretty much I can only go on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Tuesdays is Zumba and, while I love it, I need to get used to doing a plain Curves workout before I start Zumba. My knees are already killing me without doing Zumba. They decided to close on Fridays at 1 as well so I can't go on Fridays anymore. They are open on Saturdays from 8 to noon, but I'm rarely up early enough to go. *shrugs* Because of this schedule, the first week I made it two days and last week I only made it 1. I'm hoping that this week I can make it both available days (Monday and Wednesday as they're closed Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving).<br />
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I've been thinking a lot about my diet. After being treated for the compulsive overeating, I don't binge anymore, but I am definitely addicted to the unhealthy foods. I would rather eat everything unhealthy than anything healthy. It's going to be a struggle, but I have an idea... According to a <a href="http://www.kriskris.com/how-many-calories-should-i-eat-a-day/" target="_blank">BMR calculator</a>, my BMR is 1870. This means, when I don't work out at all, I need 2245 calories per day to maintain my current weight. If I work out at Curves three days a week, I would need 2572 calories per day to maintain my current weight. Since I don't want to maintain, but I do want to lose, I have to subtract a certain number of calories per day. To do this, I take my current weight (245.0) and subtract my goal weight (150.0) which is 95.0 pounds. It takes 3500 calories burned to lose one pound. So if I take 95 pounds and multiply it by 3500 calories, I get 332,500 calories that I need to burn. My ultimate goal is to hit my goal weight of 150.0 pounds by my 30th birthday. This is in 335 days. This means, I would need to cut 993 calories per day from my diet in order to meet my goal. If I don't work out at all, I would need to consume 1252 calories per day to meet my goal. If I work out at Curves three times a week, I would need to consume 1579 calories per day to meet my goal.<br />
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Here's where my new plan comes into play. One of my good friends told me her new outlook at dieting and, ya know what, I kind of like it. Here's how it works. You decide what you want your goal calorie intake to be each day. To determine mine, I am taking my workout goal of 1579 adding my non-workout goal of 1252 and dividing by two to get 1415. This is my goal calorie intake each day. There are 7 days in a week so I will multiply that by 7 and get 9905 calories. That is my goal WEEKLY calorie intake. Now, I'm going to look at this from a fun perspective. Let's say, Monday through Friday I only consume 1250 calories each day. 1250 x 5 = 6250. This leaves me with a total of 3655 calories. This means that over the weekend I could consume 3655 calories total which brings my daily allotment each day to 1827 calories. This will allow me for "cheat days" without feeling bad about them. For some reason, this REALLY makes sense in my mind. So, this is my goal from now on...<br />
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<a href="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/elf-for-health/%20%E2%80%8E" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="The Lean Green Bean"><img alt="The Lean Green Bean" height="200" src="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/elf4healthbadge1.png" style="border: medium none;" width="200" /></a></div>
Last year I participated in the Elf4Health challenge. I say participated, but I didn't really do much of it. I conversed with my buddy and that's about it. There is a daily list of challenges for the four week period (see below). This year I'm hoping to actually complete all of the challenges. Today is starting out as a doozy. I'm not a big meat eater to begin with so I figured that this would be an easy challenge. Here was my menu for today:<br />
<br />
<br />
- Breakfast: 3/4 cup dry vanilla Chex cereal<br />
- Morning Snack: Belvita blueberry crackers<br />
- Lunch: egg bagel with veggie cream cheese<br />
- Afternoon Snack: sliced fuji apple<br />
- Dinner: large salad with hard-boiled egg, cheese, lots of veggies, croutons, and light dressing<br />
- Dessert: small sundae cone<br />
