#2907 for love of stickers

This morning I was scrolling through Facebook, and I came across a post from the Salt Lake Tribune about something called StickerCon. I was intrigued. Several years ago, I started using stickers in my journal (I'm pretty sure Susannah Conway got me started.) Since then, I've become slightly sticker-crazy. I see them everywhere, and I want to add them to my collection. I now have lots, and I mean lots of stickers. I put them on my insulated water holders, in my journal, in my planner, and in and on my work notebook. I give them to friends, to my sister, and I even put some in a small bowl on my desk in the office for folks to go through. 

After my docent shift at Red Butte Garden this afternoon, I decided to swing by Copperhive Vintage to check out the sticker fest. It turns out that the store is next door to one of my favorite French bakeries in town, Delice. Sadly, Delice is closed on Sunday, so I couldn't partake of their goodness, but Sticker Con made up for it! The whole thing was kind of amazing! On the sidewalk in front of the store was about five or six tables of local artists selling their stickers. Inside the store, there were more stickers, and out in the parking lot, another dozen or so tents chock-full of artists and stickers! 

The variety was impressive. There was queer-based art, drug art, cute art, funky art, nature art, funny art, art based on lettering, and tattoo artists that had made their art into stickers for reference and booking. I really kind of wanted to buy something from each of them, but I didn't. That certainly doesn't mean I walked away empty handed, though.

I'm glad I went to check it out. It was fun to see other people geeking out on stickers and to talk to some of the artists. 

The upcoming week will be full of music. On Wednesday, I'll volunteer at the Lyle Lovett concert at Red Butte Garden. I've seen Lyle once before at RBG, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the show, so I'm looking forward to hearing him again. This weekend, MT and I will have "Park City weekend." We have an Airbnb for three nights, and tickets to two shows at Deer Valley. I haven't been to a show there before. The venue is bigger than RBG, but it's kind of the same premise: bring your own chair, food, and drink. Kevin and Janet will be joining us. During the day, we will likely take walks. There's a pool at the condo unit where the Airbnb is, so there may be some pool time for me if they want to do a big hike. It is supposed to be hot in the valley over the weekend, so hopefully we will enjoy slightly cooler temperatures up in the mountains. I'm looking forward to all of it!

Have a great week! 

#2475 why write?

 

Hi again! 

I was thinking about writing and why I do it. I don't really have an answer. Lizzie has a sign in her house that says "Write something every day" and at some point I thought that was a really good idea. I've always liked writing. I used to write little stories, in my younger years. I don't have a muse right now to give me ideas for stories. I thought I had one (a story) last year, and I wrote for a few weeks, but then the muse went away and now I just have some random scenes in a notebook.

Without a fictional story to tell, I write about my little life. I write general stuff here, mostly, and more private stuff in my journal. It's satisfying for me, and I suppose, in the end, that is the why. Writing gives me a little chance at being creative, maybe. My words and my little tales of every-day life certainly aren't anything special, but here it is anyway.

Today I've been going back and forth with myself about how often to write here. You know I like to give myself a schedule, as well as permission to take a break when needed. My first thought was to write a couple of times a week, like Wednesday and Saturday, say. Then I thought about the write every day mantra and had myself psyched up to write here on even numbered days and in my personal journal on the odd numbered days this month. So it will be one of those. I haven't committed to a plan yet. :D

~~~~~~

 

Have you checked out my 2020 Reading Page? I've read 59 books this year! My goal is 67, so I doubt I achieve that number, but I'll keep reading and see how it goes. I've got 29 more days to read eight books LOL

#2265 update the reading list

BOOKWORM ALERT!

I was wondering what to write about tonight, and it occurred to me that I haven't updated my Reading List page in awhile. I'll go into more detail on that page, but here is a list of the nine books I have read from the end of August until now.

Shortly after Toni Morrison passed away, the book club chose The Bluest Eye, Morrison's first novel, to read. It was shocking and sad and hard for me to read. I had to look at a synopsis online to make sure I understood what had happened.

I'm Fine and Neither are You by Camille Pagan was a First Read pick from Amazon. It went somewhere I did not expect it to go, and although it was uncomfortable at times, I rather liked it overall.

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda was a Reese's Book Club pic in August, I think. It's kind of a mystery/thriller set in a resort town in Maine. Good one!

My sister recommended the next book. It's a complex story of a family smack dab in the middle of a crisis. I couldn't put it down.

Because you know I need a YA fix every now and then, I was glad when First & Then popped up on my Overdrive list as available. It's loosely a high school version of Pride and Prejudice. I liked it.

Another recommendation from Lizzie, who absolutely loved this book. Imagining Hagrid (that's how I pictured Frank) describing music to Ilse (she was kind of Audrey Hepburn-ish to me) was fun. And lord knows I love a good flash mob.

I have had A Thousand Splendid Suns in my TBR (To Be Read) pile for years. I think what was stopping me was knowing how emotional and gut-wrenching it would be. It was so, so good.

Tracey Garvis Graves wrote a book I really liked called On the Island. I have been eager to read another book by this author when I came across this title on one of the many (many) lists I've compiled of books I'd like to read. I found it at the library and totally fell in love with Annika and Jonathan. Yep, I cried. Very sweet.

This non-fiction book was the book club choice. It's about a group of young men from Washington who rowed crew and went to the 1936 Olympics. I learned a lot about rowing.

I have a stack of book in my TBR pile that are actual books that I have purchased. I try to get to them, but I get tempted by other books I don't own. I think the key for me is to not purchase any books but sometimes I can't help myself.

I usually have two or three books going at a time: one on my kindle that I read in bed, which currently is The Autobiography of Malcolm X. How's that for a little light nighttime reading? Then I have a physical book that I read at work or at the kitchen table or on my couch on the weekend. Right now that book is Lying in Wait but I just picked up the latest novel by Ruth Ware, Turn of the Key, and I only have seven days to read it, so Lying in Wait will have to do just that. Then I have a book club selection. I just finished  The Boys in the Boat, and our next book, The Nickel Boys, hasn't started yet, but I'll be reading that soon since we wrap up the rowing book discussion this week.

