Me, Myself, & Irene

So in case you've been under a rock, the East Coast of the United States was threatened by Hurricane Irene this weekend. The weather people (whose salaries apparently are a direct correlation of how wrong they are about the weather) estimated that the storm would strike the Northeast anywhere from a Category 5 hurricane to a tropical storm. 

I live in a small, rural town, and for the past week, old timers sat on the porches of the general store, sipping their moonshine lemonade from mason jars, strumming their banjos, reminiscing about the other great storms of the last century. (Alright, it was more like standing around the gas station Dunkin Donuts, sipping coffee next to their pickup trucks...we have hit the 21st century). 

By the time Irene finally made her second landing near Coney Island, New York she had been downgraded to a tropical storm with 65 mph winds.

As for me, I bunkered in my apartment with Spooky early Saturday night armed with batteries, flashlights, and food that wouldn't go bad. I figured that this was the time for me to relax and do all those things that I say I never have time to do.

* Iron my work clothes (which I almost NEVER do)

* Watch the Bare Escentuals how-to DVD

* give myself a manicure and pedicure

* Finish rereading The Outsiders, which was my students' summer reading, and creating PowerPoints and study guides on it

* Catch up on The Millionaire Matchmaker, which I've been watching for both entertainment and educational purposes. Sometimes I feel like I should be taking notes. "The penis does the picking. He's not getting up off the couch for you!" And I've adopted her two cardnial rules ("No sex before monogamy! Two drink maximum!) as my own.

* Make chocolate caramel apples, which I had for the first time from Gertrude Hawk Chocolatiers. They are Ah-mazing! and I made one for each of my work friends to celebrate the start of the school year. Here's the recipe.

* Scrub the tile floors of the kitchen and both bathrooms on my hands and knees with a wire brush.

* Started tracking my points for Weight Watchers again. So far, I've been doing okay. My biggest struggles are ensuring that I figure out how many Points the things that I eat are BEFORE I eat them. I went to Dunkin Donuts yesterday and had a pumpkin muffin. I went to track it and discovered that the muffin had 600 calories. SIX-HUNDRED!   OMFG!  

The storm was over Sunday night, and, miraculously we didn't lose power/Internet. Unfortuantely, I'm one of the few lucky ones. Trees are down on powerlines all over my area, and driving around is pretty terrifying because there are trees/branches hanging over the roads. the first day of school has been delayed indefinitely because the school itself doesn't have power and it's too dangerous for the school busses to be travelling alot of the back country roads.

What did you do while waiting for Hurricane Irene to arrive?

Ten On Tuesday #1

1. What is your favorite brand of shoes?


Flip flops- Reefs

Party Heels-     I can't wear them for very long because they HURT my feet, but Baker's, Carlos by Carlos Santana, Nine West, or Jessica Simpson.  

Work Heels: Naturalizer

Boots: Naturalizer or Nine West


2. How old were you when you learned to tie your shoes?

I think kindergarten or first grade. Normal age, I guess.


3. How do you feel about freckles?

Freckles in and of themselves don't bother me. But I kinda have a policy against redheads, especially named Jen, and they all had freckles. It's not a stereotype, I've had three seperate MAJOR issues with psycho redheads named Jen. One of them trained my horse and tried to convince me that he was crazy and I should give him to her. NOT true.  One of them was married, and slept with my boyfriend (Jay) while her husband (Apache) was at boot camp. And I dated Apache, and he wouldn't divorce her, so she was always the white elephant in the room.  And Apache cheated on me with the third redhead. So I have cause.  If you're a redhead named Jen, I'm sure you're a great person. But I'm sure we wouldn't be good friends. We'd probably end up hating each other. Just sayin'.

4. I can count to ten in ___ languages.

Two. English and Spanish.

5. What is your favorite store-bought ice cream flavor?

I love Maine Black Bear by Gifford's of Maine. Yum! It's vanilla ice cream with raspberry swirl and dark chocolate candies filled with raspberry. Yum!

6. Were you in ballet or gymnastics as a little girl?

No :-( I always wanted to do dance as a child, but my parents said no. I don't know if it was because I was overweight or because my parents didn't have enough money for classes. I'm not sure. Nevertheless, let's add dance classes to the list of things I'll do differently when/if I'm a parent.

7. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character?

Big Bird!!!  His puppeteer lives locally, and I've met him a few times.  I've always liked Big Bird though, even as a child. When I was entering kindergarten, my parents gave me the choice of attending the public elementary school or a Catholic one. Too young to understand the dogmatic differences, I chose public because they had Big Bird painted on the wall outside of the classrooms. 