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So, it sounds like a pretty good day... except I started my day with coffee which sometimes hits me weird. It's not all the time, just sometimes, which I don't understand. I've only eaten about half of my cereal. I didn't even drink all of my coffee. It was one cup of coffee with half a cup of skim milk and a tablespoon of sugar. I drank about a third of it and I'm feeling very weir. Shaky, nauseous, light headed... I tried to jump straight into my lunch, but my cream cheese is watery. I'm not sure if it's bad or not, but being that I'm nauseous, I lost my appetite when I saw it. It's brand new and has an expiration date of early February so I'm not sure why it would be spoiled, but it was watery and usually they aren't... So now I'm not sure what to eat. I didn't bring anything else. I had a package of crackers in my desk so I've eaten a couple of those. I'll probably find something to eat when I'm home for lunch. <br />
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<img alt="challengesquare edited 1 Elf For Health 2013" class="aligncenter wp-image-10742" height="550" src="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/550x550xchallengesquare_edited-1.jpg.pagespeed.ic.kUC_ApYx9i.jpg" title="Elf For Health 2013" width="550" />
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If you want to sign up, you can! You won't get a buddy until the final two weeks of the challenge, but you can still participate in the daily challenges. Just check out <a href="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/elf-for-health-2013/" target="_blank">Lindsay's blog entry over at the Lean Green Bean.</a>Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-16644023634984438082013-10-31T12:23:00.004-05:002013-10-31T12:23:40.731-05:00October Foodie Penpals<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/" target="_blank" title="The Lean Green Bean"><img alt="The Lean Green Bean" src="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/FPP-post.jpg" style="border: medium none;" /></a>
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I was excited to find out that my partner this month was Andrea over at <a href="http://thelayoverlife.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The Layover Life</a>.<br />
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It was my birthday this past Sunday and I told her my birthday was coming up. She sent me a lovely card with my foodie gifts!<br />
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When I opened my box, I found:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Russel Stover S'mores:</b> I jumped right into this. It was delicious, as expected. I hadn't had one before! The graham cracker part was a little crumbly, but it still tasted amazing!</li>
<li><b>Pumpkin Scented Candle: </b>She said that she knew this wasn't edible, but that you can't have fall without pumpkin. I lit this the same evening I got it and it made my house smell so good!!!</li>
<li><b>Milky Way Smooth Caramel: </b>I'd actually had one of these before, but it was awhile ago. I'm not a huge fan of regular Milky Way bars, but these caramel bars are yummy! </li>
<li>Country Time Half Lemonade & Half Tea: I love drinking my tea this way! I normally make plain tea and plain lemonade and mix them together. This saved a step and is delicious!</li>
<li><b>Sugar Babies Caramel Apple: </b>I wasn't sure if I would like these or not, but I was pleasantly surprised. They were really yummy!</li>
<li><b>Pure Clover Creamed Honey: </b>I'd never even heard of creamed honey before and had to ask my family and friends how to eat it. The consensus was on biscuits or English muffins. I ate it on biscuits and thought it was really super tasty! I can't wait to have some more.</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THANK YOU, ANDREA! </b></span></div>
Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-75775694813086653052013-10-27T05:00:00.000-05:002013-10-27T05:00:09.760-05:00Happy Birthday to ME!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today marks my 29th birthday. Happy birthday to me! :)<br />
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I thought I'd share some (read: a lot) totally adorable pictures of
me through the years. I ended up creating a slideshow because it was super-hard to
organize all the photos I wanted to include in this post. I hope you
enjoy the short spin through my life... <br />
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Happy 29 Years of Life! on PhotoPeach <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="296" src="http://photopeach.com/embed/5nwtgf" width="445"></iframe></center>
<br />My mom is a quilter. Last year for Christmas, she gave me, my brother, and my sister all quilts as our big present. They were quilts that we were supposed to put on our beds and use. This year for our birthdays, she made us all memory quilts. My sister's birthday is in February and my brother's in March, so I've had to wait the longest to see my quilt! I've waited patiently all year, but I've finally received my memory quilt! I love it! My mom knows me well (I should hope) and used my favorite colors and yeah... It's an awesome keepsake. Now I just need to get a quilt rack so I can hang it up and proudly display it! :)<br />
