Hello Tiffy!

You can’t get much easier than this to look cute and scary on Halloween.

I said I was “a dead chick”. Many rave reviews.

<annoying rant time>

I got some information about my insurance and it is, may I say, complete SHIT. So shit I am going to opt out and find personal insurance. I am furious that the packet that I received was not as clear as I thought it was. I am now basically paying 80 dollars per month for insurance that allows me to go to the Dr. when I am sick only, no preventative care is covered, including female exams (very imporant due to pre-existing conditions-please see previous posts). How did I not realize this when I was looking over the forms? Because they way they write them out you think you are reading what you think you are reading. Haha - it sounds silly to say it that way, but it reminds me of those propositions that we vote on, there’s one for and one against, they sound almost identical and you are expected to know what you are signing up for.

Well I called the number today because I tried to get a prescription filled the other day and they didn’t think I got any discount. So I called the company today and they are like yeah, um, you can like .. fill out a claim form, and you might get something back. I am like um, I might, what? get might??? MIGHT?? What do you mean, MIGHT? So I started asking the more DETAILED questions - Can I get a female exam, What about my asthma care, what about this or that, basically I got the stiff arm on every question. She told me “Basically, you are covered if you are sick or in an emergency”

I am sorry but the whole reason for having insurance is so you can GET preventive care otherwise, we all end up in the emergency room because we have no idea what to do with our health. I mean seriously, have you ever heard anything so asinine? 80 bucks a month? I have been off of my birth control for 3 months waiting for this damn insurance. I am furious. I am quitting this stupid waste of money and getting Aetna “personal insurance” (by the way, the insurance I am getting now is also aetna) yet the personal is better coverage and the same price per month. I feel like I got totally ripped off.

/end rant

Dear guy-that-brought-in-Burger-King-for-lunch-today,

Die.

Love,
Tiff

A good way to not eat too much is to accidentally smear garlic/onion flavored cream cheese on a cinnamon raisin bagel…. 2 bites and you are done!!

Yes, I am back on this again. I technically signed up yesterday but that is going to be stricken from the record. Lets take a look at this and discuss my problems shall we? Notes below.

POINTS^® Tracker entries

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Morning
1/2 item(s) Cinnamon raisin bagels	2.5
2  tbsp Cream Cheese	3
Subtotal	5.5
Midday
1  serving(s) Lean Pockets Red Peppers and Pepperoni	5
Subtotal	5
Evening
2  medium potato(es), baked	5
1/3 cup(s) Reduced fat shredded 4 cheese Mexican style blend	2
2  can(s) or bottle(s) beer	5.5
Subtotal	12.5
Anytime
No entries for this meal time.
Subtotal	0
Food POINTS values total used	23
Food POINTS values remaining	4
Activity
No entries for activity.
Activity POINTS values earned	0
Check off these important items daily:
Water          Milk & Milk Products     Fruit & Vegetables        Multivitamin   Healthy Oils     Activity

What have we learned today?

Breakfast:
2 Tablespoons of regular cream cheese is 3 POINTS. That is pretty pinner if you ask me. However, Weight Watchers makes a VERY good cream cheese that is in a little cup, just barely enough for 1 whole bagel and is only 1 point. Those 2 tablespoons this morning were basically a pasty layer that I could barely taste. There are also very decent low-calorie bagels called Western Bagel that are also amazing, a bit smaller but 1 point as well.  As you can see, I was not 100% prepared for the start of this diet but I did lower my intake to 1/2 of the bagel. To improve this breakfast, the ideal solution would be 1 Western Bagel, 1 portion of the WW cream cheese, and 1 cup of fruit - a lot more food and would still be less points than my pathetic breakfast this morning.

Lunch-
Lean Pockets are very tasty and you can barely tell they are a lot lower of fat and calories than their Hot Pockets counterparts. The downside to this lunch was that while tasty, I was starving from my sad breakfast that I inhaled it. I was starving by 4 o’clock.
To improve this lunch there are too many things to do differently. I need to pack salad or fruit with my lunch as a side if I feel that I must go the way of the frozen lunch. No matter which frozen low-calorie/fat lunch I could have prepared, there will not be enough food to keep me til dinner. However I am going to be realistic (Since I am at work and all)  and expect to have something frozen nearly everyday, and try to pack a salad, nuts, or some fruit for the side.

