The Christmas Quiz

Read anothercleanslate's blog this morning and thought I'd take a crack at these questions.

1. What do you love the most about Christmas time?

I'll be completely honest here. It used to be all about the gifts with me. When I was in my teens, spending time with extended family seemed like a chore. All I cared about was what I'd gotten, and taking it all for granted. However though, within the last couple of years something clicked, and the presents weren't even important. (Although I really get excited to see people's faces with what I bought them). And although the food is delicious, I enjoy my time with extended family much more.

2. Do you celebrate the holiday in style or is Bah-Humbug for you?

I wouldn't really describe it as "bah-humbug". I just don't find it important to decorate my place, especially if no one is going to see it. I'd rather spend money on gifts, or things that I actually need, than to buy trinkets and weird things to decorate my place with (and then find a place to store it!). I'm just practical. I enjoy holiday lights, I don't mind other people who are in the spirit more than I am, it's just not my thing.

3. Are you leaving anything out for Santa Claus this year so he remembers to leave your presents?

I stopped doing that when I was 10 :P I honestly don't think I was ever told per se, that Santa didn't really exist. I just knew what my parent's handwriting looked like and they didn't even bother to change it up when writing on Santa's gifts to me. They actually tried to perpetuate the myth longer than I believed in it, which was... interesting. lol

4. What is the one gift you are most looking forward to GIVING? {It can be to your kids, another family member, etc – remember to be discreet if they read your blog}

Well, it was going to be the Keurig machine for my mom, but DAD had to ruin that. (Note my bitterness). But no, I got mom something else that I think she will hopefully like just as much!

5. What is your all-time favorite Christmas movie?

Santa Claus: The Movie. Note that I did NOT say "The Santa Clause [Movie]" (which I also really love and need to watch again!) which everyone thinks of when I say that. No, this is a rare gem I found a few years back that didn't do well review-wise (everyone says John Lithgow was the only thing holding that movie together. But I really liked Dudley Moore), but I really enjoy the story of not only the origin of Santa, but his need to change as society leaps into the 21st century. 

6. What is your all-time favorite Christmas song?

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24. Need I say more?

7. If given the opportunity, would you participate in an “Ugly Sweater” party and what sweater would you wear? Peruse one on the Internet or even if your own closet and show us!

Erm... No.

8. Have you started any Christmas traditions this year that you plan on carrying forward?

Well, none this year. Maybe next year. But what, I wonder? o_O

9. It’s Christmas morning… what does it look like outside where you live?

Pfffft. The same as it does in, lets see, October and November. Thank you, Washington weather.

We should have just decorated that tree instead.

10. You just found yourself standing under the mistletoe… who comes up to give you a kiss first?

Alton Brown!! Lol kidding. I think if he was at any party of mine I'd probably faint long before I got to the mistletoe. Mom would want Russell Wilson (of Seahawks fame). If I could give her that for Christmas I think I'd be set for life. 

Recipe Change Ups

If any of you have been following along in my blog, I just got done with another round of the hCG diet. All in all, I lost 23 pounds in 42 days. There were a couple of hiccups along the way with no weight loss for some unknown reason, but I pushed through it. Now I'm on the "Atkins" 3-week stabilization period, where I've failed at least twice before and regained a bunch of weight back. Once you get out of shape during these 3 weeks it's really hard to get back on track and it's easy to give up. I was determined not to let that happen to me again! So, I've looked up a number of recipes online that are low carb. The only difference between Atkins Induction and this stabilization period (besides the fact that if you gain 2+ lbs you can't have anything to eat all day until dinner and then stuff yourself full of the fattiest steak you can find. I've done this before and it works, but I hate starving myself all day) is that not only does it need to be low carb, but also low fat (and as little sugar as possible), so not every Atkins Induction recipe will work for my needs.

So, I've scoured the internet looking for some good ones, and as always, I want to thank Alton Brown for giving me not just the knowledge of how to put together a recipe, but how to COOK in general. How to know what will work and what won't, and how to make changes to get your food to taste even better.

