My Afflation

Sort of. I have been completely off for about a month while we packed and moved. It was the easiest and least stressful item to let go of on my ever-growing to do list. But I'm back. My new place is slowly coming under control, though there is still a lot of organization, downsizing, and freecycling that needs to be done. I'm thinking that by the end of the month we can have close friends over. Wouldn't that be nice? In the meantime I've balanced high calorie pizza slices and meals from Dennys with LOTS of walking. I get between 5000 and 11000 steps per day now. Most from walking to and from the train station, walking the dogs more frequently, and climbing three stories of stairs repeatedly throughout the day. The Hunk and I will be starting P90x soon.  We finally have enough room in the living room. Now I just need to find my scale. The last time I weighed in, I was 188lbs. You have never seen someone so happy to FINALLY be under 190lbs. Some of the things I...

Adventures abound in my life ... also known as a comedy of errors. Take for example the following "adventure" (tortuous experience) . We all know my time management skills aren't the best, but for me I was ahead of schedule. Not so much The Hunk. According to him I was about two days behind schedule. I still thought we could pull it off.

Image by Nannerlady via Flickr Tweet I think my son hates moving. The upheaval of it all. He's been counting. I don't count as it stresses me out and starts a whole lot of negative thinking, which spirals into either an anxiety attack or mild depression. Neither of which I have time to deal with right now. In 53 days (yup, already started counting down) we are moving from the boondocks of Lancaster, back into the L.A. Metro area (HELLO! 30 minute commute instead 2 hours!) I'm already stressing thinking about it. The move that is, not my shorter commute. That excites me! FlyLady.net: Moving Tips : "With our SHE mentality, when we look at the whole picture, we become overwhelmed and paralyzed. This is just how we are made, but I can give you some simple rules to follow. As SHEs, we usually wait till the very last minute to start doing anything. I can hear you now. 'I work better under pressure!' NO YOU DON'T! IT MAKES YOU SICK AND THAT IS THE LAST TH...

Wordless Wednesday: Moving is exhausting Originally uploaded by Nannerlady It's been a busy week already, starting with an extremely busy weekend. My daughter, Joy , has been asking to live with me for quite a while now. What some of you may not know is that I have been seperated for almost 3 years. The way things shook out is that I have had my son, and Joy stayed with her father. That all changed this past weekend. Both kids are living with me and we are trying to reintegrate as a family. Blessedly, the kids have matured enough that the only thing they fight over now is who is messier in the bathroom (the Boy is winning! ewww! but that's another post). She didn't chose to move a lot of things, realizing that she still has two residences, but we got her all settled in with a proper bedroom, her clothes, Buddy (the cocker spaniel), and Noel, her guinea pig . No, I am not running Animal Farm , though some days it feels like it. Today was the first day of school for...

Who needs men to move? Evidently not me when I have my mom and a few good girlfriend s ( would be plural but I had to do it this weekend instead of next). I figured my friends are getting tired of moving me and my crap around, totally understandable. Josh counts it as four times in the last two years, including the move from Oregon. It feels like more.   This past weekend I just needed to move my stuff out of storage in Long Beach to a less expensive storage center in Lancaster (because who knows how long we will actually be in Lancaster). The biggest piece of “furniture” is my TV, a 30” HDTV that is NOT plasma. That sucker weighs like 300lbs. But we figured it out, got it moved, and no one injured anything.  I say that makes the move a success. Now to finish getting my crap out of my mom’s living room before my sis and nieces come back this weekend …

My sister is moving cross-country to Oklahoma this week. This was the last weekend that I get to see her and my nieces. And of course my camera died, because like a dweeb I forgot to charge the battery, but not before I got this shot of Loren coming at me with her mom's practice sword. And yes, her eyes really are that blue. I'm going to miss my sister, a LOT. We were just getting to know each other. It's scary how much we have in common even though I was never around to influence her. I guess that's a good thing considering how my brothers turned out. We both love chocolate, Backstreet Boys (her more than me), coffee, and our daughters get along really well. We're both lousy housekeepers, yet extremely creative. We're both awesome cooks. I was truly hoping that the girls would grow up together. Instead, my hope is that everything my sister is hoping to accomplish through this moves comes true.

