To update everyone, I’m now working at Netflix in customer service. I’ve passed the 2 week training period and am now currently in the midst of the 45 day trial run. I think I’m doing good, but who knows. One thing I can say for sure is that I friggen love talking to Netflix customers. 99% of the people that are calling in aren’t pissed off. Yes, there is always that remaining percentage but compared to the rest of the day, it’s a breeze. I do miss working from home though especially since the hours at work right now are tough to deal with. But that’s changing here soon as well.

Other than the new work thing, the family and I have been trying to find places to live in the Beaverton area. Close to my work and to most of our friends/family. So far we haven’t had much luck. Hardly any place has A/C out here. We’ve seen a few places we’ve liked, but haven’t been able to land one that’s a downstairs with a washer/dryer and a 3 bedroom. Everyone seems to have 2 bedrooms though. And we need the 3rd bedroom so Dustin has his own work space since he’s now working from home. But blarg enough about house searching.

For those of you that may have missed it, Amelia turned 1 on July 20th! Here’s the link to the photo gallery of that day: Amelia’s first birthday. She shared her party with her friend Jeffy who was born 4 days before her. They had an awesome time! Jeffy’s Grandma Kathy set the whole thing up and even made the train cakes herself. I can’t express how grateful I am for Kathy taking care of everything. There was much cake and hyperactive babies for all!

Amelia also has had some pretty awesome developments. She has about 10-12 teeth now, the backs ones have all started to come through. She’s beginning to repeat words. Dustin was telling me the other day how she repeated the word bumble bee back to him while he was reading to her, so super excited about that. She’s still running around like crazy and of course is still super cute. At her 1 year old check up we found out she’s still underweight at a measly 17.5lbs. Our new doctor is having us put her on more formula to try and beef her up, but I don’t know. She’s eating, she’s developing, she’s almost talking for goodness sakes, so I don’t know why we have to keep her on the formula still. Our previous doctor was telling us that this is about the time you start to ween your kid off of milk. So ugh, I don’t know who to believe. We’ve increased her milk intake, but I honestly doubt it’ll have any effect with as much as she runs around and burns off calories. We go back in a few weeks though, so we’ll see if she’s packed on any pounds.

Man, it’s 2:24am already. Guess it’s time to shut down the ole compy and head to bed. Hopefully, this time I can get some uninterrupted sleep lol.

Basement Living Room

So there’s been a lot going on lately and I know the blog has suffered the consequence. But I find myself with a little bit of free time so I can fill everyone in with the awesome news. For a while now, Dustin and I have decided to set our sights on the city of Portland. The salary level is better up there and the proximity to family and friends is a big draw. Dustin had been trying to get into a graphic designer position up there, but we kept getting met with the same answer, “you aren’t local so we don’t want to risk it.” It was a huge drag and finally I decided to dust off my customer service resume and apply for some Netflix positions that had popped up all over the internet. Much to my surprise they contacted me the very next day and scheduled a phone interview. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I was asked to come to Hillsboro to interview in person. We put some dates together and were able to make it up to Portland during Memorial Day weekend. I had my interview and personally thought I tanked it. But as soon as we got back to Medford, I received another call stating they were ready to move on to the next step and hire me. It all happened super fast.

From that point on, we put in our two weeks notice and started packing to move to Portland. In a matter of weeks we made the move and we’re now staying with Dustin’s mother until we can find our own place. We didn’t want to rush into a lease without thoroughly checking out the neighborhood and accessing our situation. Now keep in mind, Dustin is still working as well, he was able to remain on with our previous employer as a contractor/vendor so neither one of us will be out of a job. It’s a nice role reversal as I’ll be the one going into work everyday while he stays home with Amelia. Once again we save on child care which is also a huge plus. So yeah WOW! A lot has happened and the month of June isn’t even over yet! To top it off, we still aren’t done with our craziness. You’d think after moving from the bottom of the state to the top, we’d be ready to relax for a bit. Nope, not us. We have a family reunion we’re going to tomorrow in Boise, Idaho. Yeah, go go go!

