tiger dream

it's been too long since my last post to try and "catch up".. so i'll just jump back in!

i had a dream! this is a normal occurrence for a lot of people, but i rarely remember my dreams. i've been asking God to do a few things. 1 - speak to me in dreams, and 2 - help me remember them! and they both happened just the other night. i shared this dream with a friend who encouraged me to write it down. so here i am, back again. and i'm believing God for the interpretation!

i was on a train, with a lot of people, all dressed very nicely, as if going to work. i have no idea what the time period was, but i don't think it was this century. maybe the last one. we were traveling at a high rate of speed, and it was twilight outside.

suddenly, there were three tigers at the windows of the train! they were trying to swipe the people inside with their claws. there was also at least one tiger on top of the train, pacing back and forth. the thing that was so interesting to me is that no one paid any attention to the tigers. no one was wounded or even bothered by them. but they tried nonetheless to disrupt the train.

then the scene flashed to a deep cave. there were many guards standing in the cave, all of them armed heavily. as the dream moved through the cave, it ended at the back of a man at a touch-screen computer that resembled a chess board. somehow i knew that the man was "in charge" and as i watched him move his finger over the board, the dream flashed back to the train and the tigers would move in the same way.

back at the cave, i watched a samurai sneak in and take out all the guards, one by one. then he snuck up behind the man in charge and slit his throat. the tigers lost interest and walked away.

and that was that.

intriguing. so intriguing that i still remember the details. SWEET!

oh yeah!!

happy birthday to my husband!!! :) :) i love you!

p.s. still gotta get your card!

on this day.. God wants you to know...

"...that decision is only wishful thinking until you take that first irreversible step. You can tell yourself that you have already decided, that nothing now can stop you, but if that step backwards is so much safer than step forwards, what will hold you true to your path when the going gets tough? Sometimes, the right thing to do is to take that first irreversible step, the one after which you cannot go back. And now, for you, is one of those times."

how fitting for this season that i'm entering into... i finally got the nerve to talk to my boss about my career plans and dreams, and she was ON BOARD! i was totally amazed that she was supportive, since i was so nervous to talk to her about it. she offered suggestions on how to go to school while working, and i think it's doable... at least for a few months. i will be starting school in april to train to be a medical assistant. school will be for 7 months on fridays and saturdays (all day!!!) and then the last month will be an externship. i will be finished in december! woot woot!!! :) :)

my eventual plan is to be a registered nurse. the problem is that nursing schools all over the state of colorado have wait lists that are 2-3 years long. after you finish your prerequisites. ouch. i want to be working in the field, making connections long before that. so my answer is medical assisting. hopefully, i'll be able to get on with a great doctor who believes in helping their people succeed and become all they can and want to be, and will offer tuition reimbursement for nursing school.

i am so so so excited about this step i'm about to take! i've been wanting to do this for a long time now. and it's time! :) :) :)

let's talk about getting a new bed

zach and i are getting a new bed with our tax refund. and we're ecstatic about it! we have been married almost 2 years and have been sleeping on a free mattress we got from craigslist right after we moved in together after the wedding.

well, to remember correctly, for the first month we lived together after the wedding, we slept on zach's full mattress. um, we are NOT small people. and it was miserable. we got next to no sleep, and not because we were getting it on. we could barely breathe without waking the other up. not pleasant.

so when we moved into our new place, we found a free bed set on CL and brought it home. the bed has served us well but it's getting thinner and more lumpy and depresses me to no end. no surprise, we're ready for a new bed!

we put getting a new bed at the top of our priority list not too long ago. and it's finally time to follow through! hooray!!

once again, i've gone to CL to see what deals i can find.. i have been surprised by a lot of dealers trying to sell mattresses. we have about $700 allocated for the new mattress, box springs and frame. i found a new pillowtop mattress and box spring in the factory plastic for $265! we may go and look at mattress stores to see if we can find anything that's just amazing, but i am kind of intrigued, for sure.

and i am dying for a good night's sleep!!!! hooray for tax refunds! and hooray for new beds!

february 13, 2010

so i got a new follower to my blog... which means i better start blogging again! YIKES! :) there's been enough to write about, just not enough mental wherewithal to get all of my thoughts out. get it together, bethie! seriously now.

i have recently jumped back on the weight loss bandwagon. for those of you reading that may not know, i had lap-band surgery in june of 2007. i initially lost about 80 pounds, and then dun dun DUN......... i married zach. and then i got super lazy. i gained almost all of that weight back in the next year and a half, which is something i'm not proud of. i have this amazing tool and i was not using it to its full capability. how irresponsible of me.

for those not familiar with the lap-band device or how it works, this is a great site to check out.

i had plenty of excuses for not getting my band filled. i can't get time off work to go. zach likes me just the way i am. i'm healthy enough, just overweight, so who cares? i don't have insurance. (then, when i had insurance) i don't know if the fill is covered by my insurance. i just moved to denver and don't know where to go.

well, i care. zach cares. my parents care. ultimately, God cares. i am supposed to be responsible and take care of my body. our future kids will care.

not to mention, i have PCOS.

