Bubbles

I feel like I have huge bubbles floating around in my belly and they won't come out. Big fat bubbles and they really hurt. I can't imagine what I ate today to contribute to these big bubbles but here they are. Me and the bubbles. On the couch. Uncomfortable. Painful.

I did actually get a run in yesterday. Mike and I went together after work. It was good as it got me off the hook for today. Today I would rank as an A as I had a closing (Fin A LY ) and I had the late afternoon off (the first one since Vegas...whee). I spent the afternoon visiting N and G. We watched some pretty bad TiVo. Excellent. The good news is that I dropped a few pounds yesterday due to a very over active evening. Well that and we finally ate a healthy dinner. For some reason last night at 11 PM I thought it was imperative to find a box of contacts I had lost about a month ago. I was possessed. I looked and looked. Mike was looking. Dot was looking. On and On. I think the cup of coffee I had at 9 PM was not helping. Anyway, the looking led to room cleaning led to furniture moving led to 1:30 AM and no sleep. Why oh Why? A horrible night of sleeplessness ensued and I was pretty miserable this morning. Ah, such is life. At least I dropped a few pounds.

In the poker front I played 2 tournaments and came in second for both. I get to move up a level although I still have 3 more to play. I'm having a heck of a run of cards right now (quad kings never hurts) so I have to prepare myself for rockier roads ahead. I'm finding the heads up play very hard for me. I seem to get frustrated as it seems more like luck than anything else and I don't hang in and fight till the end. Need to work on this a bit. Timing seems imperative as well as playing the right hands during different stages of play. Those stupid blinds that keep on increasing just add a whole new level of hell to the game. Dammit! I seem to play first thing in the morning as it's easiest while I follow up email, etc. I decided to try a game this evening and it definitely felt a bit different. I'll have to change it up a little bit so that I get both crowds.

Anything and Everything

Thank you very much ladies! I am very encouraged that you are in fact interested in reading about the things that drive my daily existence, as mundane and repetitive and as self absorbing as they are. I think RG's division of work heading is brilliant as it allows you to skip right over those boring parts.

Personal: Since yesterday..let's see. Yes, I have one! Mike and I went to Swing Thai today for the first time. They just opened up here in the Highlands. It was yummy, sooo yummy. I loved it very much and I will be sad to see the scale tomorrow. I had intended to workout this morning but you can read all about that in the work paragraph if you care to. I keep trying to convince myself that I am developing excellent tummy muscles but the sad truth of the matter is that a fat roll is a fat roll no matter how hard you try to make it look like something else. Sigh. I did watch the Apprentice last night and it was very good. The people this year are definitely interesting and very snide. Excellent.

Work: My morning workout died last night when a client wanted to see a property this morning at 7AM. It's hard once you start the day to backtrack and then fit the workout in as it all seems to snowball. The good news is that the property we looked at is under priced. The bad news is that there are already 7 offer, 2 of which are cash, on the table and it was only listed yesterday. At this point we are a lame duck and I know it. Once I got back home at around 8AM things just got even nuttier. A property I have had on the market for 4 months gets 2 offers within 24 hours. It is a very strange situation because both agents work in the same office. Stranger still because one of the offers we rejected last week, Offer 1. Offer 1 told Offer 2 about the house and Offer 2 loved it and submitted. Offer 1 then decided they still love the house and re-submitted. Offer 1 should kick themselves because they have shot themselves in the foot. The 2 agents are friends and seem to constantly get head to head on these types of things. Very interesting. Oh well, what can you do? Oh, here is the other odd thing. Offer 2's buyers, both the husband and wife, work the same job as what the sellers did when they worked in Denver. Each wife has the same title and the husbands even worked at the same company! Talk about a coincidink. Hard to ignore that knock on the door. In other news my buyer seminar went okay last night. I was late, our room was double booked so we had to move to the basement, but we had 4 groups turn up which was dandy. I think it went better than last month and next month will hopefully be smashing.