8. What’s your bedtime?

Whenever I feel tired. It's usually around 11. I've resolved to be in bed by 10 starting tonight.


9. Do you have any jewelry that you wear every single day?

I wear my claddagah every day and a pair of silver hoops.


10. Who is the bug killer in your household?

Spooky. He's constantly on the hunt for them. He keeps the condo pretty bug free, so I guess I can keep him.


Want to try your own Ten on Tuesday? Visit Roots & Rings

Weigh In Thursday

Tonight I did something that I absolutely hate to do. But I did it for you, my loyal reader.

I stepped on the scale.

While it was on.

And looked down.

I would post a pic of myself on the scale, as proof. But I was naked. Trust me. That is NOT a pic you all want to see.

My weight, at 11:30 pm on August 25, 2011 is 221.6 lbs. Eek! At 5'3'', I'm morbidly obese.

I've been overweight my entire life, with the exception of a few years where I lost 100 lbs. My family is pretty hefty too, so it's nature and nurture.

One of the things I've done this summer is explore the possiblity of LapBand surgery. My insurance covers it 100%, and it's something I've considered for a while. I'd be lying if I said that losing weight wasn't about appearance, first of all, but it's more about keeping healthy. I have mitral valve prolapse and sleep apnea, all of which are affected by weight. My father is diabetic. It's also about family. My sister, is extremely obese, and I hope that if I lose the weight, she'll be inspired to pursue the surgery on her own.

So, I've spent much of the summer undergoing tests. To date, I've had an Upper GI scan, stress test, psych eval, and visited the nutritionist. I go back to the doctors on October 17 to review the tests and schedule surgery.

I chose LapBand over gastric bypass because I feel it's safer than gb. The surgery is done laproscopically, I'll be out for a few days, and they are not cutting my anatomy. They are simply wrapping a band around my stoamch, which creates a pocket, and then installing a port under my abdomen that allows them to fill or drain the band to adjust my rate of weight loss.

Has anyone ever had LapBand or had a friend/relative that did? I'm interested in hearing other peoples' experiences.

Skinimax

This post is in response to #4 of Mama's Losin' It's August 22, 2011 writing prompts: ".) Write a post that begins and ends with the same sentence."

"You're fucking your cable guy?!" FireChick's voice was a high pitched squeal of excitement that echoed off the mosaic tiles arranged in seascape scenes all around us at the bar.

"Ssh, Firechick!" Thankfully the bar was completely empty at 1pm on a Thursday.

"You're fucking your cable guy?!" She repeated, albiet quieter. She popped the cherry from her Fuzzy Navel into her mouth and began working on tying the stem into a knot. "Dude, you should film that. That's pretty popular chick p0rn."

"He's not my cable guy. He's my grandmother's cable guy," As I said it, I realized just how wrong, on so many levels that statement was, and continued explaining. "And I'm not filming it. Besides, we've known each other for a while. He used to be the head chef at the restaurant I waitressed at. He dated Redheaded Slut. I just ran into him while he was hooking my grandmother's cable up."

"And you fucked him." Firechick's voice was full of glee. She spit the knotted stem onto her cocktail napkin, and slurped more of her drink. Her blue eyes twinkled at me. At least someone was happy that the cobwebs were being swept from my vagina.

I was a bit more skeptical. He and I had flirted through the line while I worked with him, and then when he left to take his new job, we hadn't seen much of each other. It just so happened that my relationship with Apache was on the rocks when I ran into him at my gradnmother's house. He gave me his phone number, yknow, just in case her cable went down unexpectedly, and after one of the many breakups that Apache and I had this spring. I called him. Cue sex on the air mattress that serves as his bed. Sex that felt amazing, physically, but I spent the night squezing my eyes tight and imagining Apache. To make matters worse, Apache called me that night. So, Apache and I got back together, I didn't see CableGuy for a month or so. Apache and I would break up. I'd sleep with cable guy. rinse. wash. repeat.

