Moonlight and Shadows

It's been a while...

2009-08-15T15:50:25Z

Realized the other day that I haven't updated in forever on this so... here goes.

I had my second fill the day after we got back from Disney, so on June 24th. It looks like, maybe, I've found my sweet spot! Really feel the restriction now when I eat. The amount I can eat has gone down and I am finding things that flat out won't work anymore. Like bread. Ain't gonna happen. If I eat bread or anything bread like (i.e. cake) it feels like I swallowed a rock and I want to die lol. Have you ever taken a drink and swallowed an air bubble? Feels like that only worse. It'll go away after a bit when things settle or the food that has gotten stuck finally goes down but it certainly makes you not want to eat anything else.

Most meats seem to be ok. Haven't tried steak yet but ground beef is good, turkey, ham, chicken (so long as it's juicy). Pastas are the easiest and most veggies and fruit have been good. I can do tortillas oddly enough and so far have had no probs with Mexican food in general. Rice is iffy. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's not. Chicken salad is good an most days I end up eating those little premade chicken salad and cracker packs you get at the stores. That is more than enough to satisfy me.

I have now officially lost 40 pounds and am down to a size 18 jeans! I feel great! We've also gotten my blood thinner medication leveled out so only have to go once a month now for that. Should be off that in October, thank God! Between the weight loss and the hair cut I'm being told I look so much thinner and younger and it's a fantastic feeling!

ON THE AIR!!

2009-07-23T00:04:50Z

Wednesdays sees Euro Rock Radio's CelticAngel taking things to another level when we throw the playlist out the window and let it all go with The Playground! You'll still get plenty of your Euro goodness but you'll also find some great indie, nationals and locals you might not have heard before.

It's a free for all on The Playground so who knows what you'll get!

So tune in TONIGHT for great music, request some songs, and join us in the chat room where all the fun happens!

So many ways to tune in! You can use the free ShoutCast Radio app on your iPhone or iPod Touch, tune in directly through iTunes on your computer (Radio > Rock > RenegadeRadio.Net) or from the website. Take your pick!

If you're having issues getting into the chat room go to Java.com and download the free latest version. It should fix most issues. If you're still having trouble message us!

TUNE IN NOW AND LISTEN!

And don't forget - you can tune in from our affiliate stations as well: Nightmares Radio and Medieval Radio and K94!

Repost and tell your friends!

With the good comes the bad

2009-06-12T21:24:22Z

Life is funny that way. You can be on top of the world and then all it takes is one phone call to send you crashing.

This week started out fantastic. Last week I'd contacted HIM's management to see if they might have some album news for the poor starved HIM fans that I could announce on my HIM Night show on Euro-Rock Radio. Was a long shot but never hurts to ask right? After all we ended up with Ville himself when I asked for Heartagram Day. Well turned out that yes they did and they quite liked the idea of giving me the news for an exclusive - oh and Ville wanted to call into the show and give the info himself, would that be okay?

Gee... let me think.

So Tuesday night, at my normal show time - which ends up being 3am in Helsinki, Finland - we have a ton of listeners tuned in (nearly 700) and at 8pm my time, 4am Helsinki time, I called up Ville once again. It was perhaps the best interview ever. Last time we talked Ville was very calm and cool and enjoyed things despite being ill. This time it was obvious he remembered exactly who I was and despite the time being 4am was joking and teasing and causing me to forget what I was going to say and laugh, which made him laugh, which made us giggling fools for the interview. We did actually manage to get the news out there though and on and off air Ville thanked me profusely for all the work I do and said 'hope to talk to you soon'. Numerous people have told me that it seemed like they were getting to listen in to two friends chatting. Always a good thing.

