Big and Small

Why Big is always associated with Tall and Petite is usually considered Small and Small. What about people who are big and short or tall and thin, big and short (like me)?

Today I was blog hopping and came across this blog and was so not on the same page, despite having to alter most of my clothes. This poor woman can’t fit into size 00. She is truly petite but it really made me think about my stature and in most cases I would consider myself petite because I am only 4’11 but don’t because I am full figured. I outweigh her by almost 40 pounds! I can’t say I feel bad for the skinny bitch but I understand.

I always, always have trouble with shirts because I have big breast so anytime I buy a shirt with button I will almost always go bigger. I never buy shirts that have a designated boob space. Recently I was really excited because there was a really cute plaid summer dress at Target on clearance for like $5 and it had a huge bow covering the boob space, so cute. I tried several sizes and my boobs just overflowed but it fit well everywhere else, needless to say but I’ll say it anyway I did not buy the dress.  Pants of course always have to be altered but I also have issues with pants fitting – I don’t know what it is called – but the space between the pelvic floor (that’s the term my yoga instructor uses and the top of the pants. Sometimes I can literally pull the pants inches above my belly button. I also have issues because I have big thighs and a small waist (hopefully, getting smaller) but I will usually have to go up in size in order for pants to fit over my thighs but when I finally get the pants over my thighs, they are way too big on the waist.
Dress I didn't buy.

As I wrote about earlier I did just buy an awesome Hello Kitty Janome and this past weekend I attended a Sewing 101 class at my favorite craft store, Fancy Tiger. In no time I will be altering clothes and making my own and will never complain about bad fit or wear ill fitting clothes again! … maybe a little bit of time…

Affirmation

Within the past two weeks I received compliments from two different people about my weight and how great I look. Usually, I am not one that needs to hear affirmation from other people but I was really flattered and so happy to hear that other people are noticing my weight loss accomplishments, I hate to say weight loss because while I am losing weight I am also, gaining muscle, toning, etc. but I suppose it is the most suiting phrase. Sorry tangent. I have received compliments from people that know I am working out or know that I have lost weight, ie my husband is telling everyone how great I am doing and while this is flattering when his friends say I look great I don’t know if it is because they really think I look great or because they were told I look great. The first person to pay me a compliment was actually this trainer at my gym. When you sign up at my gym you get two free personal training session and I did mine with him (sorta). This was probably about this time 2 years ago. I ran into him in the elevator and he commented on how great I looked and that he could really tell that I had lost weight, he even offered to find my measurements from when I first started. The funny thing about this is that I actually complained about him. During our 2 training session we never worked out, which is the deal. During those sessions he pretty much told me I was overweight and had bad posture (duh) and of course he did all of these test to tell me that, I could have told him that… The other was a lady in my office who has no knowledge that I am even trying to lose weight, so it was really nice to see someone notice who doesn’t know.

You were right

Last night I went to go see Built to Spill, my most favorite band. I have seen them a few times now, most recently as June and I didn’t really think last night’s show was exceptional but it was an awesome event. One thing that was amazing was that when they came out for their encore the plated Car, which is a big fan favorite and I had heard that they don’t really play it live. I think it has a lot of sentimental value, they dedicated it to a drummer that had passed and that two, people always request it, which I am sure can be very annoying. So, I was thrilled when they started playing it and for some reason, before I knew it tears were streaming down my face. I am getting teary now just thinking about it. There are so many memories that I associate with Built to Spill. I was introduced to them by an ex-best friend, and not that I am upset about that particular friendship ending it just makes me think about all of the friends that I have lost over the years for various reason. But he introduced me to them around the time that I was making the transition to Flagstaff to complete my degree. I remember telling people at my summer job (which I had every summer for five years) that it was going to be my last summer there and that I was moving on and would not be spending my summers at home (my mom’s home). At the time people didn’t believe me but I have not returned to Phoenix for any of my summers. Upon my arrival to Flagstaff I met Jerome and we shared a love for Built to Spill and he introduced me to more Built to Spill albums that I had not heard. We even put one of their songs, Car (of course) on our wedding cd. I am writing in stream of conscious mode but I guess I really want to say that I was very emotionally overwhelmed by the moment and it was awesome. The other thing that was amazing is that towards the end of the show Doug Martsch says, “I am dj-ing at such and such club if you’ll want to hang out.” Why YES I do want to. So, the club is literally two blocks from our house, which is awesome. He is playing music, I am dancing and it is great. I was able to let him know how much his music has meant to me and my life, and I gave him a hug!. It was really awesome. His choice of music really surprised me, a lot of ska, which is also awesome because I love ska. I ended up leaving because I had to work this morning but my brother (who is visiting) stayed and said that he started dancing, I am so glad I missed that but se la vi. The night was just great.

