charlatan psychic

Week 4? Is that it? Oh well. I don't care. 149 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I had a moment there. Yes, the scale this morning was just to the left of 150, meaning I have finally broke that plateau and met the goal I set for myself so long ago when I was doing Weight Watchers. It really is a relief. After a whole year, I feel I can finally continue on this journey. I'm getting somewhere again. I've been having some dry mouth, but not too horrible. I think some of it was whatever bug I fought off this week as well. Eating is going good. Still able to stop when I'm full. I think that's making the biggest difference, still. I ordered more pills. Should have ordered sooner, but I'm slow like that. I even paid for faster shipping, so I hope they don't get lost this time. In other news, doctor's appointment was short and sweet this morning. He'd never heard of feverfew, but said if it's working to go ahead and stick with it. S...

I finally have energy today. Ran errands and didn't feel dead after! So I took Remy for a run this afternoon. He was so excited, but I had to drag him after the halfway! Silly dog. We walked a while and he was ready to run again. All the way to the park, where he spent a few minutes finding the perfect spot to poop. This all makes me a little less nervous about this weekend. I've decided I'm not going to push for any kind of record. I'm going to just run and enjoy the view. The middle 3 miles of the run are along the Rio Grande, which is actually more than just mud puddle up in Las Cruces. I still have my doctor's appointment tomorrow. Going to just tell him that I'm not taking the verapamil anymore and I want to keep with the fever few since it seems to be working. I also need a new birth control script. Only 1 refill left, so I may as well get a new one now. I owe everyone a Skinny update tomorrow (I think it's going to be good!) and will throw in a...

In my mind, my neck and shoulders are eternally connected, one and the same. I carry all my stress and tension in my neck and shoulders. I also slouch, much to my mother's dismay. I've always had bad posture, although it has gotten somewhat better over the years. My shoulders are always tense, the muscles are always very tight. In college, I started getting a huge knot on top of my right shoulder when I spent any time at the computer. It was right up by my neck and rather painful. I could feel a lump sometimes, it was so bad. That was when I taught myself to use the computer mouse with my left hand. To this day, I can use my left hand all day long, but if I use my right, I get that knot. Just with the computer mouse. When I started bike riding 2 years ago, I found I would get a horrible pinching feeling in my right shoulder blade, very sharp and painful if I moved. Icyhot seemed to ease it over time, and I've made adjustments to my bike as well. I don't get that pa...

I've been thinking lately about what I want. Not anything deep or philosophical, but rather material, frivolous wants. My mother has been asking what I want for Christmas. I can't really think of anything for me. My first thoughts were of some things for the house, but those aren't really for ME. I would love a new sewing machine, but that's more than a christmas gift. I've been wanting some new shoes, but that's something I have to shop for myself, with my weird feet. So all I can think of is to ask for shopping money. Then there's J. He wants to do  this crazy bike ride  in Colorado next June. It's right up his alley, and something I do not want to do. I am more than willing to go back up to that area, and would love to do some other support role for it. I fully support him in this, and love the idea of the ride itself, it's just beyond my skill level. It's a 3 day event, and since I would be supporting him for 3 days, he feels we should...

Yeah, so I'm a day late. But yesterday was a holiday. Yeah, actually, I just forgot. I did weigh myself yesterday. 150. 1 pound away from breaking this damn plateau. I didn't eat as healthy this past week. Also felt a little lazy and didn't work out as much. Could be why I only went down 1 pound. Could just be slowing down as my body adjusts to the pills. So yeah, not much to report on that front. I gotta get my a few good runs in this week, as next weekend is the Las Cruces Half Marathon. Oh Yeah! I signed up for that! Ha. Just not feeling it right now. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and of course I over-ate. It's what you're supposed to do that day, isn't it? I did not go shopping today. I avoided shopping and shopping areas. I don't like people. I may brave some shopping tomorrow to see about getting those tshirts from A'gaci. Just to fill you in on what it's like to blog in my house, I have my laptop literally on my lap. I find it more ...