Case in point, a Cheesy Chicken Broccoli recipe I found on genaw.com. I'm sure it's good as is, but I knew I could make it REALLY good.

It calls to cook the chicken and bacon ahead of time, add some mayonnaise, sour cream and chicken bullion and mix it all together with the broccoli, sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Well, that's all well and good, but honestly, I hate the texture of melted cheddar cheese. It gets hard, plastic-y, and so greasy, so I had a better idea. Here is my recipe (which isn't quite as Atkins friendly unfortunately!):

Cook your chicken and bacon ahead of time and make a basic bechamel sauce instead. I used Alton Brown's recipe that he taught me for his baked Mac and Cheese. However, I ended up with WAY too much sauce, so you can cut it in half, or save it for another application! I did only 10 oz of cheese since he calls for 3/4 of it to be in the sauce and the rest to go on top. But I changed it up again - I had several different kinds of cheese, so I used  2 slices of pepper jack, 2 slices of provolone, 2 slices of Colby jack, and the remainder as shredded cheddar. It had a slightly queso-dip taste due to the pepper jack which I really liked.

[The basic bechamel requires 3 tbs of flour. Since I only used about half the sauce, that's only 1-1/2 tbs of flour, and that 1-1/2 tbs is divided into at least 4 servings, so I really don't think the carb count would be terrible. I did omit the garlic powder as she suggested to save on carbs as well.]

The only other change I made to the recipe was that instead of doing 1/4 cup mayonnaise and 1/4 cup sour cream, I saved some fat by doing 1/4 Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. I also did what she suggested and just added the bullion cube to that mixture without any added water.

One word of warning: I wouldn't be too liberal with the salt, here. Cheese has a lot of salt, so does bacon and the bullion cube. My final product was a bit salty because I'd seasoned the chicken prior to cooking, and salted the cheese a bit. 

But the end result? Oh my goodness, it's amazing. I'm going to be making this over and over for sure!

I've done minor changes to a couple of other recipes as well, mostly by replacing some of the fat with Greek yogurt, which I can't even taste in the final product. I did it with an egg salad recipe I found on the same website, and it tastes just as good to me!

A Warning about Roommates

A lot of people think the possibility of having a roommate is great. All the bills are cut in half, and if your apartment is big enough, you might not even know they're there. Many people have suggested to me that when I move out again, I need a roommate because I don't make enough to afford anything worthwhile in this city. But I refuse to even consider the notion, and I'll tell you why.

Justin and I were living in a crapshack apartment when he met his new best bud, Karl. Karl, who was a highly-functional alcoholic, and basically set in motion the downward spiral of our whole marriage, but I digress. Well, I wanted out of this crapshack badly, and Karl was already bunking with us on the couch due to fights he kept having with the 6 roommates in the house he currently shared. So, we devised a plan to find a better place to live, with 2 bedrooms. He signed the lease with us, and we were living in what I considered "luxury" (far from it really, but oh so much nicer than what we could afford on our own).

Everything went fine the first 6 months. We were trying to help him out in a way by getting his life in order. Getting a bank account, and applying for a credit card in order to gain credit history. But things were slowly degrading, and although I was reluctant, we signed the lease again for a second year. However, only 2 months in, I told Karl that I wanted him out. Our marriage was collapsing in on us for several reasons. First of all, Justin's priority was Karl and booze, and as much as I told him to get back on track, it didn't matter. I needed Karl out in order for this marriage to function.

Karl was not the perfect roommate either. After all, he was an alcoholic, so there were times that he got so drunk he would vomit in his own bed. Twice, he tried to make it to the bathroom and failed, vomiting all over the carpet. But, that wasn't the worst part. Oh no. He decided to vacuum it up; with our bagged vacuum cleaner that was from the 80's. Every time we'd used it since, it smelled like vomit. He would always leave his clothes in the washer/dryer and forget about them and stopped me from doing my laundry unless I fixed it. He would always bring up "but you leave them in there too, and when you did, I hung them up for you!". That was once, 7 months ago. Get over it.

