Dealing with the highs and lows... and just being a girl

I've felt kind of emotional over the last few days. I mean, I knew I was getting my period so that was part of it but it seemed that the tiniest thing would just make me want to cry. But last night it was really bad... I was bawling and blubbering over how fat I was and how could Vince ever want to marry me and I was going to look like a beluga whale walking down the aisle on our wedding day and why oh why don't I have any self control when it comes to food and even though I'm overall eating way healthier than I used to why am I still unable to lose the weight I want? Really I was a pathetic mess. And then this morning I got my period so I think it's pretty safe to blame the sob-fest on hormones/PMS.

However, if Vince (or anyone) had told me yesterday that I had PMS I would have ripped their face off for daring to suggest that I might be a tad emotional and that my fears were blown out of proportion.... even though I would have known they were right. So my question is this... how come we as women acknowledge that we have PMS but no one is allowed to say we have it? Is it like the n-word thing? Like black people are allowed to say it to each other but white people aren't allowed to say it? Or is it more like the "fat" thing... I can say I'm fat but if anyone else says that I'm fat then it's just plain rude. Any thoughts?

The wedding invitations have mostly been sent out. There are just a few that need to be hand-delivered still. RSVP's are starting to come in which is kind of cool as that means I can start building a seating chart for the reception. The decorations are being finalized, my garters (one to keep and one to throw) have arrived, the cake cutting set has been purchased, and I have a wonderful family member (Weeza) who has stepped in to be the emcee because another family member backed out. So now I just need to put the favours together, buy pantyhose, and I have to figure out how to decorate the head table..... oh yeah, and I need to lose 20 lbs and then I can get married LOL. I'm down 1.4 lbs today which puts me exactly 20 lbs above my wedding day goal. Wish me luck :) Link to chart.

If I was the ruler of TV-land (spoilers)

I would change how they handle guest stars. For example, whenever there is a recognizable guest star on Law & Order you can guarantee he/she is going to be the murderer. The police will be investigating a crime and they go to a bar where a witness to the crime just happens to be Fonzie from Happy Days. Well you know right then that Arthur Fonzarelli is not just a witness to the crime as his role would be done in just one or maybe two scenes. The Fonz is going to end up being the killer so his role can cover the whole episode of investigation, arrest, and trial.

I also hate it when they announce the big guest star at the beginning of the show and/or in the description of the episode (in TV Guide or digital cable/satellite guide info)... especially when the star will only show up briefly at the end and they want him/her to have an impact with the audience. Last night on Heroes we learned in the opening credits and from the episode description that Star Trek's Mr Sulu (George Takei) was going to guest star as Hiro's father. No biggie if he had shown up in the first 10 minutes or so and had a storyline for the whole episode. However, the way it played out is that Hiro & Ando are running from some guys who eventually end up catching them and taking them to the "Big Boss" who, it is revealed in the last 5 seconds of the show, is Mr Sulu and he is Hiro's daddy. How much more impact would it have had with the audience if we hadn't seen it coming for the previous 60 minutes?

Remember the 1998 movie "Out Of Sight" with Geoge Clooney and Jennifer Lopez? It was pretty forgettable. However, in the last few minutes there is a scene where Samuel L Jackson plays an inmate. It's completely uncredited and comes totally out of the blue... and I'll never forget it because I didn't see it coming. There was also a scene with Michael Keaton that was uncredited and never promoted. It was awesome and memorable! THAT'S how you use a guest star to have the greatest impact with the audience.

Fifth time's the charm????

Let me tell you a little story about The Brick.

Once upon a time, about 6 months ago, in a land not so far away called Lethbridge, a princess purchased a dining room set for her castle from The Brick. The dining room set came months later than promised, 2 arm chairs were missing, and the base was broken. A replacement base finally arrived at the castle but the arm chairs did not. The prince and princess were not happy.

