Another A to Z Survey

Another A to Z Survey

Age: 28 (29 on the 29^th of November- finally my golden birthday!)

Bed size: Full. Yes I am married, so I have to share this full sized bed. This is the same bed we got when we were first married and living in a 500 square foot studio apartment. If that isn’t bad enough, we share the bed with three miniature dachshunds. I can’t wait to get a bigger bed!

 

Here's the bed that we are still using (although without the leopard print comforter) and what it looked like in our studio apartment.

 

Chore you hate: I actually like cleaning, so I don’t mind most of the chores around the house and do most of them. I’m not fond of weeding. If I did it more often, then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

Dogs: Three miniature longhair dachshunds:

Sebastion our six year old black and tan

Benjamin our one year old black and tan dapple- and yes that is me under the covers with Benji taking over my pillow

Lilly our two year old red brindle

Essential start of your day: I always take the dogs out to go potty right away. Then I get to cooking myself a healthy breakfast that usually involves egg whites.

Favorite color: I like a lot of colors, but my favorites are pink, green, purple, and black.

Gold or silver: Gold. That goes against what most people say, but it is the most flattering to my coloring.

Height: 5’6”

Instruments I play: Since you are asking an instrumentalist, my primary instrument is flute (in which I’m sorely out of practice). My secondary instrument in college was sax. I never had one to actually keep and play after college, but I think it would come back to me. I can also play a little bit of piano, but am sorely out of practice on that too.

 

One of my senior pics had to include the flute!

 

Job title: Elementary music teacher

Kids: I have fur babies for now. I would like to have kids in a few years- probably two kids.

Live: Northwest Indiana

Mom’s name: Cindy

Nicknames: I don’t really have a nickname now, but some past nicknames were Kam, Sunshine, and Kaiser.

Overnight hospital stays: None as of now

Pet peeve: People who are disrespectful.

Quote from a movie: There are many movies out there that I like and have great quotes, but I rounded up a few of my favorites for you.

            My favorite book is Gone with the Wind and I love the movie too.

 

            I also love movies that are more on the stupid funny side like Mel Brooks and Monty Python movies.  There are tons of good lines in Spaceballs, but here is a short one to watch.

 

Spaceballs- Mog's intro

 

 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail- The Black Knight. I did this with one of my friends for oratorical contest in high school. I believe we got 2nd place for humorous dialogue.

 

 

 The last clip is from a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode. The movie they are riffing is called Space Mutiny and it has some the best lines in all of MST3K. Here’s a video featuring quotes and nicknames for the main character of this movie set to music.

 

Right or left-handed: Right

Siblings: One sister who is three years younger than me. Another interesting fact is that we are both teachers (although I’m a music teacher and she is an elementary/special ed. teacher).

 

Here's a picture of us from her 8th grade graduation.

 

Time you wake up: Sometime between 5:00-5:30 when I’m working and whenever I please in the summer.

Underwear: Well, I wear underwear that is appropriate for the outfit I’m wearing. Isn’t that all anyone needs to know about my underwear?

Vegetable you dislike: Asparagus

What makes you run late: I’m not the run late kind of person. I’m always early for just about everything.

X-rays you have had done: Teeth, wrists, left ankle

Yummy food you make: I’m not a big cook, but I’m working on that. My friends said my roasted green beans were yummy. I also like my “healthy” pizza and breakfast cookies.

Zoo animal: I haven’t been to the zoo since I was a kid, but I do get to see animals at Animal Kingdom when we go to Disney World. I’m not so interested in having a favorite animal as much as trying to get a good picture of one.

 

 

A-Z Survey

A-Z Survey

A is for age: 28

B is for breakfast today : Chobani, oatmeal, organic fruit strip

C is for currently craving:  ice cream

Skinny Cow Cookies and Cream Truffle Bar- only 110 calories!

D is for dinner tonight: My husband grilled out and we had chicken kebabs and potatoes and onions.

E is for favorite type of exercise: Either something fun like riding bikes with my hubby or going on walks (with friends, some good music on my iPod, or a doxie or two).

F is for an irrational fear: public speaking and gross bugs

G is for gross food: I dislike mushroom a lot and huge hunks of red meat. Actually most of the time I don't like red meat unless it is in something like pizza or lasagna.

H is for hometown: Wanatah

I is for something important: Getting back on track and losing more weight!

I can't wait to take my next "decade" picture at 180.

J is for current favorite jam: Although it is embarrassing to admit, I've been listening to some songs to motivate myself on some of my goals. One of them is "Nothin' You Can Do About It" by Richard Marx. That is not my usual "type" of rock.