For all my wonderful readers, friends, and family ... I sent out a mass email with new contact info. But I BCC'd everyone. So if you didn't get it, let me know.

I miss Oregon, and my friends there so much that I watched Little People, big World just to see some familiar faces and things. How sad is that?

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I just got my CA DL and had to do a double-take. I look just like my grandmother as I remember her, if a few years younger. It's kinda freaky.

safe and sound if sore and tired. Got back in at 5AM. 5 states in 2 days. California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. And the scenery was so awesome I want to do some parts of it again.

The roadtrip is on, catch me on my cell. You should know how. But I'll only be able to respond half the time. Willie Nelson - Forrest Gump [Original Soundtrack] Disc 2 - On the Road Again

View Larger Map So my brother has asked to use my van to move from Vegas to Grand Junction, CO , which may just have a population smaller than that of Salem, OR (I've had my fill of small towns in the middle of nowhere, thank-you-very-much), but according to his MySpace blog, he needs this move. Problem, ... well, let's just say that big sis is a sap and a Good Samaritan at heart ... usually. He asked to use my van carte blanche, but I don't think I want to do that. Hence, the road trip. Ah well, the last one did me good. At least it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Time to get another load of laundry started and then I am walking Zoe to Joy's school and back.

ok, not exactly my backyard, but the trails in our old neighborhood. getting out for a decent walk is not easy, and I truly miss the solitude and peace from walking a few trails. OK, maybe SoCal is not where I need to be ... can I live in the Angeles National Forest ?

View Album Get your own Yeah, I've been meaning to get these up for a while now.

things that make me scream like a little girl. how did this get into the washing machine???

This so totally rocks!!! Especially since I am using Google Maps A LOT since we moved here. I had to use it to find one of the nearest Starbuck's , the nearest library , and directions to various dog parks . As many people as there are in L.A., there is a definite lack of dog parks and dog friendly areas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am actually surprised. Text message your search query to 466453 ('GOOGLE' on most devices) and we'll text message back results. New! Personalized SMS saves you time by saving your location. We'll automatically save your most frequently used location for future queries. You can also text 'set location' followed by a city & state or zip to save a new location. Try it out on our demo! Try our interactive demo to the right and view results on the phone image as you would on your own mobile device. Enter a search term (Hint: Click on the links under "Search Feature" in the table below to find specific information) I'll ...

Welcome to Los Angeles, here are some things you should know. You must first learn to pronounce the city name; it is L.A. The morning rush hour is from 5:00 a.m. to noon. The evening rush hour is from noon to 9:00 p.m. Friday's rush hour starts on Thursday morning. The minimum acceptable speed on most freeways is 85 mph. On the 105 or 110, your speed is expected to match the highway number. Anything less is considered "Wussy." Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. L. A. has its own version of traffic rules. For example, cars/trucks with the loudest muffler go first at a four-way stop; the trucks with the biggest tires go second. However, in Malibu, SUV-driving, cell phone-talking moms ALWAYS have the right of way. If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be rear ended, cussed out, and possibly shot. Never honk at anyone. Ever. Seriously. It's another offense that can get you shot. Road construction is permanent and continuous in all of L. A. and Oran...

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Okies I am in Redding, getting ready to check out of the hotel (wonderful night's sleep BTW) and then I am headed to Lancaster to see my mom and sis and get my cheesecake (I BETTER still have cheesecake) and then to Downey. And depending on the time, I may or may not make it to Vegas tonight to spend some fun time with the kids (a few days) before we all face the reality of work, school, and etc. Call me on the road!!! And yes, I am getting a later start than I had planned. But hey, I needed the sleep. -- Annette Sargent "Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." -Robert A. Heinlein