Author Archives: Manda

I have some possibly extremely good news but I do not want to jinx it so I am keeping it under wraps until I know for sure if it actually happens. I am ubber excited and know there is a big possibility that I am getting my hopes up for nothing but I cannot help it. But since I cannot go into details right now I will just move on to something else.

Four days ago, I started Couch-to-5K and I am actually enjoying it! So much so that I have done it 4 days straight (even though the plan is only for 3 days a week) and hope I continue it every day. I need to get a better pair of shoes (running in my old Converse does not feel very good) but so far haven’t found anything I really like. I actually don’t like the look of running shoes but am hoping to find a pair that are comfortable without the look of running shoes.

That’s all I can muster up right now because I am rather tired and just want to get some sleep.

Yesterday was my 31^st birthday. I can honestly say I do not feel that old. I still think of myself as being in my mid twenties with my life all planned out. How things have changed since I was 25. My life is nowhere near how I want it to be but I’m working on that.

Anyway, Friday night me, Mike, Raven and my Mom went to Texas Roadhouse for my birthday dinner. This was the first time my Mom has ever been to Texas Roadhouse (hell, this is the first time she has been out to eat in an actual sit down restaurant for years) and we all had a great time. It was nice getting my Mom out of her house and treating her to a fun evening with us. The rest of the weekend was spent as usually.

On Monday (my actual birthday), my Mom called me down to her house and gave me my birthday card (with some money) and 2 solar flower stakes that I wanted. After Raven got home from school, she gave me my birthday drawings that she made me.

While Mike gave me an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen (yummy) and a “I Love Zombies” bracelet.

For dinner we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and I was finally able to try fried pickles which btw where delicious and I will defiantly have them again.

I got a phone call from my Aunt Lois and Uncle Jerry singing “Happy Birthday To You” and many birthday wishes on facebook. All in all, it was a pretty darn good birthday.

So, sticking to my March goals ended up being a bust. Except for my rethinking my photography business. That is going pretty well. However, even though the other goals fall flat I am not giving up. So without further ado, these here are my April goals.

• Get down to 160. Right now, I am stuck at 169. In 2010, I crept up from 153 to 169. I cannot believe I let myself gain that weight when I worked so hard to get down for 220.
• Get us out of here. I know that purchasing and moving into a home typically cannot be done in a month. However, I at least want to get the ball rolling on us getting the hell out of this stress-inducing atmosphere.
• Continue to save money. This one is going to be rather hard this month since my birthday is the 11^th, Raven’s is the 20^th and my Mom’s is the 26^th. Furthermore, Raven’s class is going to Washington D.C. on the 20^th so she will need some spending money for the trip and Easter is the 24^th.
• Continue with the reimaging of my photography business. As I said before, everyone and their cousin is a photographer nowadays and trying to break into it is rather difficult. Especially when your family members are competing with you for clients, this is a rant for another day. So, I had to take a step back and find my niche which I think I have. No one in my area (or in my state for that matter) does horror, gore and macabre photography. I love creating photos with a horror theme and the ones I have done have turned out great (if I do say so myself) so I am focusing on that. I will not get nearly as much business as other photographers but hell; I’m not getting any now as it is.

Since my last blog post, I have been fighting a cold/sickness in some form or another. From a sinus infection, to a sore throat, back to sinus problems and vomiting it has taken all my power to just drag myself out of bed and do my work online and off. So I am just going to post a quick update.

I am starting a vegetable garden. On one of the rare days these past few weeks that I actually felt good and not sick I begin digging the garden bed. I have grown many flowers and plants in the past but never grown a vegetable garden on my own with no help from anyone. I am doing it all organic and even started the seeds indoors. I am following the Farmer’s Almanac and am shooting for the recommended date of April 5 or 6 to transplant the vegetables outside in the bed.

I have become addicted to Jersey Shore. Yes, it’s mind numbing but so interesting to watch.

The revamping of my photography business is going well. I have the new name picked out and have even lined up some photo shoots with models when the weather warms up. I am still keeping things tight lipped because I do not want to jinx it.

Not much has been happening in my neck of the woods this past week. I have been dealing with what I think is a sinus infection so I really haven’t felt like exercising much and it takes all my will power to drag myself out of bed. I am hoping the cold/infection/whatever the hell it is hurries up and leaves.

Yesterday was my husband’s 32^nd birthday. I cannot believe he is 32 (and I will be 31 next month). I guess I still think of him as that 16 year old boy who I fell in love with. We celebrated his birthday last weekend by going out for dinner both Saturday (Buffalo Wild Wings) and Sunday (Applebee’s) night. Then on Tuesday, I took him out for breakfast, gave him his present (a money clip he has been wanting) and Double Doozie Sugar Cookie cake from The Great American Cookie Company.

Over the past 15 years, Mike and I have been through a lot. Both good and bad. We have grown and changed in many ways. Happy Birthday, Mike! I want to grow old and disgusting with you!

I saw Dez’s post about her goals and figured I could use some goals in my life. So here they are:

• Lose 10 pounds. My overall goal is to lose 30 pounds (go from 168 to 138) but I am starting with some small goals. I went from 220 to 153 and then in the year 2010, I slowly crept up to 168 and have been stuck at this weight since the beginning of this year. It seems like no matter what I do (limit calories and exercise more) I am stuck at this weight. Ugh.

• Save more money. This no-brainer is so freaking hard sometimes.

• Keep positive things/people in my life and get rid of the negative things/people. I have cut off ties with some of the negative people (avoiding them, removing them from facebook) and so far so good. However, it looks like the biggest negative/stress-causing person is going to be in my life for good. Ugh. I will just have to ignore her as best as I can. Repeat after me “I am a duck. The dirty droplets of water roll off my shiny feathers and fall back into the dirty pond. I am still beautiful.”

• Rethink my photography business. I have gotten nowhere with it lately. So many people are photographers and breaking into the business is damn near impossible in my area. However, I do have a niche that no one else in my area does that I might be able to use. I just need to purchase some items and remarket myself.

I am still chugging through this crappy experience that is called my life. I let too many people bring me down and it needs to stop, TODAY! I decided that I am going to get my life back on track. I am going to be happy. We only get one life and it should not be filled with hatred and sadness. This depression is kicking my ass and there are certain people in my life that do nothing but bring me stress and headaches. I need to remove them from my life as soon as possible. Unfortunately, if I want to get rid of the main stress-causing person in my life it means I will have to let go of someone whom I love. Unless I can figure out a way to work around getting rid of the stress-inducer and keep the important person, I am going to have to decide if keeping that person is worth dealing with the bitch. Somedays, he is important enough for me to deal with her shit. But lately, I cannot deal with it. She just keeps pushing and pushing and I honestly just want to leave. Run away to never be heard from again. I guess I have a hell of a lot of thinking to do.

I can honestly say I had a great Valentine’s Day!
I woke Mike up at 8am so we could out to eat at Shoney’s for breakfast. They have a pretty good breakfast buffet loaded with cinnamon and sugar French toast sticks, muffins, bacon, pancakes, eggs, shredded hash browns, fruit and the like. It was defiantly worth the $4.99 per person. After we were done eating breakfast we headed over to walmart (where I bought Raven a box of chocolate and Mike bought her 3 red roses) and then went home. We had decided to go to the movies to see Sanctum 3D. However, since the first showing was not until 12:25 we still had some time to kill. After we arrived home, Mike said he had to go get something (he had to pick up the flowers he ordered from the local florist) and he would be back in a few minutes. After he got home, he presented me with a dozen beautiful red roses, a box of chocolates and kitty cat valentine card with temporary kitty cat tattoos. Around 11: 50, we headed out to the theater, got our tickets and popcorn and enjoyed the movie. Afterward we headed back home and watched TV until Raven got home from school at which time the 3 of us proceeded to watch more TV and just goof off until we got hungry. Raven did not want to go out to eat and instead wanted to stay home by herself because (in her words) she has too much stuff to do. So, I called Texas Roadhouse’s call heading seating and reserved a table for 2. Of course, when we arrived there even with the call head seating we still had to wait about 30 minutes. But that was a hell of a lot better then having to wait an hour and half like the people who were coming in after us had to. When we got home, Raven informed us that we were not gone long enough. We spent the rest of the night in bed watching various TV programs. It was an absolutely wonderful Valentine’s Day. The best one I have ever had!

My gifts from Mike.

I use to hate Valentine’s Day. And not just when I was single. For the longest time after dating my husband (and after getting married), I continued to hate Valentine’s Day. I truly do not know the reason why I hated it so much but I did. When my husband and I were going through our extremely rough patch, I began to change in many ways and I credit those changes with why my feelings of Valentine’s Day transitioned into what they are now a days. I began to become indifferent to this holiday. I use to loathe it but now I don’t mind it one way or another. I know many people hate this day, as I once did. However, for those girls out there who don’t have a husband or boyfriend who is romantic every other day or buys them gifts just for the hell of it, Valentine’s Day lets us experience a little taste of what other girls get on a near daily basis. Yeah, it may suck that our husbands have to be told by a holiday to do something extra special for us. However, It’s not that they don’t love us. It’s just not in their nature. Some guys are romantic on their own while others are not. And I have learned to deal with it and be happy no matter what. So, here’s to my husband whom I have been with for 15 years of my life, he is not the most romantic guy in the world but means well all the same! Happy Valentine’s Day Mike! I love you!

Please, do not pay any attention to the mess behind me. We are moving things around in the bedroom and I stopped to take a break to do the meme. Also, I am sometimes overly animated when I talk. Yeah. I’m a big dork.

Words said:
Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

Questions answered:
* What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
* What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
* What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
* What do you call gym shoes?
* What do you say to address a group of people?
* What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
* What do you call your grandparents?
* What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
* What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
* What is the thing you change the TV channel with?