After it was clear to me from the Memorial Day breakup that Apache and I are done for good, I started talking more and more to CableGuy. With him, suddenly, I no longer closed my eyes and imagined Apache's face and hands. I enjoyed being with him. His smell. How he left early for work only to return with a muffin and coffee for me. The way he kissed my forehead at night, let me sleep in while he went to work, and how he came to snuggle with me in between jobs. To be honest, I could fall for him, but I'm not sure that's what he wants. I'm not even sure how to go about talking with him about exactly what this is. He doesn't text, and I don't hear from him every day. A huge part of me knows that if he was interested in a relationship, I'd hear from him every day. He also smokes alot of weed. I'm not so keen on that because of how much trouble I could get into if I was near him when he go caught.

I went for dinner at the restaurant where we worked at  the other night with a friend and ran into CableGuy there. He came over, gave me a kiss, and then went to join his friends. As I sat back down with my friend, she looked quizzically towards his direction.

"Isn't that.....?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Does he still work here?"

"No, he's a cable technican now."

"You're fucking your cable guy?!"

What I did on (the last day of) my summer vacation.

* Changed my blog layout/design, in anticipation of lots of blogging from here on out.
* Went to visit Sin & had coffee with her and her mother, SheWhoMustBeObeyed.
* Sin & I went for an hour long trail ride with Magic and one of her beautiful Lippizans.
* Gave Magic a bath and brushed him all up. He looked good enough for the show ring. He promptly rolled.
* Had a glass of wine and dinner at my cousins' house (okay, three glasses of wine.) Currently in a food coma on the couch.
* Contemplating going to CableGuy's (that's a story for another time...) house for the night. I'm not entirely sure if it's sex or a relationship he's looking for. Since sex with him is the B.E.S.T. I've had. ever. with anyone. I'll take it where i can get it. I'm following the Millionaire Matchmaker's rules of no sex before monogamy with anyone I'm seriously dating.... but who says I can't have a little fun until I've gotten a commitment?
* Reblocked Psycho, who is Apache's new girlfriend. I can browse Facebook in peace again. Thank god.

So what happened? (a long post)

2 1/2 months out from the break up and after about 1 month of NC (no contact), I think I'm finally ready to tell you all about what happened.... without writing an entry that sounds like I'm vomiting emotions.

As followers of this blog know, I was dating a deployed United States soldier, who I refer to as Apache. Apache and I had, at least I thought we had, this amazing relationship that was able to survive a year-long deployment. We had discussed plans for moving in together, having children, the whole thing. I was completely and blindly in love with him, and thought that we could outlast anything. I knew that coming home he would have his own challenges reintegrating into society and dealing with PTSD. I resolved myself to stay by his side and help him through it all.

He came home in November 2010, and I knew things were different, immediately. He pulled away, and I watched as this close relationship we had fell apart. In January 2011, I found out that he had cheated on me with a girl he had been deployed with, and apparently he slept with her several times since he had come home. I confronted him, and we broke up. Two weeks later, he called saying how much he missed me and how much he had fucked up. We got back together.

We went through several on and off periods, usually when I found out that he had been sleeping with someone else. Why did i take him back? Because the army therapist i had been seeing kept telling me that this was "normal" for someone who had been deployed to act when he got home. So each time I confornted him about his infidelity, he would break up with me, and I would tell him "I love you. I'm here when you're ready." Two weeks later, he'd be back.

The last break up happened in May. It was the anniversary of his friend's death in Afghanistan, and he was going to the bar with friends. He had told me he was going to be getting extremely drunk, and I had told him I would pick him up whenever he wanted to go home. He never called, and when I checked his facebook the next day, I found out he had was extremely drunk and emotional, met this girl, told her his entire life story, and she took him and his roommate home, and he invited her out to dinner. I confronted him on it, and we broke up.


He didn't miss a beat and began seeing her. In fact, three days after the breakup, he told a mutual friend that "she made him believe in relationships again". WHAT?!?! He and I had broken up so many times that I didn't take the breakup seriously. There had been other girls, but he had come back to me. It makes me wonder how many of those other girls rejected him...I know at least one did.

Confronted by the reality of just how little respect for me he apparently has, I lost it. My ex wanted me to just fade silently into the background. I was angry and demanded explanations from him. We had been on and off so many times, that I didn't go no contact (NC). I carried on like nothing was wrong which had worked during push-pull before. And when I found out that he was going on a date with this girl, I was extremely intoxicated and resorted to the one thing I knew would hit him below the belt: I told him I was pregnant and that I was having an abortion. At the time, i wanted to make him hurt for all the times he had betrayed me & lied to me, humiliated me, and all the hurt I had endured since he had come home, after I had supported him through EVERYTHING he had gone through before, during, and after deployment. After I sobered, and realized what I had done, I came clean to him.