I’m tired, I have bruises on my arms from turning into an Amazon woman and battling heavy couches and giant boxes of doom, but it’s all worth it. We are here in Portland now and there’s no limit to what we can do. Dustin has time to work on his comics  and is in a perfect city to connect with other aspiring comic artists. Dark Horse is here for Gooses sake! And Stumptown Comics Fest. Plenty of opportunities to get recognized. Not only does he have the perfect launching pad for his work, but this is also the town where we get to start serious planning for our wedding. We’ve moved the date up to around either May or June of 2012, so starting to research nearby wedding sites is definitely on our to do list. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to have a man that’s just as excited to marry me as I am to marry him. Mushy I know, but get over it. =p

I want to take a moment to thank our friends in Medford that came to help us pack up the Uhaul and say goodbye. I miss you guys already. I honestly don’t know how we would have loaded up everything by ourselves and I want to thank you so much for your help and support. You guys have been awesome and I know that I’ll keep in contact with at least a few of ya lol. Ryan and Carly, you guys have been our hanging out buddies since before we started dating. You’ve probably been our closest friends. I miss our crazy nights out at the dance clubs and the relaxing hot tub trips. Our girls nights were awesome and always full of surprisingly easy to make recipes. Our bad movie and pizza nights which later evolved into fantastic dinner and silly movie nights were always a hit. I’m going to miss that quite a bit. Cat, you were always there when I needed to vent and my Gooses are you a barrel of fun! Thank you so much for all your birthday presents and our movie nights. Avatar was still a blast to see with you. I’m sad we never got to have our True Blood Season 2 marathon but when I do watch it, you better be damn sure I’m going to message you about it lol. Julie and Nick, I don’t remember the last time I’ve had soooo much fun at a gamer night than with you guys. 3 am in the morning every single time and I don’t regret an hour of it. I can’t wait to hook up the Xbox live and hear Julie’s frantic screams as we all hunt her down in Zombie Halo. That was just ridiculously fun and even though we won’t be in the same room, I bet it’s still going to be a blast. Maybe more so since we won’t be able to cheat and look at each others screens lol. Bruce and JJ, thank you guys for stopping by and I know we weren’t able to make our schedules line up most of the time, but you guys were still there to share our big news on New Year’s Eve, and even before that back in the day of super late poker nights. It was always fun and never without some great memories to take away. Especially, when Bruce decided to pretend to be super mad at the pizza guy and storm back into the house after chasing him down to get the right change back saying that Dustin had to hold him off. Yeah you had us all going there buddy lol. To those that couldn’t make it here’s a shout out to you guys too, Jake and Kay, Michael, Josh and Angela. Good friends, just the timing was too short to get it to all work out.

Medford was fun while it lasted, but unfortunately was not big enough to house the dreams that Dustin and I both share. We need a bigger family base for Amelia. We need more to do and Portland’s where it’s at. Not too long after we move into our own place, we’ll be looking at all the wedding planning, after that we’ll be looking for a house. Big plans on the horizon and being here is just the start of it. I’m excited, nervous, scared, and exhilarated. I know this time I won’t just be a corporate drone in the customer service world, but someone with a plan to make it up the ladder. I have a few side projects that I need to revisit and having a new bout of creative energy is just want I needed. The intro a few blogs back regarding the Agent Z outbreak is one of them, plus a newer idea of a few short stories. A different spin on fairy tales and how they should be done in today’s world. Cause seriously there aren’t any princess’s around anymore and the ones that claim to be, you sure as fuck don’t want to save.  We’ll see how that turns out.

Well til next time.

