Aha, as promised! Here's a very recent picture of me! Alas, it's not exactly my Sunday Best, but this will do! And it's not the best either, this was a picture originally taken of me and my two co-workers sandwiching me, but I cropped them out to come up with this picture, and I'm squatting between the co-workers, so hence I look awkward. *grins*

Changing this to black and white was the only way I could salvage the "beauty" of this picture.

But don't worry friends, I didn't exactly crop my co-workers out of the picture permanently, I just saved this as a copy while keeping the original so that picture of me and my co-workers does still exist.

I don't really have anything "meaningful" to say today, just wanted to post this picture so that you can all try to forget the one with the bruise on my neck!

Hello friends! My lil sistah contacted me this morning asking for blog information on a friend of ours, and I shared mine with hers. After sharing mine with hers, I decided to go back and take a look at my blog, and I was horrified at the last time I put in a message, right after my wisdom surgery! Now, I assure you all, my neck's all better! Way back to normal, no need for the fashionable scarves at work, but I still wear them whenever the mood strikes tho. I should update you all with a more updated picture of me and what I look like now, but I'll have to find someone to take a picture of me in my "Sunday" best (which would be jeans and a black shirt), I'm always wearing black because of my job as Customer Service Rep for CSDVRS. Wearing black helps my hands stand out more, so I've gotten into the habit of wearing black on a daily basis. And it doesn't hurt that black is very slimming!

I became a member of the YWCA here in Sioux Falls, and am now taking advantage of their resources, started going this week because I couldn't exercise last week while recovering from the surgery. But am committed to going at least 3 times a week and using their swimming pool, oh la la. Jennifer is also a member, we both are committed to eating right, staying healthy, and getting back in shape. We both used to be on the swim team back in the old days, and we were both born swimmers. I started racing when I was 7 years old, and Jennifer started a little before I did, but we grew up as swimmers. But I quit at 16, and she quit a little later, maybe when she was 17 or 18, and we just didn't keep up with staying in shape since. It's been 11 years for me, and the time is now right to try to get back to my swimming form. Like I said, started this week, so I've been doing laps. Jennifer has a week on me, she started going while I was recovering. So we're up to 20 laps (finally did 20 laps yesterday!), only did 10 last Tuesday - that's how OUT of shape I was! Back in the old days, we could do 20-50 l aps before swim practice and AFTER swim practice (for a total of 40-100 laps per practice) without breaking a sweat, but now we're already *panting* after 20. We just need to slowly build our stamina and increase our endurance.

And yes of course, we'll have to quit smoking too. *grins* I realized after swimming like 2 laps, I was soooo out of breath - but at least I know what I have to do, the next thing is to prepare myself to do it. Each person has his or her own brand of success when it comes to quitting smoking, and I don't think whatever works for one person will work for everyone. So I have to figure out what will work for me and stick to it. I've already tried to quit a few times using different strategies, and they all failed. Some may say it's all about willpower. I do agree, but sometimes will power is not everything. There are other factors as well: Stress (of course, the famous factor); habit (some people think that this is not a factor, but I strongly believe it is) and peers (if your friends light up in front of you, and you desperately want to join them).

But at the same time, I should take a few other factors into consideration to push for quitting: Health (the most obvious reason); children (if you have any - which I don't) and a significant other (if they don't smoke, and if they hate you smoking - a significant other which I don't have but probably would have if I did quit?) Those are things I have to take into consideration.

My roommate said to me the other day, almost a year ago, "The only reasons you would ever quit smoking is for a boyfriend or if you got pregnant." Well, you know, those two do go hand in hand, how can you get pregnant without a boyfriend? (I know there are possibilities) - so basically the boyfriend would be the obvious answer - I just need to work on getting one, especially one that doesn't smoke and hates it. However the fact is, above all, one should quit smoking for themselves. That's what I believe, and that's what I will stick to - when I'm ready to quit, I will quit. I just hope no one comes up to me 5 years from now and look at me funny if I'm still smoking. *smiles*

Oh la la - I'm gonna get off now, get ready for a day (which should be interesting) at work. My shift co-worker has the day off today and it's going to be interesting working with a co-worker from the day shift who is covering for my shift co-worker. I hope that made sense. *smiles*

Have a good day y'all!!!

*hugs*

I just thought I'd update you on what's up with me. Can't believe it's February 1st already. The month of January has come and gone in the blink of an eye!

I had wisdom surgery last Friday (my first surgery in 14 years. The last surgery I had was for my tonsils when I was 13). They pulled out three of my wisdom teeth. I came out of the surgery looking like a FAT chipmunk. Before I had the surgery, I had heard that you would look like a chipmunk, but in the two days following the surgery I really looked like a FAT chipmunk! I couldn't eat real food and I couldn't smoke. I was miserable over the weekend, but brightened up a little when two of my friends stopped by to visit on Sunday night. Of course, I had my roommate Katie, and I was willing to let her see me at my worst. She said to me the other day that I was far better during the week than I had been on the weekend when I was moping around in the mornings, but would get better at night. Well, I always felt my worst in the mornings and after I iced down my cheeks, I would feel a little better, a little more positive because the swelling would go down.

This picture was taken this morning, 5 days after the surgery, I'm still looking a little like a chipmunk, but can you believe the bruise I have on my neck?!? That's how bad my swelling was. My cheeks swelled up and my neck swelled up. The bruises are all results of swelling, the bruises mean that the swelling is gone, and what's left behind? Broken blood vessels because my skin stretched so bad with the swelling. My bruise looks like someone punched me in the throat, or tried to strangle me or I was hit with a softball ball or a baseball ball. Man... When I go to work, I have to use a scarf to cover the bruise up. I'm just glad scarves are fashionable!

And oh yes, I got new glasses the day after New Year's. My old ones broke at work New Year's Eve! Janny helped pick them out, they look good dontcha think? I mean, look at the picture, imagine me with no bruises, (as you all knew me those many years) and focus on the glasses, they do look good don't they? *smiles*

This concludes the update.

I'll be baaaacccckkkkk with more updates!

June