Dad's B-Day!

We started the morning off by an 8am breakfast at our family's favorite breakfast taco joint, Casa Alde in Buda. Then took a beautiful drive out to Lake Buchanan for our Vanishing River Cruise. It was freeezzzzing!! Literally it was 32 degrees. :) But we were bundled up and met some cousins of ours at the boat dock. The cruise was 2 hours and we saw lots of wildlife, mainly birds. Blue herring, white pelicans, and many birds of prey. It was fun and we got to learn a lot about the environment and the history of the lake from our tour guide. After the cruise we headed into Marble Falls where we ate some great fish for lunch and then over to the famous Blue Bonnet Cafe for pie! Yum! Here are some pics from our trip. :)

Enjoying some breakfast at Casa Alde and Dad with his gift from Carl.

View from the boat.

Mom and her cousin Karion.

Ehran looking at some wildlife!

Carl enjoying the heat in the inclosed boat.

Us.

Dad checking out the view.

Reading up on the history of the lake.

Eat Clean!

Ok...so...I went to the store this morning after work to get our "eat clean" groceries. I feel like such a moron because I was going over the list last night at work and kept having to google some of the foods because I didn't know what they were. HA Loser! I mean I've never bought Fennel before what the heck is fennel?? Well I found the fennel and a slew of other produce that I needed and headed over to the "healthy lifestyle" isle where I got some organic popcorn, sunflower seeds, organic honey and ground flaxseed. As I picked up the $8 bag of flaxseed I think I started to well up thinking, "oh no I don't even have that much stuff in my cart and there goes my bonus shift I just worked last night!" I was definitely walking around the store with a frustrated look on my face I'm sure. Anyways next went to look for balsamic vinegar. Did you know there are about 30 types and brands of balsamic vinegar!! I think the most expensive I saw was $23 for a medium size bottle. I chose the cheap, HEB brand one and moved on. Found the Soba Japanese noodles, low-sodium soy sauce and the sea salt. Couldn't find avocado oil, coconut butter or agave nectar so I guess I'll have to make a run to New Flower or Central Market to find those. So I made it home without breaking the bank or having a breakdown in the store. I guess I'd rather "pay" for my health now, than "pay" for my bad health later.

Anyhoo, got home and went to bed and slept til about 1:30pm. Got up and had a bowl of my Ezekiel cereal that I found at the store with skim milk and raspberries. Wasn't too bad. :) Ehran got off to work and now I need to purge out the fridge and pantry. The pantry is what gets us because there are all kinds of carbohydrates, sugar, fats and salty food. ugggg Then to clean up the house a bit and go to my parent's house later.

Eating Healthy

So goal #2 of the year is to eat healthy and today I got my Eat- Clean Diet book in the mail. I read the first 50-60 pages and it sounds hard but doable. The big challenge will be to get Ehran on board with me. With our weird, unpredictable hours is easier for us to eat fast and cheap but its taking a toll on our bodies physically and mentally. I printed off a copy of the Family Grocery List provided in the book and am hoping to make a stop at the store on the way home from work on Monday morning. I HATE with a passion grocery shopping but have found that if I go at 7:30 in the morning I can get it done faster and I don't feel as rushed with the hoards of people and all of their ninos!

We have GOT to make a change. I gained back all the weight I lost before Christmas and now I'm regretting it! Only 3 months until our cruise and 8 months until my 10 year high school reunion. So I've got plenty of motivation ahead of me. We are also going to try to start jogging a couple of times a week and I'm going to start my Slim in 6 again. It helped me drop 5 pounds before Christmas. So... here goes nothing! :)

Feeling Discouraged about Goal #1

I'm starting to feel all discouraged about the day shift thing. I talked to my transport supervisor and emailed my manager and director about it last night. I got responses back but basically saying they don't know when a day spot will be open and that it might be a while. *sigh* I wish I knew what "a while" means (a few months or a few years??)

I'm more upset with my self for not menioning it sooner to the "higher ups" around here at work. But I really hadn't made it up in mind until recently that I wanted a day spot. I'm just praying it all works out and I'm sure it will in God's timing. Its just hard to wait when you are getting burned out of flipping back and forth and not having a normal schedule. uggg Like Ehran says "just hang in there" I guess. I just hope I don't do something drastic like quit my job and move to a different department. But, I'm sure it won't come down to that. I'll have to see how I feel in 6 months.

Goal #8

We are working on accomplishing our goals for this year and goal #8 (attending Sunday School more) we've been working on. We've made it the last two Sundays and even though I have to work tonight we still went this morning. It felt great and I still got a two hour nap this afternoon after Ehran went to work himself. Today we had 15 people not including Trisha (our teacher) in the class and got to see alot of faces we hadn't seen in a while. Our original plan was just to go to Sunday School and then go back home so I could go back to bed. But, we decided to stay for the church service and my mom was so surprised to see us sitting in the pew when she walked in. ( we had told her we wouldn't be there at all that day ;) Anyways the service was great and then we got to eat lunch with my parents, and two couples from our class. It was so nice and I really enjoyed the fellowship. We used to let work be an excuse not to go to Sunday School and church sometimes but we know that this is important for our lives so we are going to keep making the extra effort to go.