Poker: Okay, so you know who has encouraged me to chronicle my, probably very short, journey in an attempt to win some satellites to play in the Women's World Poker Open which will be next spring in England. We met a gentleman in Vegas who encouraged us to work our way over there. The trick is I have to learn to be a tournament player which is very very difficult. The goal is to start playing "sit and go" tournaments. These are one table tournaments and only last a short time. I'm supposed to start off by playing the lowest level. The goal, as I understand it (RG please correct if I'm wrong) is to play at least 10 of these a week. On any given week if I am in the money 50% or more of the time then I can move up to the next level. This confuses me because if it takes 9 weeks to get to that point then you can move up to the next level and still have a net loss. The good news is that I can play these tourneys in the background while doing other administrative work during the day. Here is the update for this week which is the first week of the endeavor. I'm on level 1 ($6 tournaments). I have played 5 tournaments so far this week. My placements: 2,6,1,1,2. I'm not too excited yet as there are at least 5 more to go and it seems that luck plays a huge part in this. I'll keep ya posted.

Anything? Anything at all?

I've come to the conclusion that I must be a pretty boring and repetitive person. I can think of absolutely nothing to write about. I'm trying to not mention the topic I'm trying not to mention and alas, there is nothing else! This is horrible. I guess it comes down to balance and it seems I'm lacking some balance. Hmm...There must be something..Anything..Anything at all..nope..can't think of a thing..oh one thing..the only other thing it seems I do!

My workouts are going good. I'm gaining weight because we are eating so poorly. I hate getting on the scale in the morning and seeing how bad it all is. I guess I'm headed towards "Fat and Fit" if I don't correct my path pretty soon. Mama Mia..balance..balance..balance. Mike was out of town this weekend and I was so bored and so sad. It's so odd how you take for granted all the wonderful things his is and does for me. Yikes..Definitely added some perspective to the past few months. I was trying to think of anything to do other than go home and notice his absence. I called RG but she was gone, I didn't think calling my other buddies the night of would be considered "cool" so it was just dismal. I landed up playing with nail polish on Saturday night and doing a really bang up French manicure. Hopefully not too many people noticed.

My Dad is so funny. He was so excited about the stock market yesterday he called me and called me until he got a hold of me. I asked "Well, how good was it!" and he said "It was so good that I upgraded our accommodations at Turning Stone to the most expensive there is". Now, ladies, this is a miracle. My dad is the Frugal King. If there is anyway to save money and pinch pennies he would. Unfortunately, he is also trusting and gullible and has lost I have no idea how much money to bad people. Like so much money I wouldn't have to work right now. It's terrible but true. He has had so many hard things happen in his life and yet he is so even tempered and accepting. Ah, he is amazing. I can't help but worry "what will happen if..." It makes me tear up just thinking about it. I cannot imagine a world where he is not there to talk to every day. I feel so amazingly lucky that we were able to establish a relationship. Had he never left you know who then I don't think I would know him as I do today. Sorry..side tracked..anyway, the miracle is that he updated the accommodations! I'm in shock. Hopefully nothing will turn before we go as he might rue the decision or we will be back at the Days Inn. Darn. Keep your fingers crossed.

Please Help?

I'm so vexed because the office mate from hell has moved in. You know those people that have really loud voices and annoying inflections in their voices? Yup..it's that one and she has moved in. Lord have Mercy! She is distracting the hell out of me. I hate sharing my office!! Dammit..she needs to move out! If I hear "I hear you Sister' on more time I will throw up. Anyway, I had the thought that if I did not eat candy or sauces I would be as skinny as a pole. So please help me rid myself of those evils as well. Ach.

Back In The Groove..Kind Of

Well, it has taken me a while to get back into my routine. About a week in fact. I didn't even do an Open House this past weekend. I'm going to feel the pain of this decision in a few months as I've skipped 2 weekends in a row. How could I with such excitement? The baby is amazing and very very cute. I kept wanting to go back to the Hospital which probably wasn't the best for Mom so I am restraining myself as best I can not to plague them. My nick name for him is Chicklet and I am obsessed with buying anything with chickens on it for him. It doesn't help that Easter is around the corner and just about everything has chickens on it. This I did not budget for this! Damn Easter. Here he is.