Anyway, I'd had it. I wanted him out and I told him so. I said he had 10 months to get some money saved up and look for a place. That was plenty of time. It would be hard on Justin and I, but we could scrounge and afford to live here ourselves. I would bug him about it a lot, I even looked online and helped search for possible places to live. I even told him I would help by paying some of the costs towards moving out. He wasn't even my friend, but that's how badly I wanted him gone.

Well, when the time came for Justin and I to resign the lease, Karl had refused to move out. He stated that he wasn't warned. Wasn't given enough time. Didn't have any money saved up, and hadn't looked for a place. Well fine, I thought. It didn't matter. It was two against one and we wouldn't let him resign the lease. Turns out, I was wrong. Very wrong. There is no recourse to get a roommate out of your apartment unless he did something illegal. He had the right, the right, to resign that lease. Justin and I were stuck. Unless we moved, all three of us would have to resign the lease, and I absolutely refused to let that happen. We weren't prepared to move ourselves but we had established credit. I would do it if I had to. Karl told us that he would live in this apartment all by himself. I laughed. I scoffed. Justin and I could barely afford this place. He would be sunk within 2 months. But you know what, let him drown like a rat. I would have loved to watch that happen. He was essentially stealing the apartment out from under our feet, and there was not a damn thing that we could do about it.

Well, so while we were considering our options, Karl went into the office in order to do the screening, since he'd be living there on his own. He barely scraped by with enough income to rent it by himself, but that didn't include utilities. Well, when they ran his background check, they found his criminal record. (oh, didn't I tell you about that? Karl had a felony for trafficking/selling drugs a couple years back. It had been reduced to a misdemeanor but it still reflected as a felony on his background check. When we'd first applied for the place 2 years ago, the temp manager had missed it, apparently.)

Karl tried everything he could. Got court records, blah blah blah. But he'd actually lied on the screening and said he'd had no felonies. So even if he could prove that it was a misdemeanor, they would not guarantee an apartment because he'd lied. Oh my God, sweet sweet redemption. It was the best day of my life. Not only could he not resign the lease with us, but he was forced to move out within 30 days. And guess what? Somehow he'd found the money to find a place to live.

So, roommates? No thank you. I think I'll pass.

How desperate are you to lose weight?

Really think about that answer for a while. How long have you been suffering? Do you have bullies (yes, even adults can have bullies) that constantly berate you about your weight? Have you tried everything? Are you willing to try anything?

Answer these questions for me (especially the ladies):

1.       Are you willing to give up wearing make up?

2.       Are you willing to give up all lotions and moisturizers?

3.       Are you willing to weigh and cook your own food instead of ordering pre-packaged crap from the diet stores?

4.       Are you willing to take something that’s not FDA approved? (I never thought the FDA cared at heart, but I digress.)

      How about doing that for just 26-42 days? Sound better?

I’m talking about hCG. You’ve probably heard it both praised and blasted in recent years. It was even featured on the Dr. Oz show, supposedly. I have a feeling that, just like every other doctor out there, he criticized the diet. And it is quite a diet – a mere 500 calories a day. And all the doctors say “Well of course you would lose weight on only 500 calories a day, but it is unhealthy for your body and even dangerous!”. But what they always too conveniently forget is that you’re not hungry. If you were to do this diet alone without the hormone, you would be starving, wouldn’t you? You would probably cheat like crazy within a day or two. But it’s been scientifically proven that it’s not your stomach that tells you when you’re hungry, but your brain when it craves nutrients. The reason hCG works is because it is breaking down the fat in your body and essentially “eating it”. Unlike if you were to do the diet alone, muscle would be the first casualty before any fat gets eaten, there is proof in hCG with ketone strips. As people that have done the Atkins diet are aware: ketones are released with the destruction of fat cells, and gets passed to your urine, which can then be detected on the strips. 