The week continued to get better after that. Ville and Seppo (HIM's manager) and Warner Bros. Records were wanting to see just how well the internet could work for them apparently because I was asked to keep them updated on feedback and how the news spread. Well within 24 hours it was all over the net - social networking sites, Live Journal, then Blabbermouth picked it up and things exploded. Found out that at least 3 Finnish magazines had it posted on their websites (checking to see if it made the print versions as well), some Japanese music sites had it, and according to the admin of the HIM forums she was making a list of links for The Powers That Be and stopped after 15 pages worth of hits in a google search. All of this originating from my little show.

So here I am on cloud nine and Thursday around lunch time I get a phone call from my dad. Papa, my stepmom's father, is in the hospital - and they don't think he'll make it through the day. Now let me say first that Papa has been ill for a long time. His wife died 3 years ago and he's gone down hill since then. For the past... well year at least maybe more he's had Parkinsons and we've had several times when we weren't sure he'd get better. Well on Wednesday they'd checked him into the hospital and it turned out he had Pneumonia. And the Parkinsons was making it hard for him to swallow.

So dad called Thursday, I dropped hubby and the kids back at home after lunch and raced to the hospital. When I got there my stepmom was there and one of her sisters (she's one of 10 kids, 6 girls 4 boys). Papa recognized me and asked how my kids were. He squeezed my hand and I kissed his forehead. For the next couple of hours he started going downhill fast. Very fast. My stepmom's family is Catholic and they'd already had a priest in for the Last Rites. All his daughters got there (many live out of town but everyone was trying to get in and the storms we had the night before had made some late) and his daughters and me stood around his bed. They did rosery prayers (I don't know how all that works not being Catholic myself) and we were just there when the trembling finally calmed down and he went to sleep... and then passed on.

I've never been there when someone died - always found out after the fact. I mean I've been there when I knew they weren't going to make it and said my goodbyes but not there when they actually died. It was peaceful for him, and that was good, and while we're all sad we're all also happy that he's not in pain anymore and is with his wife again. But it's hit me harder than I thought it would. I didn't see him often - mainly on holidays and at some family gatherings - but he was a wonderful man. Even though I was technically a step-grandchild I was never made to feel like anything other than blood. I remember dancing with him at weddings and winning a 'dance competition'. He was wonderful and loving and sharp witted and Irish to the core and so funny. And I will miss him terribly.

I'm probably going to miss the funeral as we're taking the kids to Disney World and fly out on Monday. But I was there and got to say my goodbyes and got to do it when he was coherent and with it enough to know I was there. I feel blessed for that.

Dreamwidth

2009-05-20T19:02:35Z

Okay I have caved to the peer pressure and gotten a Dreamwidth account. Feel free to friend me and/or let me know what your journals there are if you have one!

http://celticangel.dreamwidth.org

Euro-Rock Radio ON THE AIR

2009-05-20T00:15:54Z

Every Tuesday and Wednesday from 7-10pm CST (8pm eastern/5pm pacific/01:00 gmt) Euro-Rock Radio brings you the best hard pounding metal and hard rock Europe/Scandinavia has to offer!

So tune in TONIGHT at RenegadeRadio.Net for great music, request some songs, and join us in the chat room where all the fun happens!

So many ways to tune in! You can use the free ShoutCast Radio app on your iPhone or iPod Touch, tune in directly through iTunes on your computer (Radio > Rock > RenegadeRadio.Net) or from the website. Take your pick!

If you're having issues getting into the chat room go to Java.com and download the free latest version. It should fix most issues. If you're still having trouble message us!

And don't forget you can also catch us over at Medieval Radio, K94 and NIGHTMARES RADIO!

Repost and tell your friends!

Amen!

2009-05-18T12:25:21Z

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Euro-Rock Radio ON THE AIR

2009-05-05T23:55:20Z

Who's Your Inner European?

2009-04-22T19:45:13Z

Your Inner European is Irish!

Spirited and boisterous!
You drink everyone under the table.

Who's Your Inner European?

I'm in hospital

2009-04-18T01:06:32Z

Well things were going well. Then my back started hurting horribly and I couldn't breath well. So now I'm in the hospital. Aparently I have a small blood clot. On meds and they're watching me for a day or two.