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<br />Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-4843164175991310992013-10-18T20:00:00.000-05:002013-10-18T20:00:00.361-05:00My Weekend To-Do List<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have some vacation time to use at work. Since my mother is the fill-in person at work, she advised me to take my remaining time off (two days) before December. Last year she ended up working almost all of December because my coworker and I saved up all of our days until then. She didn't want that to happen again.<br />
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I was going to go get a manicure and pedicure with my best friend today, but our nail lady couldn't fit us in so we postponed it until next weekend. Our mutual friend Sarah will be going with us now. Sarah and I are in charge of throwing Pam's baby shower. (She's having a BOY by the way! Just found out Wednesday!) So we're all three meeting up to talk about what Pam wants in a baby shower...<br />
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Here's what's on the schedule for this weekend:<br />
<br />
Saturday: Coworker's Halloween Party - starts at 6 pm<br />
Sunday: making apple butter with my parents - starts at 10 am <br />
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Both activities, I have no idea when I'll be home so I'm planning all of my tasks before they begin.<br />
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I have a lot of work to do around my house. I entered a contest to win a premiere party from ABC Family. I actually won which I'm really surprised! I shouldn't say won because 800 people were chosen, but I was one of them chosen. Here's an excerpt from the email I received:<br />
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<i>Hello and congratulations ABC Family fan!</i></div>
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<i>We’re so excited to tell you that you’ve been selected to host an exclusive ABC Family</i></div>
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<i><b>Pretty Little Liars and Ravenswood LIVE Viewing party</b> for you and nine of your closest friends! </i></div>
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<i>The party date is set for <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_704142056" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">Tuesday, October 22</span></span>, which gives you plenty of time to plan your event! Inside each kit you will find fun games with special Pretty Little Liars and Ravenswood clues, cool party decorations and fun gifts for everyone! </i></div>
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<i>Start organizing your party now for October 22<sup>nd</sup> so that you and your friends can enjoy the all of the goodies and watch the Pretty Little Liars Halloween Special and the World Premiere of Ravenswood together. This is an event that cannot be done A-lone! </i></div>
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<i>Have lots of fun at your party and don’t forget to share your photos on our official ABC Family Facebook pages for <a href="http://www.facebook.com/prettylittleliars?fref=ts" target="_blank">Pretty Little Liars</a> and <span style="color: #1f497d;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/#%21/Ravenswood" target="_blank">Ravenswood</a>. </span> We love twitter and Instagram too, so be sure to post your pictures on Twitter and Instagram and include this – <b>#PLLRavenswoodparty</b> – in each post – we’ll be sharing our favorites!! </i></div>
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<i>And finally, keep an eye out for your box of goodies!</i></div>
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<i>-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Your Friends at ABC Family</span></i></blockquote>
I'm super excited to throw this party even though none of my friends watch PLL. I posted something on Facebook and I am going to have people over. We're going to eat snacky foods and party while we watch the PLL Halloween special and the Ravenswood premiere. It should be good times even though no one watches them but me. I did buy all three seasons of PLL with money I won from a DietBet. I got in seasons one and two so I can let my mom borrow them. Hopefully she can watch those and then at least then she'd somewhat know what's going on. Haha. I got my package today and I'm pretty psyched with what's in it. Here's a little preview... Check out these sweet double-sided cloth bags:<br />
