10 Strikes!

Last night at bowling, I broke another record for myself :) I had 10 strikes in ONE game! 10!!! I had the first 6 strikes in a row, then opened in the 7th frame, leaving a 7 pin (of all things!), 4 more strikes in the 8th, 9th & 2 in the 10th frame & then I left the big 4 split (4/6/7/10) on my last ball in the 10th for a 263 game. Not my highest game (that was a 267), but I was still very happy :) Then I started thinking about maybe shooting a 700 series & well.....let's just say, I shouldn't think when I'm bowling! I finished the night with a 182 & 210 for a 655 series. I'll take that :) And yes, I beat Jim by 51 pins & Joe by 234....yep, you read that right! 234! And you can bet that I rubbed it in ;)

Not much else is new with me.....I go back to my Rheumatologist on April 2nd, so I won't have any answers until then. Just been working, exercising & trying to be a little more careful with what I'm eating. I think I finally conquered my plateau that I've been stuck in what seems like forever! Yesterday marked 11 months since I started my weight loss journey & when I weighed myself in the morning, I lost another .6 of a pound, which may not seem like much to some people, but when you've been stuck for months, any loss is a good loss! I am officially down 63.2 pounds in 11 months :) That also may not seem like much to some, but to me, it's perfect! I told myself in the beginning that this weight didn't come on overnight & it's not going to come off overnight! I have to be patient & take it one day at a time & that's exactly what I've been doing. Slow & steady wins the race.....slow & steady :)

Tomorrow, Jim & I are going to a retirement party for 3 of his co-workers.....luckily, I got someone to cover my shift at work (a new guy that will probably regret covering it for me :) Then on Saturday & Sunday, we'll be hitting the gym to drop the weight we'll probably gain from all the partying! LOL

Have a great weekend!

Benita

1st Day Of Spring :)

No, my Lilacs aren't blooming yet, but I can't wait until they do so I just had to post a picture of them in hopes that it'll speed them up, lol! I am SO ready for Spring.....for flowers to bloom.....for warmer weather.....for sunnier days! What about you? Bring it on, Spring! Bring it on!

I received a phone call from the Rheumatologist on Wednesday that they had a cancellation for that day at 2:00 p.m., so I took it. After they took all my information, they took me back into a room, checked my weight, blood pressure & pulse, then I proceeded to sit there for over an hour until the doctor finally came in to see me. ARGH! I was not a happy camper at all since I had to be at bowling at 4:00 p.m. When she finally came into the room, she asked me all sorts of questions & then examined me. She then looked at the 2 MRI results that I had done back in November & December & she doesn't think I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, but possibly Osteoarthritis. She's running more blood tests.....13 in all, to hopefully pinpoint the exact problem. She also wants to see me back in 2 weeks or sooner if this flares up again. By the time I got out of the office, bowling had already started, but luckily, we were bowling against a very patient team that are also good friends & they let me catch up :)

Speaking of bowling, we had elections this week to vote for the new officers for next year & I got elected to be Treasurer :) The guy that did it this year doesn't want to do it again, so I was nominated & won. It's a big responsibility, handling all of the league payments & dealing with people when they get behind, but I've done it before (years ago on another league), so I know I can handle it.

That's all for now.....gotta do some cleaning & then work this afternoon.

Have a wonderful Spring-filled weekend :)

Benita

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Happy St. Patty's Day! The corned beef & cabbage is cooking away in the crockpot & the windows are open to air out the smell! YUCK! LOL I personally can't stand the smell or taste of it, but once a year, I make it for Jim since he's at least 1/2 Irish. The things we do for our men ;) Luckily, it's a beautiful day out & the temps are supposed to be in the mid to upper 60's so I'm able to open the windows & send the smell towards my neighbors.

We don't have any special plans tonight.....probably just take the mutts for a walk when Jim gets home from work & then he'll eat the corned beef & cabbage & I'll make myself something else :) Then bowling tonight where I'm sure Jim will have some green beer. Me.....I wonder if they make green daquiris? :)

Have a Happy Day! And thank-you for all the encouragement/comments on my previous post.....I truly appreciate it!

Benita

Feeling Like A Failure

Warning: this blog post is going to be somewhat depressing, so don't say that I didn't warn you in advance.