Fun fun!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Picture Proof

2009-04-12T19:37:18Z

I think this sums up me and Sal perfectly.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Squee!

2009-04-11T02:41:23Z

I has a Sally!!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Countdown begins!

2009-04-08T16:05:36Z

Okay so I'm on day 7 of my liquid diet and have lost 13 pounds. Tomorrow at 8am I get the surgery. I'm so excited! I'll be keeping folks updated tomorrow via Twitter or Facebook. You can find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/celticangel and Facebook is here.

See you on the flip side! :)

Gotta Pimp This

2009-04-02T13:44:07Z

Okay so hubby wrote a horror/thriller ages ago and has finally got it up for sale via Lulu. If you like authors like Stephen King you'll like his book. And I'm not just saying that cuz he's my hubby. So I highly suggest going to check it out!

http://stores.lulu.com/darnitol

Liquid Diet Begins

2009-04-01T18:36:54Z

Today begins the 7 day liquid diet that leads up to the Lap-Band surgery. My surgery date is April 9th and time is set for noon. So what, you may ask, am I allowed to have on this liquid diet? Not much.

Coffee (yay!!)
Crystal Light
Jell-O (no red - don't want to mistake it for blood once theyr'e in there)
Milk (low fat or skim only)
Popsicles (no red again)
Tea
Vegetable/Chicken/Beef broths
Vitamin Water
Water
Won-ton soup (without the won-tons)
No carbonated liquids
Protein shakes - like Slim-Fast

And that's it! Yeah it's gonna majorly suck but it will be worth it in the end. So far I've had coffee and a Slim-Fast shake. Today won't be so bad. It's the next few days that will be really hard. So if I'm cranky you'll know why lol I haven't taken my before picture yet but I'll go ahead and put up my other stats.

Starting Weight: 257
Current Weight: 257
Goal: 130

I'll weigh again the night before surgery and then we'll go from there. Right - time for more coffee!

A Journey Begins

2009-03-20T16:04:53Z

I know I don't normally blog a lot (my bad) but I'm about to start a journey that I want to get down in a journal so looks like finally this thing will really be put to good use. Those that have known me a long time know that I've been struggling with my weight since my early twenties. I was never a stick - those skinny girls that wear a size -2 or something. I've always had some curves but I was in good and healthy shape for a good while. Then I got pregnant during high school and things went downhill from there in the weight department.

I've been struggling since then to lose weight and it's only gone up so - after discovering that my insurance company would fully cover Lap-Band surgery (if I was approved) I decided to go that route. Have thought about it for a while but our old insurance wouldn't cover it. I've gone to talk to a surgeon and just found out today that I've been approved for the surgery! I'm so very happy you have no idea.

So - tentative date is April 7th for surgery. Before that day I'll take a 'before' picture and post it along with my weight. From then on out I'll do an update at least once a month (probably more at first as I heal and all) with how it's all going. I'm going to use my beach icons for this trip I think because I'm hoping that within a year or two I'll be comfortable on the beach in a swimsuit once again!

If you want to keep up with my journey, great. You are more than welcome to comment and ask questions/give suggestions/advice. If you don't care - that's cool too. I'll put all pics and such behind a cut anyway.

So there you go! That is what I'll be up to over the next few weeks, getting ready for the surgery. Had an EKG and blood work done so now it's just waiting for pre-op doc visit (March 30) and starting the week long liquid diet before the surgery.

Of course the other awesome thing about April? essayel is coming to visit!

Five Things

2009-03-02T22:36:43Z

Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.

The lovely essayel gave me Joss, Lex, Cheekbones, Finnish, HTML So here it goes:

Joss - Joss Whedon is GOD. You heard me. GOD. He's a genius and writes some of the most amazing dialog I've ever heard. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was pop culture genius and you might be surprised how many sayings that are in every day use now came from that show. Its spin off, Angel, was also brilliance and Firefly was just spectacular but thanks to FOX fucking it up and airing eps out of order it didn't catch on. Don't believe me? Get the DVD and watch it. You'll be hooked. Thanks to Joss and Buffy I created my very first website and dear God look at me now.