Dinner-
Well my options were limited tonight due to the fact that we had no meat ready to cook and most of our soups are the creamy fattening ones. I made some potatoes in the microwave and added the WW shredded cheese and pico de gallo and green onions. I am pretty full right now but let me assure you it was not all that delicious. I would have preferered some Fat Free sour cream and it would have been ten times better. Meat would have been good, too. Considering I was in a bind, I think I did decently, and the veggies I added certainly helped the cause, I prefer meat with my potatoes and any kind of meat (chicken or steak or crumbled lean beef) would have made this 2-3 points more and ten times tastier.

BEER
Ok this is something I am on the fence about. I wasted 5.5 points on drinks. That is pretty lame but everyone knows it’s my favorite drink. If I had drank water instead I would have been able to fit in more food. However since I knew there was nothing to really prepare it was easier to make the beer choice. If I had had 2 light beers instead of regular, that would have been 4 points. I like my beer to taste good (in other words I hate light beer), but I probably should have had just one. Heck, while we are at it, I should probably have none. If I tell you I am totally cutting out beer, you may as well make a date with the flying pig tomorrow.

Fruit & Vegetables. Need more. My 2 potatoes and pico and green onions were pretty much nothing. I am not counting the red peppers from the lean pocket because I am not desparate.

Healthy Oils
They say if you follow the plan you must get all your checkmarks. I never understood the oils thing and I don’t care to follow it. I know some people take a shot of flax oil. No thanks.

Activity.
Need time.

I am feeling a lot better in the head and body today, but my lungs and nose are still coated with slime. In more exciting news, I am going to J’s work to help decorate for Halloween. J’s work and my work are in the same building, but at different companies. He manages a call center that takes calls for EA and I work on the other side of the glass working for that company directly. I am pretty sure that I am helping decorate Halloween for his side. Should be fun, I was apparently volunteered without my knowledge as J knows I love decorating. One of the perks of the volunteering was to go shopping but the director already did that part. Boooo. I would like to dress up this year but I have no idea yet if we are doing anything, probably not. I have never seen J get dressed up but since he is a manager and his people are expected to dress up maybe he will! That should be funny. If he does, then I would too, if we were going out somewhere of course.

I have been on a total pumpkin kick lately. (Go figure, right?) I swear though, I used to kind of hate the pumpkin spice flavor, but I absolutely adore it now. I have pumpkin beer, pumpkin coffee creamer, oh the Starbucks pumpkin frappucinos are to die for. Pumpkin pie well that is a given! Last year I thought I hated pumpkin pie and had a piece and then another piece and then another piece it was like someone lit the pumpkin candle in my jack-o-lantern head. I am obsessed with it now, can not get enough! Speaking of pumpkin, we are thinking about carving a pumpkin this year that will be a 1st in a long time as well. While browsing the HEB last night, I saw the pumpkins and mentioned to J we should carve a pumpkin! He said … for work? I used this opportunity to say “Yes, we can carve it then bring it to work” He replied “Ok”. See the progres here people? He is normally not all that keen on fun… well, he is but it takes him a long time to get up to doing something like carve a pumpkin in your late 20s/early 30s. Me on the other hand, you know I never lost my childish whimsy. So anyway, from now on when I want to do cute things for no reason, I can say we will bring it to work.. yeah, that’s the ticket.

We also saw Egg Nog while strolling HEB. It’s the best feeling when you spot Egg Nog in the store for the first time! It’s like NOW it’s really going to be Christmas soon. I feel particularly indifferent about Egg Nog. Being a major opposer of milk, but a big fan of ice cream, I am torn when I sip Egg Nog. It is tasty for a few sips, and then at that point I pass the rest to the BF.

Seriously folks, what is it with my immune system?? Being healthy is not in the cards for me! I came down with a terrible cold. IT all started on Thursday, when I woke up with a scratchy annoying throat. You know the one that you are 100% positive you are gonna have a cold tomorrow. Then voila, as you expected you are dying!!!

