What a wonderful Valentine's day

Ricky and I have never celebrated Valentine's day. When we were dating, we celebrated our "date-iversary," (April 1), and of course now we celebrate our anniversary, but we've never done anything exciting for Valentine's day. Part of that is due to the fact that we both see it as a bit of a Hallmark holiday, but also because for the first 8 out of nine years I've had practice or a game on Valentine's day. Hard to make plans when I know I'm going to be beat!

This year was no different, but it was a wonderful day none the less. After I got home from practice, we had dinner and then Ricky gave the dog a bath (ok, that part wasn't so fun). Then we went over to Ricky's parents' house to see our boys, Jeremy and Joseph.

It's amazing how big our nephews are getting. Joseph will be 1 in March and Jeremy is nearly 18 months. We played and cuddled with them and chatted with my sisters-in-law. It was a wonderful 2 hours spent with family.

Now we're home, eating popcorn and drinking Diet 7*Up. It's a relaxing evening, which is all I really wanted.

Social Anxiety Sucks

I have social anxiety. I think I always have, but it seems to get worse as I get older. The worst possible situation for me is a group of people where there are lots of friends and I'm the one left out. Horrible. I get such anxiety that I often end up backing out of things at the last minute because I'm panicking over it. Sometimes it makes no sense - like the theatre banquet I was supposed to attend - and sometimes it really is a scary situation, like the rally at the state Capitol on Monday the 16th.

I am learning though. I know I'm going to freak on Monday if no one I know is going, so I reached out to our rep and asked her if she could provide me with a list of coworkers riding the same bus as me. A familiar face, someone to sit with, will make it so much easier for me.

I love my job, and I hate the idea of losing it, but I think I hate the idea of a new job even more. It means learning new people, new rules, new administrators, new unwritten norms. I am scared to death at the prospect of having to go someplace new next year and start over, when I'm just now getting comfortable where I am. That's why it is so important that I force myself to go to the rally on Monday, to help get some legislation passed to keep our education budget where it needs to be.

Delayed Reaction

I've been working on losing weight for a while now. Well, off and on for years, but this go 'round it's been about 4 weeks. And in those 4 weeks, I've lost 12.8 pounds - yay! But even though I was losing - and not a small amount, either - I didn't feel like I could see a change. Until now.

I don't wear my wedding ring as much as I used to because, as it turns out, I am allergic to it (thanks Dad). Once upon a time I didn't even take it off to shower or sleep, but since developing this wonderful allergy I can't wear it too much or I get a wonderful red, itchy, flaky, blistery rash on my finger. But lately, the allergy isn't what has stopped me from wearing my ring - the fat has. Meaning, I couldn't wear it comfortably because my fingers had gotten too fat.

Yesterday I decided to give it a go and whaddayaknow! It fits comfortably again.

I'm also starting to notice a difference in the way my pants and shirts fit. I feel "skinny" today for the first time in ages. Finally, my perception and what the scale is telling me is starting to match up.

It's been far too long

I'm not sure if I haven't posted because I've been busy or because I haven't had anything interesting to say. Here are the highlights of the past couple of weeks:

1. Softball has begun, thus I'm crazy-busy
2. I have lost 10.2 pounds since Jan 11. Go me!
3. I have been ungodly ill. Awful. Tried to go to work this morning and had to pull over on the way there. Got sick in the parking lot at Albertsons. Hoping that I can make it through the day on Wed.
4. yeah, that's about it. Told you I wasn't very interesting!