Lex - Mmmm Lex Luthor, one of my all time favorite villains. I've always liked Lex but his incarnation in Smallville, played by the scrumptious Michael Rosenbaum, definitely moved him higher up on my Best Bad Guys list. Smart, ruthless, cunning and suave - that's Lex. And if you go by the Smallville world - if Clark would have just trusted him way back when he could have had a wonderful ally instead of a vicious arch enemy. Doesn't matter - I'll always stick by Lex.

Cheekbones - this is so funny! I seem to have a thing for men with promonant cheek bones. James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) for instance. You could cut glass with that man's cheek bones. Of course my favorite Finn, Ville Valo, has some lovely cheek bones as well. I don't think I consciously go for that but it definitely gets my attention.

Finnish - and speaking of Finns... LOL! Hello my name is Kelly and I'm a Finnoholic. I love the country, I love the music, I love the people! I swear they put something in the water over there because you can't walk down the street without seeing several gorgeous men. I have friends in Finland now (as well as business associates) and I really want to go back and visit again soon. Probably won't happen this year but hopefully next. I'm also attempting to learn the language but it's a toughy!

HTML - I build websites for a living. Well sort of. I've gotten paid to build a couple anyway and I have several of my own. I know a decent amount and what I don't know I can usually figure out or pick up pretty easily. I like playing on the web more than I like building sites (though you might not believe that) but it comes in handy. And hey, if I can pay a few bills by knowing HTML then all the better.

Twilight ....OMFG

2009-02-28T19:51:27Z

There's candy.

CANDY

Found these at Blockbuster last night and nearly died laughing. There's three different boxes, Edward,Bella, and the whole group. And I did a close up of the candies on the front of one of the boxes so you could get an idea of the insanity.

God help us.

Look - an update!

2009-02-26T19:15:27Z

Not that there's really all that much in my personal life to update on but hey, we'll type something up anyway.

Why do I never update you ask? Well that's cuz I'm pretty much doing a million things at once and updating here is on the end of the list. Because really the exciting things usually involve photography or the radio stuff and all that can be found on Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and the like. So kinda silly to post it all here again. So if you want to know about that stuff you can check out:

Euro-Rock Radio.com
My Twitter

The ERR.com site has links to Facebook, Twitter, Trig, Myspace, etc on it. Go forth and enjoy.

So... things of note:

1 - I am getting paid to promote and build a site for a band. Woohoo! Check 'em out: The Raven

2 - My son was in an art show for the school district. This was his piece. I'll get a better pic when we get it home but I'm so proud of him!

3 - essayel is coming to visit in April and we're gonna go see Nickelback and I'm so excited I can't stand it!

4 - I interviewed Ville Valo of HIM live on my show. Over the phone. While he was in his bedroom. On the bed. And we discussed his porn collection. Yes, you may touch me.

And that's about it. See? Other than music stuff my life is fairly boring. OH OH! Forgot - I am starting another website (please smack me someone). Ages ago I ran a popular Buffy the Vampire slayer site called, simply enough, The Buffy Site.com It had a chat room that was quite popular as well and lots of good friends were made there, some of which I've kept up with and others of which I've recently been running into on the net. So, in the interest of seeing if the 'old gang' can find their way back again I'm opening another site dedicated to Buffy creator Joss Whedon and all he's done. Right now the forum is up and working (though graphics need to be altered) but if you'd like to go join and start posting feel free: http://www.whedonchat.com/forum There will be a chat room too once I'm done and a fairly simple front end to the site. I don't have time to keep it all updated with every last shred of info on the man and his projects so might take volunteers to do that but for now, cool forum to discuss everything involving him and plenty of room to talk Buffy and Angel. So if you're a fan, hope you'll join.

