Parker's Pad

[Gemme]

That is very cute and definitely a conversation piece, Parker! Besides, you can always sell it yourself once you've settled nicely in IL.

If you can't find a matching shingle, spray paint the spot. That would bug me too, so I get it.

[Parker]

Ugh ... the woman from the rescue - the one who shorted me when she reimbursed me and then got mad that I wanted the $7+ she shorted me (but never gave it to me even though she said she would) was a complete bitch to me when I dropped Max off this morning at the adoption event (from which I am not picking him up - that was me giving him back to them for good).

I walk in there with Max in one arm, clinging to my neck like a baby, while also holding his bag of stuff in that hand (I even provided them with enough dehydrated food to last Max through the end of the month) and I had Sally on a leash in my other hand.

Amy just looks at me and walks away - she wouldnt help me or talk to me - didnt even thank me for the container of food. In short, she acted like a damn child.

It's just so awesome when someone screws me over and treats me like crap and then gets mad at me like it was my fault they are such a bitch.

But it's done now - I blocked her on FB the instant I got home and now that they have Maxie back, I dont ever have to deal with her or that rescue ever again.

Like I said before, I feel really guilty doing it this way, but honestly, unless Max is at her house and she is having to take care of him, she would never find him a home and he was just way too stressed out living here with Sally plus the other 2 and the trip back to IL probably would have sent him right over the edge, poor baby.

I'll just morn the loss of the little old man who was with me for over 2 years, cry a bit, and wish him the best in life because he really deserves to be in a home that is right for him and this just wasnt it.

Bye Maxie ...

[Parker]

Aside from getting something to sleep on in the SUV, I am also currently shopping for portable DVD players (9") to use while I am unwinding from my drive and about to sleep while on my trip - and also during downtime when I get to IL, while staying in my truck before I find a place to stay.

So far, I am leaning toward a refurbished Phillips that I found at Wal-Mart for just over $80 after taxes. There was a cheaper one with a brand name I didnt recognize, but it didnt include a car charger and, obviously, I will need a car charger. lol

I had originally put that and a mattress topper to sleep on into my move budget, so that's where that's coming from - but I also have other "trip" stuff like an electric travel blanket, a car MP3 player, a trailer jack, a box for my TV, batteries, couple of duffle bags, trailer lights, etc - stuff that wasnt budgeted for but that I thought about later as I thought about what I would need while traveling - so I am going to get 1-2 of those items each week until I leave.

I was all set to get a 3.5" Beautyrest mattress topper tonight when the friend of mine who is coming to pick up food, furniture, etc offered to get me a Coleman inflatable mattress built to be in the back of an SUV and an air pump that plugs into the lighter socket. I need to call Coleman first to see if it will carry my weight plus that of my dogs for several nights sleep without losing air ... every ad for it says, "features Coleman's Airtight System, guaranteed not to leak" but you know, when you have 400# of person and dogs on it every night for at least 3 nights of travel and then however many nights it takes me to find a place to live, you never know!

Either way, it was very sweet of her to make the offer.

[Parker]

So, way back in 2001, I started working security for a construction company outside of Tulsa, OK. Matrix Services, Inc built these gigantic metal oil storage drums in Cushing, about an hour outside of Tulsa and right after 9-11, they started getting threats, suspicious people hanging around, cars driving by, etc so they erected a fence, build an 8' x 8' shack at the gate, which was about 100 yards away from the site and hired me to be the gatekeeper. lol

Along with my own generator and port-a-potty, they also gave me my own hardhat for when I had to go to the site (complete with a little piece added to cover my neck and ears when it got gold) and I got this jacket - a lined Carhartt jacket with the Matrix logo on the front.

This was back when I was about 200 lbs and once I gained too much weight to wear it, it went to the back of the closet to live - I didnt want to sell it, I wanted to fit into it again some day ....


And that day is here

Actually, that day came and went weeks ago, once I hit and stayed around the 340 mark, but I wanted to clean it before wearing it, just in case a critter with 6-8 legs decided to make it their home. lol

but this pic is from tonight - I dont know what size it is, but I am guessing it is an XL ... and while it is a bit snug up front (thanks to my big belly and huge ta-tas), it zips up with no problems.

I was gonna take a pic of my hard hat too, but (a) who cares about a hard hat, really and (b) it is packed up along with my old Navy flight deck helmet and other stuff in one of my totes.

[Parker]

Ok, since the missing hard hat pic was disappointing, here it is -- the left pic is with the piece that zips on and wraps around your head to cover your ears and neck and buttons in the front (like a little neck sweater lol) and the right pic is without it.





ps - Jack did not like me walking around with a hard hat on ... he didnt know what the hell it was or what was going on, but he did not like it one little bit! He dropped low to the ground and backed away from me, his eyes never leaving the hat. lol, poor little scaredy-dog.

[Parker]

This morning when I was weighing myself for my morning VA Move! call, I noticed that I am remaining steady at 240 these past few days - usually I bounce up to 243 then hit 240 then drop to 236 then back up to 240 and so on. Anyway, I was thinking that I may have hit a plateau and each time I weigh myself and I am still at or around 240, I say out loud to myself that it's better to maintain than to gain.

Then it kind of hit me after I did that post about the jacket and I weighed myself this morning - I dont just weigh less now then I did at my heaviest (which the VA has down as 285 but now that I know that my boots, clothing, stuff I carry, etc is 10+ lbs, that was probably always a little closer to 275), I weigh less than I did when I first moved here 7 years ago (which was 265 - a weight I maintained for almost 5 years).

I have lost approx 13% of what my total body weight was when I started this and while I am not quitting and I dont want to stop here (I'd still like to lose another 65-90 lbs), if I *have* hit a plateau, 240 is a nicer place to be than 285.

[Parker]

Ok, these are those 2 jars of honey-lemon-ginger tea that I made a couple of months ago - remember? I sliced up some lemons and ginger and added them to a jar then filled it with honey and stuck both jars into the fridge. I was supposed to wait until they turned into a gel then use a heaping tablespoon of the mixture in a cup of boiling water as a tea to soothe sore throats, etc.

Even though I made them at the same time with the same ingredients, the one on the left "gelled" better and faster than the one on the right, which is still mostly liquid with some of it gelled at the bottom of the jar.

Now, this isnt gelled like jelly or jello, which is what I was expecting - it is more the consistency of mayo or mustard - a very thick substance. I fished some of the lemons out of the one on the left because I didnt want to have to deal with them when I was drinking.

So tonight I boiled some water and added a heaping tablespoon of the mixture (I didnt use a measuring spoon, just a large eating spoon) and then I added another because the mug of water I used was large. It's pretty good - it's really lemon-y so make sure that (a) you like lemon and (b) you can ingest lemon or (c) use less lemon.

I forgot that my cholesterol meds dont mix well with citrus, so drinking this may give me a tummy ache, but it also has ginger in it, so maybe not. lol, who knows - we'll see!

Oh, but it isnt so lemon-y that it isnt drinkable - it is a nice mixture of lemon and honey to make it tart but not pucker-up-your-face-and-suck-down-your-lips tart.

As I said, it's pretty good and would be great on a cold winter's night if I had the beginnings of a cold or a sore throat - or just wanted something warm and good for me - especially if I added a little whiskey - then it would kinda be like a hot toddy.

I will definitely make more of this in IL - but I think I should use smaller jars - and I will use more honey and/or fewer lemons. To avoid spending money on jars, I just used old pasta sauce jars, so these are large and I think a smaller (4 oz or so) would work better because it would probably gel faster, be easier to work wish, spoon stuff out, transport, give away, etc. So yeah - smaller jars next time.

I recommend this.