I didn’t take any pictures or anything, I should start carrying my camera more often. But I pulled this off of youtube.

This guy sucks!

I did not watch Obama's speech last night but heard about this Rep. yelling, "You lie!" to the president. How unbelievably rude! How do these people make it to Congress? Shame on him.

Smile

Sometimes I find it so hard to just smile. I hate it.

Nursing School Racket

I currently submitted my application to nursing school, and being me I am freaking out about it. So, I started looking into a Plan B. CU Denver, where I applied is the only school in Denver that offers a BS in Nursing, which is what I want/need to get to where I want to go, which is a Masters in Midwifery. There is one school called the Denver Nursing school that claims to offer a BS program. It is an accelerated program, a two-year program, that will cost a total of $41,000 for both years, which is substantially more than CU Denver. This is a sort of private school for nurses... but I look further and under the FAQs I find:

Can I advance my degree after graduating from DSN?

Yes. DSN has an articulation agreement with the University of Phoenix that allows transfer of DSN credits toward the ADN to BSN program. www.phoenix.edu/corp/kacrites

or...

This doesn't even make sense, if they offer a BS, and it is legit why would you need to go to through the University of Phoenix, wouldn't you be able to go anywhere? They are still going through the certification process; which seems weird. What happens to all the current students if they are rejected. It seems like they are taking advantage of students eager to become a nurse. The CU Denver program is very competitive and the community college associates/RN certificate program has an extremely long waiting list - like 2 years last I heard. It seems so sad that a person could pay $41,000 and not have a the possibility to advance their degree, without having to retake all of the courses at a bona fide school. Of course, there are students who graduate from this program and become certified RNs and never look back but this seriously seems like a racket to me.

Like Father like Son

I was thinking today about how much our dogs resemble us. I was thinking about how Chloe is the little one like me, but even though she is little she is scrappy and tough, and she doesn’t take shit, like me. And Vishnu is laid back and unaffected, like Jerome. Though he is generally mellow, he does put his foot down, like Jerome. He is protective of us and Chloe and loyal, just like Jerome. I always want to be in the know and so does Chloe, she comes running anytime anything is going on. Like Chloe I am very food driven. Both Jerome and Vishnu are pretty picky about what they eat.

Some of my favorite pictures of us:

I love this picture of them, Vishnu looks so miserable.

Dog Haven

Over a year ago we bought a 1890 gable-roofed Victorian in desperate need of TLC, a lot of TLC. One of the big goals I had before the summer ended was to put sod in our backyard. You can't imagine the mess two Bernards can bring in the house after a few minutes in a backyard without grass, after a snow. I really wanted grass before winter. So in a couple weekend installments we fertilized; rented a cultivator, spread probably around 30 bags of manure, and the following weekend we laid 55 rolls of sod and this is these are our results and progress.
before



after



In this area we are going to build a small retaining wall with concrete and recycled glass bottle bottoms. It will also have more plants and become a nice sitting area. This is one of the benches we saved from our wedding, J made them. They are 2x12 boards with aspen trees for legs, and stained blue/gray. They are so beautiful.