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Anyway, because of this party I have a lot to do around my house this weekend. Here's my to-do list (mostly for myself) for tomorrow and Sunday:<br />
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<b>Clean House:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Kitchen</li>
<ul>
<li>clean and put away all dishes</li>
<li>clean out refrigerator</li>
<li>sweep and mop</li>
</ul>
<li>Living Room</li>
<ul>
<li>pick up</li>
<li>dust</li>
<li>vacuum (including furniture)</li>
<li>fix pillows (requires sewing holes) </li>
<li>clean throw blankets</li>
</ul>
<li>Bedroom</li>
<ul>
<li>straighten closet area</li>
<li>dust</li>
<li>vacuum</li>
<li>make bed </li>
<li>clean bedding</li>
</ul>
<li>Bathroom</li>
<ul>
<li>scour tub</li>
<li>clean sink</li>
<li>clean toilet</li>
<li>straighten shelves</li>
<li>sweep and mop </li>
</ul>
<li>Laundry Room/Back Porch</li>
<ul>
<li>do all laundry</li>
<li>put away all laundry</li>
<li>straighten porch</li>
<li>sweep and mop </li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<b>Grocery Shop:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Regular Groceries</li>
<ul>
<li>make list</li>
</ul>
<li>Party Groceries</li>
<ul>
<li>List:</li>
<ul>
<li>Little Smokies in BBQ Sauce</li>
<li>soup - Chili?</li>
<li>chips and dip </li>
<li>meat and cheese tray? </li>
</ul>
<li>Someone is bringing: veggie tray and cookies</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<b>Other Stuff:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Blog</li>
<ul>
<li>come up with some ideas for blog entries</li>
<li>prepare a few blog ideas I already have and schedule them to post</li>
</ul>
<li>Supernatural Website</li>
<ul>
<li>update site front page</li>
<li>go through submissions for Winchester Photo and Fan Creation contests</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
Unfortunately, I was extremely lazy today... All that I got accomplished was working on my sister's laptop and cleaning off my kitchen counter. Both may not sound very difficult, but my sister's laptop was giving me huge problems and the counter was full of crap. I threw away a lot of old magazines that I had sitting on the counter that I never got around to using. I should have taken before and after pictures. There's a huge difference. LOL<br />
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Now I'm sitting on the couch watching some television before bed. I'm thinking I'll go to bed early. My eyes are bothering me quite a bit. I've felt slightly off all day because I had a spinning episode around 4 am and didn't sleep well after that. Ugh. I haven't had one in so long. I don't know what brought it on other than there's a lot of pressure in my head due to my allergies.<br />
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Alright, I'm off. G'night!Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-47863082765185907642013-10-11T17:00:00.000-05:002013-10-11T17:00:04.544-05:00Goals: RevisedI'll be the first to admit that I am a planner. In some ways (read: party planning) this can be a great attribute, but in others (read: diet and exercise) it can be detrimental to me. I make all of these grandiose plans and then don't follow through. This is usually because what I have planned seems too tedious and I give up. So, I 've decided to start setting my goals a little smaller.<br />
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I'm going to start listing my weekly goals on Thursdays and doing my weigh ins on Wednesdays. Seems like a good plan. I don't wait to wait until next Thursday to start this so I'm going to post my goals now... these goals are for today until next Wednesday.<br />
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<u><b>Goals:</b></u><br />
<ul>
<li>Log all of my calories each day</li>
<li>Try to stay at or below calorie goal each day </li>
<li>Drink at least 64 ounces of water each day</li>
<li>Walk for 20-30 minutes three times</li>
<li>Weigh myself each day</li>
<li>Write at least three blog entries</li>
</ul>
I think these are all obtainable goals. I need to get back in the habit of logging my food each day. <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/CrysRochelle" target="_blank">MyFitnessPal</a> is such a great app, and I know that if I actually used it the way it's supposed to be, I would actually see some amazing results. I also need to start weighing myself every day again. This is because when I see my weight every day, the losses make me more determined to stick with my plan and the gains make me work a little harder.<br />