So after many phone calls and confusion 2 arm chairs were finally delivered to the castle. However they were not up to the princess' high standards as they came without any hardware to put them together so a new set was ordered. They came in but they were put together so poorly that they rocked when you touched them or sat in them. Alas, this was not satisfactory to the royal couple either. So 2 new ones were ordered but when they arrived the prince noticed that the arms were falling off them. So 2 new ones have been ordered for the prince and princess. They are supposed to arrive at the castle tomorrow.

The princess is losing all hope that they will be any good but she is keeping her fingers crossed that they will be good enough to place in the castle's dining room and allow people to sit in them for a royal feast!

The moral of the story is.... The Brick sucks!!!

My my my, how quickly things change

Once upon a time, when Vince & I first got together, we went to Tim Horton's to meet one of his friends for coffee. As it happened, Vince hadn't had supper yet so he also ordered a bowl of chili to eat. He had recently learned that I did not like mushrooms so he made a point of eating any visible mushrooms in his chili ASAP so I wouldn't even have to see any mushrooms. Awwwww, wasn't that sweet of him?

Fast forward about 3 months.... Today we went to Tim Horton's for lunch where I ordered a bowl of hearty vegetable soup (yummy, low calorie, and palatable for my nauseous, flu-suffering stomach) while Vince ordered the creamy field mushroom soup. Not only did he make no effort to hide the mushrooms from me, but he actually offered me some of his creamy (blech!) "fungus soup" while he gleefully giggled over my face turning green. What happened to the galant man of 3 months ago? Is the honeymoon really over already? We haven't even gotten married yet! Sigh!

On to some good news.... I weighed in at WW today for another 2 lb loss (hooray for the flu LOL). I'm exactly one week ahead of schedule for reaching my wedding day goal. No slacking off now though... the wedding is a few months away and I need to stay focused :) Link to wieght loss chart is here.

Well that's better :)

Thanks for all the positive comments on my previous post/rant. My family and friends are the best :) Although I still have all the same tasks to complete and the same budget & timeline constraints I'm not feeling so overwhelmed today. I'm just not going to worry about everything at once... I have a list of things that need to get done and I'll worry about one thing at a time on that list. It makes the planning process a little less daunting for me :)

I'm thrilled to announce that I'm also back on track with the weight loss situation. For the last 3 weeks (Christmas, New Years, then my vacation to Philly) I gained weight each week. It was very frustrating even though I expected it and deserved it since I knew my eating habits were WAY WAY WAY off track. But I tried to get back on track over this last week and I'm so happy to report that I had a loss today of 2.8 lbs! :) Last week I calculated that I would need to lose 1.6 lbs per week until the wedding to reach my goal weight. So this 2.8 lb loss is a great jump start to that which actually puts me slightly ahead of schedule :) Click here for a link to my weight loss chart.

Thanks again to my family and friends that have been so supportive during a tough time. You guys rock! :)

At what point does the fun start??? (rant)

So let me get this straight.... I need to, without any previous experience in this area, plan a legal yet touching ceremony, on a very limited budget, to be witnessed by friends and strangers followed by a party (decorating, food, entertainment) for 160 people who may or may not be coming and, simultaneously, I need to get into the best shape of my life as I'll be wearing an outfit that shows every lump, bump, and roll I've been working since puberty to get rid of, and through all this I need to navigate the ettiquette minefield as there are toes to be stepped on at every turn?!?!?!? Is this really what it's like to be a bride-to-be? ARGH!!!!!!!

I am getting close to the end of my rope with this wedding planning business. I'm not a good delegator as it is but in reality I'm not really in a position to delegate much anyways. My "maid of honor"/witness, Scott, is flying in the day before so I can't give him any duties except to show up on the day. The groom, Vince, is helpful but it's not like he can order my garter or do my "practice hair" or anything. So the majority of things to get done falls either entirely or partly on me.

I can totally understand why couples hire a wedding planner. Save a few of the planning headaches and just let the bride concentrate on being a bride. Like I'm not busy enough working full time and trying to fit in a couple of hobbies (which have basically gone out the window until after the wedding). I also have to find the time to get back to the gym to try and drop the 25 lbs (yup, what was 18 is now 25 after the holidays) to look fabulous in my dress. I'm also trying to grow out my hair (tearing it out doesn't help), will need to start tanning (albino chick in white dress is scary), and need to look into getting my teeth whitened. If I only had that to worry about then I could probably handle it. But this whole "planning" business is enough to drive anyone to drink... nope, can't do that as it'll make me puffy. Sigh!

