Dating Dilemmas!!!!!

I had a friend ask me once why I don't try traditional dating. This was after having a conversation telling him about my attempts at online dating. The thing is to "traditionally" date someone you have to actually meet someone which is why I was attempting online dating. I need to get out and met guys. I have tried several different websites and even paid for the upgrade so that I could send and receives emails. I was making the attempt....with no luck. With all the fails I have had I decided online dating is not for me. 

I am a plus size girl, but that shouldn't stop me from trying to find love. One website I tried was specifically for plus size people to find love. I should have followed my initial instinct when I saw the disclaimer about not sending money to anyone. I hadn't seen that before and I now know why it was on there. First off there was no one local, but I thought "that's okay I am willing to travel if he is". Several men from foreign countries and even a few from United States found me attractive and we chatted, but nothing came of it. Of the few men that I thought there might be potential, four were scams. Four!!!! Seriously what is the luck in that! 

At least I can get a good laugh of it now and I didn't send any money. However I did send photos of myself, nothing risque, but none the less I sent photos and now I wonder if they will start online dating scams using my photos. I feel sorry for anyone who gets scammed. 

OK the first guy I spoke with told me his name was Kelly and that he was in the United States Army and currently stationed in Afghanistan. His parents had passed away in a tragic car accident, his wife died of cancer, and he had one daughter. We spoke for a few weeks before I did some Google research.  

I love Google! Google doesn't lie to me and for the most part tells me what I need to know. I appreciate Google! =) 

Anyway.....so I did a Google image search of the photos Kelly has sent me. I found a website for guy a name Trevor Lance Scott who really was in the military, now retired, and does a little bit of acting and consult work for movies. I tell this to Kelly and he says he is sorry for not letting me know. He didn't want to scare me off. He also tells me shortly after we start messaging on Yahoo that he believes I am the love of his life and that I am the one he has been looking for and he wants to ask for leave from his post to come home and see me. I thought that was crazy, but I also thought "WOW" this guy wants to come to Washington and see ME!!! The only catch was I had to pay for his ticket from Kabul to me. SERIOUSLY!!! He said he would pay me back.....yeah right liar! I also know the military doesn't reimbursement for soldiers to pay for their own flights. The military pays for the flights to get soldiers back home! STRIKE ONE!

One guy, Matty is his name, told me he was a contractor and working on a project in the Republic of Benin in Africa. I thought that was pretty awesome that he got to the that. I honestly can't remember where he was originally from except it was a foreign country so I excused the poor typing. He typed the way someone would if he or she was speaking broken English. Shortly after we started talking through Yahoo messenger Matty said he wanted to move to Washington and be near me. He asked where I lived and I told him the city, but not my address. I was caught off guard by his quickness to move, but continued to speak with him. When I asked him about his family he didn't really have any. That is apparently a trend for online dating scammers. He told he was married, but his wife had passed away of cancer years ago, he was an only child and his parents had already passed some time ago.  We continued to chat and then I didn't hear from him for a while. During our conversation we talked about his work which he said stressed him out. I wasn't an idiot and had already been doing some online searching into dating scams because of other men I was talking to. When I searched his photos nothing came up so I figured that as a good sign. At one point he said some piece of machinery had broke and he need to get a new one ordered. Oddly he needed my help with that. I told him no. There was no way I was sending money over seas to someone I didn't really know. We continued to talk and then he disappeared for a while and when I heard from him again he had left Africa and was in the United Kingdom. When I asked how he was doing he said that he was having some issues with getting some stuff in the country and it was stuck in customs. I asked him what was stuck and he said "gold". Who the hell brings gold from Africa!!! I am not saying it can't happen, but seriously! He said he needed to pay to get some paper work from the Republic of Benin to the UK so he could get his gold. I told him good luck and we haven't spoke since. STRIKE TWO!

Brent told me he was originally from Texas and doing contract work in Afghanistan. He was in the Army, but did his time and got out. He had a cute little girl name Alyssa that was staying with an Aunt back home while he was working. His wife had passed away three years ago. Our conversation were short when we chatted, but he would also email and he would send me these long email and he said all the right things. I loved what he had to say, but of course was hesitant because he started saying all this stuff two weeks after we start chatting. I was waiting for the bomb to drop and it did. He asked me to pay for his internet and even told what website to go. Again are you kidding me! No I am not paying for your damn internet. I told him no that I couldn't do it. Shortly after that we also stopped chatting. STRIKE THREE! Oh and I also want to mention that he said he was working undercover. Really? You are working undercover in a war zone and talking with a total stranger about. If you are going to scam someone at least making sound reasonable. 