Taxes are done! Yeaah! It feels good to have that out the way. I bought a new pair of running shoes with the Vegas winnings which I am very excited about. Unfortunately the dismal weather has not allowed for much running. I did the horrible rabid rabbit workout yesterday to compensate for the weather. Yuck.

Work is thankfully on a much more sustainable pace right now. Unfortunately I'm 0-4 (soon to be 0-5) for contracts submitted/contracts accepted. Just odd stuff going on right now. It doesn't help that I specialized in one of the hottest areas and every developer and their dog is coming to the table with cash. Hard to beat that. Anyway, I'll keep plugging along and try to not let this bother me.

What else is going on? hmm..nothing really. MM your blog is so entertaining! I love the heritage thingy, etc. and the chalk pictures. Please don't ever work again and just keep on blogging. RG..I miss Vegas horribly. I looked into Foxwoods for my family in April (5 hour drive from Dad's) but gambling age is 21. Instead we will all go to Syracuse for 2 days to a resort there. I cannot believe me, my dad, and my younger brother are going on a poker trip! Hilarious! MB..I think your child is sure to be a genius..geek or no geek!

Excited!

I'm very excited for Vegas. It's just fantastic. I woke up this morning at 6 ready to jump out of bed, start packing, and get the show on the road! I feel really energized today for some reason. It may be because I decided not to fall asleep in front of the TV and actually go to bed one time and not 2 times. It could be the horrendous workout from yesterday. It could be because I've not been working as hard this week. It could be all these things. Either way, I'm psyched and I'm ready to go!

This morning I'm a bit stiff (okay, who am I kidding? I'm a lot stiff) and still trying to avoid working out. I'm 6lb over now!! Of course, I'm still eating very badly (chips, chocolate, fudge, candy - that was just yesterday). I have to get this under control. I think I'm going to start Fit Day again just to control the food. It's definitely getting away from me. I wish there was some sort of moderation in my life. Ah well, what can you do? I'm going to try and be a good girl in Vegas by eating well and working out (yeah, I know, what else have I been smoking?)

Yesterday was the Realtor Rally. What a snooze fest. I seriously could have done without it. The good news is that Nina and I showed up for only the last 10 minutes but even that was overkill. In a way I should be better because there are some very cool vendors there with neat products but I just don't like those events. Selling my own services is enough of a hassle every day that listening to others just makes me want to barf!

The Reviews Are In

After much agony the stupid workout videos finally arrived. In an effort to rationalize not jogging today I decided to do all of the videos so that I would know what they are all about. Not a good idea.

Jillian Michaels: Picture rabid rabbits jumping and hopping around on speed while lunging, weight lifting, power kicking, and doing manic jumping jacks. Hmmmm. The workout is excruciatingly difficult and definitely kicks butt. The problems are that Dear Jillian doesn't know her left from her right. So when she says right she should be moving her left so that you mirror her. Instead, she moves her right. Sheesh. She is not very good with giving directions either. She just yells "Hollow Man, now, in the floor, go, go, go" and your just thinking "What the @#$T% is she talking about" and by the time you figure it out you have to rewind. Very annoying. I don't like her style either. She likes to sit on the men's chests and give them crap. Very junior high like. Overall this is a very high intensity cardio workout combined with strength training. It's a great way to burn tons of calories on those days you don't feel like going to run.

Kathy Smith: "Weight Training to Lose Weight". I can see why Kathy is a bestseller. Picture a very polite air hostess giving very concise directions on how to exit a burning plane while remaining calm, graceful, and beautiful while all you are thinking is "Please Let This Be Over" I think I like the way her body looks the most too. Michaels looks a little bit hard while Kathy (although much older) looks very feminine. Of course, the fake boobs probably help in that department too. Overall an excellent upper and lower body workout to tone and strengthen. The DVD comes with 4 total workouts and she is very smart because she each one you can vary use different weights so that you never plateau. It's an excellent system because you could use it and vary your routine for a long time. Definitely worth the money and I could see myself doing this after a run to strengthen up. Each workout is only 20 minutes so it's very easy to squeeze in.

