Things are looking up :-)

I've been waiting for "Eclipse" to come out for a few months now. I'm so happy it finally did!! I spent all of last night reading (well...trying to read while chatting on various IM's at the same time, hehe). I was up until about 1, and *really* considered staying home today to read. I haven't taken a day off just to have a relaxing day off in such a long time. I tried when the HP movie came out (after going to the midnight showing)...but that day proved to be anything BUT relaxing, heh. I then remembered some work that I had to do for one of my accounts today. SO...I came in. It's actually turning out to be not so bad, as I'm not overly sleepy, and I'm feeling pretty good about being here. Now I just have to make it through the day!

After work, I'm going to volunteer for the corporate games here in Salt Lake. I have to go up to Fat Cats to help get people registered for the pool tournament. Yay. The bad part? Fat Cats is connected to The Pizza Factory. One of my favorite restaurants ever. It's probably a good thing that I don't have any money right now, as I would probably have to break down and buy a pizza to take home...and that would make me SICK. Days like this make me sad about the surgery, but then again, how can I be sad when I'm down almost 60 lbs in 2 1/2 months?? :-) (I guess I would be happier if it were more noticeable...but we'll get there, hehe).

OH!! I also have good news after my post about possibly having to move! Yesterday, my best friend from Pittsburgh got offered a job in Salt Lake. Now, she has known about a position with this company for a couple of months now, and they've been kinda dragging their feet on some things, but she's finally starting on August 20th. The result? Is that Lys will need a place to stay until she moves. They're not paying for her to move, so it'll take some time to save up some money. This means that I'll have someone to help with bills, etc. for a bit while I'm working things out :-) This could save me from having to move (although I still need to do the math on it all, heh). So...happiness all around!

Not so great news...

When I started this blog, I was determined to post both the good and the bad. With my surgery, it was easy to post the bad, because it was just little things like "Oh, I'm really sick" and "Man, part of me wishes I hadn't done this." I've had a few bad things happen over the last few weeks, and I haven't posted. I've been trying to focus on the good. Now that something life-altering has happened, I have been avoiding actually posting about it. I guess I should just get to it.

On Monday, my supervisor pulled me into a room to talk before I went home. It turns out, that they have been overpaying me for the last year and a half. A year and a half ago, I worked the grave shift. I then got my promotion, and they never stopped paying me my 15% differential. I know, I know, I should have realized this somehow. I have direct deposit, so I never see my pay stubs (I can look them up online...but I never really do except to see how much paid time off I've accrued). So, what makes this a life altering thing? I'm losing $500/month that I'm used to getting paid. That's more than half of my mortgage. That's a LOT to lose each month. On top of that, I'm required to pay back over $7,500. Wow. How does that work again?!? Luckily, they're trying to make it as easy as possible. They know that the $500/month is already a lot to lose, so they don't want to deduct it from regular paychecks if they don't have to. So the plan which I agreed to is to let them have my bonuses for the rest of the year (we get them every quarter), and to let them take my pay raise that I will be getting in March. My problem is...even then...it'll take *forever* to pay off, as I know that they don't plan on giving me that much of a raise :-P.

So...what does this all mean? Well according to my calculations (and thanks to credit card debt which I've been diligently paying off since having to use the cards back when I've had operations and no money coming in from work)...I can't afford to keep my condo. What's worse, is that I can't really afford to pay rent anywhere, either. So...it looks like I might be moving back with my parents. I'm not positive that it's come to that yet...but in looking at the numbers (and a few things I have coming up) that's how it appears. I keep talking about how it's just my income that pays for my place...but then I see all of my friends and family who have stay at home moms, and I know that they are living on a single income, also. How do they all do it?? I really don't understand. I see people living in places which I *know* are more expensive than mine. I see people with car payments on top of other expenses (my car is luckily paid off)...and I just don't understand how they live. It's not like I'm working a $11 or $12/hr job, either. I'm making, what I thought, was a decent amount of money (not great of course...but decent). It just doesn't add up at all.

ANYWAY...it's past my bedtime. I just thought that I should get this information out there because a lot of my upcoming decisions are going to be based on all of this. I'd also rather have it out there when/if people start hearing about me moving back home for a while.

I'm really just done with everything at this point. I don't know that I can handle much more.

Pictures posted...

Not much time to post tonight (we'll ignore that I've had all day, hehe) but I did get the pictures from yesterday posted.