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I also really want to get in the habit of writing again. I'd eventually like to get back into the habit of writing daily, but going from not writing to writing daily seems to be too big of a task. So between now and next Thursday, I want to write three blog entries. Doable, I think.<br />
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I don't know that I'll write again this weekend as I have a very busy weekend planned. Tonight when I get off of work, I'm picking up my friend Megan and then we're going to a little town about 15-20 minutes away. I'm meeting a girl who wants to buy my old cell phone from me. She's paying me more for going to her. After that, we're meeting up with a girl I went to high school with, Abby, to have dinner. Abby is such an inspiration. She's lost almost 70 pounds and taken up running. I hope to talk to her about this during dinner.<br />
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Tomorrow a girl I know is coming by to pick up some clothes I wanted to sell. She's getting $40 of stuff for sure and perhaps another $20 on top of that... She wants to look at a couple of things. Later on in the afternoon I'm going to a surprise birthday party. That should be fun!<br />
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Sunday we're having a quad-person birthday party at my parents' house. The party is for my mom (10/08), my best friend (10/10) my brother's girlfriend (10/12), and myself (10/27). We're eating my favorite food in the entire world - my mom's chicken tetrazini - with green beans and fresh bread. Then we're having strawberry shortcake cake for dessert. Delicious! I should be at my parents' house most of the day. I'm hoping to take my laptop with me and write some of my novel in my free time. I should also write a couple of posts that I can schedule, if I have time. I have a few ideas in mind. :)<br />
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Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-50595831493853491852013-09-27T12:00:00.000-05:002013-09-27T12:00:05.126-05:00NewnessWhoops! I wrote this on the 17th (ten days ago) and forgot to post it. I just found it in my drafts...<br />
<hr />
I've been a horrible blogger lately. Someone slap me please... I used to love to blog and now it seems like I don't have the time anymore. This doesn't mean that I no longer love blogging. It just means it's fallen down my priority list lately. It needs to move back towards the top because I love writing and having a chronological telling of my life that I can read later on.<br />
<br />
There has been a lot of newness going on in my life. First off, this weekend we got a new roof. It's been a long time coming as our old roof has needed replaced for about two years, but it finally happened. My great Uncle Charlie, Uncle Danny, Uncle Ronnie, Dad, dad's friend John from work, and Matt worked on it. It turned out great! I love the difference it made on the house...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqVDP0m9n2KnRi0RaXIBetVtHLcJtiLqqzm_CVJtyI2dJiCjZOTs3DV45JxrB_b5akwdsdjXsgfw3kGgrIzASu8ovNWJVHgODgTkkvH1g2_C902D8TuetUmmVfsVo3x4FsBkPoAggSNHP-/s1600/5973_151165841557_5393902_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqVDP0m9n2KnRi0RaXIBetVtHLcJtiLqqzm_CVJtyI2dJiCjZOTs3DV45JxrB_b5akwdsdjXsgfw3kGgrIzASu8ovNWJVHgODgTkkvH1g2_C902D8TuetUmmVfsVo3x4FsBkPoAggSNHP-/s400/5973_151165841557_5393902_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Front of the house when we moved in. </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Sorry for the blurriness.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2kaWnHW5lbrVkJpI9GpPc2-t8xh1B8IDKzUsd3k0Ik0XcS8xxbmrfIum_e9FDj76F68RPPYeylProd2OwL71qo8J5ExqRC9wPnsMG3CzW4J9Q7wROYV2N33BziG3GJIz8RCbhzGy6NEB/s1600/1175181_10151858489666558_1249753454_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2kaWnHW5lbrVkJpI9GpPc2-t8xh1B8IDKzUsd3k0Ik0XcS8xxbmrfIum_e9FDj76F68RPPYeylProd2OwL71qo8J5ExqRC9wPnsMG3CzW4J9Q7wROYV2N33BziG3GJIz8RCbhzGy6NEB/s400/1175181_10151858489666558_1249753454_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Front of the house with new roofing.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTLCsmf0JCoQa_5hZ-8mHtiKDJ-JerGkQJx3xvcA3PTYCZKGrnkVus5FMh6Ghe1GpeC43hf-B7jYAkPxUKuEB5f0y-txEHyF_9sBuBOhcqbjBSHuDf-GEh4Loh2X8WEoIdGc55ZHZJFE9/s1600/1236354_10151858489626558_1303789212_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTLCsmf0JCoQa_5hZ-8mHtiKDJ-JerGkQJx3xvcA3PTYCZKGrnkVus5FMh6Ghe1GpeC43hf-B7jYAkPxUKuEB5f0y-txEHyF_9sBuBOhcqbjBSHuDf-GEh4Loh2X8WEoIdGc55ZHZJFE9/s400/1236354_10151858489626558_1303789212_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Back of the house with new roofing.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">The upper part is metal and the rest is all shingles.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When they were all at my house, my Uncle Charlie and dad had talked Matt into new siding and new windows. I was so excited because I don't think my house is that cute at all. With some new tan siding, new windows, and shutters or windows painted hunter green (to match the roof), I think my little house would be adorable. Unfortunately, Matt doesn't like to see money leave his bank account and is leaning towards not doing it. I really hope he does. I think it would do wonders for our house!<br />