So off we went with an unsuspecting baby in the back, unaware of our 2 hour trip intentions. She actually handled it quite well and only got cranky once we arrived in town. But soon we were settled in for the night at the Quality Inn and I even upgraded our room from a Queen size to a King size room with a jacuzzi! By the time we were ready to get Amelia to go to sleep it was at least 2 hours past her normal bedtime so she was cranky! It took us a while to get her to go to sleep especially in a travel crib that wasn’t her own, but she eventually cried herself to sleep. We were fairly exhausted ourselves and instead of staying up and watching TV or reading or even playing on the lappy we passed out. Good thing too as bright and early Amelia was awake at 6:30am.

With our little darling forcing us out of bed early we took the opportunity to head to the free breakfast buffet that came with our room. There were a few people up as well and soon Amelia found herself fascinated by one of the other guests children. Their girl was about 18 months old and I was surprised to see that Amelia had more teeth then she did. There was some cute interaction and an alright breakfast. Not what I was hoping for, but they still had a nice selection of food. What was important to me was that they had tea.

We headed back to the hotel room and attempted to get Amelia to take her morning nap. It didn’t go so well. She was really fussy about being put down in the travel crib. Even after we’d gotten her to sleep she’d immediately wake up when we put her in it. So knowing she needed her nap and we needed to get the day going, we left her to complain in the crib;  we retreated to the bathroom to check out the jacuzzi. It was huge, it had jets, and it was relaxing! But still the munchkin could be heard through the walls, so while we did get some time to relax it wasn’t as serene as we’d have liked. So out we hopped to attend to Miss Grumpy Pants.

In light of her refusal to sleep, we opted to get the day going. It was still kinda chilly out so we put the Munchkin in some warm clothes and headed out. Luckily it was a beautiful day out and with our ingenious brains we decided to go for a long drive along the coast. The combined motion of the car as well as the warmth from the sun proceeded to knock our daughter out for a while.  She got her nap and we got to check out the awesome scenery. Redwoods on one side and the ocean on the other. I couldn’t ask for a better morning.

We headed back and by this time it was around noon, time for some good old local food! We ended up at the Fisherman’s Restaurant and both ordered their clam chowder and fish and chip platter. The fish and chips were pretty tasty, but served in such a large portion I couldn’t finish mine. The clam chowder was alright but just a bit too thick for me. Amelia was awake at this time and enjoyed some crackers with us. After lunch it was time to hit the beach! It took us a bit to find the right kinda of beach. The first part we past looked to be filled with surfers and I wasn’t sure if it would be the best place for a baby. So we traveled down the road a bit and saw a promising part of beach front right next to a giant play structure. We stopped in there first and let Amelia have fun on one of the swings. She loves swings sooo much!

Now it was time for the beach! We headed towards what we thought was a nice looking part of sand only to find out it wasn’t a good place at all. What looked pretty from the road turned out to be a muddy trail of rocks. So somewhat disheartened we decided to go back to the surfer beach. That turned out to be so much better. We let Amelia down onto the sand and suddenly she had miles of flat expanse to roam free in. She was in Heaven. She squealed, she crawled super fast, and she ate sand… lots and lots of sand. I chased her all over the place and loved the little Amelia trail she’d made in the sand. It was so much fun. We’d even brought a bucket and spade for her to play with and ended up trying to build a sand castle. Amelia helped of course by showing us how unstable our creation was and that it wouldn’t hold up to an attack at all. She did this by repeatedly grabbing chunks of sand from the “turrets” eating them, and then eventually just plowing headfirst into the wall and climbing over it. It was awesome.

Eventually we had to go an clean up a baby full of sand as well as our own sand covered selves. We headed to the hotel room and cleaned off, taking this opportunity to relax a little and get the little one to take her afternoon nap. I took this opportunity to go to the main office and grab some more stuff for tea. At the front desk I asked the guy if he had any suggestions for things to do or recomendations for a good place to eat. He recommended the Beachcombers right on the ocean where we could have a nice dinner and watch the sunset. That sounded great to me. So after we all took an afternoon nap we headed down to dinner.