So many books! So little time!

#2260 a full day of play with LA

Late Saturday morning, MT and I headed up to Park City to meet with our friends Rob and LA who were visiting from Pocatello. We have been friends for, well, let's see... I started working at the paper in Poky in 1988, and that's where I met LA. I think we started hanging out regularly in  early 1989, so that's 30 years. Rob and MT became climbing and skiing buddies, and the four of us were tight. There was a lull in the friendship when MT and I moved to Salt Lake and were getting settled in, but we have stayed in touch and visited each other as much as we can.

We planned this visit so we could hear about their recent trip to Iceland and to get in a bike ride. Of course, it is getting cold now, so we decided to meet at noon at the outlet mall at Kimball Junction. We had a good time shopping in Eddie Bauer. I got a pair of jeans, a vest, and a sweatshirt, if you are interested. I can't wait to wear that down vest!

For lunch we went into Park City itself. LA mentioned a place she and Rob had breakfast once that she remembered as being very good, but she couldn't remember the name of the restaurant. She did remember the approximate location, so we started walking up Main Street. She led us to The Eating Establishment, which happened to be the place Lizzie and I had dinner before our ghost tour back in June, so I knew it was good too. We wanted to eat outside because even though it was chilly, it was sunny and we were all eager to get a bit more sun before the grey, cold winter sets in.

It should have been a clue to us that at 1:30 in the afternoon the breakfast dishes had not been cleared from the patio, but we did not heed the clue. Inside, the restaurant was very busy, but the host had someone clear the tables outside and we were seated there after about a ten minute wait. We got menus and that's it. Soon other diners were seated, their water was poured and their orders were taken. We were still sitting there with just our menus. We sat there for about 20 minutes before we decided to find another place to eat. Very disappointing.

We wandered down the street to a place called The Spur Bar & Grill. They have a patio on the second floor. We were seated immediately, given water and menus. I have to say it was a lot warmer up on that patio than down on the street level, both in temperature and in welcome. The smiling server quickly took our order and made sure we didn't want anything else to drink. Rob and LA told us stories about their time in Iceland and showed us some photos. LA gave me a gift: a unique and beautiful bracelet handmade from native volcanic stone. LOVE!!

The food at The Spur was delicious. We all had the same thing - the Spur burger. I like it when you can taste the beef in a burger. So good! I would have been happy to sit up there drinking a beer or two, but we all wanted to ride our bikes and temperature was at the warmest it would get that day, so after lunch, we drove back down to Kimball Junction to start the ride. We all agreed it would be nicer to do the hard work of pedaling uphill at the start of the ride, then coast back down to our cars at the end.

My personal goal was to make it to the barn, which is four miles up from Kimball Junction. I don't know if I have ever ridden wearing so many layers of clothing. Going uphill I got plenty warm. The menfolk got out to a fast start and were pedaling ahead of us. LA has a bad back, so she has an electric bike. She still has to pedal, but she gets an assist from the motor. I was the slowest and the heaviest breather (and heaviest in general) by far. The air was brisk, but I got warm and sweaty.

We made it to the barn (YAY!) There is an underpass that you can take to get from the west side of the road over to the barn, so we did that. It was a gorgeous afternoon, so I took photos of course.

Fall is definitely in the air and you can see it in the changing colors of the leaves.

Over on the east side of the highway, we noticed there was a trail that would take us back to Kimball Junction. We would be farther away from the highway, so it would be more quiet plus there was the added bonus of the view of the quaking aspen trees.

I mean, that's a pretty trail!

So we rode our bikes down this trail and it was gorgeous and we were happy. The men picked up speed and zoomed down. LA and I took our time, chatting and taking photos.

selfie!

We met up with the men. Rob pointed out that we would either have to cross the highway - without a light - or ride uphill a little ways until we could find a light. There was no way I was going to cross the highway without a light, so we had to pedal. It was steep. I was in the lowest gear I have on my bike and I was struggling. We got to a place where the road was being repaired, so we had to get off our bikes and push them around some construction machinery. The road after the equipment was even more steep, so LA and I ended up pushing our bikes for maybe a quarter of a mile uphill. I am saying now that I *probably* could have rode up that small but steep hill, but I didn't. No shame!

After that, it was all literally downhill. We safely crossed the highway at a light, then coasted down the rest of the hill to parking lot. We were out a total of one hour and 24 minutes; total distance was 8.3 miles. My average speed was a blistering 5.8 MPH (lol). Don't judge me! hahahaha At least I was out there doing it even though my personal rule is that I don't ride if it's not at least 70 degrees. LA must be a damn good friend for me to lower my temperature rule by a good 15 degrees.

After the bike ride, our fun was not over! We were fortunate enough to get tickets to the Jazz game. It was the first preseason game of the 2019-2020 season. The Jazz were playing a team from Australia. The big three stars for the Jazz - Conley, Gobert, and Mitchell - did not play, but it was still fun to be in the suite and see the new guys on the team. Since the game was a blowout - the Jazz won by over 50 points - we talked more about Iceland and looked at more photos. I liked that!

Extra bonus: one of the guys on the other team missed two free throws in the fourth quarter which means we all get a free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A. HOORAY!!

When the game was over, so was our day of fun. We bid our pals farewell until we meet again. They went back up to Park City where they spent the night at a hotel. They went back to Idaho this morning.  Both MT and I miss Rob and LA. It is fun to do stuff with friends!

I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend and have some fun plans for the week.

#2231 seven months down in 2019

Can you believe that we are through seven months already?  July was a fun month. Let's recap:

I celebrated two holidays this month that included paid days off. WIN!

