Ring-A-Ding-Ding

I waited a long time to get an engagement ring put on my finger. What was I, 38 when J proposed? Yeah, 38. I've worn it every single day since, proud to have it sitting there on my left ring finger, announcing my commitment to the man I love.

Today I had to move it to the middle finger for a while (I bet I had you all scared, thinking something had happened between me and J, right? Hee. Sorry about that). I've only lost 15.25 pounds so far, which is just a drop in the bucket of the total I have to lose, and yet my diamond has been flopping around all the time, and when I shook my hand earlier, it actually came off. And I do NOT want to lose my ring. My love for J and my love for my Mother are both tied into this thing (since it was Mom's ring from my Dad originally).

I knew that at some point my ring would get too big, but I never would have guessed that it would be getting loose this soon. It's not a big deal - I'll just move it to my middle finger, and when it gets too big again, I'll move it to my index finger. As long as I can still wear it, I'm happy. And when I get close to my goal weight, we'll get it resized so it can go back on its proper finger.

And I'm very happy to have random parts of me, like my fingers, getting smaller. :) The scale is going down slowly, but it's going down. It's a good thing.

Mind Blown. Can't Think.

I just linked to an article that said that popular "Mommy Blogger" Do0ce makes a lot of money in advertising. A lot. Seriously. Are you ready for this number? Assuming this article is correct, she makes $40,000 a MONTH, in advertising from her blog. A month! That's almost twice what I make in a YEAR, and she makes it in one month. In one year? She makes $480,000. What the?!?

My mind is blown. I feel a mixture of feelings, really. Shock, that anyone could make that much money posting pictures of their kids and dogs and telling stories of their family online. An irrational hatred, because why the heck should she make so much money doing something like that? And most of all, jealousy. I want to make that much money! Just for one or two months, even!

Although really, I don't. With that kind of popularity comes an obligation to post all the time; commenters who feel they have the right to tell you every sick, twisted thing they think of; criticisms from every strange person to find their way online.

Still, that kind of money sounds nice, doesn't it? Just for a couple of months? Seriously, two months making that much money would pay off my credit cards, student loans, all of J's bills and probably both of our houses, too. We'd be debt free! It's like dreaming of winning the lottery.

Okay, I think the shock is leaving my system. I can go back to my life now.

Oh, and since I haven't written in so long, maybe I should tell you what's going on in my life, huh? Well, not much, really. I've lost 14.75 pounds so far. I'm hoping to be able to get to 25 pounds lost by my birthday, but that's four weeks from tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll make it. I'm going to try, though.

I got the Sims 3 from J as an early birthday present, and then he made it even better by upgrading my computer's video card so I could run the game properly. So I have a new game to obsess over. Hee.

I finally got a picture of my new niece from my brother, and she is such a beautiful baby! She looks like a doll. (Did I even tell you she was born? I don't remember. Just in case, she's my oldest brother's daughter, she was born on May 14th, and her name is Natalie.)

The dogs and cats are all doing well. Willow continues to growl constantly, Duff continues to be the cutest little white dog around, Bernie continues to just make me love him more and more all the time, and Rosie continues to charm J and I as only Rosie can, with farts and wet ears and some really great hugs.

Kate isn't hiding in her house as much lately. She's been out in the living room, loudly demanding pets instead. She even walked in front of J so that he could pet her last night! Of course then she ran back to her house when he got up, so she's not deciding she loves him or anything. Heh.

I've now read 10 Pulitzer Prize winning books, so as far as my 101 list is concerned, that goal is done! Of course, now I've decided to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels, so in reality I have 73 left to go. Hee. They're too good to stop at only reading 10.

I'm getting really close to being done watching all of the Best Picture Oscar winning movies, too. I only have 14 left to watch, plus four that aren't on DVD right now. I'll be kind of sad when I'm done with this, actually - I've seen a lot of great movies that I might never have seen otherwise.

I guess that's all I need to catch you up on. And writing this has gotten me over the shock of finding out what Do0ce makes, so it's a good thing (also, I'm writing her name like that, and not linking to her, because I don't feel like contributing another hit to her page right now, because yes, still jealous of the 40 grand a month, :P).

Have a good weekend, my four or five faithful blog readers!

Catch-Up

Wow, I'm not really in here chatting much, am I? Sorry! I guess I haven't been in the blogging kind of mood.

So, nothing much has been going on with me. Mostly my mind has been focused on watching what I eat and exercising. I have a significant goal in mind that I want to reach by July 4th, and it's totally reasonable to think I can do it - I just need to do the work! So I've started doing workout DVDs on Netflix online. The first one, and the one I've liked best so far, was Crunch: Fat Burning Pilates. I did it on Tuesday night, and I worked up a really good sweat, worked a bunch of muscles, and did a nice bit of work on my abs, too. My legs were actually sore when I was done! Which I haven't been able to say after riding the exercise bike or doing the videos on sparkpeople, so I'm thinking I wasn't really working hard enough. The videos are helping in that regard.

The next night I did a Jillian Michaels DVD that was targeting the upper body (since my legs and abs had gotten worked the day before). It still worked the legs, so they were doubly sore when I was done, but I did get a decent workout in my arms and chest, too. My chest was actually sore! So it was good, I think.

Last night I took a night off, to let my muscles rest. One of the things I've learned is that muscles need time to rest, to heal. I'm not sore at all today, so I think the rest was good. One night of rest is all my muscles are getting, though, because tonight I'm back to the Crunch DVD.

Oh, and I found this virtual me thing online, and put in my height, my starting weight, my goal weight, and my body type. If gave me virtual before and after pictures (these are from the Levi's website, so she's wearing Levi's jeans and a Levi's top). Here it is:


I have no perspective on what I looked like when I started (11 pounds ago), so I'm not sure how accurate the before side is. From what I remember of being at my goal weight many years ago, the after seems pretty accurate, though. I had a small upper body, with the little bit of extra weight I still had on me in the legs and butt. (My goal weight here is 135, by the way, although in reality I'll be happy anywhere between 135 and 145, which should be about a size 6 or 8 pants (US sizes, obviously).) I have this saved on my desktop at work and at home, and from time to time I open it up and look at the after, for inspiration. I'm going to get there this time, I can feel it. I'm working hard for it, so it'll happen. Eventually. Probably early next year.

Anyway, so that's what been on my mind, mostly. Well, that and Sims 3! Which came out on Tuesday. I wasn't sure if I wanted it, but then I started seeing pictures and stories about it from people who got it that day, and now I absolutely want it! It's different than Sims 2, but that's okay. I'm going into it thinking of it as a totally different game than 2. So the differences don't bother me. I just want it! Unfortunately, it's $50, and I don't get paid until next week, so it'll have to wait. I'll have it in my hands eventually, though. I just hope it works on my desktop when I get it! The video card seems to have what they require, but it isn't a version that's supported by EA for the game, so who knows if it will or not. We'll see, whenever I get my hands on a copy of it.

Other than that, I've been reading lots, and knitting some (still working on my new niece's blanket), and watching DVDs and TV, and hanging out with J when he's home. Life is pretty good.

And there you have a quick recap of what's been going on with me. I hope you all are doing well too!