K is for kids: Probably in two or three years. Gotta get the weight off first, my hubby needs a job, and we need to save more money. 

L is for current location: I'm at home in good old Crown Point.

M is for the most recent way you spent money: Other than groceries, I do have a few posts about some clothes and jewelry I got on clearance here and here.

N is for something you need: A vacation or some time to just sit and relax would be great!

I wouldn't mind going to Disney World again!

O is for occupation: elementary music teacher

My classroom

P is for pet peeve: People who are rude and people who tailgate you while driving (which I guess falls under the rude category).
 
Q is for a quote: "Every silver lining has a touch of grey. I will get by. I will survive." from Touch of Grey by the Grateful Dead; "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." from Beautiful Boy by John Lennon

R is for random fact about you: I had two minors while in college- education and psychology.

S is for favorite healthy snack: baby carrots, almonds, granola bars, yogurt
  
T is for favorite treat: It is very hard to choose just one and I tend to go through phases of liking different things, but some of my favorites are quality chocolate, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and cheesecake.

A little bit of all the desserts I tried for Christmas dinner with my family.

U is for something that makes you unique: You know I was voted most unique in high school! I guess I've always liked what I liked and didn't cave on that.

V is for favorite vegetable: carrots

W is for today’s workout: I'm hoping to do a little cleaning around the house when I'm done with this post. I'm not making any promises though...

X is for X-rays you’ve had: My left ankle, wrists, teeth, and jaw.

Y is for yesterday’s today's highlight: The girl I'm giving piano lessons to can now play simple songs with chords on the left hand and melody on the right. I will also be able to give some beginning saxophone lessons soon too!

Z is for your time zone: Central

Eleven Random Things

The inspiration for this post is from one of my favorite blogs written by Krista. Before reading her post, I have had a bunch of random things on my mind and was wondering how I would work it into a post. Now I have the answer.

• If you have seen my goals page, then you have seen that I wanted to do a mini shopping spree for new clothes when I reach halfway to my goal weight. Well, I’ve already begun buying size 12 pants on sale/clearance and a few tops. I probably won’t need to buy much when I get there now. I think that I have a brown and black pair of dress pants, a tan and brown pair of lightweight corduroys, and four pairs of jeans. I don’t have these pant sizes stored away, because I was working at Wal-Mart the last time I was a 12. Those Wally World duds are long gone.

• I hit up the K-Mart in Portage to get most of those pants I was talking about in #1. It is going out of business and they have everything at least 30% off. I also got my reward for when I reach 180 which is Queen Singstar.

• The snacking monster has returned this week. I’ve been eating good meals, but too much junk and high calorie foods for snacks. I really need to refocus next week and watch the snacking again.

• I already have flowers pushing up around my yard. They actually have been for a week or two now. I was kind of worried that winter might hit and they would die, but it doesn’t seem like we are going to get a “real winter” this year.

• I used to be really good at playing the Pennywhistle. It is similar to a recorder, but it is made out of metal. I did all the ornamentations that made the songs sound like authentic Irish, Scottish, or English music. I should probably get it out and practice up for St. Patrick’s Day. I could bring it in and show it to my students.

• This is the outfit I wore to work on Friday. I got a lot of compliments, especially on how great these jeans look on me!

• I know this might be hard to believe, but I used to not like dachshunds. I’ve come to realize that I love the personalities of longhairs. Shorthairs really do have a different personality that I don’t like as much.

• I’m going to spend quite a few hours this President’s Day weekend getting things ready for upcoming concerts and work.

• I had a student in choir come up to me and try to convince me to bring my 3DS to school! I said that I want to keep it safe at home. We then talked about games for the 3DS and she found out that I liked Mario games. She told me I was a cool teacher for liking Mario. I told her that Mario games started to come out when I was a kid.

• Although I state the Beatles as my all time favorite band, I do have two others that I put at the top of my list with them. They are the Grateful Dead and Nirvana. As far as rock tastes go, they are pretty far apart in style. The Beatles were the original boy band and started the whole British Invasion. The Grateful Dead was the best jam band ever. Nirvana was totally ahead of their time and anti-establishment. Of course, there are many, many others I love, but there are my top of the top.

• I will have to decide soon what I’m going to do when I start going back to school to get a masters or Ph.D. My hubby is almost done, so I should hopefully be able to start soon. Going the music route would be the easiest, but I still am thinking about psychology. If I go with music, I’ll get a pay raise if I stay where I am at and maybe be able to teach at a college or university some day. I’d love to teach at St. Joe if I ever had the chance. I also think about psychology a lot. I had a better GPA in psych than music! That would be a lot of work though and I do plan on having a family at some point in the next few years.