Dennise Richards: Imagine you are on Mars with huge big silver shining plastic balls floating around. This is her set. It's very odd. The other 2 have these neat loft like sets with wood floors and brick walls but her set has these weird shapes everywhere with odd colors. I didn't actually do her workout because after 80 minutes of hell I'd had enough. Her "Shrinking Female Fat Zones" seems to incorporate more pilates and calisthenics than anything else. This is a good balance because Jillian will be cardio, Kathy will be toning, and Dennise can be flexibility. The bad part is I don't think this woman looks very fit or toned (I'm very critical of course). Not only that she speaks a lot with her eyes. So when ever she emphasizes something her eyes bug out. Her voice is very rhaspy kind of like a WWF announcer or something. Some of her moves remind me of the seniors workout you can sometimes catch on PBS. It's all very disconcerting because it's a bug eyes WWF workout doing senior moves in space. Who knows. I can see myself doing this occasionally. I think the Windsor Pilates videos I have may be a bit better.

Overall I'm very please as now I have tons of variation to keep me motivated and to keep my muscles energized.

Do I Have To..

go running today? I just can't get myself up and about. I must have some of Moos Oscar blues. The terrible part is that I'm 5lb overweight. I know it's from all the stupid candy and bad sugar carbs I've been eating. I must do better! I keep hoping secretly it is from the weight training I've added. Ha, Ha, dream on. Speaking of which: WHERE ARE MY TAPES. Dammit, this is annoying and it's also the last time I don't pay for quicker shipping. My temperament is too involved with instant gratification that I cannot stand to wait this long for things. I ordered a blue tooth headset on Friday and I will bet the farm it gets here first. Sheesh.

In chicky news, we did our chicky in the new roasting pan we bought. The bad part was that we added veggies to the pan and so it didn't come out perfectly. I remember now that any moisture (steam from veggies) will ruin the chicky. Drat. The good news is that the oven did not smoke and fill the house with intolerable chicky smells. Go Roasting Pan. Next time: no veggies in covered pan. Hopefully it will still come out perfectly. If not: back to stinky smoking oven. Thank You oven people for making the self cleaning mechanism.

I'm very tempted not to go in to work today. We have training every Tuesday and the thought of sitting there sucks. I would much rather multi task (address envelopes and watch Starting Over). I seem to think that this whole week is a Holiday instead of just the latter part. Eh well, what can I say? Besides, if I stay at home and work here then my tapes may get here in the mid morning which would solve my running aversion. That way I can do a tape instead! Brilliant. It seems I should not go to work. Yeaaah!

In gnat news, we seem to have these tiny little fleas/gnats flying about and I have no idea where they came from. Maybe it's from the dead roses I need to throw out. It's very annoying as I'm worried they are procreating and creating baby gnats all over the house. Drat the Gnats.

And The Oscar Goes To...

All my fantastic friends. I was thinking there should be an Awards ceremony for all the fantastic people in our lives. It could be like an extra birthday. Celebrity implies celebration because we celebrate them in our lives. I think we need to celebrate our friends more and give them the same attention that we give these celebrities. We could have categories like "Best Dressed" and "Funniest" and "Call On Anytime" and "Life Saver" and "Best Therapist" and "Best Dinner Host" and so on and so on. It's not often that we take the time to say those things to one another because it takes effort, emotion, and sometimes embarrassment if we are out of practice. Well, thank god for Blogs! I would like to present all my fantastic friends all over the world with this years Oscar for "Best Support System In The World"! You guys all rock (and are my rock) and I'm very glad to have met all of you along this journey we call life.