Inside Beachcombers was really nice, the staff was awesome and the food tasted wonderful. We had a coupon from the front desk guy for free appetisers so we decided to try the shark bites, neither of us had had them before. Omgooses they were delicious! I don’t know if it was just what they were fried in or if it was the meat itself, but it was awesome! Plus it was from a Mako shark, you know, those ones from Deep Blue Sea. I have to admit that I felt a little smug about eating something that would eat me if given the chance. Ha! Ate you first! The main course came around and I had clam chowder and Parmesan Halibut. It was fantastic! Their clam chowder was much better than the one I had earlier as well, but I didn’t get to eat as much of it as I’d have liked due to Amelia liking it way more and protesting every time I stopped giving her some. Dustin had some seafood medley pasta but since both of us were still pretty full from lunch we both ended up getting our stuff boxed up to go.

Back at the hotel we put the little one down for the night and tried to watch The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Dustin was so awesome he heard I’d wanted to watch that with him and had purposely pushed it up in our Netflix que so we could watch it. Unfortunatly, I had so much fun during the day I didn’t drink enough water and was taken down by a mega dehydration headache. Being the wonderful man that he is, Dustin ran to the store for me and got me IBprofen, a Yoohoo, and a Mountain Dew. I was drinking a lot of water in the meantime as well, and even with Dustin massaging my neck and shoulders I still couldn’t get rid of it. The night ended sadly with me falling asleep and not finishing the movie. But by morning it was completely gone.

With day 2 ahead of us, we started it off by going to Denny’s. That’s a treat for us since the closest Denny’s is a half hour away back home. I was excited and got a gianormous omelet while Dustin got to make his own American Slam breakfast. Amelia chomped on a variety of foods including mushrooms, eggs, and toast. With breakfast done it was time to head back to the motel and get the munchkin to take her nap. This went far better than the previous day and with the hotel having enough hot water for both of us, one of us took a shower while the other held Amelia during her nap. It seemed better than her getting no sleep again. She only slept for an hour, but it was about all we were going to get at this point. So we packed up the hotel and checked out for the day. We still had places to see though so we packed up the van again and headed to the Redwoods Trees of Mystery.

I love this place. It’s only $14 a person and it’s breathtaking to see these old trees in all their majesty. The first tree we saw was so large it was able to hold other trees on it’s branches. There were literally a family of trees nestled in the branches of this beast. Amazing! This was also Dustin and Amelia’s first time here. I’d been here several times before, but it was nice to go with my family and see the awe on their faces as well. Well ok no so much on Amelia who was getting grumpy with being strapped into a car seat and then a stroller. But it was still a great way to spend the afternoon. After we checked out the trees the tour deposits us into the gift shop which also has a Native American museum attached. We wandered around checking out the gifts and commenting on the absurdity of the “If you break something you’ll pay 50% of the cost” signs posted around the store. That’s what insurance is for. Eventually we ended up by the Redwood Burl plants. Everytime I’ve come here I’ve always wanted one and I decided that I was going to finally buy it. It’s sitting in my kitchen now and I can’t wait for it to sprout! If you do it right, it’ll actually begin growing into a tree! We’ll see how well I’ll do there though.

After the fun times at the forest we decided it was time to head back into town and see if we couldn’t grab some food and then check out any last places. The actual town of Crescent City isn’t that fun to be honest. It’s got some nice scenic spots but overall a boring town. Not very touristy. I still had a wonderful time though and it’s family that counts more than anything. So when we headed back I got some last few pictures of the Battery Point Lighthouse and the fingers of land that extend out over the ocean. There was also an interesting island just off the shore that seriously looked like it would be awesome from some extreme Frisbee Golf. That wrapped up our weekend at Crescent City, so then it was time for the long haul back.

