Organization and Unpacking Fun

So we finally got around to making a *HUGE* dent in the pile of boxes that were still in our second bedroom. Our apartment was starting to look like one big mess and it was driving me crazy! I actually took a day off on Friday so I could have an extra day. It seems like our weekends are always filled with too much stuff to devote more than a few hours on the unpacking so I thought I would try just taking another day. Well, it helped. We got 10 boxes unpacked between Friday and Saturday. In addition, I was able to get the kitchen and dining room cleaned up as well. So far we even filled a box for Goodwill and 2 trash bags of crap. The clutter was starting to overpower us!

We, of course, had little helpers the whole time. I'm sure they were just making sure we put things away where they were supposed to go and didn't throw away any of their toys.


First we had to finish watching The West Wing.



C-Lo monitors the little bedroom.



Harley inventories the master bedroom.




One box that I emptied out was full of only these. Not a single pair are mine! Never should I hear a word about how many shoes I have!





AND I found this! I've been missing this for over a year! This was Freddy's first birthday gift that he ever gave me.





I also found all of my scrapbooks that I want to do. They've been packed in a box since we moved to Brooklyn in 2007! I can't wait to get started on that!

On another, and a little sad, note, our little foster kitty Jack is going home tomorrow. He got his stitches out on Thursday and a clean bill of health from the Vet. His owner is picking him up tomorrow. We'll miss little Jack and hope to be able to see him again in the future.





Head over to my other blog, 52 Weeks of the Olveras, for more Jack photos with my kitties. They all finally accepted him in our house.

Just to keep myself honest here, I've fallen off the Weight Watchers wagon and haven't made it to WI the past two weeks :( I hope to get back on track this week.

~AKO

*Blah*

That's about how the past week and a half have felt for me :( I've been trying to stay on the diet but quite a few days have been splurges. I haven't gotten back on my Wii routine either. We won't talk about the financial situation. There have been some leadership changes at the executive level at work so stuff is up in the air with our division. On top of everything I've been feeling like crap. Not sure if it is a bug or my allergies or what is going on.

I keep trying to unpack the last few boxes that we have but can't seem to stay focused long enough to get one box unpacked. My camera battery charger is still pack and, surprise, the battery died on Sunday so I can't take any pics of my putties :(

Anyway... 32 days until we get to go here:





That's right! We're going to Key West the first week of March for my brother's wedding! This is going to be my first *real* vacation since 2006. Since we never really took a honeymoon, we're going down a few days before everyone else to have ourselves a little vacation.

I think I really need this vacation!

~AKO

J-E-T-S JETS, JETS, JETS!

So the New York Jets are one game away from going to the Super Bowl. You can only imagine the Jets-fever that has taken over New York and New Jersey. There was a pep ralley in Times Square this week in which thousands of people showed up for. One of my friend's husband few out to San Diego for the sole purpose of attending the Jets/Chargers game last weekend. This is a big deal especially after the New York Yankees won the World Series.





For those of you who don't know, Gang Greene is not the most reliable team in the NFL and haven't had a very good track record in years. So true Jets fans have every right to be excited about their team's potential appearance in the Super Bowl. However, what irritates me a little is that all of a sudden all thes "Jets fans" are coming out of the woodwork. Where were you all when your team was struggling and needed your support? Personally I think you should be a fan of your team through thick and thin. Now, before everyone tells me I don't know what I'm talking about, I am an outspoken fan of one of the NFL's worst teams. So bad, they even broke a record last year by finishing the season without a single win... the Detroit Lions. Everyone who knows me knows that I follow my Detroit teams no matter what. Even when the Tigers blow their season in game 163...

Go Lions! There's always next year!





~AKO

Exciting and Useful Giveaway!

Unfortunately I don't have anything to giveaway at the moment, however, a free Soney E-Reader is being given away over at A Yummy Mummy Sitting on a Park Bench.

Head on over HERE to enter!

This giveaway is intended for service members, but it sounds like she might be doing another giveaway in the near future for civilians. Follow her blog for details.