MT and I rode our bikes twice

I volunteered at four concerts at Red Butte Garden: Galactic, Lyle Lovett, Seal, and Nathaniel Rateliff

MT and I went to a Bluebird Cafe concert at Sundance Resort

There were three meetings of #EkpesBookClub

I finished five books this month

I watched one movie (The American President) and three series on Netflix (Stranger Things Season 2, Stranger Things Season 3 and Salt Fat Acid Heat)

We had a guest dog for a week

Weekly chats with Mom and Lizzie continue :)

I got myself back to the gym enough times to pay for the membership (it only takes five classes to break even)

Volunteer time at the Garden is going strong. I had 37 hours in July.

This had no direct effect on my life, but the US Women's National Team won the World Cup!

I had a nice balance of doing things and having quiet nights at home

I felt good all month physically and mentally

I didn't gain or lose weight overall; I'm a yo-yo on a plateau, if you can believe it. I gain and lose the same two pounds over and over. Maybe in August I'll have a breakthrough.

What do I have to look forward to in August? Let's see...

Possibly five concerts volunteer opportunities

Two Bluebird Cafe shows at Sundance

Our 26th wedding anniversary

A haircut appointment (I'm going through my calendar lol)

Two or three wedding volunteer opportunities

An actual wedding where I will be a guest - in Island Park, ID!

MT and I want to participate in a 5K walk. I just have to pick one and sign up for it.

Lots of reading and maybe watching a few more movies

I'm sure there will be other stuff, too, but these are things I know about.

www.lovethispic.com

#1856 Saturday with Sandy: out and about with pictures

Today I had many things on my to do list. There were two things that were musts and the rest were nice to do items.

I set my alarm for early wake-up because I was planning to go to spin class at 7AM. The thing is that the Jazz game last night (that I watched on TV), finished after 11:00 and haven't been sleeping great (that cough!) so I took a sleeping aid which totally knocked me out in a good way. When my alarm went off, I couldn't drag myself out of bed, so I changed my plan. I decided to walk to WW and have T pick me up since I had an appointment later that I wouldn't get to in time if I walked home.

It was a beautiful morning.

And I felt good about the walk.

No, I am not setting any speed records with an average pace/mile of just under 21 minutes, it is very nice to be able to walk and not have any pain. Cutting down my time a little will come, but that's not as important to me as actually getting out and doing it.

WW was my first must-do of the day. It was a good meeting. I was down a couple of lbs and got a 5 pound star! I've lost just over 30 lbs since I started. It has been slow going, but hopefully those pounds are off for good.

T came to pick me up and we went over to Starbucks. The drive-thru line was very long, so we went inside to order. There was quite a wait in there, too. I guess everyone wanted a bit of caffeine this morning. Fortunately, we had our toys so we were entertained.

We also chatted. It was a pleasant to spend ten minutes or so with my son. I don't see him very much because at 19, he prefers to hang out with his friends. I'm always good for a white chocolate mocha frappacino, though.

My second must-do of the day was an appointment was with my long-time hair stylist, Lanna. It had been a couple of months and I needed a cut.

Not too different but it feels good.

Now that my must-do appointments were complete, I was ready to choose some fun things to do. Lovely Paul had told me about a bakery in the Sugarhouse neighborhood and I decided that today was the day to find the bakery and test it's goods. The bakery, Tulie, has a couple of locations and I chose the one on 15th and 15th. A couple of things: first, it is insanely easy to get around SLC because of the grid system. Second, Sugarhouse is a lovely area. The homes are mostly beautiful and the streets have lots of trees and it is very different from where I live out in the 'burbs. I parked my car up on 16th South and walked down a block to the bakery.

It was around 12:30 when I got there, so they were out of some things, like chocolate croissants and ham & cheese croissants. Maybe next time. I got a salted caramel bar.

I can assure you this was probably about 1,000 points on the WW scale. The bottom layer was a shortbread cookie, topped with rich, creamy, buttery caramel and topped with dark chocolate ganache sprinkled with sea salt. Was it worth it? YES. Yes it was.

My next stop was Red Butte Garden. I did my first bloom recording of the season today in the Children's Garden. I ran into a fellow volunteer bloom recorder, a lady called Lori, and we walked around together for half an hour or so looking for blooms and comparing techniques. I am glad there is at least one other bloom recorder in the Children's Garden because I know I missed a lot last year, but Lori assured me that she felt the same way. It's just her second season also. As I walked around the garden I saw a few other people recording blooms in other areas. I don't think I ever saw any other recorders last year.

Another thing that made me feel good was that I recognized and remembered some of the plants and shrubs and trees and I was a lot more confident about deciding whether they were blooming or not. Sometimes it's hard to tell with a tree. There's not always a flower to look at. But if you touch it lightly and pollen blows off, it's in bloom. That works for fir trees especially.

After recording the blooms, I had to walk around the garden because why wouldn't I? It's Earth Day and I love the garden. My very most favorite spot is the waterfall. I take a pic of it every time I'm there.

The waterfall was really flowing today and the ponds looked pretty full. The spring run-off is happening!

I wish you could scratch and sniff the photo of this viburnum. This flowering bush has the most beautiful smell, maybe even better than a lilac which is something I never thought I would say. It has almost a spicy vanilla scent to me. The viburnums are blooming all over the garden. I smelled them all.

After the garden walk, I decided it was time to come home. MT was here watching TV. T was in his room with a couple of friends getting ready to go to a concert. He is seeing Snoop Dogg, Flatbush Zombies, Wiz Kalifa and Cypress Hill at USANA Amphitheater. He was so excited. We got food from Atlantis Burger for everyone and off they went.

MT is still downstairs watching TV. I have been upstairs reading with the Giants/Rockies game on in the background. Soon I will turn on one of my favorite shows, Ghost Adventures, during which Lizzie and I will tweet with other fans of the show. It's fun.

It's been a fantastic day. I got in a lot of steps.