Fans

Today we just took an easy Saturday. Slept in til about 10am, got up and got dressed, actually had breakfast together complete with coffee, and then ran some errans. Ehran had been talking about the Cowboy's game all week because tonight was their first playoff game of the season. They hadn't won a playoff game since the 90's and Ehran was sooo happy to be off work tonight so he could watch them. While we were out running around we stopped at the HEB Plus in Kyle to get our groceries for the week. At the store EVERY other person was wearing Cowboy shirts, jerseys, caps, hoodies, and like Ehran a jacket. We got a few Cowboy related items, all of our other things and went home.

At home we ate some lunch, I watched the last two episodes of my Grey's Anatomy season 3 that I had Netflixed and then fell asleep for a nap. Ehran finally woke me up about two hours later!! (Again with the sleep!!) I groggily got out of bed and made it into the kitchen to start dinner. A healthy one I have to say, made up of seasoned Cod we got at the store, wild rice, roasted vegetables, and toasted french bread. We also found some of our new favorite Full Sail beer at the store so each had a bottle of that (well I think Ehran had 2 or 3 he he). Then settled in to watch the game.

It was a great game!! The Cowboys beat the Eagles last week and beat them again tonight (34-14) to knock them out of the playoffs and move themselves up to play the Vikings for next week. Sadly Ehran has to work next Sunday so won't be able to watch the game. :(

Now time to head to bed so I can try to make it to Sunday School in the morning and then come home after to go back to bed so I can work tomorrow night! Good night.

Its a Cold Day in Texas

Its a cold day in Kyle. I had to work last night and slept a few hours today and then got up to take Ladybird to the vet for her annual visit. She was due for the usual rabies and other vaccinations as well as a physical exam. Its hard to believe we've had her for almost a year now. Everything checked out good and we were in and out of there rather quickly.

Ehran had gone with my parents to Sam's to look at getting a new laptop while I was with the dog. After the vet visit I headed over to my parent's house to work on making a pot of hamburger soup and wait for everyone to get home. When they got back the soup was simmering on the stove and dad started a fire in the fireplace.

Well, we decided to freeze the soup and go to Nona Gina's Italian restaurant in Buda for dinner. Ehran and Mom got pasta bowels and me and Dad shared a pizza. We also both had a pint of Full Sail beer some of the best beer I've had (and I don't even like beer). After dinner we hopped in the car and went across the street to the Buda Drug & Soda Fountain shop for some fat free, sugar free cappuccinos made by my mom's sweet friend Teresa. They were so warm and yummy! Then went back to my parent's house to visit and sit in front of the cozy fire. :)

The Lovely Bones

I tried to read this book with a book club a couple of years ago and just COULD NOT get into it and never finished it. Its kind of depressing and the author sometimes goes into way too much detail about little things and you wish she'd just get to the point and move on. But, recently I saw that they are making a movie based on it and I like Susan Sarandon and Rachel Weisz. So, instead of buying the book again (I think I sold it) I decided to buy the audio version for my iPod and listen to it. Its being read by the author so its kinda neat to hear it from her voice. The book is still depressing and sometimes I find myself daydreaming even with the author reading, but I'm following it a lot better this time. Here is a link to the movie web site: www.LovelyBones.com

Sleep

I'm obsessed about sleep because I get very little sometimes between shifts. The room has to be dark and cold (which Ehran can't stand), cell phone on silent and me bundled up under my covers.

Its about 1:40 in the afternoon right now and I worked last night and have to work again tonight at the Medical Center in Hays. Only about 10 minutes from my house, its a very nice drive into work. My point is, is that I should be asleep, preparing for my next night of work, but my internal clock says, "No, you are human and humans are not nocturnal. You are suppose to be up during the day accomplishing things and being productive and sleeping at night." So here I sit at the comp wanting to go back to sleep but my mind is racing with things I could be doing instead.

Thats the problem with working nights. I've been doing it for almost 5 years now. Wow! Thats a long time to have a messed up internal clock. I've never really gotten used to it. Some nurses don't mind working nights and they do it for years---like 25 years!! I do love the night shift its self, just not how I feel on my days off. I find that I'm not that reliable anymore. If its the morning of the 3rd night in a row, you can forget it I will be late to where ever I'm suppose to be. And I'm not able to sleep on my nights off. Insomnia takes over and I can't shut my mind off until its 3am and I've finally taken a Tylenol PM. uggg

Anyways, I feel torn as what to do. I want to apply to go to day shift but I know I'm needed more on nights. You have to apply to go to dayshift in my unit. Its almost regarded as a privilege and not an earned right. How messed up is that? I think if you've put in your two years of working nights you should have the option of going to days at your request. But no, I have to wait for an opening to be posted and then apply to the job I already work at to go to dayshift. *sigh*

Oh well, I'm thankful for this job so I will do whatever they say I have to do and play by the rules. Hopefully I will be able to catch my supervisor this week to ask about moving to days. I'll post later as to how this went.

Just for Fun

Well being the first week of a new year I decided to make me and Ehran a blog. Why not? I mean, we got stuff to say too. Ha ha. I'm going to try to post at least once a week maybe everyday, if I'm feeling inspired. Looking forward to this new year and we've set a few goals. I like to call resolutions "goals" instead of resolutions, makes it easier to turn them into long term instead of having to accomplish them in one year. So here are the goals:
1. Apply at some point for a dayshift position at work (Jill)
2. Eat healthy
3. Be more active
4. Enjoy everyday
5. Put hardwood floors in our living room and master
6. Add more curtains to the house
7. Plant a vegetable garden
8. Attend Sunday School more
9. Spend more time together and not at work or sleeping
10. Try something new

There they are. Check back periodically to see how we are doing and for an update on any new experiences we have. :)