~AKO

SHOW US YOUR LIFE - Diet, Exercise Programs, Weight Loss Ideas

I haven't particiated in one of these in awhile, but since it is a huge focus in my life right now I thought I would join in the "Show Us Your Life" topic this week which is hosted by Kelly's Korner.

The topic this week is "Diet, Exercise Programs, Weight Loss Ideas." I'm one of those people who have struggled with my weight since I was in junior high. I've tried most of those fad diets out there and the thing that works best for me when I'm actually following the program is Weight Watchers.





I was very successful at losing 20 lbs back in 2006 but then stopped following the program. It does really work... if you follow the program :) A lot of people I talk to always say they don't want to have to waste the time to write everything down. Well, that's really the only way you're going to know what you're putting in your mouth. In addition, if you're counting calories you need to write everything down so what's the difference?? One thing that I read in their literature a couple weeks ago was "Only track during the weeks you want to lose." That is so true for me. During the weeks that I track I can guarantee a loss.

We attend meetings on Tuesday evenings in the city and I actually look forward to them. Our leader, Aransas, is awesome. She is so outgoing and supportive of everyone. She also makes a point to get to know everyone and introduce herself if she sees someone she doesn't know. The receptionists are great as well. The key is to find a leader that you like.

I've started tracking my losses in my side bar to the right. So far I've lost 3.4 lbs in the past two weeks. My first mini-goal is to lose 10 by St. Patrick's Day. I'm not going to post my ultimate goal because I'm trying to not focus on that. I'm working toward mini-goals which will hopefully lead me to my final goal. Since I've never been skinny as an adult I really don't even know what my final goal looks like!

As far as exercise programs go, I've never really stuck to one for more than 2 - 3 weeks. I do enjoy my Wii Active. It has a 30 day program that really does force you to work up a sweat. I'm hoping to get back on that this weekend. I love doing the Yoga on my Wii Fit as well. It really helps to stretch out my back. In addition, my husband is going to help me train for a 5K once it gets a little warmer. We have a track by our new apartment so I'm looking forward to that. I have to buy a good pair of running shoes first :) A few years back I told Freddy that I wanted to be able to do PT and at least hit the minimums the Army has set for women. I still want to hit that goal and hopefully this year it will happen.

So, nothing spectacular or anything you all don't already know :) Turns out the key to losing weight is diet and exercise... still... I was hoping at some point I wouldn't have to do anything :)

~AKO

Jack's Comeback

Much in the same way my friend, Michelle, found our boys in the parking lot behind her building 2 1/2 years ago, she found another little orange and white kitten last May. We think he has the same mother as our two boys. He had the same herpies infection in one eye that our boys did. So, being the animal lover she is, she took in the poor little kitten and started nursing him back to health. We started calling him "Jackpot" since he was one lucky kitten when Michelle took him in. Since she already had two cats of her own, she couldn't keep him. We already had three so we were also out of the running. Plus, I think I might have seen divorce papers if I came home with another kitten :) In the end, her landlord (who is now also our landlord) took the kitten for his 10 year old son.

The kid decided to keep his name and called him "Jack" for short. They bonded almost immediately. Jack turned into an indoor/outdoor cat and went with the kid almost everywhere.

Fast forward to about two weeks ago. Michelle gets a call that Jack cut his tail. As with any small cut, it didn't look too bad so everyone assumed he would clean and care for the cut on his own. Not entirely... On Thursday, we find out that his tail is infected so they took him to the Vet Friday morning. It turns out that it was so infected they had to amputate the tail :( We knew that Jack was going to have to be fostered in order to make sure he got his medication correctly. Michelle already had plans and a plane ticket home to visit her family so that left us.

We agreed to foster Jack this week to make sure he was cared for correctly while his tail healed. When we brought him home on Saturday, he was still in a little bit of pain and didn't really want to do anything. However, he did purr whenever we scratched his head. His tail now looks very similar to a Weimeraner's tail since it is all shaved.