Dreams

2009-02-12T17:35:31Z

I had a dream last night. I went to the gym but fell asleep during my workout. In the dream I woke up and tried to get going but fell asleep again. Then I ended up at home and crawled in bed and went to sleep.

Think someone's trying to tell me I need more sleep?

Writer's Block: Early Birds, Night Owls

2009-02-11T15:35:42Z

Would you rather get up early or stay up late? Does your schedule fit your preference?

View 500 Answers

I am so a night person. Always have been. I never fully wake up until well after noon. When I went to Helsinki and didn't see the sun for three days - staying up til 4am and sleeping til 3pm. It was great. Sadly my schedule does not work with that. I hoped that after my kids were born I'd get used to it but I didn't. I can get up early and and I can function (with coffee) but I hate it.

Guess What!!

2009-01-30T01:42:54Z

This Heartagram Day is shaping up to be the best ever! Not only do we have a huge prize package to give away but we have the man himself, VILLE VALO, calling into the show!

All the information about when, where and how to tune in - as well as how to get YOUR questions to Ville, can be found at Euro-Rock Radio.com!

Pointless Meme

2009-01-28T16:18:34Z

What are your nicknames?
Kiki, CelticAngel, CA

How do you style your hair?
depends on where I'm going but it's usually in a pony tail

What's the last book you read?
Umm... probably Blood Noir for the second time.

What colour shirt are you wearing now?
black shirt, black HIM hoodie

Are you an introvert or extrovert?
depends on my mood

Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer?
firefox babeh!

Do you nap a lot?
I wish!

Who was the last person you hugged?
Noah

What's your current fandom/obsession/addiction?
it's a toss up/HIM/music

What was the last thing you ate today?
honey nut cherios

How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
depends on if I have to dry my hair too. it's super thick so takes forever

What websites do you visit daily?
oh god - to many to name to update all my music stuff

What's the last movie you watched?
Digital Versatile Doom. if you don't count concerts then Return to House on Haunted Hill

Do you like to clean?
hell no

What time is your usual bedtime?
midnight - ish

What cell phone model do you own?
iPhone 3G *pets the precious*

What is your favourite weather?
I'd say summer but I'm in Texas so summer is scorching. Our spring days that are just right for jeans, flip flops and a t-shirt are perfect

Who would you most like to meet?
all my friends online (getting one of those in April, yay!) and Josh Holloway. *grins*

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Getting paid for all this music promo I do

Oh yeah, here are your rules:

A) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blog and replace any question that they dislike with a new, original question.
B) Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you.

If you're reading this you've been tagged.

ON THE AIR NOW! Euro-Rock Radio

2009-01-21T01:08:29Z

Every Tuesday and Wednesday from 7-10pm CST (8pm eastern/5pm pacific/01:00 gmt) Euro-Rock Radio brings you the best hard pounding metal and hard rock Europe/Scandinavia has to offer!

So tune in TONIGHT for great music, request some songs, and join us in the chat room where all the fun happens!

If you're having issues getting into the chat room go to Java.com and download the free latest version. It should fix most issues. If you're still having trouble message us!

TUNE IN NOW AND LISTEN!and don't forget to subscribe to our RSS feed!

And don't forget you can also catch us over at Gothic Jams and NIGHTMARES RADIO!

Repost and tell your friends!

Not Good

2009-01-19T00:51:59Z

Just saw on the news that a 17 year old boy was found dead - shot - a few blocks from my house. Police are saying it's murder.

Say a prayer for the family - and that the killer is found. This is way to close to home.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Iz NOT Happy

2009-01-16T01:58:59Z

Something got fucked up with my Dish Network satellite thingy and I have no tv. And tomorrow is the premier of the new season of Battlestar Galactica! Which I've only been waiting on for... oh... nearly a damn year! And they can't get a tech out to us until Saturday.

By god if they don't fix it in time for next week when House and LOST start up again someone is going to DIE.

DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE.