Blogmas: Days 5, 6, & 7: Wishlists!

It has occured to me that I'm really terrible at this Blogmas business xD

For this three day bundle we are going to look at toys!

I was talking with my sister about what all of the kids want for Christmas this year and it got us on the topic of things that we wanted as kids, and we noticed how similar the wants are, yet how different they are at the same time.

A lot of the things that her kids and my other niece wants are pretty similar as far as trends go, like wanting Disney princess stuff (that was all me - she mutilated Barbies) and My Little Pony. Then there are the differences like the Nerf toys for girls. Where was that when we were kids? Seriously!

Let's take a trip down memory lane....

Blogmas Days 2, 3 & 4: Food!

I'm behind on this. The last few days have been very hectic. A person I held very dear passed away earlier in the week. 

Story time!

My very first job, much like a lot of my classmates from school, was at our local Walmart. At the time there was no hiring freeze, we could get a buttload of overtime since we were understaffed, and they still offered benefits if you worked enough hours. It was a good time.

I worked in the softlines section, which is clothing and shoes. I worked the men's department primarily, though it wasn't uncommon for me to work other areas. Infants was always my favorite! 

There was a teeny tiny lady that was the queen of the fitting room. She was in her 80s and immediately took me under her wing. 

She had known my family for years so I ended up being yet another part of her extended family.

Rosie called herself my Italian Walmart grandmother. She did take on a very grandmotherly role, offering advice when I needed it, helping me try to work my way through my newly found independent life as I worked to help support mom after my dad left us in some crazy debt. 

She was always there to offer prayers, silly stories about my mom when she was young, and a shoulder when I needed to cry. Even so, she was always the reality check I needed when I was acting irrational. In that aspect, she reminded me of Sophia from The Golden Girls.

Even after I moved I would come back to town and visit her. She was always so happy when I would randomly stop by and see her. 

There was nothing on this planet like a Rosie hug. 

She's going to be so dearly missed. 

Read on for the rest of this Blogmas Foodie post.

I'm Sorry, We Don't Do Good Days Here

It's not even noon and this day has already been pretty crappy. 

The only good thin is I did manage to make it on a quick car trip with my mother. That was a nice small victory. It was a less than fifteen minute trip but I'm still considering it a total victory. 

But let's go back to the very beginning, when my groggy butt woke up in so much pain that I could punch something cute and adorable and not feel bad. I really overdid it on the workouts yesterday. 

I managed to get myself to the coffee pot and cleaned it to make this morning's brew of thou-shall-not-kill-juice. The sink was still full of dishes because the boy child had not done them, so I was going to get read to do them. 

No hot water. 

So that means until we get a new hot water heater it's going to be cold showers. 

I thank everything that is holy and sacred that we live in Florida. If this had happened and we lived in a place with a really cold winter we would be screwed. I also appreciate our Home Depot card, which will fund a new hot water heater. 

That is just a little bump in the road. The temperature has been in the 80s so a cool shower won't be so bad. 

Then we get to the car so I can do my daily mini journey to get my anxiety levels in a vehicle back to normal road rage rather than "oh, god, danger, gonna puke everywhere". 

Things seemed ok until we backed out of the driveway and the transmission sounded like it slipped. I reached over to the gearshift and jiggled it a bit (that's what you have to do to my car when it acts like a patoot) and away we went. 

We made it about a mile and a half to the next stop sign after the one at the end of my street, and it started doing it again. FML. 

I made a joke to my mother, at least we have AAA, buuuuuut she cancelled it. 

She figured we were already so far from the house that we should just go through with the journey, which we did. We went through the drive through cooler and got our drinks and started home. 

We did just fine until we hit another stop sign. It sputtered, she slammed the gas, and we almost hit a chick that didn't use her blinker when turning. 

And that is my day thus far.

Hopefully the rest will be much better, and I'll get some sort of good news. I don't care what kind. Something good. 

Blogmas Day 1: Music

After seeing a post on Lotte's Beauty Box with a cute Christmas tag, I'm going to try it myself! It will also give me inspiration to post every day, something I haven't been doing lately. I'm not a very holiday/Christmasey person so I'm not going to do the same thing she did, talking about traditions and things like that. We have tamales. That is our tradition!

Today's blogmas is all about music! There are so many songs that I hold dear that remind me of being a kid around Christmas, freezing my butt off watching VH1 when they still showed music videos while dad would cook. Mom cooked, but dad's cooking was better. On Christmas they would show a full day of Christmas music. It was amazing!

Something Has to Change

I knew that I've been gaining weight. Ever since my ankle surgery I haven't been near as active as I used to be. This thing hurts. It hurts almost all of the time. 

For readers who are new, you can read all about my adventures with a shattered ankle in this post. Somewhere in the deep abyss of my computer I have my x-ray photos. They are pretty gnarly, too. 

Either way, since then I've gotten (gasp) fat. This is the biggest I've ever been in my life. The only time I weigh myself is when I go to the doctor. I do this mainly because I depress very easily and I don't want to spend my life feeling even more like a big old beached whale like I do now. 

Right now, at my biggest, I am 164lbs according to my last trip to the doctor. The lowest I've been is 100lbs. 

It didn't really hit me exactly how big I've gotten because most of my clothes that my sister gave me still fit very nicely. One of my favorite pairs of pants is even getting big on me. 

Then I saw this picture that my sister in law took on Thanksgiving of me eating with my bf and dad. 

I wanted to cry when I saw it. 

I look like a huge beached whale. 

This is even after I've made changes in my life, like no more sodas and very limited carbs. I exercise by cleaning house and and walking my dogs yet I still look massive. 

Maybe it was the angle because this one doesn't look near as bad. Then again I'm hiding my gut with a sweater. (For once, it got chilly on Thanksgiving). 

It makes me so depressed to look at that first picture. I cannot believe I'm so big. 

I have already eliminated most meat from my diet, minus chicken. I'm thinking of kicking most meat and animal products. I have done a vegan diet before, and it might just be time to completely go vegan. I enjoyed it and I didn't feel as constantly full. 

I do minor exercising in addition to my housework and walking the dogs, like toning exercises. 

It is at the point where I am beginning to get desperate. 

One day I will get back to where I want to be.