I didn't follow the WW plan today, but I didn't overeat either and I was pretty active. I feel good about the day. The only thing I regret is that I haven't drank as much water as I need to drink.

Hope your day was great, too!

#1631 three things: T's bday food, #picaday and a busy week ahead

Usually on Sunday I write about MT's work on the fixer upper. I'm not going to write about it today, though. MT worked five days this week with Travis, so he only worked on the fixer upper yesterday and today, so there won't be too many changes to talk about.

Instead, let's talk about three things!

1. Birthday food. Yesterday was T's birthday and I like to show my love with food, so I asked him what he would like me to cook for him, if anything. He wanted cinnamon rolls in the morning, chicken enchiladas with white sauce for dinner and chocolate bundt cake for dessert. I was happy to oblige. Kelsie told me about cinnamon rolls from Rhodes in the freezer section. You can bake them from frozen! I tried them and they are delicious. We'll have those treats again! The enchiladas and the cake come from recipes I found on Pinterest that I've made before and we all liked a lot. Everything turned out well and T was happy with his birthday food.

2. #picaday This year I have challenged myself to take more photos. I post my daily photos on Instagram, which I totally love. (You can follow me on Instagram at sandrak03, if you want. It's available as an app for your phone or you can see it online at instragram.com.) The challenge has been really fun for me. Sometimes I know what I want to photograph. Sometimes I forget about the photos and I end up taking a random photo of my boys or my dog or my feet propped up on the coffee table as I sit watching TV. Some days I take one photo; other days I take 20 photos (but I only post one). Sometimes I post the photo on Facebook and/or Twitter also, but they are always on Instragram. All of the photos have been taken with my beloved iPhone.

Here's today's photo:

It's the sunset I saw from my bedroom window tonight. I love the layers of color from the bright yellow of the sun going down behind the Oquirrh Mountains to the orange-y pink clouds into the purple sky fading into soft pink clouds in the blue night sky. I started taking photos of the sunset from my bedroom window, but then decided to try to chase it a little, so I went for a quick walk to try to find a good angle, but I was a little late.

3. Busy week ahead! I've got a lot of stuff going on next week. Check it out:

• Monday - Nothing

• Tuesday - The Salt Lake Bees will be playing a spring training game here in Salt Lake against the LA Angels! The Angels are the Bees' parent team. I bought my ticket months ago when the game was first announced. I have a great seat behind home plate. I'm going by myself and I feel really excited about it! Guess what the pic of the day will be on Tuesday?

• Wednesday - Not as much fun as baseball...I will be having a CT scan done on my right knee. It's a long story, and I'll wait for the result of the scan to let you know what is happening.

• Thursday - I'm going to be a volunteer at Red Butte Garden this year and I'll get my first training on Thursday evening. You will definitely hear more about the volunteer gig throughout the year. I'm really excited about it!

• Friday - Also not as fun as baseball and the garden...a doctor appointment to make sure all my lady parts are good. I will not be giving details of that visit.

• Saturday - My BFF LA will be in town! She is going to a wedding or something, but when her social commitment is complete, she will be hanging out with me and spending the night! I'm not sure what we are going to do, but it's always fun to hang out and catch up with my BFF.

I hope you all had a great weekend and have fun stuff planned for the week. Happy Spring!

#1322 first travel class accomplished

Tonight I finished up my first travel class! I passed :) The online class was called Travel Destinations. There were seven lessons that focused on popular travel destinations for Americans. I learned about three Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. I learned about some states here in the US: Alaska, California, Nevada, Hawaii, New York, Washington DC, Florida and Illinois. Then I learned about Mexico followed by several European countries: England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain (sorry Mia, no Sweden) and finally Australia.

I wrote down lots of stuff and I spent a lot of extra time Googling all of the places that were mentioned in the course. What did I learn? There are some really amazing places in the world. There are a few places that I would really like to go after looking at photos online and doing a little extra research. I think I would really enjoy seeing some parts of England, especially the Lake District. I'd like to go to Ireland, too, and Australia. And Hawaii. And Italy! I have been in Spain before, in and around Barcelona. The course didn't spend much time on Barcelona, and I thought that was a short-coming of the program.

Now I'm trying to figure out the next class to take in the first part of the spring semester. I'm hoping to hear from Marcie (my mentor!) in the next few days to see what she thinks I should do. I can only really afford to take one class per half semester, so to complete the entire curriculum will take some time, but that's ok. I'm not in a hurry. It's fun and interesting. I think it could be something I would really like to do when my career in construction is done.  First though, I need to get T through high school and into college!

I finished a book! Click on the 2014 Reading Page and scroll to the bottom for the latest.

#1283 a vacation 'ho

I've started taking my first travel planner/agent class. I only signed up for one because I wanted to see how I would like the online class concept, and so far it's been good. I can go at my own pace, take lots of notes, and take the lessons when I want to take them.

There are seven lessons in this class and each lesson focuses on popular travel destinations. You learn about the best times of the year to go to the places, how to get around (car, bus, train, boat) a bit about the culture and of course, fun things to see and do. To make it more interesting for myself, I like to pull up a map online so I can see the exact location I'm learning about. I also Google the "places to see" and look at pictures and read a little about the place, if I am really interested. I take gobs of notes, too.

Lesson 1 was about three Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. It was during the time I spent learning about Quebec that I confirmed something I already sort of knew about myself: I am a vacation 'ho.

What is a vacation 'ho? I can hear you asking the question. It means that I pretty much want to travel just about anywhere. MT usually picks the places we will visit because I will research it and learn about it and get myself all in a tizzy about a place. I don't think I could do the actual picking of a destination. There are lots of places I want to see.

For example, I don't know if I have ever thought to myself, "Man, I have got to get to Montreal!" Then I spent a couple of hours learning about the city and looking at photos and I thought it might be pretty fun to see it all in person.

The problem, of course, is that I have limited vacation funding, and we are currently deeply in love with the Caribbean and have a strong desire to see and spend time in the islands, so our vacation money tends to be spent there.

