Resolutions (for a lifetime)

I try not to make New Year's resolutions since I never stick to them and I find them silly.
But, I've been reading a lot of people's "Life Lists" and such and I thought it would be fun if I started one here. This will be a work in progress.

In no particular order:

1. Run a 5k
2. Get a new webshow online
3. Run a 10k
4. Learn how to knit for real not just the very basic stuff I know
5. Live in another country for at least 3 months
6. Travel to Wales, UK, Germany, Brussels, Italy, Greece and a whole
crapload of other places
7. Take singing lessons again
8. Own a house
9. Run a Half Marathon
10. Run the LA Marathon
11. Learn how to use Photoshop
12. Roadtrip to the East Coast
13. Be my own boss (aka not have a "day job")
14. Learn to scuba dive
15. Go on one of those huge ziplines

That's all I can think of off the top of my head right now. I will update this more tomorrow.

Calphalon

Over the past few years, Robb and I have been purchasing new pans as we've needed them. We've been so happy with the Calphalon Kitchen Essentials line from Target - we've purchased 3 different sized pans from there and use at least one of them every single day.

But, over the past few months we've noticed 2 of our pans (8 inch omelet pan and 12 inch skillet) have been increasingly difficult to use. So, we started looking at replacing them and discovered that Calphalon has redesigned the Kitchen Essentials line.

In my research, I discovered that Calphalon has a 10 year warranty on their pans and if you mail back your pans with a letter explaining what's wrong with them and the pans are found defective, they will mail you brand new replacements. So, a couple of weeks ago, I boxed up our pans, wrote a simple note explaining what went wrong and mailed them off.

Yesterday, when I came home from work Robb discovered 2 boxes outside of our front door. One of those was from Calphalon! And inside we found 2 new pans. We are a little sad to discover that they are the newly redesigned ones that we don't like as much, but new pans are new pans, we're happy either way.

Now, we need to start shopping for new pots as ours are my set from college and they are desperately in need of replacement. And you can bet that we will be purchasing them from Calphalon!

*I promise I was not compensated for this, I just wanted to write about good customer service!

I heart George

This has been keeping me entertained for the past few minutes.  I love an actor that doesn't take himself seriously...

Weighty Matters

Hey look! It's not November and I'm still posting. Go me!

I had my yearly physical in late October, wherein I proceeded to get my yearly lecture from my doctor about my cholesterol levels. I have them checked yet again and to my horror, they are higher than ever before. Basically, I've got roughly 5 months to get them down or I'm going to have to go on cholesterol medication. And my doctor knows this is absolutely the last thing I want.

Robb has been the best about this - we're exercising more, cooking at home more and he checks everything to make sure it's good for me and my cholesterol lowering mission. Of course, the number one way to lower cholesterol is to lose weight, so that is another thing I'm working on.

I've also started taking these pills called "CholestOff" that a co-worker recommended. I did research on them and figured it was worth a try.

But, in the end, the biggest thing I need to do is lose weight.

So. Frusterating. I'm so over this battle. Over looking at photos and being disappointed in how I look. Over myself for letting this happen, for gaining so much weight and not doing something about it when I had the chance.

And mostly I'm worried that it's something I can't fix no matter how hard I try.

NaBloPoMo Day 30

The end! I made it! Even though my posts have pretty much sucked this month, I still did it!

So Robb called the bank today and we have a claim number. All I know is that they had better get this deposit stuff straightened out soon or I will be calling Chase and having a very loud conversation with their customer service. This is the first time something like this has happened to me with them as my bank and I expect to be overwhelmed by their customer service. So far, I'm not.

Come on Chase, impress me! Don't make me start looking for a new bank again.

I hate the first day back at work after a long weekend. I feel like my brain is molasses. Although I have learned that Mondays at lunch are one of the best days to go to Trader Joe's to get some grocery shopping done. I run there, stop at home to drop off groceries and return to work with plenty of time to spare. I love it.

And today I even found Pfeffernusse cookies for Robb. He loves them so much and they are getting hard to find. After he spent all morning getting LFTI Episode 9 Part 1 online, I figured he needed a treat.

I've been trying to do "meatless" days as a way to work on lowering my cholesterol. It's been a fun way to find new things to eat. Today I nabbed a "Spicy Lentil Wrap" from Trader Joe's and I am so full still, they're not kidding around when they call something spicy. I love it.

Also, I have recently discovered a love for Brussel Sprouts. Tonight we're trying them with olive oil, garlic salt and roasting them. Yummy!

NaBloPoMo Day 29

Last day of vacation before returning to work. Robb has a bunch of work to do today, getting our latest episode all ready for launching, so I've busied myself with vacuuming/mopping and general hanging around enjoying our last day of freedom together.

We walked to the bank tonight, after Robb went for a walk around the park and I did 30 Day Shred (in an attempt to ward off some of the stupid weight I'm sure I gained this weekend). As soon as we got there I knew we should have turned around and went home, but we didn't. Turns out our bank has finally switched to the "no deposit envelopes or slips" method of depositing to an ATM. I figured it was worth trying, but now I know it will be all "walk in and deposit with a teller" for me from now on.

We get to the part where we're supposed to deposit the checks, I put them in the machine and suddenly the ATM loses power as do a few lights around us. I totally freaked out. We call the 800 number posted next to the ATM and speak to a unhelpful "phone banker" who keeps us on the line just long enough to inform us that there's nothing she can do. She gives us Customer Claim number to call and oh sorry, they closed 5 minutes ago. The whole thing had me so pissed off and freaking out as one of the checks we deposited was from Robb's freelance job and it was no small check for us.

UGH! I hate it when this type of crap happens, when I don't listen to my inner critic, things go wrong and then I am doubly mad because I should have known.

Now this had better not keep me up tonight. It's Sunday night and I already have a hard time getting to sleep without being stressed out about money things.

NaBloPoMo Day 28

I'm writing this from my Blackberry as Robb and Zoe are finishing up color correcting LFTI's episode 9, so the computer is all tied up. This is why I need a laptop!

And I'm getting one! As soon as I can get to the Apple store and check out the different sizes as a final check, I've already got everything else decided on what I want. Yay! I can't tell you how excited I am about getting a MacBook Pro! Robb and I have already decided that this will be our Christmas present to each other, the way our camera was last year.

Okay, I'm being told I have to decide where we're going for lunch, so I'm off!