He was very pathetic looking over the weekend and into Monday. We let him set up camp in our second bedroom so our kitties pretty much left him alone. Until Monday morning. We were woken up around 5:30 am by a familiar growl. I looked over the bed and there was Jack walking around our bed. Now, keep in mind that our cats normally sleep until we get up. Now its 5:30 in the morning and they don't know why they're up so early. Turns out that Jack is an early riser! So, now that he is up and moving around, we had to put his cone on him so that he didn't mess around with the stitches in his tail. If you've ever seen a cat with a cone, they look very pathetic and betrayed.





Jack had to wear the cone until this evening. Since we're both home to watch him we took the cone off so he could move freely and actually be able to bathe himself. The first thing he did was was clean his face and his paws. He is definitely feeling better now and our cats have almost accepted him.







He has his follow up Vet appointment tomorrow morning so hopefully Jack gets a positive score and is healing nicely.

~AKO

Wordless Wednesday

~AKO

New Year... New Look

So over a month since my last post... Well, now that I've gotten things in order I can post more often again. I thought since we were starting a new year I would change the look a little here. I also started my "52 Weeks of the Olveras" blog. My plan is to post once a week with some photos that illustrate how that week went. We'll see how successful it is :) The link is in my sidebar to the right.

The past month has been quite busy and hectic that I've barely had time to think. Here's what's been going on over the past month...

We moved!! Yep, we made the jump over the Hudson River to New Jersey. Let me tell you that travelling for an hour with three cats in carriers is not pleasant. At one point I thought they were trying to harmonize with each other. We're in a quieter neighborhood now with a permanent parking spot. We're still renting so we're hoping to save up enough money to buy a place in a couple of years. Not sure where just yet, but it is on the horizon. It took the kitties a few days to get used to the new digs but now they've claimed it as their own.











I got very addicted to "Bejeweled Blitz" on Facebook. Very dangerous :)

We celebrated Christmas in our new home. I was worried I wouldn't be able to put up my decorations in time with the move but I got them up! This was the first year that Hadley and Harley didn't try to pull the tree over. I think they are finally growing up! Even though this was supposed to be our year to go to Michigan for Christmas, we decided to stay in NYC. My brother is getting married in March in Key West in March so we wanted to make sure we were able to make it down. We'll be driving so I'm sure we'll have some cool pictures when we get back. Anyway, here are a couple shots of our Christmas decor.







I got back on track with Weight Watchers. I lost about 20 lbs on WW back in 2006 and another 10 lbs before our wedding. Unfortunately I've gained it all back and then some. I've been back on track the past three weeks. Yes I started again the week before Christmas. I felt I had to in order to make sure I didn't go crazy over the holidays. I was still up 0.6 on my Tuesday weigh in after Christmas, but this is the first time the gain has been less than a pound after the holidays. I was then down 2.4 last week. I'm taking a different approach this time and focusing on smaller mini-goals rather than the final goal. My first mini-goal is to lose 10lbs before St. Patricks Day. I'll continue to report my progress here and, when I get brave enough, post some before and afters. Let me tell you I've seen some not too flattering "before" pics from the holidays :(

Freddy volunteered to go to Germany for 3 weeks to help the 133rd in March :(

We welcomed in 2010! My mom and her travel buddies were in town for New Year's this year and decided to brave the elements in Times Square. I've been sick off an on the past few weeks so I decided to not spend 6 hours standing in the rain that night. They had a good time and we got to spend some time together. And, with that I'm documenting my New Year's resolutions for 2010. At the end of the year we'll take a look back and see how many I was able to move forward with :)
--> Earn my 10% key chain from WW.
--> Start training for a 5K.
--> Earn my PMP (Project Management Professional) certification.
--> Start experimenting with photo editing.
--> Take more photos of our day to day.
--> Complete my Wedding scrap book.
--> Start my Kitty scrap book.
--> Start cross stitching again.

I hope everyone has a safe, healthy, and happy 2010!

~AKO