I echatted with my travel mentor today and told her my dilemma. She replied that she felt my pain and that explained why she didn't make very much money. But, she travels A LOT!

The lesson I'm working on now is about four states: Alaska, California, Hawaii and Nevada. I just finished the section on Alaska, and yes, there are definitely places there that I would like to see. I'm interested in seeing what is shown about California and Nevada, because I have a little bit of experience with those two states - that is, I have spent time in both places. I already know I want to go to Hawaii one day, so it will be fun to get some info to narrow down (or expand) what I would like to see there.

Time to learn!

#1280 three things

1. Jazz preseason game. Last night T and I went to another Utah Jazz preseason game. We were with people from my department at work in the suite. The Jazz were playing against the LA Clippers, a team that I usually root for unless they are playing the Jazz. Even though it is just the preseason and the Jazz have only played three games, I thought the team played together well. There was a lot more movement than I saw last season, and a lot more passing to get a guy an open shot. The Jazz won the game and it was good. The Clippers played their good guys for a large part of the game, so it's not like the Jazz were just playing against the second string or just-trying-to-make-the-team guys the whole time.

T and I have been talking about ticket plans, but it's quite expensive, so we'll probably just end up trying to get single game tickets when we really want to go or keeping an eye open for good ticket packages like we did last year. Of course, if the opportunity to see the game from the suite ever comes along, I will do my best to try to snag a pair of those tickets. They are harder to come by, though, because the suite is really for our sales team to woo our customers. Still, it never hurts to ask, right?

2. Thanksgiving at my house? Yesterday MT told me that it was entirely possible that the Pocatello family, or at least some of them, would be coming down to our house for Thanksgiving. My brother and sister-in-law who live in Arizona would fly up to SLC, but they wouldn't be able to get here until Thanksgiving late morning/afternoon, and it's a three hour-ish drive to Poky from here, so wouldn't it just be better if everyone came here instead? Why not? I did have a moment or two of panic. My house isn't big and I'm used to cooking for three, not a dozen. Still, MT is very excited about the possibility and we have hosted Turkey Day before, so it would be fine. I'm already planning the menu in my head. (No turkey.) More on this topic to follow as we determine if it's really going to happen.

3. I'm a student!! Remember about a month ago when I wrote about other career options and making changes? (Post #1252 on 9/9) I wasn't kidding. Although I won't be up and leaving my job anytime soon, I am thinking about the future and what I might enjoy doing. At the time, MT and I brainstormed some possibilities and we kept coming back to one thing. That very night when we came home from dinner, I started doing some research, talked to someone in the field who I trust and enrolled in a class to see if it was something I would like to do. Can you guess what it is? Travel planner/agent!!! I am taking a class through the Continuing Education program at the local community college. The course I'm taking is about geography and focuses on several specific places. I'll be learning about the countries, how to get there, when to go, things to do there and other stuff like that. The first country I'm learning about is Canada, specifically British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. It's an online class that lasts eight weeks. I just started tonight and I'm already digging it! I've never taken an online class before, so it's pretty novel for me. We'll see how it goes. It's kind of expensive, so I'm only taking one class this half-semester to see if it's right for me. There are like 14 classes in the program, so it will take me some time to complete them all because no way do I want to be a full-time online student. I'm sure I'll be telling you more about this as I go along with the class.

So there you go...three things!

I finished another book! Check out the 2014 Reading List page. Scroll to the bottom for the latest entry.

#1152 I want flowers

If this adage is true and the rest of April is as soggy as the first couple of days have been, Salt Lake will be the most beautiful blooming city in the nation!

I am having the urge to plant something. I really love flowers and plants, but I am not very good at taking care of them. My parents have such a nice backyard. My mom plants lots of flowers in the ground and in pots. My dad keeps the grass watered and really green and nice. My in-laws also have a lovely backyard. They don't have as many plants as my folks do, but what their yard is awesome to hang out in. They have a huge deck with lots of comfy furniture. It's really nice to sit out there and read and enjoy the quiet. My parent's yard is really quiet too.


My yard is not quiet. We live on a busy road and you can hear the cars all the time. Our yard is fenced, but it's chain link, so there is no privacy. Several years ago, my dad built a wooden fence that blocks off part of the yard from the road. He also built a deck. I enjoy sitting in my back yard a bit more now that I can't actually see the cars, and the wooden fence did help muffle the road noise a little.

We don't have any trees in our back yard. We've tried planting a couple, but it didn't work out well. I flat out killed one when I was attempting to whack some weeds and the machine kind of got away from me and I hacked up a beautiful little Japanese maple we had planted. The other tree - I don't know why it didn't survive.

The fence dividing our yard from the next door neighbor's yard is chain link, too. When we are all sitting outside, we can totally see what each other is doing. We can't talk, though, because our yards are large and we can't hear each other over the road noise anyway. Plus, their dog is quite old and she's at that stage where she stands in the middle of the yard and barks at nothing and everything. Poor old Piper.

I love to be outside, though! I really want to say that this is the year I will plant some flowers and take care of them. I have a lot of space to plant, but none of the space is ready for planting and I'm not sure I have the dedication to make it all happen. I want to do it, but gosh! It's soooooo much work! Maybe I'll start with a pot of geraniums on the deck and go from there. I have all these visions dancing in my head, thanks to Pinterest, so we'll see how it goes.

Of course I will have to wait for the rain and snow to let up, then I'll have to bundle myself up in a wind-proof jacket or sweater and some gloves because it's pretty chilly.

I'll probably garden about as much as I walk. :(

Oh well. A girl can dream, right?

I do think the pot of geraniums is an attainable goal.

#975 regular ol' livin'

OOPS! Missed writing yesterday. I didn't think I was that busy, but my day was pretty full.