The drive back was fun though seemed much longer then going to the beach. We made a few stops on the way to get food and gas and to give Amelia a break from the van. She did very well and sometimes all she needed was for me to hop back there so she could have some human interaction. The first time I did that she played peek a boo with me with her snuggie for about 10 minutes and then promptly fell asleep. Too cute! When we finally got back into town we had enough time to unload the van and relax for a few minutes before our friends from Portland stopped by. Jack and Mary Hall were coming up from visiting their Mum in California so it was great to see them and catch up. They are the first people from Dustin’s home town to see Amelia full blown walking in person. I can’t wait til Dustin’s Mum, sister, and brother can see it as well as all the rest of our friends up there.

Overall the weekend was a huge success! I felt enormously loved and appreciated. As well as the weekend trip Dustin got me the Breaking Benjamins CD I wanted, the next book in the Sandman series, and the Christopher Moore book Bloodsucking Fiends. My Florida Mum is sending a care package as well and one of Medford friends dropped off a gift basket as well as the numerous happy Mother’s Day wishes on Facebook. Thank you everyone! First Mother’s Day = Epic Win!

First Mother’s Day Weekend

Let’s put this into perspective. I do believe companies should protect their proprietary products, services, trade secrets, and the like. It’s important to keep a lid on that information and not have some idiot post a Facebook status declaring the breakthrough company invention of a bald cure. I get that. But where I draw the line is when an employers policies seem to indicate that you can’t write about a bad work day in your online public blog. Somewhere it’s inferred that you have to pretend like you are at work and not say anything you wouldn’t say if you were on company time. But wait… I’m not on company time therefore the company should have no baring on what I do or not write about.

For instance, if I have a particularly frustrating day where I have had a disagreement with a co-worker and I write about it, though not using names or giving away company secrets or consumer information, should the employer then have a right to fire me over such a discussion? I don’t believe they do. When does a frustrated status update such as “Omg my job sucks right now!” turn into company policing situation? Clearly, there are times where you hate what you’re doing, but more often than not it’s a fleeting and stress filled reaction. As soon as the irritant has passed you’re back to what you love. And with such vague policies in place, what’s to stop an employer from canning you just because of something trivial like this? It’s putting a lid on the way people act and in my opinion is going to create a more disgruntled work force.

Blogging is the new private journal that your sibling steals and reads. Except we of course put our thoughts out into the great wide web in an effort to connect to others with similar ideas. Putting limits on these communications will only increase the stress felt at the workplace. If you now have to worry about your personal domains being scrutinized by your employer even when you aren’t at work, how is that going to effect the way you perform your job? Sure, you have the means to vent to friends and family about the situation, but you shouldn’t have to seek out secondary alternatives just because you are afraid of corporate repercussions.

My time is my own and provided that what I write isn’t illegal or spilling company secrets, no one should have the right to tell me what I can or can not blog about. I have opinions about people, situations, and yes the occasional conflict at work. Being employed shouldn’t mean I have to muzzle those feelings when I am not at work. But if that’s the case then I propose a censorship wage to be applied for employees personal hours to justify the social networking policies put into place. If you want me to act like I’m at work… then pay me like I’m at work as well.

Oh and these opinions are my own and in no way reflect those of the company I work for.

Muzzled by Army Brass.

One example of this is my Fridays. Since I work from home I come in once a week on Friday to participate in our weekly artist meeting. It gives me a chance to get some office time in as well as pawn Amelia off on Dustin for a few hours. Not to mention hang out with my coworkers whom I do miss on occasion. Now with this in mind I make sure that Amelia takes her morning nap and gets at least 3-4 hours sleep. She’s generally up by 11:30am -12pm. We go through the same routine of a diaper change, putting on her clothes for the day while chasing her around her crib to the sound of many delightful giggles and squeals, and finally sitting in the kitchen and eating lunch together. All of these things serve as an important routine building block for her. It’s familiar and she knows what to expect. So while she’s eating her lunch I’m making sure to make extra bottles of milk for the day and am picking out the toys she’s been playing with the most lately. I’ve also got a stash of Ritz crackers and Animal Crackers in the diaper bag now that she has teeth. We complete the bag with a blanket or her snuggie for taking her naps with and she’s pretty much set to go anywhere.

