Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Embracing the Summer

Heya, Critters!

I think I'm finally starting to get into my groove with regards to this blog. I spent several months writing a blog for Purific Water USA (you can see some of my work here - I published as "Jannette," which is my full first name), and really got to like how professional and eye-catching their blog was. While the changes to this blog aren't incredibly life-changing or anything, they're fun and scream Summer. At least, they do to me. The background is a Thirty-One pattern, called "Sunny Stripe." Since I'm a Thirty-One Independent Consultant, we get access to all sorts of cool stuff, including backgrounds we can use on our Twitter profiles. Since Twitter changed things around and backgrounds are near impossible to customize, I decided it would be fun to have a Thirty-One pattern as the background of my blog! Since the file specifically notes it's a "Twitter Background," I decided to call our Home Office and ask if it would be okay to use on my blog. I got the a-okay, and here we are!

Let me know what you all think!

While you're leaving me thoughts and comments, let me know what kinds of things you want to see. I'll still be posting about my surgery and the process of losing 100+ pounds, but as I mentioned last post, it's a big waiting game. There may be several weeks between doctors visits/updates, so I won't have anything to document on that front.

I can keep on with the crafting stuff, reviews, etc. None of the past really got many views/comments, so I tried to switch it up.

Basically, you're getting the random thoughts that run through my head regularly. Don't you feel special?? "Inside the Mind of a Caffeine Critter." Hmm...that has a decent ring to it!

;)

*JC*

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Standing Still

I'm really starting to feel like time is standing still. I know it's only been a couple of days since I posted last, but it feels like it has been weeks.

July 8th, the day of my consultation, cannot come fast enough. I went to Dollar Tree and got a composition book to write all my information in so I have it all in one place. This week, I plan on covering and decorating it.

That was always my favorite part of school - book cover time. My mom would always cover my books in paper bags to save money, and I loved it. That meant I could doodle/draw all over my text books and really make them my own. As I've gotten older, instead of scrap books, I cut out things from newspapers and magazines that have meaning to me - pictures, ads, articles, etc. - and glue them into a composition book I've covered in a paper bag and doodled/written on. It is so much fun to go back through the completed book(s) to see how I've changed and grown over the years. A lot of things stay the same, obviously, but some things that were important to me several years ago no longer matter much.

...LoL Quite a tangent I went on, huh?

I guess time standing still isn't that much of a bad thing. I can work on a new technique for my beer mittens, decorate my surgery composition book, learn new recipes, spend time with my husband, watch stupid movies on television...keep myself busy so I don't think how far away July 8th is!

Time to move forward!

*JC*

Thursday, June 12, 2014

The Waiting Game

I'm in the middle of playing "The Waiting Game." A couple weeks ago, Hubby & I went to an informational seminar held at one of our local hospitals. This hospital has a center that specializes in bariatric surgeries, and is one of the top surgery centers in the state. We got to interact with one of the center's surgeons and one of the Physician's Assistants. They were both so personable. It's hard to explain, but they were...human. I was worried they'd be so overly professional and talk down to us. We've all met someone like that - so educated that they make others around them uncomfortable because they don't know how to relate to others who may not be as educated in a certain topic.

Despite not really learning anything new (I've done so much research about bariatric surgeries), it was good to attend. We got to see videos of actual patients who shared their stories with us. We were told about the risks and complications associated with these surgeries. We were given center-specific statistics and got a good feeling that this really was a "Center of Excellence." The fears I had before were calmed. Both Hubby & I felt like this was really the right decision for us.

Yes, for US. While I will be the one having surgery, and I'm the one really struggling with weight loss, this will be something that effects us both for the rest of our lives. The things we eat will change. My appearance (and hopefully confidence level) will change. This is a process we will both be going through together.

I could not have asked for a better support system than my husband.

The day after the seminar, I received a call from the surgical center. They wanted to know if I was interested in moving forward with the process by scheduling a consultation with a surgeon. I agreed. Since I did not have a specific surgeon recommended to me, I was given one at random. There are three surgeons in this center, and two of them studied at my Alma Mater. I was scheduled with one of those two, so I was pretty happy. I know it sounds silly, but when they all have amazing credentials and you don't have any connections with these people, you'll find whatever you can. Especially when your life will literally be in their hands!

My initial consultation is not scheduled until the first full week of July. The informational seminar was on June 3. Over a month of waiting. And there's nothing I can do in the process to get ready. I've done everything I can, thus far. Now, I just have to sit and wait until the consultation and we can get the ball rolling.

This is also cutting in to my Thirty-One schedule. Not that I have a booked calendar right now, but I can't plan things far in advance until I know what is going on with my surgery. There will be a barrage of tests I have to have before I can even schedule surgery. The process from consult to surgery is usually 4-6 weeks. As of right now, I am not scheduling anything after July 6th. Several opportunities have opened up for me to take part in, but they aren't until late July/early August. I suppose I could schedule them now, but there's a large chance I'll have to back out. I can't see spending the money to attend these events as a vendor, only to not be able to show up and not get my money back. Besides, I'd rather have home/online parties than go to an event as a vendor. People tend to want to purchase tangible items at events. While I do sell tangible items, they have to be ordered. Unless you're actually going to a Thirty-One party or placing an order online, you're going to want that feeling of instant gratification. You bought it, you want to take it home right away. I understand completely, especially when it comes to Thirty-One products!!

So now I'm just kind of hanging around. I'm working on other craft projects, but they're mostly things I'm doing for friends. I don't mind doing things for friends, but it usually means I'm not getting paid. I was writing for an awesome company, but they decided a weekly blog post wasn't profitable for them, so they had me start putting together a weekly newsletter. Once they got my first bill (with fees we had agreed upon ahead of time), they decided they didn't want to pay that much for something that wasn't bringing them any new business. Not my fault at all, as I was working off the mailing list they had sent me, but I still got cut because they didn't want to keep paying my fees. Being a new company, I don't blame them, but it still sucks. Writing is what I love!

Things are looking up on my journey to rid myself of this excess weight. It's refreshing to finally feel comfortable in my decision to go through with the surgery (provided the surgeon agrees this is the right path for me).

Now we wait. :)

*JC*