I started out with a nice bike ride. The ride took a little longer than it should have because my tires were low on air, so when I tried to push myself, it was like riding through mud. It ended up as a nice leisurely Sunday ride, and that was nice. The weather was perfect, no wind, not too hot...very pleasant.

After that, MT and I went to lunch, then he went back to the rental and I did laundry, went to the grocery store and paid the bills. In the evening, we ate dinner here at home then we watched the movie Playing for Keeps. It has Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel. It wasn't that great, but it was a nice enough way to pass a couple of hours.

By the time the movie was over, it was 10:00 and I was ready for bed, so no writing.

Guess what I did today? I left work at 4:30! Of course, I started at 7:30 and worked through lunch, so I put in nine hours. Still, it was about the first time I remember leaving before 5:00 on a Monday in weeks (or maybe this year!) What did I do when I got home? I laid down on my bed, played on my beloved iPhone then took a nap. It was divine. I bet I slept for a bit over an hour. Ahhh.

Tomorrow T is coming home from his vacation to Southern California. I've missed him but I'm glad that he go the chance to spend some time with his grandparents. Today he met up with his friend Ruben in Huntington Beach. Ruben lives down the road and around the corner from us, but he is visiting his family that lives in Anaheim. I think it's fun that T could spend some time with his friend in HB.

It is the Major League Baseball All-Star break. Tonight was the home run derby. I like to watch this event. The winner of the home run derby tonight was Oakland A's slugger Yoenis Cespedes. He can sure hit the crap out a baseball!

That's all I've got for tonight. Hope you all had a great weekend and plan to have a wonderful week! Nap if you can. It's awesome :)

#942 revised biking goal

You would not believe how much I slept yesterday. I slept from 10AM to 3PM, then I was up for awhile, but laying in my bed reading or playing on my beloved iPhone. I had the lights out by 9:30PM and I slept most of the night and got up around 7AM. When I say I slept most of the night, I was awakened around 11PM or so when the boys were trying to get Osi to go to her bed but she wanted to stay with me. I ended up getting up to put her in bed. I also woke up at least once to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Anyway, I felt a lot better today and managed to do all the things I wanted to do, including a bike ride.

I have an update to my bike goal. I wrote before that my goal was to do a 56 mile ride by the end of summer, but my calculations were incorrect. The ride is only 24 miles round trip, so my goal is 48 miles. Feel better, Mom? (My mom called me and asked if I was crazy when I talked about the 56 mile ride.)

Today I took a big step toward my goal: I rode from Center St to Farmington Station. That's 24 miles. :) I'm super tired and my bum is a bit sore, but I feel happy that I did it. My time was about one hour 40 minutes. I've done it a bit faster in the past, and I'll be looking to shave some minutes off that time. Still, you have to start somewhere and I was glad to get this first milestone done.

#927 staying hydrated, biking and music

So there I was, outside on the deck, reading the book An Abundance of Katherines and smugly sipping from my extra large glass of water. I have a big cup that hold 24 oz of water, and I was on my second such cup of the morning.

In the book, suddenly, is a reference to how people think they need to drink eight glasses of water every day, but it has not been scientifically proven to have any health benefits. I was appalled. Haven't we been hearing for years that we need to drink at least eight glasses of water a day to keep our body hydrated and to flush out impurities?

I rushed right upstairs and jumped on the internet and guess what? John Green is right. I read several articles that said you should drink eight glasses of liquid a day to avoid dehydration, but it doesn't necessarily have to be water. Of course, water is nice because it doesn't have any calories or additives like caffeine or sugar or sugar substitutes, but it's just another beverage.

Now I was faced with a dilemma: do I continue to challenge myself to drink eight glasses (64 oz) of water a day? I decided I would continue with the challenge. Water tastes good and it does make me feel full and does stop me from eating random crap if I make myself have a drink of water when I think I'm feeling hungry. 

        

I rode my bike today. I went about 18 miles in 1:21. I wasn't setting any speed records, that's for sure, but it was my longest ride of the year and I felt pretty good. My bum is a little sore, though. It was quite warm today, around 83 degrees, and the sun felt good on my arms and legs. I was pretty sweaty when I was done with the ride. I drank a lot of water during the ride, which I do NOT count in my eight glasses a day challenge since I think I'm just replacing sweat when I'm riding. I did stop at McDonalds for a large diet coke after the ride. It was the best diet coke I've had in days. It actually brought a tear to my eye, it was so delicious. I was really, really thirsty. I got the diet coke in Centerville and it was finished by Bountiful. (Those two towns are not very far apart.)
 
One more thing...

Today is Mother's Day in the U.S. or as we like to call it at my house, Sunday.  Actually, MT and T both gave me a gift, the gift of music. MT gave me an iTunes gift card and T gave me The Great Gatsby soundtrack, so that's cool. MT also made dinner AND cleaned up the kitchen. I'm still waiting for a hug and a kiss from my only child. We'll see if he delivers. ;)

Hope you had a good one!

#918 the long week and planning a long ride

The five work-days of this week have seemed like one very long day. It's 8:30 and I nearly fell asleep sitting on my bedroom floor after eating some pizza. I'm mentally drained. I can't even imagine how my co-worker can handle working all day, then working at home at night, too.

We are in the "doing-more-with-less" mode at work. It's tiring.

Thank goodness for the weekend! I feel guilty because I know there are people from my office who will be working while I am enjoying two days of leisure. Tomorrow I'm going to get a mani/pedi and I'm very excited. The first pedicure of the year is the best, I think. We'll probably go see the new Ironman movie tomorrow night. On Sunday, if the weather is nice, I'll be back out on my bike.

Last Sunday I went out for the first ride of the year. The last ride was well before my surgery in August. It felt so good to be back on the bike! My goal was ten miles and I made it just fine. I felt like I could have gone further, but I'm glad I didn't. I was a little sore, especially in the saddle area, if you know what I mean. This week, my goal is 12 miles and I'll keep building on it. I have a big, fat goal in mind for the end of the summer: 56 miles! The trail I ride on is 28 miles round trip, approximately, and I would like to do it twice. I have made the first round easily in the past, but twice is ambitious, but do-able. I'd like to accomplish my goal by the end of September.