Strike four is Keith Engle. Keith also said he was in the U.S. Army and stationed in Herat, Afghanistan. He said he was special forces. We have actually been talking for about a month maybe a little longer and at first I thought he wasn't a scam because he didn't ask for money right away or tell me he was madly in love with me two seconds after starting to get to know each. I was so excited I thought I might have finally found someone that there would be potential!! Yippee!!! Again I was wrong. =( 

Yesterday Keith asked if I could help him out with some money to send to his mom. I am not going to lie I was waiting for that bomb to drop. I searched his photos on Google image and one came up under a scam, but the rest didn't which lead me to believe he might be legit, I should have gone with my gut instinct and stopped talking to him sooner, but I was actually having some good conversation with him and he typed decent. He had the occasional typo, but he typed like someone from the United States so I second guessed myself and kept chatting with him via Yahoo. I kind of wondered if he was a scam because I would notice he wouldn't answer all the questions I asked and his answers were very vague. He had told me his mom was sick with cancer and diabetes and she didn't have the money to pay for all her medications. His tragic story was a little different than the other guys. He didn't loose a wife or have kids. Keith was a little more believable. I'm sure we will stop talking shortly too. 

While chatting with these guys I did do some research regarding online dating scams and it happens a lot, a lot more than I would have ever imaged. I lucked out and did not loose any money. These guys had all the red flags that these sites said to look out for. Sob stories to pull at a person's heart strings and get you to send money. Good thing I don't have any extra money to send. 

I have tried some other websites and found guys locally, but I did not have luck with those either. So for now I will continue to go about my day as usual and maybe I will run into a guy in the grocery store or a coffee shop. I am hopeless romantic so I believe there is still hope that I will find my Mr.Right and live happily ever after with a couple of kids or cute dog.

Manic Monday

OK I meant to post this stuff last Friday but kind of forgot till today. I have been busy with school, work, and just life in general.

I do have to start by say my dad is awesome and spent most Friday with me helping me with yard work. We rented a power rake, which was so much cheaper than I thought it would be! That made me happy! We power raked my lawn and when that was done we went to lunch at Magills and I had one of favorite things, their Cobb salad with bleu cheese dressing and no tomatoes!! :D I have never been a fan of tomatoes.

Then back to my house to clean up the mess of the grass clippings, but not before we went to Lowes to pick up weed and feed and a new outdoor light for my house. I have been wanting to replace the outside lights for some time. I thought it was going to be super expensive, but it wasn't I found some simple lights that I love and they were only $10.00 a piece! What a deal. I also learned that they are super easy to install. My dad changed out the first one and then I did the other two. I pretty impressed with myself. That was until I finally took a shower and saw that I had a bit of a sunburn.

At least I haven't peeled.

I thought my back was feeling a little warm. It never occurred to me to me to put on some sunscreen. Friday was the hottest day of the week and I didn't think it was going to be that hot. 

I also got one of my spare rooms painted thanks to some friends who came over and helped me out. My guest room/TJ's room is a lovely light gray. I would post a picture except you can't really tell in a photo that it is gray it looks more tan. I picked up the spare bed from TJ and it is all set up. The next step is finding some curtains to put in that room. I think I will put the blinds back up for now just to have something there until I find some purple or lavender curtains. I have my heart set on that. 

Well that is it for now. Homework is done for tonight so I have to get started on some laundry. I have a bunch to put away. Personally I think putting away laundry is the worst part of the whole process. 

Till next time. 

I fell off the wagon and I am trying to get back on

I didn't go to my weigh in last Thursday because I knew I had not lost any weight and I happen to still have enough food to last me another week. 

Last night I ate a lot of thin crust pizza. A friend and I finished off two thin crust Domino pizzas. Technically there were left over, but I ate those few slices this morning. I had been crazy pizza for weeks!! I have been craving "real" food for this past week. The IP food actually tastes good or I would not have made it as long as I did on this diet. I don't plan on giving up. I have a long way to go and some big goals to meet. I know this is just a pothole in the road and I will get past it. I am trying to not be so disappointed in myself and remember how far I have come from when I started!! 