This is the easy part when a schedule has already been put into place and followed. It helps with making her an easy going child. Either that or we are one hell of a set of awesome parents. But that’s not to say that the road to figuring out Amelia’s routine or even setting it up has been easy. For example, trying to get her to sleep in her crib for her daytime naps was a nightmare. For many months we had her take her morning nap out in the living room in her swing chair. She loved it and I dare say it was easy for me to put her in it and set the swing in motion and let her fall asleep. But we had begun to notice a pattern. While this would work perfectly during the week as I would be in the computer room working and there would be no noise in the living room to wake her up, it wasn’t the same on the weekends. Dustin and I like to get our gaming on, so playing video games in the living room while Amelia took her nap seemed like a good idea at the time.  But because the living room was neither quiet nor unoccupied she’d only take an hour nap and would be up the rest of the day. It was frustrating because I knew she needed more than what she was getting, but try as we might we couldn’t get her to go back to sleep. She was just so enamored that her father was home that she didn’t want to miss a thing. We had tried a couple of times to put her in her crib to sleep, but she was so used to the swing chair that she just cried for ever. So being the tougher one, I told Dustin that was I going to try and do it during the week too so that she would get used to sleeping in her crib whenever it was nap time. It took me about a week and a half, but she now sleeps in her crib for her morning naps. Sometimes even for her afternoon naps as well. Was it easy? Heck no! She cried as soon as I would put her down instantly waking up no matter how passed out she was. So I would have to sooth her and try to get her to go back to sleep then sneakily put her back in the crib. Some days I just let her cry. It made me feel bad, but I also had a work load to balance out. Luckily for us she’s a quick learner and gave in to the new nap atmosphere. The benefits we get out of having a few hours to ourselves in the morning, priceless.

It’s the small victories like that, that enable other people to enjoy a happy interactive kid that doesn’t scream all the time.  She hasn’t been perfect all the time, however, and being a parent you can only do so much. Case in point we had gone to a surprise birthday party and yelled out surprise right as our friend came into the room. It was all fun and games until we realized we’d startled the crap out of our daughter as she broke out into tears. But we were prepared! We had her favorite snuggie with us and a bottle and lots of comforting words. Within 5 minutes she was back on track and climbing the couch like the spider monkey she is. It makes me wonder though. You see those children in the grocery store throwing crazy tantrums while their parents just ignore them or try to soothe them by giving in to whatever whim has possessed them. How do you get to that stage? I know Amelia’s still young, but we have already experienced her mini tantrums at home. Whether it’s a sudden melt down because we aren’t picking her up or because she’s fighting sleep, it still doesn’t change the fact that we are the parents. We are responsible for what our daughter interprets as right and wrong, what’s acceptable and what’s not. When she’s screaming about not being picked up, we tell her she’s being silly and then start playing with her toys to get her interested in them. Most of the time it’ll work and she’ll stop crying. Fighting sleep is the easy one, the snuggie is our secret weapon and even though she’s just about outgrown the need to be swaddled we do find that sometimes we have to hold her still to make her go to sleep. In both cases we don’t give in to the tantrums.

I know this is all well and good for now and that as she grows her attitude will change as well. But isn’t that our job as parents to adapt and continually figure out what methods work without compromising your own sanity? 9 month olds aren’t very complex in their needs and I’m sure that when the teenage years roll around it’ll be terrifyingly hard to figure out if she’s tired from school work, stressed out over friends, or a plethora of other factors. But I’d like to think that we’re on the right track as parents. Firm yet still there for her. If we build on that now, shouldn’t that help mold how she’ll develop over the course of her lifetime? I hope so.