Right now, I feel like a total failure! Remember that job that I interviewed for & was offered? Well, after lots & LOTS of deliberation.....I didn't take it. There are so many reasons behind my decision.

For one, the pay.....$8.00 an hour. If you count my free gym membership, I make more than that an hour working at the gym!

Two.....the hours.....Mondays & Thursdays, I would have had to work 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., so basically 2 days a week, my whole day would have been spent at work. Then Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays, the hours were from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. so after my bowling league is finished this season, they told me that I wouldn't have been able to bowl in the league next year. I love that league & really can't imagine not bowling in it! I also would have had to quit working at the gym, not to mention the fact that I don't know how I would have fit exercising into my schedule. I'm not done losing all the weight yet & I'm not about to give up now, either!

Third.....the drive......25-30 miles one way. I probably could have handled the drive because I do love driving, but I also think it would have gotten old after a while. Not to mention the gas costs, the wear & tear on my car, etc.

Fourth, and probably the main reason......my health! I got the test results back from my doctor & 2 of them came back positive that I do indeed have some sort of inflammatory disease. The question still remains.....what disease is it? Is it RA? Or something else? I have an appointment on the 25th with a Rheumatologist & hopefully, I will get some answers when I see her. Until then, I never know when this is going to flare up on me. It started again last week & my doctor gave me an anti-inflammatory drug which is helping, but I just feel like I can't make any commitments until I can get this, whatever it is, under control. Luckily, my current job has been very understanding! For that, I am extremely thankful!

So while I do feel like a failure right now for not giving this opportunity a chance, I gotta keep telling myself that I did the right thing......the right thing for me.....the right thing for my family.....the right thing for my health! I did!

Benita

Catching Up

Once again, I've been a bad blogger. I didn't realize how long it had been since I blogged last until I went to read some of my favorite blogs today. I hate it when I get so far behind, but I have a feeling that it's going to be the norm for a while unfortunately. I also got a little behind in my 365 Days Of Photos as well.....I'm still taking photos everyday, but I just haven't had the time to upload them everyday & then I've been forgetting what picture is from what day once I do upload them. The picture above is of a basket that my dh picked up for me at Target. I'm still debating what to put in it, but I'm pretty sure it will end up in my scraproom :) I'm just posting a few of my recent pictures here.....you can see the rest of them on the link over there ----->
Here's a photo of a beautiful Cardinal that I captured just as he started taking off.....it's a little blurry, but that's because he was in flight :)
Here is my newest toy.....a Polar F6 Heart Rate Monitor. Now I just wish I would start feeling better so I could get back to the gym to use it! Tuesday night, I started getting a headache in the back of my head.....by Wednesday after bowling, it was a LOT worse, so I called my PT to see if she could see me. Luckily, she had an opening & told me to come on in. At that point, I told her that my shoulder was doing really good, but now my neck was starting to hurt again. Thursday morning, I woke up stiff everywhere plus I started having some chills, so my first thought was.....I have the flu! Great! By this morning, I wasn't feeling any better & to top it all off, my right thumb was swelling up, my left shoulder is now hurting again, I have a sharp pain in my ribs on the right side & my right knee also hurts. So I called my family doctor & he got me in today. He ruled out the flu & ran some blood tests on me. With the pain & symptoms that I described to him, he thinks that I may have Arthritis & possibly even Rheumatoid Arthritis :( He prescribed Flexeril & Mobic, which was supposed to be Celebrex, but my insurance wouldn't cover it because I'm not over 65! Unbelievable! Maybe someone needs to tell insurance companies that arthritis knows no age! From what I've been researching about RA, it can start as early as age 30! Anyway, my doctor is also referring me to a Rheumatologist so I can hopefully get some answers to what exactly is going on with me. I'm not sure how long it will take to get in to see the Rheumatologist, but hopefully not long. I want answers & I want them NOW! I'm supposed to start my new job on Monday & right now, with the way I feel, I'm just not so sure if I'll be able to. I was having second thoughts about the job, mostly because of the long hours & long drive, but then I started getting excited about it. So now all I'm doing is praying.....praying that this isn't anything serious.....praying that I will feel better by Monday.....praying that I get some answers & quick!


Gotta go start moving all of our clocks forward an hour.....so much fun when you have over a dozen clocks in your house!


Have a great night & weekend,
Benita