Title? Yeah, I don't know either. It's all I got tonight. I'm on Pinterest. I like it. I've discovered some cool things there, found some good recipes, and found some total BS. I've been having a bad acne breakout. Like, really bad. I wash my face with neutrogena stress control acne wash in the shower every morning, I use a great moisturizer, and I clean my face with biore wipes in the evening. I have a zit gel, but it seemed to make the breakout worse. I looked a little on pinterest, but found my recipe on a google search. I wanted a DIY face mask to help acne. I discovered  this.  So simple, and I had all the ingredients. I pinned it to save the link and share. Then I tried it. First time I made a mistake. I ran a hot bath, got in, washed my face and applied mask. The main ingredient is honey, and honey gets runny with heat. So yeah, it dripped all over and didn't stay on. I only left it on 15 minutes before the drips were driving me bonkers. My skin ...

Oh the chest. My chest is special in many ways. I have large breasts on a very short torso and arthritic ribs. I can't bra shop in El Paso because they just don't carry my size in any of the stores. Even Dillard's, which carries my size online, doesn't stock them in either of the local stores. Which is a shame since I'm sure many of the women in this city could use options like that, but that's another matter. Being large chested, I wear mostly underwire bras, which give more support and defined shape. But some days my ribs just can't handle the wires and I wear my soft-cup bra. It's hard for me to find nice soft-cup bras because they tend to be full coverage, which doesn't work so well on my short torso. I avoid full coverage. As for the ribs, I've had arthritis there since I was about 15. At first, mom and I thought I might have asthma. I was having trouble breathing on rainy days. My ribs would ache, making breathing painful. Mom ran into...

I decided to walk into the new A'gaci store on post today. I haven been turning up my nose since before this store even opened. Just another teeny bopper ugly fashions store, and probably all over priced. I was waiting for some friends to show up for a coffee date, and thought, "What the hell, let's go do some hatin'." I walked in through the shoe section, where you see giant stilletto platform heels in all colors with studs and spikes. Ugh. But that's when something bad happened. I saw some boots. Some really cute boots. With low heels. So I checked them out and something even worse happened. They're only $35.  Uh oh. Good price for cute boots? We'll see. I walked around the outer edge of the store looking at clothes. Now, sure, there were tons of styles I would never be caught dead in. There were also some really cute things. Some. I saw some great cardigans and jackets. And the prices were good. Some of the prices were great. I was somewhat i...

Yes, Week the Second. I like to say it that way and I don't know why. It's fun. Scale this morning said 151. Another 2 pounds. If it keeps up I will break the plateau next week. Even if it slows down to 1 pound a week I'll break it in 2 weeks. Feels good. There are some days when I just don't feel hungry and have to make myself eat something. But then again, I've always had those days. I am noticing that it's easier to stop eating. I'm not sure I can explain it in a way you can understand, but it's almost like it's easier for me to realize that I'm full and stop eating. So when I do eat and still feel hungry, I feel ok getting a little more to eat. Perfect example is yesterday. I wasn't hungry at lunch but knew I needed to eat. I was out shopping and there was a little teriyaki place right there with a $5 chicken teriyaki bowl. I got it to go and brought it home. Looking at it, I knew it was too much so I got a bowl and only scooped ou...

I'm late! Ack! I was distracted by puppy mayhem on Monday. So we're on to the stomach. Oh, the stomach. I hate my stomach. It's where I carry most of my weight, which apparently isn't a healthy sign for my heart or cholesterol. It has gotten better with losing weight, of course, but still not where I want it to be. Of course, neither is my weight. Fat days always revolve around my stomach. It will look pudgy no matter what I put on. Some days I'm very grateful for a large chest because it still sticks out farther than my stomach. Yes, that makes me feel better. I'd rather have big boobs than a big stomach. My waist is a story in itself. It's very high, right under my rib cage. Actually, right at the bottom rib would be a better description. That's my natural waist. Maybe it only seems so high because my whole torso is so short. We measured my torso once at a sporting goods store, for backpacks, like hiking backpacks, and it only came to 14 1/2 inc...

It's been an interesting week. The first day I felt a little light headed, but thought it was just me. The next day, I was freezing cold for no reason (it was 74 degrees in my house) and eventually took my temperature. I had a very low fever. Uh oh. The next day, I scraped the laser stamp off of my pill and didn't take it until after running the half marathon. I was worried about taking it before. I didn't feel any symptoms, no fever, no light headed feeling. So Sunday I experimented. I left the stamp on. Again, nothing. Monday was the first day of 2 pills, with stamps, I felt great. So I apparently had a mild bug over the weekend and ran it out of my system on Saturday. Huh. Anyway, I can't expect much in the first week of these pills, but I have noticed that it's easier to get out of bed in the morning, even if I didn't get my usual 8 hours. I seem to feel more motivated most days this week. Except yesterday, but that was a migraine day. I didn't do...

Hey! It's Monday! I don't have much of a butt. Never have. I'm top-heavy. I get it from Mom. The flat butt. My hips are actually on the wide side. I remember someone, don't know who but probably some random old lady, tell me I have child-bearing hips. Oh yeah. Just what every 12 year old girl wants to hear. The nice thing about those wide hips is they help balance out my large chest. J swears my butt has gotten more shape to it since I started running. I can't tell, but then, he looks at it more than I do. I do have trouble with jeans always trying to make me look like a plumber. And I hate belts so don't even suggest it. My hips are pretty flexible, too. I can fold in half easily in yoga. Damn. Not much to say about my butt. I don't have any strong feelings about it. I wouldn't mind a little more curve to it, but it's OK. So yeah. I have a butt. And hips. Sorry this was such a boring post. Next week is the abdomen. I'm sure that o...

Forgot! I ran a half marathon yesterday. How can one forget that, right? I just forgot to blog about it. Official results are out so here's my post. I ran the half marathon distance of the Fort Bliss Marathon (first annual). My goal was to keep an average 10 min/mile pace. I was more nervous for this race than any others. I think that was somewhat because it was my first race all on my own. No husband, no mother, just me. It didn't help that I didn't feel so good the day before. Had a low grade fever. Tylenol took care of it, but it had me a little worried. I didn't sleep very well either. Nervous dreams kept waking me up. I woke up early and got ready. I had laid out my stuff the night before. Made a smoothie for breakfast. The run itself was pretty good. I had my music and tracked myself with Strava. They had water stations ever 2 miles. I usually don't drink at the first water station so I ran past it. Then at mile 4, they were out of cups. WTF, right?...

Many people are doing the thankful days thing on Facebook. You know, where you post something you are thankful for every day of the month for the month of November.  I will not be doing that.  I've been looking for things to be grateful for for the past month. Every day I talk to J, I'm thankful for the technology that allows us to video chat, even on days when the connection is spotty. On days we don't get to talk, I'm grateful that our relationship is strong and that a day without talking won't hurt anything.  I'm grateful that he's in "an undisclosed location in southwest Asia" and has it relatively easy compared to so many other Soldiers. I'm also grateful that there are units stationed there to support the units in Afghanistan, especially since I know some guys headed there soon.  I'm grateful for Rembrandt and all the smiles he puts on my face. I'm grateful for Duke and all the snuggles.  I'm grateful for m...

USPS pulled through (after I complained through the 800 number) and got my package to me yesterday. Two days late and no explanation, but at least I have it. Signature Skinny Amp'd. Here are the ingredients: Bee Pollen 83mg Sickelsenna Seed 64mg Cassia 62mg Seville Orange Flower 37mg Chinese Yam 52mg Aloe 37mg Green Tea 23mg I'm to take 1 pill before breakfast for 4 days. If I don't have any odd reactions, I move it up to 2 pills a day. Shelley (the lady I bought them from) also warned me about the laser stamp. They started laser stamping the amp'd version so people wouldn't confuse it with the non-amp'd. It's just a little black "ampd" on the capsule. But some people, including Shelley, started having some flu-like symptoms. Her friend, who also takes it, told her to scrape the stamp off. She did, and was fine. So if I complain of flu-like symptoms, tell me to remove the stamp.  The first few days will put my body throu...