The next argument they give is “well, it’s all just psychological”. Really? Are you telling me that just by brain power alone, after 42 days of just eating 500 calories a day, I could still climb stairs, walk and talk normally without a fuzzy feeling, feel awake and completely normal? Damn. That’s amazing. Actually, the first week of the first time I tried this diet back in 2009, I was starving. Part of it was psychological in the fact that I was used to eating not just when hungry, but when bored. I would confuse my body’s want of hydration for being hungry, and eat even when I wasn’t. So, when I started this diet, I had to just take it and realize that I couldn’t munch on the couch anymore. It was an extremely hard habit to break. But when that first week was done, I was okay. The hunger pretty much went away. I do still get hungry at times, even now as I’m doing my 8^th round (I had a couple of failed attempts; more on that later), but I drink tea and water, and it usually disappears within 10 minutes.

It takes extreme dedication and willpower to go on this diet. All the ads tout that “you can lose 42 pounds in 42 days!” which, by the way, isn’t even true. It’s 32 lbs at most. For women you can lose about .5 lbs a day if you’re lucky. Sometimes men can lose a bit more. But it’s really not “too good to be true” because honestly, this diet sucks. It sucks bad. It is not easy. Putting what you can only eat aside, the simple fact that cheating is all but impossible. If you were to cheat – even just a little bit, by say, having a salted almond (yes, just one almond) or forgetting and using lotion one day, you will see the consequences of your actions the next morning on the scale. Not only will you not have lost any weight, but you might have even gained some. And considering that you’re on a time limit; either 26 or 42 days depending on how much weight you want to lose, every day counts. The diet severely limits what you can eat, and no substitutions are permitted.

But, on the plus side, I have lost over 100 lbs on this diet. You get validation each and every day when you weigh yourself and see the weight slipping off. You’re not hungry, you still feel completely normal, and even better: you’re actually not allowed to exercise. Like, at all. Exercising has always been my downfall. Well, besides my extreme lack of willpower with cupcakes that are in the break room.

 

This is me in October of 2009,                                       This is me July 2012, 175 lbs

all 290 lbs of me.

But, back to the bad news. As I stated before, the FDA has not approved hCG for weight loss in this country. In fact, they even out right banned the sale of homeopathic hCG in the stores. But that’s okay with me – one of my failed rounds of this diet was with the homeopathic version. I’ve read how people praise it and how it works for them, but it didn’t work for me. I was hungry and I cheated. I didn’t last very long taking the drops. Besides, I’ve read that you will not see ketones in your urine when on it, like with the real stuff. So tell me again how or why it works? 

Anyway, so after I decided to try this diet the first time, I looked up a lady on youtube named Mamaclok. She was my savior. She told me how to order and mix my real hCG so that I could take it sublingually – or under the tongue in other words. (That’s right, no shots!)

If you’re still interested, please watch her videos. She will even show you how much weight she’s lost. But they are kind of old, and where to order it is out of date. The place I have always ordered from is escrowrefills.com, but they have become referral based for some reason. However, if you’d like to order, I have an invitation code and I can post it in the comments; just let me know. It’s not that cheap, and I repeat: it’s not easy. Please read Dr. Simeons .pdf “Pounds and Inches”. He was the original creator of the diet back in the 1950’s and it’s written as a clinical trial so there’s a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but it includes how the diet works, why cheating is bad, and what exactly the diet is.

So I ask again: How desperate are you?

The day I put a hole in my car

Back in the way back, in the before time around '06-'07, I was heading up to Seattle for a job interview. Back then, I was scared of driving on freeways, especially going north, and I absolutely hated driving in Seattle (still do, really). What possessed me to apply for this job in the first place? I couldn't even tell you. I must have been desperate, because the one thing I despise is heavy commute traffic and from Tacoma to Seattle is some of the worst.

