So…I’ve been looking for a new position for about a month now because even though I don’t mind working at HL, they just don’t pay very much and it’s become an issue.  That and I’m just sick of retail!!  Being back behind a register again over the past 6 months has had it’s good moments…but it has also reminded why I quit retail to begin with many years ago.  I must say as well that cashiering is not the issue itself, but at HL the fact is that the equipment that we use is just SO DAMN OLD (we’re talking era 1969 here) that it’s frustrating and to be frank…tiresome to say the least.  Customers complain daily about the long lines and the amount of paperwork that is required to do returns and such.  They are just not with the times on many things and the cashiers take all of the heat for the lack of technology.  Plus, the cashiers are expected to do a LOT for the $7/hr that they make…and I mean a LOT.  I’m not trying to slam HL by any means.  The people that I’ve worked with there have all been very nice to me and I like them all a great deal.  I’m just personally ready to move on…that’s all.

Anyway, I had applied for a Safety Assistant position recently and last week I got a call back asking me to come in for an interview on Friday.  I went in early that morning and spoke with the Safety Director and his assistant.  They seemed very nice and their office is located just one exit away from the school that Jason is currently teaching at.   The interview went pretty well I thought and I’d told Jason that I’d be shocked if I wasn’t offered the position.  The Safety Director (my new boss) told me that he would make a decision sometime this week.  I didn’t expect a call back until Wednesday or Thursday to be honest, but I got the call this morning offering me the position. It won’t pay anywhere near what I was making at my last safety position, BUT it’s a hell of a lot more than what I’ve been making as a cashier.

The other great part is that it is also a part-time position.  Working part-time has been a great thing for me after working 40-50 hours a week and not being appreciated for any of it.  I’ve certainly enjoyed the extra time that I’ve had with my kids during the past 9 months since I was let go.  Anyway, this new position is 25 hours a week/5 days a week.  I will be working 9am to 2-3pm depending on whether or not I take a lunch and how long of a lunch I take.  I will leave after the kids get on the bus in the morning and will be home before they get off the bus in the afternoon.   Isn’t that great!?

I gave my notice today at work…my manager was pretty upset about it as he was wanting me to take over a department for him.  I feel bad that the timing on this is poor but I need to do what is best for me and my family and I feel that taking this new position is what’s best.   That’s what I told my manager today and I apologized to him about the timing, but I am giving almost two weeks notice as my last day will be the 21st (Sat.). 

So I start my new job on Monday the 23rd at 9am.  I have to go take a pre-employment drug test and such before then (most likely tomorrow or Thursday as I have those days off this week).  It will be good to be back in an office environment again.  Now I just have to go shopping for some appropriate attire as I have nothing to wear!! :-O

…for yet another update??

Thanks for all of your support and comments.   I’m feeling much better as of late.

Here’s some new pics of me:

me & my wonderful son Caleb

current weight: 188lbs – 125lbs lost 

Hey all!!  Thought that I’d check in w/ you all to let you know that I’m still alive an kickin’.

I’ve been pretty ill as of late, but am slowing getting better.  I won’t go into the boring details but will just say that I contracted two different strands of viruses that somehow mutated into a strand similar to mono…yup, I said MONO!  So let’s just say that I’m very tired and not liking this a whole hell of a lot but I’m trying to get through it with grace.

I also thought that you would like to see how I’ve progressed in the last 7 months following surgery…so here’s a comparison photo for you.

…for over 33 hours!! Yeah…it was NOT fun let me tell you.

We left our house around 6:45am on Wednesday morning…we arrived at the airport around 8:30am.  We stood in line to check in and watched as flight after flight was listed as “canceled” on the departure monitors…but ours still showed “on time” status.  We finally got our boarding passes and checked our luggage in around 9:15 or so…and made our way through the myriad of people to the security check to make our 10:25 flight,  Upon arriving at our concourse we checked the monitors again…our flight was now listed as “canceled”.  So we made our way to the line for Customer Service to have our new tickets issued.  After standing in that line for what seemed like hours…we were told that the line in the terminal was moving faster and we should go there…so we did.

All in all…we wound up standing in line for over 6 hours to get new tickets issued.  Our flight now leaves tomorrow evening around 7pm and arrives in Atlanta around 11:50pm…so we’ve basically lost 4 days of our originally planned trip.  Disappointing yes…but at least it’s not a total loss.

I tried to make good use of my time while standing in line making calls to the car rental place and the hotel that we’d made reservations at …canceling our reservations and trying to get refunds.  I accomplished it all…but not without a great deal of effort on my part.  I had to literally beg for my money back on the hotel reservation in Savannah…and wanted to hurt the person on the other line a bit…but I kept my composure and just told them that I was not going to be punished for something that was beyond my control and I feel that a blizzard coming and flights being canceled because of it was well in that category!

We were then told to try to get home or get a hotel room.  We did try…but all of the cars had been rented and none of the buses were going out as far as we needed them to in order to get close to our home.  We can’t afford to spend a lot of money on hotel fair…so after learning that all of the “discounted” hotel rooms had been taken…we decided we had no choice but to stay put at DIA and wait out the storm.