<br />
One day last week or the week before (I'm not 100% certain as to when), my friend Megan was over and showed me this picture of a cute tattoo. I had told her that I'd been wanting to get a new one but had no idea what. I really liked the tattoo she showed me and we decided to get friendship tattoos. She's been asking when we were getting them... She's very impatient. I sent the tattoo shop a message on Facebook asking for an estimate and asking when we could get in. Jason, one of the tattoo artists, messaged me back and said he could get us in today at 1:30. That's when I take my lunch so I decided to go for it. I took the appointment and let Megan know to be there. We went and got them and they turned out super cute. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflk9a9NISKDPFah0MPD4pJybYAA8mIAuUJdlFurxjZxU1qHgo9zhH4e1NU1niESE70RGKD7Y_Fc8Mw-8Qpuf-vUIU-YVSITpyX_0gP6GXLYYFcW_3U-gFm_5sFVTJ3mBI9xuTO_lPk8Rx/s1600/602374_10151861086756558_429131618_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflk9a9NISKDPFah0MPD4pJybYAA8mIAuUJdlFurxjZxU1qHgo9zhH4e1NU1niESE70RGKD7Y_Fc8Mw-8Qpuf-vUIU-YVSITpyX_0gP6GXLYYFcW_3U-gFm_5sFVTJ3mBI9xuTO_lPk8Rx/s400/602374_10151861086756558_429131618_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">My tattoo right after.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIWLvnznuS9lxDu8tYP_ejC8vVgELPH9TGX6XGTx864vH6Xpt3oMjYQ67TgiY0g2ffiJ_33c_BdvmjW6bDLBPrlJH3cdYwbv2SrR9vU2zAnh-LbuzLlaklvTngXsYo4uApGQBM-IWW6SmD/s1600/BUZDiKhCcAAy5ja.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIWLvnznuS9lxDu8tYP_ejC8vVgELPH9TGX6XGTx864vH6Xpt3oMjYQ67TgiY0g2ffiJ_33c_BdvmjW6bDLBPrlJH3cdYwbv2SrR9vU2zAnh-LbuzLlaklvTngXsYo4uApGQBM-IWW6SmD/s400/BUZDiKhCcAAy5ja.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Close up of my tattoo right after.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC96-QkhG_4gcA_AgLWu_wrD8vK_YA_O3_2no-6LbI1GZoqJ1FpQO3GiKCQcSrQ_NExqmpVTzzpyXGiNLDZxlEri-i_kWHFts8Ovs7MYlH3n1yh2rITTldKBx1m_g3uD1Ffnw2mwDtQxa2/s1600/1231528_10151878620449181_61630759_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC96-QkhG_4gcA_AgLWu_wrD8vK_YA_O3_2no-6LbI1GZoqJ1FpQO3GiKCQcSrQ_NExqmpVTzzpyXGiNLDZxlEri-i_kWHFts8Ovs7MYlH3n1yh2rITTldKBx1m_g3uD1Ffnw2mwDtQxa2/s400/1231528_10151878620449181_61630759_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Megan's tattoo... looks like she cleaned it up first. Hah!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After work I'm picking up my sister to take her out to Walmart. She needs to cash a check and get some milk. I need to get some Aquaphor for my tattoo. I had to clean it up because it had little blood pools all around it and it was grossing me out. All I had in my desk to put on it is Neosporin. I looked online before applying it and it says that it's okay to use, but I'd rather use Aquaphor and I don't have any...<br />
<br />
Also, I have run a weight loss support group on another blogging site since 2007. Earlier this year, I tried to migrate that group into both blogging sites and it didn't turn out so well. I'm thinking of running it on all of my blogging sites again, but separately. Some people are secretive about where they're posting. Because of this, I'm coming to you for help. Please take the time to complete the survey linked below and let me know how you would like the upcoming phases ran and what you'd like to see in future phases of this group. I strive to make this group enjoyable to you all and I have had fun running it since 2007. Please let me know what you would like to see so I can create a very supportive and motivating group for you. The next phase will begin on September 30th with all of your feedback taken into consideration. Your answers are anonymous unless you choose to enter yourself in the drawing... you'll see what I mean at the end of the survey.<b> Thanks in advance.</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HP58XJP"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>TAKE THE SURVEY NOW!</b></span></a></div>