I should have taken this as a sign to turn my ass around and head home. But noooo… out of some kind of obligation, or pride, or desperation (possibly all three), I continued my drive up to the despicable city and horrid company tower.

What happened, you ask?

I ran over a piece of metal on the road and it ended up hitting my thigh.

It was an interesting set of circumstances. I was driving my Mercury Mystique, which if you've followed my earlier posts know of its lousy track record, and there was some debris on the road from a possible previous accident. It had been swept over to the pullout by the fast lane, but I managed to hit a piece of metal anyway. All I remember is the sudden pain in my upper thigh. I was like “WTF?” I couldn't really see anything down there, especially since I was driving – on a busy freeway I might add. I kept rubbing my thigh, wondering what in God’s name happened. Then, I noticed a flash of light occasionally coming from the floor of my car. That flash of light happened to be the shine of the pavement that I could see through a 2 inch hole in my floorboard. And in that gap was a piece of metal that looked to be the kind of square iron rod that is found in the bays of pick-up trucks. It didn't take much deduction to realize that I’d ran over this piece of metal parallel to the car, and the velocity of the tire threw the metal right through the floor and into my thigh.

That's right - I still have it after all this time. Ahh, the memories.

It was painful, but as far as I could tell I wasn't bleeding profusely or anything. I even managed to save the piece of metal by pulling it all the way out of the hole - while I was still driving, mind you. The damn thing was probably 2 feet long. So, my choice was to take this as a sign and book it out of this stupid city, or continue to this interview that I probably wasn't going to get the job for anyway.

Obviously, I chose the latter. So, I parked and checked out the damage, which was actually very minimal. Nothing but a small hole. Pretty amazing. However, my wound would have to wait. It was really high up on my thigh and I wouldn't be able to take a look without a mirror. I entered the building and looked for a restroom, since I was early (of course). The bathrooms were locked and for employees only. I hate Seattle. So, I just went into my interview. I have a feeling that I didn't get the job because I told her what had happened on the way here and how scared I was to drive in this damn city! (Not one of my proudest moments). After I left, I attempted to find a fast food restaurant so that I could finally see WTF was wrong with my leg. I pulled into a McDonald's, and saw a sign that said “restrooms are for paying customers only”. Did I say I hated this city? So, pissed off, I decided just to drive home instead. Luckily, the wound was nothing more than a bloodless cut/gash-thing and bruise. I also never got the hole in the car fixed, so it was kind of cool to see the road beneath me. Totally made it worth having that junk of a car (not!).

I’m so glad I didn't get that job.

I'm not dead, I promise.

I know I haven't been posting much lately and I do apologize. I mean, I know ya'll were worried about me, right? Right? I thought so.

Anyway, I've been pretty busy and stressed lately, which is pretty unusual for me. (The being busy, not the stressing.)

I've decided to "go back to school" for one thing. I put that in quotes because I'm not really going anywhere; it's all online. I specifically chose this because I work 8 hours a day and I don't know how other people do it, but I just can't possibly fit 40 hours a week at work and 30 hours a week at school and still have any semblance of a life. When you add possible additional commutes to the mix, I don't even think it's scientifically possible. Anyway, so I decided to become a coder. (I know, I'm cute. Like I can go to school at this day and age and say I'll become anything). They fit my personality to a T, except for all the numbers bit. I'm horrible with numbers. (But at least it's not math!). But, I get to sit in a cubicle all by myself and work alone and do my thing with no patient interaction and then go home. Perfect.

Thanks to how Franciscan and how the classes work, I get to pay 100% out of pocket, too. And I don't mean a student loan. Nope, don't even get that. For one thing, Franciscan will only pay for your schooling if you 1. Do classes that Franciscan can use you for. AKA, nurse, doctor, physical therapist. (Apparently, CODERS don't count.) and 2. You get a college degree. Coders don't get college degrees. They get a certification. So immediately, I'm out for any kind of tuition reimbursement from Franciscan. Secondly, banks (or the Government) won't give me a student loan because AHIMA is not a college, per se. They are the accreditors of the HIM (health info management) field, and they just happen to offer online courses through their website. Through my research, they were really the only ones that offered a completely self-paced course that you could buy one class at a time and complete at your leisure. In other words, for people like me.