Defeated

I feel so defeated right now I'm crying. I know I have to stop feeling this way but for some reason it just plagues me. I found this great house for my clients that I knew would be an amazing fit. It was perfect. We were the first people in the house (7AM Friday!) and we put a very very strong offer in. We did everything right, but alas, they had several offers in by the end of the first day and they took an offer that had a higher down payment than what we had. Rats. It's just hard to break that news to them because I know in that they would be so freaking happy in that house. I know I can't feel like this come Open House time because it will reflect in my presentation. Ah, SNAP OUT OF IT. I don't know why I take this personally but for some reason I feel like I let them down although I know there is absolutely nothing I could have changed. I can't give them more of a down payment or lie in the contract that they have a higher down payment. It just kills me though. I have to get over this because it will happen again, it has happened before, and I cannot let this affect how I interact with people today. I cannot feel defeated, or a failure, or that I let my clients down but I can't help but feel that way. Yikes. Where is the though skin when you need it. I think I am just so over tired that my emotions are so extreme right now. RG, if I get beat on the river this week expect explosive outbursts and stream of tears. Mama mia.

Happy Anniversary!! & BAAAD Sweet Tooth.

2 years!! Can you believe it? I cannot believe it. It flies by so freaking fast. Anyway, what does 2 years mean? For one, I could start my own company as I've put in my required time under supervision. I would not do that now though because RER is so freaking awesome and the cost to do my own would be way higher than my cost now. It means I'm now a teenager and not a toddler so I can better defend myself against predators and my chances for long term success are much higher. Yeah!

In other news, my stupid workout DVD's are stuck at Amazon. They haven't even shipped them yet! That's the last time I get super saver shipping. What a farce. I ordered them forever ago. Does anyone pay for the year round express shipping? We should start a club so we can order with that person and then just pay them with pay pal and we can share the cost of the yearly rate. What do you guys think? I know, I know, a logistics nightmare but I really want my freaking tapes! Dammit! Or, we could start a generic Amazon account that has all our addresses in it and then just pay with our own credit card and anyone could log in whenever they like. Wheeeeee.

My very naughty and very bad sweet tooth is rearing it's ugly head. I'm probably eating about 400 calories of candy every single night. The good news is I'm not gaining weight. The bad news is I'm not loosing weight. I guess it just means I'm running to eat candy. I have to cut it out. It's terrible. Stupid England. I love candy so much and now I've created an after dinner candy eating frenzy that I cannot break. Please advise. It sucks. I have to stop. Bad Bobette.

Where Is My Talent?

Okay, it's times like these that I need Meg Moos amazing throwing up talents. I woke up 3:30 ish from a dream regarding sewer lines, housing resales, and other such boring things. I think the real thing that woke me up though is the after effects of dinner at The Broker. Ah, woe is me. The food was amazing and very yummy. The problem was I ate too much. I wish I hadn't and now I cannot go back to sleep. I just feel sick. Yuck. Why don't I have the golden touch? Or maybe it's more of a gross touch? Either way, any touch right now would work. I just kept eating and eating. My tummy is just not used to rich foods anymore. Poor tummy.

In other tummy news, I'm desperately hoping that my Amazon workout videos will amazingly appear on my doorstep this morning so I can do them instead of going out to run. I just don't feel like it today. No sir. I figure I can fart ass through a video and at least be somewhat comfortable and still pretend that it's a workout.

Thanks all for the good comments. I know you are right. I feel bad for this guy because he is a past client and because I told him if you work hard you will be okay. Apparently he is working hard but no doing okay according to my secret sources. Yikes. I guess helping him would be like shooting myself in the foot but I feel this huge sense of responsibility in some ways. Why, oh why, oh why. Woe is me.

I think I will take Lola to the doctor today. She is not sick, but just needs a once over. Poor thing. I've been scheming to get some stickers made of my very corny logo and stick it over the booboo on her bum. Then maybe she will feel complete once more? Worse is finding a new home for Fredericka. I think she knows now that there is a new wench in the driveway that her days are numbered. It seems so sad though to give her up. She is such a good little (although possibly dangerous) car. I guess she will go to a nice charity that will hopefully treat her well. Sigh.