Go see!!

Dominic's 1st birthday!

Today has been SUCH a long day. I have a lot that I wanted to write about...but it's 3:45 am and I'm exhausted. Even with my exhaustion...I'm hesitating going to sleep. The reasons are stupid. I stay up really late on weekends because the sooner I go to bed at night, the sooner I wake up to a new day. For weekends...that's one day closer to going back to work. Blah.

Dominic's party this morning was fun :-) He's SUCH a cute boy!! I'll post more pictures and talk about it a little more tomorrow, if I get the chance.

Long Long entry...lol

Wow, I feel so behind on so much. There's been a LOT going on with me, and I'm not sure where to start.

I went to the dr. last week, and I'm officially down 45 lbs. YAY!!! I would feel MUCH better about it if the difference could really be seen...but I'm still ok with that :-) 45 lbs in 2 months is great, and I know it is!! I just hope that I can lose another 35ish by the time Disney World pops up (September 5).

I'm SO excited for Disney World!! I've never been :-) It's going to be a large group, and I'll have to rent one of those scooter things to keep up...but it'll be fun. We'll be having character meals almost every day (which with as excited as I am...you would think I was 5). We're also planning on attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party :-). The other adults aren't dressing up...but I'm considering going as Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. How fun would that be?!? The more I think about it, the more fun I think it would be for me to dress up, even if I can't afford a $75 costume...lol. I'm just hoping that I'll be to a point where I'm comfortable enough having my picture taken again...that I can finally have pictures of me again without the tears. We'll see how that goes.

After that...I have my trip to Germany to look forward to! I've been so excited talking to Tammie about where we can go and what we can do while I'm there. I really can't wait! I was telling her that I wish that I could extend my time and stay over Christmas. My mom is coming with me, though, and she won't be able to stay extra, and I would like to be there with her while she travels home. I really can't wait to see what all we can fit in, though!

Right now? I have enough other stuff going on. There's this whole long story about the pipe to my water heater leaking, and there being all this damage inside the walls downstairs. There's a LOT more to this story...but as of now...the HOA is saying that I'm liable, and that I have to pay to get it all fixed. I contacted my insurance company, and they're fighting it. SO...there's a lot going on.

Tonight, I went with 2 of my sisters to see No Reservations. It was SO cute!!! Very much a girlie movie...and all kinds of pukey...BUT...I loved it :-) I also finished Harry Potter at 3:30 this morning (which caused me to get to work an hour and a half late, heh). I have so many thoughts and feelings about the book...but I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't finished yet :-)

On another note...Paul Potts (the guy who won Britain's Got Talent) already has a cd coming out next Tuesday!! I'm really excited for it. I was reminded of this when the song that he auditioned with (Nessun Dorma) was in the movie I saw tonight. I LOVE it.

Ok, that's more than enough for one update, heh. It's past my bedtime!

So I keep trying to be upbeat and positive about my lack of weight loss...and today it just didn't happen.

My friend at work had her surgery 2 weeks after me. Today she let me know that she passed her 50 lb mark. I'm SO SO SO excited for her!!! That's wonderful!!! It did, however, make me more depressed. I know I shouldn't let it get to me. Her success has NOTHING to do with my lack of success. Still...I fought the tears all day. Seems silly.

On a much happier note, though, I did get 3 scrapbook pages done over the weekend :-) Considering the fact that before this weekend I only had ONE done at all? I think that's great!!

You can see them here.

I was gonna post more stuff, but I just got a call from a friend at the airport. His ride didn't show up. SO I'm apparently headed out there. We'll see if I get back to this when I get back.

11:30 and restless...

I hate when I get all productive on Sunday nights. This isn't an uncommon thing. I have a whole list of things that I want to get done...and they go through my head over and over again. I get completely ADD, and just want to get stuff done around here. I start picturing my condo being completely put together (after 2 years) and I can suddenly see what I need to do to make it happen. This almost never happens on a Friday or Saturday night...when I can sleep in the next morning. The most common night is Sunday night. Because...that makes the most sense :-P. For example, I was just (at 11:00 at night) measuring rooms and windows. Rooms to see if I can rearrange them the way that I want to, and the windows because I want to buy new blinds. All kinds of craziness.

With that, I'm going to try to go to bed without taking the time to move a few things from my bedroom to my extra room like I really want to. If I don't get back, I hope you all have a great week!!