I suppose it could’ve been worse…but we were in a gigantic tent (basically) that had the air-conditioning running 24/7 and had no place to lay down and sleep but the cold floor (your choice of thin carpet over concrete OR marble flooring).  People over the age of 65 or physically handicapped people were given cots to sleep on…the rest of us (if we were lucky) either found a chair or a place on the floor.  

Any way you look at it…when you have over 4000 people trapped in one location w/ minimal food and no real place to sleep and not enough seating…it’s not a good situation.  The concessions stayed open in the “terminal” for most of the time and the airport finally opened some concessions on a couple of the concourses by the second day…mainly because the terminal concessions started to run out of food.  However, anyone going to the concourses still had to go through security and you couldn’t bring anything through that’s normally restricted.  So those people who were lucky enough to still have their baggage with them, couldn’t take it through to the concourse and was also told that they couldn’t leave it at the terminal unattended…so they were stuck.  Staff finally allowed people to securely check some baggage in a “holding area” so that they could find food on the concourses…but that wasn’t until last night.  We, of course, had already checked our baggage and were told that we could NOT reclaim our baggage and that it would go to our final destination…long before we get there.  Frontier airlines actually let their passengers reclaim checked baggage off of canceled flights…but we’re flying United and they flat out told us that wouldn’t happen. I called their main baggage services center and learned that our baggage will arrive in Atlanta on the first flight out to that location and will be “locked up” for 3 days and then if it’s unclaimed it will be flown back to Denver.  So hopefully it will be there when we get there.

The Red Cross did show up but not until earlier today.  Walmart & Sam’s Club donated food, water, and baby necessities to the stranded passengers.  Safeway also donated water.  However, many people are still stranded there and will be for days on end…including until after Christmas.  There just isn’t enough seats on outgoing flights to accommodate all of the canceled seats.  Tempers started to flair before we left…but from what I’ve heard it’s gotten worse since then.  United is bringing in jumbo jets to help with extra seating…but Frontier has now told their passengers that if they don’t have a confirmed ticket that they need to leave the airport…but some just can’t afford to stay in hotels and have nowhere else to go.  It’s a sad situation…especially for this time of year.

We finally were able to get out of the airport around 6 or 7 last night…thanks to a very kind man (George) and his brother (Jim).  Jim lives only a couple of miles from us here and offered us a ride home!  I tell ya…there are still a few good people left in this world.

We did meet some really nice people while stranded and I wish them all the best of luck and safe trips.  Especially Gene and Jeff…who sat with us for the majority of our time there.  It wasn’t such a horrible experience thanks to them…and that’s something that you just can’t buy.

I hope that you all are home safe and sound and not stranded anywhere.

Have a wonderful holiday and stay safe.

I SO am!!  I’ve got ALL of my Christmas shopping done AND we leave for Georgia in less than 2 weeks!

I’m now down 83lbs and I’m not even 5 months out from wls yet!  It’s so cool!

I hope you all are doing well.  I’m sorry that I haven’t been around much…but I’ve been swamped w/ work, kids, trying to find time to study…and getting ready to go out of town…and Christmas.  Yeah…just been a little bit busy.

So how are you??  C’mon now…I really want to know?

I didn’t eat very much at our Thanksgiving Day meal…but what I had sure was yummy! I did a LOT of cooking and baking over the past couple of days…but it was worth all of the hard work. I watched as the kids and Jason piled up their plates w/ Turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, green beans and sweet potatoes! They loved every bite and after eating two helpings of all of that…they still had room for the home-made pumpkin pie I made!

I made food that I could enjoy as well and I even had a few bites of pumpkin pie which was very good I might add. I made my pies w/ Splenda so that I could enjoy them as well…and you couldn’t even tell the difference!

I hope that you all had a lovely holiday w/ your families.

P.S. ~ I’ve now lost 75lbs!!

 Hello everyone!!  Just thought that I’d tell you all how I’m doing and give you an update on my weight loss.

I’m happy to tell you that I’m down 65+lbs!!  In just almost 4 months that is.  I’ve gone down 4 pants sizes and 4 shirt sizes.  It’s still taking me a while to get used to all of this and my ever shrinking body…but I am…and I will.

Jason has been very busy w/ school…as usual.  He’s looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving break.  I, on the otherhand, have been working five days a week cashiering…and had to ask to be cut back to four days a week so that I can have time to study if I’m ever going to finish school!  I have to work most of the Thanksgiving week and that includes after the holiday…which we’re already swamped all of the time…so I can’t even imagine what it will be like after Thanksgiving!

Anyway…here’s some comparison pics as to what I looked like before surgery and what I look like now.

(left – March 2006       right – Oct. 2006)

Well…we made it!  Yesterday was Jason & my 3rd wedding anniversary!

We went to a beautiful city here in Colorado…Estes Park!