PCOS is greatly effected by obesity. and PCOS greatly effects fertility. if i lose weight, the PCOS can get better, although it is not curable. whether or not the side effects decrease, i must take care of my body. afterall, i only have one!

so last week, when i was off work recuperating from gallbladder surgery, i went in for a consultation with a lap-band surgeon here in denver. i was expecting a meeting and to develop a game plan for getting a fill and moving forward. the surgeon decided to do the fill that day. well, he wanted to, but it didn't work out. we ended up having to do the fill the next day under fluoroscope. it's basically a fast-moving x-ray so that the doctor can get real-time images and, in my case, see exactly where the band port is and get the needle in the right spot.

the fill ended up taking a really long time, even under the fluoroscope. and with a great team of radiation techs. it didn't hurt, as they gave me a local anesthetic around the area where the port is located. but we got the fill done, which was the main point.

since the fill, i have lost about 8 pounds. this is a small victory, but a victory that i will celebrate. i am able to eat much less food than before the fill. i am looking forward to many more pounds shed.

stay tuned, won't you? i promise to post much more often.

this has got to be the best day ever!

well.... the best day ever this week, anyway.... hehe.... :)

my diet is going really, REALLY well! yesterday and today my energy level has been through the roof and so i've been able to get some things done that i've been wanting to get done for awhile (aka laundry, cleaning, organizing, etc.) zach helped me rearrange our bedroom and put our new navy sheets that feel like heaven on our bed and the new shite duvet that feels like heaven on the down comforter! we slept so well last night we didn't really want to get up this morning!

plus it's mother's day! and i am so grateful for my mom. she doesn't read this blog because she doesn't know that it exsists, but i love her. she sacrificed for our family for a long, long time so that we would never be in want. i was able to go to any camp, mission trip, school trip, or do pretty much anything i wanted to do (within reason!) because she made sure i had opportunities that she had never had. and now that i'm all grown up and married, she is even cooler! she laughs with me and talks things through with me. she helps me know that i'm going to be ok, no matter the situation. i absolutely adore my mom!

and also, i made the decision on friday night to go to school to become a nurse! can you believe it?!? i think there's something about impending birthdays that make you take inventory and see where you feel you're lacking and work on those things.. i will be 28 in one week and i finally figured out what i want to be when i grow up. it's a really cool thing! it's so funny, because it is the most natural thing in the world for me to be a nurse. :) yay for figuring it out!

i'm am SO ready for 28.... bring it on!

i absolutely love

this time of year... the trees are all turning green, and people seem nicer to each other. the threat of snow is gone in denver (for now, i hear) until winter and life just feels more beautiful.

i started a new diet on monday, and it's going really really well.. i made it up myself so i can only be mad at me if it's too hard or gets monotonous. my goal is to fit into a bridesmaid dress i haven't ever tried on or been measured for on june 7 for my best friend's wedding. i told her today that my diet was going well and she responded, "yay! i'm so happy for you!" i responded back, "i'm so happy for YOU! now i won't look like a platinum stuffed mushroom in your wedding!" i crack myself up! she wasn't pleased but finally laughed. it came to me as an epiphany, so i had to share, RIGHT?? ;)

i am really, really happy with this stationary shop i found on etsy this week! i ordered some notecards for a special someone on may 3, and they were in my mailbox today! and i got 16 cards for $25. what.a.deal! go here: silhouetteblue to see what megan has to offer! she also included a free happy birthday card (even though these weren't for a birthday) and a sweet handwritten note thanking me for my order. i <3 silhoutteblue!

on another note, the daytime receptionist at work is now out on an "indefinite" leave of absence because of a strange stomach thing she has going on.... they have no idea what it is even though they've run multiple tests... she's nearing 70, so this is scary for her, i'm sure.. this means lots of overtime for beth... which i guess is good, since we're going on vacation to texas for my best friend's wedding at the end of may. i'm just going to get a little less sleep than i would like. darn.

saturday, i'm going to start the spring cleaning/organizing of our home! should be a challenge, but i'm up for it!

last note - our landlords are the sweetest! they mailed us an anniversary card with a target gift card in it! what a surprise! :) we love them!