It's good to challenge yourself, right? I need to push myself.

Not much to add tonight. I hope you all have fun plans for the weekend. See you tomorrow!

#841 I had to bribe him, but he did it

Tonight I picked T up after school. He stayed late because he had wrestling practice and he is auditioning for the school musical. They will be doing "Aladdin". He doesn't think he will get the lead role; he said he would be happy to be in the chorus. I think it's fun that he's giving it a try.

On my way to pick him up, I had an idea. I asked T to come to the gym and go to the cycling class with me. I knew he would resist, so I bribed him with Panda Express and an iTunes gift card. It worked. He came to the gym!

I was proud of him. He kept pedaling the whole time and that's important. I don't think he had a lot of tension on, but it's ok. Maybe next time. :)

It was fun for me to have him there. I always go by myself and I don't mind it, but it's more fun with someone else. I don't know if T had fun exactly, but he did say it wasn't as bad as he thought it might be.

#831 I'm cheap, but I'm trying to get over it

There are many things I enjoy doing, and probably one of my most favorite things is to read. I may read more than some, I certainly read less than others, and I know I could read more, but it is what it is and I'm happy with my reading.

Mostly I get my books from the library. I can almost always find something at the library that interests me and it's free. I like free.

Last year as a belated birthday gift, I got myself a Nook color e-reader from Barnes & Noble. I had a whole bunch of gift certificates that I'd received for my birthday, and MT encouraged me to get an e-reader, so I did. I like the Nook just fine. I've read several books with it. I have figured out how to get free e-books from the library for my Nook.

Because just about everyone who knows me understands how much I love to read, I often get gift cards for Barnes & Noble so I can buy books for my Nook.

That's awesome, and I love to get the gift cards. I love the idea of being able to get any book I want.

I discovered something about myself, though. I'm cheap! Even though I have the gift cards with which to buy the books, I feel bad about buying the book. It's a strange thing. Usually I read a book in just over a week, and then it's done. If I have a hard copy of a book, I can potentially lend it to someone, but if it's on my Nook, there's no lending. I sort of feel like I wasted the money on the book even though I didn't waste money because I had a gift card. When I get a book from the library, I read it and take it back, spit spot, Bob's your uncle.

So I had to have a serious talk with myself the other day as I was looking at all my B&N gift cards, including at least two from last Christmas that I hadn't used. I told myself that it was OK to buy books for my Nook because people who like/love me know that reading is my thing and they want me to enjoy books and buy them and have fun. Really, there's nothing else to do with those gift cards, so just buy the dang books already.

So I did. I put one of the gift cards into my account and I bought four books. They were all reduced price books, $5 or less, except one book that was $10.  I still have money left.

Which brings me to my next problem: now I have a LOT of books to read! I am currently reading a library book, plus I have two more waiting for me. I'll read those first. Then I have the four new books I just got on my Nook as well as others that I've purchased at reduced rates or gotten for free on Free Book Friday (sometimes B & N has great freebies.) In addition, I do have actual books that I've purchased over the past couple of years that are sitting in my bookcase, waiting patiently to be read. If I didn't go to the library or buy any more books online, I bet I have enough books on hand to get me through June or July if I read three books a month.

If this isn't a First World problem, I don't know what is. It's quite a pleasure to deal with this "problem".

I added something new to this blog - a page listing all the books I read this year. I also have lists from 2011 and 2010 that I may add. (I love lists!)

My favorite book was The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. She is a fantastic writer and this story was incredible. (I wrote about it in post #687.) If you are looking for a good read, try The Dovekeepers. I think you'll like it.

Ok, that's all I've got to say tonight. I'm going to read ;)

#793 it's been a long day

T is trying out for the basketball team next week and he likes to go to the gym to shoot baskets. He's been over there the past couple of Saturdays. He asked me if I was going to the gym in the morning, and he said he would come with me. My alarm went off at 4:45 AM and after I laid there, contemplating getting up at the border of night and morning, I decided to get up, put my contacts in, brush my teeth and do the right thing by my son. I'd be happy for him to be on the basketball team, and I'll do whatever I can to help him (short of playing against him. I just don't think my new knee can handle that just yet). But guess what? When I asked T if he still wanted to go, he said no.

I wasn't surprised.

Now I had to decide. Should I crawl back in my nice, warm, soft bed and sleep for another hour, or should I just get myself to the gym and get back into a routine?

I went to the gym.

Even though I've spent some time at the gym over the past few weeks, it felt good to get back to the morning workout.  Don't worry, Mom, I take it easy when I'm there. Today I rode the bike for 20 minutes, and did the elliptical machine for about 10 minutes. Easy settings, too, not much resistance. I'm still building back those muscles around my knee. The bending and straightening is still going well. I feel like I'm walking better, mostly limp-free and I'm picking up speed, too. :)

The downside is that it's 9:15 and I am ready for bed. I'll get on FB and play some games and that will surely keep me up until 10:00. 

T did practice basketball today after school with his friends, so everything worked out just fine.

#710 the year's first bike ride

I have some work to do, my friends.

I decided to take my bike out on the road for the first time this year, so I pulled out my biking shorts with the gel inserts in the crotchal area and guess what? They didn't fit. I couldn't button the damn shorts. My shirt was a little snug, too. It was a big fat reality check right there at 8:30 AM.

I gained weight last year - nearly 20 pounds, since I'm confessing. There's no one to blame but myself, of course. I took the weight off and I just as surely put some right back on. My clothes are tight and my face is round and I jiggle where I had lost the jiggle before. I've seen the numbers on the scale. I've watched the numbers grow from month to month. But for some reason, none of those things had the impact  that not being able to button my bike shorts had on me.