So here I am stuck here trying to figure out what’s worthwhile to post. Random news stuff I suppose. This weekend was pretty awesome as we had Dustin’s sister come down and visit with us. She’s fresh out on spring break from college and it was so much fun to have her out here. Amelia and Jessica just seem to have this bond. One pretty amazing example of this was when we were driving around, Dustin and I in front and Jess and Amelia in the back. Suddenly giggles from both the girls start and continue non stop for a while. We asked what was going on back there, and Jess replies that Amelia just started grinning and laughing at her and it was contagious. I don’t think she’s done that with anyone else. And that sort of thing would happen all the time. Amelia absolutely adores her Aunt. While Jess was here we played video games, went to Ashland, had a couple of dinners out, and watch some movies. Overall a fairly relaxing yet packed weekend.

Now that Monday is here though, I’m wondering what this week will bring. Work’s not looking particularly sunny, but that’s just because I update our car sites with all the lovely manufacturer incentives when they come out for the month. Ah yes a long and boring task. I don’t have plans for the weekend and other than a small respite from the Munchkin on Thursday, where our awesome friends Carly and Ryan have agreed to watch Amelia for us so we can watch Alice in Wonderland, not much else is planned.

Ok so now I’m trailing off so I think I’ll close tonight with an awesome video. NSFW but it’ll definitely get your spirits up.

I worked at Time Warner Cable where they graciously had breakfast meals that I could have on Atkins, more specifically a cheese omelet. Then at lunch they had a full on salad bar. So it was easy to have an omelet for breakfast every day and then follow it up with a healthy salad for lunch. When I’d get home I’d load up on broccoli and cheese or whatever quick food I could have on the diet. For example, hot dogs, hamburgers without the buns, and of course my staple Diet Mountain Dew. Then I’d plop myself in front of the computer and be set for hours on end until late am where I’d go to bed. That lifestyle included no one else around me to influence my eating habits and a bad addiction to a video game that ensured small quick meals and lots of substituted calories with the Dew. Not very healthy I know, but I shed a lot of weight.

Now, I have a full blown family. I tried the Atkins diet again, I really did. But as it was only me on the diet I got to watch Dustin eat awesome things that I love, like bread, potatoes, and ice cream. I was a sad panda. And of course I gave in. So Atkins sadly was out the window for me. But we had a back up plan. Counting calories!

Of course that sounds so laborious and taxing. Fortunately, Dustin had his iPod Touch to help us out with a calorie counting app called Lose It. In no time we were calculating what went into our favorite foods and realizing that it wasn’t so much the food that was making us gain weight, but the amount we were eating. What should have been an easy 1 serving size had been upped to at least 3 servings. Especially, when we’d go back for seconds.

So, armed with new knowledge and an application for calories, we started cutting back on the amount we ate. In about a week we’d dropped a few pounds already. It was awesome! All we were doing was just setting a goal and then sticking to it. Exercising would burn calories allowing you to eat more if you desired, but generally I found I was getting used to the new portion sizes. Now sure, we had times where we did still go back for more, but we were aware of the consequences. In addition we’ve been walking more during the day and well I have my Zumba class every Friday. I’m sure that helps.

We’ve also found quick a few tasty low calorie foods to enjoy as well. Skinny Cow Ice Cream has 100 calorie bars. Quakers Rice Cakes are delicious and only 70 calories per serving. Franz bread has special 45 calorie slices which is awesome for bread! Digorno has 200 calorie pizza slices! The list goes on and on. What I’m trying to say is that I’ve started this calorie business on New Year’s Day and I’ve dropped 20 pounds so far. It’s a gradual loss but I know I’ll keep up with it and it’s a healthy way to lose weight. Plus I can still eat ice cream and pizza and anything I desire! I just have to remember to keep it in moderation.

So wish me luck as I continue this. I’ve still got another 30 pounds to lose before I’m back where I need to be. It’s only a matter of time now.