I've also been busy busting my hump at work these last couple of weeks thanks to the implementation of the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR). I'm sure many of you heard me bitching about it on my facebook page. 

This was me last week.

In addition to going to school and learning a whole new system and workflow, I've been desperately grasping at straws trying to keep my current job. I work in Medical Records. We're implementing EMR. Which means I'm basically no longer needed. Franciscan is trying to phase out all of the clinic med recs people, and consolidate them into one cohesive unit, in one room. I want to stay with Saffari, and both him and our ARNP are trying to fight to keep me, because they know I'm needed and they know I want to stay. But it's not guaranteed. So, in the meantime, I have to reach out to make sure that I still have stable employment. They're offering jobs in 2 phases. Phase one ( a couple of weeks ago) was for 14 ROI positions (release of information) which I applied for and failed to get. Phase 2 will be for (I think) 22 HIM positions in central medical records, which should be coming out any day now. Be aware that there are more than 60 HIM people out in the field who will be clamoring for all 36 positions. This is what I'm up against. It won't be easy, despite my experience. A new, recent development gives me renewed hope that I might be able to stay in Saffari's office, though. If Stephanie, one of our current PARs (patient access rep. I know, a lot of freaking acronyms, huh??) becomes a full-time referral coordinator for our office (which we desperately need) that will leave an opening for a PAR that I can fill. But, we shall see. I can't put out too much hope though, lest I be greatly disappointed.

Anyway, that's what's been going on with me these last few weeks. What have you been doing?!

Music That Defines Me

Or music that tells you how I use the Domino effect to remember things!

Well, I can start out by saying that this song tells you about my tenacity.

I watched this music video back in elementary school, during "music class" which was nothing more than playing a recorder and listening to songs that our "music teacher" liked, like the song Peaches. Ugh. Anyway, I had this song kind of stuck in the back of my head for several years. And it took me that long to find it again because the song was called Buddy Holly. Yeah, that's not the person who sang it lol. Cool music video though, since they took Happy Days and plugged themselves into it.

This was my favorite song as a child. Why? Hell if I know lol. I just remember they never freaking played it on the radio and I always got so dang upset when they would play some other Neil Sedaka song instead.
(I am not this old. Believe it or not I'm only 29.)

Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out for a Hero

This is an interesting one. Another song that took me many years to track down. This song actually reminds me of my trip to Las Vegas and Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton, because this song played on a preview to the movie Star Trek: First Contact (on VHS) which also included a preview to Star Trek: The Experience, where I begged and begged my parents to take me one day. The reason it took me so long to track it down because if you watch the aforementioned preview, you can tell it's not Bonnie Tyler singing it, and I don't know who is. (Plus I was looking for song titles like "Hero" and "I Need a Hero".)

Yeah believe it or not somebody posted this and THANK YOU. Ah, the memories.

MST3K - He Tried to Kill Me With a Forklift!

And this one reminds me of my Joshie. My late fiancee. He not only loved this song, but he played two different versions of it on his keyboard. I think this is my favorite MST3K movie ever.

This song reminds me of my Grandma. She passed away a few of years ago. The reason it reminds me of her is because her name is actually in it: Lucy Brown. Pretty cool.

This song shows my stubborninity. Yeah, that's a word I made up. Sounds better than stubbornness :P and  this is why. (It's kind of a long post. Feel free to scroll down a bit to the second set of italics.)

Songs have always reminded me of specific events in my history. Riyu Kosaka's Begin always reminds me of running around in World of Warcraft because it was on eternal repeat while I played it. The Chiffon's One Fine Day will forever remind me of an old crush I had on a teacher.

And then, there's always this.