A funny thing happened....

At lunch time today I let all the dogs out. First the boys.... as I opened their crates I took out their breakfast dishes, let them outside in the dog run, brought them back in and gave them a cookie in their crates.

Then it was the girls' turn.... I was opening crates/pens and taking out empty dishes and Mercedes was in the last pen I came to. I opened it and she ran out but I couldn't find her breakfast dish anywhere. I lifted up the blanket and crate pad that she had in there but the dish wasn't underneath. There was literally no where it could have gone so where the heck was it? I had 3 girls at my feet doing the "pee-pee" dance ;-) so I let them out and then came back to the dog room to try and figure out the mystery.

Then I saw it.... Mercedes had put her food dish inside her water dish! LOL!!!! Both dishes are stainless steel and the same size diameter but the food dish is more shallow so it was able to neatly fit exactly on top of the water dish without disturbing the water beneath it. Mercedes is a funny girl when it comes to her water dish... I have discovered toys in there (tennis balls and kongs have been baptised in there but strangely no stuffed toys have been drowned LOL) but covering the water dish with the food dish was a new one to me. I wonder if Mercedes is trying to tell me something? Perhaps that the water doesn't taste good to her? Or maybe she's playing a game to see if she can insert & remove certain items from the dish? Is this a game she can win? Any ideas?

And now for something a little less interesting....

Christmas 2006 was great. It was our (Vince & I) first Christmas together so we started a few new traditions (getting new keepsake ornaments for the tree) and continued some old ones (mini boxes of cereal on Xmas morning).

We both got some great presents but the funniest has to be the toy motorcycles that look exactly like our real motorcycles from Sarah & Todd. There were instructions on the gifts that said we had to open them at the same time so it was really cool to open them and see at the same time that we got miniature bikes. They are so cute and have a place of honor on the TV stand so we can see them all the time... even when it is too cold to ride our real bikes (like right now).

I have had some of the worst New Years celebrations ever so I haven't done anything for New Years Eve in a few years. But this year Vince & I decided to invite some friends over and do a casual party for anyone that wanted to drop by.... and it was the best new years ever :) As planned, it was very casual.... just some snacks placed out and people came by to chat, watch some DVD's, eat, and just have a good time. Then we had champagne at midnight, watched some more DVD's (although I went to bed before 1am as I was falling asleep in front of the tv), and the celebrations continued. It was exactly what I would have wished New Years to be.... fun but casual.

A few days ago I went to the ASC winter flushing spaniel show in Philadelphia. It was great to see so many nice dogs and meet new people. After the show I went to Connecticut to meet Harley, Mercedes's dad. He's a gorgeous dog and it was great to finally get my hands on him and to see his personality. It was great to get to know the dog beyond the show photos (which is basically all my decision to breed Sienna to him was based on).

The trip home after ASC had a few hiccups due to flight delays caused by the weather. So when I made it to Calgary but missed the flight to Lethbridge Vince said he was going to drive up to Calgary to get me. The reunion with him at the Calgary Airport is a moment I'll never forget. It was so romantic of him to make the long drive in the middle of the night to pick me up (and he brought me flowers too!). Poor Vince ended up getting just 1.5 hours of sleep that night before having to get up and go to work. He scored a lot of points with friends and family by doing that :)

So over the last 3 weeks.... Christmas, New Years, and travelling to ASC... I have put on a bit of "holiday weight". Unfortunately it's a total of 8 lbs so I have some extra work to do to get down to my goal weight for the wedding. I'm able to change my eating to get back on track but I'm battling a cold which makes going to the gym tricky. Luckily I have the option to do some working out from home since we bought a Bowflex and an Elliptical Trainer in the last month or two. I have started a new 2007 weight loss chart which you can check out here.

I hope all of you have a wonderful 2007 :)