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Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-66484250715495579912013-09-26T12:17:00.000-05:002013-09-26T12:17:10.659-05:00Halloween CostumesIn 2010, I went to a Halloween party at my coworker Scott's house. The past two years, his Halloween party has coincided with ChiCon (Supernatural convention). This year his party is the weekend before ChiCon... not that it matters anyway because I'm not going to ChiCon this year. In 2010, I dressed up as a sexy referee. I want to dress up again this year... I tried looking on eBay and Craigslist, but couldn't really find any costumes I liked... if I found any at all! So I looked at PartyCity. I found a few costumes I like! My absolute favorite is this one:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.partycity.com/product/adult+fashion+flapper+costume+plus+size.do?navSet=170510">Adult Fashion Flapper Costume Plus Size</a></div>
<br />
Brenda has a couple that may fit me. She said she'd send either of them to me if I want them. I might... She has these:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.partycity.com/product/adult+classic+plus+size+medusa+costume.do?refType=4">Adult Classic Medusa Costume Plus Size</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.partycity.com/product/adult+gretchen+costume+plus+size.do?refType=4">Adult Gretchen Oktoberfest Beer Maid Costume Plus Size</a></div>
<br />
I'm trying to decide what I want to do. I really want the Flapper costume. I already have fishnet hose that I could wear with it. I could get some long gloves on eBay (I like the look of <a href="http://www.partycity.com/product/adult+flashy+flapper+costume+plus+size.do?refType=4">this costume</a> with the long gloves) and some dressy shoes too. But then I'd be spending $60-75 on a costume... Do I want to do that? I really do. LOL I am in love with the Flapper costume... If I can't figure out a way to pay without using credit, I'll take Brenda up on her offer (if either of hers would fit), but I'm pretty dead set on getting the Flapper costume!Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-81043101330050722122013-09-16T17:00:00.000-05:002013-09-16T17:00:04.322-05:00Friend Makin' Monday: Relationships and Dating<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://alltheweigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/wpid-friend-makin-monday-for-post3-300x179.jpg"><img alt="friend makin mondays" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5799" height="179" src="http://alltheweigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/wpid-friend-makin-monday-for-post3-300x179.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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 <a href="http://alltheweigh.com/" target="_blank">www.alltheweigh.com</a> 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!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Relationships and Dating</strong></span></div>
<ol>
<li><strong>List five characteristics that you think are important in a significant other.</strong> Sense of humor is a big one. I like a guy who can make me laugh. Trustworthy. Family-oriented. Loyal. Intelligent.<strong></strong></li>
<li><strong>If you had to choose between staying single for the next
two years (as in no dating at all) or receiving $10,000, which would
you choose?</strong> I'm not single so I can't really answer this. LOL But I'd stay with my beau as opposed to receiving $10K.</li>
<li><strong>What is your relationship status? Are you satisfied with it?</strong> I'm in a long-term relationship. I wish I could say that it's committed, but I really can't. We've been together for 9.5 years and for some reason he won't marry me... If he would, our relationship would be better, that's for sure.<strong></strong></li>
<li><strong>Would you date someone who has children?</strong> Sure, I love kids, but I'd rather just stay with Matt and and have some of my own. :)<strong></strong></li>
<li><strong>Would you date someone who’s shorter than you?</strong> I tend to go for tall and lanky guys... I've been attractive to shorter guys and have dated some shorter guys, but I much prefer tall guys.<strong></strong></li>
<li><strong>Would you date someone who has different political views?</strong> Yes... Matt's a Democrat and I'm a Republican. LOL We obviously have different political views. Going to family functions with his family is always interesting because they were raised Democrat, but his brother is a Republican and he gets into political debates with their mother all the time. <strong></strong></li>
<li><strong>If you were going on vacation together, would you choose the beach or the mountains?</strong> This is an easy one for me. My favorite vacation spot is in the mountains... Gatlinburg, Tennessee to be exact. Matt went with me on vacation there once with my family and I loved it. I would love to go back with him at some point. </li>