I still talked to him, and he would respond back to me... it was strained, but I was used to him needing a break, especially when he was stressing about something else in his life. I resolved to just give him time to come back.

A week after the breakup, I went to Washington DC with my students, and two things happened while I was gone. 1, a mutual friend of ours was struck by lightening and was listed in the newspaper as critical condition. 2. My doctor called me because they suspected a lump I had found in my breast the week before was cancerous. I contacted him for both those things, to see how his friend was, and to get support from him. He told me that his friend was okay, and told me he was sorry I was going through everything.

A week later, someone with a vaguely familiar name friended me on facebook. I accepted the friend request, and sent her a message asking how I knew her. While I was waiting for a response, I started browsing through her pictures. I found a pic of Apache and the new girl. The person who had friended me was her cousin. Right about that time, the girl sent me a message saying she thought I went to college with her. I sent another message back, telling her that didn't need the drama she was trying to bring, that dealing with the breakup was hard enough. She responded back that she didnt know what I was talking about...that my Apache had told the new girl that he had been broken up with me for months because I was "psycho." I responded back that she was sorely mistaken, we had been dating the night he had met her, and the new gf called me (my cell # was on FB). She was, at first, extremely sweet and apologetic, and said that she had no idea that he had a gf, and she would back off immediately. She must have confronted him. Apache texted me and told me how I had "ruined his life. And he never wanted to talk to me again." GREAT.

After that, I began receiving harassing messages from her. I really think that she had her cousin friend me to start drama between my ex and I to push us farther apart, and it worked. I didn't respond to her, and tried to keep my distance from him. After a month or so, I realized he was not coming back anytime soon, and a family friend of his told me that he had borderline personality disorder and sent me this link about how the BPD relationship starts. It was the perfect pattern of how our relationshp had started, and how his other relationships had been. I just wanted my things back, and would text him once a week or so to get my things back. She would respond every time from her phone-- acting extremely nasty, telling me how pathetic I am. Apparently, my ex is making me out to be the persecutor, and triangulating in earnest. I refused to engage with her, and wouldn't respond.

A month ago, I called him and left a phone message about my things. This launched a volley of threats and accusations from her. And then he called me back, with her screaming in the background, calling me all sorts of names and daring me to fight her. I had had it. I'm tired of being made to feel like I'm psycho for having developed anxiety/depression as a result of being in this relationship or pathetic for still loving someone I had been with for two years, and supported through a horrific deployment. Her words stung, and I grabbed my keys, and started driving the hour towards her house. My cousin, recognizing that I was about to get myself into a heap of legal/physical trouble, had her state police friends pull me over. I showed the troopers the messages from her, and they said that they would get involved.

A few days later, I got some nasty messages from my Apache about how ridiculous I was being for having the police involved to get my things back--things that I didn't need. I told him that it was not up to him to decide, and that I wanted to come get my things, or I would show at this house with a trooper. He said that I was "stalking" and "harassing" him (I had texted him only three or four times, and have purposely stayed away from the city he lives in.) And that he never wants to see or talk to me again, and if he does he would have the police involved. But I got my things back the next day.

Then, a week or so after, I get a message from the cousin:: "I'm not trying to get in the middle nut it's time for you to move on. Did you forget that I'm a nurse!? This breast ca bs is bogus. A dear friend and coworker of mine recently died suddenly of an undiagnosed cancer. It makes me sick to my stomach to think some one would use that to draw attention to themselves. I think it's time for you to move on and leave well enough alone. "

What the hell??!?!? I've said nothing to my ex since last week, why this? why now? the cancer was not made up, though luckily the operation I had two weeks ago to remove the lump came back negative for cancer. Thank God. But I wasn't about to call him and tell him that...

I blocked her on FB, and didn't respond. I'm not stupid. I know she's fishing for a reaction that she can use to make my exBPDbf even more upset with me. It makes me wonder, though, about how happy their relationship is. If it was the "perfect" relationship, she wouldn't feel the need to be this possessive or aggressive. Right?

Then today, I get a message from the girlfriend. Apparently, my facebook unblocked her last night (and I have to wait 48 hours to block her again): "Yes we are still together. You can quit stalking me. I can see when u block and unblock me. FYI."

I have half a mind to message back, but I do NOT need this shit. I want the drama to be OVER. All of this, is high school shit. I'm on the road to getting better, to finally letting him go and moving on. I have to focus on me, and do what needs to be done.