So much to catch up on...

I have a lot to talk about so I'm just going to jump right in....

I received a lovely package with the sweetest card from Carmen on Monday. She sent me some very nice black dress pants. They fit perfect!! I was a little worried when I tried on size 24 jeans this weekend and they fit. But the ones Carmen sent me are dress pants and they are a Lane Bryant 7 red dot. I love how they aren't saggy in my butt but they aren't clingy on my legs either. I love them! Thank you Carmen ever so much!! I will try to get a picture of me wearing them in the next couple days.

If you haven't heard yet on Stephanie's blog.....I am going to Chicago!! Oh yea baby!! I got the time off cleared at work and Hubby is very supportive of me going....so it's a go. I'm looking for a room-mate so if you don't have one and I don't scare you too much then holler at me. I snore but I don't bite ;-)  I can't wait to meet everyone....I am so freaking stoked! Can you tell I'm excited? Yea, just a little :)

To all my followers...I am really trying to get through everyone's blogs from the beginning of the year. I think I may have bit off a little more than I can chew. So, I am bending my promise just a little....I'm going to read at least the past full month through the current month. I'm so sorry, please don't hate me. When I only had like 30 or so followers it wasn't so hard, but now I have many more and I want to be able to get to know everyone. Please understand. And....I have been finding it difficult to find links to some blogs or maybe not everyone has one, I'm not sure. So, please help me find your blog by leaving a comment with a link to your blog if I am not already following you. And if I am already following you then please feel free to leave a comment anyway...no pressure...but if you leave me a comment I will heart you forever and ever ;-)

Good news on the band front....the scales have moved into the 80's. I loved the 80's...I graduated high school in 1988, big hair, big earrings, shoulder pads, parachute pants and hair bands. I still love the 80's. And this week I love them even more because they showed up on  my scales. But...all good things must end and I'm hoping that like big hair and parachute pants the 80's don't stick around long. I'm feeling a hankerin for the 70's. The scales today said 288...that's 1 pound from losing an official 40 pounds. FORTY POUNDS!! I love my band :)

AND I have received AWARDS. Yes, little ole me (ok so I'm not so little).

 I am SO flattered and shocked and grateful.....and very humbled (yes, I can at rare times, for brief nano-seconds feel that thing called humility). Thank you  Mary @ Being a Winner by Being a Loser and Amaris @ Distracted By Diets so much!! This really means a lot to me. I feel like I just ramble sometimes so that fact that you thought of me really means a lot.


Here are the rules for this award (and I hope it's ok that I kill 2 birds with one stone...ya know what I mean?)

1. Thank the person giving the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs.
4. Let your nominees know about the award.

1. See above.

2. Seven things about me...

• I love parrots! I used to do rescue and rehab with a bird club in another state. Geographically, it didn't work out so well. I have a separate room in our house designated as a bird room. My favorite parrots are African Greys, they are so freaking intelligent! I also love my Quaker parrot, he's such a love.
• I am not OCD...however, I am very CDO, which is like OCD but with the letters in alphabetical order the way they should be. I wrote a big long paragraph about this but then deleted it. I'll save it for a post another day.
• I really want to get my nipples pierced again. I want to do it as a surprise for my husband. I had them done when we met but then I had sinus surgery and had to take the rings out and they were closed by the time I got around to putting them back in. He asked me this weekend if I'd ever consider having them done again. October SO....BOOBS is the end of September. If I could find a place to do it in Chicago I could surprise him with it when I got home. Not sure how I would find a clean, respectable place in Chicago to do this....any ideas??? Anybody want to go with me?? I'll hold your hand and you can hold mine. Amy W, Stephanie, Pamela, Drazil?? Any takers??
• I only had to spend 3 months of my senior year in high school but I still graduated with my class. I was so sick of the drama and the cliques that I took summer school and night school so I could get enough credits to not have to go for the full year. A month after I turned 17 I was out of school, moved out of my parents house, packed up my car, and moved to Seattle. Best thing I ever did....never regretted it for a minute!
• I'm blunt, I don't beat around the bush, and I can get down right pissy when I get crossed. My boss says I'm abrasive. I say I get things done and I don't take shitty excuses. I do my job and I expect others to do theirs.
• I have had 2 partial hysterectomies. The first one was when I was 32, I had my uterus and right ovary removed, it was mostly elective. I was scared shitless of getting cancer and dying like my mom did and my right ovary showed signs of endometriosis on it, which was a pre-curser to my mom's cancer, at least that's what the doctor told us. When I was 35 I had the other ovary and my cervix removed. At least I know I won't die of ovarian cancer.
• I saved the best for last. Are you ready? Really? You might think you are, but you would never guess....

Are you sitting down?

 You'll never guess.....

I have been married 5 times. Yes FIVE. As in My Soldier is husband #5. I will be 40 this year, you do the math. It's ok, I'll give you a minute to pick your jaw up off the floor. Take a deep breath. It's ok.

It's not that I don't believe in the concept of marriage, the fact that I have been married so many times is because I DO believe in it and never gave up on it. I love being married to my husband!! Which is something I never could say before. I believe that life is short and that every woman and man deserves to happy, to be with someone that wants to be with them. And it takes 2 to make a relationship work. When one person gives up then all the love in the world cannot make the marriage work. I love my husband, with all my heart and soul, I love him! I can honestly say that I can see us growing old together, and that is something new for me. I'm working on a post to explain all this and husbands 1-4. It's taking some time and it's hard. But, like a post about my mom, it will be good for me. A cleansing of sorts. Please be patient with me, it will come in time.

3. Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs: (If you have already received the award please don't throw tomatoes at me, just add my name to the list of followers that think you are a motivational, rockin', versatile blogger)

Amy W @ Once Upon A Time...In the Land of Cheese & Sunkist
Drazil @ It's just Me, Drazil, & Sheniqua
Dazee Dreamer @ Crazy Daze & Nite Dreams
Scarlet Simple @ A 252 Pound Journey to Being Free 
Kate at Unleashing the Thin Girl
DiZneDiVa @ This one time at BAND Camp...
Jen @ It IS all about ME!
Grace @ Grace's Fat Chance
Cindylew @ Cindylew Who?? 
Mrs. Fatass @  Did I Just Eat That Out Loud?
Stephanie @ Dreams of Skinny High Heels 
Ice Queen @ Fat Like Me
Band Groupie @ The Sweet Spot
Kerri @ Just Me and My Band
Jen @ Jen's Lap Band Journey

Ok chickies...it's almost midnight so I'm off to visit dream land. Nite nite....don't let the bed bugs bite.