So yes I am feeling like crap but I have my new phone to keep me company haha! I woke up this morning and grabbed it form the nightstand, and it went straight to facebook and I was playing around, its so nice to do that stuff without getting out of bed … Yeah I am lazy!

The next thing on my agenda is to get a maid to clean up our apartment. I know, that is really lazy, there are two of us, but we are both working overtime and I have my 2nd job on top of that, and I am not cleaning very well and he just doesn’t want to do it. I figure if it cost 150 bucks the job will be done right and if we can’t keep up on our own after that then maybe a monthly visit from the maids will do some good for us. We hate seeing it messy, and to be honest I don’t want to spend my rare free time doing it. I went online to get some estimates and they will be calling me back. After that part is settled I am going to get the carpets cleaned in this apartment cause Maysie has been peeing in the house ever since I started leaving the house for work. It’s disappointing because we thought she was over that habit, but no. Not quite. Sigh. Dog pee, even from a chihuahua, is gross and no fun to clean.

I got my G1, aka Android, aka Google Phone, yesterday. I love it! I love it so much! It is the coolest gadget I have ever owned. I am certain I will not love the hefty 85 dollars a month I have to pay to be part of this elite club of cool people, but I will get over it. The coolest app on this thing I have found so far is a barcode scanner. You scan the barcode with the digital camera on the phone and it tells you the cheapest places to find that online! I am totally head over heels. Oh I wouldwrite more but I am leaving for work and I am being given the evil eye.

I got good sleep again. J says I woke up in the night coughing but I do not remember it- therefore I must have slept well.

I have got the worst headache right now…. I am thinking it is because of my contacts. I am anxiously awaiting my medical and vision insurance so I can get some extremely important things done. For one, I need to have my girly bits looked at, as you may remember earlier this year I had something called a Leep Procedure, and the worst part of it is that I need regular check ups to make sure that the problem does not come back (which means I would need it again). The way it is supposed to go is you have the procedure, and then go back to the OBGYN every 3 months for 1 year. If you have negative check ups for 1 year in a row you are considered cured, basically. I had my 1st checkup in May and received the wonderful news that I was all clear. Then I moved in July, and my next check up was due in August. Since then I have had no insurance and these kind of things get expensive.

I was told by my new employer that I will get my insurance very son but I don’t know what date yet. Either this week or next week. I didn’t realize how many other ailments I actually had until I had to go without prescriptions or insurance. Of course there is the birth control which has been put to the wayside for now. Don’t worry I shouldn’t have babies anytime soon, but I would really love to get on that again ASAP! I also use a nighttime asthma inhaler for something they call nocturnal asthma. Basically, it is not severe asthma, however at night (sometimes) I may wake up with my lungs congested or wheezing. It caused a real problem until they put me on this stuff called Advair and my life was great and I never had any problems, but I ran out about 3 weeks ago and I am needing to use a standard asthma inhaler which I just had around (I havent needed it since I got on advair) more often which trust me - sucks! I probably won’t die or suffocate, but I really need to get back on that so I can get some better rest. Stress makes it worse.

My final ailment is my vision! I brought one new paid of contact lenses with me when I moved, and I started using them the 2nd week or so that I moved here. I was going to the eye dr and was going to pay full price for a new set of lenses and an eye exam, but then I found out I was getting my new job so I thought I would wait until I was covered. Well the lenses in my eyes are for 2-week wear — and I am now on month 3 with them on! So, they are causing me issues as well, and my eyes are itchy and scratchy sometimes, other times I think they are giving me a headache, in other words, they are not comfortable. My glasses are outdated, so I can not wear them to drive or work - I know, I know, it sounds as if I am falling apart, and it feels like it, too! I know health in general is important and I should put it first but you know how it is, I keep telling myself to wait it out and then I will not only avoid extra debt but I will kick myself later thinking why do I have this huge bill I should have waited! It is so frustrating. So  yes I can’t see, can’t breathe, and I just hope that my insurance goes through with this paycheck on Friday so I can get myself fixed (but it isn’t likely).