Twenty Questions

I'm using this "20 Questions" from one of my favorite blogger's site: http://www.healthyberg.com/2012/01/20-questions.html. If you are into weight loss blogs, you should definitely check hers out. I also don't have much interesting to say today other than what is listed under question #17.

20 Questions

1) What is one of your favorite ways to spend a Saturday?

     (It is way too hard to just name one way...)

• sleeping in with my hubby and three doggies
• shopping
• being lazy and watching TV
• hanging out with my friends or family

The doxies in bed with us.

Me with some of my college friends at homecoming a few years ago.

2) List your top three favorite TV shows.
     (I'm only listing shows that are making new episodes, not my old favorites.)

• House
• What Not to Wear
• Beavis and Butthead

3) Would you rather be in pictures or take them?

• I'm usually the one taking pictures during events. I like to take pictures in general. When I was skinnier I liked to have pictures taken of me, so I hope that I can get to that point again.

A picture from my senior year of high school.

4) Why do you blog?

• I started this blog to publicly keep myself accountable on my weight loss journey. I didn't want to count points or calories anymore. I figured making it possible for the whole world to see what I ate and did for exercise should be motivating. I've grown to like blogging quite a bit since I do like to write.

5) Share five websites that you visit regularly…

• Facebook
• Blogger
• Weather.com
• MSN.com
• My school's website (as in my employer)

6) If you could have lunch with one person from your Twitter list who would it be?

• I don't tweet. Sorry. 

7) List a few of your favorite snacks.
     (This is a list of healthy snacks I enjoy, not the "junk food" ones.)

• Skinny Cow candy bars (well, it is healthier than a regular candy bar...)
• baby carrots (with or without ranch to dip)
• cocoa roast almonds
• organic fruit strips
• Special K Fruit Crisps

Special K Fruit Crisps

Gotta love Skinny Cow!

8 ) Do you have a pet? If so, what kind?

• My husband and I have three miniature longhair dachshunds.

Sebastion

Benjamin

Lilly

9) Which three material possessions would you struggle to live without?

• House 
• Computer
• Car

Thank goodness those shutters and draperies are gone! I think I need a new picture this spring.

10) What’s your favorite drink?

• just about any Crystal Light
• diet pop (Mt. Dew, Cherry Pepsi, Dr. Pepper)
• water

11) Do you enjoy cooking?

• No I don't. I wish I did, but I just don't think it is fun at all. Right now I only have to worry about cooking for myself, so that makes life easier when I do cook.

12) Do you have children?

• No, not yet. I would like to lose all the weight I need to first, save up more money, enjoy my new body, and then have kids. So probably not for a few more years.

13) What are your favorite hobbies?

• Anything related to music (collecting records, playing the flute, listening to music, going to concerts, etc.)
• Playing video games
• Reading
• Fixing up my house
• Shopping (especially for my house and for clothes)

Paul playing "Paperback Writer" at the concert I saw August 1st, 2011.

Playing Wii Fit- it is a video game and exercise!

My great room. I'm still working on the finishing touches like the photo frame collage. I'm going to bronze the frames to match the clock and put sepia colored pictures in the frames.

Trying on jeans at Target.

14) Would you consider yourself to be shy or outgoing?

• I'm definitely more towards the shy side, but once I get comfortable with people and get to know them more I open up.

Being goofy with my friends. This picture is from junior high. I'm the one right hand side.

15) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?

• I would go back in time to college and stop myself from stress eating so I didn't gain all of this weight and bad habits that are hard to break.

My smallest weight during college.

My senior year of college after gaining some weight.

16) Who is your favorite actor/actress?

• Hugh Laurie- I love his acting on House and he is a musician.

Source of picture.

17) What’s the coolest thing you’ve done this week?

• Usually I wouldn't have a good response for this, but I did something cool this morning. I bought tickets to see Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd) play The Wall live. My aunt and I saw Paul McCartney last year and we're seeing Roger Waters this year. It is our annual fun thing to do together.

18) Do you live near your family or far from them?

• My father-in-law lives about five minutes away.
• My parents live about 50-60 minutes away.
• My sister lives about 50 minutes away.
• Most of my family lives within a 2 hour away radius.

My mom, me, dad, and sister at my wedding.

19) List three of your talents.

• I'm musical (the flute being my main musical talent).
• I'm creative (decorating, fashion, used to draw and write poetry as well).
• I'm intelligent (being on the honor roll and dean's list is totally worth all the work).

Senior year of high school playing flute.

Graduating from college

20) What is your greatest attribute?

• I'm a really good listener. I'm not judgemental, I don't shower people with advice (unless they ask for it), and I don't go around telling every one's secrets.