We did a great deal of shopping in downtown Estes (where the photos above were taken).  I’m sure we spent entirely too much money…but we had a blast doing it!!

I have a ton more photos to show you!  First off…the photos from the infamous Stanley Hotel where Stephen King wrote his famous book “The Shining” and later refilmed the made for t.v. version of the story in 1996 (I was staying at the Stanley Hotel when they were filming that movie…hehe).

Jason and I went on a cool tour at The Stanley Hotel on Saturday evening.  It was part historical and part ghost tour!  It was a lot of fun and I got some incredible photos!  I even got some pics of orbs and such.

The Stanley Hotel – Jason took this as we were pulling up to the hotel on Sunday morning

Jason & me in front of The Stanley Hotel – Estes Park, CO

the 1906 model of the Stanley Steamer w/ a pic of Mr. F.O. Stanley himself – foyer of The Stanley Hotel (2 orbs on left side of photo)

the main staircase (2 orbs in this photo – one top left and the other along the stairway on the right)

the main stairwell from the 2nd floor (6 orbs in this photo all on the top left of the pic)

2nd floor hallway – I captured 5 orbs in this pic (I’ve circled them so you can see them better)

the infamous Room 217  – not only was this room important in the book “The Shining” (best known as the room the old lady was in the bath tub) but it has it’s own history at The Stanley Hotel as well; apparently a maid almost died in this room lighting a gas lantern in the early days of the hotel - it exploded, she survived the explosion but when she died several years later…apparently she never left the hotel and is often seen in this room along w/ making her presence known in many other ways

another 2nd floor hallway – 2 orbs in this pic (again I circled them for you)

4th floor back stairwell – 1 orb in front of the door here

here’s a pic of the pet cemetery outside of the hotel; this is where employees used to bury their pets back in the early 1900′s…gee, I wonder where Stephen King got the idea for a pet cemetery as a book? hmmmm….

Okay…on to the pics from the horseback ride on Sunday morning!!  It was pretty chilly outside that morning and drizzling rain on and off for most of the day.  BUT, we ventured onward and went on our horseback tour anyway and had a blast!!

Jason on his horse “Izzy” the exact replica of my horse “Lizzy”…they’re sisters

some of the other riders as we’re heading up the trail

Jason and Izzy slowly making their way up the hill – this horse was the epitome of SLOW and she had more gas than any other horse I’ve ever known!!!  Yup…she was perfect for Jason!

these Elk were just lying around when we trotted by

a view of Estes Park from the trail we were riding on

BTW…do you know how difficult it can be to take photos while riding a horse through the mountains??

As you can see we had a great time up in Estes Park this last weekend!!  We’ve even decided that next time we go we’re going to stay at The Stanley Hotel!! I’m picking the room!

Hello everyone!

Once again I apologize for my lack of posting over the past month.  I’ve been SUPER busy w/ trying to hold down the homestead and looking for a new job.  I’m still looking for a new job…BUT I have decided what I want to be when I grow up. LOL

I’ve decided to go back to school and get certified as a Phlebotomist.  Yup…I’m going to be a real life vampire…well, so to speak.  I’ve always been intrigued w/ the medical field and I feel that it would be a good placement for me.  However, I don’t have the funds nor the patience to go through all of the schooling that it takes to become a physician or a nurse…at least not right now.  I figure that by going into Phlebotomy that I can at least get my foot in the door and get my feet wet in the field that I’ve always wanted to work in.  Then if I decide to continue my education and pursue something more in depth in the medical field I can.

Anyway…things are going OK for me health wise.  I’ve been dealing w/ infections lately…not related to the wls at all.  First it was a sinus infection…a bad one that I had to be put on Augmentin to get rid of…unfortunately the Augmentin gave me yet another infection…a yeast infection. YUCK!  So yeah…lovely right? NOT.

Jason and I are celebrating our 3rd year wedding anniversary this Sunday.  So being the ever adventurous person that I am…I decided that we needed to out of town for the event.  Jason chose Estes Park since he hasn’t been there as of yet and wants to see Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park.  So I decided to make it an eventful trip!  We’re going here:

This is the Stanley Hotel…where Stephen King wrote the infamous story “The Shining”.  I told Jason that we MUST take the Ghost Tour at this hotel!  I’ve stayed here before…but we’re not going to this time for it’s a bit out of budget right now.  The last time I was here I had quite a few encounters w/ those of the spiritual persuasion.  It was great!  So I’m hoping that Jason will be able to experience some of that as well.

Sunday morning we’ll be taking a horseback tour through RMNP.  I haven’t been horseback riding in over 10 years or so!  I’m SO excited!!  Of course I’ve had to lose over 52lbs before I could do so again! LOL

Yup…that’s right…I’m down 52 lbs as of today.  It’s strange but true…

Anyway…I hope you all are well and hopefully I will come back from Estes Park w/ lots of pics to show you all!  But for now…I’ll leave you w/ these…taken this last weekend of my beautiful daughter Dora & her boyfriend for Homecoming: