Checkin' In

I woke up once again today to the sound of rain. I don’t recall a more rainy summer than the one we’re having. It has rained every day since June. Literally. I feel like someone snuck in and moved us all to Seattle without our knowledge. I don’t mind the rain. It’s much better than the droughts we’ve had and the water rationing programs put in force the last few summers. But it certainly makes driving a great big hassle.

So let’s catch up, shall we?

On the job front….after several interviews and lots of crappy, rainy drives, I’ve accepted a position with Aramark. (How’s that for networking?) The drive is a bit more than I wanted, but it’s a real (read: permanent, not temporary) job, the people are super nice, the hours are fab, and they have great benefits. But on Monday, I had a fabulous interview with a gay CPA who’s looking for an office manager-type person. The interview lasted nearly 2 hours, and if he had offered me the job right then and there, I would have taken it; a bit more money, closer to home, fun environment and lots of cool new stuff to learn. But, he won’t be making a decision until next week, and I’m scheduled to start work with the other company tomorrow. And since I’ve already made a commitment to them, I’ll be there. If he calls and offers me the job next week, I’ll have had a few days to gauge my longevity at the other job.

Summer fun….this short stint of unemployment has allowed us to hang out with the kids a lot, which has been great. For the 4th we went to the Fort Worth Zoo with some of the folks from ComedySportz. When you buy your tickets, they specifically tell you that there are no ‘rain checks’ and no refunds if it rains. In other words, they don’t close the park if it rains, so you should bring an umbrella.

We had so much fun. I haven’t been to a zoo in more than 10 years. It did start to rain, but it was light and short lived – and we did have an umbrella. J The Boy and the Mini-Teen took turns videotaping various animal activities, and we all took a lot of pictures. We stayed until the park closed. It was awesome to do so much walking. Will decided that our gathering word would be “moonwalk”, and that we should number off, and Evan added ‘pudding’ to the numbering, (Will’s little nephew was ‘pudding cup’) and everyone would yell “shake and bake” once we knew all numbers were accounted for. Yes, we actually did this, and the looks on people’s faces varied from amused to annoyed. But we did have some others join in, especially toddlers who liked the ‘shake and bake’ part. We scared one Asian lady. Not on purpose. I talked Rachelle into doing her raptor impression, and the small group of people who saw her thought it was amusing. Makes me laugh every time. We taped Will trying to wrestle a bronze alligator, using his best Croc Hunter voice. You get the idea. It was a wacky day. Pictures to come.
We must have walked several miles, and I even achieved some color on my arms.

Me, me me…..I feel good. At the beginning of June, I started to change the things I eat, with the intention of losing some weight. At the time I was still working, and I had Kristin at the office to tell of my progress. But then I got laid off, and no one at home was really excited about my diet. Kristin was kinda like my cheerleader. She was a huge advocate of healthy eating, and she gave me a lot of encouragement. I was worried that I would slip back into my old eating habits without having anyone to talk to about it – and I did, a couple of times, and I hated it. I’d been doing some reading on Alli, the ‘new’ weight loss program that can help you lose 50% more weight than dieting alone. So I read about how it works and the possible side effects. I thought about it for a few days and decided to buy it. I’ve been on it for just over 2 weeks, and I’m down at least 10 pounds. Very exciting! It could be more than that, because I don’t have a scale, so I have to run over to The Teen’s apartment and use hers, and then her boyfriend told me that it might be 10 pounds off (over), so I really have no idea at this point. I know that I feel good, some things are looser and things I couldn’t wear a month ago are fitting, so I think it’s working. I’ve been walking a lot more, and sticking to my daily allowance of calories and fat grams. Grocery shopping has actually been fun, and I love trying new recipes and making healthy, tasty meals. And so far, no side effects from the pills. The icky side effects are a real incentive not to indulge in high-fat foods. I’ll report my progress here. I know someone reading this is cheering me on.

I suppose that’s it for now. This is my last day as an unemployed person, so I think I’ll just chillax.