Phew!

I'm finally out on my own . . . well, sort of! Long story short, Jay had to come back to live with me and I am still not sure how I feel about that other than to write I hope it is not for long!

Anyway, really, really, really long story . . . my mom moved in with my oldest sister, Lilly, and I moved into my mother's apartment and took over it and most of her possessions. I know how I feel about that but this is a public forum and if you really want to know the scoop, you'll have to call me! :)

What's the first thing I bought? (Well, not really the first, cause I had to save up for it and I've been in this apartment since November, but it's the first pricey item!) You know it! I'm here aren't I? The sad thing is that there's no DSL in this area so guess how I'm downloading? Come on . . . guess . . . DIAL UP! UGH! :( What can I do? I'm checking into other alternatives, including MOVING again! We shall have to wait and see.

So anyway, it's been so long since I've been on here and I have soooooo much to tell you, but I just told you . . . I'm on DIAL UP! . . . so I'll give you the abbreviated version of what's happened in the past few months.

Moved into my own place (my mom's old apartment, hey, it's my place to me! :) ) Kind of rough in the beginning because my mom's 88 years old and this apartment is a 2 bedroom that she's lived in since about 1993 . . . get the picture? Lots of stuff packed into this place. So it was kind of topsy turvy, but not anything like what I showed you in my MasterCard story so it was all kind of good. :) Yeah, things are great, my mom has given me so many things that I could never afford to buy for myself and I am sooooooooo grateful to her for doing this. I have bought a few things, of course, RED APPLIANCES! I'm loving it! I had to so that they could match my red can opener! No, not THAT red can opener! :) I bought a red toaster, blender, coffee maker, crock pot and mini crock pot! :) Oh, and some of those Paula Deen red cookware. I did not get the whole set, just two frying pans, but it's a little at a time for now. And you know what freaks me out about the pans? They can go in the oven up to 350 degrees and they have "rubberized, dual-riveted handles for a comfortable and secure grip." I'm not trying it! Anyway, I'll eventually get the whole set. That's my goal for now! :) I have the computer as well and as slow as it is, I'm just so happy to have it! :) This next week, I'm also getting a 32" plasma! I'm really hyped about that since I've been watching satellite TV on a 17" monitor! :( Well, it's either the TV or a sofa. Something to sit on or something to watch? What a dilemma! Yeah, it's the TV for now! :)

Nina's moved to Lubbock. She's employed and living on her own and all I can say about that is HALLELUJAH! And that's VERY good. We are getting along so much better now as well and I am very happy about that! :D She's working as a server and she really, really likes her job. I keep telling myself that's the important thing! She's only been working there since early November and she was promoted to server trainer a couple of weeks ago. She's now training to be a bartender and she's really excited about that because she's seen what some of the other bartenders are taking home in tips. There's a co-worker that is a single mom, owns her home and drives a "nice" car (Nina's words) and Nina tells me that if she can do it, then so can she. Did you follow that? I just made her promise me she wouldn't try the single mom part though. :) It's not the job that a mom can brag about but like I wrote before, she's happy working there and really likes her job. I have dinner there Friday evenings (with Jay when he is not working) and if you saw her working, you'd see how happy she is. She found a boyfriend back in November as well and I have to tell you that she seems to be losing interest in him and I definitely know how I feel about that and that's all I'm gonna say about it! :D

Jay is still working at the hospital and recently had his 3-month review. He is getting his benefits as well and get this . . . his benefits are much better than mine! :( But it's all good anyway! :) He says he loves his job and co-workers.

Car I bought has turned out to be a novel and a half, but hey, for the most part, it gets me to work. Fortunately, Lubbock does not get a lot of snow so not having a heater is not so bad, unless it's freezing and wet! :) Thankfully, we've only had 2 days like that!

Oh, and before I forget! I decided late last year that I needed to make some life changes cause I was just getting so heavy that I was not comfortable. I cut out eating bread and drinking sodas. I am drinking more water and on occassion, I have had a soda, but when I have it's a diet Dr. Pepper (and I refuse to drink any other diet drink!) and since Christmas, I think I've had maybe five. Cutting out the bread was not so hard because hey I'm a Mexican and I could have tortillas! :) But I was inspired by my sister, Eva (she told my mom this is what she was doing, so it was her idea), and replaced those with corn tortillas. Kind of hard in the beginning cause I'm not a big fan of corn tortillas, but now I just LOVE them! I've become a GROWN-UP and started drinking my coffee without SUGAR! I do still add cream though cause otherwise . . . UGH! I changed the milk from low fat to 1%. I didn't really think it was anything drastic, but folks started asking if I was losing weight. Then, one Wednesday a couple of weeks ago, I put on a jacket that I bought back last fall. I think I may have mentioned it, but not sure. Eva had given me a gift certificate to Beall's for my birthday cause there was a jacket and skirt I JUST HAD TO HAVE! When I bought them, the jacket did not close and I almost did not buy it cause of that, but Eva said that I should and I could just wear a blouse under it. So I half-heartedly bought it, but I don't like it when jackets don't close! :) Well, when I put that jacket on a couple of weeks ago, it closed! Completely freaked me out! I just HAD to go weigh myself I was so freaked out about it. I'd lost 25 pounds! Mind you, I've not been putting much effort into it and I really did not think that changing the way I was eating was THAT life altering! 8( Can you imagine what I could do if I added exercise to this? Something to think about! :) Oh, and BTW, my sister Lilly says I am losing the weight like that cartoon woman for the commercial I think it's called Slimquick or something like that. In the commercial, the cartoon woman says she and her husband go on a diet and she says "this is what happened to him" and he shrinks in size all over and then she says "this is what happened to me" and she only shrunk on the top! Yeah! I had to go to Lane Bryant and get measured and buy something that would help me pick myself up! It is NOT a pretty picture! :(

So anyway, that's just a quick recap of what's been going on. I hope I'll be able to play with paper soon and show you what I come up with. I know, I know, short quick story, but hey, you don't know that I've been on here for almost TWO HOURS! Did I mention I have DIAL UP? :(

:) Hope you come back later to see what else I can accomplish in 2009! :)