I pulled on a regular pair of shorts and a tank top and went for a ride anyway, vowing to go to REI to get some new shorts and a top for cycling.

It felt so good to be out on my bike again! I was smiling like an idiot as I was riding along until a bug hit my teeth and went in my mouth. I was a little more subdued after that.

Since it was my first road ride of the year, I wanted to take it easy. Plus I didn't have my gel-seat shorts on and I knew my bum would be sore. My goal was to go out about five miles and then come back for a round trip ride of 10 miles. At mile marker five, I felt good. I kept going. I rode out about seven and a half miles. I felt good. My knee felt good, my bum felt ok, I felt like I had good form - my back was straight, my arms were strong, my abs were tucked in, my legs felt  good and my heart rate was excellent. It took me about 26 minutes to go 7.5 miles. I even thought that I wouldn't bother getting new biking shorts. Everything was just fine! I didn't need no stinking gel-seat shorts!

I turned around to ride the 7.5 miles back. I was now facing a slight head-wind as I pedaled back to the south. It's fire season here in Utah and the sky was (is) filled with hazy smoke. It was hot. I was going up a hill that I certainly don't remember gliding down on the way out. And worst of all, my hoo-hoo was numb. I'm not kidding. It was numb. It's pretty hard to concentrate on anything else when there is no feeling in your hoo-hoo.

The first three miles or so back were ok. The fourth mile, I was starting to stand up and coast a little bit more frequently than is good for you. The last three miles were sheer torture. It took every last bit of will-power I had to keep pedaling. My knee was hurting, I was starting to curve my back, my arms were sore, I couldn't get any power in my pedal strokes; in fact, I geared down to make the pedaling as easy as I could and still cover some ground. My heart rate was high like I was really pushing myself. And of course, my girl parts were numb (hence the standing). I thought about stopping, but the number of field mice carcasses that littered the road told me to keep going. I've never been so happy to see my vehicle. It took me 37 minutes to ride back to the car.

When I got off my bike, it took a few minutes for the feeling to return to the affected area. It is just now, hours later, that I feel the effects of the hard bike seat on my butt bones. You know, I take spinning classes at the gym at least twice a week, and I don't wear gel-seat shorts there. I don't use a gel-filled seat there. I don't have the crotchal area problems there. What happened today?!

MT wanted to work on the sprinklers in our yard. He was going to pay T to help him, but I offered to help him if he'd buy me some new gel-seat shorts. I didn't really have to do anything except hang out with him and admire his sprinkler-fixing skills. He's really pretty smart about that stuff! I also had to run around and look at some potential new rental properties with him, but it wasn't so bad. I did get new biking shorts AND a new top. (The top is important because it wicks away the moisture from the body. My tank top that I was wearing during the ride was sweaty and nasty at the end of the ride. The new shirt will be sweaty and nasty at the end of the ride, too, but it won't stick to me.)

So that's my story for today. Happy July, everyone!

#628 thoughts about the gym

I'm SO glad I went to the gym tonight! Here's the thing: my favorite instructor, Marylynn, has quit working at the fitness center I go to. It's really far from where she lives so it wasn't convenient for her anymore. I don't blame her. I'm sure she doesn't get paid big bucks to teach classes at our gym, and she still teaches at a couple of places near where she lives, which, needless to say, is far from where I live.

Anyway...

I've had a hard time committing to going to the time-slots when Marylynn used to teach my favorite class, RIPPED. The instructors who took over the time slots are good instructors and nice people, but I really liked RIPPED. The classes that are taught in the RIPPED time slots are sort of RIPPED knock-offs. It's fun and fine, but not the same energy.

One of the ladies that I see in many of my classes told me that the Tuesday night RIPPED-like class is pretty fun and I do like the instructor, Cher, so I decided to go tonight. Before class, a few of us were standing around and we spotted Marylynn over by the cycling room. She was wearing her RIPPED workout clothes and we got really excited that she was teaching our class. But then Cher came in snd Marylynn put on her cycling gear. Sad. But then, Marylynn came over to say hi and she and Cher decided to switch classes, so Cher did cycling and Marylynn came and we did real RIPPED! Happy!

RIPPED stands for Resistance (arms, shoulders and back); Interval (cardio section); Power (lower body and chest); Plyometrics (cardio section with jumping) and Endurance (kick-boxing). The D stands for Diet. We also do a section of abdominals and then a cool-down. It's a great work-out because each section is only about as long as you can stand doing those moves, then you get to work on something else. It's a good work-out for someone with Attention Deficit Disorder because it moves along and changes really fast.

I've been going to the Fitness Center for several years now and I've come to know some of the people and the instructors. I go to classes early in the morning, usually, and you mostly see the same people in those classes. I even know some of their names. What's funny is to see the morning people in the evening classes. We look different in the evening! Most of us have been to work, so our hair is still fixed and we have on a little makeup. That is certainly not true at 5:30 in the morning!

Here's something else that's funny about the gym - seeing people you know at the gym in real life, like at the store or at their job. They are dressed in regular clothes and they are not all sweaty and sometimes I don't recognize them right away. I'll give you an example. On Saturday, MT and I had to take our car into the shop to have something repaired. I was waiting for MT in the truck, but he was taking awhile (and I was having trouble beating a level of Angry Birds) so I decided to go in. The man MT was talking to looked familiar, but I couldn't place him right away. When I walked in, the man looked at me and smiled and kept talking to MT. When he was finished with MT, he turned to me and said, "Hi! I bet you didn't know I worked here, did you?"

I said, "Nope," still trying to place him. Suddenly, I pictured him in shorts, a sweatband and a t-shirt and I knew it was the guy from my cycling class, Dennis! He cleans up real nice. When I saw him at the gym on Monday morning, looking how I'm used to him looking, he asked me how the car was running, so then I knew for sure it was him! (LOL)

That's all for tonight. I'm wondering if my poor swollen knee joints will be able to handle Zumba in the morning. I'll let you know.