Well I am off to the gym soon to go to a Body pump class. I know that will make me feel better. I plan on doing better this week and if I can loose even one pound I will be happy! 

I'm still going!!

I think today was my week 11 weigh in or maybe 10. I'm am starting to loose track however I am not loosing track of my weight loss! I am down another 1.8 pounds this week and 7 inches lost this past month! I am super excited. 59 more pounds to go to reach my goal of less than 200 pounds. Today I weighed in at 258, a number I haven't seen in years. 8 more pounds and I will where I was 4.5 years ago. I can't believe I just wrote my weight out. I used to be so embarrassed to tell anyone my weight let alone post it online with the slight potential it might actually be seen by people. I think it helps me to stick to my goals better when I admit it.

I have even noticed a slight improvement on my running. It's still slow, but I did a mile in 14 minutes and 26 seconds the other day. I am hoping I can keep it up because I signed up for another race in March. It's the Hot Chocolate 5k in Seattle. My brother and my friend Paul are doing it with me. I am super excited about it.

I plan on continuing sticking with this diet, but I am starting to get tired of salad. You would think I would be tired of eating foods from silver packets, but I actually don't mind that. It's just kind of boring. I need to figure out some new ways to spice it up.

Ugh, it's been a long day so I am off to bed now. I have to be up at 5:00 am.

:D

Week 9 & 10

I missed checking in last week. Last week was emotionally hectic. My grandpa wasn't doing well and then passed away last Friday. Needless to say Week 9 wasn't that great from being in Aberdeen. I didn't loose any weight that week however I didn't gain any! I am pretty happy about that. 

Last night when I went in for my week 10 weigh in and I down 2.2 pounds. That makes a total of 27.8 down!!! I wanted to cheat so bad after my weigh in and get a sandwich from Subway, but I couldn't do it after seeing another successful week of loosing weight. I was hoping for closer to 3 or 4 pounds, but I will take anything! I am finally below 260 which I haven't seen in about four and half years. I am still not perfect when it comes to this diet I am only about 80% to 90% sticking to this diet. I am trying to keep with my exercising, but trying to fit it in my schedule has been difficult because my work schedule has changed.

I didn't think it would be hard to get a workout out in with my new schedule being 6 am to 3 pm, but it is proving harder than I thought. Before I was able to get to the gym in the morning before going into work. I can't do that now. Seriously I can't. There is no way that I am getting up at 3 am to get to the gym or go out for a run in the dark especially after going to be at 9 or 10. With classes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night it makes it difficult to get to a workout class. Once I settle into this schedule and figure things out I will start working out at work again. At least I know then I will get some exercise in. 

There is so much craziness going on at work right now and I think it is stressing me out more than I thought. I am going to get myself some coffee and hopefully have a good day. =) 

Another one bites the dust!!

Woo hoo!! I went in yesterday for weigh in 8 and I am down 4.6 pounds!!! I am so happy with this weeks weigh in. I am hoping I can loose 3 or 4 next week even with being out of town.

I am spending the weekend in Aberdeen for work. Holy crow my co-worker and I stopped in Yakima to eat at Miners. I figured why not I can do this. I felt gross and like a rock was in the pit of my stomach. I will not be eating like that again this weekend. I didn't start feel better till this morning.

I ate better today. We had lunch at a place called The Bee Hive and had some amazing crab stuffed mushrooms. I also had a Dungeness crab salad and it was pretty yummy.

Today class was much shorter than anticipated. So my co-worker and I headed over to Ocean Shores to explore around there and do some shopping.

Today was a great day of class, shopping, and exploring!

Officially a month

January 2nd was officially the one month mark of my diet or as I like to call it my lifestyle change. I am down 18 pounds. I am so excited with the progress I am making.

Today was my six week weigh in and I am down another 1.6 pounds. Not exactly the goal I was aiming for, but I will take it. I put on a pea coat today that I haven't worn in about a year and it fits better than it has in along time! I am thrilled about it.

I will say I have been getting bored lately with vegetables. I keep reminding myself that this is good for me and I only have a few more months of this. I also need to get my butt in gear and get to working out again. My schedule has changed this quarter and with school three times a week at night I think I am going to have to start working out in the early morning. I am not a morning person so this could be difficult for. However I want to meet my next month goal of 15 pounds and I know exercising will help get me there.

Till next week!