I hate being sick. I’ve had sore throats for the past few days, ear aches, etc. Ear aches during winter, generally speaking, mean that I am getting a cold. I have problems with fluid build up in my ears anyways, so when I get a cold it gets worse.

Around our house here, we seem to get a lot of colds, flu, and other “I don’t feel well” issues going on. This is probably due in large part to the fact that we’re in close quarters with each other. It could also be due to the fact that when we’re sick, although we change our pillowcases, sheets, etc when we get better, it seems that we still end up getting another round of whatever it was that we had last…cold, flu, whatever.

Then I found out that even after pillowcase changes that germs and fungus can still be living in your pillow. Both mattresses and pillows can end up with their weights doubled just due to dust mites & dust mite feces…. which to me is just nasty. BLEH. But, there are some things you can do – make sure you’re changing your sheets and pillowcases every week at a minimum, and using protective covers on your pillows and mattresses. You can see more information in this video:

Gross huh? I think this is something we need to do around here. It’s something I think we would all benefit from – because I know that a lot of our problem has got to be caused by our pillows and mattresses. We have allergies around here and I think we’d all benefit from allergen pillows and mattress covers for our beds to prevent the problems with our allergies and other illnesses from becoming even bigger issues.

Over the past several months, you’ve all probably noticed that I’ve been talking a lot about various methods of weight loss. Obviously I have not fully made up my mind yet as to what path I want to take, other than avoiding if at all possible weight loss supplements simply because I hate to take pills. LOL

I am trying to see if I can get us on a healthier eating regimen around here but it sure isn’t easy when every time someone makes the monthly menu, it includes all sorts of casseroles and the like. I know that in some cases I could probably “skinny them down” as a friend of mine would say – choosing fat-free or low-fat soups for the soups, getting low-fat or fat-free cheese for casseroles that include cheese, either using baked chips or no chips at all on casseroles that call for potato chip crumbs, etc. And I am looking to see about possibly finding ways to “skinny-down” some of the casseroles we eat more often like the Five Can Casserole (fat-free cream of mushroom soup and fat-free evaporated milk would help a lot) as well as some of the other stuff we eat a lot of. I’m sure fat-free or lower fat cheeses would work just as well for things like the bubble pizza and that.

The biggest hurdle is getting my best friend and her mom to agree to the changes. I don’t think they’d have too much of a problem with it, and to be honest, I’ve seen some of the recipes “skinnied down” and people say that you can’t tell the difference. I think it is time to take stock of what we’re using for ingredients and see what can be done to save some fat/calories and see if we can’t start losing some weight here.

All three of us here need to lose weight. BFL & I are about the same size. We are huge. We both need to get up and get moving – start eating better. We also need to start remembering that leftovers can be a good thing and start planning less meals for the month and more “leftovers” nights. That would also help tremendously with the grocery budget here as well as get us to be a bit skinnier. Also we need to start getting up and eating regularly. Have our meals at the same time (roughly at least) each day and try to make them smaller – one helping instead of two.

We also have to start getting up and walking. Our biggest deterrent is the fact that where we live is a bunch of hills, some steep, some deceptive in that they don’t look steep but they really are. However, our local shopping mall offers the option to walk in the mall before the stores open, plus we have trails all around here that we could walk on, so once the weather is warmer, there really isn’t any excuse not to at least get out there and walk.

I know I’m forgetting things here, but I am going to jot them down as I think of them. Yes, this blog might just start being about losing weight more than anything! LOL

Writing is something I have always loved to do. Ever since I was a little kid, I would write stories, poems, etc. My teachers loved my stories, and I was even chosen in elemetary school to do a “day in the life” article for the middle school behind our elementary school’s school newspaper. Those were the good old days – but when I moved to Iowa, it seemed that the teachers here didn’t focus too much on writing. Perhaps that’s why there aren’t many professional bloggers here and why there aren’t many journalism students at the colleges here. Could also be why you don’t ever see authors with published books from Sioux City, IA. LOL

But I love to write (as evidenced by the umpteen novels I have on my computer that are in progress) and it doesn’t matter if it’s on a blog (although I don’t write as MUCH on my blogs as I do on a story – fiction is so much better than real life most of the time), a story, an article, whatever. So yes, a lot of my writing might be about things like a natural fat burner… but that’s just the writing that you see. I have a lot of writing – fan fiction no less – that you don’t see. I write novels (not fan fiction), fan fiction, I write whatever. I am seriously considering putting these novels up on a site of their own. I don’t think they’re good enough for true publication – but if enough feed back were offered – perhaps I might do a Lulu type of publishing.

So that is one of my projects for this weekend – creating a nice website to use as my official author site. Wish me luck! LOL

Ok, I’ve learned a LOT in the past few months about the gastric bypass surgery that has made me a lot less afraid to get it done, and a lot more wanting to get it done. You see, the only experience I’d had with gastric bypass patients was not exactly favorable. From a gal who over a year later still could not eat anything other than one or two bites, yes BITES, of ramen noodles without throwing up to my former boss who had the surgery and even with all the diet and exercise changes only lost about 30 lbs after the surgery was done, I decided I didn’t want to do it.

Granted, I know from certain people online that the liquid multivitamin supplements are nasty (it’s a type of medicine, so I don’t expect it to taste good lol) and that it really isn’t just one or two bites and you’re finished – you can eat a bit more than that. A friend of mine offline just had the surgery and is pleased with her weight loss – although she does one thing I’ve been told by everyone else that you can’t do….she drinks while she’s eating and she has no problems with it. Maybe it’s just different for each person?? Or maybe her doctor told her it was all right?? Who knows?? LOL

In any case, I am thinking that this might be the way I’ll go once I actually get a job and have insurance. Of course, that requires me to get a different doctor because my current doctor seems to think that at 34 years old and 345 lbs with a top weight of 366 lbs that it’s perfectly all right for me to stay this big for the next who knows how long while I struggle to lose weight normally. UGH But I do plan on finding a different doctor, one a little more helpful and a little more supportive than saying “just lose one or two pounds a week and you’ll be fine.” So hopefully I can see what my options are going to be at that point.

I do a bit of research online for various things for a couple of my friends. I do this for them because at the moment, internet service is way out of their budgets, and frankly, it is a pain to go to the library for anything related to the internet. So if these friends need something looked up on Google or whatever, I’ll do it for them.

Then I have another friend – we’ll call her “D.” D thinks that just because I search the internet for A and C, that I should do so for her as well. She gives me lists of stuff from acne treatment for her 12 year old to what is popular to give her 8 or 9 year old son as a birthday or Christmas present and requests that I find the info she is looking for and give it to her. The problem I have with this is that this woman spends time on the internet every night – going from forum to forum and playing games on MySpace and Facebook, while chatting with friends from all over the world. So it isn’t like she couldn’t look this stuff up herself.

But no, I have to do it for her because she doesn’t want to detract from her “fun time.” Unfortunately for her, I’ve made the decision that I won’t be doing her internet searches for her anymore. She wants the info so badly, she can get it herself!