Ingredients:
2 TBSP Corn Starch
4 TBSP Soy Sauce
1 Green Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1/4 Cup of Onion
1 Package Baby Carrots (chopped into sticks)
2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
3 Cups Rice
1 Egg

Add the soy sauce and the corn starch into a mixing bowl and stir until dissolved. Chop up the chicken into small chunks and add to the bowl. Make sure to get the chicken nice and coated with the sauce. Then set the bowl into the fridge and let it marinate for about 20 minutes. While that’s going we can chop up our green and red peppers into thin strips. Do the same to the carrots. The onions can just be chopped into squares. Get your rice going as well. I do mine in a rice cooker, but instant rice in a saucepan works just as well.

Once the chicken has marinated pour the excess sauce out and drop the chicken into a greased (either use Pam or oil) frying pan or wok. Cook the chicken until it’s able to be easily broken apart with a spatula. Now’s the time to add in all our delicious ingredients! Toss in the peppers, onions, and carrots. Stir fry til the vegetables are cooked but still crisp. You want to retain that nice crunch and not let it get too soggy.

Now’s the time for the egg. Make a well in the stir fry and scramble the egg, then mix together. By this time your rice should be done so go ahead and add that into the pan/wok. Mix it all together and add a little extra soy sauce to taste.

Viola! A quick and simple way to make chicken stir fry. It’s one of my favorites and I especially love the colors in addition to the delicious taste.

Enjoy!

We feared in our hearts long before our minds could comprehend. Our genetic ingenuity had created something born of fantasy and nightmarish tales told around a campfire. Never in a million years would we have dreamed our advances in technology would give us…zombies. But it didn’t end there. The Agent Z epidemic spread as such horrific tragedies are wont to do. It left in its wake chaos, destruction, and abnormalities. Some of us were immune to the infection, but not in the way we had hoped. But before we could realize the full extent of our transformation something even more terrifying happened. The zombies became sentient.

At first those of us that were immune tried to mount a defense against the zombie horde. We soon discovered that they moved as one unit, focused on a single goal and threw themselves at it until whatever barricades or traps we set were buried under the sheer weight of numbers. With horror we watched as a detachment of 5,000 zombies threw themselves on top of the strategically placed bombs we had set around our fortress. It was then that we knew we had to run. We had to scatter. These zombies knew things you see, things that we didn’t even realize ourselves. 4 months after they became sentient we heard rumors that the zombies had learned how to poison the water. It was how D.C. fell. Mass panic broke out again. Any bottled water that hadn’t been scavenged before was like gold now. 8 months later the supply ran out. No more Aquafina, Desani, or Rocky Mountain. It was all gone.

Sure we could have found fresh sources of water not yet tainted by the Z’s. But that meant venturing outside and braving the horde. No one wanted that.

We figured the end was here. Zombies at our front door and death from dehydration and hunger at our backs. But we were immune you see and having that immunity did things to our bodies. Sensing imminent death we adapted. Some of us developed a thirst for things other than water. What was around us was more than plentiful. Blood. Still the change was different for many. Men that could turn into half beasts began to stalk the night, they could eat anything human, zombie, animal, it didn’t matter. It was survival. As more of us fled from our own people we became remote and isolated. We figured we could outrun the monsters. But even then the change found us. Rumors on the wind whispered of the old nightmares thought only of fantasy. We had thought zombies were fantasy too. But we were wrong. Now the world lay home to banshees, were-creatures, vampires, witches, and so much more.

And now I am one of them. In all this the zombies were a constant threat. As the few remaining pockets of humans were converted into the zombie legion they began to turn their eyes on us, the Immune. We began to go missing. For what or why no one knows. But with the change running wild in our veins, we are ready. I am ready. Come for me and be warned, my teeth are sharp and my tongue sharper, but nothing and I mean nothing is more dangerous than a genetic structure that refuses to die.