<li><strong>How do you show someone that you’re interested in them?</strong> Luckily I don't have to do that anymore... LOL I'm not even sure what I used to do... be clingy? I got told I was clingy a lot. *le sigh*<strong></strong></li>
<li><strong>Do you prefer to date people who are older than you or younger?</strong> I have dated a few guys younger than me, but for the most part they've been older.</li>
<li><b>Share some details of your dream date</b>. Probably my favorite date I've ever been on, Matt got us tickets to go see a musical at the little theater in a town nearby. We went to the theater and watched our musical (Married Alive --- hilarious!) and then went out to eat at the local Mexican joint. It was a lot of fun and I'd love to do that again! </li>
</ol>
<br />
Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153916876484946503.post-73026595384792960012013-09-09T15:06:00.006-05:002013-09-09T15:07:02.284-05:00Friend Makin' Monday: Getting to Know Each Other
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://alltheweigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/wpid-friend-makin-monday-for-post3-300x179.jpg"><img alt="friend makin mondays" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5799" height="179" src="http://alltheweigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/wpid-friend-makin-monday-for-post3-300x179.jpg" width="300" /> </a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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 <a href="http://alltheweigh.com/" target="_blank">www.alltheweigh.com</a> 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!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Getting to Know Each Other</strong></span><strong> </strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><strong>What is your favorite flower?</strong> My ultimate favorite flower is a yellow rose. When my boyfriend and I first started dating, I was having a horrible day and he surprised me at work with a dozen yellow roses. *cue heart melting*<strong> </strong></li>
<li><strong>What is a date on the calendar that you’re looking forward to?</strong> Only one??? Today is my furbaby's fourth birthday... Wednesday is my boyfriend's mother's birthday... Sunday we're going to be getting a new roof on our house... My bestie's 30th birthday is at the beginning of October. Towards the end of October is my birthday and karaoke at the Supernatural convention in Chicago... I could go on and on, but I'll go with just two months for now. LOL<strong> </strong></li>
<li><strong>List at least five characteristics of your ideal mate.</strong> Great sense of humor, loyal, honest, hard-working, and intelligent...<strong> </strong></li>
<li><strong>What is your favorite travel destination?</strong> I haven't really been many places, but my favorite place to vacation right now is the Smoky Mountains... Gatlinburg, Tennessee to be exact. It's so beautiful there!<strong> </strong></li>
<li><strong>What is your idea of the perfect date?</strong> I really enjoy dates where my boyfriend and I go to a movie and then either go out to dinner or go get food and go to the park and eat. I love the classic dinner and a movie deal. It's my favorite!<strong> </strong></li>
<li><strong>What is your relationship with your family like?</strong> I am extremely close with my family... or the majority of them anyway. My parents and I are very close... my siblings and I are close... a lot of my extended family and I are close as well. We may all be crazy, but at least we love each other. LOL<strong> </strong></li>
<li><strong>What time did you wake up this morning?</strong> I woke up at 6:40 today. I was kind of awake between 6:20 and 6:40, but the latter is when I finally crawled out of bed.<strong> </strong></li>
<li><strong>What characteristic do you like most about yourself? Which do you dislike most?</strong> I feel like I am a great friend. I think this is an awesome characteristic. I dislike that I hate confrontation so much. I tend to get walked on since I am a great friend and I don't like to fight or argue.<strong> </strong></li>
<li><strong>What is your favorite sport to watch?</strong> My favorite sport to watch, only in person, is basketball. I don't like watching it on TV, but I like watching it in person. Same with baseball... never been to a football game though.<strong> </strong></li>
<li><strong>Share a few interesting things that you did over the weekend.</strong>
I went with my boyfriend to buy our new shingles for our roof. Next week this time, I'll be getting a new roof. YAY! </li>
</ol>
Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Happy Monday!Crystalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11262913958279686179noreply@blogger.com1